2013 Bible Has Finally Arrived
The SolidWorks 2013 Bible has finally arrived. There were a lot of changes in this edition. First, you notice the cover. I don’t think it’s as attractive as the previous covers. An even bigger difference is that 2013 has been joined back into a single book. 2011 was split into Parts and Assemblies. I guess the publisher didn’t sell as many Assemblies books as we thought they would. Besides the fact that the first printing misplaced about 150 pages.
This edition also got more focus on the tutorials, and added video introductions for each chapter, as well as kept the relevant video tutorials from the previous version. So there is actually quite a bit of video content, in addition to the 1250 pages.
The features that have been added to 2012 and 2013 have been added/changed/removed in this new edition. Also, the technical editor for 2013 was Ed Cyganik, the editor for the Administration Bible, and a guy who knows the opposite end of the software from me (drawings, standards, etc.) Ed’s a great guy I met back in the early days for SolidWorks in Western NY.
Anyway, all the standard stuff applies. This is not for beginners. Despite what the publisher put on the cover, this is not primarily a tutorial, it is primarily a desk reference. It doesn’t offer a lot of cook-book type do-this-do-that tutorials, but focuses on helping you understand why stuff happens, and how to make better modeling decisions. If you want to criticize the book, please give examples of what you dislike and why. The more detail the more seriously I’ll take your criticism. If you just say “This book stinks”, or “because of the way it’s written”, you will be taunted in the style of Monty Python. Seriously.
I’m not really a writer, and not really an educator. I’m an engineer who is fascinated with modeling manufacturable geometry. This is really what separates this book from the others.
I do have a limited number of these for sale if you’re interested in a signed copy. I understand that Amazon will have these in stock on March 10.
hi matt
congratulations for ur new wonderful book, i have read 2010 version and it was great.
do u have any plan for writing a bible for SW plastics (and even SW electrical). [or do u know any good reference or book for learning SW plastics]
i recently need to learn SW plastics, but there is no book for learning.
@Eric Irwin – yes, robustness is an extremely high priority for complex assemblies, and something that otherwise you have to learn by trial and error.
@Matt – The cover looks great, I much prefer it to the cover of my ancient SW 2010 Bible, which spends a lot of time on my desk. I will be getting a copy of this soon. What I appreciate most is the no-nonsense accurate, but irreverent (in a Bible, no less) approach to modeling. It is way, way, way better than the help files. An expanded section on best practices for top-down design would be helpful. There are so many ways this does not work well in SW, but can be made to work well if you have the right file structure, mate types, etc. Thanks for your continued attention to this software. You have solved many problems for me.
Shouldn’t this be a Solid Edge bible?
“Pecunia non olet”
@matt
I think for me the big thing would be a focus on techniques that give the most robust results. There are so many times that I have to re-select Trim references or chain references. There are things that just seem to fall apart and need to be nursed along too often.
Matt, awesome job as usual. I too like the cover, and the videos are a nice extra feature. Keep up the good work.
Alan B
Nice book.
I still wish I could get a copy of the surfacing book. I own the PDF version of it but I find it tough to learn from that format.
@Nathn
Nathan, thanks for finding that, I’ll have to fix the download file. Here is a link to the folder with the two missing files.
https://dezignstuff.com/swparts/ch32surfs.zip
Got the book yesterday. So what did you and Eddie do in your spare time?
Matt,
Cracked open the book this evening to check out the chapter on Surfacing, basically skipped straight to the tutorials as I just finished your surfacing book for the most part a couple weeks ago.
The tutorial files called for in the end of Chapter 32 in the book vs. what’s hosted on the website don’t match. I downloaded everything here: http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-1118508408,descCd-DOWNLOAD.html
That the right spot?
I seem to remember some talk of a new surfacing bible. When will that be out?
Eric,
That is currently in the works. Input welcome, though.
Thanks, guys. No armageddon, sorry, that’s in Revelation, and Moses is an old testament sort.
The cover looks beautiful, I’m sure the content is even better 🙂
Ordered it yesterday – thanks Matt!
We might not agree on much Matt, but the amount of work involved in that beast, is something to be admired. Nice work, man…
Al
Best-looking cover yet!
Can I read about the SW armageddon in this version? 😉
I like the new cover design.
@Nathan Coy
“Jesus”? no. Jesus only lived to 34, and I’m well past that at this time, although I do get crucified by the Philistines from time to time;o) More like Moses. Bald. Beard. Always carrying a big stick and laying down the law. And something about a toga…
No, actually I’ve tried to distance myself from biblical references. The book name was the choice of the publisher. They didn’t ask me if I approved. I did ask them to make a leather bound, red letter, big print edition once, though. Publishers have no sense of humor.
Why is it not in colleges? Well, mainly because it wasn’t written for that kind of thing. It’s hard to teach from a reference book. Plus, the person in charge of the SolidWorks Education program just also happens to be a book author who writes and sells books for that market.
Has anyone called Matt “SolidWorks Jesus” to his face yet? Thanks for the hard work Matt, going to go scoop this one up so you keep writing books. Everything I read from you makes me less dumb.
Also, why is this book not in all the SolidWorks based college courses being taught around the country?
I’m grabbing some popcorn and am so hoping for a “This book stinks” comment. 😀
Congrats!