Team 1671, URSA engineering continuing summer CAD training for FRC.
Kudos to Evan and his parents for hosting the training in their home! 
Nothing like a raucous 
(not really) bunch of teenagers sprawled all over the floor, couches, etc.geeking out on Pro/E and Windchill on a hot Saturday afternoon!
I believe we had a team of about 7 students, all working through the getting started guide. This is our preliminary training tool. Evan (a junior) and a veteran of CAD from last season, is guiding the team through the exercises.
As always, we're a little slow in getting through the initial installs, Windchill access, PTC accounts, etc. A few items for other teams/mentors to watch:
- Mouse settings: Microsoft Intellipoint software is always a pain. Also watch out for the middle mouse button setting
- PTC account: We tried to standardize on an e-mail service...gmail seems to be the best choice due to Gtalk, document sharing, etc.
- Computers: Few students have "CAD" laptops. If all else fails, set the GRAPHICS to WIN32_GDI.
- WF4 or WF5?: It looks like WF5 isn't supported on Windows 7, 64-bit Home Edition. This is probably going to force our team to stay on WF4
That's about it for my first Blog Post. I just thought it may be helpful for other mentors and prospective mentors to get an idea of what other teams are doing. I'm completely open to ideas on how to improve communication or anything on the FIRST experience. I would REALLY like to see what others are doing as well.
Stay cool!
Josh
