Cloud CAD is really difficult
If you believe the buzz in the blogosphere, there are a lot of engineers and designers who are not at all happy at the prospect of some day being forced to use cloud-based CAD. The public lashback on cloud CAD started building several years ago, and it’s hardly abated since. The conversation has taken on political/religious overtones. In the best of all worlds, clould CAD... Read More
Autodesk ForceEffect now has motion
Autodesk shipped its free iOS (iPhone, iPad, or iPod) based ForceEffect program several months ago, and it was an instant hit, especially with students and makers. It allowed users to do static free body diagrams, in a most elegant way. Autodesk has just released ForceEffect Motion. It too is free. It appears to be a phenomenal tool for doing conceptual design of kinematic systems.... Read More
Autodesk provides real-time DFM for plastic part design
There’s a lot of benefit to be had by doing manufacturability analysis (DFM, Design for Manufacturing) early in the design process, rather than waiting until later, when design changes are far more expensive. A couple of years ago, Autodesk Labs previewed a product, Project Krypton, which ran inside of 3D CAD programs (including Autodesk Inventor, DS SolidWorks, and PTC... Read More
Autodesk Inventor ETO gets webified
Autodesk has just introduced a new release of Autodesk Inventor Engineer-to-order (ETO) software that can be deployed over the web. The new browser-based access is powered by the Autodesk Inventor Engineer-to-Order Server, which includes the ETO (Intent) Rules Engine and the Inventor Server (for model and drawing generation), as well as web services and server farm management software.... Read More
AutoCAD’s ancestor
As of the end of last month, Autodesk is 30 years old. What’s little known in the CAD industry, and rarely mentioned today, is that AutoCAD had an ancestor that predated the founding of Autodesk. A product called INTERACT.This is a photo of the INTERACT CAD system, circa 1978. The hardware is an S-100 computer with dual 8″ floppy drives, and a 640×480 pixel graphics... Read More
High-tech tools for a cool ride
When Marcus Hays first heard about an electric bike, he was less than enthusiastic. Why load a bike with battery weight, turning the human motor into passenger in the process? That was 1995 and Hays was working with Lee Iococca to develop electric cars and bikes.Electric bikes use less than 1,000 watts of total power and can be used on bike paths. When Hays first encountered these... Read More
New software slated to change the workplace
CAD software vendors have touted product usability for a long time. However, they haven’t really delivered on that promise until recently. There were a few software debuts in 2011 that changed that premise. True user usability could lead to a broader CAD audience and a bigger market share.The product development team at PTC came up with the idea of a creating single program... Read More
Printer shifts from 2D to 3D
Voith Paper decided to improve its design process across its centers of competencies around the world. Each center specializes in particular parts of a paper machine: due to its massive size and complexity, a finished machine requires design input from several design centers. Voith knew that speeding up its design and manufacturing processes would mean aligning its dispersed design... Read More
Surface deformation software
Kickstand launched a campaign to evolve StretchMesh Surface Deformation software into Open Source technology – opening the door for artists working in Maya to incorporate the surface deformation technology into their 3D workflow. The initiative allows programmers and developers of software programs such as Autodesk 3D Studio Max and Softimage, NewTek LightWave, Luxology modo,... Read More
Racing team relies on suite of software products
Australia-based racing team, Kelly Racing, has been using Autodesk products for a range of uses – from precision design to validating new car components — all without hitting the track for physical testing. Given that the period between races is often a window of less than three weeks, Autodesk Inventor Professional, Autodesk Simulation CFD, Autodesk Simulation Multiphysics,... Read More
