To support the growth in 3D printing, VX offers some new STL tools. One of them, the STL export, can automatically close an open shape. This can be important for customers working with imported or scan data. With Version 14.4, you will now have the ability to convert meshes to surface patches. This allows access to the full set of modeling commands to fix spikes, twists, inverted triangles, and openings. You will be able to repair STL files without having to purchase an expensive editor.

Customers with a valid update contract can download and install this update from support.vx.com. Customers running older versions of VX (VX 2008 V13.xx and earlier) can purchase an update to V14 from the VX web store or from their local reseller. Go to http://www.vx.com/store.

VX Corporation

www.vx.com

With the launch of the high definition 3D (HD3D) environment announced last year and enhanced in the latest release of NX, Siemens begins to execute on its vision to instill HD-PLM technology into all of its enterprise solutions. HD3D unites the powers of NX and Teamcenter under the HD-PLM technology framework to visually and intuitively deliver the information necessary to understand, collaborate, and make decisions in a globally distributed product development environment.

HD3D delivers on the four tenets of HD-PLM with a product development decision support and analytics solution that personalizes the user’s experience by placing them in the proper context, assists proactively with task accomplishment to help make collaborative decisions, clarifies the user’s experience by presenting information intuitively, and validates user decisions against established rationale. An efficient alternative to navigating and processing lists of attribute data and manually correlating them to 3D product models, HD3D enables the user to visually comprehend PLM data with interactive navigation, and to drill down to details as needed. Viewing a product’s 3D representation, users can easily get into the right context to instantly answer questions about project status, design changes, team responsibilities, issues, problems, cost, suppliers, and other attributes. Color-coding, on-screen tagging and legends enable visual assessment and interpretation of product development issues and decision criteria.

HD3D also works with NX validation checking tools, providing direct visual interaction that accelerates the validation of product designs against requirements. Visually rich feedback allows the user to monitor critical functional requirements throughout development, supporting rapid decision making with a high level of confidence to ensure and maximize product quality.

In addition to its support of HD-PLM, NX 7 contains new features and enhancements to redefine product development productivity. Enhancements to NX 7 within its integrated CAD applications include rapid design tools such as streamlined sketch creation, extension of synchronous technology to transform freeform modeling, and new DraftingPlus tools to dramatically enhance 2D design and drafting.

New rapid design tools accelerate 2D profile creation and positioning, automatically inferring constraints and modeling intent. As result, the company says the time needed to create models from scratch can be reduced by up to 50%.

The integration of synchronous technology with NX freeform modeling alters the advanced shaping process by making it easy to work with any geometry, including imported models.  Siemens states that you can start with simple prismatic or analytic geometry and use advanced shaping tools to form complex organic models in less time.

Additional extensions of synchronous technology offer enhancements to patterned features, assemblies, thin-walled geometry, blends, chamfers, and streamlined methods for geometry re-use.

NX DraftingPlus is a new set of design tools that further enhance the 2D functionality in NX and its integration with 3D models. A role-based interface puts the user in the right context for 2D design work, and robust functionality such as powerful curve creation and modification tools along with the ability to generate 3D geometry from 2D curves, eliminates steps, and streamlines the product design process. NX DraftingPlus enables full, single-system integration of 2D and 3D design workflows, eliminating any need to use separate 2D CAD software.

The NX design and analysis environment has already been proven to reduce the amount of time you spend validating product performance as the design evolves. The latest release of NX delivers the largest number of enhancements ever made to its CAE functionality. These enhancements redefine CAE productivity by further improving integration with product design, extending NX CAE leadership in multi-physics solutions and launching new offerings that correlate digital simulation models with measured test data. As a result, you can make better decisions in less time to create superior products.

Integrated design and CAE productivity is further enhanced in NX 7 with new model preparation workflows that assist you when working with complex geometry, meshing thin-walled parts, and enhancing beam and bolt modeling.  Many enhancements streamline the flow of data between design and analysis including improvements to laminate composite analysis workflows. Through its intuitive approach to the finite element modeling of assemblies, NX simplifies the way analysts work with large complex models and allows engineers to work with systems models that update as design fidelity increases.

NX CAE expands its outstanding integration with the broadest set of solver technologies by adding new integrated multi-physics solutions that include durability and motion analysis with flexible bodies, as well as more solutions for structural, thermal and flow analyses. Analyzing part flexibility in mechanisms is important because it can affect the geometry and lead to serious design issues. With NX 7, engineers can validate designs using higher fidelity models that combine elastic deformation and rigid body motion to evaluate the effect of component flexibility on mechanism performance and durability.

NX 7 introduces two new CAE products, NX Finite Element (FE) Model Correlation and NX FE Model Updating. These new offerings represent an analysis-oriented system, with an intuitive user interface that is tailored to the needs of the CAE analyst. They provide a complete, integrated system for modal analysis, pre-test planning, test-analysis correlation and model updating. 

NX 7 further redefines part manufacturing productivity with the introduction of two new applications that put the user in the context of a specific programming task, reducing the time needed to program complex turbo-machinery components, and maximizing the efficiency of offline coordinate measuring machine (CMM) programming.

NX Turbomachinery Milling accelerates the NC programming process for complex 5-axis multi-bladed rotational parts. This integrated NX CAM application for blisk and impeller machining offers a set of automated, context-specific functions that greatly simplify the task of creating the smart tool paths necessary for these complex parts. The new capability is supported by a range of existing functions in NX CAM such as machining simulation that is driven directly from the post processor output, helping to validate NC programming decisions. NX Turbomachinery Milling can help produce higher-quality results in half the time of ordinary milling software.

NX CMM Inspection Programming works in the context of a 3D solid model environment that includes the coordinate measuring machine and the part. Driven by automation, inspection features, and probing paths are generated directly and automatically from the PMI (product and manufacturing information) data attached to the 3D design model, producing potential reductions in inspection programming time as high as 80%. This integrated application is complete with simulation and collision avoidance to help validate CMM programming decisions, and machine and probe library content to improve CMM programming efficiency. For more information on NX 7, please visit www.siemens.com/plm/nx7. 

Siemens PLM Software

www.siemens.com