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Onshape

Look up in the sky, it’s CAD software

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A major CAD vendor is betting the modeling software’s future is in the cloud

By Jean Thilmany, Senior Editor

Onshape set off ripples across the computer-aided design community five years ago when it announced its computer-aided design software would exist completely in the cloud. Last fall, PTC acquired Onshape.

The purchase signals PTC’s conviction that engineering companies are ready to embrace CAD in the cloud. The SaaS model, while nascent in the CAD and PLM market, is rapidly becoming the industry’s best practice across most other software domains, said Jim Heppelman, PTC president and chief executive officer.

By bringing Onshape in-house, the software maker has placed itself ahead of the pack in what the engineering software maker sees as the inevitable industry transition to SaaS, Heppelmann said.

“Today, we see small and medium-sized CAD customers in the high-growth part of the CAD market shifting their interest toward SaaS delivery models, and we expect interest from larger customers to grow over time,” he said.

In the future, CAD sellers may reach unique arrangements with resellers to bring CAD in the cloud to a wider user base, according to one potential reseller.

But PTC isn’t going all-in with the cloud. It will continue to offer its on-premise CAD software, Creo.

With CAD in the cloud, designs reside on the software provider’s secure server —rather than on individual workstations. Because the software is accessed and managed online, engineers and designers can work on their models from any location and on any device. The SaaS refers to a provider’s capability to deliver everything needed to run CAD in the cloud—including the cloud infrastructure and the CAD software itself.

Though other CAD makers do offer some type of cloud capability, it’s generally the capability to check files into and out of an application on a cloud-based server; engineers don’t design directly with cloud-based software on other applications, said Jon Hirschtick, president of SaaS, PTC. Onshape differs in that its software exists fully in the cloud and can be used by multiple users in real-time, he added. (Hirschtick founded SolidWorks in 1993 and then went on to co-found Onshape with another former SolidWorks chief executive officer, John McEleny.)

The everyday cloud
You’re already using cloud technology. That’s almost certain. If you have an email account ending in gmail.com or yahoo.com, if you’ve checked a social media account from your desktop or mobile device, if you’ve streamed a movie via Netflix or Amazon or any other provider, you’re a cloud user. The email, social media, and streaming software exist on the software owner’s server (let’s say Google), as does your little piece of it—like your Gmail email address.

Though it’s been possible to run CAD as a SaaS for the past few years, CAD has always been slower than other large, graphic-intense and complex applications to pivot to new platforms, says Len Williams, content manager at designairspace, which gives engineering companies the capability to run any CAD system in the cloud.

“Last year’s acquisition is a very clear statement that vendors like PTC see cloud as a platform of the future for CAD and for all their other software,” Williams added, calling the acquisition a “Windows-level” move.

“CAD systems were originally based on UNIX running on silicon graphics workstations. Then Windows came along and people were laughing at the thought of using CAD on Windows,” he says. “Now most of the major CAD systems run only on Windows.”

Likewise, the way companies buy their CAD software has evolved, he said.

“We went from the old perpetual model, where you buy the software for a workstation, to today’s subscription-based model, where you rent the software,” Williams said. “The next step is when a CAD vendor is running it for you so don’t have to buy hardware or worry about upgrades.”

Large companies already run CAD in the cloud because of the benefits the delivery method offers, Williams added. The difference is, those companies—the French automotive manufacturer PSA Peugeot Citroen is one example—have the funds to build their own, private clouds. Designers, engineers, and suppliers at those companies can access CAD on the private cloud whatever their location: Tulle, France; Brussels, Detroit, or elsewhere.

Working remotely and sharing with suppliers
For the smaller guys, the cloud can bring the same benefits their larger counterparts already enjoy; mainly real-time working together and version management, Hirschtick said.

“Versioning” is built-in, which means file changes are tracked in a central database in real-time. Because any engineer with permission can access the software from any device with internet connection, engineers in different places can work together on a design, such as a power supply, for example. There’s only one power supply file; Onshape doesn’t copy it. But with cloud, everyone in the world accesses real-time single source of truth database. We’re not passing around copies all over the place, he added.

“If multiple engineers happen to be working on that file at the same time, it’s not a problem. If one engineer rounded a corner and another one drilled a hole, both changes get captured,” Hirschtick said. “If we’re both rounding a corner at the same time, you would see my hand there in real-time—at the same table—and a box around the corner would indicate that another engineer is editing that right now.”

The bigger the team is, the quicker the product development process, as everyone—even suppliers—has visibility into the real-time database rather than a copy of something emailed a week ago.

When the workflows are quicker, engineers have more design time and are more willing to innovate to try new things, he added.

Most cloud service providers automatically update their programs. Thus, IT staff can focus on other tasks and engineers know they are working with the latest version of the applications.

Also, engineers aren’t bound to their workstations. The software exists at one central server while engineers work from many. They can be globally dispersed and can work from home or other locations outside the office.

Smaller companies that scale their workforce and supplier base up and down as projects change also stand to benefit from SaaS CAD software. When suppliers move away from a project, the company can easily suspend their CAD license and use of the CAD system, Williams said.

When the coronavirus began making headlines in early 2020, engineering companies running one Onshape customer with offices in three major Chinese cities particularly welcomed the remote-work capability, Hirschtick said.

“Using Onshape analytics, they showed us where people were working before the virus situation in China,” Hirschtick said. As expected, employees worked at the offices in the three major cities.

“Then they showed a map of activity of first two weeks of virus quarantines and lockdowns in China,” he added. “This time there were 20 little circles in regions all over in China. They could see where their employees logged in remotely.

“It doesn’t matter if employees are caught at home with only an Android tablet, they can still do their work,” Hirschtick said. “Even with the phone they can even do some of their work.

There are cases where running CAD in the cloud just doesn’t make sense. Some companies may use CAD only a small amount of time and will do better essentially renting a CAD program, perhaps through the cloud, Williams said.

With cloud-based systems, issues of total cost of ownership and return on investment are generally murky because companies want to see how cloud applications compare to traditional on-site infrastructure.

“But there are so many intangibles wrapped up in the cloud that it makes it hard to put calculations on it,” said Andrew Sroka, CEO at Fischer International Systems, which helps companies manage identities for on-premise and cloud-based applications. “It’s important to factor in expenses like utility costs and power requirements.”

If you can’t buy, rent
With CAD in the cloud being not if, but when, designairspace has new ways to bring benefit to users and CAD makers; reselling vendor software in the cloud. The company would offer customers workstations with major CAD vendor’s programs already installed. Designairspace can track use, which allows the vendors to charge based on time spent using the programs.

“It would be just like mobile phone plans back in the day, where you buy a plan based on minutes. We can do this with CAD in the cloud,” Williams says. “Let’s say you buy a plan with 500 minutes. If you need it for only one or two days a week, you can buy it in a small, affordable plan that’s a small portion of what it would cost you to buy the software.

“Why limit CAD-in-the-cloud to large companies? In the olden days, only big companies could afford 3-D CAD systems. We want small companies to have cloud benefits,” he added. “They would still need to buy their own licenses, but at least they can run it in the cloud, like the big guys.”

The pricing model would benefit companies with project managers or suppliers who don’t design in CAD but log onto the program intermittently.

“These people use the software only a little bit at a time, so we can price it so it’s not so expensive for them,” Williams said. “This is a whole new market for major vendors.”

Becoming a CAD-in-the-cloud reseller and offering online training in those CAD programs is the “next step” for designairspace, he added. With the business model, potential customers can also receive on-the-spot, specialized training if needed and can test the software to see if it’s right for their needs before buying a priced plan, he said.

Or, engineering companies might choose to run hybrid CAD, in which they host some CAD systems at workstations on-premise and buy CAD in the cloud subscriptions for intermittent users, Williams said.

“That way you can gradually move more and more users to the cloud. You can move one or two and see if it works and if it does move more to the cloud,” Williams said. “The heavy users will never move to the cloud.”

That brings up another point. Workstations that run CAD will always be with us, he added.
Companies that do work for the defense department or for the military must do their engineering work on company workstations. They cannot work remotely, Williams said.
For his part, Hirschtick is dreaming big. He expects widespread cloud adoption for CAD as users begin to see the advantages.

“People think cloud tools don’t have the power or speed but that’s an old fable. Cloud tools have more advantage and speed, it’s not a fair fight,” he said. “With desktop tools, you have one CPU sitting on the desktop. With the cloud, we’re able to use unlimited amounts of CPUs. I gave a demo and opened up ten models with thousands of thousands of parts on Macbook in Chrome on a web browser. There’s no CAD workstation that could open them that fast, even the best desktop configuration.

“In a few years, people will be saying ‘how did you ever do CAD on a desktop. How was it fast enough?’” Hirschtick says.

While the future remains cloudy, PTC is backing clearing skies for CAD in the cloud. With a large CAD maker backing SaaS, expect to see a flurry of news and updates. In other words, don’t delete your desktop program.

PTC
www.ptc.com

Designairspace
www.designairspace.com

PTC to acquire Onshape

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PTC announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Onshape, creators of Software as a Service (SaaS) product development platform that unites computer aided design (CAD) with data management and collaboration tools, for approximately $470 million, net of cash acquired.
The acquisition is expected to accelerate PTC’s ability to attract new customers with a SaaS-based product offering and position the company to capitalize on the inevitable industry transition to SaaS. Pending regulatory approval and satisfaction of other closing conditions, the transaction is expected to be completed in November 2019.

Located in Cambridge, MA, Onshape was founded in 2012 by CAD pioneers and tech legends, including Jon Hirschtick, John McEleney, and Dave Corcoran, inventors and former executives of SolidWorks. Onshape has secured more than $150 million in funding from leading venture capital firms and has more than 5,000 subscribers around the world. The company’s software offering is delivered in a SaaS model, making it accessible from any connected location or device, eliminating the need for costly hardware and administrative staff to maintain. Distributed and mobile teams of designers, engineers, and others can benefit from the product’s cloud nature, enabling them to improve collaboration and to dramatically reduce the time needed to bring new products to market – while simultaneously staying current with the latest software.

This acquisition is the logical next step in PTC’s overall evolution to a recurring revenue business model, the first step of which was the company’s transition to subscription licensing, completed in January 2019. The SaaS model, while nascent in the CAD and PLM market, is rapidly becoming industry best practice across most other software domains.

Onshape will operate as a business unit within PTC, with current management reporting directly to PTC President and CEO Jim Heppelmann.

Barclays acted as exclusive financial advisor to PTC on the transaction.

PTC
www.ptc.com

Product design app offers live collaborative 3D CAD editing, not just viewing

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Onshape is partnering with Magic Leap on a new 3D product design app for its spatial computing universe. The CAD app will be developed for the Magic Leap One Creator Edition, a lightweight, wearable computer that allows digital content to step out of the screen and into the real world.

When wearing Magic Leap’s Lightwear headset, which allows users to see contextually aware digital objects in the real world, engineers will be able to bring life-size 3D CAD models into their physical surroundings and collaborate on design changes.

“We’re excited to bring the many benefits of modern CAD to engineers in the Magicverse,” says Onshape CEO Jon Hirschtick. “For more than a half-century, CAD users were confined to working on a flat screen. The Magic Leap One will push product design into a whole new stratosphere.”

“Imagine your engineering team is reviewing the latest design for a race car. With the ML One, they will be able to put that car right on the conference table, go under the hood and examine the engine block. They can then levitate the car above their heads and check out the exhaust system,” he says.

“The spatial computing universe has the potential to transform every industry,” says Magic Leap CEO Rony Abovitz. “Along with our other development partners, Onshape is helping us discover new applications and markets for Magic Leap One. I look forward to helping them continue to shake up the world of design and manufacturing.”

“The new Onshape app will support live 3D editing of CAD models, with design changes updated in real time through the Magic Leap device,” notes Hirschtick.“This is far more powerful and impactful than being able to merely view static, already-completed designs. And using our modern CAD system’s real-time collaboration tools, even team members based in different parts of the world will instantly see each other’s updates.”

“Offering Onshape’s cloud CAD system through the rich, immersive view of Magic Leap will one day seem as natural as designing on laptops, phones and tablets,” he adds. “We’re proud to be ahead of the curve by giving engineers access to the latest tools they can’t find anywhere else, tools that will help them push their creative limits, and ultimately design better products.”

Onshape
www.onshape.com

BMF Material Technology teams up with Onshape for high-precision manufacturing

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Onshape, a leading 3D cloud CAD platform, announced a strategic partnership with BMF Material Technology , a world leader in micro/nano-scale 3D printing and  precision manufacturing.

Micro/nano-scale 3D printing is a technology in high demand by manufacturers of extremely small and complex parts such as connectors, endoscopes, cardiac stents and tiny springs.

BMF plans to use Onshape’s real-time data management platform to speed up collaboration and communication with its customers, helping them optimize their CAD models for the most accurate printed parts.

“On a daily basis, there are companies all over the world – throughout Asia, Europe and the United States – contacting us for printing small parts with our nanoArch  printers,” says BMF’s CEO, Dr. Xiaoning He. “Before using Onshape, we had to email CAD files back and forth with our customers. But now we can have our team in China and our customers overseas work together on the same model at the same time. It has really improved our efficiency and speed, and Onshape is the only CAD system that can deliver this capability.”

As BMF customers collaborate with the company’s additive manufacturing experts to refine their CAD models, Onshape records every edit in a comprehensive history log. By clicking on any point in the timeline, Onshape users can instantly go back to any prior state of the design.

“The edit history log is a huge advantage for us,” adds He. “It speeds up the learning curve for our customers. We’re in the 3D printing business, not the design business. Onshape will help us teach our clients how to deliver better designs the next time.”

Onshape is a CAD system that combines advanced 3D modeling tools with design data
management in a secure cloud workspace. Its database architecture eliminates the security risk and version control problems created by uncontrolled file copies because only one master copy of the CAD data is stored in the cloud, accessible only by different levels of permissions (edit, view-only, commenting, etc).

BMF
www.bmftec.com

Onshape
onshape.com

Onshape delivers radically new Design Data Management 2.0

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Onshape claims that its “Design Data Management 2.0” is a radically different approach that marks a new era in the way engineers manage design data. The new approach reworks how data are created, stored, shared, and managed. This approach eliminates the problems of old file-based data management and introduces new possibilities:

• Virtual documents, not files
• Secure Cloud workspace, not scattered copies
• Parallel, not serial
• Instant collaboration, not meetings
• Immutable links, not brittle file references

Search – Onshape stores all design data in a secure cloud workspace. Finding the data is quick and easy using the integrated search tools with filters such as Name, Description, Part Number and Revision. Search results are scoped for users with restricted access permissions.

Versions & History – Onshape records every design change, with unlimited undo/redo and a complete history of who changed what and when. This process is automatic, so users will never lose any data or work. When design milestones are reached, users can create immutable versions to bookmark progress.

Branch, Compare & Merge – Create branches in Onshape to explore multiple design alternatives in parallel. Compare any version or branch to see the differences visually and by feature definition, then merge the changes from one branch into another.

Share, Comment & Collaborate – Onshape enables real-time collaboration with simultaneous editing of parts and assemblies and commenting for design reviews. Documents are shared with edit or view-only permissions. Data never leaves Onshape, so Document permissions can just as easily be revoked.

Onshape is also announcing two new features:
• Release Management and Approval Workflow will help eliminate the headaches caused by creating and using formal product release processes.

Formal Release Management – Onshape’s approval-based release process provides a controlled release workflow fully integrated into the design experience. Multiple approvers, notifications, automatic part numbering and error checking streamlines the release process and enforces company procedures.

1. Release Workflows – Onshape’s Formal Release Management gives your company a formal approval release process without the typical downtime associated with checking files in or out. As an approver, you can easily approve or reject a Release candidate and it will automatically move to the next state in the workflow and notify the appropriate people.

 

Simultaneous Bill of Materials builds upon the existing Design Data Management 2.0 foundation to revolutionize part information tracking and sharing. Onshape lets users edit assemblies and Bills of Materials at the same time with complete associativity and without the need to create a drawing.

Onshape
www.onshape.com

6 ways Onshape helps you dump your Laptop!

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Phil Foley, guest blogger

1.   You no longer have to travel with a laptop

Engineers, designers and other users of Solidworks, Inventor, Creo and Rhino, it’s time to dump your laptops. Onshape is the first web-based 3D Computer-aided-design package.
Can a web-based package handle or even compete with your custom built, rock solid Workstation? Yes.

For the short time I’ve been using Onshape I have seen several updates and new videos added to their site. The site also boasts a Learning Center that offers self-paced learning videos that I found to be very good. You can also obtain Instructor led training videos that range from $150, $250 to $500 USD. Their free video offerings will get you up to speed.

Solidworks and Inventor users will feel at home with this product due to its similar workflow and terminology. The learning curve is not steep at all. I was up and running in an hour, and after two weeks I was teaching students how to design using Onshape.

2.   Free and easy signup

I went to Onshape and it was a simple free signup. They offer Student, Teacher and Hobbyist accounts that are free. The only catch here is that your files are part of their Public library. For professional users, Onshape offers only a flat $125 per month, paid annually, which equates to $1,500 per year in a single payment.

The six founders of Onshape helped build Solidworks into a world leader in 3D design software. So, Solidworks users will feel a similar work flow. You can find info on the founders here.

The image in Figure 1 shows the login screen.

You will be happy with the intuitive User Interface mixed with CSS stylings and talented java scripting.

3.   The interface is smooth and quick

I surfed in the Public folder for a file that looked interesting and found a Nvidia Geforce GTX-980 Ti Video Card designed and uploaded by Zoran Simeonov. I could not find any meta data on the file so I decided to test the Export functions. I exported this file by Right Clicking (RC) on the Assembly tab located at the bottom of your screen and then selecting Export in the options menu as shown in Figure 4.

Figure 2-Nvidia GTX 980
Figure 3- Nvidia GTX 980

Exporting to Solidworks format creates a 13 Mb file, exporting to an STL file created a smaller 6.18 Mb file and Rhino created a whopping 38.32 Mb file size. Just for fun I imported the files into Rhino and they came in clean and with no noticeable data loss.

I wanted to add some stress to Onshape to see what it could handle so I created an assembly file and added 12 GTX Video Cards. Based on the file sizes I mentioned, a Solidworks assembly file with 12 video cards would be in the neighborhood of 163 Mb, STL roughly 74.16 Mb and Rhino bloating out at around 459.6 Mb. I closed the assembly and reopened it. It took a long 15+ seconds to open, however, it seemed to do all the heavy lifting upon opening.

After the assembly file loaded I was able to rotate it as if it was a single Socket Cap Screw. By Right Clicking and holding, I was able to rotate the entire assembly without any video pixilation, video drag or delay; it was smooth.

Figure 4- RC on the Assembly Tab
Figure 5- Export Options

4.   Sheet Metal Modeling is intuitive, quick, and fun to use

Sheet Metal Modeling in Onshape couldn’t be easier.   I sketched a quick Center Point Rectangle, clicked OK, then selected the Sheet Medal Model button. The following image shows the 2D sketch on the top plane with two edges selected. The two selected edges are new Sheet Metal flanges.

Figure 6- Sheet Metal Tool Bar

 

Figure 7 – Two edges selected to create the first Sheet Metal Flanges

The real power of the Sheet Metal Modeling comes when you want to look at multiple views. Selecting the Sheet Metal mode, two new Icons appear.

Figure 8 – Two new Tabs appear when you enter Sheet Metal Model mode

The Tab and Flat View bring up a LIVE 3 view display (Fig. 10)

Figure 10- Sheet Metal Table and Flat View

The image in Figure 10 shows the multi view layout. You can interact or modify any view. Let’s assume for a moment that I wanted to change the Bend Radius of Joints A through D. When bent, these four bends represent the base of this chassis. I have typically gone back into the 3D model to make this edit. I know Solidworks and other Parametric Modelers also show bend tables, and they can be edited. I do however, feel this visual interface allows for rapid edits and updates. Looking at Figure 10, notice when I select Joint C in the Bend Radius Table, the actual bend is highlighted in all three views as well.

One of my favorite features in Sheet Metal modeling is the Automatic Mitering. You can toggle this feature on/off by selecting or deselecting the checkbox Automatic Miter box. See Figure 9.

Figure 9 – Adding Flanges and Automatic Miters

 

Figure 11- Live Editing with Bend Radius Table

5.   Creating Drawings with all associated data at your fingertips

I was pleased when I started to add drawings. The typical dimensioning tools were available including the ability to add your BOM, Insert a DXF/DWG or Image files too. The presentation of information was done well. As you can see in Figure 13, I had more than ten files open. My entire design was displayed nicely using Tabs located across the bottom of my screen. My entire design was at my fingertips.

Figure 12- Onshape offers a robust set of Drawing tools

 

Figure 13- Highlights of all the information at your fingertips

The Feature Tree showed all parts, assemblies and drawings associated with my design. I was dimensioning the Sheet Metal Frame and located just below the feature tree was a nice rendered view of my chassis. In, all, the amount of information I found at my fingertips was surprising and efficient. I quickly forgot I was using a web based Parametric Modeler, as it had the feel of any 3D package I’ve used during my career.

Onshape felt powerful during part modeling, even though as the assemblies grew I noticed a slight delay of roughly 9-14 second. However, it was clear they spent a lot of design cycles to handle the video buffering up front, hence, the user experience and workflow didn’t suffer. Drawings also offered a slim list of Export options. You have the choice to export out to PDF, DXF, DWG and DWT. I would like to see them add an option that allows users to select multiple formats for export out at one time.   You will find the typical line weight options, hidden lines, centerlines and a host of other standard CAD features within Onshape’s Drawing module.

Figure 14 – Drawing Export Options

6.   Inserting new elements

My final exploration into Onshape was using the Inserting New Elements option.

By selecting the Plus sign located at the bottom of the screen you will see the menu shown in figure 15. Select the Go to App Store and browse around for some goodies. They had apps for rendering, simulation, manufacturing, data management, CAM, utilities and import and export apps too. There is a large selection of free apps so I decided to download Power Surfacing, One Render, 3DX Certified Models and Onshape Explode Sample Utility.

Figure 15 – insert New Elements Dialog Box

In testing the One Reader app, I found the integration was seamless, the user Interface was simple to navigate, and I was happy to see the app didn’t come along with annoying advertising billboards. The rendering tools let me create my own materials, lights, and cameras. This app also had the option to create video. Throughout my career I’ve been called upon to create assets for Sales and Marketing so I was happy to see a full set of tools in a free app.

My experience learning Onshape has been positive and I hope this quick introduction ignites your curiosity. I see this product as a game changer or a market disrupter that will challenge the pragmatic design and require all major 3D software companies to roll out their own web-based product.

Only time will tell.

MecSoft launches VisualCAMc Beta – production CAM for Onshape

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MecSoft Corporation, the developer of computer aided manufacturing (CAM) software solutions, announces the launch of a free Beta program for VisualCAMc, its cloud hosted, fully integrated CAM add-on app for Onshape. The beta is free and available for anyone who has an Onshape account and is approved by MecSoft.

VisualCAMc leverages the legendary manufacturing capabilities of MecSoft’s desktop based VisualCAM product running remotely across the internet on a server. A brand-new browser based user interface allows this product to be used from any device, anytime and from anywhere in the world.

Features of this product include:

  • Fully cloud based – no downloads required
  • Runs as a tab inside the Onshape environment
  • Browser interface allows use from any device, anytime, and from anywhere
  • Uses the same geometry kernel as Onshape – allows error free data transfer
  • Uses MecSoft’s industry proven, production level CAM technology
  • Includes 2 ½ Axis and 3 Axis milling (more to come)

MecSoft Corp
mecsoft.com/visualcamc/

The Self-taught design system

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Just where will artificial intelligence fit in with CAD software? Here’s a look at where developments stand now, and a preview of what might be coming.

Jean Thilmany, Contributing Editor

Artificial intelligence has a place in the future of computer-aided design technology, but right now, the role AI will play isn’t clear. That’s the view of Jon Hirschtick, chief executive officer of Onshape, which makes cloud-based CAD software. While some CAD makers are delving into AI functionality, the marriage of AI and design software is in the early stages, he says.

“AI has great potential, but so far no one has illustrated how it will unfold,”

Hirschtick says in reference to CAD vendors. “I’m not saying developers are not working on ideas.”

CAD makers would be wise to consider how AI may fit into their software’s growth and expansion. AI should be a $16 billion industry by 2022, according to a projection from research firm Markets and Markets.

AI across industries

First, definitions are in order. Many terms have been bandied about of late, particularly in reference to Industry 4.0, which goes by a number of names, including smart factory and connected factory. Technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning, big data, Internet of things (IOT), and deep learning will come together to help realize Industry 4.0.

Nvidia installed its Drive PX 2 AI supercomputing platform into a signature- green, self-driving racecar that will compete in the Roborace Champsionship, a global autonomous motorsports competition. Image credit Nvidia.

All these technologies are related in that they build upon each other, says Will Ramsey, director of marketing at Nvidia, which designs graphics processing units. The company developed GPU-based deep learning, which uses artificial intelligence to approach problems like cancer detection, weather prediction, and self-driving vehicles. Here’s how Ramsey defines pertinent terms:

“AI is a broad field focused on using computers to do things that require human-level intelligence. It’s been around since the1950s but was little used because it was limited in practical applications.”

“Machine learning enables AI by providing the algorithms that make the machines smarter and thus give AI a way to actually become more intelligent as time goes on.”

Machine learning is what Ramsey calls an approach to AI, meaning a way to use AI for practical applications. The approach uses statistical techniques to construct a model from observed data. It relies on inputs, or what Ramsey calls “extractors” set by the humans programming these machines.

“It’s like the bag-of-word analysis that made spam filters possible,” Ramsey says.

The filters could search for certain words (determined by humans) within messages, then flag those messages as unwanted spam.

Machine learning algorithms can sift through and find insights in large data sets. Combine AI and machine learning and the algorithms become more able to recognize patterns and specific issues, such as—when it comes to something like speech recognition software—accents.

But where does the data used by machine-learning algorithms come from?

Earlier this year, Nvidia revealed a self-driving car powered by its new AI supercomputer, Xavier, which learns to drive by observing a human driver. Nvidia installed the AI in an autonomous Lincoln vehicle to demonstrate its capabilities. Nvidia Drive PX is an open, artificial intelligence-driven, computing system that can be used as the technology platform for automated and autonomous vehicles. Nvidia developed its own self-driving vehicle to showcase the system.
Image credit Nvidia.

“Now with social media, sensors, the internet of things, we have all these data,” Ramsey says. “And we have the challenge of understanding and extracting insights from it.”

His company uses what it calls deep learning, a method that automatically extracts and makes sense of all that information, and continues to learn from it or “learns to think.”

“Using deep learning, the fastest growing segment of AI, computers are now able to learn and recognize patterns from data that were considered too complex for expert written software,” Ramsey says.

What about design?

Hirschtick believes CAD programs will make use of AI, but in a more limited way in the near future, by using information the designer has entered to offer suggestions about design parameters and inputs.

Future programs might offer to the design default values for a shape based on the objects that person has designed in the past. AI would essentially learn what types of products the designer mostly works on and the inputs he or she has regularly used for those products. The suggested values may appear on the user’s screen in a dialog box, Hirschtick says.

“Or AI could offer something like: ‘Gee, I noticed you’ve done pattern of activity several times in a row, do you want that or was that a mistake?’”

And AI could make engineers’ search for needed and necessary parts easier. Hirschtick envisions a program, much like that which appears for Amazon shoppers, in which engineers could type in information about a part they’re searching for “and the program says ‘a lot of times people looking for that part also look at this one,’” he says.

Today’s wind turbines, like this one installed in Traverse City, Mich., can be outfitted with a myriad of sensors and actuators that will return real-time turbine operating information through the Internet of Things. Image credit: bengarrison

In the future, CAD software users may also ask speech technology software, rather than the CAD-company’s tech-support operators, questions about the software and instantly receive a pertinent, helpful response. The natural-language-processing programs that drive these responses learn how best to answer user questions thanks to machine learning technology.

Such speech technology software could aid fast-growing CAD companies that would otherwise need to train a slew of customer-support employees quickly.

Currently, those AI possibilities remain unrealized, says Hirschtick. “Right now no one has demonstrated any particularly compelling idea with AI.”

Making manufacturing inroads

Other CAD vendors may beg to disagree.

Autodesk is already moving to use AI for customer support, teaming with IBM to create Otto, a digital concierge that uses IBM Watson technology to manage customer and partner inquiries, says Gregg Spratto, vice president of operations at Autodesk. “Watson’s natural-language-processing and deep-learning technologies help Otto understand the intent of customer questions.”

To offer Otto initial “training,” as it were, the Autodesk team fed historical data from chat logs, use cases, and forum posts into the program to ensure it could understand and respond to a wide range of customer queries.

Then, as the project expands, Otto will use machine learning to handle increasingly complex customer requests and will scale up as call-volume grows.

Also, last October, Autodesk announced plans to embed an AI modeling engine into its IoT cloud platform, Fusion Connect. The Eureqa engine is from Nutonian, recently acquired by DataRobot.

With the AI engine on board, the IoT platform will be able to predict product failures or design flaws based on how a product or device is presently functioning in the real world, says Bryan Kester, director of IoT at Autodesk

The pairing is natural, as IoT offers continual feedback on how products are performing in the field, in real time. IoT makes use of sensors and actuators attached to a product that send back continuous information on how the product is operating, moment-by-moment, in the field.

Fusion Connect helps gather information from that network of sensors and actuators as well as upon RFID, Wi-Fi, and a range of other communications and monitoring technologies, Kester says.

The information is then analyzed and output in a format useful to engineers, who can use it to find where improvements can be made to existing product designs and to determine how new products could be designed better designed. All this based on present, real-world operation, he adds.

Similarly, PTC plans this year to link its Creo computer-aided design system, to the company’s ThingWorx IoT development platform. Developers use the platform to build and deploy enterprise-level IoT applications, says Paul Sagar, vice president of product management at PTC.

Though it’s not an AI application, after the ThingWorx and Creo interface is complete, engineers will be able to instrument their CAD model with virtual sensors that act in the same manner as the real-world counterparts do; that is, they monitor and report back about particular features of part or system operation.

These virtual sensors can offer more insight into model behavior than the what-if questioning and virtual experimentation engineers now use to explore model performance, Sagar says. The sensors can help answer questions like: is the virtual system running hot in a certain area? Is airflow too high or too low?

Fusion Connect Internet of Things software from Autodesk can help connect factory applications across a number of industrial machines and make sense of information returned from the connected machines. Image credit: Autodesk

With those questions answered, designers can redesign and repeat the process until they’ve optimized the model to meet—perhaps even exceed–specifications, Sagar continues.

AI aids 3D lookup

Introduced last summer, Autodesk’s Design Graph is another machine learning system that helps users manage 3D content, offering Google search-like functionality for 3D models, says Mike Haley, who leads the machine intelligence group at Autodesk.

“Machine learning and artificial intelligence are starting to make the first inroads into daily life, but to our knowledge this is its very first application for industrial design and mechanical engineering,” Haley says.

Design Graph algorithms extract large amounts of 3D design data from an engineering company’s designs. It then creates a catalog by categorizing each component and design using a classification and relationship system. Designers and engineers search across all of their files for a part type, such as a bolt or a bike seat, with the tool returning dozens or hundreds of pertinent options.

So how does machine learning come into play?

The system teaches computers to identify and understand designs based on their inherent characteristics–their shape and structure–rather than by tags or metadata, Haley says.

After all, whoever designed the part originally could label it any of dozens of ways, using full words or abbreviations. Metadata created by people, unless carefully managed, tends to be unreliable, Haley says. With Design Graph, the computer uses its own observations about the 3D geometry contained in every 3D model.

So while some AI capabilities already exist within CAD systems, look for more to come. After all, product design plays a key role in the connected factory and the IoT systems of the future. Without design, there’d be no need for a factory—no matter how connected–to make the products and nothing for IoT to monitor.

Autodesk
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Nvidia
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PTC
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Onshape
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The latest Apps for Onshape

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The Onshape App Store makes finding new engineering apps – such as CAM, simulation, rendering, manufacturing and data management –easy. Many development partners offer Integrated Cloud Apps which work directly within Onshape Documents.

Here are some of the more recent additions:

Intact solutions

Intact is an automated simulation service on the cloud that does not require installation, preprocessing, meshing, or expertise in analysis. Simply import models from Onshape and analyze them directly. Simple simulation scenarios let users get a feel for where stresses are concentrated in their design. The advanced scenario tool digs deep into exactly where failure is likely.

Highlights include:

Straightforward workflow. No preprocessing or meshing required. It operates directly on Onshape models.

It supports assemblies.

No installation. All computation happens on Intact servers.

OnCreate3D is a full-cloud CAM app. It works in three steps. First, import a STL/IGES/STEP file to create a Mill3D project. Second, create 3D toolpath operations. Third, download a NC File. If you import a DXF file and create a Mill2D project, you can create 2D toolpath operations. You can also generate a basic G-Code file or customize POST parameters to output to your specific controller.

As an Integrated Cloud App in the Onshape App Store, you can subscribe and start creating NC Files for your components within a few minutes. Working with OnCreate3D is even simpler within Onshape. Just add the OnCreate3D application, authenticate it and seamlessly transfer your components to OnCreate3D projects. Onshape users don’t even need to sign up with OnCreate3D.

You can create a variety of toolpaths such as:

Contour

Pocket

Parallel

Radial and more

Swift Calcs is an engineering calculation platform built to be an intuitive and time-efficient alternative to paper, spreadsheets, and otherwise cumbersome computation packages. You can use Swift Calcs worksheets to drive Onshape variables and dimensions directly from design calculations, and access your design calculations from within your Onshape files.

Use Swift Calcs to perform your engineering design and analysis calculations faster and more reliably by taking advantage of:

Human Readable Mathematics – Math and equations as you learned them, textbook-style. No computer code, no LaTeX, no markup, no special syntax, only maximum productivity.

Full Unit Support – From Amperes to Zettameters, Swift Calcs seamlessly handles, converts, and simplifies units from every discipline of engineering, eliminating conversion errors and enforcing unit consistency.

Advanced Math Engine – Swift Calcs relies on a proven, open-source mathematics engine to power your calculations, offering solutions for symbolic calculus, numerical methods, and more that you can trust.

Engineering Reference Library – Toss out the textbook and rely on our rich library of engineering equations, formula, and reference data to speed along your analysis.

Swift Calcs offers Public, Business and Professional plans in the Onshape App Store.

Simscape Multibody by MathWorks lets you integrate Onshape CAD assemblies with electrical, hydraulic, control, and other systems, and simulate your entire system within the Simulink environment. Using Model-Based Design, you can refine requirements, detect integration issues, and automatically generate production code for embedded systems.

With Simscape Multibody you can:

Perform kinematic and dynamic analysis

Determine actuator requirements

Test actuator designs involving electrical, hydraulic, and other systems

Develop control algorithms

 

ESPRIT 2016 is a machine tool solution with innovative cutting strategies, increased simulation speed, enhanced CAD recognition features and new Wire-EDM and 5-axis features.

The ESPRIT Onshape Connect Add-in gives users immediate access to their Onshape account and documents directly inside ESPRIT.

To start using the ESPRIT Onshape Connect Add-in:

Once installed go to Tools>Add-ins, select the ESPRIT Onshape Connector Add-in and check Loaded/Unloaded and Load on Startup. Under the file menu go to “Import from Onshape” and enter your Onshape Account Credentials. You will now have access to your Onshape Documents.

Within the Onshape Add-in you will have access to your Personal Documents as well as the Public Documents. Some features of the Onshape Add-in include:

Search bar to filter specific part types such as impellers and gears

Sort by Document Name, Modified By Date, and Modified By (left-click the desired column to sort) impellers and gears

Infinite Scroll to easily display more available Onshape Documents

View the Elements contained in each document. An element MUST be selected for Import

Select the preferred workspace for each document from the Workspace drop-down before Import if you are utilizing the Workspace feature within Onshape.

 

STL Workbench is a full-cloud 3D application to process complex meshes. The latest release includes:

A new view cube to navigate the model by selecting a face, side and corner of the cube to orient the model respectively.

A Dynamic Sectioning feature to help users dynamically place and preview a part with respect to an entered distance value.

An error feedback mechanism to help users know the reasons for certain geometric-related errors, which helps them make corrections.

Some additional design changes to improve the performance and stability of the application.

Improved FPS, which makes it easy to load and visualize large and heavy models.

 

x3D Print is a user-friendly application to directly 3D print your Onshape model and get an instant free quote. The x3D Print app offers high-quality 3D printing services.

This app will instantly display a printing price, and you can still modify your criteria such as scale, colors, effects, etc. The x3D production lab is equipped with several high-speed 3D printing and finishing systems and it can produce medium and large series, any size parts, and ships worldwide.

Most of the apps in the Onshape App Store have a “try and buy” approach to earning your business. Unlike traditional CAD resellers, Onshape does not try to steer you toward any preferred partner and wants you to find the engineering app that’s best for your needs.

Onshape
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Onshape launches sheet metal design tools

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Onshape, a leading professional 3D CAD platform for Agile Product Design, introduces sheet metal design capabilities. The cloud-based design tools enable faster creation and refinement of sheet metal parts with simultaneous generation of editable, synchronized flat, folded and tabular views.

“This has been one of the most highly anticipated enhancements requested by our customers,” says Scott Harris, Onshape’s VP of Product Definition and User Experience. “We’re proud to be delivering new tools that you can’t find anywhere else in the CAD industry. Our team has completely rethought and re-engineered the way sheet metal parts are designed and prepared for manufacturing.”

Sheet metal professionals can speed up their design process in the following ways:

  1. Simultaneous Sheet Metal Views: Unlike traditional desktop-installed CAD systems that force users to work in only one mode (flat, folded or tabular) at a time, Onshape shows all representations in one simultaneous view. When designers edit one view, the other two are synchronized automatically using Onshape’s full-cloud database architecture. Seeing the flat and folded views side-by-side lets users visualize errors and interferences immediately, consider alternatives and ultimately, reduce scrap and wasted time.
  2. Editing Sheet Metal From a Bend Table View: The manufacturer can quickly change the parameters of a model in a bend table view – such as the radius or order of individual bends – while preserving the original design intent and seeing the impact immediately on the flat and folded views.

“Onshape’s Simultaneous Sheet Metal Views allow you to create your model easier with more flexibility,” adds Harris. “Part of the beauty here is that you can start down one path and if things aren’t right, you can just change it around without having to start over again. In fact, you can refactor your model by switching around rips and bends.”

“This is going to prevent a lot of headaches between designers and manufacturers, because almost all sheet metal work is done collaboratively. We created the system to allow designers to build in design intent and allow fabricators to adjust the model based on specific tooling, without violating the design intent,” he says.

The new precision sheet metal features, now concluding early visibility testing, will be made available to all Onshape users in a near-term release.

Onshape
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