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Archive for August, 2010

GrabCAD. Pot Pie Squeezin’ 3D Model Excitment for Your Grabby Little Hands.

31 Aug, 2010 by Josh Mings in RESOURCES
3D Human CAD Models

I bet you’re squeezing a giant pot pie into your mouth right now. I am. In fact it’s one of my favorite things to do while sharing and discussing 3D models amongst friends. GrabCAD is where it’s all happening.

We covered GrabCAD when it first came on the scene as a place to outsource your design ideas. They’ve grown, adjusted, sprouted some fat ol’ love handles of the 3D modeling variety and have now, become a place to share your models. At it’s heart, it’s a community and, I believe, adding some much needed simplicity to sharing models.

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Autodesk Slams CAD on the Mac OS X. Plus AutoCAD for iPhone and iPad

30 Aug, 2010 by Josh Mings in NEWS

Well, blow my everloving mind out of the water. You won’t see the PR till Tuesday, but the New York Times just scooped the whole CAD industry on the news.

AutoCAD for Apple Mac is here. Not only that, the scaled down version, AutoCAD WS, is here for the iPhone and the iPad. We’ve not got the brief, video or screenshots of what it looks like yet, but needless to say, this has been a longtime CAD on the Mac fiend desire. The OS X version releases October for $3,995. Free mobile versions for iPhone, iPad and iPod to follow.

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Friday Smackdown: Buckle Your Bread

27 Aug, 2010 by Josh Mings in SMACKDOWN

Once you’re able to buckle the bread ends down sufficiently, it’s all a matter of how you apply the jelly. In this case, you’ll need a shovel, a big one, and these links.

Brent Nolasco – No portfolio, but his blog is filled with much of his amazing acrylic paintings and vinyl/resin customs.
Linguistics puzzles – I know you’re in the mood to decipher how to say ‘little beetle’ in Agta. These are actually fun… and challenging.
How authors really make money – Tim Ferriss and Seth Godin lay it all out. You might be surprised.
M8 Avenger Assault Rifle – The prop. And how it was created by Volpin props… it took a little time.
Cross Country – Just a short journey ‘cross the U.S. documented horizontally in a series of photos.
Google Realtime Search – It’s here. What’s here? Realtime search results. Misinformation as it happens.
Base Jump – Breath hold. Deepest Blue Hole in the world. Jump. Amazing.

SolidWorks 2011 Launch. 6 Day, 8 Hours, 3 Minutes and 30 seconds.

25 Aug, 2010 by Josh Mings in NEWS

If you look at the image to the left (and the larger version after the jump) you’ll see a bunch of tiny people mulling about the large appendage like structure in front of them. Little do they know that beneath the crumpled paper lies the number… 2011… that in 6 days… will… transform and DEVOUR ALL OF THEIR SOULS!

…or , you know, will simply mark the day in which SolidWorks 2011 is launched. Just check SolidWorksLaunch.com. Now, don’t read this wrong. SolidWorks 2011 isn’t shipping next week.

It’s currently in Beta 3, but you will start being barraged with unreasonable amounts of coverage, including a wee bit from SolidSmack. Have something you’re wondering about the next version?

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How To Convert Your PDF To AutoCAD DWG… For Free.

25 Aug, 2010 by Josh Mings in RESOURCES

There are times in our life when we stand behind a wall, peek around the corner and snicker at someone pulling dimensions off a PDF document to sketch out a part. The tears roll down their overworked cheeks. If only they could convert the PDF to an .dwg file.

They can. It use to be that you had to take a PDF into Adobe Illustrator and export a .dxf file to get usable data out of the PDF file. That is no longer the case thanks to a handy little site called, wait for it… ConvertPDFtoAutoCAD.com. It’s different from other options in that it’s completely web-based.

All it requires is the PDF file, an email to send the converted file to and an attitude that says, “I’m gonna convert the PDF and you can’t stop ME!” It’s fast too. Here’s a quick look.

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ARES Commander. First 2D CAD on the Mac Released. DraftSight Next?

24 Aug, 2010 by Josh Mings in NEWS

Deep outta the heart of Berlin, Germany comes news for the user who enjoys the planar bliss of X and Y coordinates… and wears a shirt that say, “I do it on a Mac.”

Everyone down with 2D alternatives to AutoCAD knew that Graebert was working on a version of their ARES Commander product for the Mac. Well, today they released it. The first native DWG based, AutoCAD 2010 bangin’ CAD cutter on the market. They’re excited. So excited, they’ve got a special deal going that will shock the Mac user who is used to dishing out the dough for ultimate cool status. Oh, and there’s more.

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Don’t Throw-up, You Now Have Two Options for Online CAD Stores.

23 Aug, 2010 by Josh Mings in RESOURCES

I know, I know. You get so giddy thinking about shopping, you just totally lose it. Then someone mentions shopping for CAD products, and you go completely nuts and lose control of your stomach juices.

You may start to feel the gurgle yet again though. In the past you had but one option, Novedge. Their selection has become massive. However, there is now a little competition on the scene. Today, the TenLinks network, launched CAD Depot. It’s a lot of 2D but there are tidbits for SolidWorks, Rhino and other programs. Let’s shop…

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Siemens Slams SolidSmack with Questions. This is What I Said.

23 Aug, 2010 by Josh Mings in NEWS

A couple months ago I went to Siemens PLMConx Event. It was a magical time filled with magical talk about PLM, Solid Edge, NX, curling irons, highlight techniques and ways to deal with split ends… I may be getting two events mixed up, but whatever the case, Mrs. Dora Smith was on the hunt to get a video interview with me.

I cleverly (unknowingly) evaded such an activity by diving behind people larger than myself. I could not, however, avoid questions via email.

So, if you’re interested in the slightest about why I blog, what’s open on my desktop or what really happens at these events, give it a read. You can hammer the Q&A goodness into your oculars at the Siemens PLM Blog. Oh, by the way, Dora asks several questions about Twitter. If you’re interested, you can follow me @solidsmack.

Friday Smackdown: The Nillies

20 Aug, 2010 by Josh Mings in SMACKDOWN

That, my friend, is a mighty fine curd. May I ask, how does one mix breakbeats and bebop with coagulated milk? Ahhh, with two pointy nubs you say? and these links?! Brilliant!

Pablo Vicentin – He’s got some 3D, but what’s exceptional is the characters and composition of his 2D work.
Grahpic.ly – Comics where ever you want, plus a cool mix on social. Multi-platform too.
10 free web design books – I was skeptical about these at first, but some of them have great info. Getting Real is a must read.
EpicWin – The iPhone app that turns your to-do list into a super cool role playing game. Get it done.
Inception parodies – Absolute best, from Inebriation to… Dora the explorer? Yes. Become even more confused.
Japansese bananas – You’ll love it if this guy shows up at your house and shoots bananas out his nose into your lap.
3D Waterfall Street Art – Created over three days in Moscow while harmful smoke from nearby forest fires surround them.

Paint A Rainbow On Your SolidWorks Assembly. Multi-Colored Macro Follow-up.

19 Aug, 2010 by Josh Mings in CAD

A mere month ago we asked y’all how to go about slapping color across parts in SolidWorks. Unless you have a program to apply a random color to a part when you put it in an assembly, they all have the same curiously drab color. That’s not the diverse kind of 3D modeling world we want to live in, now is it? We need color.

So, you responded with a lot of great options and Guilherme C. Webster sent in one that not only added color to parts in an assembly, but also added color to multibodies in a part. Rock. and. ROLL.

Very nice Guilherme, and a huge thanks to everyone who contributed to the conversation. If you missed it there’s some great macro hackin’ fun in the comments for randomized color. Here are the results you’ll get with the macro and the macro to download and play with yourself. As you see it even works with virtual parts. Aw yeah.

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