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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:

 

Introducing hyperMILL 2021.1 CAD/CAM software suite

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OPEN MIND Technologies AG, a leading developer of CAD/CAM software solutions, has introduced its latest hyperMILL 2021.1 CAD/CAM software suite which offers users new and enhanced features for efficient 3D, 5-axis and mill/turn machining. Key innovations include a new “Interactive Edit Toolpath” capability which enables toolpath editing after initial toolpath generation. Especially productive for optimizing tool and mold making, the new toolpath editing feature is easy-to-use, and offers programmers the flexibility to adapt toolpaths by trimming and removing sequences accordingly for component conditions.

To streamline access to Product Manufacturing Information (PMI) and metadata, hyperMILL 2021.1 offers a new import function that retrieves face quality information and metadata when importing CAD data from neutral or native formats, and attaches data to the imported faces in hyperCAD-S, making the information available to hyperMILL and its machining processes.

A new 5-axis Radial Machining strategy allows bottle shapes and similar cavities to be easily and efficiently programmed in hyperMILL, resulting in high-quality surface finishes. Using a new radial projection method, toolpaths are calculated quickly so that the most productive machining strategies can be applied. For optimal high precision machining, hyperMILL “High Precision Surface Mode” and “Smooth Overlap” strategies can also be applied when using 5-axis Radial Machining, ensuring the best surface quality and clean transitions.

For high-quality surface finishes and to simplify programming when flank and point milling blades, hyperMILL 2021.1 offers several enhanced Multi-Blade strategies. No longer do blade surfaces need to be ruled for accurate programming results. Using the enhanced strategies, any number of surfaces are permitted for the suction and pressure sides, making it exceptionally easy to extend blade surfaces. Fillets with a variable radius are supported in the latest version of hyperMILL. Also, for high accuracy, the enhanced Multi-Blade flank milling strategies result in smaller deviations on the suction and pressure side, and offer improved tool guidance along the upper boundary in the edge area.

hyperMILL 2021.1 provides a new SIMULATION Center for generic NC data in turning and milling operations. Modeled after the hyperMILL VIRTUAL Machining Center, the new, modern SIMULATION Center is integrated in hyperMILL, and offers an intuitive operating environment for faster simulation, independent collision checking and extensive analysis functions.

Additional new features in hyperMILL 2021.1 include a new, easy-to-use “XY Optimization” command for optimal 3D profile finishing. In the hyperMILL Mill-Turn Module, the high-performance mode has been integrated into a 3-axis simultaneous roughing strategy, combining the advantages of HPC and simultaneous turning. For the simplified alignment of components, hyperCAD-S has a new “Align Best Fit” machining command that allows like-geometry components to be aligned with one another using defined pairs of points.

OPEN MIND Technologies AG
www.openmind-tech.com/en

Radica Software partners with Onshape to bring 3D drawings and electrical CAD on one platform

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Radica Software, a developer of cloud-based electrical computer-aided design software (ECAD), announced it has partnered with Onshape Inc. Both companies have agreed to integrate their technologies to provide end-to-end drawing solutions for engineers around the globe. The integration makes it easy and efficient for engineers to complete product designs using 3D CAD software together with Electra Cloud’s 2D electrical, pneumatic, and hydraulic drawings, in real-time, all within a single online platform on Onshape. This offering is already available, and users can now subscribe to Electra Cloud directly from Onshape’s app store.

Users may share parts, designs, and symbols so they can be reused throughout the entire company. This eliminates tedious repetitive tasks and frees up engineers’ time so they can focus on important priorities to improve bottom line.

Onshape and Radica Software already have plans for deeper integration within the coming months. For example, users will be able to customize Electra Cloud with a plugin that will extract information from Onshape and automatically populate electrical drawings. Conversely, electrical drawings made on Electra Cloud can also insert parts into 3D Onshape drawings, for workflow management or even simulations.

The partnership with Onshape is the first for Electra Cloud since its launch in early 2020. Radica Software is also looking to widen its market reach through partnerships with other industry players around the world.

Radica Software
radicasoftware.com

GEA uses Dassault Systèmes’ Simulation Technology to safely reopen its cafeteria for 1,900 employees

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Dassault Systèmes announced that GEA, one of the world’s largest technology suppliers for food processing and a wide range of other industries, used SIMULIA applications powered by the 3DEXPERIENCE platform to simulate the airflow in its Oelde, Germany employee cafeteria, which has been closed since March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and gain insights on how to safely reopen it for 1,900 employees.

Understanding that the coronavirus can spread through droplets in the air, GEA wanted to examine the spread of aerosols in its cafeteria and visualize different safety scenarios as part of its “Back to Work” initiative to fully reopen all sites. It worked with Dassault Systèmes to build a 3D virtual twin of the cafeteria with parameters that included people infected with the virus coughing and sneezing, to simulate particle flow behavior throughout the space. GEA was able to experience how the virus could spread through the air as well as contaminate surfaces like plates, trays and tables. The virtual twin also revealed unexpected areas of high virus concentration.

GEA is now using the simulation results to identify and implement an effective risk management strategy for a safer cafeteria environment. This includes altering entrances, exits and seating layouts, separating the cafeteria’s kitchen from its catering area, modifying the ventilation system, and adopting additional safety measures that protect kitchen staff.

“Simulation provided us with a valuable learning experience and will play a major role in our decision-making as we plan to reopen our cafeteria, which is an important gathering space for all our employees,” said Erich Nitzsche, Vice President Engineering Standards & Services, GEA. “The results from our collaboration with Dassault Systèmes exceeded our expectations and showed a different story from what we were expecting. Thanks to simulation, we can be more purposeful in our thinking as we solve problems to ensure the health and safety of our employees and reduce the negative impacts on our business. Selecting Dassault Systèmes was a winning initiative for us.”

GEA plans to share videos showing the simulation results to employees, to clearly communicate why and how new measures were taken, and technology’s role in this strategy.

“Virtual worlds revolutionize our relationship with knowledge and open up tremendous possibilities,” said Klaus Löckel, Managing Director, EUROCENTRAL, Dassault Systèmes. “Our SIMULIA applications reveal the invisible by representing the time and space of a behavior that evolves in its environment. GEA can understand and act on this behavior in response to the coronavirus crisis with a program that prioritizes employee well-being.”

Dassault Systèmes
www.3ds.com

Elysium to launch 3DxSUITE in Spring 2021

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Global interoperability solutions provider, Elysium, is developing a new consolidated interoperability platform scheduled for release in the spring of 2021. The 3DxSUITE will enable users to customize and integrate Elysium’s data solutions into automated quality and compliance-checking systems best suited to their operational needs.

Flexibility and openness support digital end-to-end processes for MBE and the 3D-Master
“For almost 30 years, we have been creating a variety of packaged software products based on our unique 3D data-processing technology,” says Atsuto Soma, CTO of Elysium. “Now, we are transforming our existing technology into a new platform that can more flexibly meet the demand for greater industry automation and inter-connectivity between CAD data resources and downstream manufacturing processes.

“3DxSUITE truly embodies the ‘interoperability’ that Elysium has set as its business concept since its foundation,” says Soma. “Companies that use 3D to design and manufacture products should not be tied to a specific authoring system or set of tools, but rather transcend the barriers between companies and organizations, creating the ideal manufacturing processes that connect all kinds of information, systems, equipment and people.”

Accelerating the digital transformation of manufacturing
In recent years, as digital transformation has progressed across many industries, manufacturing companies have increasingly relied on streamlined 3D data to optimize their supply chains.
“With advanced IT solutions now available, such as cloud applications and web-based portal communications, manufacturers using a variety of CAD software and PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) systems will be able to more broadly and deeply employ Elysium’s new platform to fully utilize their 3D digital engineering data,” Soma says. “This will facilitate the transformational changes now taking place globally and promote business growth.”

Modularity, usability and mobility
Elysium has developed a full spectrum of digital technologies—such as data translation, verification including PDQ (Product Data Quality), validation, optimization including geometry simplification and data repurposing, and even packaging of 3D and supplemental data—and incorporated these into the desktop application CADdoctor; the enterprise solution, ASFALIS; and the foundational data-translation tool, DirectTranslator.

On the upcoming interoperability platform, 3DxSUITE, users will not be limited to any specific configuration of Elysium products, or any particular CAD system or data format. They will be free to pick the manual or automated data solutions that best fit their individual needs with regard to design tools, manufacturing processes, operational systems, etc.

Companies can use the new platform to construct a centralized system that allows them to easily select, combine and integrate modularized functions and usage. This ability will save companies handling 3D engineering data significant time and costs in their model-based and digitalization efforts, and improve supply-chain integration and productivity.

Supporting the evolution of the digital environment
“One of the greatest advantages of this software consolidation is the ease by which customers can start incorporating their first priorities, whether small-scale or large-scale,” says Annalise Suzuki, North American VP of Technology & Engagement for Elysium. “When it comes to MBE initiatives, it’s not reasonable to seek a radical change overnight. MBD/MBE is a long-term, evolving roadmap as cultures, tools, standards and processes improve. The 3DxSUITE is most accommodating when it comes to supporting such an evolving shift—whether it be adding capabilities over time, expanding use cases, or changing out 3D formats.

“From a value perspective, 3DxSUITE is a single-point solution—a single architecture for upgrading a CAD system and outgoing data across multiple vendors and into set production and delivery schedules. It maximizes throughputs, but minimizes overhead for implementation, integration, configuration, upgrades, and long-term support,” says Suzuki.

Elysium
www.elysium-global.com/en/