Perusing the Blog Squad sites, I have found an interesting point. A lot of us seem to be travelling in some fashion or another recently. Mike Puckett is in Europe. Jason Raak was on a road trip. Rob Rodriguez is somewhere nice. Josh’s Solidsmack recently had a naked day (OK, this isn’t a vacation for Josh, but kinda one for his blog :-)). Speaking of the blogs themselves taking vacations, it appears that Matt Lombard’s blog took a vacation from him in a major meltdown. Oh, and a few of us (who shall remain nameless) haven’t posted anything since early March or even February. :-)Â
Category: News
Jon Hirschtick and the movie 21
I didn’t realize what I was hearing when I witnessed Vic Leventhal’s presentation at the Tri-Valley SolidWorks User Group (T-VSWUG) kick-off meeting. He made a comment about Jon Hirschtick (co-founder of SolidWorks) and the movie 21 almost in passing.
I made my own little presentation at this new SWUG to support the new group at its kick-off meeting. I have my own article about the meeting. Gabi Jack (another Blog Squad member) happened to record Vic Leventhal’s presentation. This single act has turned out to be at the center of recent buzz in the SolidWorks community about the new movie 21. Vic Leventhal mentions that Jon Hirschtick was part of the MIT Blackjack team and that he used money earned from that effort to start SolidWorks.
I ask a question that has already been answered in a rather spectacular way. “Was Jon Hirschtick, co-founder of SolidWorks, part of the former MIT Blackjack team that the movie 21 is about?” Jason Raak at RockSolid Perspective asked this question in a recent article on his blog. He mentioned how he studied Mrs. Jack’s video of Vic Leventhal’s speech. He also linked to another source that made the connection in a news article. And, he disclaimered his comments about the link between the movie and Mr. Hirschtick by saying he hadn’t heard from him about this matter.
Well, the very first comment to his article is Jon Hirschtick himself responding with an undeniable confirmation that he was indeed involved in the MIT Blackjack team! Assuming this comment is actually from Jon Hirschtick, this is prolly the best comment that has ever been placed on any SolidWorks community blog. If it wasn’t for that comment, I wouldn’t have even wrote this article. I invite anyone who hasn’t seen the RockSolid Perspective article to go HERE now to check out Mr. Hirschtick’s comment.
Material Database help
I am trying to update my material database for all of you to use.
I have not had much time to look up material info and some special materials I’m having trouble looking them up, so I’m asking for help.
If you have a material that you would like me to add, please email me the info as needed in IPS (inch, pound, second) units. (It’s easier for me to add all of them per one unit)
The format I need is per the following example:
1. Classification – Aluminum alloys
2. Material name – Alum 2011
3. Texture – machined\brushed\cast\etc
4. Other texture/color info that is special.
Physical properties example
EX “Elastic modulus” value=70326525952.00000
NUXY “Poisson’s ratio” value=0.330000
ALPX “Thermal expansion coefficient” value=0.000023
DENS “Mass density” value=2823.349854
KX “Thermal conductivity” value=142.100006
C “Specific heat” value=962.780029
SIGXT “Tensile strength” value=379211648.00000
SIGYLD “Yield strength” value=296474560.00000
Attached is an example screen shot of what the material properties look like within SolidWorks.
Thank you.
Update Alert! The new materials database is ready. Please see this article for details and download: ctopher’s SolidWorks Material Database.
Your New 3D ContentCentral
3D ContentCentral (3DCC) has recently been overhauled and drastically expanded. It is now organized into these tabs: Home, Parts, Features, Blocks, and Macros. Each tab has a Top Rated area and a Recently Added area. For parts, there is a section where you can make requests for new parts. These requests can be filled by other members of the 3DCC. There is even a contest for who can fulfill the most requests; it has some cool prizes each month.
Parts is divided similar to how it was before, but now it is visually organized for easier identification of each area. Featured categories, suppliers and user libraries are still available.
The Features tab is divided in many useful categories, with weldments heavily represented. There is plenty of opportunity for us to populate these areas. That’s the nice way as saying that Feature categories are currently pretty bare of content.
Blocks is another area that boosts the opportunity for users to populate its categories. Some categories have a good start, while others are very bare. Surprising to me is the fact that electrical componentry is currently highly represented in this area.
Macros is being populated fairly quickly by users. There is already a decent selection of macros to choose from in various categories, such as Add-ins, Assemblies, Drawings, etc.
3DCC now give users the ability to both rate contributions and to comment on them. This will be useful to determine if a download is worth your time.
My only complaint about 3DCC at this time is that it takes too many steps to get to these areas from within SolidWorks (at least in SW 2007). Click on Design Library, then 3D ContentCentral, then User Library, then the Home icon.
Have fun with the new layout and content. I hope to see many new additions soon! 🙂
Tri-Valley SWUG Kick-Off Meeting
Kenneth Barrentine has started a new SolidWorks User Group in the southern end of the San Francisco East Bay called the Tri-Valley SolidWorks User Group (T-VSWUG). (I originally was abbreviating it as TVSWUG, but I just realized there is already a group with those initials). He held the group’s first meeting a few days ago. It appears to be a great success. As meetings and SWUGs go, this was one big start!
We had Vic Leventhal (former COO of SolidWorks Corp and current Group Executive, Dassault Systemes) give the keynote speech of the evening about the history of SolidWorks. His presentation of fun and informative. He even gave out $50 of his own money!
I personally give a presentation about SWW8. In attendance, we had Gabi Jack, who recorded a video of the event. In fact, her blog article about this meeting has edited videos of Vic Leventhal’s presentation. Her article also includes details about the event from a unique and refreshing perspective.
Kenneth conducted a live demonstration of various tips and tricks, including topics like showing how to find the origin of a detail view for ordinate dimensioning. The format was semi-open, with frequent audience participation. I was impressed by Kenneth because he made hand-outs that listed the topics that he was going to cover in his presentation. This allowed people to follow along, and they knew what to expect.
Oh, and what a day to attend. Prizes, prizes, prizes. Just about everyone went home with something. I apologize for not noting his name, but here’s the grand prize winner of the 3Dconnexion SpaceExplorer.
I believe there was a little over 50 people in attendance. This photo shows that it was pretty much a full house. I thank Kenneth for organizing this event and getting this new group started. I personally look forward to attending more of his meetings.
Silicon Valley SWUG Meeting: Caught Off-Guard
Wade Barnett held the first-quarter Silicon Valley SolidWorks User Group (SVSWUG) meeting in Campbell, CA on March 18th (a few days ago). Other than my carpoolin’ co-worker, I had not told anyone other than Kenneth Barrentine that I was attending the SVSWUG meeting. I was just expecting to anonymously attend to see what Wade was going to do for his SWW8 related presentation (SolidWorks World 2008).
As Wade announces the start of the meeting, I hear my name. It was Wade seeing if I was in attendance. I respond with, “one minute,” as I was finishing up some business. He calls my name again. “I’m here.”
He precedes to invite me talk about SWW8 for the meeting.
Background on this is that I did make a presentation about SWW8 that I was planning to give the next day at the Tri-Valley SolidWorks User Group in Pleasanton, CA. However, I did not expect to speak at the SVSWUG meeting about it; so I didn’t bring my laptop (and therefore my notes/presentation).
However, I’m a trooper. I quickly agree to speak. I was caught a bit off-guard, though. I joined Wade at the front. Wade and I talked with the attendees about SWW8. I was trying my best to pull my presentation highlights from memory. It worked out OK as we volleyed through talking points. Several times I wish I had my material with me. It can be hard to help someone visualize what you are talking about without photos. I hope we did help people get some sense of the scope and importance of SWW8. Maybe more people from our area will attend next year. Out of the 50 or so SVSWUG meeting attendees, I believe like seven where at this year’s SolidWorks World.
For the rest of the meeting, Wade conducted an open forum with the discussion of simple tips and tricks to help solve certain problems and speed up/shortcut certain functions of SolidWorks. He had SolidWorks running to show live examples. It always impresses me the value that of even simple tips and tricks sessions have for many people. He covered many points, from how to make slots quickly to how to record and use simple macros. The open forum meant that even when Wade didn’t have an answer immediately, others were able to chime in on questions that where brought up.
In my opinion, the open forum approach to presentations can be useful. It is most useful to newer users or users that don’t get a chance to explore SolidWorks in depth. However, I think it does have its place. At times, open forum presentations can get bogged down with questions or tasks that have too large of a scope for the brief time available. I believe Wade was able to balance these issues pretty well in his session. He knew when to delve into a topic, and when to save a topic for another time. Even still, I think this format should be used sparingly. Of course, regardless of presentation format, audience participation is always welcome.