So you’ve got a 3D model in a neutral format that you want to make parametric and feature recognition doesn’t cut it and history free direct editing isn’t your preferred style. Here’s how: There’s a little bit of setup but it sure beats remodeling the whole thing, especially on complex models. One person commented since publishing this…
I often get asked, can the CAD package, at the asspopulate level, automatically build the model to spec and produce a price. The usual workflow is to put in a cost property and an equation where applicable (e.g. working out sqm) and export the BoM to Excel. As I use iLogic to automate the assembly, I thought it would be…
Which 3D MCAD package does it faster, with less features, better control & feedback with higher surface quality? With a number of different surfacing technologies in the MCAD market, I thought it would be interesting to see how Autodesk Inventor’s Freeform Modelling (using N.U.R.B.S with T-Splines), stacked up against the rest. CAD Systems In this review, the following CAD systems are…
Nastran In-CAD 2015 is now shipping for an integrated environment for Soldiworks. With a great reputation in the industry the Nastran solver does FEA linear and non-linear analysis. Adding to the Moldflow, Algor & CFDesign Line Up, Autodesk is now shipping Nastran 2015 and Nastran In-CAD 2015 for an integrated environment for Soldiworks and Inventor. The solver is also…
Adding to the Moldflow, Algor & CFDesign Line Up, Autodesk is now shipping Nastran 2015 and Nastran In-CAD 2015 for an integrated environment for Soldiworks and Inventor. With a great reputation in the industry the Nastran solver does FEA linear and non-linear analysis. The solver is also integrated into Autodesks Simulation Mechanical (Local Machine) and Simulation Flex which is…
Technical Documentation Software with Multi-CAD Associativity If you work with Solidworks and other CAD files that constantly change and publish to MS Office, Adobe, Video, Social Media and Mobile Apps, then take a good look at Autodesk’s 2015 Release of Inventor Publisher. The top enhancements from the previous release has been on associativity with all major CAD formats (aka Model Refresh), Adding Custom…
Technical Documentation Software with Multi-CAD Associativity If you work with different CAD files that constantly change and publish to MS Office, Adobe, Video, Social Media and Mobile Apps, then take a good look at Autodesk’s 2015 Release of Inventor Publisher. The top enhancements from the previous release has been on associativity with all major CAD formats (aka Model Refresh), Adding Custom Properties, improvements…
I just logged into Autodesk Beta and checked out the new enhancements and downloaded Alpha. If you thought 2015 was a kick-ass release, from what I’m seeing in the Autodesk Inventor 2016 Alpha… Wow! As I’m binded by confidentiality, I can’t say anything specific except that they are doing some great work over at Autodesk with the help of the…
Autodesk bring another level to Cloud CAD/CAM With the CAD companies clamouring to get a cloud CAD system to the market, Autodesk have been pioneering integrated CAD and CAM and now they’ve bundled the offering. When you get a monthly, quarterly or annual subscription of Fusion 360, you also get integrated, CAM 360. What makes Autodesk’s offering unique to…
Parametric Connections, NC File Support, Revit & Robot Structures Interoperability plus more. Built on the familar AutoCAD, Autodesk Advanced Steel brings a lot of features and functionality missing in Autodesk’s portfolio of design products. Anyone who had experience with AutoCAD Structural detailing knew of it’s limitations, so to have this product released is a step in the right direction. When you…
Open Collaboration Services Added to the Suite’s Subscription Services. If real-time open collaboration (regardless of CAD tool), large scale 3D visualisation, clash detection analysis and project management ticks boxes as benefits in your design workflows, then take a look at Mockup 360. Product Design Suite Services are cloud based services such as Autodesk 360 (Document Hosting, Sharing, Editing & Collaboration), Optimisation Studies for Inventor…
With sheet metal design being an integral part of many Inventor customers, the new features and enhancements are always taken with great interest, so here’s a video I put together: So What’s New in Sheet Metal for Inventor 2015 Rename End Of Part (EOP) to End Of Folded (EOF) for sheet metal parts Enhanced orientation control in…
Hybrid Parametric Direct Editing, N.U.R.B.S with T-Splines and more… Inventor 2015 is one of the best releases yet, unlike any other CAD tool on the market today because it not only delivers enhancements to existing tools and UI but adds new technology that makes this product so unique. There’s 2 big additions and many enhancements, so in this article…
Use Your Existing Engineering & Design Investment to Make Money & Save Time. Engineering for some companies can be seen as a cost, requiring resources and energy to engineer, design, research and develop. Using the right tools can reduce design cycles, errors and time and also create better products that will generate more profit but what about using those…
Conveyor Pulleys Australia Improves Productivity in 3D Modelling, Quoting & Ordering by at least 50%. When CPA moved their designs from AutoCAD to Inventor, it’s fair to say they increased productivity by around 50%, but by automating with Inventor using its iLogic module, they reduced engineering design, quoting and ordering processes by at least another 50% and what used…
The Foundation of Factory Design Suite Part 1 summarised the challenges and some of the tools used in designing and managing a Factory/Facility. This part focuses on Autodesk’s solution that addresses these challenges and subsequent posts will cover working with existing layouts, creating new layouts, analysis (process analysis, machine utilisation & energy consumption), visualisation and linking Factory Design Suite with…
Toyota, Australia’s ‘last’ Automaker announces it will pull up stumps in 2017. In May, 2013 Ford announced its plans to offshore their manufacturing, then in December, Holden announced similar plans and now Toyota completes the hat trick in under 10 months, the last of the Automakers have all announced they will be closing their manufacturing plants citing similar reasons,…
A Way To Address Factory Layouts, Engineering, Sales, Lean Manufacturing, Made to Order, Scheduling & Production Planning Challenges. The design and management of a factory involves many tools and stakeholders. Engineers can design the facilities layout with architectural structures, conveyors, materials handling, process equipment, safety equipment, office furniture, storage, building utilities (MEP), robots, spray booths, pits, platforms freezers, forklifts and humans,…
Interoperability, Associativity, Synch and Exchange Explained. With currently 13 AutoCAD Branded products available, how do they work with Inventor and to what capacity? With all that legacy AutoCAD data out there and users still engineering design on various AutoCAD Products, working with DWG is an important issue and using Autodesk products make it easier. All those time saving features…
How Alias Uses Scanned Mesh Data With Surfacing. With so many companies embracing 3D scanning but with CAD systems only being able to open an STL file, what can you do to recreate a 3D model from your mesh data when your CAD system can’t create features from the mesh? Autodesk Inventor’s mesh enabler…
With 3D CAD Giving Users So Many Benefits, Why Is AutoCAD Still As Strong As Ever? It’s been around since ’82 and I still get calls today wanting to buy it no matter what other CAD packages out there can do. Even though Autodesk’s AutoCAD is 2D with limited 3D functionality (compared to 3D Solid Modellers) there are some…
What To Get And Why. A CAD user’s workflow generally falls into 2 categories, modeling and simulation and getting a CAD workstation to suit your requirement is essential. While getting something better than what you need will delay the need to buy another computer down the track, getting something less than required will end up costing more than the…
Project Chronicle: Bringing CAD and Video into One. This Free Technology Preview from Autodesk is really ingenious. It’s a recording utility for CAD & Design Programs that not only records video screen capture and voice narration but also records and shows below the video software gestures too with a timeline chronicle of the sequence of commands, dialogue boxes, files and…
Constraining components can be time consuming. What if you could click two parts and the computer figured out the relationship and mated the two components together? You’d then specify the limitations and move onto the next task. The New Joints Command does just that in Autodesk Inventor 2014. It builds on Inventors Constraint and Assemble Commands…
Showcase, once a $40k platform, is now an affordable HDRI Visualisation tool, but is it as good as Keyshot? It opens all major CAD formats, has Kiosk features via the web or ipad, updating scene’s if the model changes without loss of work, photo-realistic rendering and animation capabilities. Keyshot has been an great choice for users of 3D CAD packages…
Wind Tunnel Simulator Available For Sale On Estore. Autodesk has released Flow Design which is a virtual wind tunnel simulator built on the Neutron Platform for mechanical and architectural applications that runs on PC or Mac. The Australian Estore site lists it for $35 per month or $200 annually. There’s an Add-in for Inventor and Revit but the standalone…
Report on Australia’s Automotive Industry Examines Global Context & Trends. With Holden announcing their departure soon after Ford, this report seems a little pointless now, with Toyota being the only player (Oh, What a Feeling!), but it does highlight what has shaped the Auto landscaped in Australia. Some things we knew already, like energy, labour and the dollar are…
Coal Seam Gas said to Benefit Manufacturing in Victoria by Lowering Gas Prices. There’s a lot of health concerns about CSG affecting water tables but with an abundance of resources, energy prices being so high, big players lobbying and the need to create jobs can you blame people for wanting the industry in Victoria. The Victorian government have delayed…
Autodesk strengthens it’s web-based 3D presence and hints towards 3D Printing market. Joining the 123D App family is Circuits.io a web-based and connected community for designing and simulating electronic circuits and will now be branded Autodesk 123D Circuits. Not only can you do PCB design, you can order multi-layer PCB’s from the website too. Other features are a breadboard…
3D Modelling Nuts & Bolts with Bones & Tendons. Anyone have a 3D Model of a parametric biomechanical human body? No! Autodesk Research’s Digital Ergonomics Divisions focus is on creating products that involve human interaction and having an advanced biomechanical human model can help make these better products better because currently testing these products against known human fatos is…
Associativity is great, when the 3D model changes, the 2D drawing and Bill of Materials updates automatically. Associativity between programs is even better. So you may ask why do I need to use AutoCAD to detail my 3D model when I already have Inventor? Autodesk Inventor can create a DWG drawing and detail 3D Model which saves time exporting from…
Autodesk lead the way in Cloud-Based CAD Solutions. In today’s world where projects needed to be completed last week, AutoCAD 360 is a handy tool for any CAD user that needs to communicate and design at the speed of business. The industry has been screaming for an access anywhere, anytime CAD system for years now and while other CAD vendors…
Get $150,000 of software for $50, Workshops to Learn how to do sustainable design & engineering and understand key concepts, Sustainable business practices and Nonprofit donated software are some of the offerings Autodesk provide under their Clean Tech Program being driven by the design-led revolution. Clean Tech Innovators can apply for the $150k Clean Tech Grant Here and get Software for Digital…
When 2D isn’t Enough but 3D is Too Complicated – Use the Right Tool for the Right Job at the Right Time. Associativity between Autodesk’s AutoCAD and Inventor has always been an enhancement request. A couple years ago, Autodesk released Associativity between AutoCAD and Inventor where you could detail your 3D Inventor models with the power of AutoCAD and…
When People Buy Your Products Because They Look Better. A Class A Surface can be defined as one without physical imperfection. In the Automotive world, Class A Surfaces are mandatory as any reflection while highlight any imperfections, and have been used for Automotive surfaces for years, but what about consumer products, why doesn’t this market segment demand Class A…
This free technology preview is available from Autodesk Labs, and will simulate air flow around buildings, vehicles, outdoor equipment, consumer products or other objects in a virtual wind tunnel. Open your 2D or 3D model, set the wind direction (angle), speed (velocity) and analyse the flow. There are analysis settings for dimensions, resolution and 3D drag too. There are…
All manufacturers have processes and inevitably these processes have bottlenecks that need to be analysed, simulated and improved. Process Analysis 360, builds on the Factory Design Suite Portfolio by helping engineers and systems designers study and optimise manufacturing processes from any web0-enabled device. This is not a CAD product. You design a layout by drag and dropping block diagrams and…
Autodesk have launched CAM 360 and you can try it here. It’s the only CAM that combines CNC Programming (Generator & Editing), Tool Path Simulation, and Design with real-time collaboration and online project and data management. It’s based on HSMWorks technology which they acquired about 13 months ago and comes with Fusion 360 too which will allow to to do 3D CAD…
Revit Interoperability: Getting your 3D Mechanical CAD to work Revit CAD files & BIM-MEP AUS Compliance. The AEC (Architecture, Engineering & Construction) sector has long been using Revit for their 3D design of buildings and structures, but what happens if you’re a manufacturer of pumps or you fabricate staircases and your client requests files in Revit? How do you…
HSV use Autodesk software for two main reasons, Visualisation & Surfacing. With Autodesk Showcase they explore different design and styling options without creating a physical prototype for each option. Not only does it allow them to explore options, they use it to spot issues with the finish and correct them. Since Showcase is a real time renderer, they also use…
Cloud Based, Parametrics, History Free, NURBS, T-Splines and more… for $40 a Month??? About 4 years ago, the Autodesk’s EPT (Emerging Products & Technologies) Group were given a project to build the next generation 3D Mechanical CAD Modeller from the ground up and in June, 2013, Fusion 360 was born. It’s runs on thin client architecture, so it’s cloud…
The Recent Acquisitions of VSR & Delcam Make It a Serious Player It’s pretty clear what Autodesk’s goal is; World Domination! It’s got it’s fingers in every industry that uses software for engineering and design. In Automotive, Autodesk’s acquisition of Alias, gave it a foot in the door, adding Class-A Surfacing tools to their MCAD portfolio, and in many countries,…
Autodesk ReCap Photo: Making Images a Virtual Reality What do you get when you cross unlimited cloud computing and cutting edge digital stitching? A 3D Mesh. Add Auotdesk Project Momento for analysis and correction and Mesh Enabler to convert the mesh into a 3D Solid, now you’ve got something you can work with. Autodesk ReCap for laser scanning is already included…
Will Additive Manufacturing Get Australian Manufacturing Competitive Again? The short answer is no, not today, but there is hope for the future. The only problem is will it get here quick enough to save the industry… Ok, here’s the argument for TiAM (Titanium Additive Manufacturing); you have two factories, one in China, one in Australia. There’s 10 TiAM Machines,…
Check out Autodesks next phase in 3D CAD Modelling using LEAP Motion. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-1YPgMxECk The Leap Plug-In for Maya is available here: http://area.autodesk.com/MayaLeapPlugin
Autodesk taking the cloud by storm with CAM In October 2012, Autodesk acquired HSMWorks, a Solidworks CAM add-on. A year later it announced HSMXpress is available for download and integrated into Autodesk Inventor. So there’s two versions, HSMXpress and HSMProfessional. Xpress is a free 2 1/2 D Axis CAM, which is CAM on the X/Y plane and Professional will…
Will Direct-Injection Carbon Engines (aka Brown Coal Innovation) be replacing traditional generation methods in the Latrobe Valley? The technology has been around for a while now and in essence, it’s making coal in a suitable liquid form and using that liquid like you would for petroleum and generating power on a mass scale to deliver base load power. It…
First HSMWorks now Delcam – what is Autodesks strategy? In October 2012, Autodesk bought HSMWorks, a year on, they have integrated 2 1/2 Axis CAM called HSMXpress, free for Inventor users and look to be releasing HSMWorks on subscription cloud based version for 3 axis or more. Delcam is a mature and reputable offering with more than milling and…
Autodesk Acquire Graitec for Structural Steel & Concrete Fabrication and Detailing On October 2, 2013, Autodesk annouced they acquired Graitec who have AutoCAD add-ons for structural steel and concrete. A while back they acquired a polish company for an AutoCAD structural steel detailing package, re-branded it AutoCAD Structural Detailing (ASD) and eventually incorporated it into Plant Design Suite Premium and Building Design Suite…
Digitising Concept Sketch Designs Change… hard to do but necessary when the world around you changes and it’s challenging to move from what you know to something better and having to re-learn, but it doesn’t have to be. Designs usually start with a pen and pad and a lot of erasing and design changes and variations, which is why…
