St. Louis Here I Come

  About a month ago I was asked if I could present a PhotoWorks and RealView session at the St. Louis SolidWorks User Group quarterly meeting.  After some arm twisting and my list of demands were met I finally gave in. :)  OK, it didn't quite go down like that.  I actually jumped at the chance to do a little traveling and network with some fresh SolidWorks faces.  It turns out I'll be the main attraction for the meeting and they've given me a whole 2 hours to "walk the walk" and "talk the talk."  Here's a description of the session.

PhotoWorks, the photorealistic rendering add-in for SolidWorks, gives SolidWorks users the ability to bring designs to life before their even manufactured.  They say an image is worth a thousand words and this is true whether you’re trying to sell a finished product to the consumer, conduct a design review or brainstorm concepts.  PhotoWorks turns SolidWorks models into photo quality images for a variety of uses some of which include marketing promotions, brochures, website graphics, trade show banners, advertising images, realistic animations and more.  PhotoWorks 2008: Photo finish will be a presentation exploring the different methods and techniques used to create a photo realistic rendering of your SolidWorks model.  During the session we’ll step through the creation of a rendering starting from the raw SolidWorks model and finishing with a photograph.  Topics covered will include RealView, appearances, lighting, environment setup, scene setup, camera control, render to file options and lots of tips & tricks along the way.  The session is meant to be interactive so bring your questions.  Leverage my experience as a seasoned PhotoWorks user to help you create better renderings.

If you're going to be in the St. Louis area on Wednesday July, 16th and you've always wanted the skinny on PhotoWorks you should plan to attend this meeting.  I'll also have the 2008 PhotoWorks and Motion Manager guide on hand for those of you who'd like to thumb through the pages before you purchase a copy.  See you Wednesday :)

Some Things Were Meant To Go Together

There are some things in life that are just meant to go together.  Peanut butter & jelly, leather and motorcycle's and beta testing & bugs to name a few.  Now we can add to the list the 2008 PhotoWorks Step By Step Guide and 2008 Motion Manger Step By Step Guide.  That's right,  I now have both guides available for purchase at my website. 

Why do they go together you ask?  I find people doing renderings also create animations and combining PhotoWorks and the Motion Manager in Solidworks allows you to create some really nice fully rendered animations.  It's all about product and design visualization.  If the old saying, "a picture is worth a thousand words" is true then an fully rendered animation might be priceless.

Having co-authored the PhotoWorks Guide I've already devoted a couple of posts to the content of that book.  Unfortunately I had absolutely zero involvement in the Motion Manager Guide so I won't really be able to elaborate on the books content.  I have posted a information page for the 2008 Motion Manger Step By Step Guide showing the the first page of each chapter so you can have an idea of what's inside.  While I haven't gone through the guide page by page just thumbing through you'll learn everything from using the Motion Manager wizard, to controlling the timeline, to controlling your view and setting up multiple cameras, to using physical simulations & physical dynamics, to using mates and creating walk throughs.  The guide is about 190 pages devoted solely to the Motion Manager and of course includes a content CD.

You're free to purchase the guides individually or if you'd like to save a few dollars on shipping I've set up a bundled option.

Left Them Smoldering

The votes are in and counted and one entry has left the others smoldering.  We had a number of previous PhotoWorks Contest winners enter the June contest.  Some great prizes and the first contest to award prizes to 1st, 2nd and 3rd places expanded the entries to chose from for June.  Lin Shaodun, who has the distinction of wining the most PhotoWorks contests had an entry.  Pawel Keska has won his fair share of contests as well and then there was Matthew Sass who won the "cobra contest" a few months back and had his image published in Matt Lombard's surfacing book.  This is some pretty stiff competition but that didn't scare off Rob Mitchell.  Rob's creative image showing his firetruck melting away in disbelief of the fire fighter was good enough to not only win 1st place but a 3D Connexion Space Navigator as well.  Nice job Rob!

Balic Dalibor has entered contests in the pasts but this was his first winning entry.  Balic's image portrayed a firetruck shooting water on a cigarette and earned him a SolidWorks World backpack.  Both Rob and Balic's images would have made Smokey Bear proud.

Lin Shaodun's 3rd place image showed a fire truck powered by Synchronous Technology moments away from being crushed by SolidWorks SWIFT robots. It's rumored Matt Lombard has a printed version of the image hanging in his office.  For 3rd place Lin will receive a copy of the 2008 PhotoWorks Step By Step Guide, although I'm not sure he'll need it. :)

Thanks to everyone who participated (both submitting images and voting) in the contest. 

For the July contest we're using a rather unique model.  About a month ago SolidWorks released the DaVinci Cart video at their Real Genius website.  The website goes into detail about a self propelled cart designed by Leonardo DaVinci long before CAD ever existed.  DaVinci's design was recreated in SolidWorks for the website and I thought both the design and model were pretty cool.  I also thought it would be tough to render since it's constructed of iron and wood.  So, check out the video to gain a little history on the cart and download the model to get your rendering started.

Who'll Put Out The Fire?

The fire trucks have rolled in and voting for the June PhotoWorks Rendering Contest has begun.  Thirteen entries offer a variety of colors, composition and creativity in their quest for one of the top 3 spots.  There's even one image that would make Matt Lombard happy :)  Since the June contest will have 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners it's important you vote for the THREE images you like the best.  Only you can decide who'll put out the fire!

SolidWorks ~ From Cradle to Grave

There's a new SolidWorks blog on the scene.  SolidWorks ~ from cradle to grave is the work of Jason Cooper.  Jason sent me an e-mail a few weeks back inviting me to view his new SolidWorks based blog.  Once I arrived I noticed a couple sentences letting everyone know myself and fellow SolidWorks blogger Josh Mings had helped to inspire Jason to start his blog.  Of course this made me want to dig a bit deeper to find out what Jason and his blog are all about.

Seems Jason  has a passion for SolidWorks, design and has learned both by getting his hands dirty on the job.  This resonated with me since that's basically the path I've followed through life.  I've always learned more by doing than reading and pride myself on not being afraid of jumping in with both feet even though I maybe over my head.  Jason designs store displays for a variety of items like magazines, bottles, cans, etc.  Turns out he's a fellow PhotoWorks user and shows a number of his renderings on the blog.  In his most recent posts Jason does some "reality blogging".  What is "reality blogging" you ask.  Well, I just made it up but it's like reality TV except done with pictures and text rather than video.  In his reality blogging Jason goes into detail about some of his latest design projects.  They are worth checking out since I'm sure most of you can relate to the events he describes.

When you have a few free moments give Jason's blog a look.  I know I'll be checking in with him from time to time.

Bloggers Do Like To Have Fun.

I'm sure most of you think the SolidWorks bloggers do nothing but eat, breath and sleep SolidWorks.  My wife would tell you this is true but in actuality SolidWorks is only part of the life of a SolidWorks blogger.  This post is going to show a bit of the FUN part.

My entire life I've always had a weakness for toys.  Not the toys you'd find at Toys R Us but the kind you'd find at your local power sports dealer.  Snowmobiles, watercraft, ATV's, motorcycles, all things commonly referred to as "big boy toys".  I currently own a 2005 Ski-Doo REV X 600 HO snowmobile.  I'm a snowmobile nut and I'd typically be able to ride about 3000 miles a winter but weather conditions and time restraints have limited my riding opportunities the last couple of years :(.  Since I really haven't been able to get my "toy" fix during the winter lately I decided to purchase a motorcycle a couple years back.  My bike is a Harley Davidson 1200 Sportster Custom.  The bike was a good decision because the price of gas is currently insane and the bike gets 54 mpg.  I also love the feel of the open road and the bike riding season is longer than the sled riding season.

When you're a "toy" lover you're never really satisfied with the toys you have.  You either look for ways to modify your toy to make it better or you watch for what the "hot" new toy will be.  I've been watching a product which I felt might be considered a "hot new toy" for a couple of years.  The toy in question is the Can-Am Spyder.  The Spyder is a 3 wheeled motorcycle type vehicle formally called an open roadster by BRP, the parent company of Can-Am.  BRP is also the parent company of Ski-Doo snowmobiles which is how I learned about the Spyder.  In essence the Spyder is really a snowmobile with the skis and track replaced by wheels.  At least that's how I would describe it :). 

Until this weekend the Spyder was something I'd read about over and over in brochures, magazine reviews and of course on the web. Since the first production run of 4000 Spyders was early this spring you can imagine a Spyder sighting is rare. I'd never had the chance to see the real thing until today.  Today I was able to demo ride a Spyder along with about 50 other people.  How was it?  Awesome!  The Sypder has the open road feeling of a bike and it's a whole lot easier to ride.  It rides as smooth as a car, handles a corner like a snowmobile with no ski lift and is really a lot of fun to ride.  My only complaint.  I would have liked a little more power :)  So the ultimate question, "would I buy a Spyder"?  Tough to say.  You never can tell what a toy lover will do next :)

3D Connexion Space Navigator Up For Grabs!

With all the excitement of 2009 Beta testing some of you may have missed the previous announcement about the June PhotoWorks Rendering Contest.  I thought I'd repost the announcement as a friendly reminder and give you plenty of time to create and submit your rendering.  The original announcement can be found below but what you really need to know is:

1. You have 12 days remaining to submit your entry (June 27th is the last day).
2. For the first time the PhotoWorks Contest will have 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners.
3. The model for the contest is from the 2008 PhotoWorks Step By Step Guide.
4. 1st place takes home a 3D Connexion Space Navigator.

To coincide with the release of the 2008 PhotoWorks Step By Step Guide I have a special PhotoWorks Rendering Contest planned for June!

The 2008 PhotoWorks Step By Step Guide teaches you how to create the "fire truck" image to the left.  We'll be using the fire truck model for the June PhotoWorks Rendering Contest.   The goal is not to match or copy the image from the PhotoWorks Guide. The goal, as it is every month, is to create your best image for the contest.  The "fire truck" image from the guide is only an example of an image that could be created from the model.

Now the best part, with a special contest comes special prizes.  For the June contest we'll have (3) winners, first, second and third place.  Each of the top three images as voted upon by visitor's to the web site will receive a prize.

First place will receive a 3D Connexion Space Navigator (courtesy of SolidWorks)




Second place will receive a SolidWorks World backpack which fits a 17" laptop very nicely. (courtesy of the SolidWorks user Group network)

Third place will receive a copy of the 2008 PhotoWorks Step By Step Guide (courtesy of Axis CAD Solutions LLC.)

Sounds exciting, right!  I think so :).  Visit www.robrodriguez.com, download the model for the June contest and get cracking on your image.  Your prizes await!  Good luck.

2009 Beta Starts Today!

It's here!  The SolidWorks 2009 Beta Program starts today (Monday June 9th).  If you've already been to the beta page to download the software and it's not there don't worry.  The beta guys have a habit of posting the download late in the day.  That's probably a good thing since the 2008 beta was something like a 1.2 GIG download (yes I said 1.2 GIG) and its nice to let the download run at night so it's ready first thing in the morning.

As some of the other SolidWorks bloggers have mentioned.  Beta will be available to all subscription customers and you'll need a customer portal account to be able to access the beta information.  The beta forums have already started buzzing and the 2009 What's New PDF has been re-posted for your viewing pleasure as long as you have customer portal account.

Don't forget, the Beta Program rewards the top beta testers with prizes.  The prizes have varied in the past and this year it's a little different.  If you're a top beta tester in the 2009 Beta Program you'll receive cold hard cash you can redeem for a variety of predefined prizes.

SolidWorks 2009 Beta

  As others have reported, SolidWorks 2009 beta is set to start in early June.  Like me, many of you are probably wondering what's inside.  Well, you missed your opportunity to find out.  The Solidworks 2009 "What's New" document was available (by accident I'm sure) but the door has been closed.

Before I comment on the "What's New" document I'd like to take you back to SolidWorks World 2008.  SolidWorks World is a great place for SolidWorks to release new information to the press and public and that's just what happened in SanDiego.  Publicly at the general sessions and semi privately at various press events SolidWorks wanted to stress the 2009 release was going to focus of performance, reliability and stability.  Reading between the lines I take this to mean SolidWorks is going to focus on bug fixes and cleaning up areas of the software that may be negatively affecting the user in one way or another.  I breath a sigh and can't believe what I'm hearing.  SolidWorks is going spend an entire year working to fix lingering software bugs!  I could say this made me, "happier than a kid in a candy store" or "happier than pig in Sh__" or well, you get the idea.  Let's just say I was happy :)  I also thought this would make many other users happy since bugs, bug fixes and no new features just fix the bugs are popular topics at various SolidWorks forums.  I only hoped the information SolidWorks was handing out at SolidWorks World was less marketing hype and more a genuine intention to fix bugs.  With 2009 beta literally just around the corner we're all going to get a chance to find out.  I know one of the first things I'll do after installing beta is test some of those bugs that frustrate me on a daily basis and see if they've been resolved.

This doesn't mean SolidWorks 2009 won't be without new functionality.  I've actually already been able to play with a lot of the new functionality found in 2009 during alpha testing.  Unfortunately I can't give my thoughts until after the beta period is over but I can safely say there is some really good new functionality in 2009 that I know I'll use quite often. What I'm more interested in is the performance, reliabilty, stability promise.  Mostly performance and reliability since stability has never really been a large issue for me.  Looking at the 2009 "What's New" PDF I immediately noticed it was about half the page count of previous years and the file size is much smaller as well.  Since the "What's New" PDF is noticeably smaller than years past I have to believe a fair amount of time was spent working on the things the "What's New' document doesn't cover.  My fingers are crossed on this one.  If you haven't signed up for the 2009 Beta Program visit the customer portal and "check the box".  It's the only way to to see for yourself what's new in 2009.  Then we can test those old bugs together :).   

It's Here!

I arrived home this evening to a number of boxes!  Yes, the 2008 PhotoWorks Step By Step Guide is here.  This is exciting for me since I've never been part of writing a book before. Of course I had to open the package, tear the shrink wrap off the book and begin looking through.  After staring at the book on a monitor for many,many,many,many hours it was nice to finally be able to actually turn the pages.  I was really surprised by the print quality of the images and entire book.

While I of course think the book is great the real test will becoming soon enough when people begin recieving their copies.  I think there is good information for a variety of PhotoWorks user levels and I hope you'll agree after having a look.  I invite everyone who reads the book to offer their feedback both good and bad.  It's the best way to make a great book better :)

When you have a spare moment have a listen to a recent SolidWorks podcast about rendering, PhotoWorks, the book and myself.