An excellent SolidWorks User Group Meeting was held on Tuesday December 8, 2009 at the Angus Glen Community Centre in Markham.  The evening began with complementary pizza and drinks for the guests. Three very informative presentations followed. In the first one “Not just Mechanics: Interaction of SolidWorks and other technologies to take you even further”, Jairo Castellanos of CADmicro introduced us to a variety of complementary engineering tools.  They included software from Labview and Maple Soft.  He committed to research these tools further and suggested he may create a blog in order to communicate his knowledge as it is discovered.  The second presentation included a joint discussion from Chris White and Alex Arevalo  from Javelin Technologies whom shared with the attendees what steps should be taken in order to become a SolidWorks Certified professional.  The final presentation was again joint and included Richard Matthews and Mark Remennik from Vroomen White Design.  In their presentation Richard gave insight into the development challenges faced with creating the complex surfaces of the Cervelo bicyles.  Mark, who is an industrial designer at Vroomen White Design, shared with us their creative processes used in developing new products. He also gaves us an overview of an exciting conceptual folding bicycle designed for the urban commuter.      

For those of you who have yet to go to a SolidWorks User Group Meeting, these sessions are a good opportunity to network with other users and to learn some excellent tips. Chris White and Richard Matthews do a great job running the Ontario SolidWorks and Cosmos Group. This latest session was particularly interesting for the bike enthusiast but really interesting for all in attendance.   

 - by Jason MacFarlane