FIRST and Dean Kamen

The big treat for me at SWWorld was the unannounced, and painfully brief, appearance by Dean Kamen. He had all of fifteen minutes to talk, so we got little of the inventor and his history. As anyone who has followed this remarkable man's career can tell you, if he has your ear for any length of time, he'll make absolutely certain he makes a pitch for FIRST. He wasn't going to waste the opportunity to talk to 4700 engineers about the Segway.

So we got 15 minutes of what is going on with this revolutionary program and how to get involved. His passion for FIRST is astonishing to see, and what it's doing for students is remarkable. I recommend going to the site and learning more about FIRST and what teams are in your area. If you have anything to do with a company that can sponsor a team, you should make a pitch and get involved.

The website is http://www.usfirst.org.

SolidWorks World speakers

I mentioned that this year's conference speakers were generally all outside of the SolidWorks community. There were a couple of people that I would describe as generalist engineers, but none of them were computer jockeys who could or would talk about 3D CAD. So, very little of the general sessions was about designing products with SolidWorks, and very much of it was centered around a philosophical message that was wonderfully presented and inspiring.

The program was basically about rolling out a very diverse sampling from the world of extreme techie careers, and having them talk about the importance of education and engaging children in technology and science. There was an undersea explorer, a television show host, an inventor or two, all with one thing in common - a passion for science and as close as we come to "rock star status" in the world of technology.

I commend the folks at SolidWorks for putting this program together. There were over 4700 attendees this year in San Diego, and if the message got through to some small percentage that actually goes out to some schools and talks about what they do, maybe there will be a handful more of these role models develop. We can only hope so, because even a handful can touch the lives of hundreds of kids and get them thinking about something other than sports stars and movie actors. This was a conference that potentially goes far beyond selling software and helping users work better. My hope is that it planted seeds for something much bigger.

SolidWorks 2008 SP2 looking good.

One bit of good news from SolidWorks World; it seems there's a bit of consensus that the lastest service pack, 2.0, is robust and working well enough that users are switching over. Most of the breakout sessions I attended were done on '08, and the presenters seemed happy enough with this new SolidWorks. I did some informal polling in the halls and except for the slower corporate clients, most folks are using the new version now with good results.

I think you'll be seeing a lot of screenshots with that reflective floor in the near future. A lot of the newer functionality won't be evident, but there's definitely a lot in the user interface that will be showing up, a sure sign that we've moved on. From what little was shown of 2009 during the Wednesday general session, this new user interface is a given and there will be more attention given to the various modules within, everything from sketching to handling large assemblies. More to come.

SolidWorks World 2008

I'm back, and happy to report that SolidWorks World 2008 was a great show and a big hit. There were over 4700 attendees this year, and based on the standing-room-only crowds at the first general session and in many of the breakout sessions, the crowd was beyond expectations.

The general sessions were entertaining as usual, and quite inspiring. I was very pleased to see that many of the guest speakers fell far outside the SolidWorks community. They were not there to talk about 3D CAD and sell the software, they were chosen to speak about good design and good engineering, and about the enormous sphere of influence we have as designers and engineers. I'll talk more about this, as it's a subject near and dear to my heart, hinted at in this very weblog and ripe for more posts. Suffice it to say, I'm proud of SolidWorks for giving this pulpit over to these kinds of leaders and leaving the sales pitch as an aside.

The breakouts, preview of coming attractions, and trade show were great as well, and I'll give a rundown of pertinent and interesting tools I've added to my grab bag. Stay tuned.

Using existing SolidWorks files

I'm occasionally asked to take SolidWorks files created by others and modify or complete a project using that existing geometry. This can certainly be done, but there are pros and cons to it.

As I've said here before, SolidWorks is an evolving product, full of new features and enhancements to make the creation of geometry faster or easier. What that means in real life is that there were ways to make parts before, and now there are new and different ways to make the same parts. So, the user has many choices, depending on when he/she learned the program, in the methods used to model.

I can import a file and look at the feature tree and tell by the way it was built whether the creator has been using SolidWorks for a long time or is a more recent convert. The part can be a good model created using very basic features from very early releases, or it can be a good model created using new features. Modifying the parts or assembly involves looking at those feature trees and deciding if it's better to change what's there, or start over.

It sometimes makes the most sense to study the old files, understand the features and design intent, and then model the part from scratch. Other times, it makes the most sense to roll back the part and modify the features, retaining most of the old geometry and methods. It's a matter of examining the situation and determining the most cost-effective approach for the customer.

The Designers Accord

An article recently appeared in The New York Times mentioning this, and I thought a link here might be appropriate.

http://www.designersaccord.org/

I did not see the article, and haven't had time to go searching for it, but the principles of this outfit are commendable. I believe something like this is the inevitable result of the recent focus on design and sustainability, and I hope this leads to more commitment on the part of the customers of designers. It's supply and demand, and the best thing that can happen is that the consumers of design go looking for partners who are so inclined and find organizations such as this.

Errors and Omission Insurance

I'm occasionally asked about insurance coverage, and I suppose it's a way to weed out the non-professional. Certainly there are contract engineers out there that are doing a bit of SolidWorks stuff as a sideline, and they typically are not set up as legitimate business entities. Having a real business, I suppose, means filing with your state government, keeping track of your finances, and carrying insurance.

Professional liability, or an errors and omissions policy, is something that may set the professional apart from the part-timer. It's an expensive coverage and supplements the terms and conditions of a professional contract for services. As a contractor who is establishing a long-term growing business, it makes good business sense to maintain such coverage. The range of projects I see is vast, and the eventual use of whatever design files are created is outside of my control. The alternative might be to enter into projects that seem "safe", but that's still no guarantee that a design won't end up far removed from its original intent, and an intentional omission that was made under the original parameters suddenly spells trouble in some new application.

There is definitely justification for carrying the insurance, and whatever contractor you do business with should be asked about their coverage.

New design in 2008

I've got a couple of new projects on the horizon, I'm putting together bids for them either today or tomorrow and looking at the amount of engineering and design work involved. One or both of these projects (assuming I get them) will get the full SolidWorks 2008 treatment. I will need to talk to the manufacturing centers that have been identified to get the files and do the prototype work, to make sure they can take the files. If things look good, I'll start them in v.2008 and be able to give a blow-by-blow of the process as I go.

I expect there will be opportunity to report on what goes quicker and what slows me down, essentially exposing my learning curve. What will be interesting will be if there are any significant labor savings in the new interface that carry over long term. Stay tuned, and I'll try to post thoughts along those lines as I come across them.

First thoughts on SolidWorks 2008

Well, the jury is still out, but so far I don't see what the fuss is about. It took a few minutes to get used to the new user interface, which seems to be the biggest hurtle according to all the noise I've heard. Yes, there were a couple of commands that I had to hunt for, but they ended up being in a pretty logical place and I don't expect I'll have too much trouble remembering where to find them. It's a bit of a code to crack, once you've hunted for a couple of things the logic of the setup becomes apparent and it's then fairly straight-forward to find or drill down to other stuff.

I like the new RealView options. For a contract guy who needs to present a lot of different images to convey a lot of design details to people who are not immersed in 3D MCAD, it's great to have reflections on the floor and easy to apply light schemes. It effectively puts out more detail for the eye and is quick to setup before saving out a JPG to share.

I expect to spend a lot more time with 2008 after SolidWorks World, and there will be much to try after attending. I have yet to move a project over to the new release since there are a few bugs being worked on, but in an update or two I believe I'll be a convert.

Happy 2008

The Strangineer office is abuzz with new projects already this new year, here's hoping your year is off to a great start as well.

With the holidays over, and many of the '07 projects cleaned up, I should be back to this weblog a little more often. Feel free to reply to anything you read here about the contract design business, I'll try to answer in a timely fashion and expand the topics here a bit this year.

Coming up, I'll be attending SolidWorks World 2008 this month in San Diego. It runs from January 20 thru the 23rd, and you can look for my thoughts on it soon thereafter. I've also been running SW 2008 for a little while now, so my thoughts on that are on the slate of blog topics too.

All the best wishes for a happy and prosperous 2008.