The quickest and easiest way is to launch our new SolidWorks World 2012 dashboard on Netvibes. This gives you access to a search for the #SWW12 Twitter hashtag, blog entries, photos from Facebook and Flickr, and a lot more. It's a sort of one-stop-shopping destination for everything you want to know. Just click on the link or image below to open it in your browser.

I also hear that Lou Gallo from SolidWorks Heard is planning to live blog the general sessions. That Lou stays busy. You can check it out here.

If you're headed to San Diego, I hope to see you there. If not, we'll do our best to bring all the news back to you.

1.     Tell us about BOXX.

BOXX is the leading innovator of high-performance workstations and rendering systems for product design, engineering, visual effects, animation, architectural visualization, and more. For over 15 years, we’ve combined record-setting performance, speed, and reliability with unparalleled industry knowledge to become the trusted choice for creative professionals worldwide.

2.     What kinds of computers do you sell?

U.S. built, professional grade BOXX solutions include 3DBOXX, the world’s fastest workstations, renderBOXX and renderPRO dedicated rendering systems, and Go BOXX, a line of mobile workstations that look like laptops, but perform like desktop workstations.

3.       How can BOXX computers help make a SolidWorks user’s life easier?

Because SolidWorks-certified BOXX workstations are the fastest (and most reliable) SolidWorks solutions in the world, they save you both time and money, increasing your productivity and profit.  And when it comes to your SolidWorks workflow, our expert sales consultants, engineers, and legendary technical support not only know everything about BOXX hardware, they also have intimate knowledge of SolidWorks (and a host of other professional software applications).

3.    Why should SolidWorks World attendees visit your booth?

This year, the BOXX booth at SolidWorks World 2012 will be, in a word—XTREME.  Stop by and experience true SolidWorks performance on the fastest workstations in the world which have dazzled reviewers and independent testers from Desktop Engineering magazine to MCADCafe.

4.       How can customers connect with you before, during and after the show?

SolidWorks World 2012 booth number   506

Website      www.boxxtech.com

Email sales@boxxtech.com

Telephone number    512.835.0400 or toll free at 877.877.2699

Facebook    http://www.facebook.com/BOXXTechnologies

Twitter handle   @boxxtech

YouTube channel    http://www.youtube.com/boxxtech

If you have a one-off design the importance and impact of design analysis and verification becomes even greater.  The cost of redesign is huge at the time of installation, but the delay in putting your product into service can also have a dramatic impact on cost.  So thinking back to my baggage sorting machine at the airport, how would I design and test this inside SolidWorks?  Well as I said the sorting machine is a mechatronic design where the mechanical, control and electrical aspects of design are closely coupled.  If one aspect of the mechatronic design doesn’t work then the machine fails, you need to test each aspect of the design before you build. 

Let’s consider the small conveyor system below.  A product, in this case a pallet with two engine cylinder blocks, moves down one conveyor and then is lifted onto the second shorter conveyor (the image showing the end of the simulation).  We can build this simple behavior with Event Based Motion (the lower part of the image).  In event based motion analysis, sensors trigger action in the same way that a light beam or micro switch sensor would in the real world, allowing the designer to try different sensor locations. Once the sensor locations are set routing can then be used to layout the cable runs thoughout the conveyor.

But what about the controls design?  Well, as a result of the event based approach, one of the outputs is a Gant chart of the event interactions (bottom right of the image).  This is the first part of the controls design, but you can go so much further by using either Motion Analyzer from Rockwell Automation or LabView from National Instruments.  These partner products allow you to control your machine using virtual controls software so you can create a true virtual prototype of your machine.

Just as important as the motion verification is the stress analysis--you want to make sure that your machine can withstand the operational loads.  So with the event based motion analysis calculated, you can transfer the motion loads to structural simulation and evaluate stresses and displacements to ensure that there is an adequate factor of safety. If the factor of safety is too high, then parts can be redesigned, the motion analysis re-run and the stresses re-calculated.  SolidWorks Simulation can then go one step further and calculate the expected service life of the components, helping the design team set the correct maintenance schedule.

With SolidWorks and its partners a true mechatronic design approach is possible.  The three aspects of modern machine design, mechanical, electrical and controls, are brought together inside of SolidWorks allowing a holistic approach to machine design.  When you cannot prototype, developing a true lifelike virtual design is central to minimizing the risk of design.  Simulation gives the designer information to make better design decisions, and ultimately better products.

The apps have great interactive maps, speaker and session info, San Diego area maps, and even a built-in QR code scanner for building your contact list on-site. You can also pull up your agenda using your registration login and password. And there's also quick access to our Facebook, YouTube and Flickr accounts, as well as a preset search for the #SWW12 Twitter hashtag. Go get it.

You can find the iPhone and iPad apps here in the iTunes app store

You can find the Android here in the Android Market

If you're attending SolidWorks World for the first time this year, I highly recommend you check it out. Muggs spent a good amount of time putting it together, and it even includes a forward by our own Richard Doyle.

You can find the SolidWorks World Survival Guide here. It's a PDF, so you can even save it to your computer or phone to read later.

Thanks again to Muggs.

Could you?

1. Cross the left end over the right end.
2. The left end is now on the right side. Begin to wrap the right end around the front of the left lace to end up at the back of the gap between the laces.
3. Feed the right end through the gap to emerge at the front right hand side. Pull both ends tight to complete the starter knot.
4. Make the right end into a “loop” by doubling it back on itself.
5. Take the left end and pass it around to the right, going behind the right loop.
6. Continue the left end around the right loop to end up in front. Start to feed the left lace into the “hole” that has just been made.
7. With the left lace now through the “hole”, grab hold of both loops and start to pull the knot tight. Continue pulling on the loops until the knot is tied.

We can all agree that it is easier to learn by doing – in this case by experiencing what it is like to tie a shoe.   But if we can’t learn by doing, then having a visual guide with pictures can be a close runner up.  Visualizations make it much easier to understand how a product is used, assembled, or repaired. We are all too familiar with bad technical communication (assembly instructions, maintenance manuals, user manuals, etc.).  The worst offenders are instructions completely text based, with absolutely no visuals.  When I am given these, and I use the term loosely, “instructions” usually just get tossed aside while I attempt to figure out assembly myself. 

As a technical communications expert, I try to adhere to five “Principles” for building technical communications, which I’m happy to share with you. 

Cliff’s Five Principles for Building Great Technical Communication:

1-     Legos: Have you ever seen a Lego instruction booklet?  Simply sublime. Lego uses no words, and just shows the current design, and highlights the piece(s) being added.  Very Simple, very clear. Even my 8 year old son can build some of the most complex 500+ Lego sets with just a simple Lego instruction booklet.  Principle #1 (the Lego principle): Always highlight the part of interest.

2-     More Pictures, Less Text:  This one is quite obvious, but even I find myself using the images I initially created, then adding in too much text.  A good rule-of-thumb is:  If you use more than 3 sentences, create a new diagram, or image. 

3-     Black and White:  I create all technical communications using 3DVIA Composer, so I usually use as much color as possible; however, I remind myself that documents are often copied into black and white, so I find other ways to place emphasis on the parts of the assembly. For example, If I have a part highlighted in a color, I should also add a thicker outline to the part being emphasized, as the color may not be recognizable after being photocopied.

Here is an example, with a part highlighted in blue:

*As you can see: the different rendering effects used make all the difference when the images are converted to black and white.  The highlighted object is still noticeable with the outlined diagram, but not with the shaded diagram. 

4-     More is More:   “Less is More” is the more common phrase, but when it comes to technical communication, you can never provide enough detail (in pictures, not words).  You know the product in-and-out, but the final user will not.  Give them every amount of detail necessary.

5-     Un-biased Test:  I like to think that I can test my own documentation, but this is never the ideal solution.  What is obvious to me may not be for someone else.  Being under deadlines means we often skip this critical step. But do yourself a favor, and the end user one as well, and have several unbiased people test your documentation.  It’s the best way to be sure it is clear.

Obviously I use 3DVIA Composer for technical communication documents. When I speak to SolidWorks users who have not tried Composer, I often hear that: 1) they don’t have the time to learn another tool, or 2) they are fine with the tools they currently use (which are tools which take much longer to produce lower quality technical communication).  I probably thought the same thing before I used 3DVIA Composer, but I would encourage you to give it a try.

For more information on 3DVIA Composer, click on the images below to view 3DVIA Composer videos:

1)     First Look at 3DVIA Composer Video

2)     3DVIA Composer User Manual video series (you will need to register first):

Please share your thoughts or other technical communication principles in the comments below…

-Cliff-