This intensive 1-hour training webinar will demonstrate how solidThinking Inspire can be used to generate efficient structural concepts for your design problems. This training session will provide detailed instructions for each of the following steps in the Inspire process:

  • Reading geometry and assemblies
  • Organizing your model
  • Adding loads and constraint information
  • Specifying material properties
  • Applying manufacturing and symmetry constraints
  • Setting up and running the problem
  • Viewing and interpreting the results

May 24, 2012 – 1:00 PM EDT / 7:00 PM CEST
June 7, 2012 – 9:00 AM EDT / 3:00 PM CEST
June 19, 2012 – 1:00 PM EDT / 7:00 PM CEST

Getting started with solidThinking Evolve 9.0

This intensive 1-hour introductory training webinar will allow you to become familiar with the solidThinking Evolve 9.0 interface and workflow. This training session will focus on the basics of modeling and rendering in Evolve and highlight the following areas:

  • User-Interface
  • Basic Curve construction
  • Basic Surface construction
  • Model organization   
  • Using construction history to explore design alternatives
  • Applying and editing materials for rendering
  • Using environments to create more realistic renderings
  • Applying and editing lights for more dramatic renderings                         

May 9, 2012 – 1:00 PM EDT / 7:00 PM CEST
May 22, 2012 – 9:00 AM EDT / 3:00 PM CEST
June 5, 2012 – 9:00 AM EDT / 3:00 PM CEST
June 21, 2012 – 1:00 PM EDT / 7:00 PM CEST

• Use view tessellation for on-screen visual feedback while editing the level of detail
• Use Advance Tessellation tool to create stitched/watertight geometry
• Understand the parameters that control polygonal data creation

• Using global illumination for more realistic lighting
• Using ground planes for shadows and reflections
• Understanding options in the Shading Manager
• Navigating in the Material Library
• Using Oversampling Parameter to increase image quality

Here’s an extended list of features coming soon:

• Updated the icons, selection tools and color schemes throughout the application to improve ease of use and provide you with more options to personalize your workflow. Options and themes can be changed by accessing the new “user interface” and “colors” tabs we’ve added to preferences.
• Cleaned up the modeling tool panel – panels have a new default docking position and can be docked in the way that is most convenient for the user.
• Increased icons and visual flow for model shading properties to provide more shading options, as well as made it easier to differentiate between shading modes. Users can better see how surfaces flow together over seems and edges, and can also select or modify zebra stripes, isoparms and environmental shading options directly within each modeling window. Visualizations can now also be used in work mode.
• Gave you complete control over the color and visualization quality of the surface for modeling – can change transparency, shininess, and reflectivity per object.
• Global visual quality options right in the visual properties panel – less clicks.
• Improved visual quality – decreased visual gaps and cracks in the model/geometry and increased tessellation.
• Improved the handling of large models. Larger files load faster and manage more complex data with improved efficiency.
• Added “smart delete” for hiding/un-hiding source objects in the construction history when deleting items, saving the user time and clicks.
• Added a hot key for curves selection.
• Better naming in the world browser for objects according to shapes and tools used to model them – making it easier to navigate through the interface when creating complex scenes and environments.
• Added flags to indicate if an object in construction history is broken, allowing the users to repair their models keeping the construction history intact.
• Ability to move, rotate or scale objects multiple times – translate tools now stay active across multiple edits to give the user the ability to move, rotate or scale object multiple times without having to reactivate the tools.
• Support for the 3D Connexion devices
• Users can submit feedback under the help section – by clicking the “submit feedback” button, users are taken to the support section of the solidThinking website to provide real time feedback or requests to solidThinking.
• Improved modeling tolerances, which are now more dependable and robust. The user no longer has to manually adjust them.
• Added a new Instance Tool, which allows users to copy and recreate objects including their original construction history. The copied objects can be controlled directly from the source, which makes it more convenient to create repetitive parts and components.
• Improved the robustness of multiple tools, including Trim, Intersect, Split Surface, Boolean, Make Manifold, Loft, Patch, Blend Surface, and Polymesh tools. Loft and Patch tools can now achieve G2 continuity.
• Improved functionality for controlling materials and handling textures including multiple textures on the same surface.
•  Updated Interactive Rendering, formerly real time + photorealistic rendering, to allow for interactive rendering for selected objects.
•  Updated the Texture Mapping tool for interactive placement of multiple textures.
•  Provided new rendering shortcuts for efficiency.
•  Added Keyshot support – files can be saved in .bip format and opened in Keyshot directly from Evolve.

Suitably named, solidThinking Evolve^TM9.0 has exited beta reviews with positive and promising response to its improved user interface and workflow, modeling interaction, rendering capabilities and format support.  We’re thrilled to bring it to our users and their colleagues and peers in the coming weeks – we’re hoping you will see the difference in its capabilities and your workflow by trying it and encouraging others to try it, too.  In the meantime, listed below are a few highlights in preview of the new solidThinking Evolve.

User interface/Workflow

• Updated icons, selection tools and color schemes throughout the user interface.
• Improved ease of use and added more options to personalize the workflow.
• Increased icons and visual flow for model shading properties, more shading options and differentiation between shading modes.
• Increased control over the color and visualization quality of the surface for modeling including transparency, shininess, and reflectivity per object.
• Improved naming in the world browser for objects according to shapes and tools used to model them.
• Added flags to indicate when features are broken and need to be repaired.
• Included the ability to move, rotate or scale objects multiple times.
• Included the ability to provide real time feedback under the help section.

 Modeling interaction

• Improved modeling tolerances, which are now more dependable and robust.
• Added a new Instance Tool, which allows users to copy and recreate objects including their original construction history.
• Improved the robustness of multiple tools, including Trim, Intersect, Split Surface, Boolean, Make Manifold, Loft, Patch, Blend Surface, and Polymesh tools. Loft and Patch tools now support up to G2 continuity.

 Rendering

• Improved functionality for controlling materials and handling textures including multiple textures on the same surface.
• Updated Interactive Rendering, formerly real time + photorealistic rendering, to allow for interactive rendering for selected objects.
• Updated the Texture Mapping tool for interactive placement of multiple objects.
• Provided new rendering shortcuts for efficiency.
• Added Keyshot support – files can be saved in .bip format and directly launched in Keyshot

• Simple Extrusions to create complex surfaces
• Construction History to increase surface control
• Parameter Editing in combination with Point Editing for increased control and flexibility

Darren Chilton - solidThinking Program Manager of Product Strategy and Development

When not spending time with his wife and kids, mountain biking or golfing, solidThinking Program Manager of Product Strategy and Development Darren Chilton is leading the global solidThinking team in pursuing industrial design needs and trends.

A senior designer with solidThinking since 2008 and formerly the studio lead for transportation design with parent company Altair, the Battle Creek, Mich.-native has come a long way since his days as an industrial design student at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit. He specializes in using his knowledge of the industrial design process, product development and technology to create tools that enable designers to work more efficiently.

Click here for the full article and to learn more about Darren Chilton.

This month we offer you a brief series of keyboard shortcuts to help you be more efficient when using solidThinking.  We invite you to watch the video below to see these keyboard shortcuts in action.

                Keyboard Shorcuts               
                Ctrl+Spacebar – re-activate the previous modeling tool
                Alt+Spacebar – toggle between Edit Parameters mode and Edit Points mode
                Alt+Left Click – select objects while in Edit Parameters mode
                Ctrl+T  (Command+T)mac – fit selected object to the current view
                H – Hide/Unhide selected objects
                Ctrl+Alt+D – turntable animation

Antonio Flores: Senior Product Specialist

In the spirit of collaboration, we’re giving our loyal visitors and solidThinking enthusiasts insight into the creative minds behind solidThinking by profiling a new key team member every quarter. For our inaugural article we sat down with one of solidThinking’s veteran senior product specialists, Antonio Flores, for a Q&A session about solidThinking, the industry and his creative inspirations.

Click here for the full article and more about Antonio Flores.

Be on the lookout for more on the solidThinking team in future blog posts.

Dagaa is more than a traditional design studio; it is a company focused on the invention, design and development of new products for clients. For the founders of the company, innovation is not merely an idea, but also a practice. Adolfo Cota and Ricardo Ponce began their business just three years ago, but they have quickly learned many lessons, the most important being that they never stop learning and they can always improve a product through its design.

Dagaa’s client base is diverse, requiring designs for metal-based products, electronics, advertisements and furniture. The company is most recognized for its work in the videogame industry and has adopted solidThinking to aid in the development of its concepts. Using solidThinking, the Dagaa team was the first to create a design for a street-operated videogame machine with an LCD monitor for use in Mexico.

Click here to continue reading this story in our September Newsletter.