View your SolidWorks files on your Iphone or Android device.

Posted on May 10, 2012 by Lars Christensen

The Glovius App might just have become my new favorite SolidWorks cloud toy.

SolidWorks announced last week that eDrawings is now available to be fired up on your Ipad through the Apple App store, but how about some 3D fun on your Iphone or Android smartphone?

The name is Glovius…(Need to be said in a deep voice)

Glovius runs on Ipad, Iphone and Android devices,.I have to make make it clear that this product is only a viewer, and therefor not as powerful as the eDrawing App. for the Ipad.


Start…
To upload models to your device, create a free account on Babel3D.com, pretty standard and easy signup. Then upload your 3D files and select “Mobile” as the output format.

Notice that it states that not all files can be uploaded as there is a size restriction on up to 50 MB.

The functions…

  • Pinch to zoom in
  • Use single finger drag to rotate
  • Use two finger drag to pan
  • Use thumb & index figure to roll
  • Double tap the screen to return to the model’s Home view.

Beside SolidWorks, this App also supports SketchUp, 3DS, OBJ, STEP, IGES, JT, CATIA V5, Pro/ENGINEER, NX, Autodesk Inventor & STL file formats.

Best part…

The coolest thing is that you get 10 free translations when you register at Babel3D.com. Subsequent translations are charged at $0.99 per file.

What else can I say, go ahead and play :-) .

This is what you need…

Apple:Compatible with iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 & iPhone 4S, iPad 1 & 2 and iPod Touch running iOS 4.3 or higher.

Android:Requires Android 2.2 and up. Extensively tested on Motorola Xoom, Google Nexus S, Samsung Galaxy S & Galaxy S II, Motorola Defy & Droid/Milestone.

Website:http://www.glovius.com/

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5 Productive SolidWorks Tips (REV-17)

Posted on February 27, 2012 by Lars Christensen

5 SolidWorks Tips that may possible be helpful kick starting your 3D day.

1.You can create blocks from commonly used sketches and easily reuse them in sketches, drawings, and models to quickly copy a sketch.

2.Use the Sketch Picture command to insert a reference image into a sketch.

3.Pressing the G key to display the magnifying glass.

4.You can use derived sketch to copy an existing sketch into several locations.

5.You can click Window, New Window to open a new instance of the file you are viewing. You can now use one window to zoom in for precision work and see it update in the other window.

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How to add your custom strategy right into CAMWorks techdb

Posted on February 23, 2012 by Lars Christensen


One of the awesome things about CAMWorks is that you can make it your own.
In this post we are going to do a step-by-step video on how you can create custom strategies, so you can easily throw your preferred toolpaths at your features. It is also talking about how you easily can control when CAMWorks is attacking hole diameters.

Be Prepared…
I always recommend that you do a backup of your technology database. As I stated in this video, How to save back your shop knowledge to CAMWorks TechDb I have never seen the database go corrupt, but I have made stupid alterations to my database that made a backup at hand priceless.

Get some strategy in…
Lets stuff some custom strategies and knowledge into that database, shall we?

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SolidWorks World 2012…The final big stage.

Posted on February 20, 2012 by Lars Christensen

Sitting back in the snow covered Upstate New York, it is time to wrap up the 4 day tour to SolidWorks World 2012 in San Diego California.

(Previous SolidWorks World 2012 posts SolidWorks World 2012…Hold up your rookie card ~ SolidWorks World 2012…Sunday: Partner Pavilion and Fabulous Tweetup ~ SolidWorks World 2012…The Midway:The boat and the conference)

Like I stated in my 1st post, I have never heard anyone complaining about that it is that time of year again. SolidWorks is defiantly more than capable to throw a awesome engineering event, and I can assure you that I will do my best to attend next years event in Orlando Florida.

The 3D Experience…
As I am tearing up my rookie card I have concluded that SolidWorks World is a 4 stage event.
1). SolidWorks gets to address a few thousand of their users, their reseller channel and the imported press. With CEO Bertrand Sicot, Dassault’s(The mother company)CEO Bernard Charlès and former SolidWorks CEO Jeff Ray all present at the event. My general take from this events general messages “We are looking out in the feature…”(The next generation CAD) “We will continuing developing…”(The current generation CAD).

2). Technical break-out sessions. I believe I read at one point that there was 150 sessions available for conference attendees. These sessions are presented by SolidWorks employees, reseller application engineers, SolidWorks bloggers and SolidWorks power users. The amount of tips & tricks and priceless SolidWorks knowledge a user can obtain here is simply magnificent.

3). Partner Pavilion. SolidWorks has a big trunk of products that runs inside or right along with SolidWorks. The partner pavilion gives attendees an opportunity to see how possible to enhance their business with these add-on’s. Here is a link for the partners from SolidWorks Partner Site

4). SolidWorks and their partners gets to throw their users some social get together and networking opportunities.

Wednesday, the final and most exciting…
The final day is when SolidWorks announces what is in the horizon for next years release. SolidWorks is not disappointing when it comes to adding new features to their product. Ricky Jordan has done a fantastic job covering this years SolidWorks World. His SolidWorks World 2013 Sneak Peek does an excellent job covering what SolidWorks is working on. rickyjordan.com on SolidWorks 2013 Sneak Peek

Picture worth a 1000 words, video then equals…
To wrap it all up I came across these fabulous videos created by the Solidbox team.

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SolidWorks World 2012…The Midway:The boat and the conference

Posted on February 15, 2012 by Lars Christensen

I have made it past the halfway mark of this fantastic event. As in my last blog post I am going to cheat. I am just going to hand you pictures (The 1000 word thing, right :-) ). and throw some comments in there.

General Sessions
The general sessions are fantastic. Over 5000 people entering what feels like a rock concert.


CSWE/CSWP Event
On an aircraft carrier. Wow how awesome! The Midway has served in Korea and Desert Storm. The evening was fantastic. Just a heads up, we are some that need to get our certification going. Next year this event will only be for CSWE… Cutting the heard from this years 800 attendees.




Presentations…
Then of course there is all the presentations. This is defiantly where most people get their moneys worth. I got my presentation out of the way “Dumb Solids: How to make them your friend in SolidWorks”. The session was recorded, and should be available later this spring on SolidWorks website.
I have to thank everyone who took time out of their busy schedule and attended. I am so grateful.
I also had a chance to sit in on one of Jeff Sweeney’s presentations on EPDM, Simply fantastic. And also attended one of Charles Culp’s presentations, Awesome.


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SolidWorks World 2012…Sunday: Partner Pavilion and Fabulous Tweetup

Posted on February 13, 2012 by Lars Christensen

Good morning
As my eastern standard ~apparently well adjusted~ body things 4am. is rise and shine on a Monday morning. Tooo early to really give a good and well thought encounter of my 1st. SolidWorks World Sunday afternoon and evening. I thought I would do the old trick of a picture is worth a 1000 words, and attach as few comments along the way.

The Partner Pavilion opens…
I am sure you have been to a car show or maybe even a trade show in the past. A lot of sparkling lights and smiling faces. The SolidWorks World Partner Pavilion is located a couple of floors above that. If you walk in here with any thought of CAM on your mind, you are for sure going to have a big smile on your face. Simplest way to say it is that they are all here.










I did not have time to talk to each of them, and some of them defiantly deserve a revisit. But one thing is for sure, these people came prepared and ready to show some cool stuff.
There is of course many other partner product here at SolidWorks World, luckily for this rookie I have a few more days, and therefore also more Partner Pavilion stuff I can share here. :-)

Fabulous Tweetup…

I have learned from reading all the great SolidWorks blogs in the past that it is not just what happens at the convention center that makes this the huge success of an event. 8:00pm at Hilton and the opportunity to meet old and new faces from the social media tool twitter.

Ya! I’m @Lars_cadcam on twitter but be careful of following me there, as Mr.Gebo, SolidWorks Eastern User Group Representative and last years SolidWorks User Group leader of the year experienced, I am the guy who want to shake your hand and say hi once or twice :-) . You have to promise me that if you are here at world, you will say hello if our path crosses.

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SolidWorks World 2012…Hold up your rookie card

Posted on February 9, 2012 by Lars Christensen

So the question for you is how many times have you been to SolidWorks World?…2…4…8…or are you like me, a 1st timer…Newbie…The Rookie.

If you are going you are in for a treat. How do I know?…Well, I have never heard anyone complaining about that it is that time of year again.
Seasoned SolidWorks bloggers, forum users and User Group attendees praising this yearly event.
Not going?…sorry…The good news is that this event is always greatly covered. My intention is to shot a couple of blog post while I am there. Especially am I excited about the CAD/CAM goodness Im preparing to face in the partner pavilion. They are all there, Mastercam, Delcam, CAMWorks, Solidcam, HSMWorks etc.
So why am I there…
Because my employer, CADimensions, is willing to fly me across the entire continent and on top of that provide a comfortable bed.

To add to that I will also be challenging my rookie trip by doing a presentation at this years event.

Now I would actually never ask you to spend your valuable time attending my presentation, but please promise me that if you spot that face in the crowd you will come and say hello.
Did I say that I have a couple give a ways doing my presentation?… :-)

If you are going I surly hope we get a chance to meet. If not, as I stated earlier this event is very well covered. Picking through the blogroll to the right you will for sure find a lot of good content. I will also be tweeting @Lars_cadcam and that will filter to Facebook and linkedIn.

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5 Productive SolidWorks Tips (REV-16)

Posted on January 30, 2012 by Lars Christensen

5 SolidWorks Tips that may possible be helpful kick starting your 3D day.

1.Click the Show in Folder icon next to recent documents in the File menu to browse to their location.

2.You can pin files in the recently used documents list in the File menu.

3.You can pre select a specific entity type (e.g. faces, edges) and then use the Select All command (Ctrl+A) to select all instances of that entity.

4.You can change a documents units directly from the status bar.

5.You can Auto Insert Center Marks for all holes, fillets, or slots in an entire view.

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How to save back your shop knowledge to CAMWorks TechDb

Posted on January 26, 2012 by Lars Christensen

The truth is that there is about 6-8 serious CAM program creators on the market. They are all trying to make a product that fits every CAM programmers needs. It is also a fact that every CAM programmer have their own preferable way of doing things.

One of the things that can really rock your toolpaths in CAMWorks is when you start adding your knowledge to the customizible database.
As a new user it is hard learning a new CAM product while you still are having a “every minute growing” work load to deal with, so luckly you don’t have learn how to customize your database in CAMWorks to start with. It will run fine out of the box.

However if you are looking to make some of those 1′s and 0′s in you computer help making your day easier (~It is ok being lazy with this kind of stuff when working with CAD and CAM~), getting to know your CAMWorks database will be some good time invested.
We are going to deal with some blog post in the future showing some of the neat things that can be stuffed into that CAMWorks database. Today we are going to go through the simple steps of getting some of the repetitious stuff out of the way.
The skinny is that Operation sequences and parameters for each unique feature is stored in the Technology Database, such as you depth of cut, step over distance, lead in/lead out etc. When the Generate Operations command is run, the operation sequence and associated parameters are extracted for the matching feature condition found in the Technology Database and then added to the CAMWorks Operation tree.

The cool thing is…
The way cool thing is, as you will see in this video, you can stuff some of your knowledge and experience into those fancy sequences and parameters.

Conclusion…
So if you have CAMWorks on that CAM machine of yours, I’ll recommend you start putting your thumbprint on some of that CAM data of yours :-)

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5 Productive SolidWorks Tips (REV-15)

Posted on January 23, 2012 by Lars Christensen

5 SolidWorks Tips that may possible be helpful kick starting your 3D day.

1.You can specify the defalt line font for many types of drawing items. Click Tools, Options, Document Properties, Line Font.

2.A sketch has a minus in front of its name in the FeatureManager desing tree if it is under defined, and a plus sign if it is over defined.

3.If you drag a part into the the FeatureManager design tree of an assembly, the origin of the part is made coincident with the assembly origin, and the planes of the part are aligned with the assembly planes.

4.When lofting between similar profiles, it is often useful to copy the sketches. Select the sketch from the FeatureManager design tree, or select one of the entities and use Ctrl-C to copy it. Then select a plane or planar face and use Ctrl-V to paste the sketch.

5.You can zoom to Fit by pressing the ‘F’ key.

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