SolidWorks World 2008 is in full swing as the break out sessions began directly after the morning general session. First up for me was an interview with Rick Chin of SolidWorks Corporation. I’ll have more on that interview later on. Next up was an hour long session working in the SWUGN booth in the Partner Pavilion. Those of you that read this Blog regularly know that I am a User Group Leader for NASWUG, so getting to talk about SolidWorks Users Groups is one of the things I enjoy the most.
After lunch with some of the members of the Blog Squad, I attended a session on Concept Blockbusting that was given by David Adam. I was impressed with the surface and solid modeling methods that David utilizes to quickly generate concept designs.
Next up was the Hybrid Modeling session with Matt Lombard. It was a given that I would get to see some useful modeling techniques, but also Matt ALWAYS puts on a good show for attendees. Matt may be missing out on a possible career as a comedian. I lost count of the laughs he got from the crowd while showing off some impressive techniques in working with both solids and surfaces. Matt showed off a cool technique of splitting faces with multiple contours by using surfaces that intersect a face with a Split Line command set to the Intersection option. I’m sure Matt will be posting his presentation soon. I’ll be sure to link it here when he does. Mike Puckett has posted some pictures of Matt’s session HERE.
UPDATED: You can download Matt’s presentation by clicking HERE.
At the end of the session I got to speak with Mike J. Wilson for a few minutes. I hadn’t seen Mike since SolidWorks World 2003. It was great to see him at SolidWorks World once again. For those of you who haven’t had the pleasure of visiting his site, CLICK HERE. (The ScoobyWorks model is still one of my favorites Mike!)
Next up was the 9th Annual SWUGN Summit. This is by far one of my favorite events every year. Richard Doyle delivered a GREAT presentation as usual. His energetic enthusiasm is unmatched in ANY CAD Community. Richard reported that there are now 128 SolidWorks and COSMOS user groups worldwide. Marie Planchard made a quick appearance thanking the User Groups for the CSWA initiative earlier this year. SolidWorks CEO Jeff Ray also made an appearance thanking the User Group Leaders and User Group members for their support in 2007. Rick Lando of 3DConnexion accepted the Partner Product company of the year award for the third year in a row! Congratulations Rick! It is WELL deserved!
Tonight was the annual Press Dinner at the San Diego Wine and Culinary Center. I got to meet many members of the press whom I have read about for years. Among those I got to meet for the first time was Randall Newton of AECNews. I also had the privilege of meeting Dr. Joel Orr of Cyon Research. Dr. Orr and I got to spend some time talking about many topics related to the CAD Industry which I thoroughly enjoyed. A big thanks goes out to Laura Kozikowski, Nancy Buchino, & Darby Johnson for putting on a great event!
That’s all for now……Stay tuned…..more to come!