Catching Up
I haven’t been posting much recently in part because I’ve had a lot of other work to do. There are a couple of interesting projects in the wings.
10 hour Video Tutorial
One completed project that I can talk about is the video tutorial project. I’ve made a 10 hour course in video format. It is being promoted and sold through Infinite Skills. The first course is mainly for beginners, but does get into some intermediate topics. The files are included for each example. You might recognize the voice, although my name has been left off (at my request) mainly to avoid annoying some people more than I really need to. If you know anyone at your company or user group who might benefit from some beginner to intermediate tutorials, please pass it on.
I was a little disappointed that Infinite Skills didn’t put an image of one of my models on the cover or on the site. The motorcycle that I showed earlier was used in some examples for this and the second course.
There is a second course coming maybe by May on advanced topics, with about 25% of the course on surfacing related topics, and about 50% on advanced assembly tools and techniques. Videos turn out to be much easier than books, and the pay is better on a per-hour basis. For users, well, some users just always want a video tutorial. The info that is demo’ed is pretty clear, but a lot of detail is probably still better in text and images. Anyway, I’ll be sure to let you know when this advanced course hits the shelves.
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After all the time I’ve put into this blog, it is time to start making some money from it, but I don’t want the baggage that comes with being a full time writer, or anything other than what I am. I don’t have any personal relationship with Kubotek company or software, aside from the one article I wrote for TenLinks, and a follow up to that in the works. The comments in the article were genuine, but I only logged a few hours on the software. It’s no big deal, really. I’m not switching to KeyCreator. It’s just a company I haven’t managed to offend yet.;o)
Buzzwords
“Experience” is the overused word currently in vogue in software and gadgets as a euphemism for a range of ideas from “interface” to “frustration level”. And it seems it is now always used as a noun, not as a verb. It seems to me that when applied to CAD software, the word is being misapplied either because people don’t understand the word, are willfully misusing it, or don’t understand the application. I have to believe that it’s #3. I mean, look at the goals of the “next gen Catia Lite” software – buzzword alphabet soup. Social. 3D. Experience.They should throw this misguided and now seemingly retired buzzword “disruptive” in there just to be honest.
So CAD is an experience? Experience is Disney World. Recreational drugs. Halo3. Jimi Hendrix through headphones. The Cyber Salon scene in Minority Report where you can get a virtual experience of killing your boss. To me, “experience” is a consumer issue. Experience is when something is done to you. It’s mainly passive. CAD is a tool. It’s active, and any passive effects are a secondary issue. You can only start talking about esoteric stuff like “experience” with a tool once you have conquered output. results. and yes, Oleg, functionality. Let’s see a show of hands of people who believe that any CAD software has reached its full potential when it comes to capability. Anyone?
CAD as an experience? Puleeeze. Give me a rough around the edges interface but total capability. 8 days a week. I don’t get paid for CAD to massage my feet. I get paid for CAD results. I’m guessing that’s why people buy CAD. If CAD is just an “experience”, we might as well hire the Chinese and Indians to do the work for us in pirated NX while we all go soft.
Interesting Times
The SolidWorks company, from a certain point of view, can be said to have ceased to exist. The SolidWorks software, from a similar point of view, can be said to be on its last legs from a new development perspective. The next generation of mid-range software from Dassault may use the SolidWorks brand name, but it will have far more in common with Catia than with the SolidWorks many of us selected from a crowded CAD field. This new platform puts them on a level playing field with every other mid-range software out there, including Inventor and Solid Edge, and they are going to have to win over their existing customers all over again.The software will have to be pretty damn compelling from functionality and price perspectives to pull this off, in my opinion.
Let’s just call it “Catia Lite” from now on, because that’s really what it is. Especially when you hear Bernard Charles talk about it. He makes it sound like SolidWorks will become 3D for hobbyists, not for professionals. He equates V6 to Google and Facebook “social online experience”. You really need to watch the 7 minute video. Quite depressing. It’s not clear to me that he remembers what CAD is used for.
[pullquote]You know that the best surfacing software system in the world is Catia. By Far.
– Bernard Charles in an interview at SolidWorks World 2012 when asked about Tsplines[/pullquote]
“One could say it’s not Catia. One could say it’s just V6 components. So the idea is that each of the products in the group can take advantage of very critical components like this to make the products they need to make for their market. So the SolidWorks development team can go shopping at Dassault Systems R&D powerhouse to get whatever they think is useful for their users. It’s like in the auto sector, where big groups are sharing components between vehicles.”
What I don’t get is why it takes 4 years to just snap together Catia Lite from Catia V6 components.
@matt
“I’m willing to say not nice things, it would make the times I did say nice things more meaningful.”
Your comment underscores what I was alluding too Matt. Technical writting is about facts – good and, maybe, not so good, when appropriate. Few products are right for all occasions – CAD is no exception. Therefore objective testing, reporting and commenting is paramount to an authors/articles credibilty.
Matt, keep saying exactly what you see and why, please. Advertisers can decide if they wish to ride on “your back” or not: those who value their customers and product improvemnt will shoulder, and pay heed to, (fair) critical comments.
The percieved protection of revenue, exposed the lack of guts of the CAD press to sensibly & objectively engage and comment on software licencing, is the reason NONE of the improvements needed have been achieved.
@R.Paul Waddington
You know, you have a point there. Still, I’m just going to write what I think, and ads from Kubotek aren’t going to affect that.
@Steve
You know, I have said nice things about some software. I was hoping that because I’m willing to say not nice things, it would make the times I did say nice things more meaningful. I hope I’m still allowed to say nice things about software I like? It’s my aim to say what’s true, whether it’s nice or not. I think the truth always has value.
@matt
“I couldn’t write a nice article about Inventor,”
“Nice” is of no value in writing about a CAD product. Not believing in a product Matt may well be the trait needed to write an article of value.
@Steve
Steve, do not ever mention your last name or the company you work for here. Your copy of SolidWorks is illegal. If you look at the license agreement, you can only purchase from a SolidWorks reseller. You cannot buy from a company that went out of business unless you bought the entire business.
I have no problems with advertisements that don’t get in my way and never will. Hell I even click on them sometimes because they seem interesting. The best I’ve seen was private jet lecensing, beginning at 5000euro/hour. I don’t know what their target market was but I was surfing a gaming website at the time haha.
Anyway as long as there’s no adverts that load a second after everything else so that I go to click on a link which is suddenly replaced by an advert that was delay loaded and I get sent to penis stretching central, I’m quite happy.
I also think it’s quite entertaining that you’ll be writing the odd article for other products. Everyone here that reads this blog regularly will know not to bother taking in your advice if your praising the product anyway, I think we’re fairly accustomed to your writing style and opinions these days and if you’re just praising something then you’re probably lying 😀
As for SW, I’ve got a 2009 license. I can make shapes and send step files to manufacturers. I have absolutely no need to get a new license or a new SW product because I won’t get a single thing from it. All I need/want I can get by moving up to catia or NX, but we survive with what we’ve got.
@matt
If you still believe all that stuff, do you think it applies only to other people? I know you’re not going to sacrifice your integrity for a few bucks, but given your changed circumstances I just don’t get how you could still be so certain that everybody else feels compelled to sacrifice theirs. You’ve read my blog for a few years now too; do you think I would change what I write to please an advertiser? Do you think I did so when I wrote Bug Watch for Cadalyst?
I was very tempted to start that comment with “So you…”, but I resisted.
Everybody has a point of view, ads or no ads. You’ve got to apply a filter to everything you read on the internet. As far as Ads in my site go, I ran ads for 3dConnexion, which make a product I use and like. I ran another ad for a CAD training school, with which I had no affiliation. Kind of the same thing with Kubotek.
I will only take on paid writing projects where I don’t have to write anything I don’t really believe. That’s a great luxury of not being a full time writer.If I take on paid writing gigs it’s because I don’t disagree with the voice I have to write in.
I think writing professioally about general CAD topics woud be hard. I couldn’t write a nice article about Inventor, for example, because I donzt believe in the product. Being able to pick my topics allows me to believe what I write. The Kubotek Compare bit was an objective article about software I was neutral about, and I was paid by a third party.
I couldn’t work as an attorney, where you just plead the case of whoever pays you money. That’s as close to prostitution as the law (outside of Vegas) allows. I’d feel the same way writing nice or even neutral things about a product I didn’t like.
@Rick… well then,.. I guess I have a terminal rash. 8^)
@Matt… btw,.. the precog reference is hella funny! (..goodbye SW)
Matt, Welcome back.
I prefer written format. I can tab and highlight the items that are important to me. I like your approach of showing the principles, and then an example.
I have picked up an allergy to the multitude of obvious and inexcusable Solidworks bugs that have not been fixed in the last 5 years. I am not going back on subscription until some of thes bugs are fixed. I am fighting some really nasty boundary surface problems and flipping trims that wipe out many features.
I also have an allergy to the “good corporate citizen” butt kissing blather.
Btw Matt I looked at a number of the demo videos and they are pretty good. I thought they were logical, concise and the pace was good for a beginner. Your voice records clearly too. Perhaps you should give up on books and make videos if they are easier and pay better. You would seem to have a talent for communication no matter what the media. Well ahead of my mangled efforts anyway 😉
In other catch up news, if your readers hadn’t noticed, T-splines and now TsElements are back on sale.
Unfortunately Autodesk now charge differently for them depending where you are in the world.
Haven’t checked out the exact amount but it seems in the order of 50% more now in Australia/NZ. 🙁
@matt
“So” is a transition word, and so it belongs in the middle of a sentence.
Other words to be banned: “leading” and “solution.”
Also needing banning: interviewees asking questions, “So why did we decide to ramp up to become the leading forward-looking CAD solutions provider?”
@matt
I use Google AdWords on my blog. The benefit: I have no control over which ads appear. Indeed, I use Opera Web browser’s Block Content feature to block seeing the ads when I visit my blog (such as to ensure the post I just wrote actually appeared).
In case you are wondering, I make roughly $60 a month from AdWords, which nearly covers the cost of my Internet bills (monthly Web connection + annual commercial upfrontezine.com acct + annual TypePad fee).
@matt
LOL! so true
Another one that bugs me is when people start by answering a question with the word “So”. When I hear someone do this, it’s as if they are re-starting in the middle of a monologue, and whatever the other person just said was never heard. They are just picking up where they last left off. I notice it most with corporate types, especially people answering questions in press interviews.
I nominate leverage, leveraging and leveraged. I see those bits of corporate psychobabble syntax and I figure the marketing department of whoever is about to put more product lies in front of me.
Another buzzword that needs retiring: “Intuitive”.
@Steve Johnson
Yeah, I was waiting for that. I still believe all that stuff. If anyone catches me toning it down for advertising, say so. There are plenty of ways to rationalize it. One is that Kubotek is not one of the products I get fired up about here. I don’t really have any opinions about the software. And the second was obviously making a couple of bucks for stuff I usually just give away. I think by now, after 6 years of blogging, people have made their opinions about me. Not sure what an ad here and there will do to change that. Although I have to say that the ad has kind of coincided with me burning out on the flamethrowing bit, but one didn’t cause the other.
Devon my feeling is they won’t tell you. I believe some US stations were taken off line during March. The jet stream delivers from Japan in a few days across NA with the west coast from Alaska to Cali first in line of course. Radiation will be very fine particles, too small to filter with mask I think, best to try to block immediate uptake with the pills and stay indoors for a period if you know. You want to avoid inhaling this stuff because it can get trapped in the lungs. Not an immediate hazard but can have long term consequences.
Dose won’t be anything like being nearby and having to live in it all the time though. Don’t wish to be alarmist with this tip or anything but it is apparent govts sit on or lessen info. The middle of Japan is much more contaminated than they will admit. Reactor 4 spent fuel is in a very damaged building. Lots of makeshift cooling piping on the whole site. A richter 6 or so would be very bad news.
Particles are liable to be deposited with rain, snow so 8000 feet may not be good idea plus its up closer to jet stream. Some stuff went to east coast last time. Went all around NH in a few weeks.
Nothing to panic about, actually cant do much about it, but a further incident might well happen some time since it will be a very long time before they can deal with the reactor site effectively and Japan is quake prone. Best to have some basic precautions in place like you might do for a severe storm. 😉
What happened to the advertising-is-evil thing, Matt?
“Advertising a product means that you are beholden to that company for cash or other rewards – you have in essence sold your right of free expression about that product.”
“I stand by my comments about advertising biasing your point of view. If they aren’t true, then why do you have advertising at all? People distrust or at least are cynical about things written by people who are paid by advertisement, period.”
“Amateur blogs that advertise are cheezy, and yes I believe that, subtle as it may be, advertising can quench your fire.”
Not having a go at you here or trying to stir up old arguments again, just wondering what led you to change your position from that expressed above.
@Neil
OK, I’ll look into all that. Our house is 2 miles from the Pacific Ocean here, the prevailing winds are from the East. We have a vacation house 125 miles away at 8,000 feet, is that any better? I don’t know.
Radiation monitors are installed in Calif., a cousin in law of mine worked on the project, 10-11 years ago, the monitors were designed using SW. The questions are; Are they turned on? Do they work? Will they tell us?
Yes, “Why does it take so long to put a new face on recycled Catia bits?” is a very good question.
There has to be some other reason for the holdup besides slow cut and paste or obsessive UI artwork.
Bernard is a clever little SOB politically (can I write that?) but some of us are smarter than that. If I was in his position I wouldn’t be so confident about my ability to BS customers and get away with it. Frankly, he is just embarrassing himself.
What intrigued me was the woman, who ever she is, feeding him the ideas. I thought, “Now there is the source of our problems!”
She is trying to extend a major chain store’s mind control marketing model onto engineering/manufacturing as well. Not that engineering tasks aren’t part of a larger mission but she wants to dress everyone up in the brand. Are engineers like that? I think engineers are fairly down to earth types interested in technical and practical things…. Are customers as robotic or easily manipulated as marketing studies would have them? I would suggest marketing studies belong in the same basket as damned lies and statistics and circus or fashion parades. 🙂
When DS want to put CAD on the cloud its obvious they are being influenced by the same mentality as making Kentucky Fried Chicken or Walmart ubiquitous. This is a dreadfully misguided thing to foist on engineering activities. It actually puts supplying complex software tools to professional engineers on the same level as selling beer to Bart Simpson. Doh!
Rather than provide technically competant tools they will guage success on the percent who say they are dissatisfied, somewhat satisfied, satisfied, or very satisfied with the colour scheme.
We should send these people back to the kitchen rather than let them wag the dog. 😉
OT Btw Devon you should be stocking up on potassium iodide and calcium/magnesium tablets for your family, particularly your children. NA already has had a dose of fallout from Mar 2011 but if a decent quake hits Fukushima you are liable to get spent fuel from reactor 4 all over you in a matter of days.
Why are the French so out of touch with reality? I noticed R&D expenses are down for DS in the video. It’s all being spent on useless social platforms such as Netvibes. I guess I’m still having trouble seeing the big picture?
Matt-
Nice to hear about your projects.
The CAD industry? Boring, stagnate, old technology rehashed, bizarre marketing practices, PDM/PLM nightmare stories abound. I’d rather eat a bug than download and install ANOTHER SolidWorks version/Service Pack, LOL!
My interest has waned to the point I’m no longer looking for new projects. Coffee roasting and tube radio rebuilding works for me, currently.
Good luck with your new projects.
Devon