Hotels on KAYAK for San Antonio, TX SolidWorks World 2011

There’s a funny commercial from Priceline.com where William Shatner plays his own evil twin who tries to talk someone into booking through a website that is offering a sale by declaring, “it’s a sa-ell; nothing beats a sa-ell.”

This is a sly reference to a Star Trek episode where Kirk did indeed have an evil twin.

As far as getting good prices for rooms and flights for SolidWorks World 2011, be sure to shop around.  If bidding on rooms and flights isn’t your thing, then check out KAYAK.  It provides alerts via email when deals that fit your criteria become available from almost any other travel site.

Also, be aware that business travel is more complex in these times of airline baggage fees, carry on bag fees, handling fees, overweight fees, Groundhog Day fees, unleavened bread fees, etc.  Many travel agencies simply will not handle baggage and other particular fees, which leaves the traveller to pay when they arrive at the airport.   Reimbursement for these on-the-spot fees from your company can be a serious pain.  Have you ever tried collecting credit card interest from an employer?  It’s next to impossible.

So, travellers should be cautious and frugal.  Plan ahead for any trips.  It’s hard to believe that SolidWorks World 2011 is so near.  Didn’t we just get done with 2010?

SolidWorks World 2011 registration is open!

SolidWorks World 2011

Registration for SolidWorks World 2011 is open!  It will be held in San Antonio, TX at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, from Jan 23 to Jan 26, 2011.  There is a special deal for those who register prior to October 29, 2010.

As usual, information is available on the website to help potential attendees write a justification letter to their management.  Included this year is a somewhat superficial video that may help grab the attention and interest of a boss.

SolidWorks World 2011 video

As with previous years, a free CSWA or CSWP exam is offered at the time registration for a Full Conference Pass.  Prices for Conference passes are the same as last year (and the year before that, and the year before that).

And don’t forget to check out some ideas for things to do in San Antonio, TX.

Book Review: SolidWorks 2010 No Experience Required

 

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SolidWorks 2010 No Experience Required (“SW2010-NER”) is a new book by Alex R. Ruiz that takes a detailed approach to teaching SolidWorks to new users.  Though the book is structured as a tutorial, it is also a reliable reference guide to fundamental aspects of SolidWorks.  Ruiz provided me with one copy of his book for the purpose of this review.  This review is my own content without input of others.

For experienced 3D CAD users, much of SolidWorks user interface and functionality is intuitive, but that doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t be covered in a book designed for new users.  SW2010-NER takes a detailed approach to learning SolidWorks.  It is so detailed that even some experienced users may learn something by browsing its pages.

Where the SolidWorks Help file tends to take a spartan approach to describing SolidWorks functions, SW2010-NER gives more detail that provides context.  It does a good job of linking related ideas together in a logical manner.  For example, the FeatureManager (one of the primary user interface areas) is frequently discussed in the context of its use within each particular area.  This helps the reader gain real understanding of its value as they perform certain tasks.

As SW2010-NER addresses each topic, it thoroughly covers every detail of the choices presented to the reader.  This gives the reader a clear understanding as to why they choose one option over the other within the tutorial tasks.  This adds significant value to this book as an actual reference guide.  The reader learns more than just how to go through a simple step-by-step process for one exercise.  They learn how to use SolidWorks for any design project.

Content

SW2010-NER is 17 chapters.  It starts out by covering every detail of the user interface in chapter 1, including customization techniques.

Chapter 2 covers many practical aspects of how to interact with SolidWorks.

Chapters 3 through 6 cover the fundamentals to create parts, drawings and assemblies.  This provides a solid foundation for the use of SolidWorks in the real world.  This is were this books shines.  The reader learns how to create different types of documents and how those documents interact.  In the SolidWorks Help file, functions are described as separate entries.  In SW2010-NER, the tutorial brings all the functionality together in a way that provides context to the reader.  This gives the reader a stronger understanding of what they are doing.  This should allow the reader to use that knowledge for any other projects.

Chapters 7 through 10 cover the advanced interaction.  It goes into creating assembly drawings, more complex modelling techniques and editing documents once they are complete.

Chapters 11 and 12 are entitled “Putting It All Together”.  These chapters go into advanced functions such as Design Library, advanced mates, flexible assemblies, BOMs within assemblies, and exploded assembly views.

Chapter 13 then carries on by taking the reader through the process of creating a top level assembly drawing.

Chapter 14 covers an area that is often forgotten about in other training sources.  It is entitled “Sharing Your Documents with Others”; it discusses how to provide your drawings and models to others who may not have SolidWorks or may require your information in a separate form.

Chapters 15 and 16 cover the often confusing topic of document templates and sheet formats, their definitions and how to create them.  These chapters also provide tips to improve efficiency with highly automated templates.

Chapter 17 covers how to make your product look good on the computer with PhotoView 360 (included with SolidWorks).

Purchasing options

SW2010-NER is a widely published book that is available from any book store that covers CAD topics.  It is available on Amazon.com, currently for under US$30.  The files for the book’s tutorials are available from Sybex.

Findings

This book does an excellent job of covering necessary elements to use SolidWorks to create 3D models, drawing and assemblies.  It takes such a detailed approach in describing each area, some experienced users may even be able to use this book as a general reference guide.  However, sometimes the detail may be too much in the context of a tutorial.  For example, chapter 1 teaches the reader about the SolidWorks user interface, but it also provides information on how to customize that interface.  Perhaps a chapter on editing the user interface might be better at some later point in the book (or even in another book)?

Even still, this book is a great source to learn SolidWorks for new users.  Academia might find this book very useful in their 3D CAD courses.  It certainly wouldn’t hurt to have this book available in any company that often hires people that may not be completely familiar with SolidWorks.

This book is not for advanced or expert SolidWorks users.  CAD managers should not buy this book thinking they will learn something new.  It is an education tool for new users, and a reference guide for others.

SWUGN Summit San Jose coming up quick!

If you are in the Northern California area, you’ve may have already seen an email from one of the SolidWorks User Groups about the upcoming SWUGN Technical Summit at the Embassy Suites in Milpitas.  SWUGN Technical Summits are day-long SolidWorks based conferences scheduled about once a month at different locations throughout North America.  Each summit generally offers the choice of 10 sessions within 5 time slots.  Each session offers a detailed look at particular SolidWorks related topics which are geared towards all levels of experience.  The San Jose summit is on March 23, 2010 and will feature presentations by SolidWorks Product Managers, local independent SolidWorks and VAR experts.  Among the presenters are a couple of first-timers, Gabi Jack (Bay Area) and Alex Ruiz (driving up from SoCal).  I’ll be presenting a session on advanced customization techniques.  If you’d like to see a particular customization topic covered in my session, leave a comment here.  Right now, I plan to talk about customization of hole callouts, Hole Wizard holes, Shortcut Tool, Mouse Gestures, and Sheet Metal Gage Tables.  (I’m also thinking about the Custom Properties Tab Builder, but that is a topic all to its own, so I may save that for another time.)

The cost to attend the SWUGN Technical Summit is only $40.  This is a bargain by almost any measure.  Similar types of conferences can cost $800 or more.  Check out the SWUGN Technical Summit website for session details and registration.

OK, and now for some fun.  At the San Jose summit on March 23, 2010, the first person to come up to me and says “SolidWorks Legion is awesome, dude” will earn a free CSWP test of their choice (does not include the new CSWE test).  The second person who says that line to me will earn a free SolidWorks hot-cold insulated mug.  Don’t try to be the first person and repeating the line twice. 🙂  Also, SolidWorks employees, VAR employees and other presenters are not eligable to earn these items.

Real Rewards program has ended

At the SolidWorks World 2008, there was an announcement of a program that would reward users for bringing in new customers.  Though this program involved more than one facet, the spearhead effort appeared via their Real Rewards website.  Real Rewards gave rewards to individuals who submitted the emails of their colleagues.  These colleagues would then be given the opportunity to receive a free trail of SolidWorks.  If SolidWorks was purchased as a result of the referral, the user would receive one of various rewards.  The first tier was a box full of goodies.  The second tier (for two successful referrals) was a sound system.  The third tier was an all-in-one HP printer/copier/fax/scanner.  I believe the fourth tier was a fancy monitor.  For five successful referrals, the reward was a middle of the road computer.

Due to my previous articles, I submitted over 100 referrals (all of which were requested by commenting on my blog).  Out of those, there was 2 actual sales.  This is actually more than I expected.  Though a modest success for me, the program was not so successful overall.  According to Bill Taylor of SolidWorks Corp., the volume of participation was very low.  Though SolidWorks did conduct market research with promising results before starting this program, they found that participation was no where near expectations.

So the program ended in mid-2009.  Unfortunately, the Real Rewards website was not taken down until December 2009.  This means that I was merrily submitting a few requests for trial copies that never received a response.

There are new offers available from SolidWorks Corp.  There is an education trial version of SolidWorks which is available for students.  Also, a recent discount program was selling SolidWorks Premium practically for half price.  Check out the SolidWorks website for current offers.