SolidSmack.com

Friday Smackdown: Full Canteen of Spiders

18 Jul, 2008 by Josh Mings in SMACKDOWN

I’d say it’s about like when you’re in the barn moving bails of hay and you’re suddenly surrounded by all the farm animals for no apparent reason. Yeah, these links are kinda like that.

2008 Web Design Trends – Some of you think this web design stuff is cool. This link is for you and only you, cause you’re special.
Follow Your Dream – It’s actually really easy… if you do what these guys did.
Easy Kid’s Terrarium – It’s hours of soily plant entertainment with a jar and your uninhibited creativity! Thanks DanielB!
Best of E3 2008 – THe Wired team has all the best coverage and galleries of the biggest gaming event of the year.
Working at Home – A bloggers perspective on the pros, cons and how to make it better.
Trazzler – A site to help you figure out where to travel to rid yourself of all that time and money you have.

Have more cool links or ideas for the Friday Smackdown? Hit the comments or Contact me!

More SolidWorks and AutoCAD Data Visualization on Twitter Plus Extra

17 Jul, 2008 by Josh Mings in ROCKIN'

Why, it ws only a few weeks ago we did a comparison of the Twitter talk about SolidWorks and AutoCAD. Jeff Clark at Neoformix is at it again with their stream of consciousness version that shows the density of words used in for a term over time. What do you think the most used word when discussing SolidWorks is?

“The Twitter StreamGraph shows the usage over time for the words most highly associated with the search word. One of these series together with a time period are in a selected state and coloured red.”

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Run SolidWorks on a Mac: Soft-Mod Your GeForce into a Quadro

17 Jul, 2008 by Josh Mings in CAD

run solidworks on mac Way back, in a recent post that showed all you Mac-ophiles how to use SolidWorks on a Mac a commenter named Peter Privitera was having graphics issues with his MacBook Pro when using SolidWorks.

His MacBook Pro uses a NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT video card, a low-end 512MB card that runs around $130 and up. He did a simple soft-mod (modify in software) to turn it into a beefy NVidia Quadro crankin’ beast and now has the graphics performance you would expect on a Mac.

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Feature Factory: Product Design and Architecture in SolidWorks

16 Jul, 2008 by Josh Mings in DESIGN

“That storefront looks spectacular. I’m tellin’ ya, it looks like it’s sizzlin’ right up from THE GROUND.” Yes, the colors are mesmerizing your eye holes and you grasp for word to explain how structures can seemingly float curvaceously in front of you.

Steel, screws and a little SolidWorks magic, I say, and Feature Factory has got loads of magical magic-ness – by which I mean, they’ve got some engineers, designers and fabbers that know a thing or two about creating fine architectural features using parametric modeling.
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Ask the Reader: Does 3D CAD Make You Dream in 3D?

16 Jul, 2008 by Josh Mings in DESIGN

It’s absolutely insane, I tell you. How are you suppose to get a good nights sleep when your brain is obsessing about the intricacies of how to model inventive new products?

I wonder what it is that makes us bring our 3D models into our ~~nightmares~~ dreams. Is it the challenge? the hours? subliminal messages in the software? EVIL mice using radiating surface features to manipulate our brainwaves. hmmm…the dreams are now affecting my sanity.

This happens from time to time for me. It’s usually when I’m very involved with how I’m creating a design in SolidWorks or when I’ve been looking into the depths of the design for hours. What’s cool are the dreams where I feel like I’m floating around the model. Ok, I’m getting a little personal about my possible psychosis. Hit the comments and make me feel not so alone in my 3D altered reality. bless you.

^{Image Credit: BabyGene.net}

SpaceClaim, SolidEdge, Inventor: User Interface A-Go-Go

15 Jul, 2008 by Josh Mings in NEWS

Funny thing, these 3D CAD user interfaces. I figured I’d spare you any 2008/09 SolidWorks interface opinions and show you what the other CAD companies are doing. It looks like some are getting a little inspiration from each other, but really it just the onslaught of Ribbon bar bliss brought about by Microsoft and their Office 2007 program interfaces.

Think about it, how much can you really do with a the top left corner of a CAD program? Here’s the three – SpaceClaim, Siemens SolidEdge and AutoDesk Inventor.

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SolidSmack Cornered: Questioned About Future of 3D CAD

14 Jul, 2008 by Josh Mings in NEWS

Lou Gallo of SolidWorks Heard (twitter) has apparently recorded a recent phone conversation between us and has put it up online so that all my glean my mildly incoherent ramblings.

I told my friend Alex Ruiz that my voice sounds like a conversation between Kermit the frog and miss piggy, but in actually, it sounds more like I’m tired and have a deviated septum. Of course, we’re all critics of ourselves and I’m one of the worst.

I wish Lou and I had more time to talk about the future of CAD stuff. I’m interested in how CAD is developing in context of web technology changing the way 3D applications are used. I’ll get into that later in some highly-interesting and somewhat speculative articles that will not be boring unless you just absolutely hate that kind of stuff.

In the meantime, listen to the podcast (Episode 161) and tell me what I need to do to improve my interviewing skills. So far, I’m at… 1) don’t walk while talking so you don’t sound like you’re out of breathe and 2) get some sleep the night before.

The SolidWorks Ninja Guide to Reducing Drawing Views

14 Jul, 2008 by Josh Mings in CAD

Your SolidWorks drawings are standing out in the open like a very large and overly dressed target of 3D ninja violence. Hey, I’m just sayin. It’s actually a secret society of defected and very agitated ANSI and ISO standard authors that have passed this info on to me.

Your fancy drawing is filled with more views than you can throw a 6-pointed shuriken at and that is exactly what we’re going to do, but real secret ninja-like. PREPARE TO WITNESS, the 5 ninjas to unveil a righteous fury upon your drawings.
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SolidSmack Goes Comment Crazy, Uses Disqus Commenting System

11 Jul, 2008 by Josh Mings in NEWS

You may start to see some changes around the trusty ol’ SolidSmack site. For one, I’ve integrated the Disqus commenting system into the site. Sound fancy? It is, and it’s got some cool features that will make commenting 100% more fun than before.

I’m using the Disqus commenting system for a few reasons, but mostly because I think you’ll get the most value out of it and make the conversations even more meaningful, and who doesn’t want a meaningful conversation, huh?

Features include:

threaded comments
email & mobile posting
track and subscribe to comments
comment ratings
comment flagging
export your comments
and video commenting

I’m using a the Disqus WordPress plugin that was super easy to install. I had everything configured and was up and running in about 5 minutes. You’ll see the comments on old post with no comments as well as new posts (like this one).

You have the option of creating a user profile or commenting unverified. If you do create a Disqus profile you get to show off a photo in your comment and join in on the social network features and really, just enjoy it all a whole lot more. Here’s my Disqus profile.

So go ahead and test it out by leaving a comment below. Let me know what you think and if any features need to be added. Thanks!

Friday Smackdown: I Eat Atoms

11 Jul, 2008 by Josh Mings in SMACKDOWN

Really, are you saying you squeezed a blueberry between your elbows and created anti-matter? I believe sir, that you are a natural energy source. Please attach these links, it won’t hurt a bit.

Texture Showcase – Wow, textures can be downright dangerous to play with in design, but when used like some of these sites, the look can be really cool.
How much you need to retire – figure it out here, don’t forget about the boat and the trips to Cancun in the fall. (via Lifehacker)
HealthCare For All Comparison – Everyone want better healthcare and a free oil change, but sometimes it’s not so free.
gAttach – Send attachments from gMail without uploading. One more step in moving away from Microsoft Outlook.
Gallery of sawn-in-half camera – Ya like cutaways? Check out these cameras that have all their internals sliced just so you can see how they work.
How to Make a Burning Laser Flashlight – Try this at home, but wear safety glasses or something and maybe a fire retardant suit.
LinkBamPow! – Upload up to 100MB for free and set the self-destruct to destroy all traces of your sharing.
Franz Lanting Talks – He’s a photographer and great story-teller. Scoble got him on camera here.
Skout – A HUGE slew of resources for those interesting people who like design. Ya got Fonts, Colors, Photos and Tutorial and a ton more.

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