Cadalyst - June 2008 - (Page 14)

techtrends By Kenneth Wong Community Building in Progress Web 2.0 social networks empower a new CAD generation. round Valentine' s Day in February 2005, Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim decided to create a video-enabled version of the dating site HOTorNOT.com. As a result, the 20-something trio gave birth to the popular video-sharing site YouTube. They probably had no idea their brainchild would become a sizzling property, worth $1.65 billion to Google (ª The Gurus of YouTube,º Time, December 16, 2006). Today, if you' re willing to wade through the sea of videos featuring celebrities in compromising positions and teenagers lip-synching to The Backstreet Boys, you' ll come across free tutorials on the Boundary feature in SolidWorks, the Sweep command in Inventor, and Mating protocols Ð that is, mating assembly parts in CAD programs. MySpace and Facebook, two rival social networking sites, now are home to several emerging CAD groups, including CADWorx (10 members, MySpace), The CADMasters (29 members, MySpace), and CATIA Users Group (79 members, Facebook). What begins as a discussion thread about 32-bit vs. 64-bit computing can quickly spiral into a bantering session. On Facebook, someone from the ª SolidWorks is Awesomeº group (388 members) comes to the defense of his beloved software in the ª SolidWorks Sucksº g roup' s forum (65 members) (figure 1). As tech-phobic executives reach retirement, they' re replaced by tech-savvy graduates whose daily routines revolve around blogging, twittering (broadcasting their activities on Twitter.com), and teleporting into virtual worlds (like Linden Lab' s Second Life). In Web 2.0, hierarchy is replaced by equality. Each user is a one-man or one-woman army, a force to be reckoned with. A Figure 1. On Facebook, you' ll find a growing international SolidWorks fan base. Also in the mix is the ª SolidWorks Sucksº group, with the description, ª For all of those who hate SolidWorks and are having a hard time on Dr. Bryant' s assignment.º SolidWorks Overtakes George Clooney Pcook1 is a familiar name to SolidWorks aficionados on YouTube. His home page is listed as www.cadjunky.com. He' s uploaded about 140 clips, ranging from tutorials for CADjunky (AKA pcook1 on Youtube or Patrick Cook) www.cadjunky.com Inspirtech (AKA inspirtech on YouTube) www.inspirtech.com Video Tutorials (AKA videotutorials1 on YouTube) www.video-tutorials.net beginners to instructions in designing a submersible using the software. Roughly 300 viewers subscribe to his channel. Pcook1 is the identity of Patrick Cook, SolidWorks' senior Internet marketing specialist. Many of the files he posted on YouTube are also housed on SolidWorks' Web site. They were content created initially to introduce a new feature or showcase a client' s project. ª When these clips were on our own site, we didn' t have a matrix to measure how popular they are,º Cook said. ª By using YouTube, we were able to see how many people subscribe to this channel, how people rate this video, and what their comments are.º One of his clips, ª Mega Yacht Production boats designed in SolidWorks,º was greeted with reactions ranging from disbelief (ª I think he used a supercomputer with Windowsº ) and curiosity (ª What is the spec of the computer that Westport [Shipyard] used to create and render their models in?º ) to outright approval (ª SolidWorks rules!º ). The clip registered 72,064 views, higher than the 28,208 views received by TV Guide' s ª Academy Awards ' 08: George Clooneyº footage (as of April 4, 2008). Melanie Perry (AKA Mistress of the Dorkness on MySpace) http://mistressofthedorkness.blogspot.com Mixing Socialization and Commerce Video-Tutorials.Net and Inspirtech, both CAD training suppliers, also maintain video channels on YouTube. Whereas www.cadalyst.com cadalyst June 2008 14 http://HOTorNOT.com http://www.cadjunky.com http://www.cadjunky.com http://www.inspirtech.com http://www.video-tutorials.net http://Video-Tutorials.Net http://mistressofthedorkness.blogspot.com http://www.cadalyst.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Cadalyst - June 2008

Cadalyst - June 2008 Contents Editor's Window CAD Central Tech Trends: Community Building in Progress A Quarter Century of Cadalyst Tracking a CAD Giant The Highs and Lows of CAD Hardware Industry Insights — Looking Ahead Cadalyst Lab Reviews: HP xw4600 Workstation with LP3065 30” LCD Monitor NVIDIA Quadro FX 3700 — Graphics Card LaCie 324 — LCD Monitor CAD Manager: Making Standards Stick MCAD Modeling: Rational vs. Irrational Decisions AEC Insight: Data Collection in AEC CAD Cartoon Issue Indexes Hot Tip Harry: Just a Few CAD Renovations

Cadalyst - June 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.