Inside SolidWorks

by David Murray

Book Overview

This book provides engineering professionals and students with a comprehensive introduction to the popular SolidWorks software. The author takes care to guide readers from beginning through... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1418020850
• ISBN13: 9781418020859
• Release Date: January 2005
• Publisher: Thomson Learning
• Length: 862 Pages
• Weight: 3.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 7.5" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Encyclopedic, readable

This is THE big fat reference book. Every computer application needs one - and this is it for SolidWorks - updated to 2005 & a bit of 2006 (the current version). If you are just learning I recommend Planchard's Engineering Design with SolidWorks first. But if you are already familiar with the territory, Inside SolidWorks will provide the nitty gritty detail for functionality you didn't know existed, often cutting through corporate SolidWorks obfuscation. I'll read a paragraph and think, this guy digs through every detail of a command - like me. I have used the book extensively for years, basing much of the intro class I teach on it, assigned it as the text for my advanced class, and there remains much still to read. The only downside is that as a reference it has few examples. Thank you Thompson for updating it. By the way, the $47 price is below wholesale.

The best CAD book I have ever read!

My background goes back to the drafting board. Since then, I have learned four CAD systems. Because of that, I have read many CAD instructional books and this is the best and most complete one that I have worked through.When I decide to start into a book, I am expecting to get enough information from it to be proficient with the software. What I usually get is a "kindergarden" dose of instruction and have to find more books to take up the slack. This book actually covered so many features and in such a clear way that I have been compelled to write this review. How others in this section were able to be so critical, I cannot begin to guess. Other books such as "SolidWorks 2001 Tutrial", one with a higher four star rating, I found to be of the lesser quality I just mentioned. Hey, serious CAD users out here want a lot more information...we can handle it, trust me! Some of the reviews here suggest that the book is full of errors but I did not find them to be significant and nothing that stopped me in my tracks. The book is big and takes time to work through (three weeks if you are determined) but you will not be short changed by receiving "beginers only" information. The features touched on are many and could not be any clearer. If you have the capacity and desire and want good information on Solidworks, get this book.

Inside Solid Works...

I've struggled with a number of 3rd party publications on Solid Works and found myself continually frustrated in wanting information specific to something I was having problems with. I came across Inside Solid Works at one of the `other' bookstores and paid full price for it. This afternoon, I check ... and there it was. A few months ago, I don't think it was. I picked up the others through .... I'm sorry I didn't know it was available. Free shipping included. I would have saved the {$$$}.The book is excellent. I can't say enough to encourage those of you wanting to learn the program to make the investment. A teacher, not a technical writer, writes it. I've been spending hours going through it, picking up solutions to problems I was having, learning other skills along the way. Very clear. Easy to follow.I compliment David Murray, the author, for doing a superb job of making certain that what he wrote actually tracks in real life application. Well done...Robert Yanasak

From no previous experience to expert in 3 weeks!

Unbelievably easy quick-start with solid model-type CAD systems. I am a typical Silicon Valley engineer who never touched a CAD system before in my life and whose employer dumped a very complex "Design it- build it- and get it running in 5 weeks" job involving a very complex chemical reactor assembly. Within three weeks of receiving Inside SolidWorks I was designing very complicated solid parts and assemblies of parts that machinists could actually understand! Actual parts all assembled just like in the computer with not even one single error! 13 chapters, 480 pages. Read the first 90 pages as an introduction to "what the software expects from the user." Then complete the design tutorial in chapter 4, 33 more pages. You actually need no more help from this point on...you'll get the hang of it by then. Use the remaining 9 chapters merely as reference as you rip through your design projects. The key to learning fast is to already have a pretty complicated design project that you have to complete when you sit down to learn SolidWorks.