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Autodesk Releases AutoCAD 2016

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The trade press loves to extol the benefits of the latest and greatest technology and in the CAD world, that typically means talking about 3D CAD systems. The reality is, however, that there are still millions of engineers happily getting their jobs done using 2D CAD systems.

CAD giant Autodesk recently rolled out the most recent version of its flagship product, AutoCAD 2016, living proof that there is still a thriving and viable market for 2D design tools.

The 2016 release includes new features said to accelerate the 2D and 3D design, documentation and collaboration process while improving the on-screen experience of creating almost any shape imaginable. The new release also features TrustedDWG technology, which enables users to confidently share their work with others.

Improved Smart Dimensioning automatically creates appropriate measurements based on the type of objects selected, making it easier to accurately calculate measurements based on the drawing context.
Improved Smart Dimensioning automatically creates appropriate measurements based on the type of objects selected, making it easier to accurately calculate measurements based on the drawing context.

An Enhanced Visual CAD Experience

Improvements to the drawing canvas in AutoCAD 2016 dramatically improve the visual accuracy seen on screen. Enhanced readability and detail means smooth curves and arcs replace jagged-line segments.

AutoCAD now takes full advantage of the latest graphics hardware to deliver a richer, yet faster, visual experience. Users can predict more results and minimize the need to “undo” a command with expanded Command Preview.

Other enhancements include:

* AutoCAD 2016 also outputs enhanced PDFs that are significantly smaller, while retaining visual fidelity.
* PDFs are now fully searchable, maintain all hyperlinks and can be attached to drawings faster.
* Improved Smart Dimensioning automatically creates appropriate measurements based on the type of objects selected, making it easier to accurately calculate measurements based on the drawing context.

Together with new features for reality computing and BIM coordination, the tools in AutoCAD 2016 help users significantly increase efficiency and maximize productivity, clearing the way to faster, more precise design and documentation.

Availability

AutoCAD 2016 products are available immediately. To buy: users can choose from either a perpetual license with or without Maintenance Subscription, or a Desktop Subscription with pay-as-you-go monthly, quarterly, and annual options. In addition to flexible licensing, Desktop Subscription gives users access to the latest updates and releases, one-on-one technical support, and priority support in the forums.

You can download a 30-day trial of AutoCAD, purchase an AutoCAD license, or learn more at here.

Barb Schmitz

Autodesk Adds CAM Capabilities to Fusion 360

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Advances in digital design and rapid fabrication technology coupled with crowd funding are pushing the edge of what’s possible and empowering more people to transform their innovative designs into products. Autodesk has been quick to respond to this so-called “maker” trend and last week introduced Spark, an open software platform for 3D printing. The goal of Spark is to make it easier to 3D print your designs and control the printing process.

The company also announced plans to roll out its own 3D printer that will serve as a reference implementation for Spark. Together the company hopes this technology bundle will provide the building blocks that product designers, hardware manufacturers, software developers and materials scientists can use to continue to explore the limits of 3D printing.

Read more on Spark and the company’s overall 3D printing strategy in a blog, “Accelerating the Future of 3D Printing,” written by Carl Bass, Autodesk’s president and CEO. Also, check out Design World’s 3D printing expert, Leslie Langau’s take on the Spark announcement here.

Fusion 360: one-stop destination for design and manufacturing for entrepreneurs

Following on the heals of its 3D printing product announcements is Autodesk’s release of new CAM capabilities for Fusion 360. With the addition of CAM, users are another significant step closer to having a single, integrated tool with everything they needed to bring a product to market — from concept to manufacture.

Ideal for hardware starts-ups, small- and medium-sized businesses and students, Fusion 360 is a single cloud platform for form, function and fabrication, which enables users to design, test and fabricate all in one environment. Because it resides in the cloud, users can access design data in Fusion 360 anytime and anywhere from multiple devices, such as mobile devices, PCs or Mac.

Fusion 360 also makes collaboration easy by providing a common place and a single tool to collaborate on projects. Built-in data management tools help capture project history so users don’t have to worry about losing or recreating data.

By adding new CAM capabilities to its cloud-based Fusion 360 product, Autodesk hopes to become the single destination for product design and manufacturing for entrepreneurs.
By adding new CAM capabilities to its cloud-based Fusion 360 product, Autodesk hopes to become the single destination for product design and manufacturing for entrepreneurs.

What’s new on CAM side?

The new CAM functionality will consist of 2.5 and 3-axis CAM on Windows 8. Additional enhancements include:

* Rendering: Improved render experience with new workspace, ray trace command and better performance.
* Better Output Options: Users are now able to export their Fusion 360 designs in OBJ and DFX file formats, and prep them for 3D printing with the power of Autodesk Meshmixer.

What makes this design platform ideal for smaller and mid-size companies and startups is the fact that it’s offered by monthly subscription. Check out information regarding the monthly subscription pricing here.

PartMaker Releases 3D CAD for CAM Software

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Problems and errors often arise when 3D CAD models are moved into the manufacturing environment. For years the various software systems used in design and manufacturing spoke different languages so 3D CAD models often needed to be translated or dumbed down before being used as input by CAM software, which often resulted in errors on the shop floor.

Bridging the CAD-to-CAM divide

PartMaker, a division of Autodesk’s Delcam unit, hopes to change all that by creating 3D CAD modeling software that generates the 3D engineering data that precision part manufacturers need to be productive without cluttering their work flow with tools they don’t need or use.

PartMaker Modeling 2014 is 3D CAD for CAM software that provides users with the ability to create 3D solid models from scratch as well as repair and modify any 3D engineering data. Touted to be the most powerful 3D CAD system available alongside a production-oriented CAM product, this new version offers a unique radial cut wizard for creating cylindrically wrapped part features as well as improved direct modeling and feature recognition functionality.

PartMaker Modeling 2014 is a 3D modeling tool developed specifically for the needs of CNC machinists.
PartMaker Modeling 2014 is a 3D modeling tool developed specifically for the needs of CNC machinists.

What’s new?

The new functionality in PartMaker Modeling 2014 was designed specifically for users that make parts on turn-mill centers and Swiss-type lathes as it includes a wide variety of functionality for creating milled features on parts that are cylindrical in nature.

Other new features include:

* Unique radial cut wizard. This new feature allows for very quick and intuitive creation of solid cut features on cylindrical surfaces, which is particularly helpful for creating “wrapped” features on cylinders that typically require cylindrical interpolation programming when machined.

* Automated snapping both geometry and solid features to existing faces. This makes creating both milled and drilled features such as hexes, flats and holes of any orientation much faster than previous versions.

* Enhanced direct modeling functionality. Used for altering “dumb” solid models, or 3D models with no feature history created in other solid modeling systems.

* Merge faces command. This direct modeling feature allows a number of coincident but separate faces to be merged into a single face automatically, which makes altering or removing features attached to these faces much faster and more automated.

* Smart feature manager Allows solid features to be extracted automatically from dumb solids. Using the smart feature manager, you can also control and filter which feature sets, such as just holes, are extracted from a dumb model.

* New extrude functionality. Improved functionality for extruding multiple regions with hollow shapes automatically.

To get more information on PartMaker Modeling 2014, check it this page on the PartMaker web site.

Barb Schmitz

Autodesk Releases 2015 Design Suites

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This week Autodesk rolled out its new Autodesk 2015 Design Suites. What’s new? This release is said to be more tightly integrated with Autodesk cloud services, facilitating users’ ability to collaborate, simulate, analyze–all with just one click from within the suite. The company reports that the 2015 Design Suite includes the most advanced AutoCAD yet, which offers a new interface and better productivity tools.

Another newsworthy aspect of this announcement is the fact that Autodesk users can now purchase the software suite via pay-as-you-go subscriptions. Logic being that they can access the tools they need, when they need them without being locked into annual licensing agreements. Subscription customers will get frequent software updates, services and support. Customers going this route can choose from monthly, quarterly or annual options.

Autodesk's 2015 Design Suite includes what's said to be the most advanced version of AutoCAD yet and can now be purchased monthly via a subscription plan.
Autodesk’s 2015 Design Suite includes what’s said to be the most advanced version of AutoCAD yet and can now be purchased monthly via a subscription plan.

What’s new?

Here’s a quick run-down of the features and functionality that are new to this release.

* Autodesk AutoCAD Design Suite offers a refined visual interface, better point cloud support to bring the real world into the AutoCAD canvas, and easier ways to work with online maps and other geographic location information.

* Autodesk Building Design Suite delivers better integration with BIM 360 cloud services, enhanced point cloud capabilities, and numerous customer requested improvements for Autodesk Revit, including a new sketchy lines feature, ability to include imagery in schedules, enhanced hidden lines capability and more.

* Autodesk Factory Design Suite introduces easier moves from 2D AutoCAD drawings to 3D factory layouts with streamlined transitions from legacy workflows; point cloud support for “as is” facility capture; extended use of Factory Design data; and enhancements to Factory Design Mobile app.

* Autodesk Infrastructure Design Suite includes major enhancements to AutoCAD Civil 3D software, including improved user interface, greater flexibility for corridor modeling, more efficient creation of profiles layouts, better production drafting, and simpler ways to create custom subassemblies.

* Autodesk Plant Design Suite rolls out significant enhancements to AutoCAD Plant 3D software, including center of gravity, bill of materials (BOM), fixed length pipe modeling, piping and instrumentation drawing (P&ID), and isometric improvements.

* Autodesk Product Design Suite launches with exceptional modeling capabilities, a new user experience, and workflow enhancements. This software provides tools for 3D design, simulation, collaboration, and visualization.

Improvements in the cloud

Customers in the manufacturing industry will benefit from new offerings such as Process Analysis 360, a cloud-based service that helps engineers and system designers model, study and optimize manufacturing processes. This accessibility – combined with other feature enhancements and refinements – removes the barriers to entry so that everyone can design and engineer better products.

Autodesk 2015 Design Suites are available now. Check out the details here.

Barb Schmitz

Autodesk Unveils Fusion 360 V2.0

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During a noon-time webinar today, Autodesk unveiled V2 of its Fusion 360, a tool that combines mechanical, industrial and conceptual design into one easy-to-use, cloud-based tool. The company reports that Fusion 360, which is purchased on a monthly subscription basis, now has over 30,000 users.

Getting started in Fusion 360 is relatively simple. Users start by either using direct modeling intuitive push-pull commands to create a shape or can drag and drop an existing model created in any CAD format from their desktop. Pretty simple. When users are working on a design, they can create and add new components to quickly make that design an assembly.

Data management is done in the cloud. Once users start creating geometry, every iteration or change is “saved” and maintained in a version history that sits in the cloud. When users open up an existing design, they can access any iteration of it. Each design and iteration has a visual snapshot so users know what they are opening.

What’s new?

The product was released with direct modeling tools built in, but was noticeably lacking in parametric modeling tools. V2 offers a variation of history-based iterative design as well. With this version, users can still perform direct modeling, but can also capture key commands in a historical, dynamic and editable design timeline.

Here’s how that works: users can start by bringing in a reference image, a sculpt body or start modeling with solid primitives. The timeline captures their commands as they progress; direct manipulations (edit form and patch commands) are not. If users need to make a change to the original sculpt body, they right click on the body creation instance and select edit to make the changes. The design as a whole will update and make the necessary changes.

The new version also touts a revamped version of the dashboard for design collaboration. Design participants no longer have to switch from hub to hub; they are now all organized in their Projects section, and activities in those projects will all show up in their activity stream. Users can also now take advantage of the Rendering as a Service (RaaS) technology, which enables them to see how their design will look in various background environments, and to set custom resolutions for direct download.

Users can also now input text as a sketch, which is then selectable for all profile-consuming commands, such as extrude, revolve, etc. A new joint command, As-Built Joint, gives users the option of joining two components based on their current location, and not their snap points. A Sculpt pipe command has also been added that enables users to define a T-Spline body based on a set of sketch elements or T-Spline edges.

Get more information on Autodesk Fusion 360 here.

Barb Schmitz

New software slated to change the workplace

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CAD software vendors have touted product usability for a long time. However, they haven’t really delivered on that promise until recently. There were a few software debuts in 2011 that changed that premise. True user usability could lead to a broader CAD audience and a bigger market share.

The product development team at PTC came up with the idea of a creating single program that does everything versus offering diverse programs with no connectedness. The strategy addresses its customer base and the trend toward solid modeling for the masses. Creo 1.0 is the result of that concept. The software currently has nine applications including Creo Parametric, Direct, Illustrate, Schematics, View MCAD, View ECAD, Sketch, and Layout.

The company focused on a group of traditional user problems and applied a core of technologies against them, specific roles having options for modeling modes with the click of an app. Simplifying a process that has plagued engineers and designers for decades makes using the software and being productive all the difference. The Creo GUI is much cleaner than the Pro/E GUI. According to those who have used the new product, the GUI strategy is most evident in Creo Parametric and Creo Direct. PTC leveraged the best features from CoCreate and made it easier to use. The company added features to Creo Parametric that will make Pro/E seem like ancient technology. Creo proves that a feature can live in a history-based and history-free environment keeping the parametric relation to features within each if needed.

Another 2011 debut was SolidWorks 2012 that also sports new features to help a more diverse audience. The software has improvements in assembly and drawing capabilities, built-in simulation, design costing, routing, image and animation creation, and product data management. Dassault Systemes says SolidWorks 2012 will help automate design functions, change product development processes, and extend support for collaboration and connectivity. This technology could change how the software is marketed and sold. The product helps users streamline design processes by removing traditional steps.

Autodesk’s AutoCAD 2012 and Design Suite 2012 series are available in a range of offerings including web and mobile applications. Thus more users have access to the technology and can stay connected to their work no matter where they are.  In addition, AutoCAD 2012 and Design Suite 201212 are directly connected to the free AutoCAD WS web and mobility application.

With CAD pretty much saturating the engineering and manufacturing arena, CAD vendors are realizing that pumping out a redressed version of what went out the door at the last launch is not going to work much longer. They have to offer tools that appeal to other audiences. We have seen that starting to happen in the retail, hobby, and jewelry industries where non-engineering types are using 3D programs to crank out new products.

PTC
www.ptc.com

Dassault Systemes
www.3ds.com

Autodesk
www.autodesk.com

Racing team relies on suite of software products

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Australia-based racing team, Kelly Racing, has been using Autodesk products for a range of uses – from precision design to validating new car components — all without hitting the track for physical testing. Given that the period between races is often a window of less than three weeks, Autodesk Inventor Professional, Autodesk Simulation CFD, Autodesk Simulation Multiphysics, and Autodesk Vault Professional software are crucial to enabling Kelly Racing to turn around new components in a timely manner and secure wins in half the time of most racing teams. “It is critical for us to be fast and efficient in every facet of our business,” said Rick Kelly, team racer and co-owner.

“Autodesk provides the technology and expertise to streamline our entire design process, so we can beat our competition on the track and in the marketplace. Now that we have incorporated Autodesk Product Design Suite, it has enabled us to further enhance our workflow.”

Following a race weekend, the drivers brief Kelly Racing’s in-house design and engineering team on what precisely went right and wrong during the race. The designers then set to work with Inventor Professional software to make modifications to the existing car parts that can enhance performance and save the team time. For example, improvements to the front end of the car, in particular the suspension assembly, has increased traction and grip by 8%, leading to faster lap times or shaving 1% of total car weight through design and material optimization.

Even the most minor modifications play a vital role in a sport where a fraction of a second can be the difference between first and 21st place. Engineers then test revised designs with Autodesk Simulation CFD to optimize aerodynamic performance and ensure the components are able to perform at speeds of up to 300 kilometers (188 miles) per hour. Autodesk Simulation Multiphysics software is also used to predict and validate the mechanical performance of the new components. Autodesk Vault Professional data management software helps manage the design process from initial concept to final release, providing the engineering team with greater control over the design process right up until the component or part is manufactured, released to the race department and put on the car.

Embracing Digital Prototyping has been a winning strategy for Kelly Racing. A new racing team typically takes six or more years to register its first win, but just barely into its third season, Kelly Racing has already scored two victories along with nine podium finishes.

Autodesk, Inc.

www.autodesk.com

Colossal 400-ft truck completely designed in CAD

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Perkins Specialized Transportation Contracting (Perkins) provides highway transportation services for long, heavy, and oversized objects. Its engineers recently used Autodesk Simulation software for the custom design of a 400-ft long truck specifically created to transport nuclear generators.

The truck took almost three years to design and gives a safe and efficient way to transport enormous and often radioactive components that were once considered immovable. The truck successfully carried four steam generators from the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station in southern California to a disposal site in Clive, Utah.

The vehicle is longer than a football field, has 192 wheels and 48 axles, each of which can be turned independently. The truck can effectively navigate sharp turns and different road grades. Autodesk Digital Prototyping software helped Perkins engineers use a 100% digital approach to create a truck capable of carrying a 400-ton payload over 750 miles.

The engineering team started with 2D sketches of the transporter created in AutoCAD. Then, they imported the files into Inventor to model them in 3D. The software helped Perkins engineers perform motion analysis and check for interferences throughout a full range of motion as the various axles turned and rotated.

The team also used Autodesk Simulation software to optimize its designs, ensuring that the transporter had only the support beams necessary to successfully distribute weight among the various axles. The stress analysis ensured that no axles were overloaded and that the truck was as strong and light as possible.

Autodesk, Inc.

www.autodesk.com

New, free CadFaster 3D CAD iPAD app

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CadFaster, Inc. released its newest CadFaster application for the Apple iPAD available in the Apple iTunes App Store. (http://bit.ly/pTzM43) The application is ideally-suited for engineering, architecture, construction, mechanical, and plant design firms seeking the fast reading and smooth handling of complex and large CAD data files. CadFaster Collaborate lets you distribute, annotate, and co-view 3D designs in real-time using the fast and efficient 3D visualization technology.

The new product allows anyone to collaborate with 3D models exported to the CadFaster cloud service from Autodesk Revit, Bentley MicroStation, or SolidWorks. An ArchiCAD plug-in will be available in September, 2011. 3D models are highly compressed before they are exported and stored in a cloud database and the application includes a number of demo models to work with.

CadFaster

www.cadfaster.com

Autodesk launches AutoCAD products for the Mac OS X Lion

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Autodesk debuted three products for the Mac operating environment: AutoCAD 2012, AutoCAD LT 2012, and AutoCAD WS.

AutoCAD 2012 for Mac includes 2D and 3D tools, 3D free-form modeling, 3D visualization and rendering, network licensing, advanced customization of menus, and support for LISP, ObjectARX, and ObjectDBX.

AutoCAD LT for Mac follows common Mac application UI guidelines with an Apple menu bar with workflow-based palettes. The software supports native Mac OS X behavior including Cover Flow navigation and Multi-Touch gestures.

AutoCAD WS for Mac is a free app that provides basic tools for viewing, editing,a nd sharing designs. Through its synchronous coediting feature, uou can collaborate on designs across multiple platforms —  desktop, mobile, and web.

AutoCAD for Mac 2012 is free to students and educators through the Autodesk Education Community where more than 25 Autodesk software products are available for download.

AutoCAD for Mac 2012 and AutoCAD WS for Mac will be available worldwide August 19, 2011. AutoCAD LT for Mac will only be available in the U.S. and Canada on August 16, 2011. AutoCAD LT for Mac and AutoCAD WS for Mac will be delivered exclusively as apps on the Mac App Store.

Autodesk

www.autodesk.com