Have you been busy enjoying the warm summer weather? If you have, you may have missed out on the podcasts, blogs, and webinars that the Onshape team has been working on. 

That’s no problem because we have collected some of the coolest topics we’ve been talking about throughout the summer just for you.

The Future of Cloud CAD

Onshape General Manager and PTC EVP Jon Hirschtick presented as a keynote speaker at the Robotics Summit & Expo in Boston. 

He discussed the future of product development with more and more companies moving to cloud-native platforms. Within those platforms, he expects to see more external simulations added directly into the software.

“When these tools come to the cloud, you might say, ‘Well, what’s the difference?’ The difference is now they’re on tap for everyone you want to give them to. Now you can share them across your whole team,” Hirschtick said. 

More collaboration doesn’t mean that companies will be more at risk for security breaches. In fact, it’s the opposite. The cloud means that your local computer isn’t at risk for being stolen and all of your data running away with it. It’s all safely protected on the cloud.

Pan-Mass Challenge & PTC

The summer is the perfect time for some outdoor activity, and a team of PTC employees will be taking full advantage of it by biking through almost all of Massachusetts on August 6 and 7 in the Pan-Mass Challenge (PMC). 

Since 2002, PTC employees have competed in the PMC bike-a-thon to raise money for cancer research and treatment at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. The PMC can range from one to two days with bicyclists pedaling from 25 to 211 miles through Massachusetts.

Team PTC is riding for all the PTC families that have lost their loved ones to cancer and honoring those that have beat it. John Rousseau is the Vice President of Technical Operations at Onshape and a PMC rider for the past 10 years. Read more about his story and all the other Team PTC riders’ stories on the PMC website. 

The 2022 PMC is attempting to reach their record-breaking goal of raising $66 million this year. They have already raised around $24 million with Team PTC trying to reach their goal of $100,000. 

CAD in the Hyper Personalized World of Consumer Goods

Is biking not your passion? Well, if building up your company gets your gears going instead, you might be interested in our upcoming webinar.

Onshape will be holding a webinar on “Leveraging CAD in the Hyper Personalized World of Consumer Goods” on August 10, 2022. Presented by Michael LaFleche of Innovator’s Insider, the webinar will provide insight into how consumer product designers are transitioning to cloud-native CAD for its benefits. 

Some topics that will be covered include connecting with ECAD Suppliers with ease, creating personalized CAD features with FeatureScript, and personalized marketing. 

Four Things to Know Before Adopting Cloud-Native CAD

Still unsure about cloud-native CAD? We know that the switch can be daunting, but Co-founder of Onshape John McEleney has written a blog article to calm your fears and help weigh the pros and cons of making the switch. 

Some advantages of cloud-native CAD include being able to run CAD on any device, constant software updates, and parametric feature-based modeling. 

If you already know that, you might be focusing on the little downsides of cloud-native CAD like how running on any device means that you have to be connected to Wi-Fi to run Onshape. However, Wi-Fi is improving every day and Onshape still works at your local cafe or library. 

And parametric feature-based modeling might be scary at first, but Onshape is known for its award-winning support, and dozens of videos and tech tips online to help with the transition.

As John McEleney said, “The systems are familiar, but they’re new and improved.” 

If you’re still not sold on cloud-native CAD, learn why some of our customers made the switch by reading more on our blog. 

Masters of Engineering with Jon Hirschtick

Last but definitely not least, Jon Hirschtick is keeping up with his podcast “Masters of Engineering.”

Every month, Hirschtick releases a new episode where he meets with an engineering leader to discuss their career and some of the great products that they’ve made. 

The most recent episode includes Ben Eadie, a Hollywood Special Effects Designer who has worked on the set of Ghostbusters: Afterlife and Star Trek Beyond. Eadie talks about how he entered the movie industry and all the cool projects he’s worked on. One of his most recent projects was working with Tom Hanks to make a robot Wilson from Cast Away