Briefings: February 2005

Tecnomatix Technologies, Ltd. Herzlia, Israel

4D Announces Release of CBT Products for Autodesk 2005 Users

AutoCAD 2005 Update CBT (computer-based training), AutoCAD with 2005 Update,and Inventor 9 CBT, along with Architectural Desktop CBT provide professionalvideo training on using these applications. For a limited time and in partnershipwith Thomson Delmar Learning, each CBT includes a disk-based version of a relevantcurrent Autodesk Press book.

Using AutoCAD 2005, Basics and Advanced, Inventor 9 Essentials Plus, and MasteringArchitectural Desktop 2005 are among the bonus books included with the variousCBTs.
The CBTs are available for desktop, LAN, and enterprise users. 4D Technologiesis an Authorized Autodesk Publisher. See the company’s website for complete details.

4D Technologies
Bedford, NH

Moldflow Corp. and Elysium Co. Ltd. have inked a deal under which Moldflow willresell a customized version of Elysium’s CAD Doctor geometry translation, repair,and simplification solution. The Moldflow CAD Doctor has been designed specificallyfor the needs of the plastics injection molding industry and enables the interactivediagnostic analysis of 3D CAD data with tools for generating optimized modelsfor predictive analysis applications such as the Moldflow Plastics Advisers (MPA)and Moldflow Plastics Insight (MPI).The Moldflow CAD Doctor gives designers theability to perform more than 30 different types of model quality checks. It hasa stitching and healing toolset that automatically sews together free edges ina model as well as fixes discontinuities, overlaps, intersections, and other geometryerrors.Moldflow CAD Doctor also offers a number of automatic and manual toolsthat help designers optimize geometry for use with MPA or MPI by suppressing orsimplifying small fillets, radii, slivers, chamfers, lettering, tool symbols,embossing, and logos. Its set of geometry creation tools means designers do nothave to revert to an MCAD system to make simple geometry modifications, such asadding ribs, bosses, and flow leaders or increasing thickness in specific regions.The Moldflow CAD Doctor product was expected to ship by the end of December.MoldflowCorp.

Wayland, MA

Learn all the basics or expand your current expertise by choosing the Associate,Professional, or Master level programs. The two-day Associate course, appropriatefor managers, presents an excellent overview of the history of additive technologies,uses of RP in various industries, and strengths and limitations of current approachesas well as a glimpse of processes now in development. Attendees may then chooseto take a written exam highlighting the skills and information gained to earna certificate documenting their competitive edge.

By staying an additional day, attendees of the Professional course (recommendedfor product developers, tool makers, and sales staff) have the chance to learna wealth of nitty-gritty details about selecting equipment, materials, and processesthat match specific needs. They also gain insight into evaluating factors thatwill shape and finish a final part, and have the option to sit for a Professional-levelcertification exam.

During the upcoming Rapid Prototyping and Manufacturing Conference and Expositionscheduled for May 10-13, 2005, a Master Certification exam will be offered forthe second time since its inception. No prior coursework is required, but successfulcompletion demonstrates mastery of specifics in ordering the correct part foran application, as well as understanding material and technology limitations.

Recently I had the opportunity to attend both the Associate and Professionalcourses. Beyond the excellent presentations, handouts, and course book (Todd Grimm’sUser’s Guide to Rapid Prototyping, tagrimm.com), the presenters shared their own 10-plus years of design and manufacturingexperience. The real-world exchange was definitely helpful; for example, by 10a.m. the first day, one participant was already on his cell phone, recommendinga change in the build process to a colleague back at the plant.

— Contributing Editor Pamela J. Waterman is an electrical engineer. You can contact her via e-mail sent to [email protected].

Society of Manufacturing Engineers
Dearborn, MI

IOtech has joined the recently formed LXI Consortium standards organization.LXI—LAN eXtensions for Instrumentation—is a next-generation, LAN-based modularplatform architecture for automated test systems.

Introduced by Agilent Technologies and VXI Technology in September, LXI combineselements of GPIB instruments and VXI modules. With LXI engineers are said to getthe reduced size of VXI, the throughput of LAN, and the performance measurementsof GPIB. LXI does not require a cardcage, nor a slot 0, nor does it require anexpensive PC-to-instrument communications link.
LXI modules are full-rack width, 1U tall or half-rack width, 1U or 2U tall. Signalsenter and exit the module from its front panel while LAN (IEEE 802.3), power,and trigger cables are on the back of the module. All modules are designed tomount in a standard 19-inch rack or stacked on the bench.
The LXI Consortium, a not-for-profit corporation, seeks to develop, support,and promote the LXI standard. LXI’s compact size and operation characteristicsshould make it well suited to meet the needs of aerospace defense engineers developingradar, electronic warfare, satellite, and military communications systems.

IOtech’s commitment to the consortium brings to 14 the number of companies officiallycommitted, with additional membership commitments expected. Among the other membersof the LXI Consortium are Aeroflex, Analogic, Bruel and Kjaer, California Instruments,Elgar Electronics Corp., Keithley Instruments, Measurement Computing Corp., PhaseMatrix, Pickering Interfaces, and Teradyne.

Iotech
Cleveland, OH

Sopheon‘s recent decision to join Microsoft’s Collaborative Product Development(CPD) initiative is a natural extension of its ability to help companies makedecisions about the products they should produce using Accolade. Their productportfolio management solution is based on the Microsoft technology platform andshould bolster its customers’ ability to use their Microsoft products to speedprofitable products to market.

According to Bryan Seyfarth, Sopheon’s solutions marketing director, leveragingthe Microsoft technology will help Accolade add important decision-making informationto Microsoft’s project-management expertise. It combines the details involvedin Accolade’s strategic ability with the scheduling and management capabilitiesof Microsoft’s Office Project Server 2003 and SharePoint Portal Server 2003. “Itsits across the top of the entire process,” says Seyfarth, enhancing its capacityfor enterprise-wide deployment.

Accolade’s ability to help executives pick the products that deserve developmentis based on a stage-gate business process using metrics to grade projects thatare poised to go into a production cycle. It helps identify the key factors forsuccess and is credited with an 84 percent success rate at identifying eithersuccessful or unsuccessful products. It provides executives with a single, easy-to-usedashboard for identifying and tracking projects with the greatest potential. Byintegrating Microsoft’s capabilities with Accolade, team members will benefitfrom increased efficiency in sharing information related to project tasks, andsophisticated monitoring capabilities will allow process managers to examine leadingindicators against process performance goals.

Another principal impact of the integration is that it will further strengthenAccolade’s capacity to meet the needs of clients interested in enterprise-wideimplementation. Accolade with the Microsoft technologies fully integrated is expectedin early 2005.

Sopheon

Microsoft Corp.

Matrox Graphics, Inc. and Xi Graphics, Inc. announce the release of Matrox Parhelia,Millennium P-Series, and QID display drivers for the Linux (Red Hat, SuSE, andMandrake) operating system. These display drivers, developed by Xi Graphics inpartnership with Matrox, support advanced Matrox features including DualHead,TripleHead, quad-display, TV output, Clone, Multi-Display Zoom, OpenGL acceleration,and multi-card configurations. Xi Graphics already supports Matrox G Series graphicscards and, since 1994, has developed display drivers for Unix- and Linux-basedsystems.

Matrox Graphics Inc.
Montreal, ONT

Alibre Inc. was recently issued a patent for an invention enabling 3D solid modelingfor mechanical design and engineering in high-bandwidth, distributed processingnetworks such as the Internet. The invention is embodied in Alibre Design andconsists of three components: the design application, the design server, and therepository server. The multi-tiered architecture separates the CAD application’suser interface from its core modeling engine, or design server, and data storage,facilitating the computing of intensive 3D CAD tasks on a series of servers.

In a common configuration the design application is installed on each user’sPC, just like other traditional desktop applications, but that is where the similarityends. One or more instances of the architecture’s design and repository serverscan then reside on the same computer or be distributed among multiple computers,depending on the task’s complexity and available resources. This enables processingto be directed to computers best suited for it, providing more options for corporateinfrastructure investment.

In addition to letting designers and engineers share and edit product designsin real-time over the Internet, Alibre Design also provides the foundation forthe Alibre Assistant, which delivers live technical guidance from Alibre supportengineers.

Alibre, Inc.
Richardson, TX