News Archives - Page 20 of 52 - SolidWorks Legion

3Dconnexion 3D Mice now support Vectorworks 2011

It seems that I cannot have too many technical articles on SolidWorks Legion without also having straightforward product announcements in the mix. I’ll have a couple of articles later this week that cover a topic I found to be interesting regarding glass standards by Paul Bieber. For now, here is a product announcement from 3Dconnexion.

3Dconnexion announcements

3Dconnexion has announced that their full line of 3D mice now support 2D/3D AEC CAD design software. By full line, I assume they are talking about currently supported 3D mice, such as the SpaceNavigator and SpacePilot. Anyway, 3Dconnexion claims the following.

3D mice further enable professionals to draft any shape, on any plane, and in any view in an intuitive manner that augments the simplified and unified design experience offered in Vectorworks 2011.

When working in the true 3D modeling environment in Vectorworks 2011, 3Dconnexion 3D mice provide a level of design interaction that is unattainable with a traditional mouse and keyboard.

My own experience with 3Dconnexion

It should be noted, as a matter of disclosure, that 3Dconnexion did give me a SpacePilot PRO back in 2008. They did so with no strings attached. I can say whatever I want about the device (and I have). In general, I have found the device indispensable. It took time to become that valuable. However, I must admit, when I find myself reaching for a 3D mice at someone else’s workstation and its not there, I know just how valuable the SpacePilot PRO is to me.

In other 3Dconnexion news

One more item for the day. 3Dconnexion has a design challenge. The purpose of this challenge is allow users to show off their 3D skills. This challenge is also promoting the fact that 3Dconnexion has a Facebook page. For more information, check out their website.

3DVIA goes 3D

Last week, Dassault Systemes announced that the free download of the new 3DVIA Studio development environment now includes drag and drop stereoscopic 3D. They state that this allows any user of the 3DVIA Studio to quickly create a “3D experience”, not only for 3D monitors and TVs, but also for non-stereoscopic screens using the traditional red-blue glasses.

They claim the new functionality in their free 3DVIA Studio application will help developers and “average customers”. 3DVIA Studio comes with tutorials that can get users started with this functionality within minutes.

I’ve personally not dabbled with the stereoscopic toys in 3DVIA Studio yet. I did try out 3DVIA Studio recently, and I’m looking forward to playing around with it more. For now, here’s a quick introductory video about the new fucntionality.

Draftsight for Mac now available: Free 2D CAD

DraftSight for Mac (a new CAD .dwg editor) is now available for download! It is a beta release, so there is still room for improvement (not that I know what needs improving on the Mac version). If you are a Mac user who’s interested in DraftSight, please join the DraftSight.com community to get ideas or provide your suggestions.

News of the day

Dassault Systemes helps Kyushu University accelerate development of advanced wind-power system

CATIA Increases Efficiency in Wind Turbine Blade Modeling by Six Times and Improves Simulation Accuracy with Sophisticated 3D Models

TOKYO, September 15, 2010 – Dassault Systèmes (DS) (Euronext Paris: #13065, DSY.PA), a world leader in 3D and Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solutions, today announced that the Research Institute for Applied Mechanics (RIAM), Kyushu University, a leading Japanese academic research institution, has successfully implemented Dassault Systèmes’ PLM solutions for its advanced R&D project – “The Development of Shrouded Wind Turbine with Wind-Lens Technology” – to significantly improve research efficiency and accuracy.

Global wind-power capacity is poised to grow almost threefold to nearly 450 gigawatts (GW) over the next five years, according to BTM, a Danish wind-power consultancy. As the deployment of wind power generators has significantly increased in many countries, Japan is facing major challenges due to frequent changes in wind direction, which make it difficult to generate stable power with existing systems. In order to come up with solutions, the RIAM, Kyushu University has been conducting an R&D project to develop a shrouded wind turbine.

The RIAM, Kyushu University previously designed and evaluated the wind turbine blade based on results from wind tunnel testing and computational fluid dynamics analysis. However, with the previous design software, blade modeling usually took a long time and delayed the R&D process. After using Dassault Systèmes’ CATIA software solution, working hours for 3D modeling was reduced from more than three days to only half a day. In addition, the time for adjusting 3D models and calculation for simulation was also drastically decreased.

“Dassault Systèmes’ CATIA enables us to conduct accurate analysis with more detailed and sophisticated 3D models,” said Assistant Professor Takanori Uchida, the RIAM, Kyushu University. “We are convinced that CATIA will highly benefit our project with its proven capability recognized by a major number of companies in the wind-power sector around the world.”

“Dassault Systèmes is dedicated to providing 3D PLM solutions for sustainable living. We are delighted to see the successful implementation of CATIA at an advanced academic institution such as the RIAM, Kyushu University,” said Tomohiko Suetsugu, president, Japan, Dassault Systèmes. “We will continue to bring in world-leading technologies and best practices to support the advancement of the energy sector in Japan.”

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About Kyushu University

The history of Kyushu University dates back to 1903 when Fukuoka Medical College was established as the foundation of Kyushu Imperial University.?In 1911, Kyushu Imperial University, along with the Colleges of Medicine and Engineering, were established. Kyushu University closely works together with enterprises and make considerable achievements by a hundred of joint projects with external organizations every year. For more information, visit http://www.kyushu-u.ac.jp/english/.

About Dassault Systèmes

As a world leader in 3D and Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solutions, Dassault Systèmes brings value to more than 115,000 customers in 80 countries. A pioneer in the 3D software market since 1981, Dassault Systèmes applications provide a 3D vision of the entire lifecycle of products from conception to maintenance to recycling. The Dassault Systèmes portfolio consists of CATIA for designing the virtual product – SolidWorks for 3D mechanical design – DELMIA for virtual production – SIMULIA for virtual testing – ENOVIA for global collaborative lifecycle management, and 3DVIA for online 3D lifelike experiences. For more information, visit http://www.3ds.com.

CATIA, DELMIA, ENOVIA, SIMULIA, SolidWorks and 3D VIA are registered trademarks of Dassault Systèmes or its subsidiaries in the US and/or other countries.

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Photos of the new planned DS HQ in America

(see the next press release in the right column of this article)

For more images and specific information about the new site of Dassault Systemes’ headquarters here in the Americas, check out the property manager’s information page.

Another experiment to fill this remaining space:

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3DVIA Composer

Here’s an official video about improvements to 3DVIA Composer this year. If you use SolidWorks, pay special attention to Magnet Lines. There’s a buzz building to get that functionality included in SolidWorks at some point.

SolidWorks 2011: Auto Arrange Dimensions tool

There is a a set of new drawing functions in SolidWorks 2011 that’s catching a lot of attention. These are the Auto Arrange Dimensions tools which are built into the Dimension Palette. Using a thumb wheel and available options, the user may automatically space dimensions from smallest to largest, aligned and centered (where possible), spaced with the pre-set offset distances, adjusted to avoid overlapping, and staggered (where necessary). In short, these tools automatically space and align selected dimensions with very little effort.

Currently, SolidWorks 2010 does have auto spacing for dimensions, but this can sometimes be more of a hassle than a benefit. There’s a lot of potential with these new Auto Arrange Dimension tools. They may allow the user to save time while giving them direct control over dimension placement.

Auto Arrange Dimensions is reportedly so easy to use, if dimensions of an entire drawing are selected, they can be spaced and aligned at once using this tool.

If these tools work as well as promised, they can potentially save a lot of time when inserting or adding dimensions to drawings. I guess the only addition I’d ask for is an option to automatically select every dimension on the drawing with the click of the mouse button to allow an entire drawing to be aligned and spaced in one quick action.