Product Description

SolidWorks Bible is a comprehensive reference-tutorial that covers the basics, but then quickly ramps up to more advanced level topics. Every feature is thoroughly covered yet written in a way that makes learning this robust program seem non-threatening and uncomplicated. In a market full of books for beginners this is the one book that goes into extensive detail, not just on "how" the software works, but in many cases "why" it works the way it does. The author is well known in the SolidWorks community and uses SolidWorks on a daily basis as his main design tool in his contracting and consulting work. Many topics covered in SolidWorks Bible are not found in any other publication or even documentation directly from SolidWorks.

Note: CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file. 

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #32445 in Books
• Published on: 2009-02-03
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 1176 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780470258255
• Condition: USED - VERY GOOD
• Notes:
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From the Back Cover
Revise and reinvent 3D prototypes as much as you wish

Whether you're designing parts or assemblies, SolidWorks is what you need to tranform virtual 3D models into production design data. And whether you're new to this powerful CAD software or want to take your current skills to new levels, you'll find all the in-depth coverage you need in this comprehensive guide. Packed with step-by-step tutorials, timesaving techniques, and real-world examples, this book helps you accomplish tasks, avoid pitfalls, and start using SolidWorks 2009 like a pro.

• Customize your user interface and use visualization tools

• Create sketches, parts, assemblies, and drawings

• Build intelligence into parts with smart components

• Explore patterns, equations, and configurations

• Learn multibody, surface, and master model techniques

• Work with mold tools, plastic and sheet metal parts, and weldments

• Create animations with SolidWorks Motion

The CD includes all the parts, assemblies, drawings, and examples you need to follow the tutorials in each chapter. You'll also find finished models, and templates.

About the Author
Matt Lombard is an independent SolidWorks consultant. Because of his popularity with SolidWorks user groups and through his SolidWorks Web site and online forums, he has built a reputation as a go-to resource for everything SolidWorks. He serves on the SolidWorks User Group Network Committee.

Customer Reviews

NOT for beginners
I purchased this book with confidence after after reading the "AutoCad 2009 Bible" by the same publisher. I've been very disappointed with this book. Although there is a lot of good information, your software will NOT behave as illustrated in the exercises. You'll be left searching around online to figure out how to complete the tutorials. There are a lot of very odd/confusing sentences, as if there was no editing/proofreading done. I hope to work all the way through the book, but wish there was a simpler, clearer book with exercises to work through, as there were in the AutoCad book.

This is Not an Instructional Book
This book is nothing but a glorified command reference. The blurb by the publisher says that the book goes into the "why" instead of just the "how". To put it mildly, this is not true. The "tutorials" are nothing but lists of instructions with no insight as to how OR why. I repeatedly find myself trying to fill in the blanks between steps when one instruction does not logically follow another, or is so poorly defined that you have to look ahead three steps to figure out what it means. You never know what you are doing until you are done, and sometimes not even then.

There is nothing instructional about this book. The body of the chapters is a long list of descriptions of features. The idea that people learn by doing is lost to this author. You are expected to memorize the long boring diatribe about the features so that when you get to the "instructional" part at the end of the chapters the author can bark commands at you without having to explain anything. I really tried to give this a second chance by going back and trying to do some of the stuff that is being talked about in the text of the chapters even though it does not tell you to. This approach did not help anything. It makes no impact to look at settings and menus if they are not being needed in the context of a drawing, part, or assembly. All I ended up accomplishing was to get my interface into different modes that I didn't know the relevance of (or how to undo without using "undo").

Nearly every time the text references a drawing the drawing is on the next page, so you annoyingly have to be flipping pages all the time when trying to learn. A PDF version would help this immensely, but hey, they lied about that too. There isn't one on the CD. The method of writing in this book makes Matt Lombard come off as a self righteous blow-hard and displays zero understanding of the learning process. His publisher apparently pays him by the page. This is one of the few books I have purchased in my lifetime that actually had me boiling over angry at it's uselessness.

THIS BOOK IS NOT FOR BEGINNERS. Only buy this if you are looking for a command reference.

I learned more in 1 day of online tutorials than I did spending two solid weeks with this book. Buyer beware.

Breadth - too long
The book reminds me of someone trying hard to please everyone (long breadth) but falls short in numerous ways (wisdom). Do not get me wrong, Matt knows Solidworks, (he will be the first one to tell you) but after talking with other user group leaders, vars and SolidWorks employees, his opinions do not always follow good modeling practice. The book is weak as it pertains to: drawing, motion studies, Photoworks, Photoview, TolAnalyst, (most of the Evaluate tab components), Standard, Advanced and Mechanical mates (explaining them to the normal user and how they do not work if you do not create a perfect model as on pages 440- 442), Dimxpert, and any type of Add-in. It states, "Packed with step-by-step tutorials." One - two broken tutorials per chapter with little or no instructions does not constitute packed in my world. The good thing about the book; it's not written like a blog nor a comic strip anymore. I'm sure I will be hearing from someone on my opinion.