Show off your skills and solve real design problems
In ten steps or less, make a tutorial with your favorite tip or trick in the CAD-related software of your choice.
We want to give our Community an advantage by providing them with the fastest and easiest ways to work in all software types! What are keyboard or mouse shortcuts you use to help you get work done faster every time you create a model? What is the fastest route to get to a command in your software? How do you alter your settings to port in all the necessary information for starting or finalizing a project?
Our second tutorials-focused Challenge in this three part series to improve Tutorials on GrabCAD is meant to add more resources to beginners and pros alike. We saw some great tutorials in Build Models for Reuse and we hope to see the same quality of insights here too.
What you need to do:
1) Create a question or answer an existing one.
2) Make sure your answer is started by "Answer as a tutorial." See tips, below.
3) Add a link to your completed tutorial on an uploaded model through the "Submit entry" button on this page OR in the comments to be considered - unfortunately entries with only an answer and no model will not show in the entries tab.
Recommendations after our first Challenge:
* Create a question. Answer as a tutorial with a short intro and create as many steps as you think you'll need.
* Once steps are created, add descriptions for steps and images.
* Keep images smaller than 7MB. If you add large pictures, save your tutorial before you do the next step.
* One-step video tutorials are encouraged.
* If people can see this trick in one of your models, be sure to link to it.
Screenshot from How to Identify the Assembly file and its child parts by Danny Tasmakis.
Ask a new question as follows: "Tutorial: How to 'write trick here' in 'put your software here…' Example... 'Tutorial: How to save like a pro in Autodesk Inventor'
Add the tag "tipsNtricks" when creating your question.
All participants must 'Add tutorial to answer' (this option shows in the answer box) with less than ten tutorial steps. Keep them short but helpful.
Link to any original content used from Library or externally.
If posting a video tutorial, add a link to YouTube or Vimeo video in Step 1.
Each tutorial has to be entered in the Q&A under a new, clearly asked question: http://grabcad.com/questions/new.
Leave feedback in the comments on this process!
Tutorials must consist of screen shots and comments in a way that is easy for someone else to follow.
No tutorials in document files accepted.
Only public entries will be considered.
Picture tutorials are limited to ten steps and video tutorials limited to five minutes.
The competition is open to everyone.
Tutorials can be done for any CAD software as long as pictures or video is also uploaded.
By entering this competition, you...
1. Warrant that the work is your original work.
2. To the best of your knowledge, it is not, and has not been in production or otherwise previously published or exhibited.
3. Neither the work nor its use infringes the intellectual property rights (whether a patent, utility model, functional design right, aesthetic design right, trade mark, copyright or any other intellectual property right) of any other person.
Applicants are not entitled to any compensation or reimbursement for any costs. The applicant’s participation shall not constitute employment, assignment or offer of employment or assignment.
Only tutorials uploaded to GrabCAD Tutorials (http://grabcad.com/questions/new) AND a link to this tutorial is added as a comment on this Challenge page will participate in the competition.
Winning designs will be chosen based on the rules and requirements.
All cash prizes awarded through Paypal (http://grabcad.com/faq#money). Void where prohibited.
The sum of the Awards is the total gross amount of the reward. The awarded participant is solely liable for the payment of all taxes, duties and other similar measures if imposed on the reward pursuant to the legislation of the country of his/her residence, domicile, citizenship, workplace, or any other criterion of similar nature.
Tag your model and tutorial with “tipsNtricks”. Only tutorials with valid tag will participate!
This Challenge starts on June 4, 2013 and ends on June 19, 2013 at 11:59pm UTC.
Winners will be announced latest July 3, 2013.
Choice of ONE of these prizes: Jawbone Jambox, Pebble Watch, Sphero + Blog post on your work + GrabCAD Shirt and mug
GrabCAD shirt and mug
We are the largest online mechanical engineering community and we help you get your work done faster by connecting you to the world's engineers, free CAD models, and helpful tutorials.
If you don't receive the email within an hour (and you've checked your Spam folder), email us as confirmation@grabcad.com
80 comments
Stephen Nyberg over 12 years ago
Can I use an existing model to show the techniques I will be using in a new tutorial?
Sara Sigel over 12 years ago
@Stephen Yes, that's fine for this one. Just include a link to your model in your tutorial and tag your tutorial with "tipsNtricks." Since it won't show up in the entries tab without a new model be sure to add it in the comments thread here so the judges can find it easily.
Stephen Nyberg over 12 years ago
Here is my first entry.
http://grabcad.com/questions/tutorial-tips-on-keeping-your-freature-tree-clean-and-orginized
I added the tag tipsNtricks to my Grabby 2 model and to the tutorial.
Stephen Nyberg over 12 years ago
I think a few great issues where already brougt up in the last challenge but I would like to reiterate a few. The aspect ratio of the images shown should not be set firm but rather fit the uploaded image. most of the images I uploaded the information I am trying to show is cuttoff and can only be seen if you click on the image and open it. This would be okay but on a long tutorial you then have to go back and find where you were in the tutorial and you cant see the written portion along with the image. I still have to use my tecnique of saving before uploading pictures, uploading pictures and getting error, typing text for the pictures. It would also be nice to have a way to save a tutorial as private so people are not viewing it and anwwereing it while you are still in the process of writing it. I would also like the option to restrict answeres or delete answeres. People will place comments in the form of answeres my opinion is that this clutters up the tutor. ialYou can tell someone that they made a nice tutorila or that it worked for you in the comments.
Fahad Rafi Butt over 12 years ago
design comes from within, no tricks :)
Sudhir Gill over 12 years ago
Design comes from within. I can't deny that (Y). But you will always need to have few tricks up your sleeve to make it better.
@Stephen Good tip. Thanks
Stephen Nyberg over 12 years ago
Thanks Sudhir Gill, hopefully can come up with a few more for this challenge I thought I would have lots if time for grabcad this summer but three kids is more work then i thought!
Best tip for good modeling... Find a computer where no one can find you :)
William over 12 years ago
Hahaha this is a nice simple one that will help the community out also :) and now that I am finished my term time until next term got more time to get back to modelling what I want and playing around hehehhe (( START's TO THINK!! )) TuT time :)
Surajmal over 12 years ago
Is there time limit of video tutorial duration ?
jehan kothari over 12 years ago
and how the steps will be counted in video?
Sara Sigel over 12 years ago
For video, since we can't count steps, I will add a time limit of under 5 minutes. Does that seem like a fair comparison for ten steps?
Joe Valverde over 12 years ago
@Sara I would say that is a good amount of time to display the equivalent to 10 steps.
Mark Holub over 12 years ago
http://grabcad.com/questions/tutorial I made 2 tutorials because I felt that in order to do it right i had 15 steps and I realized that 15 steps was not allowed. So I split the tutorial into 2 tutorials so that it would still be within the rules. i want to submit both tutorials as seperate entries but they also need to be looked at and scored as one entry because I believe that if I'm going to make a tutorial then I'm going to do it right and have the full tutorial. Please take this into consideration as you judge these tutorials as i have spent a great amount of time working on them.
Sara Sigel over 12 years ago
@Mark Would you try making a video tutorial instead of two separate ones? Can anyone help Mark with some tips?
Sudhir Gill over 12 years ago
@Mark You can easily reduce the steps if you don't select any face and then perform a cut. Also rather then defining each and every parameter in seperate step you can define all parameter in a single step. I believe this is tip of trade tutorial so one knows all the basic parameters before trying any trick.
William over 12 years ago
Hi Mark I am not as proficient as Sudhir is with SW but I think he has made a really good comment.....
Putting that comment aside there is also another w
ay you can do it...
If you have 15images why not take them into Photoshop and insert to images as one that way you can still have your full 15 images to show the community your tutorial but in only 10 Steps
:P
Bar Danino over 12 years ago
Just added a tutorial on simulating falling things in autodesk inventor, hope you find it useful and well-done.
http://grabcad.com/questions/tutorial-how-to-simulate-falling-things-in-autodesk-inventor
Stephen Nyberg over 12 years ago
I have noticed anouther anouance with the way the current tutorials work. When going in to edit a tutorial answer, the steps are not labled with the step number and all out of order. The order appears to have something to do with putting the last step editied on top but I am still not sure and if you need to make a change it can be difficult to find the step you need.
Stephen Nyberg over 12 years ago
I needed to add a step and if you don't add the correct number of steps from the start you can't add them later ;( the button is there to add a step but if you already have images and step instruction no additional steps will be added if you click the button.
Stephen Nyberg over 12 years ago
I like that we can answer questions with a tutorial answere but I think it would be ncie to have a seperate tutorial section or the ability to create a tutorial without needing to "ask a question" first.
Sara Sigel over 12 years ago
It's coming, I am so excited to share it with the Community!
Stephen Nyberg over 12 years ago
It would be nice if we could print a tutorial. to a printer or to pdf. it is sometimes hard to follow a tutorial if you do not have two monitors and the pictures can be hard to see. If you printed it the steps and text could be above the picture in the pictures correct aspect ratio. and for a question with a lot of answeres or more then one tutorial, you could select the specific ones you wanted to print.
Kai over 12 years ago
first entry:
http://grabcad.com/questions/tutorial-how-to-get-a-helix-on-a-spline-curve-polyline-in-catia-v5
Kai over 12 years ago
second entry:
http://grabcad.com/questions/tutorial-how-to-convert-a-step-file-to-an-independent-catpart-file-in-catia-v5
jehan kothari over 12 years ago
another one : http://grabcad.com/questions/how-to-create-multiple-sketches-planes-quickly-in-creo
William over 12 years ago
I really like the idea of printing tutorials as Stephen Nyberg suggested
:P
Awp Harsh over 12 years ago
Tutorial: Animation in 2D AutoCAD
http://grabcad.com/questions/tutorial-animation-in-2d-autocad
William over 12 years ago
'Tutorial: How to create a presentation file in Autodesk Inventor'
http://grabcad.com/questions/tutorial-how-to-create-a-presentation-file-in-autodesk-inventor
William over 12 years ago
'Tutorial: auto desk bolted connection'
'tutorial: Auto desk Bolted Connection
William over 12 years ago
'Tutorial: the easiest and most efficient ultimate tutorial you will ever get for auto desk inventor software.
'Tutorial: The easiest and most efficient ULTIMATE tutorial you will ever get for Auto desk Inventor software.
William over 12 years ago
'Tutorial: how to insert images in autodesk inventor'
'Tutorial: How to insert images in Autodesk Inventor'
ryan pititto over 12 years ago
Can the tutorial be something created using dynamic simulation on autodesk inventor
William over 12 years ago
Yes Ryan, it can be of anything you want as long as you stick to the guild lines of no more than 10 images for your tut.
Sara Sigel over 12 years ago
@Ryan. Yes, I hope to see that! Sounds really interesting and useful.
William over 12 years ago
http://grabcad.com/questions/tutorial-how-to-create-adaptive-springs-in-autodesk-inventor
William over 12 years ago
http://grabcad.com/questions/tutorial-how-to-pattern-along-a-geometry-line-in-autodesk-inventor
William over 12 years ago
http://grabcad.com/questions/tutorial-how-to-make-a-cam-work-in-autodesk-inventor
Sara Sigel over 12 years ago
Great @William! @Stephen you should see that the add step button and order of steps should be fixed. Thanks again for reporting that!
William over 12 years ago
Tutorial: How to Pack and Go in Autodesk Inventor'
William over 12 years ago
Thank you Sara..... :P
William over 12 years ago
http://grabcad.com/questions/tutorial-intelligent-modelling-in-autodesk-inventor
Yaroslav over 12 years ago
http://grabcad.com/questions/tutorial-how-to-create-wave-spring-in-creo-parametric
Yaroslav over 12 years ago
http://grabcad.com/questions/tutorial-how-to-create-a-helix-along-a-3d-curve
Fahad Rafi Butt over 12 years ago
i think that tutorial of SW which shows trace sketch thingy should win!!
Stephen Nyberg over 12 years ago
Thanks for the vote Fahad Rafi Butt :) I am trying to get a last minute submition into the Ultimaker challenge. We will see if I make it but it will be a nice model even if I don't get it into the challenge.
Stephen Nyberg over 12 years ago
http://grabcad.com/questions/tutorial-tip-using-autotrace-in-solidworks
Stephen Nyberg over 12 years ago
http://grabcad.com/questions/tutorial-tip-insert-a-reference-image-into-a-sketch-in-solidworks
Stephen Nyberg over 12 years ago
http://grabcad.com/questions/tutorial-tip-fully-defining-sketches-in-solidworks-splines
Stephen Nyberg over 12 years ago
http://grabcad.com/questions/tutorial-tips-keeping-your-freature-tree-clean-and-organized-in-solidworks
William over 12 years ago
I can not TAG this tutorial 'tipsandtricks' as I did not ask this question as it was all ready asked in Q&A section with another member of the community for the tutorial @
http://grabcad.com/questions/how-to-construst-sperical-optical-lens-with-diameter-25-mm-using-autodesk-inventor-2011
Ioannis Skarlatakis over 12 years ago
http://grabcad.com/questions/tutorial-convert-stl-mesh-to-solid-file-in-autodesk-inventor
I am not quite sure if you can accept this tutorial as William above confused a bit ;P
However let me know and I will remove the tag from my tutorial!!!
Cheers guys!!!
William over 12 years ago
It has to be one of the best tuts I have seen yet Loannis very educational and that is what it should be all about :P any more like this would awesome to see from your self.
Oskar Q over 12 years ago
Great challenge that I think brings a lot of value to the community, sharing is caring =). Im working on a Dynamic simulation tutorial for SpaceClaim that I'll post later today, I think you will really like it
Oskar Q over 12 years ago
Here is my Dynamics for SpaceClaim tutorial. I had to wait for the KeyShot rendering, hence the wait =). enjoy! http://grabcad.com/questions/tutorial-how-to-quickly-add-motion-dynamics-to-any-cad-model-in-spaceclaim
Kai over 12 years ago
next entry:
http://grabcad.com/questions/tutorial-how-to-analyse-a-thermal-load-in-catia-v5-fem-analysis
Kai over 12 years ago
next entry:
http://grabcad.com/questions/tutorial-how-to-analyze-a-distributed-force-in-catia-v5-fem-analysis
Ioannis Skarlatakis about 12 years ago
I am not really sure why we post the link of our submission... but anyway here it is...
http://grabcad.com/questions/tutorial-how-to-obtain-relative-accurate-results-from-stress-analysis-in-autodesk-inventor
Aykut Dana about 12 years ago
Congratulations to all winners!
Sara Sigel about 12 years ago
Had a little trouble posting results but they're up now. BIG thank you to our Community Advisors: Danny, Joe, Aykut, and Sudhir! Congratulations to all the winners and well done to everyone who submitted a tip for the Community!
Stephen Nyberg about 12 years ago
Congratulations everyone. I think all of the GrabCAD comunity is a winner from this challenge!
William about 12 years ago
Big Congratulations to all that entered the competition and to the winners and also the judges to who had the hard task of picking the winners. It was a fun little challenge but more so now all the tutorials are up for everyone to learn from. GrabCAD is a great wealth of knowledge with an awesome community to help people further there ability with CAD and designv
Tarek Zemri about 12 years ago
Congratulation for the winners
Tarek Zemri about 12 years ago
I would know some thing about respecting the goal of the challeng '' "What are keyboard or mouse shortcuts you use to help you get work done faster every time you create a mode" !?
Joe Valverde about 12 years ago
Congratulations to all the winners:-) Every entry will help the community massivly! A very close one to call!
Great job guys
Tomek F. about 12 years ago
Congratulations to the winners and all the participants!
Reza Allahyari about 12 years ago
Congratulations to all the winners.
Dragan Beljan about 12 years ago
Congratulations to all the winners. - Chosse Pebble
Ioannis Skarlatakis about 12 years ago
Hi guys,
First to congratulate the Community Advisors for their effort to accomplish this challenge.
I think it is quite obvious how valuable is the contribution of projects like this.
Every single Tutorial seems to be significant on its own way as it unlocks secret spots of different topics in CAD software.
So actually in my personal opinion I believe that there wasn't an easy way to relate & to compare all the submissions.
I appreciate the fact that you put my Tutorial in the first place even with only 5 likes ;P & I would like to thank you for that.
I will stick with the title that has been given for FEA as "Dark Art". My intention was clearly to point the community to a more engineering aspect of the CAD software.
I believe there is plenty of space in GrabCad for both shiny renderings (White Art) & Valid Analysis (Dark Art)...
Practically GrabCad proved this by the last two challenges!!!
Best Regards to all of you
I.
P.S.
I've never thought that my first Badge will be a "Challenge Winner"...
It's bloody shiny isn't it ;P
Stephen Nyberg about 12 years ago
Ioannis Skarlatakis, i think you should be getting two more shiney badges from this challenge Congrats!
Ioannis Skarlatakis about 12 years ago
@ Stephen.Nyberg
Oh Stephen please don't play with the badges...
I used to be a Scout so you can understand that I am addicted to them ;P
Cheers
P.S.
A huge respect to your wild contribution through your models & tuts!!!
Stephen Nyberg about 12 years ago
I am not teasing about badges You won a tutorial challenge so you should get the new tutorial badge and the are going to feature you in the blog so you will get thr star one Congrats!
Awp Harsh about 12 years ago
Congratulations... Ioannis Skarlatakis . Your tutorial rocks..!!
Sara Sigel about 12 years ago
+1 @Awp.Harsh
@Stephen.Nyberg guessed correctly!
All winners who did not have the beautiful Tutorials Master badge are now the proud owners of one. Congrats and thanks again for the amazing resources you created for the Community :)
Awp Harsh about 12 years ago
thanks.. Sara Sigel :)
ziyad shan over 10 years ago
Any one can you please tell how to make Catia file into the step file
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