Interview with Matt Perez
Matt Perez is a guy I think most SolidWorks users first met when he created that Camaro PDF tutorial maybe 7 or 8 years ago. It turned out that he lived a short drive from where I live, so I went over to get lunch with him one day. I’ve had the great fortune to meet a lot of super energetic people who are also frighteningly smart. Matt is one of those guys. When I left all my SW projects behind in 2013, I gave Matt one of the most lucrative projects I had, a video tutorial gig with one of the big producers. He did a great job and went on to do much more.
Since returning from my pilgrimage to broaden my horizons, Matt has really taken off and taken the whole idea of digital training to another level. I’ll let him tell you his story.
Can you give us a run down of where you’ve worked? I met you at Virginia Tech, you’ve done some video tutorials, and now you’re doing a SW VAR and some new project. Please fill in the blanks.
Yeah, it’s been a wild ride for sure. When you and I met I was working at the VA Tech Transportation Institute as a Design Engineer. At the time I was using Solidworks and Mastercam as well as other tools to design various things for research.
Around 2011 I started consulting for www.mySolidBox.com . On the face SolidBox is a hardware provider making the best CAD and CAM optimized systems out there. They just recently started building 6 core laptops which is hard to even imagine! My main function with SolidBox was engineering work and training.
Early in 2013 my wife and I had our first kid and at that point I quit working for VT to be a full time dad and to pick and choose some projects with SolidBox.
This year the founder of SolidBox paired up with the Founder of EpiGrid and Edge Engineering to form a new type of VAR, Converge. www.Converge.design Converge is looking to approach the VAR model different than most of the big VARs we have around these days. My role with Converge was a Technical Accounts Manager. Overseeing projects. Doing that for a few months I realized that it wasn’t “my thing”. My passion and focus are really in content creation to educate people about the software and design aspects.
I recently formed my own company www.caducator.com Over the years I started making videos for VARS, then for eLearning sites, like you hooked me up with, and ultimately worked my way up the ladder going directly to the OEMs. Caducator will focus on high quality learning content creation for software companies, customers and anyone who is interested in learning. While we provide a high-level service for OEMs I still try to support anyone interested in learning when possible.
If I’m not mistaken, you really came to the public SolidWorks eye with a Camaro surfacing tutorial, is that right? Can you describe what happened around the release of that tutorial?
That is correct! And that was about 8 years ago now and it’s a semi long story…. So, modeling a car was always something I wanted to do. I had tried a few times before the tutorial and sort of worked out the process. I did an Audi r8 in Autodesk Inventor that was less than impressive. Once I got into Solidworks around 2009 I was instantly impressed with the surfacing capabilities and modeled an Audi TT. When modeling that I really started to work out the process that fit for me. I had seen lots of attempts online of other people and I wanted to help out by showing people how I was able to do it. Keep in mind in 2010 I hadn’t even thought about making videos, so I set out to model the camaro while documenting the process. I didn’t premodel the car it was
like a diary of my attempt. The result was about 10hrs of work and a 300page word document. Funny enough the first place I tried to put this was on CadTutor.net by pasting into Posts. That didn’t go so well. The second place that went onto the Solidworks Forum as a PDF download. That is where it really got a lot of visibility. Around the same time I had come across the SW certs and went at them pretty hard. I got my CSWE and I think I was the first or one of the first non VARS to take the new online exam so that put me on a 
“list”. As SWW was approaching I was contacted by Mike Puckett at SW to share images I had created to be displayed on stage during the general session. Of course I sent him a few cars that I had modeled , including the camaro and that connected the dots. I scrambled to model a car just for SWW, the red one that was on the splash screen for a few years, and slapped a website together and that year I was on stage being interviewed during the general session! Zero to hero just like that.
Zero to hero, that’s cool. I know you have a background in NX, SW and Fusion 360. That’s a great combination of experience. Which one do you prefer for machine design type work, and which for surfacing?
I have made my way around the block in terms of CAD systems. All of them have their pluses and minuses. That is always a given. I started in the mid 90s with Autocad, mechanical desktop then onto Inventor around 2006 or so. In 2006 I also got a taste of NX 5 and 6(I think, its been awhile), then onto Solidworks, Onshape, Fusion360 etc. I have played with Blender, Unity, Zbrush and a few others in there too. So, the question of what do I prefer for certain types of work has to have another qualification in there. Cost/accessibility is very important these days. Putting the cost aside I would likely still go to Solidworks for mechanical design. I like the sketching environment, sketch blocks and the ability to make weldments, route certain types of things and simulate them during motion studies. However, the cost to achieve that, as you know, is pretty steep so its hard to attain if you don’t work for a large company or have a really successful startup. For surfacing type work, cost aside again, I really love Fusion 360 and using Tsplines. I was an adopter and early tester for PowerSurfacing for Solidworks and love that product as well. There are some things it can do that Tsplines can’t just yet, and there are other things that Tsplines does well that PowerSurfacing can’t. Programs like NX or Catia are obviously very powerful, but also very expensive. They are well above what the average person needs or can afford. So really it comes down to a very specific task and cost.
I understand you have a new venture that you’re trying to get going. Can you describe that for us?
Of course! So, as I mentioned above I have started www.caducator.com. My goal is to produce high quality educational content for software OEMs, customers looking for training and individuals. To date I have made hundreds of “series” in many different CAD and CAM packages. Last year alone I made 24 video series for Pluralsight using Fusion 360, Inventor, Solidworks and OnShape. In addition to that I made a “Mastery” series for Autodesk in Fusion 360 designing a formula SAE car, a series I wanted to do for a long time, and a series of courses building a 3d printed quad copter for Coursera. It was a very busy year. Doing video creation and custom training since about 2011 has shown me there is a real need for quality content that is interesting and real so I try to bring as much realism to the content while making it relatable to as many people as I can. Two years ago I build an LMS based site, www.SolidBox.tv , and spend loads of time trying to get that content seen. In the end I found it was best to go right to the software company because they already have the audience.
I saw a set of video tutorials you did for Fusion 360, which look great, by the way. What do you think will be the biggest mental mind shift for the average SolidWorks user to go from thinking exclusively in history-based modeling to being open to other methods such as direct solid modeling, or T-splines, or subd mesh?
Thanks! Just like hopping from Autocad to Inventor or Solidworks is a jump. Going from Solidworks to Fusion 360 is a jump. When you are used to something it is hard to change. Most CAD systems now have a similar workflow and file structure. Inventor has projects but ultimately has a part, assembly and drawing file at its core. Solidworks is the same. Getting people to change the file structure is key. Fusion 360 still captures sketch and feature data, you still have assemblies and motion but you just have to look at it differently. Think about a multi-body part in Solidworks. You design all the solids you need in a single file. If you are tricky and use instant 3d and some creative sketches you can get motion in that part. Fusion puts everything in one file. Parts(bodies) are “static”, but components, which contain bodies, are free to move around. More so than that anything that happens in that file is captured(if you want). So lets say you are in a solidworks assembly and you move some stuff around, there is no history of that, just ctrl-Z if you are lucky. Fusion 360 asks you to capture that position as a feature in the timeline. Once you understand how that functionality works it is really handy. Here is a good example. You draw something with a hole in it. It has motion so you apply a joint (Fusion’s version of a mate but handles DoF like Inventor does). Down the line if you apply a fillet, the joint/mate is still fine because it was applied to the model before the fillet. In Solidworks you just destroyed a face and made it mad so you need to go back and reattach that mate. It is little things like these that make a whole lot of sense once you start seeing them in practice.
Can you talk about what you think the range of options available between formal CAD training and casually looking up specific items on Help or Youtube? Which is most effective/efficient?
I am an interesting person to ask that question of. Before I started training people I never watched tutorials outside of just the help file in Solidworks. I am the type of person that really likes to figure something out for myself. When I look for an answer I generally avoid videos funny enough, but YouTube seems to be the first stop for many people. The problem you have is the range of quality. You might get a video with a sound track and no voice because of the user. Or you might get a really great easy to follow video. This is one reason I love working with Autodesk specifically. They put a lot a stock in education and the process of course development is long and tedious. When you see something on Design Academy or Udemy that came from Autodesk you know it has gone through the ringer. There have been several companies that I have made custom training for. I call this project based training. A good example of this is a company that was looking learn Solidworks API. I knew their end goal, so I developed a series for them and ultimately gave them a ton of videos and macros that did little functions they needed for their overall project. I gave them enough info to get started and the references they needed to train new hires or review. So, to sum that up, a video on YouTube might get you 50% of the way there, a vetted course on an eLearning site or an OEMs site will be much better developed. My eventual goal is to have a YouTube channel and free videos out there, but I am not there just yet.
Do you think history-based CAD is going to remain where it is today, or will it decline in the next 10 years? If it declines, what will take its place?
I don’t know that we will ever see it go away. A hybrid approach, like Fusion 360 has taken, seems to be a good middle ground. There are times when you want to make a spreadsheet based model to handle dozens of configurations. There are other times when you might want to just go crazy with concepts. It’s clear that most CAD packages are really looking hard at their “Direct Modeling” tools. Some are clearly better than others, but they are all trying and that should tell us something. I don’t know how far into the future, but at some point, we will see more generative/growth based parts. Software is getting better and manufacturing isn’t far behind. This tech won’t replace traditional manufacturing, but it is going to open up a lot of doors in design.
If you were to give advice to two people, what would you say? The first is a new college engineering or technology graduate, and the second is a mid-career professional looking for a fresh start in design or manufacturing.
To the student or graduate I would tell them to find something they are passionate about. Seems cliché but it is true. I like figuring stuff out, making stuff work and seeing a final product. Technology is at the fingertips of the masses more than ever before. This is a great time to push the limits. Doing something you don’t enjoy will suck the life right out of you! Something you are passionate about will let you sit there for hours on end trying to solve a problem rather than looking at the clock hoping you were doing something else.
To the mid-career professional looking for a fresh start I would say the same thing. There is more on the line so there is some strategy that must happen. Life is a gamble even if you plan. You could be a 20year vet of an industry that could be gone tomorrow. With so many resources available to people today there is no reason not to learn something new every day!
One thing that I have always done, intentionally and subconsciously, is to diversify. Learn as much as you can about as much as you can. At the end of the day I would do whatever I had to in order to provide for my family, even if it is something I don’t enjoy. I have a long history in fabrication, welding, design, NC programming etc. That wasn’t by accident. I never would have guessed I would be making videos for the internet for a living but the knowledge I gained along the way has given me an edge. If this wasn’t my career I would likely be a computer programmer if I’m honest. Both CAD and programming are unique in the fact that you are building something and you can see the results come to life. Digital arts, animation, movies etc all fall into these categories as well.
When I was 16 I wanted to work in a motorcycle store, a passion of mine. I went to the local shop in dirty old clothes, covered in paint and sweaty from riding my bike there. I was trying to get a job sweeping floors and cleaning toilets just to be around bikes. Well I was given an opportunity to sell parts and I will never forget that. I did the best job I could. I came in early, studied microfiche (yes) to make sure I knew what things were and where to find them. I have tried to extend that to people over the years. Just because you don’t know something doesn’t mean you can’t learn. You just have to want it.
I will leave people with a few words of advice to make sure you do a few things in life:
- Go through hard times. Hard times make you appreciate the easy/good times and work as hard as possible.
- Seize opportunity. It is easy to get stuck in a rut of the safe option. I did this for a long time. Opportunities only come by so often. You can’t always gamble on them but make sure you see them for what they are and explore them before moving on. This could be a job opportunity or even some crazy idea you had that you want to explore.
- Make mistakes. You can’t always get it right. Getting it wrong is part of it. In todays age there is too much perfection on display and not enough failure. Make mistakes but don’t beat yourself up, learn from it.
- Be Helpful. It seems silly but if someone asks you a question, answer it. There are no secrets to this industry. Being helpful to others helps you be a better designer and person. The internet gives us access to so much information, but also a sea of people who only know how to be negative for whatever reason. If someone is doing something wrong, don’t just say they are wrong, help them understand how to do it better.