• Home
  • Archive by category 'Uncategorized'

Archive for ‘Uncategorized’

SolidWorks World 2012: Just Around The Corner

 

Hard to believe but SolidWorks World 2012 is just 4 days away.  I can’t believe it’s already been a year!  I also can’t believe this will be my 9th consecutive SolidWorks World!  Wow, seems like I was just in Boston in 2004 attending my first conference. Where does time go?  Like past events this will be a busy one for me.  I’ll be presenting, I’ll be working, I’ll be meeting friends new and old and also be having some fun.  While I’m there I also hope to find out the answers to some questions I and every other SolidWorks user has had for the last two years.  You know what I’m talking about ;) .  Here’s the quick run down of what I’ll be doing and expecting at this years conference.

 

What I’ll be doing:

On Monday in the 10:30-12:00 time slot I’m giving a presentation titled, “Lights, Camera, Action”.  This session is going to cover creating rendered animations using Motion and PhotoView 360.  To do this I’m going to step through the process I used to create an animation for an Axis CAD Solutions client.  The animation covers a lot of the different things you can do with Motion and it’s short enough that I can explain it in 90 minutes so it should be an interesting example.

On Tuesday in the 1:30-2:30 time slot I’m giving a presentation titled, “PhotoView 360: Instant Images”.  This is a session I’ve given for the last couple of years at SolidWorks World.  In the past this has been a hands on session but this year it will be a straight breakout session which means I do all the work and you just have to listen and ask questions.  I’ve given this session at a handful of user group meetings as well and people always give it a good review.  If you’d like to learn the basics of visualization in both SolidWorks and PhotoView 360 this is a good session to attend.

Throughout the conference I’ll also be working at the Boxx Technologies booth.  Boxx makes some of the fastest computer workstations on the planet.  I’ll be in their booth a couple hours a day talking rendering, animation, SolidWorks, modo and how Boxx can make those things faster.

I’ll also be meeting up with a bunch of people I haven’t see in a year.  One of the great things about SolidWorks World is the people you meet and keep meeting.  I’ve made some really good friends at past World’s and it will be good to see them.

 

What I’m expecting:

It’s a given the conference will be great.  It always is.  Good speakers, lots of technology, fun events, SolidWorks definitely puts on a good show.  There are some things in particular I’ll be looking for this year.

SolidWorks Next Gen, SolidWorks V6, Catia Lite call it whatever you want.  I want to actually be given some information about the future of this product.  Since parts of it were shown at SolidWorks World a couple of years ago SolidWorks has been tight lipped about it’s status.  I’m not sure if that’s a good or bad thing but either way I think users deserve some sort of updated information in this area.

SolidWorks Live Buildings was shown at SolidWorks World last year and again the status of this product has been under wraps.  I do a fair amount of architectural work using SolidWorks and AutoCAD together.  I’d love a chance to move these projects into a full 3D architectural solution without investing money in AutoDesk products.  Live Buildings had me excited but the information, or lack of coming out of DS about the product doesn’t give me a lot of confidence in it’s future.

SolidWorks 2013 will be shown on Wednesday.  I’m hoping to see more in the 2013 release than the 2012.  Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with SolidWorks 2012. It’s very stable, the quality is great, it saw lots of little refinements and some of it is nice but there is nothing in there that makes me want to upgrade from 2011.

Luxology will have a booth in the partner pavilion and I have the feeling they may be showing some new technology.  Modo 601 should be out soon, maybe we can catch a sneak peak?  For those of you who don’t know,  the SolidWorks kit has been updated to support SolidWorks 2012 files so I’m sure that will be on display.

Overall I’m sure this years event will be great.  If you’re attending have a great time and don’t be afraid to say hi if we run into each other.  Also, download the SWW 2012 app.  It’s pretty nice.  If you’re not attending watch the web for all the info being reported on.

 

 

 

February 8, 2012   Tags: ,
Category: SolidWorks World 2012, Uncategorized   No Comments comments

Welcome To The New Site.

It’s been a time consuming process but I finally have a new website!  Since my life is continuously evolving my website’s need to do the same to more accurately represent me.  What I’ve done is combine my personal blog site, www.robrodriguez.com and my business site, www.axiscadsolutions.com into one site.  This should make it easier to manage the site and give the viewer a more accurate view of me.

If you’ve landed here using www.robrodriguez.com you’ve been taken directly to the blog page since that’s probably what you were expecting to find.  Robrodriguez.com also offered the Step by Step Guides and presentation downloads covering PhotoView 360 and Motion animation.  You’ll still find those at the new site under “Guides” and “Downloads”.

If you’ve landed here using www.axiscadsolutions.com you’ve been taken directly to the home page so you can find out more about my business services.  The new site also includes an expanded portfolio area full of images and animations.

Whatever your reason for stopping by, have a look around, find out about the services Axis CAD Solutions offers, look at our past projects, read the blog and then contact me to say, “hi” or inquire about how we can help you in your next project.

 

January 26, 2012   Category: Uncategorized   No Comments comments

PhotoView 360 Users See Some Love.

If you’re a PhotoView 360 user you may have noticed an increase in a flow of PhotoView 360 information from SolidWorks.  This is very welcome in my mind and I have to believe other PhotoView 360 users like this new information exchange as well.  This flow of information can be found at the SolidWorks forums and it’s coming in a couple of flavors.

The  first flavor is training orientated.  Ron Bates,  Manager of Graphical Applications at SolidWorks has been running a monthly PhotoView 360 training series titled PhotoView Friday.  In the Series Ron covers a specific PhotoView 360 topic and dedicates about 30 minutes of video time covering the information.  Topics range in subject matter and he likes to take requests so feel free to let him know what you’d like to learn more about.  Ron has just posted PhotoView Friday Episode 3 where he covers matched environments and background images as well as some depth of field information.   If you missed the previous PhotoView Friday episodes don’t worry, they are all posted in the PhotoView 360 area of the SolidWorks forum. He’s leaning towards rendered animations in Episode 4 which is one I will surely want to see.

The seconds flavor is geared towards a sharing of technical information.  Again, Ron has been spilling the beans on what PhotoView 360 users can find in the upcoming service packs.  He created a video for SP3 which showed the preview window speed increase and for the upcoming SP 4 Ron has also given us a look at what to expect.

Marlon Banta, Senior Product Definition Specialist at SolidWorks has also posted a very in depth look at Factors that affect PhotoView 360 render performance. This certainly has to be one of the longest posts I’ve seen in the forums and Marlon leaves no stone unturned.  Nice job Marlon.

A big thanks to both of these gentlemen for keeping PhotoView 360 users better informed. ;)

 

May 22, 2011   Tags: ,
Category: PhotoView 360, Uncategorized   No Comments comments

Photorealistic Rendering Using SolidWorks and PhotoView 360

2011 Photorealistic Rendering using SolidWorks and PhotoView 360 Step By Step Guide

Photorealistic Rendering Using SolidWorks and PhotoView 360 is a new step By step guide from DS SolidWorks.  This guide replaces the PhotoWorks guide and is specifically written for PhotoView 360 2011.  At 562 pages it covers all aspects of PhotoView 360 as well as RealView and OpenGL graphics modes in SolidWorks.

The book isn’t available for shipping quite yet but I’m offering a pre buy sale for those of you who’d like to pick up a copy at a discount.  I’m also extending the sale to cover the Creating Animations with SolidWorks Step by Step Guide which has been available for about a year.  Each book will be be discounted $10 from the non sale price and those of you in the United States will also receive free shipping.  This is a limited time offer.  Once the PhotoView 360 book becomes available for shipping prices will return to their normal rate.

I’ll have a more in-depth review of the guide soon but until then you can find more information on both guides by visiting this page and choosing the appropriate book to view the details.

 

March 23, 2011   Tags: ,
Category: PhotoView 360, Uncategorized   3 Comments comments

SolidWorks to modo: What’s in the Kit

“Solidworks to modo: What’s in the kit” was a well attended session at SolidWorks World 2011. Paul McCrorey and I teamed up to give this session together.  Neither of us had ever done a session with a partner but it went well and very smooth I think.  The presentation gives an overview of what users will find inside the soon to be released “modo for SolidWorks kit”.  If you’re a modo user working with SolidWorks files or a SolidWorks user who’d like to explore modo you’ll definitely want to have a look.  This session was also videotaped by SolidWorks.  Once the conference proceedings are released you can see the full video version which will also include audience questions.

I’ll be posting a full review of the “modo for SolidWorks kit” once it’s released so be on the lookout for that very soon.

As a full disclosure statement I should note Paul and I contracted with Luxology  for portions of the “modo to SolidWorks kit”

 

January 30, 2011   Tags: , ,
Category: Modo, SolidWorks World 2011, Uncategorized   2 Comments comments

NVIDIA Quadro 5000 Review

In September Brian Harrison from NVIDIA contacted me and asked if I’d be interested in trying out a new Quadro 5000 graphics card.  I know most people would need their arm twisted to try out the latest hardware or software from a company but I jumped at the chance for a couple of reasons.

First off , I wanted to see if this new NVIDIA card performed better than my current Quadro FX 3700.  The 3700 hasn’t been a bad card for me but it’s based on older technology and the 512mb of  on board RAM fell short at times while working on demanding assemblies inside of SolidWorks.  I also quite often receive a very annoying, “your system is running low on SolidWorks resources” warning that I attribute to the 512mb of memory on the card.  I don’t know the low card memory is causing or contributing to the error (it could be an issue with SolidWorks managing resources) but a good way to find out was try a new card.

Second, I wanted to give GPU rendering a try.  My new license of BunkSpeed Shot showed up a while ago but I haven’t been able to try out the GPU rendering feature of the software because my FX 3700 didn’t support it.  The Quadro 5000 would let me experience the new GPU processing technology first hand.

Before we get started I’d like to give the full disclosure up front.  NVIDIA provided me with a Quadro 5000 graphics card (which retails for approx. $2250) to use and test as I felt necessary with whatever software I wanted.  When I was finished using the card for this purpose I was able to keep the card for long term testing and usage.  I’ll have another post at some point in the future pertaining to long term usage and use with other types of software.

The NVIDIA Quadro 5000 Specifications: The Quadro 5000 is built on the NVIDIA Fermi Architecture and is advertised as being able to deliver speeds up to 4X faster than previous generation Quadro cards.  The card carries and impressive spec sheet of  features and honestly I’m not sure what some of the information on the spec sheet means but there were a couple of numbers that caught my eye.

The first eye catcher was the “CUDA Core“ category which listed 352.  NVIDIA CUDA technology is a parallel computing architecture that enables applications to take advantage of GPU processing.  GPU processing can be used for applications such as raytracing (rendering), video processing and FEA which require high levels of computation to process the information.  The iray rendering engine found in BunkSpeed Shot is specifically designed to take advatage of the NVIDIA CUDA architecture and this is supposed to greatly increase rendering times.  This is one of the areas I wanted to try so I was excited about the 352 CUDA cores.

Second eye catcher was the “Total Frame Buffer” number of 2.5gb.  That’s 2.5 gigs of RAM on the Quadro 5000.  That kind of memory was much more than other graphics card I’d ever used and I was anxious to see how that effected large assembly performance in SolidWorks.

One other note of interest for me was the physical size of the Quadro 5000.  This card takes up two full slots in your PC box making it twice as thick as my FX 3700.  Length and width were about the same as my old card and the Quadro 5000 plugged into the mother board without a hitch.

Here’s the entire spec sheet.

How does it work with SolidWorks? First step after installing the Quadro 5000 was load up the approved driver from the SolidWorks website.  That was a painless process and the driver is approved for both SoildWorks 2010 and 2011 usage.  I spent about 30 days testing the card with SolidWorks 2010 on a daily basis.  The work was varied and included, modeling (both part and assembly), detail drawing creation and rendering.  My typical assembly file is 100 parts or less so I wouldn’t say my SolidWorks usage stresses my system all that much.  The exception to this is rendering.  I’m rendering on a daily basis using both PhotoWorks and PhotoView 360.  Both of these applications is very CPU intensive and neither has the ability to utilize GPU processing so having the Quadro 5000 for these applications didn’t help much in the way of rendering processing.  The card preformed very well in those 30 days of testing and I didn’t receive the “your system is running low on SolidWorks resources” warning.  Not once, which was a nice surprise.  As stated before I’m not 100% sure graphics cards with lower RAM are causing this warning but I didn’t receive it with the Quadro 5000 (2.5gb RAM) and I certainly would have with my FX 3700 (512mb RAM).  I did have some crashes during my SolidWorks usage and there was some screen glitches (repaint issues when switching windows).  This is not uncommon for me however so I’m not sure I can attribute these specific instances to the Quadro 5000.

I don’t typically take a lot of stock in hardware benchmarks.  Benchmarks will give you part of the story but every users has different habits and work their completing varies so in my opinion there is nothing like real world usage to test hardware.  I did run the new SolidWorks performance test found in SolidWorks 2011 just to see what kind of results I could get.  When compared to others scores I faired very well.  Have a look, I’m listed as RobR XI.  For reference I’m running an Xi built PC with a core i-7 965 3.2 ghz CPU, 12 gigs of RAM on Vista 64.

I also wanted to give a larger assembly a try so I loaded up the largest SolidWorks file I had on my PC, about 6700 parts.  Have a look at the video to see the results.

How does it work with BunkSpeed Shot? Shot is the replacement software for HyperShot from BunkSpeed.  Shot is built around the iray rendering engine from Mental Images which is a division of NVIDIA.  Being a HyperShot owner I received a copy of Shot when it was released a couple of months ago.  Shot is designed to process renderings with either the CPU, the GPU or in a hybrid mode which uses both CPU and GPU together.  In order to use the GPU and hybrid  rendering features in Shot you need to have an NVIDIA graphics card which supports CUDA.  BunkSpeed claims at their website that using a CUDA enabled graphics card can significantly accelerate performance.  This is something I wanted to try and the Quadro 5000 with it 352 CUDA cores was going to allow me to do this.  I wanted to know what “significantly accelerate performance” meant in the real world.

I opened as SolidWorks file of a toy lego car from 3D Content Central in Shot.  It was a small file that consists of about 8 unique parts.  I added materials, set an environment, set up a camera view and then it was time to render.  In the render dialog box Shot gives you the option to choose which method (CPU, GPU, Hybrid) you’d like to use to process your render.  I saved three separate renderings of the car using a different method for each one.  The results were pretty amazing.

CPU only rendering returned a time of 17:58.
GPU only rendering returned a time of 6:23
Hybrid rendering also returned a time of 6:23.

The GPU rendering method completed the image in about 1/3 the time of CPU rendering alone.  That is a significant gain in speed!  I’d like to point out that time was based on the Quadro 5000′s 352 CUDA cores.  Less CUDA cores would return a slower rendering time and more CUDA cores would return a faster rendering time.  The Quadro 5000 really showed it’s abilities with this small test in Shot.

Conclusion: The Quadro 5000 performed well for me in my 30 days of testing with SolidWorks and my short test with Shot.  It’s certainly a very capable performance minded card.  With a retail price of approximately $2250 it’s probably more than I would spend (or want to spend) on a graphics card.  That said, if you’re a person who works on large assemblies in SolidWorks or creates images in GPU rendering software such as Shot then the Quadro 5000 would be a good investment.  Yes, it carries an upper level price but the performance payback for the demanding user should be relatively short.  If you’re thinking you’d like a new NVIDIA Quadro card at a lower price point you should have a look at Anna’s SolidMuse.  Anna will be reviewing a couple of the lower level Quadro cards as well as  the Quadro 6000.

 

October 18, 2010   Tags: , ,
Category: Product Review, Uncategorized   1 Comment comments

DraftSight: New 2D Software From Dassault Systems

Dassault had the CAD world talking when it showed a cloud based version of SolidWorks at SolidWorks World 2010.  I sat in the audience during the conference and listen to Bernard Charles talk about the Dassault family of products and their mantra of “3d for all”.    That’s why I was surprised when I learned the newest software  release from Dassault isn’t cloud based and has nothing to do with 3D.  Surprisingly,  it’s all about 2D and it’s named DraftSight.

DraftSight is not a replacement for the SolidWorks 2D Editor (formerly known as SolidWorks DWG Editor). The two applications have similarities but are based on different technology. Like the SolidWorks 2D Editor, Draftsight reads and writes DWG and DXF files. It functions basically the same as the SolidWorks 2D Editor and other 2D CAD software you’ve previously used.  DraftSight is aimed at the 3D CAD customer who needs to keep a seat or two of 2D CAD current to work with legacy data, do some 2D drafting, create schematics and offer other company departments (sales for example) some simple drafting tools.  It’s not limited to this type of work however.  You could easily use DraftSight to create 2D layout and detail drawings from scratch for any design in a variety of industries.   Unlike the Solidworks 2D Editor that was free to all SolidWorks  subscription customers, Draftsight is free for everyone.  It will also be offered in Mac and Linux flavors later this year. 

 DraftSight is more than just software.  Its also about community.  When you activate your free copy of DraftSight you’re also signing up to be part of the DraftSight community.  The idea being, in order for the software to grow, mature and be widely adopted it needs to have a supportive user community behind it.  The idea is based on the open source software model.  With open source software, the source code is freely distributed, upgraded and altered by users to add features and functions.  The DraftSight source code will not be distributed but it will be updated and enhanced based on user feedback.  This feedback will be collected and voted on by the user community in much the same was as SolidWorks Brainstorm works.  This allows you, the user input on the software’s future without actually having to know how to write code.

After using DraftSight for a few hours, trying to dig in and find out what’s under the hood I’ve learned that its really not that much different than other 2D packages.  The software downloaded and installed in about 5 minutes (it’s only a 47 meg package).  All the features and functions are there, the UI is very familiar, its very stable and it’s performance is good.  I’ve had no issues opening dwg files created in AutoCAD 2004 and they write fine as well.  It’s really a very functional, feature rich 2D product and best of all it’s free.  Overall in my short usage time I like DraftSight.  It’s UI is much better than the SolidWorks 2D Editor mainly because the tool icons are much more readable and understandable. It also feels like a more modern interface than the 2D Editor and it has a good amount of customizability.  If you prefer to enter commands on the command line you can do that and you’ll find the commands you know from your previous 2D software work in DraftSight.  Layers, line styles, hatching, blocks, references, grips, object snaps, patterns, tables, model space, paper space, full help files, etc.  It’s all there.

Most of my 2D CAD experience has been with AutoCAD LT.  I’ve also used the full version of AutoCAD but honestly LT meets my 2D needs just fine. I don’t run LISP routines or scripting and if I need any 3D capability I go to SolidWorks so, for me LT is all I need.  DraftSight will have no issues replacing my seat of AutoCAD LT and in my opinion AutoCAD LT is about the level of product the current release of DraftSight is.  I don’t use my seat of AutoCAD LT all that often but the need does arise on occasion and it’s becoming harder and harder to do this as I upgrade my computer and operating systems.  My older seat of software isn’t compatible with the newest operating systems but I don’t use the software enough to justify the upgrade costs.  This makes DraftSight a very attractive product for me since it can meet all my 2D needs and it costs me nothing.

Later this year the public beta of DraftSight will end and the release version will be available for free to everyone.  At that time DraftSight will also offer some add-ins to the product which will be on a purchase basis.  The current list of add-ins is small but that will chnage over time as the community grows and requests more capability. 

Currently the add-in products available for purchase will be:
API extensions for those users that would like to customize, automate and integrate the product.
Tech support for those users who need help and or training.
Network licensing for those users that would like to be able to manage multiple installs.  The network license add-in also includes the API extensions and tech support.

If you have some spare time in the near future and are looking for a very capable 2D drafting application at a very attractive price (free) download DraftSight and give it a try.

 

June 22, 2010   Tags: ,
Category: misc., Product Review, Uncategorized   4 Comments comments

SolidWorks + Modo + Splash Kit

io-safe-post

 

Often times when creating rendered images for marketing or promotion purposes you’ll need to use a variety of tools to reach an end result.  It would be great if you were able to simply set up something in PhotoView 360 or PhotoWorks, process the image and it would be complete but that is rarely the case.  Most times I’m contracted to create the rendered image results of a SolidWorks model only.  That image is then turned over to the marketing graphic designers where they use various tools to create a composite image for their specific needs.  Most of the time marketing will dictate the specific view(s), colors, size, etc they will require and my work has to fit their specifications.  On a recent project however I was provided a SolidWorks model and given complete freedom to create any image I wished.  Fun! ;)

I was contracted to create an image for the ioSafe Solo product.  Not only did the final image need to showcase the product but it had to be visually interesting as well.  ioSafe markets their product as being waterproof and fireproof, what better way to create visual interest and promote product features than to incorporate some of this into the image.  I had a visual in my head of what I wanted to create and I knew the tools available to me in SolidWorks would not be enough to achieve the idea.  I knew I had to use software more suited to the task of advanced rendering and for this task I chose modo.  The image at the top of this post is the final image I created.  It’s the output which came directly from modo, no image retouching or post processing what so ever.  Let’s a take a closer look at how I combined SolidWorks and modo to achieve the final results.

First I started in SolidWorks with the ioSafe Solo model.  I’d like to point out the assembly file was saved as a surface part file so what I had to work with was a collection of surface bodies.  This makes my job a little tougher because surface bodies do have some quirkiness when being used to create rendered images.  I would have preferred the native SolidWorks file or an assembly file saved as a part file using solid bodies.  I applied appearances and decals (painted the model) in SolidWorks since it’s easier to do this work there and then transfer that information to modo on file import.

I then imported the file into modo using the importer found in the soon to be released SolidWorks kit.  The importer is essentially the same one used in PhotoView 360 and it does a decent job of converting the appearance and decal information.  It’s not always 100% correct on the appearance and decal conversion but it’s fairly easy to clean up mistakes made during file import.  I should point out I’m working with a beta version of the importer, the released version should have any kinks worked out of it.  The surface geometry imported without issue.

Next step was to add the water geometry to the modo scene and make the model on screen closer to the image in my head.  This was really where the difficult part began and the reason why I chose to create this image using modo.  Water, splashes, water drops are created using a more organic type of modeling than that found in SolidWorks.  That’s not to say you couldn’t model those things in SolidWorks but I think it’s fair to say you couldn’t model them easily.  Modo being a sub D modeler is great at modeling organic type geometry.  I’m a novice modo user.  I’ve played with the rendering and animation areas of modo and gone through many of the training tutorials to get a better grasp and comfort level.  I’ve never modeled anything in modo outside of a collection of basic spheres, cubes and odd shapes so; creating “water” in modo was going to be a challenge for me even though modo made this type of geometry creation easier than SolidWorks.

This is where the “Splash Kit” came in.  Luxology has created some kits which speed up certain processes for the user.  Currently there is a PAD kit, Splash Kit, HDRE Kit, Slik Kit and soon you’ll be seeing a SolidWorks Kit.  The splash kit comes with a variety of pre defined meshes, materials, and environments that makes creating or adding liquid geometry around your model (in our case SolidWorks model) easy.  I say liquid because it doesn’t have to be water.  It could be milk, blood, chocolate, cola, anything really.  I found some predefined splash meshes I liked, drag and dropped them into the modo scene and then resized them to better fit with the imported SolidWorks geometry.  Once I had the basic geometry layout I then used some sculpting tools to fine tune the water mesh around the drive model.  This was a great learning experience since modeling in modo is such a different mindset than modeling in SolidWorks.  My first attempts at adjusting the mesh I wanted to move everything very precisely, having perfect intersections where geometry met and having the water mesh match perfectly with the drive mesh.  In modo this “I need to move it exactly ½” mindset isn’t really necessary.  It’s more of a feeling of an artist working in clay than an engineer machining something exact on the CNC.  The entire process took some time as I was learning on the fly but the Splash kit includes training videos that show you how to work with the various aspects of the kit.  It made the process much easier.

io-modo-screen-shot

Once the geometry layout was complete all I really had to do was complete the rendering work.  This was fairly straight forward as modo can work in a very similar fashion as Photoview 360 if you choose to do that.  I used some of the predefined materials and environments included with the splash kit which is as easy as drag and drop, much like PhotoView 360.  With my materials and lighting ready to go I then set up my camera view(s) which took some time.  It’s not terribly difficult to do this but I found it challenging at first to move the camera into the position I was looking for.  This is mainly due to the mouse controls in modo.  The mouse in modo works nothing like the mouse in SolidWorks or PhotoView 360 for navigating a viewport.  You need to learn the combination keyboard shortcuts and mouse buttons to effectively navigate and this was difficult for me since I’m NOT a keyboard person.  The upcoming SolidWorks Kit will have a SolidWorks mouse setting which will make this easier for SolidWorks users.  After using modo for a while however I did pick up the navigation controls and now it’s almost second nature when using the application.

Now that I had the camera views set I just had to do some test renders and adjust some of the render settings.  Test renders are as easy as selecting the render option from the drop down menu and the render window is the same as the one found in PhotoView 360 although it does have a few added controls.  Adjusting the render settings isn’t difficult but it does take some time to learn what the settings do and what values work best.  Having a multicore CPU greatly helps in this area as more cores means faster render performance.

In the end I was able to utilize three tools, SolidWorks, modo and the Splash kit to achieve the idea in my head.  The final image probably would have looked very different with the use of only one or two of these tools.  Modo gives the SolidWorks user the ability to create more advanced renderings and animations than can be done utilizing the SolidWorks tools (Motion, PhotoView 360, PhotoWorks).  Modo does have a learning curve and you do have to put forth an effort to become comfortable with the product.  If higher end rendering an animation is your goal then the time spent learning modo will not be wasted.  Once the future SolidWorks kit is released the tranisition from SolidWorks to modo will be easier but not automatic.

Rob

 

April 20, 2010   Tags: , ,
Category: Modo, Uncategorized   5 Comments comments

PhotoView 360 2011

pv360-2011Last fall SolidWorks issued this announcement about the retirement of PhotoWorks and the future of PhotoView 360. 

Beginning with the release of SolidWorks 2011, PhotoView 360 will now be the standard photorealistic rendering solution for all SolidWorks software versions moving forward.

PhotoWorks will no longer be available. With the launch of SolidWorks 2011, SolidWorks software and PhotoView 360 will provide the equivalent rendering capabilities that are now available in PhotoWorks, including, but not limited to:
- The creation and reuse of custom appearances, scenes, and decals
- The ability to directly render different configurations, display states, and model changes
- The production of rendered animations from a SolidWorks Motion study
- The ability to use physical lights in renderings
- The scheduling of renderings to be completed later

This announcement was meant to set PhotoWorks users minds at ease since many of them felt PhotoView 360 wasn’t in a position to replace PhotoWorks.  PhotoView 360 simply didn’t have a deep enough feature set and a lot of catch up would have to be played in order for it to be ready to replace PhotoWorks in one release cycle.  Even though SolidWorks made the announcement with the best of intentions its vague nature left unanswered questions and skepticism.

  • With skepticism also came speculation.
    What exactly would the 2011 version of PV360 look like?
    Would we see full integration into the SolidWorks window?
    Would there be stand alone and integrated versions?
    Would we have more features than PhotoWorks offered?
    Would there be a mac version?
    Would PhotoView 360 be a native 64 bit application?
    Would animation support be the same as PhotoWorks or enhanced with modo type tools?
    Would we be able to create custom appearances from scratch (using a texture for example)?
    Would decal functionality be part of PhotoView 360 rather than SolidWorks?
    Would we have greater control over appearance mapping type, location and scale?
    Would we be able to transfer cameras from SolidWorks to PhotoView 360?

During the Wednesday general session at SolidWorks World 2010 we were able to see some of PhotoView 360 2011 in action.  The screen shots and descriptions were short but I was able to see enough to have a good idea of what PhotoView 360 2011 will be like.  I was also able to talk with Ron Bates, senior manager of graphical applications, at SolidWorks.  Ron couldn’t specifically comment about future releases but he could comment on things shown during the general session and was also able to give some generalized answers to certain questions.  So, lets start going down our speculation question list and see what we know.

What exactly would the 2011 version of PV360 look like?
Would we see full integration into the SolidWorks window?
These two questions can be answered together.  From the SolidWorks World general session demo it looks as though PV360 2011 will see full integration into the SolidWorks window.  In a similar fashion to what PhotoWorks users have now, the appearance pane was on the right of the screen, the render manager was on the left of the screen, the work was being done in the SolidWorks graphics window and the PV360 preview was opened in it’s own window.  It actually appeared that RealView now has the ability for the users to modify, create and save custom appearances and this RealView information is carried into PhotoView 360.  This actually gives the standard SolidWorks user greater control over RealView appearances which is a good thing I think.  The user has the choice of the standard SolidWorks viewing mode or RealView.  If the user wants to see the rendered version of the graphics area they enable the PV360 preview window.  Some people we’re worried about the full Integration of PV360 into SolidWorks because they liked the current PV360 ability to be able to process a render and work in SolidWorks at the same time.  Ron has confirmed, even with the new full integration users will still be able to work in SolidWorks while a render is processing.  To go one step further, users will be able to continue to work on the same model in SolidWorks they are rendering with PV360.  This isn’t possible in the current standalone version.

pv360-integration
Would there be stand alone and integrated versions?
There was no mention of a stand alone version of PhotoView 360 during the general session demo.  If it’s true then the PhotoView 360 we’re using in 2010 will cease to exist and the UI, which many people seem to like will disappear with it.  Ron would neither confirm or deny a standalone version but did say technically it’s possible to have both.

Would we have more features than PhotoWorks offered?
It was impossible to answer this question from what was shown at the general session.  I think SolidWorks may have found just matching the current PhotoWorks features was challenging enough in the short window of time they are working in.  Ron didn’t comment on PV360 features beyond 2011 but did reiterate the information given in the fall announcement and made it clear the user would be able to achieve all the same things they could in PhotoWorks with PV360 2011.  Contour rendering, scheduled renders, reflective and shadow floors, custom appearances, configuration support, direct lights, rendered animations……..it’s all there.

Would there be a mac version?
There was no mention of a mac version of PV360 but since there is now full integration with SolidWorks and SolidWorks on the cloud seems to be in the not to distance future then it would be true that PhotoView 360 would be operating system independent along with SolidWorks.  The main reason behind the standalone and mac version question I believe  stems from the desire that marketing or graphics people would like to be able ot create renderings from engineering data on their own without needing a seat of SolidWorks or relying on someone from engineering to complete this task.  Looks like this ability will not be available for 2011.

Would PhotoView 360 be a native 64 bit application?
Whether installed on a 32 or 64 bit operating system PhotoView 360 is a 32 bit application.  This is important because that means it’s bound by the memory limitations of a 32 bit application.  Currently, it’s quite possible your able to open and work on a large data set in 64 bit SolidWorks but unable to render that data in photoView 360 because of it’s 32 bit memory limits.  I was hoping there would be a 64 bit version of PV360 for 2011.  No mention was made of this during the general session but since PhotoView 360 has been fully integrated into SolidWorks this would mean the 64 bit version of SolidWorks would install a 64 bit version of PhotoView 360 by default.  I posed this logic to Ron during our talk and he did confirm that’s what will happen.  So, there will be a 64 bit version of PhotoView 360 for 2011.  Nice!

If you’re a modo user then you already know 64 bit modo does not support the import of SolidWorks files.  The user needs to import the SolidWorks file in the 32 bit version of modo, save in the modo format and then open the file in the 64 bit version.  This is because Luxology licenses the SolidWorks file importer from SolidWorks.  It’s the same importer PhotoView 360 uses.  If a native 64 bit version of PhotoView 360 is on the horizon then I’m speculating the ability for 64 bit modo to import SolidWorks files is coming soon as well. Oh, I hope so.  Just to stretch that thought a bit more, is it possible we might see a 64 bit version of PhotoView 360 in a 2010 service pack?  I asked Ron this question and all I received was a smile and these words, "anything is possible".

Would animation support be the same as PhotoWorks or enhanced with modo type tools?
The general session demo showed a short rendered animation of a blender rotating on a table.  PhotoView 360 was the rendering tool used along with SolidWorks Motion.  There were no specific details on how the animation was created but I suspected the current motion tools were used and PhotoView 360 was selected as the render buffer at the time of save.  Exactly the same way you’d use PhotoWorks with Motion now.  Ron did confirm this was the case.  No new tools in terms of rendered animations but we may see some in the future.

Would we be able to create custom appearances from scratch (using a texture for example)?
Would decal functionality be part of PhotoView 360 rather than SolidWorks?
Would we have greater control over appearance mapping type, location and scale?
Would we be able to transfer cameras from SolidWorks to PhotoView 360?
We can really answer all these  questions with one word, integration.  Now that PhotoView 360 has been integrated into the SolidWorks window all the tools already found inside SolidWorks for things like cameras, lighting, decals, appearance controls, etc. can be used with PhotoView 360.  I have to think it’s much more time and cost effective for SolidWorks to integrate PhotoView 360 technology into the SolidWorks window rather than re-write these tools for a standalone version of PhotoView 360.  I’m sure full integration was part of the plan all along but SolidWorks didn’t have time to make this happen in one release.  Rather than give the user a fraction of the functionality they had with PhotoWorks, SolidWorks chose to provide both rendering solutions until the integration of PhotoView 360 was complete.  We’ve come full circle now with the 2011 release and I think the PhotoWorks user will feel very comfortable with the changes.  We now really have what PhotoWorks users have been asking for all along.  New underlying technology that makes rendered image creation much easier and a streamlined more intuative user interface.

Special thanks to Ron Bates and Marlon Banta from SolidWorks.  Both of these gentlemen have listened to me ramble on and ask questions for years about rendering.  I may have even complained a time or two.

Rob

 

February 11, 2010   Tags: , ,
Category: PhotoView 360, SolidWorks Worls 2010, Uncategorized   5 Comments comments

SolidWorks World General Sessions

gs-2The Monday and Tuesday general sessions have taken place here at SolidWorks World 2010 and I have to say I’ve been totally blown away by them.  They haven’t been particulary flashy or overally dramatic but they have contained entertaining and interesting content.  Here’s a quick run down of some of the things we’ve seen.

There are about 5000 attendees at SoldiWorks World this year which is amazing given the past and current state of the economy.  There was an explosion of registrations in the early weeks of 2010 which helped the 5000 attendee number to be reached, maybe this is a sign  economic times are improving for 2010?

Dassault Systems
Bernard Charles, CEO of Dassault Systems was present at his first SolidWorks World ever.  Bernard spent a lot of time talking about the past the future and the strength of commitment Dassault has to its product line including SolidWorks.  He talked about the goal of providing “life like” 3D to everyone in the world and how the Dassault product line is going to achieve this.

I think the strongest message I pulled from his speech was the melding of Dassault and SolidWorks.  It’s only been the last couple of years (when Jeff Ray assumed the CEO role at SolidWorks) that Dassault and SolidWorks have started portraying the “family” message.  It appears that the family tie between Dassault and SolidWorks is getting stronger I think we’re going to start seeing this stronger tie in the form of better product collaboration.  I have the feeling we’ll be hearing about some new product announcements at the Wednesday general session and those announcements might include products that span the entire Dassault family.  In the short term,  maybe SolidWorks will finally be able to read / write Catia files?

Cloud Computing
Normally previews of new technology is reserved for the Wednesday General session.  This year a fair amount of time was spent showcasing cloud computing.  I don’t know a whole lot about the technology but in a nutshell your files and software live on a server(s) somewhere in the world (the cloud) and you can be anywhere in the world and have access to that software and data on any type of system.  What was shown was said to be totally running live for the presentation and has been being tested (in secret) for over 2 years.  The cloud computing platform hand a very modern, fresh looking interface and I thought it was pleasing to the eye.  It reminded me of CGI software more than CAD software.  There were many demonstrations shown of the benefits of this type of platform including, reliability, OS independant and performance.  There was also some new technology showing direct editing, touch style interfaces and content search and re-use.  I’m not sure this is specific to cloud computing but was being shown as a “this could be the future” type of statement.

In my opinion over the last couple of years SolidWorks has been really quite about what the future looked like.  While other CAD vendors have been showing, selling or making available for download software which has direct editing, new UI and touch interfaces SolidWorks has remained quite.  I welcomed the technology preview at the Monday general session.  It’s nice to know SolidWorks is investing heavily in the future.  They may not be hyping that investment but it’s being made and they are working.  All this technology might not be available for a while but Jeff Ray did say some of it would see users later this year.

James McLurkin
James McLurkin is a roboticist/inventor/researcher/teacher who was up after the technology preview.  His presentation got off to a rocky start with some technical difficluties but once it was rolling it was GREAT.  James talked about programming robots to live and work in the human world.  He brought about 15 very small rover robots with him on stage and showed some demonstrations of what they could do.  All very interetsting stuff but what really made the presentation was his sense of humor.  James was as much an entertainer as educator and I have to think his students benefit from his style.  He put on a great talk.

CSWP Event Report
Avelino Rochino and Mike Puckett took the stage to give the CSWP report.  There are now over 25,000 CSWP worldwide and they also announced the new CSWP Expert exam.  They also brought Jeff Ray on stage to play a round of “hole in one”.  Jeff  Ray’s task was to answer  some questions from the CSWA exam.  Every time he answered a question correctly he received one put.  Think Drew Carey and the Price is Right.  Jeff won 5 puts but it only took him two to make a “hole in one”.  For the “hole in one” put he won a Team Associated RC truck for John Matrishon, leader of the Western Mass SolidWorks User Group.  It was an entertaining Skit. 

James Cameron Interview
The highlight of the Tuesday general session was the James Cameron interview given by Former SolidWorks CEO John Hirshtick.  The interview covered a wide range of topics all revolving around 3D technology of course.  I was impressed by James’s depth of knowledge in a number of areas.  He made it clear he wasn’t an engineer but has spent many hours working with engineers on projects covering  deep sea exploration, films, film equipment, camera design and a variety of other things.  He talked about how building bonds and relationships in his work with others was more important to him than awards and money.  This seemed to really resonate with the audience.  One thing that stuck in my mind was a statement he made.  When he’s ready to launch a project he assembles his team and writes a phrase on the white board for them all to ponder.  The statement…….Hope is not a strategy, luck is not a factor, fear is not an option.  Words to live by I think?

I have a another busy day today.  A PhotoView 360 presentation in the afternoon, Stump the Chumps following that and then a meeting with the Luxology team at their press dinner.  Exciting stuff.  Stay tuned.

 

February 2, 2010   Tags:
Category: SolidWorks 2010, Uncategorized   No Comments comments

  • Page 1 of 2
  • 1
  • 2

  • Purchase Step-By-Step Guides

    SolidWorks World General Sessions
    SolidWorks World General Sessions

  • See the Portfolio

    SolidWorks World General Sessions
    SolidWorks World General Sessions
    SolidWorks World General Sessions
 
© 2011 Axis Cad Solutions. All rights reserved. Site by PDW.