Innova's SolidWorks Blogspot

I frequently get asked in demo's to explain how we can help customers manage their legacy 2D data after they switch to SolidWorks. Whilst it was fresh in my mind, i thought I'd write a brief blog to explain what's what.

Visit the DWGgateway website and watch the short demo video which explains it all.

In a nutshell, there are three products:

DWGGateway - allows to to open and save in almost all versions of AutoCAD
eDrawings - for viewing native DWG/DXF's
DWGEditor - edit any DWG/DXF just like you would in AutoCAD

Hopefully you'll never need to use AutoCAD again [much applause!]. But best yet, all these products are free!

Alan

It’s that time of year again that we invite our subscription customers to our annual launch event of SolidWorks.

Due to the popularity of the venue last year, we’re holding it at Duxford Imperial War museum again. This time it’s a half day event, finishing off with a buffet lunch (last year’s food was spot on, so the food alone is a good reason to attend!)

The first presentation will begin at 9:30, then a mid-morning coffee break, another session taking us up to lunch. The presentations will be given by Justin Burton, SW UK Technical Manager, and in the breaks you’ll get a chance to meet the Innova team and discuss SolidWorks (or anything else you please!) with us.

The date for your diary is Friday 30th October. Doors open at 8:30.

If you’ve not regisitered via our mailshot already, visit here to confirm.

Look forward to seeing you there. Alan

The news is full of stories about how much of a negative impact we’ve made on our planet. As a designer you may be unaware of just how much difference you can make! Imagine about how a run of 10,000 injection moulded parts could impact the environment throughout their lifecycle. Your design decisions could be significant....

With SolidWorks 2010, you will now have a tool called Sustainability Express, to help understand the impact of your design. Using a simple dashboard interface, you can see how your choice of material and manufacturing process will affect the environment in a number of key areas(shown in the diagram left).

Even if saving the environment isn’t your thing, you can use the great tool called ‘Find Similar Material’ for other reasons. Sustainability Express will compare the physical properties of your current material to its database, and suggest comparable materials to consider. You may be able to save cost, weight AND the environment.

This will be available in SW2010 SP1, or is currently downloadable as an add-in to SW2009 from SolidWorks Labs.

Alan

When Microsoft launched Vista, it looked like a slick OS - what with being able to flick between windows Apple-style and other flashy things like that. But in reality, many people have commented to us that using Vista for much more than general office tasks has been a bit of an unsatisfactory experience.

Many of our customers are using SolidWorks on Vista, but we’ve held back here at Innova, and recommended XP when we’ve been asked about spec-ing a pc.

Out of curiosity, we’ve been using a pre-release version of Windows 7 on a laptop to run SolidWorks 2010 Beta. We even lent this out to a customer, and he said how great it was!

Windows 7 is officially launched on 22nd October, and SolidWorks 2010 SP1 will be certified for use on this platform. I am definitely going to use it as my main OS...

Please visit here for clarification of system requirements to run SolidWorks.

Alan

3DVIA is a tool SolidWorks launched this year for creating interactive technical documentation (user manuals, assembly manuals, service guides – think of flat pack furniture instructions).

Now you can download an app for your iPhone so you can take a picture, and insert a digital model from 3DVIA.com.

Whether it’s just for fun, or to mock-up ideas to show in a meeting, the app is a great way to get 3DVIA out to the masses. Here I am in the office with a dinosaur!

Download the app for free (for a limited time):
Get the app

To find out about 3DVIA for SolidWorks:
Info on 3DVIA

Alan