Tick Talk on EsoxRepublic.com

This past couple weeks I have been learning COSMOSMotion and COSMOSWorks. My current contract assignment had these sitting in a drawer for years waiting for someone to use. Now I have.

This job is at a place that designs and manufactures hospital beds. Lots of cool 4-bar gadgets. Definitely a great environment for C-Motion. Initial results are promising and management is enthused.

Now starting on COSMOSWorks, hammering through tutorials. I’ve done FEA on MSC NASTRAN before, so it’s mostly learning button-pushes and discovering functionality. I am definitely impressed by ease-of-use. Makes for a good product.

Against my grain

Those who know me well know that I like to get inside of things. I like to know why things work, and then why the things that make things work work. That’s why I like SW API; that’s what I liked about NASTRAN. I like having access to the inner workings.

I wouldn’t call me a control freak. I do like having control of some things, tough. I am suspicious of defaults, and I am usually certain there are better ways toward better results. With NASTRAN, I liked the meshing functions that allowed me to define mesh shapes in critical areas. Also better element choices: P-elements and quad meshes. Lots off good stuff.

I like the results I am getting from COSMOS, but I am out-of-place without a window to peer deep inside.

“Classic” Vince Adams

I met Vince Adams in 1996, when I just completed MSC NASTRAN training. Vince joined our end-of-training golf outing. He was starting a new company, and with it, a new venture.

The venture was the “MESH” conferences. MESH was a regional (WI-IL area) “ecumenical” conference of FEA users. It had nothing to do with a particular software. It focused on broader FEA issues: problem solving, testing, material properties, etc. Software comes and goes and always changes, but the fundamentals behind successful FEA are the same for everyone.

I was privileged to attend a couple of MESH conferences. Circumstances forced a sad end to them (2002-ish?). Vince and MESH had a profound effect on my approach to FEA and also engineering in general.

It would be wonderful if SW could let “classic” Vince out among us again.