SolidWorks World 2013 partner profiles on SolidWorks Blog

Over the past few weeks, SolidWorks Blog has been profiling several Partners that will be exhibiting at SolidWorks World 2013.  There is a lot of detailed information shared about each in the following recent articles.

  • Capvidia – A global company specializing in 3D data translation, data quality, validation, visualization, and CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) for SolidWorks users. They’ve been working with SolidWorks since 1995 and are a Certified Gold Partner with four products.
  • Moldex3D – They provide a complete solution to help users simulate and validate their part and mold designs before actual production. Covering a wide spectrum of injection molding processes, they help part designers, mold designers, and mold makers detect potential molding problems in advance
  • ATR Soft -CustomTools for SolidWorks and EPDM offers Office-EPDM integration. They are a service partner for EPDM and SolidWorks. Their products let you focus on real design, and automate the rest.
  • Mastercam – Mastercam is 2- through 5- axis milling and routing, turning, wire EDM, Swiss machining, artistic relief cutting, 2D and 3D design, surface, and solid modeling. Also, Mastercam is fully integrated into SolidWorks with our Mastercam for SolidWorks product.

There’s plenty more profiles to explore on SolidWorks Blog as well, such as HP, Striker Systems and several others that have been profiled since October 2012.

Revision Clouds: What else is new ( Tip/Trick )

This entry is part 6 of 12 in the series New in SolidWorks 2013

As noted in a previous article, revision cloud is a new annotation in SolidWorks 2013.    Well, here’s a little trick not mentioned in the What’s New that you can use on revision clouds once you’ve placed them on your drawing.  Highlight the revision cloud and goto Tools pulldown>Sketch Tools>Rotate.  The Rotate tool will allow you to rotate your revision cloud annotation.

Rectangular revision cloud just minding its own business.


Gah! Someone has started the Rotate tool and is rotating  the revision cloud.


Well, the cloud was successfully rotated and just left there to highlight the change at its new angle.

Preparing for the SolidWorks Profession Specialty Exams CSWP CSWE

This entry is part 1 of 5 in the series SOLIDWORKS Certification

{Updated: 01/17/2015}

There is a lot of interest in getting certified as SolidWorks Expert (CSWE).  Through there are no official accolades that go long with passing the CSWE, the certificate can garner industry recognition of your established skills.  Even as the number of Certified SolidWorks Professional grows (CSWP) due to the online accessibility, the number of those with the higher CSWE certification is still small by comparison.  Right now, there’s just over 1000 CSWEs {update: still under 2000, as of Jan 2015}.  Please see this Certified SolidWorks Professional infographic for additional details.

To earn the opportunity to take the CSWE exam, you have to pass the CSWP and also pass three four advanced exam modules from the selection of topics: Weldments,  FEA, etc. Surfacing, Sheet Metal, Drawing Tools and Mold Tools.  {FEA is no longer included as a option to fulfill the CSWE prerequisites.}

Applian Way Technologies has a blog with several articles that are brief preparation guides for various exam modules.  A Very Swell Idea, Inc has some good advice for taking the modules in their discussion of CSWP Weldment exam.   3D Dimensional Engineer also has a great series on CSWP Preparation.

SolidWorks website itself has great information for each exam, including the core and the expert exams.

Don’t fight the future of 3D Printing

Chris McAndrew makes a great case for industry to embrace the explosion of 3D Printers and the new business opportunities that are coming, including criticism of those forces that would seek inhibit the use of 3D printing to protect old business models.  Check out his article:  Why I’m Not Fighting Back Against Developments In 3D Printing.

SolidWorks World 2013: What’s in Orlando, FL besides Walt Disney World Resort?

Dothan, AL is the Peanut Capital of the World.  Salinas, CA is the Lettuce Capital of the World.  Alma, AR is the Spinach Capital of the World.  Though Orlando’s nickname is The City Beautiful, some might call this sprawling area in Florida the World Capital of Amusement Parks.  There are so many, it’s hard to think of other things to do there.

Guess what!  There are other attractions too!

And, other stuff to do too, depending on your interests.

If you are staying an extra few days after the end of SolidWorks World 2013 with or without kids, there’s plenty to do for all sorts of interests in the greater Orlando area.

SolidWorks World 2013 just weeks away

Breakout Sessions

SolidWorks World 2013 is only a weeks away!  It’s shaping up to be a great convention!  The session schedule is filled with great topics.  These are a small sample of what is on the schedule as of January 1, 2013 (schedule is subject to change):

  • Advanced Motion Simulation Techniques in SolidWorks by Shrikant Savant.  Learn about advanced simulation techniques using SolidWorks Motion, such as control design, event-based motion, exporting motion loads to SolidWorks Simulation, etc.
  • Think Differently! — Multibody Techniques in SolidWorks 2013 by Alin Vargatu.  See how SolidWorks 2013 adds new and spectacular tools for creating and managing multibody parts. We can even call them “game changers.”  Once mastered, these multibody techniques will open up surprising possibilities for saving time and shortcuts.
  • IAW ASME Y14.5 – Use It Only if You Know It by Rustin Webster and Jeremy Clark. Explore the right and wrong way of creating drawings (IAW) ASME Y14.5M. Attendees will learn fundamental drawing rules concerning view orientation and position, tolerancing, interpretation, dimensioning, accuracy, simplicity, and clarity.
  • Automate Your Design with Equations by Don Van Zile III and Frank Ruepp.  Get a closer look at equations. SolidWorks 2013 has significant enhancements to equations, and we will learn how these enhanced capabilities can help you to speed up and automate your design process.
  • Fifteen Years of SolidWorks Tips and Tricks by Phil Sluder.  Learn how to use SolidWorks 2013 in the real world in this fast-paced session of tips. These will not be found in the help file, they come from years of learning, teaching, and using the software daily in a small dynamic design environment.
  • Power Surfacing by David Gill.  Demonstrate how to easily create and import organic, free form surfaces in SolidWorks. Demonstrate new Sub-Division surface modeling plugin for SolidWorks.
Pages: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3