Barb Schmitz

Will CAD Subscriptions Shatter Cost Barriers to Entry

February 12, 2014 By Barb Schmitz Leave a Comment

By Barb Schmitz, Senior Editor

New monthly subscription plans make high-end CAD tools accessible to companies with low-end budgets

CAD software has gotten more and more sophisticated. As new versions of CAD software are released, users are gifted with a bounty of new bells and whistles that they can use to design more innovative products at faster than ever speeds. What hasn’t necessarily changed over the years is the high price tag and resulting inaccessibility associated with 3D CAD software.

To even purchase a 3D CAD software license will set you back anywhere from $5,000 to $30,000, not including any required hardware upgrades—either a higher-end PC or 3D graphics acceleration—to run the software efficiently. That figure also doesn’t include the necessary training costs to become proficient at the tool as well as additional annual licensing maintenance fees. Anyway you look at it, 3D CAD continues to be an expensive endeavor.

All this explains why the majority of engineers still aren’t using 3D CAD software, despite the fact that industry analysts and editors—including myself—are always writing about these tools as if everyone is using them. It is estimated that approximately 25 million engineers worldwide would benefit from the use of 3D CAD tools, though many for myriad of reasons do not have currently have access.

While the expense of implementing CAD might not be an issue for larger, more established companies with gargantuan engineering departments and like-size budgets, smaller companies and startups don’t have the large IT budgets to support expensive CAD software. In addition, there are many companies who need CAD software on a short-term basis for a specific project, or perhaps need an additional seat for an intern or an outside consultant, but don’t want to get roped into an annual contract.

App-hungry, price-conscious market lead to changes in pricing
Several factors have affected how software is sold today. The growing popularity and prevalence of mobile devices (smartphones and tablets) has lead to the emergence of a new concept: free software. As the number of free apps surpasses the million+ mark, a hyper-price-conscious culture has been cultivated, and users—on the consumer and business sides—are increasingly balking at paying high prices for software of any type.

Certainly these factors have come into play in the CAD world, right? One might think, however, prices of CAD and related engineering software remain relatively high. The question becomes how do CAD vendors respond to the changing market dynamics for software without it eating into their profit margins? Let’s face it: CAD software is expensive to develop so giving it away for free isn’t an option.

Some vendors revamp sales model for CAD
Last year, an interesting thing happened in the CAD world. CAD vendors took a long look at the sales model of CAD software and decided it was time for a change. Subscription sales models allow users to pay for CAD software on a monthly basis or on an as-they-need-it basis; some require an annual commitment, some don’t.

This does two things: it eliminates the high upfront cost of CAD and it helps companies move CAD from a capital expense to an operating expense. When purchased as a subscription, the CAD software is typically downloaded from the web. The goal is to open up high-end 3D CAD tools to users at smaller companies with low-end budgets as well as those in more cyclical businesses, somewhat untapped markets.

Autodesk offers Fusion 360 by subscription
Autodesk, following the lead of Adobe with its Creative Suite, was the first of the CAD vendors to offer subscription-based licensing of its Fusion 360 cloud-based modeling environment. Benefits to users include lower costs of implementation, easier scalability, simplified implementation, and improved collaboration.

Autodesk seems committed to this new sales model, moving its customers away from annual licensing to monthly subscriptions. Fusion 360 currently has 30,000 users. By 2018, Autodesk expects 70% of its income to be recurring (cloud, rental and maintenance subscriptions) as opposed to 40% currently. Current pricing for Fusion 360 is $40 per month per user with an annual commitment or $300 per year.

Fusion-360-car — This Fusion 360 car model was created by Guangnan Wei, a designer in Chicago. He says he chose Fusion 360 for the project because it was the first software that combined surfacing and solid modeling. The body of the car was created with t-splines and the mechanical parts were created with solid modeling.

Kevin Schneider, director of Fusion 360 at Autodesk, believes that the changing sales model for CAD will significantly alter the relationship between vendors and their customers. Traditionally, users work with resellers or direct salespeople who help them understand the benefits and where to go for training. After that, however, the burden shifts to the user to be productive with the software or not.

With the traditional CAD sales model, “the investment for getting you to buy is all upfront,” says Schneider. “Once that’s done, the risk to make it successful was largely your own.” With subscription-based pricing, however, the rules have changed. “The customer has to renew, which is an expression that they have gotten value from using your product and are willing to continue paying for it. It really incents us as provider to make sure we earn that renewal each month from the customer. If they don’t renew, we’re not doing out job.”

Siemens opens up Solid Edge to monthly subscribers
At the end of last summer, Siemens became the first CAD vendor to offer a full-fledged version of its Solid Edge software on a monthly basis. The company tested the waters of subscription-based pricing back at the end of 2011 when it offered Solid Edge CAD software to members of the Local Motors community, a car company built around the concept of co-creation, or “crowdsourcing.”

Unlike Autodesk’s Fusion 360, Solid Edge is not cloud-based. Users access monthly subscriptions through the Solid Edge online store, then download a full version of the software and run it on their own computers. Users get a full professional version of the software, not a new version developed for the cloud or a ported version of the software simplified to run over the web. The flexibility of the Solid Edge licensing model enables users to ramp up engineering resources when they need it.

“The subscription option enables established companies to cost-effectively ramp up to meet peaks in demand, or to address short-term increases in user headcount,” says John Fox, vice president of Marketing for Solid Edge. “In smaller more cash-constrained organizations like startups, subscriptions are a great, affordable way to get access to professional grade CAD without a big upfront investment.”

The subscription license doesn’t require an annual commitment, making it one of the most flexible plans on the market to date. Users can select from four different versions of the software based on the features that best fit their needs, and subscriptions can be purchased on a month-to-month basis or renewed automatically. Pricing ranges from $130-$350 per month, depending on the functionality required.

Markets targeted with new pricing model
As mentioned previously, subscription-based pricing is ideal for smaller companies and startups with limited resources. Autodesk has clearly targeted this burgeoning market with its Fusion 360 offering. “We’re laser-focused on very small businesses, 50 people or less,” says Autodesk’s Schneider. “That’s the sweet spot for what we’re trying to do, what we are offering and where the best fit to customers needs is.”

Subscription pricing also benefits those companies whose business is cyclical in nature; meaning, they need CAD tools on a per-project, not daily, basis. “This type of pricing also has the added benefit for these companies working on contract basis,” says Schneider. “They don’t use it everyday so this allows them to move from a capital expense to an operating expense, allowing them to turn it off and turn it on, add or move seats really flexibly.”

One of Siemens’ customers utilizing the monthly subscription of Solid Edge is Hutton Technologies, a startup that designs Flexipump, a line of low-cost pumps for farmers in developing countries. The company’s founder, David Hutton, started the company while still in college, using a free student edition of Solid Edge. “Companies like Flexipump need access to top-notch engineering and design tools to bring their products to life, but they don’t have a lot of cash available to spend on software,” says Fox.

Another example Fox cites is Edison2, a long-term Solid Edge customer that designs workable and sustainable vehicles. The company has been able to leverage the subscription license of Solid Edge to expand their engineering resources while managing cash flow.

edison-2-very-light-car — Edison2, a company that designs sustainable vehicles, leverages a subscription license of Solid Edge to expand their engineering resources while managing cash flow. This electric Very Light Car broke the EPA fuel economy record, according to Consumer Reports.

“They’ve been able to accelerate their production process by making Solid Edge available to one of their machinists for editing designed parts and were able to provide an additional seat to a short-term intern during a peak period,” says Fox. “The cost savings can be significant, but there can be top line benefits as well. The subscription model enables a customer to free up cash to make more investments and grow their business.”

The Bottom Line
The question of whether the remaining CAD companies will join Autodesk and Siemens in offering CAD software on a monthly subscription basis is still lingering. It will require a significant change in the way in which CAD software has been traditionally sold and marketed, but the increased accessibility of these tools to smaller companies and startups—and the potential of a new untapped market –should be incentive enough for vendors to consider it.

For users, especially those at smaller companies with limited budgets, monthly subscription plans may open by a world of CAD and other high-end engineering tools (see sidebar) that were previously inaccessible. By leveling the playing field, smaller companies and startups will be better equipped to compete with their bigger brethren in the marketplace.

Cloud Implementations Lower Sky-High Software Prices

Thanks to the cloud, other high-end, previously prohibitively expensive engineering software is now being offered at a lower cost to users. By moving software from a client-server architecture to a web-hosted structure, vendors can now offer software at much lower costs. These Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) subscriptions bring price points for solutions for PLM, simulation and CAM down to levels that even the smallest companies can afford.

Autodesk is clearly leading the pack with the most cloud-based, engineering-related offerings, including its PLM 360, but they weren’t the first in the PLM market. Arena Solutions first offered a PLM cloud-based solution in the mid-90s. Startups Infobix and Kenesto are also now offering cloud-based PLM platforms.

Each offers a unique piece of the PLM pie to users; Kenesto focuses on business process automation, Infobix focuses on search and retrieval of product data, while Arena Solutions specializes in bill of material (BOM) management. Though not the first, Autodesk is the first to offer a more general PLM offering that includes change management, BOM, business process, incident reporting, and more—all for $25-$75 per month with annual subscriptions.

Simulation software, both FEA and CFD, has also been traditionally prohibitively expensive to implement, both on the software and hardware sides. Simulation software requires significant processing horsepower, so being able to tap into more powerful computers via the cloud speeds processing time and eases to the computing requirement for the user.

Autodesk’s SIM 360 is cloud-based simulation software that enables users to perform mechanical simulation on their components at a fraction of cost of traditional simulation. Includes static stress (shown here), modal< frequency, fatigue analysis as well as thermal stress analysis.[/caption] Autodesk’s SIM 360, which offers structural mechanical, thermal and fluid flow simulation, is priced based on usage. Users are allotted a certain amount of Cloud Credits (CCs) that are included in the annual fee, but can purchase more as needed. The SIM 360 Pro Unlimited offers an unlimited number of simulation runs during the license term. Other players in the simulation in the cloud market include Simscale, Cydesign and Ciespace. The cost benefit of simulation in the cloud is that companies wishing to deploy the software don’t need to invest in the pricey high-end computers needed to run the simulations and avoid the high upfront software investments by paying as they go. For companies that just need simulation capabilities from time to time or those who need it regularly but can’t afford it, these hosted applications make perfect sense.

Reprint info >>

Autodesk
www.autodesk.com/proudcts/fusion-360/overview

Siemens PLM Software
www.plm.automation.siemens.com/en_us/products/velocity/solidedge/

ArenaSolutions
www.arenasolutions.com

Kenesto
www.kenesto.com

Infobix
www.infobix.com

Simscale
www.simscale.de

Cydesign
www.cydesign.com

Ciespace
www.ciespace.com

Delcam Releases PowerSHAPE for Re-engineering

February 11, 2014 By Barb Schmitz Leave a Comment

Out in Anaheim, show attendees at the Pacific Design and Manufacturing Show are getting a glimpse of Delcam’s PowerSHAPE Pro software for design, modeling for manufacture and reverse engineering. On top of the list of new functionality is the software’s ability to facilitate and speed up the process of re-engineering complex parts from scanned data. By offering functionality for both modeling and reverse engineering, the software reduces the need to transfer data between multiple programs, streamlining development processes.

New tools for re-engineering

The new automated tools for re-engineering make it easier and faster to segment a mesh of scanned data into primitive regions, such as planes, spheres, cones, cylinders and tori, as well as into revolved or extruded surfaces. Primitive surfaces or solids are then fitted automatically to those regions. The user has control over the fit tolerance used when creating the geometry and over the types of primitive to be identified.

Delcam’s latest PowerSHAPE Pro software includes automated tools for converting scan data into CAD models.

For more complex geometry, or when finer control is needed, mesh segmentation can be carried out manually. The user simply chooses the region where the geometry is to be created and selects the primitive type to be used. PowerSHAPE Pro then creates the surface or solid to the specified tolerance. As each region is converted, it changes color, indicating to the user which areas of the model still require work.

Regions with complex, free-form geometry can now be replaced with a single surface. The target area can be selected with a set of easy-to-use options, while a single dialogue box gives control of the fit of the surface to the mesh. The same technique can be used for areas with large amounts of detail, such as logos or textures.

Once the main surfaces have been created–by automatic or manual methods–they can be trimmed together to form a single, closed solid automatically. Interactive controls allow dynamic adjustment over how the surfaces are trimmed to each other, while specific faces can be marked so that they are kept or deleted.

The software “gets smart” with Smart Feature Manager

The Smart Feature Manager allows users to identify all the features (fillets, slots, bosses, etc.) within a solid in a single operation, making the analysis of the imported data easier and faster. The Smart Feature Selector then allows multiple similar features to be found and selected, regardless of where they appear in the model’s history tree.

The software includes a set of filters that enable all the features that fulfil specific criteria to be identified within the model, making it easier for users to manage the feature tree. For example, the Smart Feature Selector can find all the holes having the same, specified diameter or those having radii between two values, or it can identify all the fillets with less than 2 mm radius. Similarly, if a single feature is identified, all similar features can be selected with a single click.

Once the particular group has been isolated, all the features within it can be suppressed or deleted simultaneously. Groups of features can also be placed on layers or colored so they can be recognized as a group within any of Delcam’s CAM programs, thus simplifying manufacturing.

This post just grazes the surface of all the new functionality in PowerSHAPE Pro 2014. For more, check out the company’s web site.

Barb Schmitz

ReverseEngineering.com Releases 3D Scanner Point Cloud Tool for SolidWorks

February 11, 2014 By Barb Schmitz Leave a Comment

Product design today is largely a digital effort. Paperless design has been something that we’ve been writing about for years, but the reality is that though designs can be tested, verified and validated digitally, physical parts and prototypes remain a reality for most manufacturers. As a result, capturing data from physical objects and putting that data back into the digital model is often a crucial part of the design cycle.

Reverse engineering remains important design task

Reverse engineering enables users to create a 3D virtual model of an existing physical part that can then be used in 3D CAD, computer-aided manufacturing and other computer-aided engineering applications.

More manufacturers are adding reverse engineering to their product development efforts, in part, because the costs of the scanners and other hardware used to input measurements have dropped dramatically in price. At the same time the hardware has gotten smaller and easier to use. The software has also become easier to use and the process of converting and managing scanned data simplified.

SolidWorks users now have new 3D scanner point cloud tool

ReverseEngineering.com has recently debuted new add-in software that will make it easier for SolidWorks users to convert dense scanned data into usable SolidWorks 3D geometry. This feature-based 3D scanning point cloud tool is fully integrated inside the SolidWorks 2014 modeling engine.

ReverseEngineering.com introduces a new 3D scanner point cloud add-in for SolidWorks 2014.

The software’s scan tools include the ability to thin and cut cross-section through point clouds and create feature tree surfaces in real time, along with 2D/3D features and complex 3D shapes. The add-in works with Faro EDGE, Romer Absolute, MicroScribe, 3D Creator, Focus 3D, Cyclone, Artec Spider, Steinbichler, ATOS, HDI 3D, and Leica scanners to create parametric feature tree models.

ReverseEngineering.com is the first SolidWorks gold partner to integrate support for commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) 3D scanners. At the recent SolidWorks World event, the company demonstrated 3D scanning pump impellers, human faces, sports helmets and processed the data in real time. The on-demand workflow simplifies end user requirements of working with dense point clouds in Solidworks Standard or Premuim.

Find out more on this new 3D scanner point cloud add-in here.

Barb Schmitz

NVIDIA Introduces Shared Visual Computing Appliance

February 7, 2014 By Barb Schmitz Leave a Comment

As CAD software becomes more and more powerful and resulting models become more complex and large in size, it requires more and more horsepower under the hood of engineering workstations to run effectively. Enter NVIDIA, the somewhat undisputed leader in the 3D graphic cards market.

You could find NVIDIA cards working quietly behind the scenes everywhere in the Partner Pavilion at this year’s SolidWorks World, being that its cards are the most popular among SolidWorks users with approximately 80% of the SolidWorks market.

The most popular of which is the Quadro Pro K2000 cards that sell for only about $400, a small price to pay for significantly increased productivity, right? Need even more power? Upgrade to the company’s K6000 for $4,500, which offers a whopping 12 GB of frame buffer memory and can make even the largest assemblies and photorealistic renderings and animations move in real time.

NVIDIA's Quadro K6000 is the first professional-class GPU to integrate high performance computing capabilities with advanced visualization techniques, transforming modern workflows. — NVIDIA’s Quadro 6000 is the first professional-class GPU to integrate high performance computing capabilities with advanced visualization techniques, transforming modern workflows.

Touted to deliver 5X faster performance over its predecessor, the Quadro K6000 can deliver 1.3 billion triangles per second, shattering previous 3D graphics limitations. For serious data crunching for applications such as CFD, these cards deliver performance gains of 8X. Seeing these high-end cards doing their thing was quite impressive though Andrew Cresci, vertical marketing General Manager of NVIDIA, saved the best for last.

NVIDIA takes on shared, visual computing

Not happy just being the leader in 3D graphics acceleration for the design world, NVIDIA has eyes on harnessing its technology for shared computing. During my briefing with the company, Cresci gave me a sneak peak at the company’s Visual Computing Appliance (VCA). The appliance can be located anywhere–in a data center or a company’s centralized IT center–and can fed graphics to nearly any computing device, including iPads, mobile devices, low-end PCs, etc. It works by compressing graphics from the centralized server-like hub from any distance with no discernible lag, at least that I saw during my demo.

As an editor, I hate to throw around meaningless words, like “cool,” but indeed it was cool. I was able to manipulate a rather large SolidWorks assembly running on a PC in the NVIDIA booth that was being fed from the company’s headquarters in Santa Clara, 400 miles away from where we were. You can pretty quickly see the advantage of VCA for engineers and designers. Imagine being able to tap the computing power of a large server running existing software from your iPad or low-end PC.

It’s hard to not see real productivity benefits VCA offers to product developers as companies continue to try to squeeze more value out of existing resources (software and hardware). It’s not cheap; $25K+ for a floating license, but certainly a tech offering we’ll be keeping an eye on in the future. Check it out yourself on the NVIDIA site.

Barb Schmitz

Dassault Updates 3DEXPERIENCE Portfolio with Release 2014x

February 6, 2014 By Barb Schmitz Leave a Comment

One of the CAD giants, Dassault Systemes, announces the latest release of its 3DEXPERIENCE platform’s on-premise and on-the-cloud portfolio of solutions. Release 2014x of the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, available to all customers on February 24, includes an on-premise portfolio of 41 industry solutions and their 183 processes, plus a dedicated cloud portfolio of 14 industry solutions, with more than 60 processes, appropriate for businesses of any size.

Included in this release is SolidWorks Mechanical Conceptual, which was announced at this year’s SolidWorks World event. Reception for this new product among beta users has been positive, particularly for its collaboration features and social network-like interface.

“With SolidWorks Mechanical Conceptual, we were able to do four process revisions by the time our competitors were only doing their secondary revision,” says William MacLeod, senior engineer, Kennedy Hygiene. “The key reason for that is the collaborative aspect of Mechanical Conceptual, which permitted our customers to log in, see real time updates of the process and share ideas with us through the blog.”

Connect instantly to collaborate with other SolidWorks Mechanical Conceptual users through chat, screen capture, and on-screen annotation. — Connect instantly to collaborate with other SolidWorks Mechanical Conceptual users through chat, screen capture and on-screen annotation.

On-premise portfolio covers gamut of product development tasks

The 3DEXPERIENCE® Process Portfolio On Premise expands capabilities already available on the V6 portfolio and unifies the user experience for all processes and industries. Built to answer customer- and industry-specific needs for ease of use and lower training costs, the open architecture allows customization and the integration of customer data into a single environment. It provides a single source for truth by integrating all data required to create a process experience while eliminating costly IT operations, such as database replication.

A single, compass-like interface provides easy-to-use navigation, search, and collaboration in the 3DEXPERIENCE platform environment that is extensible to any discipline in the company – engineering, manufacturing, simulation, sales, marketing, finance, procurement, and management.

Cloud offerings offer users lower cost of ownership

The 3DEXPERIENCE® Process Portfolio On Cloud expands capabilities already available on the V6 portfolio and unifies the user experience for all Processes and Industries. Offered as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) on public cloud to provide increased flexibility and fast deployment, it includes services and support of the cloud provider in the price of the Processes, with Dassault Systèmes as the single point of contact.

The public cloud operates 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, 365 days per year, and includes maintenance, licensing and upgrades. Total Cost of Ownership is improved by reducing requirements for computing and storage, as well as facility and human resources costs, since hardware is no longer required.

A single, compass-like interface provides easy-to-use navigation, search, and collaboration in the 3DEXPERIENCE platform environment that is extensible to any discipline in the company. The on cloud process portfolio also includes the following out-of-the-box capabilities:

* 3DDashboard brings information from diverse sources into one fully customizable web page
* 3DSwym enables cross-discipline collaboration of communities of users from anywhere in the enterprise
* 3DPassport provides a single sign-on for every 3DEXPERIENCE application licensed by the user

A complete list of Release 2014x offers and operating conditions is available here.

Barb Schmitz

PDF3D Developers Release ParaView Plus for Visualizing Complex Data

February 4, 2014 By Barb Schmitz Leave a Comment

For many years, engineers and designers have struggled on the best way to safely share design data with others. Security is an issue. Bandwidth limitations yet another as files containing engineering data are often gargantuan. Yet another roadblock is all the various types of file formats that engineering data is saved in. On the CAD side, each system saves its data in different proprietary formats, making opening and using other’s CAD data problematic, at best.

PDF3D to the Rescue

PDF3D is a 3D visualization and technical publishing platform that offers engineers, scientists and developers a better way to communicate and share complex data and 3D models with others in a universally accessible format. The technology under the hood of PDF3D provides the fastest and easiest-to-use, high compressed 3D PDF conversion available for a wide variety of formats and tools, making it perfect for CAD users.

ParaView Plus facilitates visualizations of engineering data

After working closely with engineers in several industries, the developers of 3D PDF have released a new version of the ParaView plug-in for 3D PDF conversion. Called ParaView Plus, the open source app was designed to visualize both large and complex scientific data on super computers as well as laptops and PCs. The new app now offers animated, interactive 3D PDF publishing features, enabling engineers to better and more easily visualize complex simulation results and share them with others.

ParaView 4.1, now works seamlessly with a range of files and formats, including 3D CAD, GIS grids shapefiles and images, COMSOL analysis results, Point Clouds and OpenFOAM CFD data, to pull information directly into fully interactive, high resolution, animated scientific visuals in 3D PDF.

“As with every product in the PDF3D suite, our sole aim is to make life easier for those working with highly technical, complex data. The technology used by engineers and scientists, whether that be CAD software or data visualization systems like ParaView, is moving at an incredible rate. Our job is to keep adapting our PDF conversion tools to enable our users and developers to turn their data into information that can be viewed and shared by anyone, no matter how technologically advanced their own software is.”

ParaView Plus is available to download now from the PDF3D website.

Barb Schmitz

SolidWorks Debuts Mechanical Conceptual

January 31, 2014 By Barb Schmitz Leave a Comment

The biggest announcement made by SolidWorks at this year’s SolidWorks World was the upcoming release of SolidWorks Mechanical Conceptual, software that enables users to quickly capture and develop their concept ideas digitally to compress cycle time and get products to market faster.

The concept design phase is one of the most important phases of product development; where the majority of project costs are allocated. It is during this phase that designers–along with many design participants–brainstorm innovative product ideas.

The easy-to-use interface of Mechanical Conceptual helps to simplify and streamline conceptual mechanical design, allowing users to develop, confirm and choose the best concepts.

Mechanical Conceptual was designed to simplify and streamline this phase, allowing users to develop, confirm and choose the best concepts before moving them to detailed design.

“I used the Concept Archive to investigate and test different ways of developing my idea at the same time. There are quite a few ways I can develop my concept, but my fundamental constraints remain the same,” said William MacLeod, senior engineer, Kennedy Hygiene. “With SOLIDWORKS Mechanical Conceptual, I was able to rapidly produce three or more concept configurations in the time it would take to produce one in conventional 3D CAD solutions. I can quickly iterate on a design and move the selected concept into SOLIDWORKS for final detailing.”

Collaboration key to improving concept development

One of the benefits of the new software is its ability to facilitate collaboration among key stakeholders in the design process. One of the key advantages of the new SOLIDWORKS offering based on Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE Platform is the online collaboration via its built-in cloud capabilities. The social aspect of concept design and decision making is integrated into SOLIDWORKS Mechanical Conceptual’s capabilities.

The four key elements of conceptual design that SOLIDWORKS Mechanical Conceptual is focused on include:
CONCEPTUAL: Users can rapidly create and evolve their concepts the way they want without design barriers, and can automatically capture their ideas to use anytime in the future.
INSTINCTIVE: Users can design the way they think with agile, instinctive design tools in a structureless modeling environment with direct editing.
SOCIAL: Familiar social collaboration tools in the interactive 3DEXPERIENCE environment allow users to harness the collective intelligence of their company, customers and vendors.
CONNECTED: Collaboration is enhanced with automatically saved design iterations to keep data safe, up-to-date and accessible anytime, anywhere.

Pricing and availability

Mechanical Conceptual will be available on April 2. Pricing will be $249/month with an annual commitment. For more information on SolidWorks Mechanical Conceptual, check out the company’s web site.

Barb Schmitz

Autodesk Partners with FOX Sports on Wind Simulation for Super Bowl Broadcast

January 31, 2014 By Barb Schmitz Leave a Comment

To give fans an idea of how tough the conditions will be on the field for this year’s Super Bowl on Sunday, FOX Sports has partnered with Autodesk to use simulation software to calculate possibly adverse weather conditions–specifically wind–inside MetLife Stadium during the big game. The New Jersey Meadowlands, home of MetLife Stadium, has long been know for its unpredictable, swirling winter winds. Traditionally fans have relied on goal-post flags to gauge the direction and speed of the wind during critical moments.

Simulation technology will let at-home fans “see the wind”

Simulation software from Autodesk will enable fans watching from home to see actual, precise weather conditions inside the stadium. Visual representations of wind direction via the wind simulation results will be superimposed by FOX Sports over the actual broadcasted view. The technology, dubbed FOX WEATHER TRAX for the game, will illustrate dynamic in-stadium dynamic airflow patterns using Autodesk Flow Design simulation software.

Fans watching this year's Super Bowl will be able to "see" wind conditions on the field, thanks to Autodesk simulation technology. — Fans watching this year’s Super Bowl will be able to “see” wind conditions on the field, thanks to Autodesk simulation technology.

“Wind is obviously an invisible factor that can directly affect the outcome of a game,” said Zac Fields, vice president, Graphics & Technology, FOX Sports, who is working directly with the Autodesk team on the project. “Since the wind has a notorious reputation in the New Jersey Meadowlands, and given the magnitude of the game, we looked for and found a great tool to depict this phenomenon in excellent detail which should help the more than 100 million viewers actually ‘see the wind.'”

Simulation technology is regularly used by designers, architects and engineers to investigate “what-if” scenarios, explore new ideas and gain deeper insight into how an everyday product, a building or stadium behaves during day-to-day use.

This new and easy-to-use technology has radically improved the design process by allowing Autodesk customers to test and analyze designs digitally before physical production and perhaps best of all, the digital computation takes place unobtrusively behind the scenes – similar to spellcheck in a word processing application.

How it Works

For the first time ever, home viewers will have an insider’s view of the wind and airflow patterns at the stadium, but how exactly does it work?
Step 1 – A digital model of the stadium is constructed using 3D modeling software.
Step 2 – Simulation software interacts with the digital stadium model. The user alters wind speed and direction to suit the game day conditions and sees how the air flow patterns inside the stadium are affected.
Step 3 – The simulation graphics are then played out over a live camera to show the viewer the wind paths in relation to the field.

For more information on Autodesk’s line of simulation solutions, check out the company’s web site.

Barb Schmitz

Mark Forg3D’s Mark One: World’s First Carbon Fiber 3D Printer

January 28, 2014 By Barb Schmitz Leave a Comment

Software companies spend a lot of money trying to create excitement at their user conferences, but it was newcomer, Mark Forg3D, that clearly generated the most buzz at this year’s SolidWorks World with the announcement of the upcoming release of its Mark One 3D printer. The Mark One is the first 3D printer to print composite materials. Designed to overcome the strength limitations of other 3D printed materials, users will now be able to print parts, tooling and fixtures with a higher strength-to-weight ratio than 6061-T6 aluminum.

Composite parts are stronger and stiffer than aluminum

The ability to 3D print composite materials is a big deal since the resulting parts are stronger than CNC-machined aluminum, opening up the technology to even more applications. Parts printed in composites are also both stronger and stiffer than the more common 3D printing material, plastic; 20 times stiffer and five times stronger, to be exact.

Designed to be aesthetically pleasing, the Mark One 3D printer can print in carbon fiber, fiberglass, nylon and PLA.

Eye-pleasing design

The brain behind the product belongs to Greg Mark, an MIT graduate, who got the idea for the Mark One after a stint in the aerospace industry. One of the things that struck me when seeing the system for the first time was how pretty it was. Yes, I said pretty.

Mark says this is no accident. “We wanted it to look cool,” says Mark. The first version was “clunky” so his team consulted with industrial engineers to make the system aesthetically pleasing, patterning it after Apple products. The rationale: make it attractive since it will likely be sitting right in the engineers’ workspaces.

System offers users choice of materials

The Mark One offers users a choice of materials: carbon fiber, fiberglass, nylon and PLA. The system also improves bed leveling with the addition of kinematic coupling. The bed clicks into the same place every time, saving users significant time.

The unit will sell for $5,000. Though an exact ship date has not been announced, the company is taking preorders on its web site.

Stratasys Debuts World’s First Color Multi-Material 3D Printer

January 26, 2014 By Barb Schmitz Leave a Comment

Making its official debut at SolidWorks World 2014, Stratasys unveiled the Objet500 Connex3, the industry’s first and only 3D printer that combines colors with multi-material 3D printing.

The system combines droplets of three base materials to produce parts with virtually unlimited combinations of rigid, flexible and transparent color materials as well as color digital materials–all in a single print run.

The ability to achieve the characteristics of an assembled part without assembly or painting will save designers and engineers significant time and help them validate designs and make better decisions earlier in the design cycle before committing to manufacturing.

Three Primary Colors Combine to Create a Wide Range of Vibrant Colors

Similar to a 2D inkjet printer, three color materials are combined to produce hundreds of vivid color options for users. The 3D printer also includes six palettes for new rubber-like Tango colors, ranging from opaque to transparent colors in various shore values to address markets such as automotive, consumer and sporting goods.