A new car appears out of thin air. An executive is sawn in half to illustrate his cost-cutting prowess – then … voilà! ... he is restored. The “ultimate” card trick.
These are just a few of the mind-boggling illusions that Wellington Enterprises has developed for the likes of David Copperfield, Criss Angel, and Penn & Teller using SolidWorks® 3D CAD software. The Garnerville, N.Y., company designs custom equipment for magicians and others who need illusions for stage performances, trade shows, TV commercials, and theme parks around the world. Other customers include Disney, General Motors, IBM, the Super Bowl, Broadway theater troupes, and Six Flags Park.
“Every illusionist yearns to raise the bar and do something that baffles even their craftiest peers,” said William J. Schmeelk, president of Wellington Enterprises. “Our challenge is to design better products that make this possible and give performers supreme confidence on stage. We chose SolidWorks software for its ability to vividly convey our ideas to the customer, save us time on iterations, eliminate calculation-intensive layout work, simulate mechanical operations, and make frequent changes. In addition, SolidWorks eDrawings® e-mail-enabled collaboration software simplifies sharing designs with our clients.”
SolidWorks is Wellington Enterprise’s first 3D CAD product. The company did most of its prior design work on a whiteboard or in supposedly simple sketching software that turned out to be more difficult than SolidWorks. The company is now using SolidWorks to optimize the mechanics behind what it calls “the ultimate card trick.”
“It’s no mystery why Wellington Enterprises has become a force in the entertainment and trade show industries,” said Rainer Gawlick, vice president of worldwide marketing for SolidWorks Corporation. “The company’s hard work and commitment to designing better illusions are apparent for all to see.”