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Dassault Systemes’ SOLIDWORKS 2022 launched, with enhancements that accelerate product development

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Dassault Systemes has introduced SOLIDWORKS 2022, the latest release of its portfolio of 3D design and engineering applications used by millions of innovators worldwide. SOLIDWORKS 2022 delivers hundreds of new user-driven enhancements that accelerate innovation and streamline and speed up the product development process from concept to manufacturing.

Featuring an array of customized and flexible solutions, SOLIDWORKS 2022 enhances the capabilities and workflows used every day for design, documentation, data management, and validation. New workflows, new features and performance improvements inspired by the SOLIDWORKS community of users enable innovators to work smarter and faster, creating better products in fewer steps and in less time. SOLIDWORKS 2022 also opens up possibilities for them to leverage the collaboration capabilities of Dassault SysteÌmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE platform, and increase their competitive advantage by connecting to the 3DEXPERIENCE Works portfolio of solutions.

SOLIDWORKS 2022 includes:
• New workflows and feature enhancements in assembly and part design, drawing detailing, simulation and product data management.
• New features in parts such as hybrid modeling and creating standardized external threads.
• User interface enhancements to shortcut bar, configuration management, geometric tolerancing and more.
• Quality and performance improvements when working with large assemblies, importing STEP, IFC, and DXF/DWG files, detailing drawings and managing product data.
• Automatic assembly performance optimization without worrying about modes and settings.
• Fastest graphics to date with improved display response and quality.
• Access to the 3DEXPERIENCE platform’s collaborative digital environment to improve innovation and decision-making.
• Access to the cloud-based 3DEXPERIENCE Works portfolio of expanded applications for design, engineering, simulation, manufacturing, and governance.

Dassault Systemes
www.solidworks.com/product/whats-new

Panasonic and SnapEDA offer free resources for electronics designers

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SnapEDA, the best way to discover and design-in electronic components, and Panasonic, the global technology leader, have collaborated to release a free collection of helpful resources for electronics designers.

These resources include computer-aided design (CAD) models for over 75,000 of Panasonic’s components. These CAD models allow engineers to make custom products with Panasonic’s electronics components quickly and reliably.

“Panasonic strives to provide the highest quality products to their customers and these new CAD models are no exception. Our new collaboration brings thousands of new high quality CAD models to engineers, streamlining their design process and enabling them to move to scale faster and more reliably with Panasonic components” said Natasha Baker, Founder & CEO of SnapEDA.

The new models include schematic symbols and PCB footprints for electronics design, as well as 3D mechanical models to ensure proper mechanical clearances and design visualization. In addition to the CAD models themselves, engineers can also see a real-time report generated by SnapEDA’s patented verification technology, to gain instant transparency into manufacturability.

The new CAD models cover Panasonic’s radial and surface mount resistors, capacitors and inductors. They are compatible with all major electronics and mechanical design tools.

“Panasonic is proud to support its customers with CAD models through SnapEDA’s global design community. In mere weeks, SnapEDA created and verified over 75,000 CAD models and their rapid support made the process seamless” said Tetsuya Fukuzawa, Director at Panasonic Industrial Solutions.

As the first and leading search engine for electronics design, SnapEDA is now relied on by over a million professional engineers developing hundreds of thousands of new products each year. SnapEDA also supports component suppliers on their mission to “digitize the design win”, helping them scale up demand of their products digitally, and track the design journey through to purchase.

The new CAD models are freely accessible to millions of engineers via the SnapEDA website, as well as through its syndication partners which include Digi-Key, RSComponents’ DesignSpark, and Mouser.

The new Panasonic CAD models are based on IPC-7351B, IEEE-315, and SnapEDA’s standards. They can be downloaded free at www.snapeda.com. Over 15 PCB design formats are supported including Altium, KiCad, Autodesk EAGLE & Fusion360, Cadence OrCAD & Allegro, Mentor PADS, DesignSpark, Pulsonix, DipTrace, Proteus, & more.

SnapEDA
www.snapeda.com

Panasonic
www.panasonic.com/global

Students can jump-start their careers with offers available from Dassault Systèmes

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Dassault Systèmes announced the official availability1 of three student editions on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform tailored to help students prepare for their future careers.  In a global economy where existing jobs are transforming and new job skills are emerging, students can experience the digital technologies used by industry, develop in-demand skills, and achieve industry-recognized certifications that distinguish their technical expertise.

Through an easy online click and buy experience, students can purchase an affordable, one-year license to any of the following 3DEXPERIENCE Edu solutions for individual students:

Each 3DEXPERIENCE student edition provides a set of dedicated learning paths toward certification including SOLIDWORKS and CATIA Associate certifications.  Students also gain access to live webinars and opportunities for real-time communication with a global online community of peers and Dassault Systèmes experts.

The early adoption of the latest digital technologies can potentially play a role in students’ job prospects.  In fields like mechanical engineering, for example, students who have skills in advanced technologies such as virtual simulations, could be in high demand by companies seeking to reduce product development cycles.2

Dassault Systèmes
edu.3ds.com/en/software/stu

NVIDIA Isaac Sim on Omniverse available in Open Beta

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The new Isaac simulation engine creates good photorealistic environments, and streamlines synthetic data generation and domain randomization to build ground-truth datasets to train robots in applications from logistics and warehouses to factories of the future.

Omniverse is the underlying foundation for NVIDIA’s simulators, including the Isaac platform — which now includes several new features. Discover the next level in simulation capabilities for robots with NVIDIA Isaac Sim open beta, available now.

Built on the NVIDIA Omniverse platform, Isaac Sim is a robotics simulation application and synthetic data generation tool. It allows roboticists to train and test their robots more efficiently by providing a realistic simulation of the robot interacting with compelling environments that can expand coverage beyond what is possible in the real world.

This release of Isaac Sim also adds improved multi-camera support and sensor capabilities, and a PTC OnShape CAD importer to make it easier to bring in 3D assets. These new features will expand the breadth of robots and environments that can be successfully modeled and deployed in every aspect: from design and development of the physical robot, then training the robot, to deploying in a “digital twin” in which the robot is simulated and tested in an accurate and photorealistic virtual environment.

Summary of key new features:
–Multi-Camera Support
–Fisheye Camera with Synthetic Data
–ROS2 Support
–PTC OnShape Importer
–Improved Sensor Support
Ultrasonic Sensor
Force Sensor
Custom Lidar Patterns
–Downloadable from NVIDIA Omniverse Launcher

Isaac Sim sending multi-camera sensor data to Rviz (ROS Visualization Tool)
Controlling the Dofbot Manipulation Robot in Isaac Sim

Isaac Sim enables more robotics simulation
Developers have long seen the benefits of having a powerful simulation environment for testing and training robots. But all too often, the simulators have had shortcomings that limited their adoption. Isaac Sim addresses these drawbacks with the benefits described below.

Realistic Simulation

In order to deliver realistic robotics simulations, Isaac Sim leverages the Omniverse platform’s powerful technologies including advanced GPU-enabled physics simulation with PhysX 5, photorealism with real-time ray and path tracing, and Material Definition Language (MDL) support for physically based rendering.

Modular, Breadth of Applications

Isaac Sim is built to address many of the most common robotics use cases including manipulation, autonomous navigation, and synthetic data generation for training data. Its modular design allows users to easily customize and extend the toolset to accommodate many applications and environments.

Seamless Connectivity and Interoperability

With NVIDIA Omniverse, Isaac Sim benefits from Omniverse Nucleus and Omniverse Connectors, enabling collaborative building, sharing, and importing of environments and robot models in Universal Scene Description (USD). Easily connect the robot’s brain to a virtual world through Isaac SDK and ROS/ROS2 interface, fully-featured Python scripting, plugins for importing robot and environment models.

Synthetic data generation in Isaac Sim bootstraps machine learning

Synthetic Data Generation is an important tool that is increasingly used to train the perception models found in today’s robots. Getting real-world, properly labeled data is a time consuming and costly endeavor. But in the case of robotics, some of the required training data could be too difficult or dangerous to collect in the real world. This is especially true of robots that must operate in close proximity to humans.

Isaac Sim has built-in support for a variety of sensor types that are important in training perception models. These sensors include RGB, depth, bounding boxes, and segmentation.

Ground Truth Synthetic Data with Glass Objects

In the open beta, we have the ability to output synthetic data in the KITTI format. This data can then be used directly with the NVIDIA Transfer Learning Toolkit to enhance model performance with use case-specific data.

Domain Randomization

Domain Randomization varies the parameters that define a simulated scene, such as the lighting, color and texture of materials in the scene. One of the main objectives of domain randomization is to enhance the training of machine learning (ML) models by exposing the neural network to a wide variety of domain parameters in simulation. This will help the model to generalize well when it encounters real world scenarios. In effect, this technique helps teach models what to ignore.

Domain Randomization of a Factory Scene

Isaac Sim supports the randomization of many different attributes that help define a given scene. With these capabilities, the ML engineers can ensure that the synthetic dataset contains sufficient diversity to drive robust model performance.

NVIDIA Isaac Sim

Vuforia Instruct offering streamlines the creation of 3D CAD-based work instructions

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From the stage of the Vuforia Live Virtual Event, PTC  announced the release of the new Vuforia Instruct out-of-the-box offering from the Vuforia Enterprise Augmented Reality (AR) Suite.

With PTC’s Vuforia Instruct, enterprises can leverage 3D CAD data to easily create, deliver, and scale interactive AR work instructions

The Software as a Service (SaaS)-based offering, available on the PTC Atlas platform, empowers original equipment manufacturers to extend the value of the digital thread all the way to their front-line workers. With Vuforia Instruct, enterprises can leverage 3D CAD data to easily create, deliver, and scale interactive AR work instructions, enabling them to optimize inspections for Quality and Field Maintenance use cases.

“We are thrilled to be working with PTC and Rockwell Automation to bring AR to our customers, and see tremendous opportunity to use 3D work instructions to address critical inspection steps within our maintenance, repair, and sanitation processes on our packaging equipment,” said Alexander Ouellet, Innovation Engineer, Harpak-ULMA Packaging. “The enhanced work instructions created with Vuforia Instruct enable us to upskill our customers’ employees, and even our own technical staff, on intricate procedures in mission critical environments. AR technologies will help our customers reap significant productivity gains by enabling them to improve the accuracy and timeliness of complex, manual processes.”

Approximately 67% of manufacturers are still utilizing manual paper processes for inspections. These existing methods are often error-filled, difficult to transcribe, and costly – ultimately becoming barriers to continuous improvement. Such inefficiencies can result in poor product quality or experiences, cost millions of dollars per year, and lead to loss of brand reputation, market position, customer satisfaction, and revenue. Vuforia Instruct enables companies to eliminate reliance on paper forms by delivering contextual visual guidance and references to front-line workers with built-in, real-time inspection feedback to capture critical insights.

“Vuforia Instruct enables organizations to transform the way they create and scale work instructions to their front-line employees,” said Michael Campbell, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Augmented Reality Products, PTC. “Leveraging existing 3D CAD data, organizations can now guide employees to exactly where work needs to be done and provide them with detailed instructions for critical inspection procedures in context. Such enhancements are critical to industrial organizations looking to increase productivity, improve quality, and reduce unplanned downtime.”

PTC
www.ptc.com

Verisurf 2021 software released

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Verisurf Software, Inc. announced its new Verisurf 2021 release. More than 25-years ago, Verisurf was the first company to develop PC-based software that could compare physical part measurements to the surface of a CAD model. Today, Verisurf continues to lead the way with its latest release of Verisurf 2021. From Boeing’s Digital Product Definition requirements to PTB and NIST, Verisurf exceeds industry and customer expectations for measurement and inspection automation, designed for today’s manufacturing enterprise.

Verisurf 2021 has new and enhanced features that increase measurement and inspection productivity, from CMM plan creation through execution, particularly for Renishaw PH20 5-axis touch-trigger, and REVO 5-axis scanning probes. Users can also look forward to additional CMM controller support, enhancements for GD&T feature control frames and ballooning, and updated Software Development Kit (SDK) for custom user interfaces, integration of robotics, and automating processes across the manufacturing enterprise.

“We work closely with our customers as we continue the ongoing development of the Verisurf software platform, and are committed to performance, ease-of-use, and universal compatibility with all popular CAD file formats and all new and legacy CMMs,” said Ernie Husted, President and CEO of Verisurf Software. “We have gained the trust of our customers by providing, and continually improving on, practical measurement solutions for Inspection and Reporting, Scanning and Reverse Engineering, Toolmaking, and Assembly Guidance,” added Husted.

Verisurf is the only measurement and inspection software dedicated to Model-Based Definition (MBD) and built on a CAD/CAM platform. This enables greater compatibility, workflow integration, and more complete end-to-end solutions customers require.

Verisurf 2021 highlights: (available on video: ‘Feature Focused’ videos, veri.surf/2021

• 5-Axis CMM programming with support for Renishaw PH10, PH20, and REVO heads
• External Productivity Utilities provide time-saving tools and shortcuts
• CAD Translator V8.0 with new assembly import and management features
• Thickness feature for Dynamic Surface Point improves CMM Plan creation
• Digital Product Definition compliance – Boeing, PTB, NIST
• Custom Clearance CMM Path added to Generate Path tool
• Power Surface option to Orient Starter Plane for surface fit
• Power Surface is enhanced to support point clouds or meshes in addition to existing wireframe capabilities
• Power Surface tools to use starter plane fit options such as least squares, minimum zone, or graphics view, plus an option to use point vectors to help for a better surface fit
• SolidWorks Inspection First Article & Balloon Dwg Reports using Verisurf – SOLIDWORKS Inspection added to Report Database output
• GD&T Feature Control Frames added to CMM Plans and Measured Features staying current with ASME and ISO protocols
• Verisurf Device Interface (VDI) upgrades for new laser trackers and CMMs
• Software Development Kit (SDK) Enhancements for communication with other cooperative devices
• Feature Align improvements use nominals from the Plan to automatically create a WCS, improving workflow and flexibility
• Best Fit feature includes multiple enhancements for automated CMMs and user-prompted inspection routines for manual and portable CMMs
• CAD is at the foundation of Verisurf software and 2021 includes new features and improved user experience for model-based inspection productivity.

Verisurf
veri.surf/2021

Adaptive acquires Heavyside Corp., broadening capabilities in electromagnetics simulation

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Adaptive Corporation, a leading Digital to Physical Product Lifecycle Company, has announced the acquisition of Heavyside Corporation, specialists in electromagnetics within design-realization workflows powered by CST Studio Suite software.

CST Studio Suite (CST), part of the SIMULIA brand owned by Dassault Systèmes, is a high-performance, 3D electromagnetics (EM) analysis software tool for designing, analyzing and optimizing EM components and systems. Both Adaptive and Heavyside are partners in Dassault Systèmes reseller network; CST allows EM simulation to be integrated into all other aspects of product development from the earliest stages of design.

“The need for electromagnetic simulation is rapidly increasing,” says Heavyside president Jeremy Fejfar. “It’s essential to take EM into account when designing and optimizing ‘smart products’ these days. We’re seeing EM simulation being applied across a broad range of industries, from consumer to industrial, automotive to aerospace and defense—in the form of sensors, antennas, filters, tablets, EVs [electric vehicles] and more.”

Fejfar’s company name gives a nod to British electrical engineer Oliver Heaviside (Americanized with a ‘y’). “Our software is essentially a numerical solution to Maxwell’s equations, which state the fundamentals of electricity and magnetism,” says Fejfar. “Heaviside made Maxwell’s equations much easier for people to work with. Our present-day focus is similar to his, providing our customers with an easy-to-use, powerful CST software tool that incorporates 3D simulation into EM design.”

Simulation of EM enables prediction of product behavior, Fejfar says. “If you take a device, say a tire-pressure sensor, and install it in the real-world environment of a car, it’s very difficult to measure how well the link between the infotainment system and that device works. But by using CST software as you design these components, you can create a virtual prototype of that behavior and fine-tune the connection to optimize their interaction in the real world.”

With the acquisition by Adaptive, Heavyside’s CST customers will be able to access a broader range of resources and capabilities. From the Adaptive side, says Wayne Tanner, Chief Operations Officer, “The addition of Jeremy and his team will enable us to increase support for all our customers working in the field of EM with more focused, dedicated resources. Incorporating electromagnetics into products requires powerful, integrated digital tools—ones that Adaptive can offer alongside CST software to help them achieve their most challenging product-design goals.”

Adaptive Corporation
www.adaptivecorp.com

Tacton introduces full CAD automation to eliminate manual tasks in the sales and engineering process

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Tacton announced Tacton CPQ with CAD Automation, an enhanced product capability that automates the generation of CAD drawings of custom and configured products. CAD automation allows manufacturers to configure, design, and deliver custom products faster and with precision, eliminating errors and empowering customers, sales teams, and engineering to generate technical CAD drawings automatically.

In manufacturing, customers often require detailed technical drawings to close a sale, but challenges such as manual handovers can lead to long and drawn-out sales processes. In addition, stakeholders often lack a single source of product data, leading to costly technical product design errors — not to mention, unhappy customers. Tacton CPQ with CAD Automation eliminates these pain points by empowering customers and sales reps without CAD skills to automatically generate technical drawings based on configurations. This automation empowers customers and sales while allowing engineers to focus on innovation, new products, and other value-creating tasks.

“In complex sales, engineering needs to be involved in every customer case to provide detailed technical drawings to close sales and build the custom products, but misunderstandings and a lack of technical product knowledge often lead to invalid quote requests,” said Bo Gyldenvang, Chief Executive Officer at Tacton. “When paired with our CPQ, CAD Automation automates these manual processes, which makes sales teams more effective, frees up time for engineers, and, ultimately, delivers a pain-free experience to end customers.”

Tacton’s 15-plus years of experience and extensive knowledge of manufacturing vertical requirements contribute to making Tacton CPQ with CAD Automation easy to use because it is:
• Easy to implement: Fast and easy CAD mappings via point-and-click with no coding required can be validated immediately and directly connected to the CPQ platform to exchange data in the background.
• Easy to use: A simple and context-sensitive UI speeds up navigation, matching the UI of the host CAD system to ease orientation while integrated help texts speed up the onboarding of new users.
• Easy to maintain: Clear separation between configuration models and CAD mappings along with intuitive recognition of already mapped elements allows users to simply test individual values or a complete configuration. In addition, one set of constraints means administrators don’t need to worry about synchronizing systems.

Generating and providing CAD files early in the sales process eliminates misunderstandings and costly errors, ensuring reliability to the customer and promoting trust. Tacton CPQ with CAD Automation allows manufacturers to offer customized designs at a much lower cost, creating a valuable competitive advantage and boosting customer satisfaction.

Tacton
www.tacton.com

Spatial computing supports large spaces

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PTC announced the newest addition to its Vuforia augmented reality (AR) enterprise platform, the Vuforia Engine Area Targets offering. This program supports the creation of immersive augmented reality (AR) experiences for spaces up to 300,000 square feet. Through the use of Area Targets, industrial organizations can create AR interfaces within their facilities to enable employees to better engage with machinery and understand how the environment is being used.

PTC’s Vuforia Engine Area Targets leverages spatial computing capabilities to support large spaces equivalent to six American football fields

With support from Matterport and Leica 3D scanners, along with NavVis’s indoor mobile mapping systems, Area Targets users can generate photorealistic, survey-grade digital twins, empowering them to create digital canvases of spaces, such as factories, malls, or offices for spatial computing applications.

As one of the leading emerging technologies, spatial computing powers digital twin renderings to support the activities of machines and people, as well as the environments in which they operate. When deployed across the industrial enterprise, spatial computing enables seamless interactions between employees through AR, enabling companies to close the loop on performance management, improve machine learning capabilities with spatial analytics, and optimize design and factory floor operations.

PTC
www.ptc.com

Dassault Systèmes and “The Inventor” launch the “3D Design Challenge” celebrating Leonardo da Vinci

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In celebration of Leonardo da Vinci’s ingenuity that has fascinated the world for centuries, Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE Lab has teamed up with “The Inventor” – a new animated film about Leonardo from Jim Capobianco, the Academy Award-nominated writer of the Pixar film “Ratatouille” – Foliascope and Château du Clos Lucé – Parc Leonardo da Vinci to launch a new “3D Design Challenge” to bring Leonardo’s drawings to life.

The challenge invites individuals to showcase their 3D skills by using Dassault Systèmes’ 3D digital applications – which have enabled the design and engineering of groundbreaking industrial innovations for 40 years – to digitally reconstruct an invention from Leonardo’s codices.

Five winners will be selected based on how closely the 3D model resembles the original drawing, how well the model articulates the movements intended by Leonardo in the corresponding sketch, and how easily the model could be 3D printed.  Each winner will receive a 3D-printed version of their model, and gain access to Dassault Systèmes’ xDesign application for one year.

The winning designs will also be featured in the upcoming “The Inventor” stop-motion animated film that follows the incredible journey of Leonardo in a humorous and inventive story for the whole family, voiced by Stephen Fry as Leonardo, Daisy Ridley as Princess Marguerite de Navarre, and Marion Cotillard as Louise de Savoy.

The 3D Design Challenge is being run fully online from February 12-April 15, 2021 in the Open Codex Community.  Since 2012, this community has been bringing together designers, engineers, makers, hobbyists, students, teachers and others to draw inspiration from the past and use the virtual world to link imagination with innovation through international challenges focused on recreating Leonardo’s inventions in 3D.

Participants in the 3D Design Challenge must choose one of the 10 codices listed in the community and use CATIA, SOLIDWORKS or xDesign applications to accurately create a 3D working model of the drawing in real-life dimensions, then submit their entry by posting an explanation of how the final design works and uploading the 3D model in the online community.  These applications, powered by Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE platform, enable users to digitally create, test and optimize the structure, mechanics and system.

In line with the 3DEXPERIENCE Lab’s collective intelligence and cross-collaborative approach to strengthen society’s future of creation, participants are encouraged to interact with other designers, participants and fans of Leonardo in the community throughout the challenge.

For more information: