August 2006

By DE Editors

Editor’s Pick of the Week—August 30, 2006BIG Interfaces for Reverse Engineering Wireless digitizer interfaces with major MCAD applications.Boulder Innovation Group, Inc. (BIG; Boulder, CO) announced this weekthat its 3D Creator wireless digitizer for reverse engineering andmeasuring now interfaces to most major MCAD solutions through HighRESfor Rhino reverse engineering software from HighRES, Inc. (La Jolla,CA). When coupled with HighRES for Rhino, 3D Creator, which alreadyinterfaces with Rhino from McNeel and Associates (Seattle, WA) througha plug-in from BIG, can now work with such applications as AutodeskInventor, KeyCreator, Pro/E, Solid Edge, SolidWorks, and Unigraphics NXon a plug-and-play basis. (Click here for a news write-up on HighRES for Rhino.)BIG leverages such partnerships with a number of MCAD and CAMdevelopers to enable 3D Creator to adapt to new industries easily. Forexample, 3D creator is already deployed in such diverse disciplines asprecision navigation during surgery, custom instrument design,electronic hardware development, reverse engineering, qualityinspection and metrology.3D Creator itself is a portable measuring solution that uses infraredlight to track the position and orientation of a lightweight, wirelessmeasuring probe to digitize 3D objects in real time.  Using acordless or wired hand-held probe, you enter the X,Y,Z coordinates ofthe object by tracing surfaces, edges, or individual points such ascorners and similar data.  You then input this information intoyour MCAD or CAM program for display and manipulation.You can save the resulting data in such industry-standard file formatsas IGES, DXF, and DWG for export to other applications.  Formotion capture or external object tracking, X,Y,Z coordinates and U andV rotational vectors are reported.You can deploy 3D Creator in one of two key ways: Coupled with Rhinofor measuring an object and surfacing it, or you can use 3D Creator formore traditional reverse engineering applications. In the first instance, you can use 3D Creator to measure point-to-pointdistances or to measure a 3D surface, such as a car’s dashboard cover.Think using plastic sheets, tape measure, and scissors. But here, youuse pair 3D Creator to measure an object and pair it with Rhino tosurface the captured file.Once you have a 3D file, you can leverage BIG’s partnership withDigital Immersion and use AccuCut 3D flattening software, said to bethe first solution that takes you from a physical object to a flatpattern in a single integrated system. The crucial role AccuCut playsis that it takes the guesswork out of the production pipeline bycalculating an optimal 2D flat pattern for a 3D object. The resultingflattened file is compatible with cutters from all of the major cuttermanufacturers, according to BIG.For reverse engineering applications, 3D Creator lets you leverage yourMCAD solution, such as SolidWorks, Pro/Engineer, or Inventor.  Youmeasure the dimensions of an object with the 3D Creator freehandmeasuring wand, then input the data into your MCAD package for storageand manipulation.  All of the traditional tools and commands ofthe host MCAD program are available for the user to manipulate the fileas desired.The 3D Creator from BIG is a portable measuring solution. The systemincludes everything but the computer.  Its shipping weight is 53pounds, including a rugged carrying case. AccuCut is part of a bundlefrom BIG that includes the digitizing hardware and all the necessarysoftware.Click these links to download a PDF file describing what 3D Creator has to offer those in industrial or medical settings.  Click here to go to the website of Boulder Innovation.

Editor’s Pick of the Week—August 23, 2006 Part to Art Quickly RhinoART 1.0 joins family of Rhino plug-ins.CAM software developer MecSoft Corp. (Irvine, CA) has announcedRhinoART 1.0, its third plug-in for Rhinoceros from McNeel andAssociates. RhinoART joins RhinoCAM, a general-purpose machiningprogram for machinists, and RhinoCAM Pro for mold, die and tooling,woodworking, rapid-prototyping, and general machining applications. ButRhinoART is different.RhinoART augments Rhino’s NURBS and mesh modeling features withcapabilities that, says MecSoft, gives Rhino users a completely new wayto create artistic models that suitable for such detailed applicationsas jewelry design, sign-making, or logos. In essence, RhinoART givesyou the ability to transform a 2D image into sculptured, native Rhino3D geometry quickly. From there, you can use this geometry as is or youcan manipulate it using Rhino’s modeling tools to create complexdesigns.RhinoART offers such geometry generation features as the ability tocreate 3D reliefs from image files as well the ability to limit thecreation of reliefs using colors and/or curves. It can take drawing 2DCurve geometry from image files and create puffed up volumes usingclosed curves or even sweep volumes using various profiles.To sign up for downloadable trial version of RhinoART 1.0, click here. Click here to access a number of RhinoART and RhinoCAMtutorials or click here for a RhinoART 1.0 image gallery.For complete details, goto the MecSoft website.

 Editor’s Pick of the Week—August 16, 2006 RP&M Suite Works Its Magics Tenth generation software said to be faster, friendlier than ever before.Materialise (Leuven, Belgium, and Ann Arbor, MI) saysthat Magics X, the tenth generation of its RP&M suite, “has beenthoroughly renovated.” Features highlighted in the company’s statementsto the press include a new UI (user interface), a new highly efficientmemory structure, and enhancements to its rendering capabilities andalgorithms.Magics X offers a range of new and enhanced functions that target easeof use and efficiency. For example, its new UI is said to be intuitiveand easy to use. Additionally, the Magics X toolbars and shortcuts arecustomizable to your workflows. Other efficiency enhancements includethe *.Magics file format, which stores all project components together,and a customizable “My Machines” folder that gives you access to yourmachines quickly.Magics X deploys a new memory structure that stores the triangles moreefficiently. This, the company says, enables Magics X to run fasterthan previous versions while letting you work with larger and morefiles simultaneously than you could with earlier versions.Additionally, optimized algorithms in Magics X couple with the newmemory structure to make file handling faster and rendering bothsmoother and faster.File import enhancements include better CAD conversion capabilities andmulti-part-file import; improved surface mesh quality; and conversionof sliced files (SLC) to STL files. Miscellaneous enhancements includedraw support directly in 3D on your part; progress bars; automated 3Dnesting for handling large files; and new functionality for advancedSTL fixing.For complete details, click here. To register for an online demo, click here.

Editor’s Pick of the Week—August 9, 2006 Latest LabVIEW Opens Graphical System Design to MATLAB Users NI’s LabVIEW 8.20 improves productivity via open connectivity with third-party tools and rapid system prototyping. National Instruments(NI; Austin, TX) has released LabVIEW 8.20, the 20th anniversaryedition of the LabVIEW graphical system design platform for test,control, and embedded system development. Building on its long historyof interconnectivity with third-party hardware and software, LabVIEW8.20 extends the LabVIEW graphical dataflow language with nativesupport for text-based math with MathScript. LabVIEW 8.20 also bringssignificant improvements in control design and simulation performanceand accelerates development of real-time system prototypes usingstandard PCs, FPGAs, or custom designs. As system complexity grows, designers are forced to integrate more andmore functionality into their products, often requiring design andsimulation tools from different domains to work together. UsingMathScript, engineers can integrate their existing m-files createdusing the MATLAB software, or create new scripts with LabVIEW and mixand match graphical and text-based approaches to meet their designapplication needs and prototype systems. By combining the interactivefront panel GUIs and connectivity to real-world I/O from LabVIEW withalgorithms designed in traditional text-based math languages, such asm-files, engineers can more quickly explore, prototype, iterate, andcomplete their designs. In addition to general compatibility with MATLAB language syntax,LabVIEW 8.20 helps engineers incorporate algorithms from other leadingmathematics packages, including Maple, Mathcad, and Scilab. ForFPGA-based development, engineers can use new machine monitoring IPlibraries and add third-party IP through the VHDL node in the LabVIEWFPGA Module. Third-party IP cores available for LabVIEW FPGA have beenvalidated by Xilinx, Celoxica, and Impulse C. According to a press release, LabVIEW 8.20 improves algorithm executionspeeds for both simple PID and advanced control systems. The PIDToolkit has improved performance by up to 14 times and execution speedof the LabVIEW Simulation Module is improved up to nine times. Thismakes it possible for engineers to develop and execute high-performanceapplications from simple PID to complex control systems using the samegraphical system design approach. With LabVIEW 8.20, engineers can integrate control algorithms and plantmodels developed using third-party platforms directly into the LabVIEWdesign and prototyping platform. With the Simulation Interface Toolkit,engineers can use simulation models developed in Simulink in LabVIEWfor real-time control prototyping and hardware-in-the-loop (HIL)testing. Additionally, with the new External Model Interface in LabVIEW8.20, engineers can integrate values from third-party plant models inthe LabVIEW Simulation Module. The LabVIEW 8.20 Simulation Module workswith third-party models from Dynasim and Plexim GmbH. LabVIEW 8.20 streamlines the prototyping and deployment of real-timeembedded designs on NI CompactRIO or PXI hardware platforms, as well asstandard desktop computers, FPGAs, or custom board designs-all usingthe same graphical programming approach. The new LabVIEW FPGA Wizardautomatically generates I/O code and timing structures for quicklydesigning prototype systems directly in FPGA hardware for custom,real-time I/O systems, which include NI PXI, CompactRIO, and standarddesktop computers. Engineers can implement these FPGA-based targets onplug-in boards in a standard desktop PC for fast, low-cost systemprototyping. And, with the LabVIEW 8.20 Embedded Development Module,engineers can run their LabVIEW algorithms on 32-bitmicroprocessor-based custom designs. “LabVIEW 8.20 combines an open design platform that embraces multipletools and design approaches with powerful, custom measurementcapabilities to streamline product development through an integrateddesign, prototyping, and deployment platform,” said Dr. James Truchard,NI president, CEO and cofounder. New embedded targets supported in the LabVIEW 8.20 Embedded Moduleinclude TI 6713 and Philips ARM7 229x processors, as well as QNX andMonteVista Linux-embedded operating systems. For more information,visit ni.com.

Editor’s Pick of the Week—August 2, 2006 Full of Features, But Not the CostCAD environment coded for ease of use and functionality.Hachisoft Corp. (Colville, WA) says that its hsCADCreator CADenvironment offers many features that rival those of industry-standardCAD applications. They obviously did not have its low-cost single-seatprice tag—$289.95—top of mind when they said that.The hsCADCreator environment is designed for developing engineering,technical, and architectural drawings quickly, according to thecompany. Coded to be easy to learn and use, hsCADCreator lets youcreate and edit drawings as well as import drawings created in manystandard CAD file formats for view and full interaction.For example, its drawing creation tools give you the ability to useblocks to simplify the generation of repeated drawing elements, and youcan choose your drawing unit and enter distances in any related unitwithout needing a calculator. You can also copy and paste your currentselection in both “Standard” and “As Block” mode. Miscellaneousfeatures include the ability to customize an entity’s line styles, lineweights, text styles, hatch styles, and colors.When editing drawings, you can choose one or more entities of interestwith crossing, containment, and single-click selection as well as viewand modify the properties of the currently selected entity or entities.The company also reports that you can manipulate UCS (user coordinatesystems) easily with simple tools and a UCS-aware data entry system.hsCADCreator also gives you the ability to manage named views,modelspace viewports, and layouts for custom presentations of yourdrawing.hsCADCreator can import from most standard CAD file formats, such asDWG, DXF, DXF, and SVG. Once imported you can display 2D and 3Dinformation; zoom, rotate, pan, and snap within a drawing. You can alsomanage multiple views of a drawing with modelspace and paperspaceviewports. Additionally, you can preview both drawing paperspacelayouts and the drawing modelspace. Drawing conversion functionalityextends to any supported drawing file types and all versions.hsCADCreator can be purchased as a stand-alone product for $289.95.Groups with volume discounts and site licensing programs are available.Click here to download a free trial. Click here to access a variety of Flash demos of hsCADCreator in action.