SolidWorks:HEARD! - Episode 455 - WN2014 - Drawings and Detailing

WN2014 - Drawings and Detailing: 

This series of podcasts dissects the What's New PDF, outlining all the new functionality in SolidWorks 2014 with tips, tricks and insights into the new major release of SolidWorks' product line.  Topics covered in this show:

 Chapter 10: Drawings and Detailing:
- Balloons
- Bill of Materials
- Dimensions
- Drawings Views
- Other Annotations
- Sheet Formats
- Automatically Splitting Tables Horizontally at a Row

Chapter 11: eDrawings:
- Viewing 3D ContentCentral on iPad
- Viewing DimXpert Dimensions from SolidWorks Part Files
- Viewing Rotational Exploded Steps
- eDrawings for Android (not mentioned in What's New)

SolidWorks Drawings, Detailing & eDrawings, covering chapter 10 and 11 of the What's New PDF,  outline changes/enhancements to the SolidWorks product line since the previous release.  If you have not done so, please download this PDF and walk through the areas that are most important to you.

The goal of this series is to provide a portable, audio version of the 2014 What's New, providing an efficient way to evaluate new features that have been changed/added/removed in the SolidWorks product line.  We all fall victim to the "ruts" of using SolidWorks from release to release and knowing what's to come brings awareness early.

I will be releasing an additional show a week as well as the usual monthly Tech News shows (up to 3 a week) in order to cover the entire What's New PDF before FCS (First Customer Ship). Between the podcast, blog and other posts around the web, there will be no shortage of SolidWorks 2013 content to come!

Check out the SolidWorks:Heard! Blog and follow us on Google+, Twitter and  Facebook.

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SolidWorks:HEARD! - Episode 449 - eDrawings for Android

eDrawings for Android:

This podcast covers the newly launched Android version of eDrawings discussing install, comparisons to the iOS launch, compatibility and overall impressions.  Topics covered: 

- Overview of the launch

- Android V1 feature set

- Differentiation between iOS and Android versions

- Speculation on a Pro version

- Compatibility testing chart

- Overall impressions

As mentioned in a previous post, the demand from customers for an Android version of eDrawings was not going to just go away.  SolidWorks has been slow to realize a few things about eDrawings for mobile, one of which was the need to have it on phones and not just tablets.  This thought of it being only useful on a tablet seemed to be the reason ignoring Android as a viable platform was so strong and why it took so long for the Android version to ship.

Despite the iPad still being dominate in the tablet space, Android as a mobile platform is nearing 80% market share according to IDC, shipping 187 million, yes million, devices last quarter alone.  SolidWorks recognizing that eDrawings for iPad was also needed on the iPhone seemed to be the catalyst for Android needing to be a priority. 

As it's iOS sister, eDrawings for Android became an overnight, de facto standard for opening and viewing SolidWorks files on the platform (go figure?) but will move to a level of it's own once the Pro version comes out.  No official word yet but last year the Pro version shipped around the launch of the next version of SolidWorks (October-ish?). ~Lou

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SolidWorks:HEARD! - Episode 432 - Augmenting Reality with eDrawings

Augmenting Reality with eDrawings:

This podcast covers the new feature added to eDrawings for iOS that came out a few weeks ago.  Now that I have had time to play with it,  I wanted to give me thoughts on it.  Topics covered:​

- Understanding AR
- Getting to know the AR tools
- Best practices for AR marker (great SolidSmack writeup)
- Applications for AR 
- Other AR Apps (Augment 3D)
- Thoughts and enhancement ideas

A few weeks ago, eDrawings for iOS was updated to include a new augmented reality feature that was debuted at SolidWorks World 2013 in January.  Although the first launch of this came with an unfortunate bug that rendered AR broken, SolidWorks caught the issue and was able to get it fixed in a week.​

I talked briefly about this new feature in the last tech news show but I wanted to dive in a bit more and talk about how I have used it, trials I have gone through and a few interesting finds along the way.  It is a fun little tool that can be used to get a "feel" of how something might work in the physical world, however I am still trying to find the ideal use for this new feature.​

There are a few examples of AR in the Apple App Store and I have looked at these and a few others just to get an ideal of various implementations.  The 3DVIA Mobile app tried to do a pseudo AR feature but again the practicality of it was a stretch.  More interesting was watching the rest of our techs trying to augment models in all types of scenarios around the office once this tool shipped! ~Lou

Check out the SolidWorks:Heard! Blog and follow us on Google+, Twitter, Facebook and THE HEaRD!

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SolidWorks:HEARD! - Episode 410 - WN2013 - Drawings & Detailing

WN2013 - Drawings & Detailing:

This podcast dissects the What's New PDF, outlining all the new functionality in SolidWorks 2013 with tips, tricks and insights in the new major release.  Topics covered in this show:​

Chapter 10: Drawings & Detailing:​
- Balloons
- Dimensions
- Drawing Views
- Layers
- Other Annotations
- Tables

Chapter 11: eDrawings:
- eDrawings for iPad
- Exploded Views
- Saving and Sending Files in eDrawings 64-bit Installations
- Sterographic Viewing
- Version Support for Mac and PowerPC

​Drawings, Detailing and eDrawings, covering chapters 10 and 11 of the What's New PDF,  outline changes/enhancements to the SolidWorks product line since the previous release.  If you have not done so, please download this PDF and walk through the areas that are most important to you.

The goal of this series is to provide a portable, audio version of the 2013 What's New, providing a quick way to evaluate new features that have been changed/added/removed in the SolidWorks product line.  We all fall victim to the "ruts" of using SolidWorks from release to release and knowing what's to come brings awareness early.

I will be releasing an additional show a week as well as the usual monthly Tech News shows (up to 3 a week) in order to cover the entire What's New PDF before FCS (First Customer Ship). Between the podcast, blog and other posts around the web, there will be no shortage of SolidWorks 2013 content to come!

Check out the SolidWorks:Heard! Blog and follow us on Google+, Twitter, Facebook and THE HEaRD!

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SolidWorks:Heard! - Episode 386 - eDrawings for iPad

eDrawings for iPad:

This podcast cover the much awaited mobile move for DS SolidWorks to finally ship a native SolidWorks viewer on mobile devices.  Their decision was to move on eDrawings on one platform, the iPad.  Topics covered:

- A brief overview and first impressions

- What eDiPad does for iPad users

- What can be "seen" from a SolidWorks published eDrawing

- What can be "seen" from an a modified eDrawing from eDrawings Pro.

- What needs to be in version 2

- Future wish list

- Overall thoughts for this V1 app from DS SolidWorks

For years users have waited for SolidWorks to make a move on mobile and finally the start of this movement took place this past week.  Although shipping an iPad only app would have been fine 1.5 years ago, in today's mobile market where Android, a 50% market leader in mobile operating systems, was not addressed in their mobile strategy.  The decision to also not ship the new mobile app on phone platforms on either iOS or Android has also ruffled a few feathers as well.

eDrawings for iPad is a much need app to offer native viewing solutions for SolidWorks, DXF/DWG, DraftSight and Pro/Engineer files.  Support for the "Open In.." functionality, iPad users can open these data sets from Mail, Dropbox, SkyDrive, Box.Net and other application throughout the device.

Other then the overall out cry for support for Android, the real miss was not providing the productivity tool sets eDrawings users want like markup and measure.  I hope this application can be more operating system egoistic and provide the tools that allow "users on the go" to get productive work done.  I have done extensive testing and have posted my compatibility chart here.  ~Lou

Remember to check out the SolidWorks: Heard! Blog and to follow me on Twitter, Facebook and THE HEaRD! 

SolidWorks:Heard! - Episode 354 - SW2012 What's New - Drawings & Detailing

SW2012 What's New - Drawings & Detailing:

This podcast dissects the What's New PDF, outlining all the new features in SolidWorks 2012 along with other tips, tricks and tidbits in the new software. Topics covered in this show:

Chapter 8: Drawings and Detailing

- Magnetic Lines (Thanks 3DVIA Composer!)

- Display enhancements (c-marks, highliting, etc)

- Tables (Bend and Punch)

- Section views (customize fonts and arrows)

- New workflows (explode views, Hole Wizard, Open from drawing)

Chapter 9: eDrawings

- Bill of Materials

- File References (Out of date watermark will finally work?)

Drawings & Detailing, covering chapters 8 and 9 of the What's New PDF, outlines changes/enhancements to the SolidWorks product line since the previous release.  If you have not done so, please download this PDF and walk through the areas that are most important to you.

The goal of this series is to provide a portable, audio version of the 2012 What's New, providing a quick way to evaluate new features that have been changed/added/removed in the SolidWorks product line.  We all fall victim to the "ruts" of using SolidWorks from release to release and knowing what's to come brings awareness early.

I will be releasing an additional show a week as well as the usual monthly Tech News shows (up to 3 a week) in order to cover the entire What's New PDF before FCS (First Customer Ship). Between the podcast, blog and other posts around the web, there will be no shortage of SolidWorks 2012 content to come!

Remember to check out the SolidWorks: Heard! Blog and to follow me on Twitter, Facebook and THE HEaRD!

SolidWorks:Heard! - Episode 293 - 2011 What's New - Drawings, Xpress Tools and eDrawings

2011 What's New - Drawings, Xpress Tools and eDrawings:

This podcast is an audio version of the What's New PDF included with every major release of SolidWorks. Topics covered:

DFMXpress

- Injection Molding

Drawings & Detailing

- Alignment & arrangement options

- Cut list & hole table enhancements

- GB & ANSI standards updates

- Display options for cosmetic threads, bodies, centermarks (assembly drawings)

- Orthogonal view scale

- Model colors & 3D drawings views

DriveWorksXpress

- Integrated task pane interface

eDrawings

- Display enhancements

- File Sync with SolidWorks!

- Triad manipulation & filtered search

- Native 64 bit support!

This covers chapters 9-12 of the What's New PDF which outlines changes/enhancements to the SolidWorks product line since the previous release.  If you have not done so, please download this PDF and walk through the areas that are most important to you.

The goal of this series is to provide a portable, audio version of the 2011 What's New so users can have a quick way to evaluate the features that have been changed/added/removed in SolidWorks' product line.  We all fall victim to the "ruts" of using SolidWorks and knowing what's to come brings awareness early.

I will be releasing an additional show a week as well as the usual monthly Tech News shows (up to 3 a week) in order to cover the entire What's New PDF in September before FCS (First Customer Ship). Between the podcast, blog and other posts around the web, there will be no shortage of SolidWorks 2011 content to come! ~Lou

Remember to check out the SolidWorks: Heard! Blog and to follow me on Twitter, Facebook and THE HEaRD!

SolidWorks:Heard! - Episode 277 - SolidWorks Collaboration Tools

SolidWorks Collaboration Tools:

This podcast covers collaborative tools and options within the core SolidWorks environment. Although these tools are mostly uni-directional, they still offer users ways to communicate their design data more efficiently.  Topics covered:

- Multi-user environment option

- Multi-user binded to Workgroup PDM

- Removal of the old 3D Meeting addin

- eDrawings and markups

- 3D Instant Website and hosted collaboration

- Other file formats (3DXML, 3D PDF, XPS,MTS)

- Presentation Studio & Theme Editor (Download Progressive Die Example PDF)

- Promise of SolidWorks PDS & "SolidWorks V6

Many of us forget the options that we have right inside of SolidWorks for collaborating even though many of them are what I call "half duplex" collaboration, just like email.  The creator sends the content in some form to another party for them to review and make notes and send back.  This is collaboration but only one party can respond at a time.

As engineers we tend to use a flurry of solutions to allow us to collaborate, not only in the design, but also in aspects of manufacturing, documentation as well as other parties internal and external to our companies.  In an effort to move further into "full duplex" collaboration , SolidWorks announced/previewed at SolidWorks World 2010, that development has begun on a tools built on top of Dassault's Enovia platform.  Tools like 3D Live that are built on top of Microsoft's OCS collaboration show the meld of video conferencing, screen sharing and collaborative markup, all within the design environment.  I think Olig Shilovitsky did a great summary of "How To Redefine Collaboration in PLM?", showing exactly where collaboration is heading. ~Lou

Remember to check out the SolidWorks: Heard! Blog and to follow me on Twitter, Facebook and THE HEaRD!