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Barb Schmitz

Autodesk Debuts CAM 360 Cloud-based CAM Solution

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Las Vegas has always been a city where you’ll find plenty of action: bright lights, loud and lively casinos and tons of excitement. If you’re a CAD geek, Las Vegas is also the place to be for this year’s Autodesk University. Amid the disco lighting and dancing robots, several big announcements are taking place that might very well change the CAD landscape for good.

Let’s take a step back. At last year’s event Autodesk introduced Fusion 360 to the AU crowd. What made this solution unique is that it was the industry’s first cloud-based CAD platform. Available for a monthly subscription price of $25, subscribers would get access to surfacing, sculpting, and direct modeling features.

Autodesk is targeting the product at small to mid-sized companies who want to pay for CAD when they need it, as many of these companies’ contracts are cyclical in nature and CAD may only be need for a limited time. By subscribing to CAD monthly, these smaller companies can move CAD from a capital expense to an operating expense.

Autodesk brings CAM to the cloud
So what are the advantages of moving CAM software to the cloud? According to Autodesk, by tapping the nearly infinite computing power of the cloud, CAM 360 users can take advantage of collaboration tools and shared data storage. In terms of collaboration, the software will allow users to rapidly engage with coworkers, partners and customers, and turn around machining projects faster than ever before.

Another touted benefit of CAM 360 is that it provides capabilities for multi-platform CNC programming, which overcomes many of the limitations of traditional desktop applications.

The software taps into HSM technology, which Autodesk obtained through its acquisition of HSMWorks, a gold partner provider of integrated CAM software for SolidWorks. What was initially seen as a strange strategic move, considering the fact that the company only made software that ran with SolidWorks, this release means that Autodesk recognized the advantages provided by the HSMWorks’ tight integration between CAD and CAM.

By the way, Autodesk is committed to continuing development of both products—HSMWorks for SolidWorks users and CAM 360 for Autodesk users—moving forward. This will likely be good news to CAM users in both camps.

Autodesk's CAM 360 is the first CAM software to be moved to the cloud.
Autodesk’s CAM 360 is the first CAM software to be moved to the cloud.

Autodesk now offers cloud-based, design-to-manufacturing solutions
CAM 360 builds upon Autodesk’s existing suite of cloud service offerings for manufacturers, which provide users virtually anytime, anywhere access to flexible tools to create, simulate and turn their digital prototypes into physical reality. In addition to CAM 360, the company’s manufacturing cloud service offerings include Autodesk PLM 360, Autodesk Sim 360 and Autodesk Fusion 360.

Unlike standalone CAM tools, CAM 360 is an integrated cloud-based solution that allows users to take advantage of Autodesk’s next generation Digital Prototyping platform, including the modeling tools found in Fusion 360.   The product will be available next year in select markets.

There are likely to be other exciting announcements from AU so while I’m not in Las Vegas surrounded by dancing robots and disco balls, I’ll keep my ear tuned to the action and keep you posted on what other significant announcements are being made.

Barb Schmitz
bschmitz@wtwhmedia.com

Siemens and CADENAS Partner to Provide Free Real-World Productivity Tool for STEM Students

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Encouraging young students to study engineering and science is a pursuit that will benefit all of us as we move into the future. The world we live in today is driven by technology and the need for creating scientists and engineers who will be empowered to steer that technology in beneficial directions is vital to us all.

The engineers and scientists we educate today are the ones who will tackle current challenges such as global warming and other environmental issues, spur the development of renewable energy sources, and possibly spearhead efforts to cure cancer and other now-incurable diseases. Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education, therefore, is critical to creating professionals in the future that will solve the complex problems of today’s world and the future.

STEM students and educators now have free access to huge catalog of 3D parts
Siemens’ product lifecycle management (PLM) software business unit announces today that it will partner with CADENAS PARTsolutions to provide students and educators in STEM-related fields with free access to millions of 2D and 3D CAD parts from more than 400 global manufacturers.

This popular design productivity tool, used widely by the global manufacturing industry, will enable students, researchers and educators who are part of the Siemens PLM Software’s Academic Program to quickly and efficiently find and download standard parts from a massive digital database based on CADENAS’ widely used PART community technology.

With Siemens PLM Software Academic Program, students worldwide will have free access to millions of parts in 2D and 3D CAD formats from over 400 catalogs of well-known manufacturers.
With Siemens PLM Software Academic Program, students worldwide will have free access to millions of parts in 2D and 3D CAD formats from over 400 catalogs of well-known manufacturers.

Using real-world tools will produce stronger engineering graduates
When manufacturers design new products, many of the parts they use are standard parts available from multiple sources; however, often these parts are difficult and time-consuming to locate. To resolve this issue, manufacturers worldwide have used tools, such as CADENAS PARTsolutions online catalog, to quickly locate and download standard parts so they can spend more value-add time on product designs.

This partnership means that same level of product design productivity will be available to engineering students worldwide at no cost. Through geometric similarity searches, intelligent search systems and access to sensibly structured catalog data, the online catalog exposes students to concepts of mass customization and CAD model reuse, both of which are keys to productivity for future employers.

The CADENAS catalog supports all relevant 3D data formats, including those formats associated with Siemens’ NX software, Solid Edge and the JT data format. Want to learn more, visit: siemensacademic.partcommunity.com/

Barb Schmitz
bschmitz@wtwhmedia.com

COMSOL Multiphysics 4.4 Adds Multiphysics Coupling and New Ribbon User Interface

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COMSOL Inc. announces the release of the latest version of its Multiphysics 4.4 software for modeling and simulation of electrical, mechanical, fluid and chemical applications.

New Interface Enhances User Productivity

The new version offers a new ribbon design user interface that groups commands and displays them as needed, making it easier for users to find and use the tools available and get work done faster. Commands are grouped and ordered according to the main modeling tasks, which are themselves grouped under dedicated tabs for definitions, geometry, physics, mesh, study, and results. The COMSOL Desktop brings several additional workflow improvements, such as a one-click select feature that enables faster selections in the graphics window. Using this feature, users can now hover over a boundary or domain to highlight it, and then select it with a single click. Another noteworthy feature is the new auto-complete search function, which allows you to quickly find the postprocessing variables you need among the many that are created when working with multiphysics models.

Multiphysics Coupling Capability Enables Streamlined Setup of Models

A completely new Multiphysics node is now available in the model tree, enabling streamlined setup of multiphysics models. It allows users to easily expand upon combinations of single-physics interfaces by choosing from a list of relevant multiphysics couplings. The Multiphysics node provides the user with a comprehensive overview of the available couplings in the model so they can then control how to account for multiphysics phenomena by deciding how the physics included in your simulation interact with one another.

Shell and tube heat exchanger simulated with the Heat Transfer Module. Results show flow velocity, temperature, and pressure distribution.
Shell and tube heat exchanger simulated with the Heat Transfer Module. Results show flow velocity, temperature, and pressure distribution.

Other performance-boosting improvements include:

Geometry and Mesh – Core functionality enhancements include new geometry subsequences for user-defined geometric primitives, if/else statements in the model tree for geometry creation, and mesh export to NASTRAN® file formats.

Mechanical and Acoustics – The Structural Mechanics Module now provides easy access to rotordynamic forces and includes a new fast penalty method for contact. Joints with friction and three new joint types have been added to the Multibody Dynamics Module, while new evaluation methods for nonlinear materials and thermal fatigue are now included in the Fatigue Module. The Acoustics Module now offers aeroacoustics simulations based on the linearized Euler equations, enabling better simulations of noise in jet engines, mufflers, and gas flow meters.

Heat Transfer – The Heat Transfer Module now includes two fast and memory efficient methods for modeling radiation in participating media, the thermoelectric effect, and heating in biological tissues.

Fluid – Surface wall roughness for turbulent flow and a more efficient outlet boundary condition have been added to the CFD Module. Mass and energy conservation for laminar flow is greatly enhanced thanks to updated flow formulations.

Electrical – The AC/DC Module now contains a nonlinear magnetic material library. A new feature in the RF Module enables the simulation of components with ports on interior boundaries. The Wave Optics Module now includes scattering with a Gaussian background field and Laser Heating interface. The Semiconductor Module has been enhanced with many updates, including heterojunctions and tools for impact ionization.
Multipurpose – The Optimization Module is now expanded with a new gradient-based method for topology optimization, and a gradient-free method for geometric dimensional optimization. Particle-field and fluid-particle interactions can now be easily modeled in the Particle Tracing Module using a new efficient method.

Interfacing – User-defined selections can now be synchronized in LiveLink™ for SolidWorks® and material selections and material names can be synchronized within LiveLink™ for Inventor®. The ECAD Import Module now enables multiphysics simulations using the ODB++ format for printed circuit board (PCB) designs.

For additional information about COMSOL Multiphysics 4.4, check out its web site here.

Barb Schmitz
bschmitz@wtwhmedia.com

Is CAD Becoming More Portable?

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For years now I’ve been writing on the topic of CAD software running on mobile devices. As more and more of engineering and manufacturing tasks become distributed among various partners and suppliers in ever-expanding supply chains, having a way to access drawings and models on mobile devices (tablets, smartphones, etc.) has become more important.

Obstacles Abound

Critics—for myriads of technical reasons—don’t believe that mobile CAD is anything but a pipe dream of vendors looking for additional ways to deliver software as well as the potential of a new revenue stream for their products. Though most of the apps are free, as the market grows and demand increases, there is always the possibility that users will eventually be willing to pay for mobility. There are also concerns regarding security as mobile devices can’t be regulated and managed by IT in the same manner as desktop computers.

The Current State of Portable CAD

Autodesk was the first vendor to jump into the not-yet-tested waters, offering AutoCAD WS (now called AutoCAD 360), a free drawing and drafting app that enables users to view, edit and share AutoCAD drawings on the go. Available for free on both on the Apple store and Google Store, AutoCAD 360 has been downloaded five million times, though how that equates to the number of actual users is not completely clear.

Ralph Grabowski, an industry analyst, follows the portable CAD market closely and has just released his State of Portable CAD in 2013 report, featured in his weekly upFront.ezine. One of the drawbacks he sees with portable CAD—and one quickly identified with early critics—is the reality that CAD is very hardware-intensive and the portable devices don’t yet have the computing horsepower to run it effectively.

With limited RAM capacity on mobile devices, it’s difficult to cram the operating system, CAD program, and all the drawing data into .5 GB of RAM. On the graphics side is another lingering issue, as users can’t simply swap in a faster, CAD-friendly graphics board. For developers, another issue revolves around the question of how to write apps for iOS with Apple’s secrecy (most hardware specs are unknown), while writing for Android is also tricky because of device targeting.

Have no fear; the hardware problems will resolve themselves, as developers are already upping available RAM and GPU specs are on the upswing. Quad-core CPUs running at 1.5 GHz or faster are now common, while units with a whopping 8 cores of processing power and/or with speeds of over 2.5 GHz are beginning to ship.

How do vendors make money selling CAD apps?

Technical issues aside, there is also the lingering question of exactly how vendors would make money selling portable apps as nearly all of them are free, especially after Apple takes its 30% cut. So this begs the question: how do CAD vendors pay for the cost of developing apps when most of them aren’t charging for them?

There are exceptions. Autodesk is charging for its AutoCAD Pro and Pro Plus apps ($49 and $99/year respectively). IMSI/Design, developer of TurboViewer, is also charging for its higher-end TurboViewer X, TurboViewer Pro, and TurboReview ($6.99, $29.99 and $49.99, respectively) though special pricing of those packages is available.

AutoCAD 360
AutoCAD 360 is a free drawing and drafting mobile app that allows users to edit, view and share AutoCAD drawings from anywhere.

An alternative pricing model ties the mobile apps to desktop software, making the free mobile app useless unless the user is paying for the desktop version. Vendors trying out this pricing structure include Geometric, with its Glovius software, Simens PLM Software with its Solid Edge Mobile, Nemetschek Vectorworks with its Nomad software, and Vizerra with its Revizto Viewer.

The bottom line

Though some of the pricing quoted here may have changed, it’s a good landscape to view the general market for mobile CAD applications. While most vendors understand that there is a need for portable CAD, finding out how to actually make money at it in the short run might prove problematic.

We’ll certainly keep an eye on this emerging new market and hope to see progress—both on the technical side and the business side—so designers and engineers will have the CAD apps they need to become increasingly productive when they are out of the office or on the road.

KeyShot-IronCAD Integration Delivers Faster Photorealistic Rendering of CAD Models

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It sounds like IronCAD has several irons in the fire lately. First, it announced the newest version of its 2014 IronCAD Design Collaboration Suite (see previous post). Next up, the company announces the integration of its IronCAD CAD software with KeyShot, a real-time ray tracing and lighting software.

This integration will enable the single-click transfer of IronCAD data into KeyShot along with the ability to keep model geometry updated to streamline the 3D visual creation process. What does that mean for IronCAD users? The quick creation of really cool, photorealistic renderings and animations of their CAD models for presentations, sales and marketing collateral or design reviews.

New integration of KeyShot and IronCAD enables users to create 3D visuals faster.
New integration of KeyShot and IronCAD enables users to create 3D visuals faster.

The tight integration between IronCAD and KeyShot will enable IronCAD users to develop their design in IronCAD, export the data to KeyShot, maintaining assembly structure and all appearances, while continuing to work on the design inside of IronCAD. As the design development proceeds, users can select to update the model inside KeyShot from the IronCAD interface with the click of a button without disrupting previous applied materials, views or animation set up within KeyShot.

With the installation of the 2014 or later versions of IronCAD products, users can launch directly from the IronCAD interface without having to export to another file format and possibly losing valuable design data. Options include the ability to export the IronCAD model directly to KeyShot, update the model within KeyShot and export a KeyShot .bip file without KeyShot installed. Color assignments at the part and assembly level are maintained while assembly structure and camera views are transferred accurately into KeyShot.

The KeyShot Integration for IronCAD will be available free and included in the IronCAD Design Collaboration Suite release 2014 and newer. You can find out more by either visiting the IronCAD site or the Luxion site (developer of KeyShot).

Barb Schmitz
bschmitz@wtwhmedia.com

Corel Rolls out CorelCAD 2014 Affordable CAD Software

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Aimed at CAD users in search of an affordable CAD software that offers industry-standard CAD features along with .DWG support, Corel introduces CorelCAD 2014. The software, which runs on both Windows and Mac platforms, now features a new Windows ribbon user interface, enhanced layering tools, new design resources and CorelDRAW graphics support for Windows that enables user to communicate key ideas with precision. The software is touted for its affordability, ease of use, compatibility with .DWG files and CorelDRAW and 64-bit power.

New features in CorelCAD 2014 include:

New ribbon interface. Common in Windows-based CAD packages, this new ribbon interface will be instantly familiar to Windows users who can switch quickly between workflow-oriented Ribbon workspaces, such as 2D drafting or 3D modeling, or the classic CAD workspace.

New Design Resources. These enable users to instantly find, access and manage design components, such as blocks, styles, drawings and images for use within and across a variety of CAD projects.

Enhanced Layer Tools. Allows users to work in a consistent manner with layer preview and layer transparency features to align project elements, including drawing components from AutoCAD 2014 .DWG files.

CorelCAD 2014 is available starting today in English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Brazilian-Portuguese, Czech, Polish, Russian, Turkish, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanese and Korean. North American pricing is $699 (US and CAD). Registered CorelCAD and CorelCAD 2013 users are eligible for an updgrade price of $199.

To find out more about CorelCAD 2014, click here.

 

Barb Schmitz

bschmitz@wtwhmedia.com

Intergraph Consolidates its Plant Design, Shipbuilding and Material Handling Software into Smart 3D 2014

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Intergraph announced today that it has consolidated its SmartPlant 3D, SmartMarine3D and SmartPlant 3D Materials Handling solutions into a new offering: Smart 3D, touted to be the world’s first and only 3D design software specifically designed for plant, offshore, shipbuilding metals, mining and bulk material handling industries.

The software employs a unique engineering approach that leverages rules-based concurrent design, relationships and automation. This powerhouse package promises to effectively enable optimized design, increasing quality, interoperability and productivity, while shortening project schedules.

Smart 3D is said to be the world’s first 3D design software specifically designed for plant, offshore, shipbuilding metals, mining and bulk material handling industries.
Smart 3D is said to be the world’s first 3D design software specifically designed for plant, offshore, shipbuilding metals, mining and bulk material handling industries.

Smart 3D combines the functionality for marine/offshore projects and materials handling with those of onshore plant design. User-requested new features in Smart 3D 2014 include:

• Model Data Reuse (MDR). Users can reuse front-end engineering design or legacy designs with different catalogs and specifications by leveraging MDR’s rule re-use, tag re-naming and specification transformation.
• 64-bit clash detection and further drawing generation for higher performance.
• Enhanced 3D interoperability. Enables the use of 3D data (including both graphics and data attributes) from multiple third-party CAD systems in conjunction with native Smart 3D models.
• Extended 3D translation. Enables the use of a single design solution for engineering contractors required to deliver in Smart 3D or PDMS formats, including iterative updates.

Go here for more information on Smart 3D.

Barb Schmitz
bschmitz@WTWHMedia.com

New Tools In GrabCAD Workbench Reduce File Management Woes

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A common headache among engineers—especially at small to mid-size companies—is finding the right way to safely and efficiently manage, share and view CAD models. At larger companies, PDM and/or PLM systems are often in place to control the file management process, but a staggering 60% of engineers don’t have access to PDM/PLM systems. The end result can be a chaotic, often inefficient process that can lead to costly errors and a lot of wasted time and rework.

PDM and PLM systems offer file management tools but come with very high upfront and ongoing costs, often putting them beyond the budget reach of smaller companies. Many of these systems also take a long time to install and learn to use. Existing systems are also typically designed for internal use, making it difficult to share CAD files with partners and suppliers outside the firewall.

Another issue with current PDM/PLM systems revolves around the lack of Web-based tools to collaborate with non-CAD users. This is a serious failing of current offerings, considering the fact that 60% of engineers go through the somewhat arduous process of copying and pasting screenshots into a slide deck at least once a month to share product data with non-CAD users.

Bringing collaboration and file management to the cloud

The folks at GrabCAD realized that these pain points weren’t being addressed by current solutions in a cost-effective way and have added CAD file management tools to their Workbench product. Workbench is a cloud-based collaborative product development platform that enables users to manage, share and view CAD models with no upfront—or ongoing—IT investment.

Approximately 15,000 users are already signed up and are using Workbench to collaborate and share CAD models with suppliers, customers and partners. Adding file management capabilities will enable these users to automatically sync their desktop files to cloud projects, track file dependencies, instantly see version differences using a Compare tool and resolve conflicts.


By being cloud-based, Workbench eliminates the cost, hassle and risks of managing a new software and requires no dedicated server, no configuration, no maintenance and no IT hardware or support. As a result, Workbench users can be up and running in minutes with nary a worry about hard disk failures or database backups.

The company will be releasing a Workbench plug-in for SolidWorks 3D mechanical CAD software  in a couple of weeks that will enable these users to access Workbench from within their CAD program. Give Workbench a try; it’s available for free through January 2014. After that it will be offered for a monthly subscription price of $25. Check out more info here http://grabcad.com/workbench.

Barb Schmitz
bschmitz@wtwhmedia.com

Siemens Extends Monthly Subscription Options with 3D Editing Tool

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After 20 years of covering the CAD industry, I’ve seen many changes and advances in the technology offered in the various systems. One thing that has remained constant, however, is that CAD is expensive. For many years, even so-called “mid-range” CAD systems would set an engineer back $5,000, and that’s just to get started and doesn’t include any associated hardware, training or support costs. To rectify this cost barrier, a growing number of CAD vendors are offering their software on a monthly subscription basis. This fits rather well with the needs of smaller companies and those whose business is cyclical in nature, meaning they don’t use the CAD tool on a daily basis.

Following in this trend, Siemens began offering its Solid Edge 3D CAD software by subscription in August. Yesterday, Siemens announced that it is now offering a new monthly subscription option as well as a free 45-day trial for its 3DSync software, a 3D editing tool based on the company’s proprietary synchronous technology, which is offered in both of its CAD applications, NX and Solid Edge. The company reports that the tool has been shown to increase the productivity by a factor of ten or more when working with imported CAD data, a common activity for engineers in today’s multi-CAD world. The new subscription option is initially available online in the US, Canada, UK, and Ireland. The free 45-day trial is available globally.

The 3DSync software is a much-needed tool in today’s product development environment in which engineers must collaborate among multiple companies (suppliers, partners, and customers). Inconsistent data formats among the various CAD systems create headaches, bottlenecks, errors and often time-consuming rework. The design intent built into CAD models created in parametric CAD systems is often lost during the translation process, making the resulting model difficult to work with and often requires the engineer to fix, or worse, recreate it. Synchronous technology enables users to interrogate imported 3D models, recognize design intent, and automatically apply appropriate design parameters. Using a tool like 3DSync will extend these benefits to users of any commercially available CAD system. Certainly a step in the right direction towards eliminating the headaches engineers suffer as a result of having to work with imported CAD models.

To sign up to receive 3DSynch on a monthly basis, go to: http://store.plm.automation.siemens.com/store/siplm1/en_US/pd/productID.288669500.

Or give the tool a free 45-day test drive by signing up here:
http://www.plm.automation.siemens.com/en_us/products/velocity/3dsync/free-3dsync.shtml

Barb Schmitz
bschmitz@wtwhmedia.com