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Issue #526 : : July 10, 2007 |
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In this issue: Autodesk Comes to Visit: Inventor 2008
R alph Sits in on a Webinar: Adobe & Alibre
Out of the Inbox , plus the other regular colum ns . |
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Autodesk Comes to Visit: In the early days, Autodesk updated its brand-new Inventor several times a year, as it worked to catch up with competitors SolidWorks, Solid Edge, and PTC. Now nearly eight years old, the release cycle of Inventor has been cut back to once a year, coinciding with Autodesk's tsunami every mid-March to mid-April. Thus, Inventor's numbering this year changes from "Release 12" to "2008." The CAD media had seen some of pre-release Inventor 2008 during World Press Day earlier in the year, but now post-release Autodesk is travelling around to give individual presentations of their favorite mechanical CAD package. (The other two are the AutoCAD-based Mechanical for 2D work and Mechanical Desktop for 3D). Credit technical marketing manager Garin Gardner and pr manager Rosemary Mori for last week getting up early enough to take 6am flights to Vancouver, and then spending two hours going over some of the many new features with me. Here's some of what I saw: - - - Digital Prototyping -- Create a preliminary design in Inventor, and then use digital prototyping to see if it holds up under stress. For example, design a gear or belt drivetrain, and then apply loads within Inventor to check if the gears or belts are able to withstand the stress. If needed, gear ratios and belt specs are changed to ensure the mechanism works. Once Inventor approves the design, you then create the detail drawings. Design Assistant -- Two parts are "mated" (physically next to each other), one has bolt holes, but the other not. Design assistant adds the needed holes, threads, and fasteners, such as bolts. Fasteners are selected from standard parts available from suppliers. I thought I heard the number of 1.5 million parts available to Inventor users. Design Validation -- If fasteners or pulleys might be too weak, design validation warns of potential problems. The solution might be to use fatter fasteners or to add tensioners to the pulley system. While you can design custom fasteners and pulley systems, Inventor encourages you to make use of off-the-shelf parts to lower production costs.
DWG TrueConnect When you start a new drawing in Inventor 2008, you can choose to save natively in AutoCAD's DWG (2007/08) format or Inventor's own IDW format. You can open the Inventor-generated DWG in AutoCAD, and then perform limited types of editing. Naturally, you can view, plot, and measure the entities. (Update: In AutoCAD, you can only delete Inventor annotations, views, and layouts; you cannot edit them. You can explode them to AutoCAD geometry, and this counts as a delete when the file is opened back in Inventor. You can change the status of layers: Inventor objects will react to the layer changes, such as changing color and turning layers on/off. You can add AutoCAD geometry of any kind and it will show up in Inventor, but you can only delete the AutoCAD geometry when in Inventor. The one exception is AutoCAD blocks. You can move and scale them, and edit attributes in AutoCAD blocks in Inventor. You can see the AutoCAD block definitions in the Inventor browser, and insert new blocks onto the Inventor sheet.) You can copy entities from AutoCAD, and then paste them into Inventor as a sketch. Mr Gardner showed how he could then use the 2D-3D Tool from Autodesk Labs to convert the 2D sketch into a 3D part. He also spoke of working 50/50 in AutoCAD and Inventor -- working with mixed drawings in a manner that reminded me of partial editing of raster images in CAD drawings. Inventor views show up as blocks in AutoCAD. Because you are working with DWG files, no translation takes place. Despite that, there are limitations. You can't, for instance, perform destructive editing of Inventor-generated files in AutoCAD, such as erase, explode, or fillet. As Mr Gardner concisely explained it, "You can edit only in source." Perhaps a future release will allow greater flexibility. Or maybe in the future you'll just use Inventor LT instead of the 4x more-expensive AutoCAD. Now, you can import surfaces from Alias through DWG. In the future, you can expect more compatibility between Autodesk products, such as a more uniform user interface, better ability to exchange drawings, and more similar commands. For example, you can now use AutoCAD shortcuts, like the spacebar to repeat commands in Inventor.
MDT Ideas Inventor incorporates a number of ideas from Mechanical Desktop, the despised stepbrother. Inventor can now bend geometry to create shutoff handles and the like. Also added is constrain-to-midpoint, and Area Loft, which defines a 3D lofting surface by its 2D cross-section area.
Ribbon Cables and Sheetmetal Design Mr Gardner felt that ribbon cable design was unique to Inventor, where flat ribbon cables, like the kind often used in desktop computers, are routed through cases and between connectors. You can add single and double folds to the cable, and easily flip the cable around to orient it for pin 1. Sheetmetal flanges can be made from profiles. All edges can be flanged at once by selecting the face loop. Corner mitering can be turned on and off. And material can be removed in different thickness across bends. Punch patterns can be replaced by simplified representations, and reliefs added to corners. When exporting to laser cutters, arcs can be converted to short lines -- everything old is new again.
Drawing Enhancements Isometric views are easily dimensioned isometrically. Hit the spacebar to switch isoplanes. Hatch patterns can be applied to isometric views, and are based on the materials' definitions. Hidden lines can now be displayed in shaded views. Sections can be created from sketches, and then 3D isometrics can be generated from them. Constraints now update automatically. There is cross-reference highlighting between constraints and geometry: select a line, and the linked constraints are highlighted. - - - And there's lots more that I didn't get written down. www.autodesk.com/inventor
Ralph Sits in on a
Webinar: Three weeks ago I got an email blast from Alibre with an invitation for a Webinar hosted by Adobe. Usually, I ignore Webinars and seminars alike, but then I wondered what end-users might be told that could be different from what the press is told. Most of the one-hour session was a rehash of what most of us already know: use Acrobat to view, mark-up, and email CAD drawings. But one part of the demo differed from the party line: Acrobat 3D's use as a translator. Back in February, upFront.eZine reported on Acrobat 3D, and included this quote from Adobe: "We are absolutely avoiding interoperability between CAD systems." Early in the Webinar, however, we were shown how Acrobat 3D Release 8 translates parts from SolidWorks (and Catia) to Alibre. The part, some sort of disk with slots, was redesigned in Alibre, and then exported. The name of the seminar affirms the interoperability process: " Flow your 3D CAD design through your entire development process". A Webinar participant asked if the parametric features and history were translated with Acrobat. No, just brep [boundary representation] data, but the forthcoming Alibre Design Release 10 has the ability to directly edit breps, and so has no need for the feature info. Alibre layers its features onto the imported geometry, as we saw in the online demo. So, it was interesting to observe Acrobat 3D 8 being used with Alibre Design for interoperability between CAD systems.
Updating of the ebook on rendering with AutoCAD 2008 is complete, and so "Tailoring AutoCAD Rendering 2008" is now available. The update adds 62 pages that cover the following:
This 202-page, 8-chapter e-book is in PDF format with over 400 figures. It is priced at US$30.30, and can be ordered through PayPal by going go the ebook's Web page < www.upfrontezine.com/tar8 > and then clicking on the 'Buy This Book Now' button (about halfway down the page). Or, send your cheque, money order, or purchase order to:
"Tailoring
AutoCAD Rendering 2008" (Add $5 for delivery on CD by mail.)
ACS Software ships SR3 update for AutoEDMS v6.5, with non-destructive mark-up and redlining of all its supported file formats, including the latest: AutoCAD 2007/2008 DWG and DWF, MicroStation v8, Acrobat PDF, and Word/Excel 2003. The redesigned Workflow Engine runs faster, and dozens of commands have been added to ACL [AutoEDMS Customization Language]. www.acssoftware.com HELiOS from ISD is CAD-neutral software for rapid generation of flexible configurators for custom-tailored products, specifically in mechanical engineering and plant construction. The system has three parts: Configuration Database, Generator, and Configurator. www.isdcad.com UGS delivers Parasolid v19.0 with support for Vista and enhanced modeling, editing, blending, and rendering functions. Also from UGS: Parasolid Interoperability Toolkit Suite v10 that includes Parasolid Bodyshop for repairing and validating 3D models, as well as translator toolkits, and updated UNIX platform support. www.siemens.com/ugs Sescoi launches its WorkNC G3 automatic CAM/CAD software in September. www.sescoi.com TeamViewer desktop sharing software is now free for private users. The software lets you remotely control Windows computers for maintenance, file transfer, and presentations. www.teamviewer.com/download/index.aspx Noran Engineering announces NEi Nastran V9.1 for high-end finite element analysis. Some new features include transient impact studies, drop testing, and simulation of large strain, rubber-like materials. www.NEiNastran.com Print Audit updates Facilities Manager, its remote meter reading and supplies management software for copiers, printers, fax machines, and multi-function devices. www.printaudit.com The beta of CADoogle finds and previews DWG files stored online. www.cadoogle.com CSC releases Fastrak CD 15, including Building Designer v7.0. New features include automatic shear wall modeling and enhanced composite beam design. news.cscworld.com/07/06_15_Fastrak_Release.html RAMSIS from Applied PLM Solutions is a CAD ergonomics tool that helps fit human models into vehicles and cockpits. www.appliedgroup.co.uk/software/ramsis LGM launches RapidArch, a Web service that employs 3D printing technology to build models for residential and light commercial projects (maximum size 10"x14"x6") at costs ranging from US$695 - $2,495. A wooden base and trees can be added. www.RapidArch.com Engineered Design Solutions releases DwgGrid (US$24.95), a Windows Explorer-like browser for AutoCAD (Release 14 and up), Inventor, and Revit files. 15-day eval copy from www.engds.com - - - These news items were posted during the last week at the WorldCAD Access blog < worldcadaccess.typepad.com>:
And at the Gizmos Grabowski < worldcadaccess.typepad.com/gizmos/> Weblog:
Seminars & Conferences EMO World of Machine Tools & Metalworking is Sept 17-22 in Hanover Germany. www.emo-hannover.de/homepage_e Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers Annual Meeting and Expo is Nov 14-16 in Fort Lauderdale FL USA. www.MaritimeExpo.com
Redo AnMark's Core software began shipping week of July 9, not June 9 as reported as week.
Market News Metris agrees to acquire the Virtek Intelligent Laser Systems division of Virtek Vision International for CDN$6 million in cash. PTC's expectation of lower revenue in Q3 (US$225 million instead of the expected $235-$240 million) caused its share price to drop 20% in one day, along with a promise to financial analysts to cut costs and eliminate jobs.
Letters to the Editor Re: Not BE-ing There "As you know, the BE Conference Europe held in London 10-14 June. Fortunately I was part of that wonderful event. The conference was very beneficial and closely related to all design engineering activities. "Microsoft was the official sponsor of this event. During this conference, the president of Microsoft UK announced the global partnership agreement between Microsoft and Bentley. He explained the role of Microsoft for coming developments and innovations in Bentley software, especially in design engineering. According to him, there will be rapid developments in Bentley products in future. "CEO Greg Bentley, Keith Bentley, and sr. vp Bhupinder Singh introduced many of the coming innovations of Bentley products. They also provided detailed information on how users can benefit from the new technology. Lot of training and hands on sessions for users, administrators and managers. The closing reception rock show was good; I really enjoyed it -- especially as it was a Bentley brother on guitar!!
"I have seen lot of media people and
journalists around the world attending this
event. I feel that you should attend such
event so that upFront.eZine readers like us
will get some updated information regarding
Bentley products." The editor responds: "Thanks for your report. The only media permitted attend are those invited by Bentley Systems, as is the case with almost all other CAD vendor events." - - - Re: 3Dcad+.com
"Try http://www.3Dcadplus.com/ instead of
3Dcad+.com ." - - - Re: iPhone
"I've just heard that the iPhone will only
work with the AT&T network, and doesn't
function anywhere except the U.S. It was
suggested that it would not be manufactured
for use outside the US until the end of 2008.
Typical Mac: pretty but useless." The editor responds: "For me it matters not, since I can barely stand having a cell phone. OTOH, I can see Apple being very careful, after the spectacular failure of the Newton." - - -
"Thanks for all the info over the years!"
Notable Quotable
"Users who have received the [cardboard
promotional] laptops say the new systems
are lightweight and stylish, although there
have been complaints regarding the lack of an
optical drive, screen, memory, trackpad,
battery, motherboard, and processor."
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