Sunday, November 30, 2014

3D Systems to Acquire Cimatron

http://www.3dsystems.com
ROCK HILL, SC, USA & GIVAT SHMUEL, Israel, Nov 30, 2014 - 3D Systems Corporation (NYSE:DDD) and Cimatron Ltd. (NASDAQ: CIMT) announced a definitive agreement under which 3DS will acquire all of the outstanding shares of Cimatron for $8.97 per share in cash, subject to certain adjustments for Cimatron transaction expenses, for a total of approximately $97 million, inclusive of its net cash.

The combination of Cimatron’s products with 3DS’ portfolio strengthens 3DS’ position in the fast-growing 3D design and manufacturing space. The transaction adds complementary products and technology and extends 3DS’ direct and reseller sales coverage globally. 3DS management expects the acquisition of Cimatron to be immediately accretive to its cash generation and to its Non-GAAP earnings per share upon closing.

“We believe that the perfect strategic fit between our businesses, combined with expanded capabilities in product development, channel coverage and marketing, could present sizeable synergies that together offer significant long-term customer benefits and shareholder value,” commented Avi Reichental, President and CEO of 3DS.

Cimatron is a leading provider of integrated 3D CAD/CAM software products and solutions for manufacturing. Cimatron’s products are used by a growing number of companies worldwide for their 3D production molds, tools and dies in a wide variety of functional end-use manufacturing applications. With two major product lines, CimatronE and GibbsCAM, Cimatron caters to all manufacturing sectors. CimatronE is an integrated CAD/CAM solution for toolmakers and manufacturers of discrete parts, which provides full associativity across the manufacturing process from quoting, through design and up to delivery. GibbsCAM, the CAM industry's recognized ease-of-use leader, offers simple to use, yet extremely powerful, solutions for programming multi-axis CNC machine tools.

“We are delighted to combine our leading 3D CAD/CAM software products with 3DS’ expanding design and manufacturing digital thread,” said Danny Haran, CEO of Cimatron. “We have always been focused on providing comprehensive, cost-effective solutions that streamline manufacturing cycles and shorten product delivery time, and as part of 3DS we can substantially accelerate our progress and extend our reach and impact”.

"Our entire Board of Directors is proud of Cimatron and its management’s long term success in building a great company with leading products that create sustained customer and shareholder value, and are grateful to have been part of guiding this journey," added Yossi Ben Shalom, Chairman of the Board of Cimatron.

The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including requisite regulatory approvals and the approval of Cimatron’s shareholders. The Boards of Directors of both companies have unanimously approved the proposed transaction. The companies expect the transaction to close in the first quarter of 2015.

Advisors
  1. Needham & Company is serving as financial advisor to 3DS. Hunton & Williams LLP and Gornitzky & Co. are serving as 3DS’ legal counsel.
  2. Prometheus Financial Advisory is serving as financial advisor to Cimatron. Meitar Liquornik Geva Leshem Tal is serving as Cimatron’s legal counsel.
About 3D Systems

3DS is pioneering 3D printing for everyone. 3DS provides the most advanced and comprehensive 3D design-to-manufacturing solutions including 3D printers, print materials and cloud sourced custom parts. Its powerful digital thread empowers professionals and consumers everywhere to bring their ideas to life in material choices including plastics, metals, ceramics and edibles. 3DS' leading healthcare solutions include end-to-end simulation, training and integrated 3D planning and printing for personalized surgery and patient specific medical and dental devices. Its democratized 3D design and inspection products embody the latest perceptual, capture and touch technology. Its products and services replace and complement traditional methods with improved results and reduced time to outcomes. These solutions are used to rapidly design, create, communicate, plan, guide, prototype or produce functional parts, devices and assemblies, empowering customers to manufacture the future. For more information, visit www.3dsystems.com.

About Cimatron

Cimatron is a leading provider of 3D CAD/CAM software for the manufacturing industry. With two major product lines, GibbsCAM and CimatronE, Cimatron caters to all manufacturing sectors, offering specialized solutions for mold and die makers, as well as solutions for multi-Axis production milling and turning.

Ranked among the top CAD/CAM suppliers in every global region, Cimatron has subsidiaries in Asia, North America and Europe, and works with certified independent service providers in over 40 countries worldwide. Cimatron service providers offer responsive and effective sales and technical support, helping businesses use Cimatron software to maximize their potential.

Cimatron's full range of products and solutions use the most advanced technology available to speed up productivity and shorten delivery times. Designed and developed by manufacturers and toolmakers with a wealth of experience on the shop floor, both of Cimatron's product lines are easy to learn and intuitive for the manufacturing professionals who use them. For more information, visit www.cimatron.com.

Saturday, November 29, 2014

Hydronic Database for MagiCAD Ventilation Released

http://www.magicad.com/
RAUMA, Finland, Nov 29, 2014 - MagiCAD announces the new product database from Hydronic released in MagiCAD. The Hydronic database for MagiCAD Ventilation consists of a selection of air handling units.


To install the new database into MagiCAD, use the Check for Updates function from the MagiCAD ribbon menu. To preview the products, visit MagiCloud.

About Hydronic

Founded in 1961 in Mortagne-au-Perche, Hydronic is a French company specialising in central air handling solutions. Hydronic designs and manufactures a full range of central air handling units, ranging from 300 m3/h to 130 000m3/h and beyond.

The Hydronic AHUs provide expert hygiene and comfort solutions for multiple different fields and applications, including commercial buildings, healthcare facilities, as well as various industrial sites. For more information, visit www.hydronic.com.

TECE Database for MagiCAD Heating & Piping Released

http://www.magicad.com
RAUMA, Finland, Nov 29, 2014 - MagiCAD announces the new product database from TECE released in MagiCAD. The TECE database for MagiCAD Heating & Piping consists of TECElogo and TECEflex pipe fittings, TECEprofil bathroom modules, TECEdrainline shower drain channels, manifolds, radiator valves, washstands and more. The database is available for both Revit and AutoCAD technologies.


To install the new database into MagiCAD, use the Check for Updates function from the MagiCAD ribbon menu. To preview the products, visit MagiCloud.

TECE GmbH

Founded originally in 1955 as an engineering office, TECE has over the last half a century developed into an internationally well-known manufacturer of domestic engineering solutions, with a product portfolio that includes a wide variety of piping and drainage products.

TECE’s products are manufactured in five production facilities and sold across Germany and the world. TECE’s sales operations are handled by 21 subsidiaries and 31 sales branches internationally, and the company employs around 1200 staff worldwide. For more information, visit http://www.tece.de/en/.

MecSoft Certifies VisualCAM 2014 to be Compatible with SolidWorks 2015

http://www.mecsoft.com/
IRVINE, CA, USA, Nov 29, 2014 - MecSoft Corporation, a SolidWorks Gold Certified CAM system developer has announced that VisualCAM 2014 for SolidWorks is certified to run inside the new release of SolidWorks 2015.

“MecSoft is a SolidWorks Gold certified CAM developer, and so we make every effort to always keep our products up-to-date and certified to run with the latest releases of the SolidWorks CAD system” stated Uday Honnalagere, Support Manager for MecSoft.

VisualCAM for SolidWorks is a direct plug-in to the SolidWorks CAD system and includes two CAM modules known as VisualCAM-MILL for SolidWorks, and VisualCAM-TURN for SolidWorks. Each of these CAM modules runs integrated inside the SolidWorks CAD program and can be bought and licensed independent of each other.

A free demo of VisualCAM 2014 for SolidWorks can be downloaded at http://visualcamforsolidworks.com.

About MecSoft Corporation

Headquartered in Irvine, California, MecSoft Corporation is a worldwide leader in providing CNC software solutions for the small to mid-market segments. These solutions include products VisualCAD/CAM, VisualCAM for SolidWorks, RhinoCAM and VisualCAM for Geomagic. These software products deliver powerful, easy-to-use and affordable solutions for users in the custom manufacturing, rapid tooling, mold making, aerospace, automotive, tool & die, woodworking, and education industries. For more information, visit http://www.mecsoft.com or call 949-654-8163.

Autodesk to Present at Arizona, San Francisco Investor Conferences

www.autodesk.com
SAN RAFAEL, CA, USA, Nov 29, 2014 - Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK) announced its executives will be speaking at the following upcoming investor conferences:
  1. Credit Suisse Technology Conference, December 3 in Scottsdale, Arizona
  2. Barclays Global Technology Conference, December 9 in San Francisco
HOW:

A live webcast and replay of the presentations will be available through Autodesk's Investor Relations Website at www.autodesk.com/investors. Go to the website at least 15 minutes early to register, download and install any necessary software.

CONTACT:

For more information, please call Autodesk Investor Relations at 415-507-6705.

About Autodesk

Autodesk helps people imagine, design and create a better world. Everyone—from design professionals, engineers and architects to digital artists, students and hobbyists—uses Autodesk software to unlock their creativity and solve important challenges. For more information, visit www.autodesk.com.

GRAPHISOFT ArchiCAD Integrates with LumenRT 2015

http://www.graphisoft.com
BUDAPEST, Hungary, Nov 29, 2014 - GRAPHISOFT, the leading Building Information Modeling (BIM) architectural software developer, has announced that it is now fully-integrated with LumenRT 2015 on the PC and Mac platforms. The interface includes full support for the export of ArchiCAD geometry and BIM information along with an integrated LumenRT proxy content library of plants, vehicles and characters. With the ArchiCAD LumenRT Exporter (standard on all versions of LumenRT), ArchiCAD users can instantly transform their models into rich, immersive scenery complete with wind-blown trees, moving vehicles, animated characters, wavy water, clouds and atmospheres.


“LumenRT is possibly the best thing that has happened to BIM since BIM itself, by allowing the exploration of BIM scenes in real-time with a true-to-life environment,” said Ivo Venkov, Architect and Founder, PAA Studio.

“ArchiCAD integration has been a top request from our users and we are pleased to deliver this important capability with LumenRT 2015,” said Nicholas Phelps, CEO of e-on software. “The GRAPHISOFT team was extremely helpful during the integration process and we look forward to providing LumenRT to the ArchiCAD user community. We believe the combination of ArchiCAD and LumenRT delivers unparalleled environmental realism in a simple-to-use, real-time platform and is a must have for any ArchiCAD user seeking a more compelling and engaging way to convey their design vision.”

“We welcome e-on software and LumenRT into the ArchiCAD community,” said Laszlo Vertesi, GRAPHISOFT Vice President of Product Development. “LumenRT provides a rich environmental modeling capability that nicely compliments the ArchiCAD BIM solution.”

About LumenRT

LumenRT is the leading 3D immersive communication platform for architecture and GeoDesign. With LumenRT, architects, designers, engineers, and GIS professionals can convey their design ideas and vision in much more compelling and engaging fashion – to tell a story by allowing the audience to “experience” the design rather than just seeing it. For more information, visit www.LumenRT.com.

About e-on

E-on software is the leading developer of solutions for the creation, animation, rendering and integration of natural 3D environments (Vue, Ozone and Carbon Scatter), as well as real-time Immersive Communication tools for Architecture and GeoDesign. Offering a wide array of Digital Nature products and applications, e-on software provides solutions adapted to every project and budget. E-on software products are used worldwide by the film, television, architecture, construction, game, science, educational and entertainment industries. E-on software is based in Beaverton, Oregon, with a European office in Paris, France. For more information, visit www.e-onsoftware.com.

About GRAPHISOFT

GRAPHISOFT ignited the BIM revolution in 1984 with ArchiCAD, the industry first BIM software for architects. GRAPHISOFT continues to lead the industry with innovative solutions such as its revolutionary BIMcloud, the world’s first real-time BIM collaboration environment, EcoDesigner, the world’s first fully BIM-integrated “GREEN” design solution and BIMx, the world’s leading mobile app for BIM visualization. GRAPHISOFT has been a part of the Nemetschek Group since its acquisition in 2007. For more information, visit archicad.com

TraceParts Launches Online CAD Library for EPTDA Members

http://www.traceparts.com
ST. ROMAIN, France, Nov 29, 2014 - TraceParts, one of the world leading digital engineering 3D content companies, has confirmed a partnership with the EMEA Power Transmission Distributors Association (EPTDA) to promote its members’ technical data and 3D CAD models online.

www.tracepartsonline.net/ws/eptda
(click to see)

As an Associate Member of the EPTDA since 2012, TraceParts had worked closely with European market leaders involved in power transmission and motion control components to publish their 3D product catalogs on the TraceParts Engineering library TracePartsOnline.net. Companies who implemented such a 3D product marketing strategy with TraceParts saw substantial return both in terms of number of CAD model downloads and additional sales.

Based on this success, EPTDA and TraceParts looked to leverage this further to offer every EPTDA member the same opportunity to increase product visibility and grow business. From this partnership, a new engineering online library was created to focus on the 15 main product categories supported by the EPTDA including bearings, belts, controls and sensors, couplings, electronic drives, hydraulics, linear motion, motors and pneumatics,…This dedicated CAD library streamlines the entire design process and gives engineers and design professionals the ability to quickly select, evaluate and download CAD models of components to meet their design requirements.

This new online library provides direct access to 3D catalogs including 2D drawings, CAD models and full technical specifications. All components can be viewed in 3D, with a live preview which can be manipulated in the browser in real time, before being downloaded in any of the many supported CAD formats compatible with most popular CAD software. The EPTDA online library can be freely accessed from the EPTDA website or directly at www.tracepartsonline.net/ws/eptda

Only one month after go-live, this new CAD library showcases millions of components from an ever growing list of part vendors such as CMD COUPLINGS, FLI, GATES, INA / FAG, ITAFRAN, IWIS, KURODA JENA TEC, mbo Oßwald, NADELLA, NSK, POGGI, ROLLON, SEDIS, SIEMENS Automation and Control, SIT, SKF, SMC and NTN-SNR.

About TraceParts

TraceParts is a world-leading digital engineering 3D content company, offering progressive business software solutions for over 20 years through powerful web based products and services such as CAD part libraries, electronic catalogs and product configurators, helping part vendors to improve marketing efficiencies by increasing the value of their existing digital product data.

The TracePartsOnline.net CAD portal is freely available to millions of CAD users worldwide, with hundreds of supplier catalogs and over 100 million CAD models and product datasheets suitable for the Design, Purchasing, Manufacturing and Maintenance processes. For more information, visit www.traceparts.com.

About EPTDA

Founded in 1998, EPTDA today is the largest organization in EMEA of distributors and manufacturers of mechanical power transmission and motion control products.

The EPTDA distributor and manufacturer companies cover more than 15 product categories within the EPTDA, and are active in a range of end markets, including but not limited to Food & beverage equipment; Mining & dredging; Automotive; Industrial machinery; Agriculture equipment; Power generation; Material handling equipment; and Pulp & paper. For more information, visit http://www.eptda.org.

AVEVA Opens Office in Aberdeen

http://www.aveva.com
CAMBRIDGE, UK, Nov 29, 2014 - AVEVA announced the opening of its new office in Aberdeen, further strengthening its growing global network. The office will offer sales and support for all of AVEVA’s solutions and services with a strategic focus on the region’s globally recognized oil & gas sector.

‘We have worked with our customers in Aberdeen for many decades,’ said Richard Longdon, CEO, AVEVA. ‘This office represents our continued commitment to these strategic companies and the wider region. Aberdeen is, and will remain, a key location for the oil & gas industry with the expertise in Aberdeen exported throughout the world.’

The new premises is based at the prestigious Arnhall Business Park, which is home to some of the largest oil & gas companies in Aberdeen including Technip, Subsea 7 and TAQA.

‘At AVEVA we put customer service first, recognizing that it’s one of the things that gives us a competitive advantage in the marketplace. Having a presence where our clients are based creates stronger relationships and enables us to be more responsive to their requirements,’ commented Helmut Schuller, Executive Vice President, Group Sales, AVEVA. ‘Aberdeen is a key city servicing the North Sea oil & gas hub, which is estimated to be producing 1.5 million barrels of oil per day into 2020. Some 26% of the city’s jobs are in the oil & gas Industry. We are delighted to be part of this vibrant ecosystem and our new office will ensure we are in the best possible position to serve our existing and future customers.’

About AVEVA

For over 45 years, AVEVA software has enabled the creation of some of the world’s most complex power and process plants, vessels and offshore facilities. AVEVA’s Digital Asset approach ensures there is always an accurate digital representation of each physical asset. This allows engineering contractors, owner operators and ship builders to work safer, more efficiently and with less risk throughout the life cycle of their projects and operations. For further information, visit www.aveva.com.

Nemetschek Localizes Vectorworks 2015 for Spain

www.vectorworks.net
COLUMBIA, MD, USA, Nov 29, 2014 - Nemetschek Vectorworks, Inc., a provider of intuitive, powerful and practical 2D/3D and Building Information Modeling (BIM) software solutions, announces that the Spanish-language release of its Vectorworks 2015 software version. This release is part of a worldwide roll out that included other European-language releases earlier this month and continues into 2015 with additional localizations in Japanese and Chinese. The Vectorworks line of award-winning software products includes: Designer, Architect, Landmark, Spotlight, Fundamentals and Renderworks.

The Vectorworks 2015 software contains more than 100 updates and new features in the areas of architecture, BIM, urban planning and entertainment design. In previous versions, the power of 64-bit was only available in the platform’s photorealistic rendering engine, Renderworks, but has now been integrated throughout the entire Vectorworks 2015 product line, providing designers with the ability to handle larger projects, as well as better performance and stability. In addition, designers will observe a revolutionary graphical experience from advances made to the Vectorworks Graphics Module (VGM), which was introduced last year.

“Vectorworks 2015 is a powerful release that encompasses design without limitation,” said Jeremy Powell, director of product marketing at Nemetschek Vectorworks, Inc. “With the extension of 64-bit throughout the entire product line and improvements made to the Vectorworks Graphics Module, Vectorworks 2015 is helping designers bring their visions to reality better than ever before.”

For Spanish-language resources, visit www.vectorworks.net/espanol.

About Nemetschek Vectorworks, Inc.

Nemetschek Vectorworks, Inc. is the developer of Vectorworks software, a line of industry-specific CAD and BIM solutions that allow designers to easily capture, develop and communicate their ideas with accuracy and efficiency. With more than half a million users around the world, Vectorworks software is a global leader in 3D design technologies for the AEC, landscape, and entertainment industries. Nemetschek Vectorworks was founded in 1985 and has been a part of The Nemetschek Group since its acquisition in 2000. For more information, visit www.vectorworks.net.

See Also

Nov 13 - Nemetschek Localizes Vectorworks 2015 for Europe

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Delcam.TV Shows Vortex Roughing Video with Iscar Tooling on Mazak

http://www.delcam.com
BIRMINGHAM, UK, Nov 25, 2014 - A new video showing the speed of area clearance possible with Delcam’s Vortex high-efficiency roughing strategy has been added to Delcam.TV at www.delcam.tv/vortex-iscar. The video shows machining of 4340 alloy steel using an Iscar Finishred 12mm cutter on a Mazak Variaxis 750 programmed with Delcam’s PowerMILL CAM system.


The Vortex strategy gives the fastest safe metal removal from solid carbide tooling, in particular designs that give deeper cuts by using the full flute length as the cutting surface. It can be used for two- and three-axis roughing, three-plus-two-axis area clearance and for rest machining. It gives benefits when machining all types of materials, including titanium, tool steel and alloys such as Inconel.

Vortex produces toolpaths with a controlled engagement angle and so maintains the optimum cutting conditions for the toolpath that would normally be possible only for the straight-line moves. As a result, higher feed rates are possible so the cutting time is shorter, while cutting is undertaken at a more consistent volume-removal rate and at a constant feedrate, so protecting the machine.

The constant feedrate achieved with Vortex is a fundamental difference from other high-speed roughing techniques. Trials at Delcam have shown that this approach is more reliable as it can often be difficult to predict exactly how machine tools will react to changing feedrates.

Vortex also uses a minimum radius parameter, calculated to make sure that the machine tool can maintain the cutting feedrate in corners and, more generally, for any non-straight part of the toolpath. This makes the cutting process more predictable since the machine should run at the programmed feedrate throughout and not slow down in the way that it could on other kinds of area-clearance toolpath.

The control of the engagement angle that is possible with the Vortex strategy also makes the performance of the tool more predictable because it is operating closer to the optimum cutting conditions associated with a straight-line cut. This means that it is easier to adjust the feeds and speeds being used to machine a particular part such that a tool can be relied on to cut, for example, ten components before it needs to be changed. A tool change can then be added into the program where appropriate so that lights-out machining can be undertaken safely and consistently on a long series of parts, either overnight or across a weekend.

Delcam is running a series of webinars on Vortex showing the use of the strategy in each of the company’s CAM products. For further information and to register, visit www.vortexmachining.com/events/index.asp.

See Also:
Sep 26 - Delcam Adds 'Vortex Strategy' Video to Delcam.TV

Thailand's Federal Electric Selects ZW3D

www.zwsoft.com
GUANGZHOU, China, Nov 25, 2014 - ZW3D, one of the world's leading suppliers of advanced CAD/CAM solutions for the manufacturing industry, today announced that it has been selected by Federal Electric Corp., Ltd. (FEC), the biggest manufacturer of SHARP in Thailand.

Established in 1978, FEC specialize in manufacturing SHARP electric home appliances and OEM business for global distribution, like USA, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Cambodia, Philippines, Sweden, and many more.

The Need

As an electric home appliance manufacturer, FEC intends to manufacture quality products by utilizing state-of-the-art technologies for the efficient production capacity. To stay ahead of competitors, FEC needed a fully-functional CAD/CAM solution to maximally optimize the workflow of design and manufacture with reduced cost.

The Solution

After in-depth research and careful evaluation, FEC picked ZW3D to help improve efficiency and boost productivity. “The ZW3D CAD/CAM solution gives us all functionalities that we need at a competitive price,” said Atikom Prangsuwan, Senior Product Designer of FEC, “It’s quite easy to create 3D models and quick to modify parts in ZW3D.”

Empowered by embedded Data Translator and integrated CAD/CAM, ZW3D enables FEC’s engineers to leverage existing data with streamlined modeling, mold design and manufacturing processes with no need for re-engineering, boosting productivity with saved cost and shortened leads time.

Atikom added, “ZW3D systematically helps the tasks in 3D Modeling, 2D Drawing and design structure of mold with improved efficiency.” Take mold design for example. In the past, FEC outsourced mold design which required around a week. But now, with ZW3D, mold design only takes 1 to 2 days.

About Federal Electric Corp.

Federal Electric Corp., Ltd., established in 1978, is an exclusive sole manufacturer of electric home appliances under the well-known SHARP brand in Thailand. FEC manufactures the products of high quality incorporation with know-how and technology supported by Sharp Corporation of Japan.

About ZW3D CAD/CAM

ZW3D is cost-effective CAD/CAM software for 3D modeling, mold design, and machining, which takes engineers from concept to finished product in one easy-to-use, single collaborative environment. http://www.zwsoft.com/ZW3D/

Friday, November 21, 2014

Bricsys Releases BricsCAD v15 for Mac

http://www.bricsys.com
GENT, Belgium, Nov 21, 2014 - Bricsys announced the availability of BricsCAD V15 for Mac. BricsCAD V15 for OS X unifies the intelligence of 3D direct modeling with advanced 2D design, turning the Mac into a powerful CAD platform with function familiar to users from native .dwg applications. The new software offers cross-platform licensing, a familiar user interface, 3D direct and parametric modeling - all on native .dwg files. 

Cross Platform License

As of BricsCAD V15, license keys are cross-platform. This means uses can choose to run BricsCAD on a Mac, Windows, or Linux computer. Cross platform keys also allow users to try BricsCAD on Mac extensively with their Windows key. BricsCAD offers an almost identical feature set on all three platforms.

Familiar User Interface

The BricsCAD interface immediately looks familiar to new users. It offers many of the powerful features they already know inside of a clean and consistent user experience. Thanks to the unique context-sensitive Quad cursor, designers are able to create technical drawings, 3D models, and layouts faster and more accurately. To navigate through drawings easily, V15 adds the distinguished ribbon interface and a Look From widget.

3D Direct Modeling in Native .dwg Format

Unlike most other CAD platforms, BricsCAD handles 3D direct modeling and parametric assemblies, and stores data natively in .dwg format. Users access components of 3D models that are organized hierarchically. V15 create renderings more realistically, thanks to 600 new Redway materials included in BricsCAD.

Availability

The Mac version of BricsCAD V15 is available now. The free download provides a 30-day trial. Pricing starts at €410 / $520 with the Standard edition.

About Bricsys

Bricsys is a global provider of dwg engineering design software brought to market under the BricsCAD brand. With relentless commitment to the success of the BricsCAD community, Bricsys is focused on providing an industrial strength CAD software platform and industry leading support at a compelling price to customers in the AEC, GIS, civil engineering, process and power, and mechanical CAD markets. Founded in 2002, Bricsys is a founding member of the Open Design Alliance. For more information, visit http://www.bricsys.com.

GibbsCAM Integrates with VoluMill Wireframe

http://www.gibbscam.com
MOORPARK, CA, Nov 21, 2014 - Gibbs and Associates, developer of GibbsCAM software for programming CNC machine tools and a Cimatron (NASDAQ: CIMT) company, announced that, beginning November 1 of this year, it began including a no-cost license of VoluMill Wireframe for GibbsCAM with each new license of GibbsCAM Production Milling.

Until now, the ultra-high-speed-toolpath engine was a fee-based option for GibbsCAM Production Milling, the primary milling package upon which a series of multi-axis GibbsCAM machining options integrate. Production Milling, which provides wireframe geometric modeling and toolpath generation for 2-, 2.5, and 3-axis machining, with 4th axis positioning, will now have VoluMill integrated within its traditional, shop-friendly interface. VoluMill Wireframe for GibbsCAM is a high speed machining process developed specifically to achieve the highest material removal rates while extending tool life through smooth transitions and constant tool loading. Customers have reported cycle time reductions as high as 70% and tool life extension of five times.

Integrated with GibbsCAM, VoluMill provides high-speed material removal without starts and stops of traditional parallel-offset roughing patterns, thereby maximizing removal rates, while minimizing cutting-tool wear. Tool life extension of five times, with deeper cuts, and cycle time reductions of 70% are common.

“Although we believe that our software already carries exceptional value, we are pleased to offer this incremental value to customers,” said Robb Weinstein, Senior Vice President of Sales and Strategic Planning of Gibbs and Associates. “They will achieve the greatest productivity possible in roughing parts, and quickly see how VoluMill’s ultra-high-speed machining, with its optimal material removal rates, translates into high-speed part production at lower cost through savings in time, tools, and machine maintenance.”

Traditional roughing toolpaths are typically generated as parallel offsets with sharp corners and transitions, requiring stops, starts and variable speeds to optimize motion and protect cutting tools from excessive wear and breakage. In contrast, VoluMill generates toolpaths optimized for volumetric material removal by using continuous tangential motion, specialized contour ramping, adaptive feed rates, and chip thickness control, achieving the highest feeds and speeds possible. By leveling tool load, maintaining constant machine-tool motion and using high-speed-repositioning, the software produces more efficient toolpaths, extends tool life and significantly reduces cycle times. No additional optimization is required.

VoluMill for GibbsCAM works on any combination of part and stock boundaries, and supports an unlimited number of islands, walls, pocket depths and island heights. Some of the additional contributors to faster removal rates, longer tool life and much shorter cycle times include:
  • Programmed rate of material removal to keep tool and work piece temperature consistent, dissipating heat with chips
  • Automatic feed rate and depth of cut adjustment to maintain programmed material removal rate, eliminate excessive loading, and minimize tool wear, heat build-up and vibration
  • Intelligent side milling and slot milling (with programmer override) to provide the fastest possible cycle time, with automatic feed rate and Z-depth adjustments in slot milling for constant material removal
  • Smoothing radius to maximize tool utilization and minimize cycle time
  • Contour ramping to maximize removal in tight areas, while minimizing cycle time
  • Up to 100% step-over to ensure complete cleanup
  • Clean-up milling to allow a smaller tool to remove material left by a larger tool
  • High-speed repositioning, with minimal clearance and no tool drag across floor
About Gibbs and Associates and GibbsCAM

For over thirty years, Gibbs and Associates has been a leader in providing cutting edge CAD/CAM technology, while maintaining its signature ease-of-use and productivity. Powerfully Simple, Simply Powerful is the guiding philosophy at Gibbs. Gibbs believes in empowering the NC programmer, machinist, and manufacturing engineer, not eliminating them. Gibbs’ goal is to introduce manufacturers to new technologies and new ways of working that makes their machining easier and their businesses more profitable. To achieve this goal, Gibbs creates tools that are naturally intuitive, graphically interactive, extremely visual, associative, and just plain enjoyable to use. Gibbs provides a total quality solution with the service and support that successful customers require.

In January 2008, Gibbs and Associates merged with Cimatron Ltd., and is now operating as a wholly owned subsidiary. For more information, visit www.GibbsCAM.com or call 1-800-654-9399 (outside of North America, call +1-805-523-0004).

About Cimatron

With 30 years of experience and more than 40,000 installations worldwide, Cimatron Ltd., or Cimatron, is a leading provider of integrated, CAD/CAM software solutions for mold, tool and die makers as well as manufacturers of discrete parts. Cimatron is committed to providing comprehensive, cost-effective solutions that streamline manufacturing cycles, enable collaboration with outside vendors, and ultimately shorten product delivery time. For more information, visit http://www.cimatron.com.

LVA of INSA-Lyon Selects MSC Actran to Develop Acoustic Methods

http://www.mscsoftware.com
NEWPORT BEACH, CA, Nov 21, 2014 - MSC Software Corporation, a global leader in helping product manufacturers to advance their engineering methods with simulation software and services, announced that Laboratoire Vibrations Acoustique (LVA) of INSA-Lyon, one of the top universities of Science and Technology in Europe, has selected MSC Software's Actran acoustic analysis software to develop innovative acoustic methods at the laboratory.

The Laboratoire Vibrations Acoustique (LVA) was created in the 1970's to build bridges between research domains such as structural dynamics and acoustics. Today, LVA applies computational modeling and simulation to several research topics to develop innovative methods that are first applied to academic problems, and then on realistic systems in order to demonstrate their applicability within industrial processes.

Acoustic source identification and inverse methods are typical domains where new simulation processes benefit the methods development initiatives at LVA. In acoustics, inverse methods cover a wide field of applications, which all rely on the same concept: identifying the inputs of a linear system by observing the outputs. However, the term of identification methods encompasses goals as different as source localization in wide acoustic spaces, source field reconstruction on academic or complex geometries, noise source identification in enclosed sound fields, and source separation or source ranking. A unique method to treat all of these applications does not exist but several specialized methods have been developed over the decades. LVA develops new methods to reconstruct velocity field of a complex structure by measuring noise emitted by the source. For example, an oil pan radiates noise because of its vibration. By measuring the radiated noise on a virtual box surrounding the oil pan, the method developed at LVA allows the reconstruction of the velocity and pressure fields with higher accuracy.

"Actran has played an important role during our methods development process," said Nicolas Totaro, Assistant Professor at LVA of INSA-Lyon. "First, Actran provides input data representing the system, which is needed to apply the method: the modal bases of the virtual cavity in terms of both acoustic pressure and particle velocity. These data are crucial and make the application of the method possible. Second, Actran can be used for numerical experiments that are useful to define limits and capabilities of the developed method. The present method is intrinsically experimental, but Actran will replace, in a first validation step, time consuming experiments even if measurements in real conditions are always necessary. All the conclusions made by means of Actran have been confirmed by measurements."

"The acoustic performance of products becomes increasingly crucial in various industries not only due to compliance with regulatory requirements around noise reduction, but also the need to create pleasant sounds and improve sound quality," said Ze Zhou, Product Marketing Manager from FFT. "LVA of INSA-Lyon is dedicated to research which will help manufacturers to improve acoustic performance. We are pleased to help researchers through our acoustic simulation solution, Actran, and to contribute to the development of innovative methods".

About LVA - INSA-Lyon

Located on the premises of the Science and Technological Park of la Doua in Villeurbanne, INSA Lyon is ranked among the top universities of Science and Technology in Europe, multidisciplinary and international, at the heart of the European Higher Education Area. Over a 5 year curriculum, it trains humanist multi-competent engineers who are both innovative and entrepreneurial. It graduates over 950 engineers each year in 12 fields of specialization.

The Laboratoire Vibrations Acoustique is composed by 40 people, including 15 permanent faculty members and more than 25 PhD students. Its research interests are: (i) the study of noise and vibration phenomena, (ii) non-destructive evaluation and monitoring of structures, (iii) the location and identification of sources and (iv) acoustic and vibration perception. Members of LVA have published more than 100 papers in the last four years in renowned international scientific journals. LVA is involved in many industrial contracts and public European projects and is a member of the Labex CeLyA of Université de Lyon, operated by the French National Research Agency (ANR-10-LABX-0060/ ANR-11-IDEX-0007).

About MSC Software

MSC Software is one of the ten original software companies and a global leader in helping product manufacturers to advance their engineering methods with simulation software and services. As a trusted partner, MSC Software helps companies improve quality, save time, and reduce costs associated with design and test of manufactured products. Academic institutions, researchers, and students employ MSC's technology to expand individual knowledge as well as expand the horizon of simulation. MSC Software employs 1,100 professionals in 20 countries. For more information, visit www.mscsoftware.com.

3D Systems Expands ProJet 1200 Suite with New Materials, Apps

http://www.3dsystems.com
ROCK HILL, SC, Nov 21, 2014 - 3D Systems (NYSE:DDD) announced the expansion of its ProJet 1200 suite with the arrival of five new materials engineered specifically for the desktop printing capabilities of its micro-SLA 3D printer. These five new materials join the previously introduced VisiJet FTX Green material, expanding the capabilities of jewelers, dental labs, manufacturers, engineers, and 3D artists in the creation of casting patterns, small end-use parts, figurines and presentation models.

ProJet 1200 – Jewelry

Advancing the production capabilities and throughput of jewelry designers, the ProJet 1200 now has an advanced FTX Cast material, a wax/resin hybrid material developed specifically for compatibility with a wide range of jewelry casting methods and materials, and FTX Gold and FTX Silver for stunning jewelry samples and presentation models.

Jewelers can easily integrate FTX Cast, which casts much like traditional wax, into existing workflows with the added benefits of 3D printed parts. Combined with the precision and fantastic surface quality of micro-SLA from the ProJet1200, FTX Cast can be used to create exquisite, detailed pieces from rings to pendants. With glimmering gold and silver particles embedded in the materials, FTX Gold and FTX Silver provide the wow factor that brings customer presentation models and counter samples to life.

ProJet 1200 – Dental

Dental labs use the ProJet 1200 with FTX Green for the production of highly accurate, casting-friendly wax-ups for a range of small dental prosthetics. The ProJet 1200 prints in 30-micron layers at 585 dpi resolution for the production of up to 12 high-quality wax-ups in an hour, right on the desktop. The ProJet 1200 and FTX Green combine for an accelerated workflow with the exceptional results of traditional methods.

ProJet 1200 – Engineering and Manufacturing

Along with the casting capabilities of FTX Cast, engineering and manufacturing customers can take advantage of the arrival of FTX Gray, a high-contrast gray material that’s perfect for prototypes and accentuating fine features, and FTX Clear, a transparent clear material that can be applied in end-use parts and components. As part of the reimagined engineer’s desktop, the ProJet 1200 and FTX Gray and Clear allow engineers a fast way to locally create precise design prototypes of small assembly or components. Micro-SLA parts in FTX Gray and Clear also combine the strength and precision necessary for end-use applications and final one-off custom components, such as electronic connectors, robotics components and more.

ProJet 1200 – 3D Artists and Designers

Many 3D artists, designers and professional model makers also require strong, precise micro parts for toys, figurines, model aircraft, cars, model trains and more. The expanded ProJet 1200 materials selection provides even more opportunity for creative expression. Precision FTX Gray parts are paintable and they accentuate the fine features for which the ProJet 1200 is known. On top of that, beautiful, transparent FTX Clear parts project a hint of iridescence for stunning clear parts, perfect for a range of sculptures and model components. For artisans creating small cast sculptures, FTX Cast provides a less work intensive way to make accurate casting patterns in the workshop.

“The addition of these five materials represents our commitment to revolutionizing desktop 3D printing and bringing new capabilities to dental techs, jewelers, artists and engineers,” said Buddy Byrum, Vice President of Product and Channel Management, 3DS. “Now a jeweler, for instance, can design a ring, prototype it in FTX Gray, print a customer sample ring in FTX Gold and FTX Silver, and create a final casting pattern in FTX Cast—all from the same machine.”

The expanded VisiJet FTX material range will be available in December 2014 and will be on display at EuroMold 2014 in Frankfurt, Germany from November 25-28, 2014, at the Messe Frankfurt in booths D69 and F90 in hall 11, along with 3DS’ latest 3D printers, advanced material options, cloud-sourced custom parts and digital thread of 3D capture, creation, print and inspection tools. To Watch a video showcasing these new materials, click here.

For more details on 3DS’ announcements at EuroMold 2014. Also join 3D Systems’ President and CEO, Avi Reichental, for a broadcast of 3DS’ extensive showing at EuroMold starting on Tuesday, November 25, 2014 at 10:00 a.m. EST, click here.

About 3D Systems

3D Systems is pioneering 3D printing for everyone. 3DS provides the most advanced and comprehensive 3D design-to-manufacturing solutions including 3D printers, print materials and cloud sourced custom parts. Its powerful digital thread empowers professionals and consumers everywhere to bring their ideas to life in material choices including plastics, metals, ceramics and edibles. 3DS' leading healthcare solutions include end-to-end simulation, training and integrated 3D planning and printing for personalized surgery and patient specific medical and dental devices. Its democratized 3D design and inspection products embody the latest perceptual, capture and touch technology. Its products and services replace and complement traditional methods with improved results and reduced time to outcomes. These solutions are used to rapidly design, create, communicate, plan, guide, prototype or produce functional parts, devices and assemblies, empowering customers to manufacture the future.

For more information, visit http://www.3dsystems.com.

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

PTC Introduces PTC Systems Engineering Solution

http://www.ptc.com
NEEDHAM, MA, USA, Nov 19, 2014 - PTC (Nasdaq: PTC) announced the PTC Systems Engineering Solution, purpose-built to help organizations reduce risk and accelerate innovation in an increasingly smart, connected world. The solution provides a comprehensive systems engineering platform to help organizations design more innovative products, engineer more profitable product lines, and validate that products meet functional and quality requirements.

The coming decade is expected to witness a surge in the growth of smart, connected products with billions of connected devices in use by both businesses and consumers. But while smart, connected products define the future of manufacturing, they are intrinsically more complex to design, build and operate. As a result, many organizations struggle to deliver the functionality, quality and performance that the market demands.

The PTC Systems Engineering Solution provides a complete systems engineering platform to enable rapid exploration and accelerated design and delivery of more successful products. It combines the strengths of the PTC Integrity family of Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) products with products from Atego, a wholly owned subsidiary of PTC and leader in architectural modeling and Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE).

The solution includes the following product families:
  • PTC Integrity - Robust system requirements and validation
  • Atego Asset Library - Collaborative asset management and reuse
  • Atego Modeler - Collaborative, scalable architectural modeling and model-based systems and product line engineering
  • Atego Process Director - Rich process authoring and deployment with out-of-the-box systems engineering best practices
The new solution enables faster adoption of model-based systems engineering approaches, while allowing organizations to choose among text-based, model-based and hybrid systems engineering techniques. Analyst research shows that model-based systems engineering (MBSE) can deliver 23% more projects on time, at 62% lower cost, than alternatives. MBSE efficiently captures and communicates design through a common and standards-based language, improving stakeholder communication and buy-in.

“The model-based PTC Systems Engineering Solution is our platform for cross-discipline product development,” says Dirk Denger, head of Synergistic Methods at AVL. “As our products grow in complexity and connectivity, new systems engineering approaches are needed. The PTC Systems Engineering solution allows us to unify all of our engineering teams through a common, model-based systems engineering approach, enabling us to deliver higher-quality engineering services with best value for our customer in time and cost”

The PTC Systems Engineering Solution enables organizations to:
Design more innovative products using a collaborative MBSE approach. Design capabilities include:
  • Requirements engineering - Author and manage requirements to capture and communicate the voice of the customer throughout the product lifecycle
  • System design - Collaboratively design system specifications using standard (SysML and UML) notation to efficiently explore alternatives
  • Analyze design options - Perform trade-off analysis to make better decisions in both the design and allocation of functionality to engineering disciplines (hardware, software, electrical, etc.)
Reuse system artifacts to enable profitable product line engineering. Capabilities include:
  • Requirement, model and test reuse - Reuse all artifacts across design projects to speed time-to-market and reduce costs
  • Modular design - Optimize systems design and architect for reuse to improve architectural resilience and business flexibility
  • Product Line Modeling - Design families of subsystems including commonality and variation to create more profitable product lines
Validate products meet requirements and best practices processes are followed. Capabilities include:
  • Model verification - Automate design review to find problems earlier
  • Test management - Author and manage test cases, test sessions and results to improve quality
  • Traceability - Capture rich traceability across design artifacts to improve organizational agility and resilience to change
  • Governance - Utilize out-of-the-box systems engineering best practices to improve individual and team maturity
“The PTC Systems Engineering Solution is specifically designed to enable innovation in the process of designing the product, allowing customers to better address market needs and bring products to market faster,” said Roque Martin, SVP, Application Lifecycle Management, PTC.“Delivering more complex products on time and at a lower cost is often the edge customers need to make their products stand out in a smart, connected world.”

Availability

The PTC Systems Engineering Solution is now available.

About PTC

PTC (Nasdaq: PTC) enables manufacturers to achieve sustained product and service advantage. The company’s technology solutions help customers transform the way they create and service products across the entire product life-cycle - from conception and design to sourcing and service. Founded in 1985, PTC employs over 6,000 professionals serving more than 27,000 businesses in rapidly-evolving, globally distributed manufacturing industries worldwide. For more information, visit www.ptc.com.

Luxion Releases KeyShot 5.1

https://www.keyshot.com
IRVINE, CA, USA, Nov 19, 2014 - Luxion, a leading developer of advanced rendering and lighting technology and maker of KeyShot, the first real time ray tracing and global illumination program, is pleased to announce the release of KeyShot 5.1, with new additions and improvements to KeyShot 5.

 

In May 2014, Luxion launched the pivotal release of KeyShot 5, introducing KeyShot Cloud and features to further increase the speed of creating high quality visuals. Users gained a new way to find and share KeyShot assets, more possibilities with instancing and image editing, fade animation, motion blur and many Pro features from NURBS Raytracing to innovations in perspective matching and sun & sky lighting. To this, KeyShot 5.1 brings new procedural textures and options, Sørensen Leather materials and Federal Standard colors, with improvements that add the ability to edit patterns, render all Cameras and Viewsets, and new support for touch-enabled devices, Retina displays and support for PTC Creo 3.0 and Cinema 4D.

Overview

With focus on workflow through the rendering process, KeyShot 5.1 builds on the release of previous versions to deliver a wider array of options. The user interface receives full multi-touch support to compliment a touch-enabled workflow along with Retina support for all Apple high definition displays. Users have enhancements to improve move and selection of parts with updates to the Pattern feature that adds edit capabilities and scattering. New material options include the full line of Sørensen Leather materials exclusive to KeyShot, FED-STD-595 color for camouflage and updates to texturing that include DPI adjustment and a range of six new 2D and 3D procedurals. New rendering options include the ability to select Cameras and Viewsets to add to the render queue with Network Rendering optimized for transfer of multiple jobs. 

Pattern Updates

KeyShot 5.0 introduced the ability to Pattern separate instances of models for quick copying and appearance studies. Patterns have been completely updated with KeyShot 5.1 adding the ability to Edit Pattern, set Scattering and automatically Adjust Camera to fit the patterned parts. Any part in a pattern can be used to bring up edit options for the pattern, with all materials and textures maintained after the pattern is edited. Scattering options are unique to the Linear or Circular Pattern type selected, allowing either to be completely randomized in a matter of seconds.

Render Camera/Viewsets

In KeyShot 5.1 users can now add saved Cameras and Viewsets directly to the Render Queue. This allows complete setup of all views, then quick selection of Cameras and Viewsets to add to the Queue all at once with the Queue listing the Camera or Viewset added while offering prioritization of render jobs.

Sørensen Leather Materials

KeyShot 5.1 introduces exclusive access to the full line of Sørensen Leather materials through KeyShot Cloud. Sørensen Leather is the world supplier of high quality leather hides across many industries. The new KeyShot materials allow colors and textures to be matched exactly with the hides and viewed under different lighting.

New Procedural Textures

Six new KeyShot Procedural Textures are available in KeyShot 5.1, including Brushed (3D), Camouflage (3D), Lattice Circular (2D), Lattice Polygon (2D), Spots (3D) and Wood Adv. (3D). These add a total of thirteen unique and highly customizable procedural textures that can be used with any Material Type or in combination with any KeyShot material preset.

Multi-touch Support

KeyShot now has full support for devices with a multi-touch interface running Windows. Users of small touch-enabled tablets to desktop displays may now compliment their workflow with touch-enabled viewing and editing of KeyShot scenes. Change and save camera views, drag and drop colors and switch to Presentation Mode for uninhibited full screen viewing of your realtime render.

Retina Display Support

KeyShot runs natively on Mac OS X and now comes with Retina Display support. This apply to all Apple devices, including Macbook Pro and iMac 5k displays. To activate Retina mode, click the Retina mode button located on the ribbon, or View, Retina mode from the menu bar.

Creo 3.0 Support

KeyShot now has support for PTC Creo 3.0 with direct import as well as a free downloadable plugin. As in previous versions, the plugin maintains all color assignments and assembly structure while allowing users to select simplified representations and refine tessellation quality. Export of mechanisms using .FRA files is accepted and through the plugin users may maintain a Live Link to the PTC Creo model to send geometry updates to KeyShot as needed.

Cinema 4D Support

Also new in KeyShot 5.1 is the support for Cinema 4D via KeyShot’s direct import. Cinema 4D users can now create high quality visuals of their models and animations by importing them directly into KeyShot. KeyShot supports geometry import, color assignments, layer visibility, part and camera animations.

KeyShot Cloud

KeyShot Cloud has become an instrumental resource for many KeyShot users who need to find specific KeyShot assets or desire to share their own custom materials, lighting, environments, textures and backplates. Over 500 materials have been added by KeyShot users with more being added every day. Updates and improvement continue to be added to KeyShot Cloud with improved search and filtering, account settings and downloading. Watch for more features coming soon.

Availability

KeyShot 5.1 is available immediately for download as a free upgrade to all customers with subscription. KeyShot starts at $995 with Pro versions and add-ons for Animation and interactive KeyShotVR capabilities.

About Luxion

Luxion is a leading developer of advanced 3D rendering and lighting technology. KeyShot is the first real-time ray tracing application that uses a physically correct render engine based on scientific research in the areas of scientifically accurate material representation and global illumination. Addressing the visualization needs of designers, engineers, marketing professionals, photographers and CG specialists, KeyShot breaks down the complexity of creating photographic images and animations from 3D digital data. Luxion’s customer list includes many of the Fortune 1000 product manufacturers and major industrial design companies including Chrysler, Dell, Fossil, HP, Microsoft, Motorola, Procter & Gamble, Skullcandy, and IDEO. For more information, visit http://www.luxion.com or www.keyshot.com.

GRAITEC Launches PowerPack 2015 for Autodesk Advance Steel

http://www.graitec.com
BIEVRES, France, Nov 19, 2014 - GRAITEC, an international BIM software developer for AEC and Structural Engineering specialist, is excited to announce the launch of their complementary productivity tools for Autodesk Advance Steel, GRAITEC Advance PowerPack.

The GRAITEC Advance PowerPack is a powerful extension to Autodesk Advance Steel designed to enhance the user's capability, productivity and efficiency. By introducing industry specific and localized content, tools, templates and connections that complement what is already available in Autodesk Advance Steel, GRAITEC clearly aims to remain a market leader in providing practical technology solutions for the steel industry.

GRAITEC Advance PowerPack for Autodesk Advance Steel will provide users with a multitude of new tools and functionality specifically intended to give them a competitive advantage. The first version of GRAITEC Advance PowerPack will introduce new tools for faster modelling, such as continuous beam and folded plate extender, and new capability such as the castellated beam and cellular beam sections, all combined with more intelligent and automated templates, all seamlessly integrated into a new user-friendly ribbon, the GRAITEC Advance PowerPack complements the use of Autodesk Advance Steel and enhances the user experience and project design workflow.

Supported by Autodesk and with our ability to react quickly GRAITEC plans to make the most of the 25 years of experience servicing the steel industry and release a new version of Advance PowerPack every quarter. Not only does this introduce enhanced functionality to Autodesk Advance Steel to speed everyday use but also delivers localized content and importantly tools and processes to address the needs of new market sectors.

GRAITEC recognizes Autodesk Advance Steel as a clear market leader in BIM for steel professionals and intends to continue to deliver complementary tools on this platform to ensure its dominance in the market.

Francis Guillemard, GRAITEC CEO adds: "GRAITEC has spent over two decades delivering professional technology and expert services to the steel industry;as a market leader it is natural that this continues. Delivering a PowerPack for Autodesk Advance Steel is a great way for us to add more value for our customers but also enables GRAITEC and Autodesk to react fast to new market needs and trends and also demonstrates our commitment to Autodesk and the industry." 

To know more about GRAITEC Advance PowerPack 2015, click here.

For more information about GRAITEC and its products, visit http://www.graitec.com.

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

TraceParts Launches 8th Annual Design Contest

http://www.traceparts.com
ST. ROMAIN, France, Nov 18, 2014 - TraceParts, one of the leading providers in the world of 3D digital content for design and engineering, has announced today that it is launching its 8th annual design competition.
 
The TraceParts engineer community, numbering more than 2 million CAD users, has been getting involved in this competition for eight years. This year, participants are invited to draw a place or monument in 3D that best represents their country, using CAD or image editing software. They can use as many CAD components as they wish, available for free on the TracePartsOnline.net portal. 

Entries & Prize:
  • Entries should be submitted to info@traceparts.com before December 17, 2014 in a file no more than 1 MB in size.
  • All the entries will be published on www.traceparts.com, and the best design will be revealed on December 24, 2014.
  • Participation in this competition is anonymous, and the winner will be contacted by the TraceParts team to be awarded the prize for 2014, a 3D “RepRapPro” printer distributed by RS Components.
All the 3D files available on TracePartsOnline.net are compatible with the most popular native CAD software packages used, such as SOLIDWORKS, CATIA, Pro/E & Creo, Inventor, AutoCAD, Solid Edge, TopSolid, Geomagic Design, Kompas 3D, SpaceClaim, SketchUp, Autodesk Revit, ZW3D, Draftsight, HiCAD, TurboCAD and T-FLEX.

Most neutral CAD formats are also supported, in particular DWG, DXF, IGES, STEP, SAT, JT, VRML and many others including STL format, which is the standard format for CAD files used for 3D printing.

About TraceParts

TraceParts is a world-leading digital engineering 3D content company, offering progressive business software solutions for over 20 years through powerful web based products and services such as CAD part libraries, electronic catalogs and product configurators, helping part vendors to improve marketing efficiencies by increasing the value of their existing digital product data. The TracePartsOnline.net CAD portal is freely available to millions of CAD users worldwide, with hundreds of supplier catalogs and over 100 million CAD models and product datasheets suitable for the Design, Purchasing, Manufacturing and Maintenance processes. For more information about TraceParts, visit www.traceparts.com.

Wison Selects AVEVA Marine for Offshore Projects

http://www.aveva.com
SHANGHAI, China, Nov 18, 2014 - AVEVA today announced that Wison Offshore & Marine, a global EPC firm, has selected AVEVA Marine software for the engineering, design and construction of its offshore Floating Storage Regasification Unit (FSRU) projects. The decision to choose AVEVA’s Integrated Engineering & Design solution over their existing software supplier’s solution, was driven by the need for optimal productivity and efficiency across its major projects.

Mr. An Wenxin, Senior Vice President of Wison Offshore & Marine explained how deploying the solution was key to meeting the increasingly complex needs of their global clients: ‘AVEVA Marine is helping us to streamline workflows and better harness our existing technology to meet our demanding project schedules. Increasingly, our operations cross continents and have tight deadlines. Having a tightly integrated engineering and design solution that is tailor-made for global marine and offshore fabrication affords us leaner operations and enables us to future-proof our business in the face of an ever evolving business landscape.’

‘AVEVA Marine empowers our customers to make decisions faster,’ explained Paul Eveleigh, Executive Vice president, Asia Pacific, AVEVA. ‘We are delighted that Wison have recognised both the immediate and long-term efficiencies that can be achieved across their operations, by switching to AVEVA. With its enhanced collaboration and advanced Compare and Update capabilities, AVEVA Marine eliminates errors early in the design process, resulting in high-quality projects in which costly fabrication and construction rework is avoided.’
 
About AVEVA Marine

AVEVA Marine is a set of integrated applications created specifically for the unique processes in the engineering and design of ships and offshore structures, design management, and the generation of accurate production information. Its powerful object-centric technologies make it the most productive engineering and design software available for the marine and offshore industries. For more information, visit www.aveva.com/marine.

Friday, November 14, 2014

Robobat Poland to Offer Free Webinar on Autodesk Advance Steel

http://www.robobat.pl
Nov 14, 2014 - Robobat Poland to offer free online interactive workshops, conducted by experts and its Training Service Department to discuss specific issues / problems with the functioning of Autodesk Advance Steel.
  • Date: December 16th, 2014, 10:00 (CET time)
  • Organizer: Robobat Poland
  • Location: Online
  • Webinar language: Polish
The Autodesk Advance Steel detailing software is built on the AutoCAD platform. The intelligent 3D modeling tools help you accelerate the accurate design and detailing. Speed up time to fabrication and construction with tools that automatically generate shop drawings and deliverables. The interoperability with Revit and Advance Design Building Information Modeling (BIM) software supports a more connected workflow.

For Registration for individual sessions and participation rules, click here.

Thursday, November 13, 2014

IronCAD Launches Multi-Physics Integration

http://www.ironcad.com
ATLANTA, GA, Nov 13, 2014 - IronCAD, a leading provider of design productivity solutions, today announced a new seamlessly integrated Multi-Physics module. "Multi-Physics for IronCAD" (MPIC) is the newest generation of integrated CAD/FEA for general entry to advanced design simulations. MPIC focuses on ease of use and provides fully coupled Multiphysics with stress, thermal, and electrostatic analysis.


Traditional FEA solutions are specialized for advanced users and are not particularly well suited for quick, in-process design analysis. With MPIC, users at any skill level will be able to use full FEA capabilities. Seamlessly integrated, users can simply add material, forces or constraints and the AutoSolve meshes and returns analysis results. Any modifications to the IRONCAD model enables an analysis re-solve in seconds

As part of the IronCAD Gold Partner Program, a node-limited version of MPIC is included with full product capabilities with the standard IRONCAD solution. Beyond the included version, customers can purchase a full accuracy basic version, advance version, and add-on functionality. MPIC is available for purchase through IronCAD distributors along with product licensing and technical support.

Cary O'Connor, Vice President of Marketing at IronCAD had this to say, "Our goal was to help our customers solve complex multi-physics tasks quickly and accurately. MPIC is an advanced multithread FEA application with fast solver technology that can process large models with millions of equations in minutes."

Cary added, "Even though the included version is node-limited, MPIC's technology gives our customers extended capabilities to quickly and accurately test their product designs. We believe that all IronCAD customers can benefit from increased design productivity."

Chuck Paulsen, Business Director of AMPS Technologies states, "We designed MPIC to deliver a videogame-like experience to analysis but behind the scenes, the advanced and robust AMPS technology provides a true what-if analysis tool for designers who need to pre-check, concept-proof, and experiment with different design scenarios. Collaboration with IronCAD offers a win-win solution for customers with innovative and easy-of-use solid modeling combined with completely integrated multi-physics analysis."

Ted Lin, founder of AMPS Technologies states, "Since the founding of AMPS in 2003, we've been driven to create the newest and most-advanced technology for our customers. We developed from the ground up the newest generation of LSFEA (Least-Squares FEA) and SefeaTM (Strain Enriched FEA) for integrated stress, thermal, fluid and electromagnetic to meet this goal."

Availability

Multi-Physics for IronCAD (MPIC) and technical information is available for immediate download at http://www.ironcad.com/MPIC.

About IronCAD

Based in Atlanta, GA, IronCAD is a leading provider of 3D Design Productivity Solutions that deliver the highest levels of customer satisfaction and productivity. Individual components of this solution can be used standalone, complementary within an existing design environment, or can be used together to collaborate effectively throughout the enterprise to extend productivity. Its flagship product IRONCAD has won many industry awards for its innovative technology and leads the industry in its ease of use and design productivity. IronCAD products are being used successfully by thousands of customers worldwide. For more information on IronCAD, call 1-800-339-7304 or visit www.ironcad.com.

About AMPS 

Advanced Multi-Physics Simulation (AMPS) Technologies Company was established in 2003 with to provide new generation FEA to deliver advanced office-tool style finite element software based on best software engineering design and the most up-to-date FE technology. AMPS Technologies has pioneered SefeaTM (Strain-Enriched FEA) formulation and LSFEA (least-Squares FEA) technology in commercial applications with leading academic and national laboratory researchers and has expanded the technology to stress, thermal, fluid and electromagnetic applications using a consistent framework. As such, AMPS is the only product on the market with the accuracy, reliability, and true multi-physics abilities in CAD-centric analysis when automatically generated low order tetra elements are the favored options. For more information about AMPS, visit www.ampstech.com.

IronCAD Design Collaboration Suite 2015 Released

http://www.ironcad.com
ATLANTA, GA, USA, Nov 13, 2014 - IronCAD, a leading provider of design productivity solutions, announced the release of their highly anticipated 2015 IronCAD Design Collaboration Suite (DCS). Customers will benefit from an improved user experience, enhanced design capabilities and new collaboration tools.


Simplifying the user experience is a key objective for the IronCAD development team and the 2015 release delivered upon this by extending its Configuration Based Design capabilities such as its unique catalog interface. IronCAD DCS catalogs allow design elements to be stored as basic elements or intelligent elements and then dragged & dropped onto any new object. With the added intelligence, components can automatically configure position, orientation, size, and can give access to business information such as quoting, procurement and more. Extending upon the catalogs, IronCAD DCS 2015 adds the ability to create catalog groups, which makes it even simpler to organize data and find the best fitting element. Additional intelligence is accessible to automatically constrain elements for not only fit but for function when used in mechanisms.

Beyond the core configuration based design improvements, IronCAD DCS 2015 developed better memory management which improved performance with large data files by up to 20%.

To further enhance verification during the design process, IronCAD DCS 2015 has integrated Multi-Physics (Multi-Physics for IronCAD), a general-purpose solution for modeling and simulating physics-based problems. Also new is a 3D Annotation framework that is the basis for PMI (Product Manufacturing Information). Leveraging its existing industry standard annotation capabilities, users will now have the ability to create 3D annotations such as weld, datum, surface finish, notes, and standard dimensions stored in user-set viewing planes for easy visibility within the 3D scene.

In addition to the many IRONCAD standard improvements, this release focuses on tighter connections to 3rd party programs that help expand the Configuration Based Design capabilities both within an enterprise and extending outside to companies consumers and suppliers. Such improvements include support for KeyShot 5 giving users access to the latest improvements and rendering capabilities to create visuals that can be used for quoting, marketing and product documentation. Connections to Sketchfab and GrabCAD extend online accessibility to collaborative content.

IronCAD's commitment to sharing design content throughout the supply chain and the extended global team has fueled the creation of more powerful collaboration tools. Capabilities such as SmartMarkup and the new COMPOSE iOS app allows users to import, export, view and collaborate with extended teams to speed up the development process. The IronCAD DCS allows users to share, in a secure way, design data on applications with different levels of access and usability. The ability to automatically connect to the source product data allows IronCAD DCS designers to quickly see optimized design configurations and preview downstream change requests. Designers can then accept, reject or further optimize design changes directly to speed product designs into production.

Cary O'Connor, Vice President of Marketing at IronCAD, stated, "The extension of our Configuration Based Design with our new 2015 release definitely enhances our customer experience and efficiency. These core design tools facilitate quick design, sharing, reuse and accessibility among different user levels across business processes."

"Furthermore", Cary added, "Our customers will benefit from IronCAD DCS 2015 collaboration tools such as Smart eMarkup especially on mobile devices like the iPad. The improvements in the catalogs as well as the advances in communication allows our customers to deliver the highest quality designs faster than ever before possible."

Availability

IronCAD DCS 2015 is available for download at www.ironcad.com/download.

About IronCAD

Based in Atlanta, GA, USA IronCAD is a leading provider of 3D Design Productivity Solutions that deliver the highest levels of customer satisfaction and productivity. Individual components of this solution can be used standalone, complementary within an existing design environment, or can be used together to collaborate effectively throughout the enterprise to extend productivity. Its flagship product IRONCAD has won many industry awards for its innovative technology and leads the industry in its ease of use and design productivity. IronCAD products are being used successfully by thousands of customers worldwide. 

For more information on IronCAD, call 1-800-339-7304 or visit www.ironcad.com.