How Frustum Optimizes Designs on the Cloud

Issue #907

 

by Ralph Grabowski with Jesse Blankenship The idea for Generate came from Jesse Blankenship's initial interest in generative design for architectural structures: could buildings be designed automatically based on criteria of goal-based design, such as layouts of open spaces? After three years of graduate research, he found that optimization of MCAD was more market-driven, especially in aerospace, and so he switched fields. As he worked as an optimization engineer on a concept aircraft for Airbus, he realized that there were no attempts being made towards an optimization platform that was holistic.  And so he struck off on his own, founding Frustum in 2014 to create an design-optimization platform for additive manufacturing, with the goal of creating a manufacturable result. After two years of research and development, the result was the Frustum kernel, a custom geometry kernel. Mr. Blankenship says he knows of no other kernel on the market that can perform the same kinds of functions. Optimization itself is not new. "Our major contribution to the world is how we treat geometry," he told me. His Generate software optimizes the shape of geometry to minimize the amount of material. It runs in your Web browser, performing the calculations in the cloud. See figure 1.   Figure 1 Before and after geometric optimization Q&A upFront.eZine: Where does the Frustum name come from?  Jesse Blankenship: The word refers to a common type of geometry, a solid cut by two parallel planes, as illustrated by our Frustum logo. To us, it means a design potential, a design-space.    upFront.eZine: Tell me more what is special about the Frustum kernel, and why you had to write your own.  Mr Blankenship: It is a solid geometry kernel. It is special in the way it handles relationships between solid objects, and creates surfaces from freeform geometry. I am being a little vague about it, because it is our IP [intellectual property].  upFront.eZine: Kernels are tough to write, so how did you do it in two years?  Mr Blankenship: We were very targeted and limited the code to a very specific task -- to handle freeform geometry. Plus a lot of coffee and a lot of sleepless nights -- and some very smart people on our team of 5-10 people. upFront.eZine: From who are you getting your funding?  Mr Blankenship: Our early stage partner was H&S Capital Group, and now we are supported by Siemens Venture Capital. It was fantastic that Siemens validated our technology as unique.  upFront.eZine: You being supported by Siemens, that's pretty impressive. What kind of link is there between your Generate software and CAD systems?  Mr Blankenship: It imports STEP files, and exports in STL. We plan to support Parasolid and STL in the future, and are looking to make it even more interoperable. upFront.eZine: Generate currently runs in the cloud; will there be a plugin for existing desktop MCAD systems?  Mr Blankenship: We are working with Siemens PLM Software to make a plug-in for NX, with plans to make a link to Onshape at some point in the future. We like the Onshape online app store. upFront.eZine: There are competitors that do the same thing, like solidThinking's Inspire; how are you different from them?  Mr Blankenship: Theirs inspires design, as the name suggests, while ours generates the design. There is no remodeling required with Generate. The output from generative design can be very open-ended, and we want to curate the process. It is a very different way of designing, because you have to think through the goals of your design. Designers who think about these things will be excited by this. The entire market is open territory right now, and so there is a lot of room for growth. upFront.eZine: Bentley has been holding generative design conferences for, oh I don't know, a decade now, but not much seems to come from it.  Mr Blankenship: There is a lot of talk and debate about generative design, and people have a lot of questions about it, but for us it’s certainly easier to develop a generative design product because we have neither legacy issues nor existing clients. upFront.eZine: Tell me about the software interface, in particular the set of bars [in the lower left corner of figure 2]. Figure 2 User interface of Generate software from Frustum Mr Blankenship: That's our Diagram of Convergence showing the three stages of optimization. Each stage does the optimization at a different resolution to explore and refine the design: rough, more detailed, and high-resolution refinements. Additionally, setting a coarse resolution lets you see if the direction of the optimization is what you want, such as if you forget to constrain a hole. Also, it costs less to do a coarse optimization. Our software lets you run multiple scenarios at the same time, because they run concurrently on the cloud. For example, make four clones and run each one at the same time with different parameters to explore your design possibilities. upFront.eZine: What does it cost?  Mr Blankenship: Price will be released in a few weeks. As this is a limited release, it is meant to be affordable to the mainstream, but high-usage users will pay more. Pay more for more optimization.  Lacking now is a lot of parameter control or stress analysis, functions that will become available next year. We will be adding more geometric constraints, more ways to create geometry to design with, and better manufacturability. https://www.frustum.com And One More Thing... IntegrityWare has a new software product platform, Cyborg3D, and new add-ons that run on top. Cyborg3D is a standalone multi-threaded 3D modeler that combines subdivision surface modeling with parametric NURBS solids and surfaces. It is unique, because it converts between organic and precise geometry, and calculates relationships between different types of geometry.   Figure 3 3D model imported from TurboSquid Running on top of Cyborg3D are:  SubD2CAD ($995) for converting sub-d models from 3ds Max and the like, as well as 3D model databases like Turbosquid to STEP, IGES, and SAT (see figure 3) CAD2Print ($495) for 3D printing of CAD models from IGES, STEP, and SAT CAD2Poly  ($495) for tessellating NURBS geometry to watertight polygonal models in STL or OBJ format Ten-day demo copies from http://cyborg3d.com. Letters to the Editor I have been reading you almost since I started with CAD in 1989, first in the magazines, then online. I am trying to list the architectural software from the mid-90s that would be categorized as "BIM" today.  I do remember Bentley TriForma, used ArchiCAD since 1995, remember ARC+, and there was a package from PTC intended for AEC. Was it called PRO/Architect?      - Djordje Grujic        United Arab Emirates The editor replies: Turns out it was called Pro/Reflex, but PTC did not hold onto it for very long. Seehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reflex_%28building_design_software%29. Some of the original Pro/Engineer programmers and some who worked on Reflex went on to write Revit (with funding from Solidworks and others), so PTC and Dassault lost a big opportunity when Autodesk bought Revit. - - -   I demoed the ArcSite program and it has great features. My only problem is that it's 2D-only. Fusion 360 and Inventor LT are about the same cost. They can do 2D and 3D, so ArcSoft's price point at $30 is just too high. At $30 a month we are paying a lot to help finish the development of this iPad product.      - Barry Golash (via WorldCAD Access)     Wood Solutions The editor replies: There is a price war going on as Autodesk works to fend off Onshape, and so that affects their competitors.  - - - Hey, could you please recommend (if you have a brief moment) what you think is the best all-around AutoCAD 2017 book to buy? I've been using AutoCAD since Release 10, but am having problems with dimensions in the new release.     - Mike Kaluski     CADdrafter.net The editor replies: I am sorry to report that I have  not been keeping up with what AutoCAD books are out there.  The sad fact is that authors of software books are under great pressure to meet the publisher's deadline, typically to update 1/3 of the book per month or faster. This means they don't have time to get into the nuances of using the software -- other than determining such things outside of the three months they have to update the book.  So, I would not expect to find a solution to your problem in any AutoCAD 2017 book. I suggest you Google for your problems, and perhaps a forum or blog has tackled your question. - - -   Thanks for upFront.eZine -- always a good read. Best wishes.     - Chris Turner, ceo     The Business Advantage Group, England Thank You, Readers! Thank you to readers who donate towards the operation of upFront.eZine: Terry Wohler Bill Fane Ken Anderson Should you wish to support upFront.eZine through PayPal, then the suggested amounts are like these: $25 for individuals > paypal.me/upfrontezine/25 $125 for small companies > paypal.me/upfrontezine/125 $500 for for large companies > paypal.me/upfrontezine/500 Should Paypal.me not operate in your country, then please usewww.paypal.com and the account of [email protected]. Or mail a cheque (US$ or CDN$ only, please) to upFront.eZine Publishing, Ltd., 34486 Donlyn Avenue, Abbotsford BC, V2S 4W7, Canada.   Notable Quotable "As part of our land-and-expand strategy, we've now implemented a premium model for our ThingWorx technology in order to open our aperture beyond what we could reach with just a direct sales force and a partner ecosystem."     - James Heppelmann, ceo, PTC     http://seekingalpha.com/article/3966810-ptc-inc-ptc-ceo-james-heppelmann-q2-2016-results-earnings-call-transcript

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