I finally got Paul Gimbel on the podcast! This week, Paul joins the show to talk about his adventures as a DriveWorks implementer, and some of the coolest things he's done with the tool. Stay tuned for some great reasons why you should attend DriveWorks World 2023 and what sessions you can look forward to. The projectile project Paul and I mention …

Back for 2023 with a new episode recapping 3DEXPERIENCE World 2023 in Nashville! We had a ton of fun in Nashville with everyone and learned a lot about the future of the Platform and the strength of the community. Tune in to find out what Darin and I took away from the conference and what's coming in 2023 to get excited about! We're excited for Dal…

It's a valid question and one that Nick posed when talking about SOLIDWORKS PDM 2023. But Jeff's back for another episode because who else would be the guest for a SOLIDWORKS PDM 2023 discussion? Find out which enhancement neither of us originally included in our top 5 enhancements but is probably the best one of the entire bunch! Be sure to check …

We're back with a new episode! This week, Brian Reel, our director of design engineering solutions, joins the show to talk about his 5 favorite enhancements in SOLIDWORKS 2023. The best part? These are 5 examples that almost everybody is going to love and they will make your models way easier to work with.…

Can you imagine never needing to get ink cartridges for that annoying printer ever again? That would be amazing! Well, 30 years ago, nobody was thinking that way. In fact, we've gone from needing paper copies of every drawing to using things like Google Photos to store our family photo albums! This week, Joe Frank and Jeff Sweeney return to the pod…

I'll admit it, I honestly wasn't aware that bag phones were a thing in the 1990s... But what I am aware of is SOLIDWORKS Electrical and how it makes schematic designs in 2D and 3D much easier than it was 30 years ago when we had to draw everything on paper! This week, Corey Kubichka joins the show to talk all about SOLIDWORKS Electrical, where it's…

Making the decision to move to a new CAD tool can be difficult. What are you going to do with all that legacy data? What about the new system, will it handle your files cleanly? Luckily, if you're looking at transitioning to a Dassault tool, we've got you covered. This week, Brandon Nelms and Keith Schaefer join the show to talk about how you can p…

I promised this a while back and we're finally getting around to putting this episode out there. This week, James Reeher joins CADCAST to talk with me about large assembly performance, video games, and why you shouldn't rage quit your CAD software. Sometimes, having the right tool for the job is all you need. Linus Tech Tips SOLIDWORKS hardware vid…

Can you imagine what it would be like to know the status of anything about your company without having to be physically at work? That's the power of DELMIA, being able to understand your manufacturing process without that whole pesky "you gotta be here" restriction. This week, Mike Buchli from Dassault Systemes joined the show to help introduce bot…

A few months ago, I talked about 3DEXPERIENCE and how it's going to affect people going forward. From a PDM perspective, they're certainly different tools, but how is SOLIDWORKS CAD affected by the 3DEXPERIENCE Platform? The short answer is... not much! Sure, the data management changes and how you find files, but working in CAD isn't going to chan…

Have you ever seen something in gone, "how did they make that?" Well, that's exactly what I thought when I saw Kit MacDonald's LinkedIn post about making a Koffing. I thought it was so cool that I had to bring him on the podcast. This week, Kit joins me and we talk about the best Pokemon, how to approach complex modeling problems, and how you can m…

Ever wonder what goes into making a Top 5 3DEXPERIENCE World Presentation? Well, wonder no more! This week, Ryan Field joins the podcast to talk about what his inspiration was behind a presentation all about mates. Stick around for some talk about mates in SOLIDWORKS and how you can make the most out of them in your assemblies.…

We've all heard it over the last 2 years. With constant Zoom calls, Team's meetings, and Skype discussions, we've had to adjust and adapt to working from home. This week, Chris Snider joins the show to talk about some of the challenges we've had to overcome and how we can make this hybrid work environment better for everyone going forward.…

Have you ever opened a large assembly and thought, "man, this is slow!"? Well I promise you, you aren't alone. That's one of the most common questions I used to get on support. "My SOLIDWORKS is slow, how do I make it faster?" Brandon Nelms joins the show to talk about large assemblies and how we can improve our performance when we're working with …

Any time we can get a computer to do our job for us, it's a good day. This week, Joe Blubaugh and Don Glaske join the podcast to talk a little about SOLIDWORKS CAM and CAMWORKS and demystify this really cool product. Learn along with me as we talk about what the tool does, how it works, and how you can get started with a tool that you already own (…

"Never remember something you can easily look up." If there's one thing to take away from this episode of CADCAST, it's keep a backlog of your work so that you can plan for what's next. That's what Derek Lawson and I talk about on this episode. We talk about planning out any project and what we've found helps make them successful. We also talk abou…

3DEXPERIENCE World 2022 has come and gone and there's a lot they covered this week! Throughout the conference, I was taking note of some key points that I think will be important going forward and that's what I want to talk through today. This week, we recap 3DEXPERIENCE World and talk about what this all means for the future of SOLIDWORKS.…

Do we really need drawings anymore? Why can't we just interrogate our 3D models and use something like eDrawings to review our dimensions? Well that's what I want to talk about today. Jay Pinheiro and Bryan Pawlak join the podcast and we dig into if we really still need drawings and what it could look like going into a world without drawings.…

Does CADCAST have a 5-Timer club like SNL? If it does, we've got our first member of the club! Jeff Sweeney joins the podcast once again to go through his top enhancements for the latest release of SOLIDWORKS PDM. He starts off by telling me about my biggest omission for my what's new list and then we talk about some other enhancements that we thin…

We're back! Under a new name and a whole new (well kinda new) set of topics, the CATI podcast has returned. To kick off the CADCAST era, Nick Sweeney breaks down what you should expect from our new podcast. Then, he gets into an interview with the President and CEO of CATI, Rich Werneth. They discuss CATI as a brand, why InFlow was ultimately absor…

No, I don't have any news to share with all of you, but I do have some information! People always want to talk about how they can prepare for a SOLIDWORKS PDM implementation. When should they have their servers ready? What should they be doing with their data? All good questions, so I dove into those topics and more last week on my Innovation3D pre…

Get ready for Innovation3D! CATI's event all about innovation is already underway with exciting presentations happening each day. Next week, I'm doing 2 presentations and wanted to give you a sneak preview. First, we'll talk about getting ready for your PDM implementation. Then, we'll dive into preparing for your migration into SOLIDWORKS PDM. Don'…

"Let me Google that for you." That's one phrase that works for almost any question. So it's no wonder people are hesitant about calling support sometimes. What if they could have found the answer themselves? That's what we're talking about this week, how you can find answers yourself. Justin Maxwell and John VanEngen join InPod to talk about tools …

Let's be honest, it can be fun to break stuff! Sometimes it's a great way to blow off steam, sometimes it's just interesting to see how it breaks. I love simulation tools because it makes it so we can break things virtually, without worrying that maybe it's a little excessive. This week, Joe Formicola, founder of CAELYNX and the VP of CAE solutions…

There are 2 main steps for getting started with SOLIDWORKS PDM. The first is installing and configuring the tool, server side. The second is getting users set up and to buy into the new solution. We're going to talk through that second point. Let's talk through setting up your users, what the installation process is like, and what you can do to get…

Why? It's a question even a little kid can ask. Well with PDM, every engineer is like a little kid again. "Why do I need a license?" "Why are we using these big workflows?" You get the idea. This week, I tackle 3 common questions I've been getting a lot lately. Today, let's talk about templates, updating assemblies, and workflows.…

I did a presentation earlier this week that was diving into how DriveWorks Solo saves you time and money. I thought the content was worth sharing with all of the InPOD listeners as well, so let's talk about what makes Solo such an appealing tool. I start off talking about how you should think about DriveWorks, how to get started, and finally, I tak…

Is worth a pound of cure. Whether we like to acknowledge it or not, disaster can strike any company at any time. When that happens, it's incredibly important that we have a disaster recovery plan in place. The biggest key to that? Backups! This week, Joe Frank joined the podcast once again to talk about what we should be doing to ensure we have sol…

Nobody likes change. So it's no wonder that whenever I talk with engineers about new tools, they're a little hesitant. This week, Lynn Allen was kind enough to join the podcast to talk about her latest substitute to AutoCAD - DraftSight! If you've never heard about DraftSight, this is the perfect episode for you. Lynn and I talk about what makes Dr…

We've all had to make adjustments this last year to how we work. One of the biggest ones is learning how to work from anywhere. That's what I want to talk about today, working from anywhere with your data management tool. This week, I talk about cloud hosted vs on-premise. Additionally, I talk about what you can do with tools like SOLIDWORKS PDM to…

Last week, we had part 1 of my conversation with Heather Hasz and Bridie Mills. This week, we continue the conversation and talk a lot about growth and development with careers. One of the big topics we discuss is getting people into a "design automation headspace". Once people learn what automation can do, they become and automation junky. Make su…

A few weeks back, I logged into the DriveWorks Community and I realized the page had changed! Come to realize, there were a whole host of updates to the DriveWorks Community and they're pretty sweet. This week, I wanted to talk with DriveWorks about the actual community of DriveWorks users, the EDU program and much more. Heather Hasz and Bridie Mil…

New servers and getting everything ready for an upgrade is a big deal. Some people get so nervous about it that it almost seems like rocket surgery! This week, I brought Ryan Dally (The Professor) back into the podcast to talk about PDM servers. We talk about Archive servers, Database servers, and go into every detail you could ask for. Let's dig i…

That's right, the biggest event of the SOLIDWORKS and Dassault year is coming up in just about 2 weeks! I love 3DEXPERIENCE World. It's a great place to learn about Dassault products, network with other users, and get an idea for what to expect coming up in the next year. This week on InPOD, I talk about what 3DEXPERIENCE World has been in the past…

Wait, InPOD on a Thursday? That's right! Yesterday, before starting the recording, I got news that DriveWorks released 18.2. I wanted to take a few minutes to go over what's new, so that's where we start today. However, the main topic is DriveWorksXpress. Today, I dive into how you can get started, why it's a great tool, and what you can do next. I…

Flexibility is key with SOLIDWORKS PDM. We're flexible about how we can access our files, store our data, and so much more. One topic that's come up a lot recently is flexibility with our versions and revisions in PDM. This week, I take a dive into versions and revisions. I start by talking about what a version is, how can we manage the potential h…

Can you believe it's 2021? With the start of a new year, I thought it would be a good time to make an episode to talk with all of you about SOLIDWORKS licensing. This week, Will Kefauver joined InPOD once again and we talk about SOLIDWORKS Standard vs Professional vs Premium. Additionally, we talk about network licensing vs standalone, and even spe…

The holiday season is still in full swing, so I've been thinking about fresh baked cookies all week. But have you ever thought about how many cookies everyone that opens the cookie jar is eating? I wondered the same thing and then wondered how many files people are downloading from my PDM Vault and then what they're doing with them (the holidays ar…

Different tools do different jobs. Do you want a Honda or do you want an Acura? Both are cars, but which one does the job you need it to? This week, Tim Ramos joined the podcast to talk with me about a CAD tool not called SOLIDWORKS, but actually CATIA. We talk about practical uses of CATIA, where is shines, and what makes it so powerful. From ever…

There's a really cool book out there called "Every Tool's a Hammer" by Adam Savage. While the book isn't necessarily about using a screwdriver as a hammer, I think it is an interesting idea. We want to use tools in a way that's effective and can get the job done, even if that means the wrench next to us is a hammer sometimes. Today, let's do an InF…

No system lives in a silo. I've spent time on previous episodes mentioning different ways we can talk with other systems with SOLIDWORKS PDM. This week, I wanted to take a shallow dive into how we would do this using other tools. I talk about DriveWorks and the different integration and Powerpacks that are available. After that, stick around to hea…

It's been a while since I took a deep dive into a SOLIDWORKS PDM topic, so I figured I would jump back in with an upgrade discussion. This is probably the topic I cover the most. This week, I'm going to go through why you might upgrade, what that means for your servers, and some of the key points to consider when looking to upgrade. Follow and get …

I talked about 3DEXPERIENCE a few months back with Jordan Tadic. It was a great episode, but it left me wondering what was next. Fortunately, I've spent a lot of time over the past few months learning and growing my knowledge of the 3DEXPERIENCE Platform. This week, I brought in Mike Farley to talk with me about getting started with the Platform. W…

I mentioned that DriveWorks released version 18.1 a couple of weeks ago. I couldn't wait any longer, so this week, Aaron Winthers makes his InPOD debut, along with Derek Lawson, and we talk about our favorite enhancements. This isn't an ordinary service pack release! It's packed with great new features, including new dashboards and templates. Tune …

Wrapping up our series of What's New in SOLIDWORKS 2021, we go through Simulation this week. Bill Reuss and Robert Warren join the podcast to talk SOLIDWORKS on a floppy disk (what?!), the coolest flow update you didn't know about, and SOLIDWORKS matching up with the industry standard terminology. Get in touch with me on Twitter: https://twitter.co…

October is winding down, but we've still got some fun What's New coming at you. This week we took a short detour to talk about one of my favorite things we do at CATI/InFlow - Manufacturing Solutions. Everything from 3D printing, to scanning, to making parts for orders, we cover it all. Greg Austermann joins the podcast this week to give us an over…

Jeff Sweeney, Ryan Dally, and Mike King joined me on InPOD this week to talk about what's new in SOLIDWORKS PDM and Manage. Everything from phone interruptions to what's new, we cover it all. We go through the enhancements we're excited about and why these enhancements are so great. Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review! Get in touch with me …

Last week was my Top 10 enhancements for SOLIDWORKS 2021. This week, Will Kefauver joined me on InPOD and we talked about what his favorite things are about the latest release. We talk about how SOLIDWORKS has made it so we don't have to jump between so many tools, how it's evolved to be like a mature girlfriend, and so much more. Follow and get in…

Every year at our rollout events, we like to do a "Top 10 Enhancements". This year is no different, as we're doing several top 10 sessions during the virtual events. But I didn't want anyone to feel left out if they can't attend. This week, I take a look at my top 10 enhancements for SOLIDWORKS 2021. All month I'm talking with people around InFlow …

Tomorrow starts October which means it's rollout season around the SOLIDWORKS community. And instead of doing in-person events this year, we've gone virtual. At InPOD, I'm going to be talking about What's New in SOLIDWORKS 2021 each week and going over some of the cool enhancements. We'll be going around CATI and InFlow to talk about the different …