In order to be as transparent as possible, I fully acknowledge that the SOLIDWORKS xDesign software is in its early stages and does not have the full feature set of its desktop counterpart. Over the course of the next three weeks, I put xDesign through its paces. What I learned while working on my challenge submission These components include rotomolded plastics pieces, formed sheet metal, aluminum framing extrusions, metal castings with machined features, as well as traditional billet machined parts. I should stress that NONE of those SOLIDWORKS models were re-used or imported – everything in my submission was built natively in xDesign. Having already modeled many of its components and assemblies in SOLIDWORKS, I felt that this would be a perfect test of xDesign’s capabilities. To that end, I decided that my entry would be similar in design to my employer’s newest, small-format waterjet (you might recall seeing it in action in the “Shop Floor” area of this year’s SOLIDWORKS World Partner Pavilion). Of course, I wanted to develop a compelling model to submit, but I also wanted to stress-test the software. With my theme and project selected, my objective for this challenge was two-fold. Specifically, I would model a personal waterjet machine – a versatile digital fabrication tool that is equally at home in the art studio, science lab or engineering classroom. Being a former full-time (and current part-time) SOLIDWORKS instructor, it was only logical that I focused on the Education-themed topic. Since I had already filed my IRS taxes, I didn’t have any other obstacles in my way (but just to be on the safe side, I did let my manager know there was a VERY slight chance I might be out for a week in mid-April).įor this design challenge, we had five topic areas to choose from, each topic aligning with one of the themes of the Dassault “Design in the Age of Experience” conference that was hosting the xDesign challenge in Milan. And oh, by the way, in order to participate, you had to be available to travel to Milan, Italy (!) for the week of April 15th. Participants would have three weeks to create their models this time around. I was being invited to participate in a slightly longer xDesign challenge. During the last week of March, I received another email from Divi. While I was at SOLIDWORKS World 2018, I made a point of seeking out Divi Lohiya, the Product Program Manager for xDesign, to let him know of my eagerness to continue working with the xDesign Lighthouse team. Unfortunately, life got in the way at that point and I was unable to complete my challenge submission, but I was totally hooked on xDesign. Following that, I started brainstorming on my contest entry – a robot gripper hand (how prescient of me if you’ve read the previous articles in this series). This part requires a good range of sketch and modeling features to successfully create its final geometry. Next, I advanced to building my standard “go to” model when trying out a new CAD application, a cast metal part from one of my drafting textbooks. I immediately waded in by modeling up some simple parts, multi-body components and assemblies to get a feel for the tools and the interface. We were given a brief 20-minute webinar on the guidelines for the challenge but no xDesign demo or tutorial – one thing the development team wanted to see was how intuitively we could adapt to using it. Our resulting models would be showcased during a segment of the third day general session. Flash forward to the week before SOLIDWORKS World 2018, and I get an email, out of the blue, inviting me to join a small group of participants in a mini design challenge using xDesign. And then, I heard nothing much for the next 18 months. I kept tabs on xDesign news for the next few months and noted a few user group meetings (mostly on the east coast) where xDesign demos were presented. I don’t think Gian Paolo Bassi had even left the stage by the time I had registered on the beta sign-up website from my tablet during the General Session. I had played with other cloud CAD offerings but, being a diehard SOLIDWORKS user, I was holding out for its solution. Like many others, I was very excited by the announcement of SOLIDWORKS xDesign at SOLIDWORKS World 2016 in Dallas.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |