Virtual 3D Book Teaches CAD & CAM

By Margaret S. Gurney

VX CAD/CAM’s built-in Show-n-Tell tutorials feature onscreen instructions that let you step through commands and rotate your models to gain a better understanding of the software quickly.

When VX Corporation (Melbourne, FL) released its Show-n-Tell communication tool at the recent IMTS 2008 trade show, the company noticed that users saw the benefits of onscreen tutorials that work like a virtual 3D book immediately. Show-n-Tell, which is built into the VX CAD/CAM system, provides more than onscreen step-by-step lessons — Show-n-Tell can automate design reviews and serve as a 3D markup tool. But its strength goes well beyond tutorials as it is coupled with the ability to rotate and zoom 3D models to get your points across. So, in addition to self-paced training sessions at your convenience,  Show-n-Tell is an engineering productivity and digital communications tool as well.

Bob Fischer, the vice president of sales and marketing at VX Corp. explains that Show-n-Tell is intended to virtually eliminate the cost of learning a new product: “Ease of learning is the number one barrier to implementing new technology. VX developed Show-n-Tell to overcome this barrier. We are encouraged to see that our customers are using Show-n-Tell not only to reduce learning costs, but also as a tool for authoring assembly instructions,  reviewing engineering documents, and for capturing design intent.”

It is the simplicity Show-n-Tell offers, says VX Corp., that has users excited about using it for design review and markup, assembly instructions, and process /  setup sheets. You can capture layering, adjust camera angles, as well as rotate and zoom 3D models. Its authoring tool, for example, lets you point out problem areas on a model or drawing by simply creating annotations and pressing a record button to capture the view orientation and zoom state.

Show-n-Tell can document 3D assembly instructions, and users can rotate the model using the free VX Viewer.

You can then send your file to a collaborator who can simply click through the recorded slides/steps using the free VX Viewer. The reviewer can, at any point, rotate,  measure, and dynamically slice the model — or zoom in on a detail drawing —  then quickly return to the slides you intended for them to see.

The How and the Why
Show-n-Tell is particularly suited to address a recurring problem faced by the manufacturing community, says the company — the loss of know-how through outsourcing to offshore suppliers coupled with what the company refers to as “the retirement of baby boomers,” a social phenomenon dear to some of our hearts. VX literature points out that “skilled workers that were trained in the post-World War II era, offer many valuable years of engineering experience and myriad ‘tricks of the trade’ that could be lost to future generations.”

Using Show-n-Tell for design review means there is no need to buy a separate product for review, plus it simplifies assembly drill down.

VX Show-n-Tell provides a medium to capture and communicate this expertise, and not just how something is done but why it’s done a particular way. An example for this knowledge-capture includes the fixturing of complex aircraft components such as wing spars, which are large and difficult to keep in tolerance. Other examples include machining in difficult materials, special assembly instructions, or designing for a specific purpose.

Models and drawings can be marked up with annotation and dimensioning tools, then the author can take quick snapshots with Show-n-Tell to send back to customers or over to an engineer for inspection and correction.

A Show-n-Tell’s Step 10 instructions are tutorial in nature: Select Align Component from the Assembly toolbar, Select the face of the green Flange for the 1st Entity Input, Select the back face of the blue Handle for the 2nd Entity Input, and Pick OK.

Show-n-Tell also knows where each document is located, so it will load the correct file and display the layers and view orientation that the author captured, making communication clear.

Communicating & Learning
Assembly sequences can be captured simply by using Show-n-Tell to take snapshots of the layers of the components for each step in the assembly. The author can also use the annotation tools to give special assembly instructions.

Show-n-Tell uses Burst technology, an assembly technology that offers efficient handling of 10,000-part assemblies or larger. By special handling of display data, VX minimizes memory usage, letting you manipulate and manage assemblies from design prototyping through manufacturing.

Using Show-n-Tell authoring tools, drawing notes, comments, formulas, and intent can all be captured with the 3D model, assembly, and drawings. Designers and engineers can also record design intent with the model or drawing for future use.

This is a view similar to what can be seen when taking advantage of VX Corp.’s offerings of online demonstrations.

Each of the Show-n-Tell application areas can provide huge benefits to companies, improving communication of ideas, design intent, markup, process, and instructions. Even though Show-n-Tell resides inside of VX, all of the benefits can be realized with non-native geometry.

QuickTips
With the Show-n-Tell tutorials, you need not install special video drivers or codecs or use reams of paper to print out documents — Show-n-Tell tutorials are launched by loading a VX file.

You can step back and forth with a click of a button, and all instructions are onscreen — eliminating the need to flip back to a video or hold a book open. 3D models, showing the expected result, can be rotated and zoomed, giving the learners better feedback and increasing understanding. You can also save the Show-n-Tell tutorial session for later use.

Along with the new tutorials, new QuickTips instructions answer common questions and provide productivity tips using videos, stills, and text instructions.

What to Expect
VX will initially include four Show-n-Tell tutorials with the release of this new enhancement: an introduction to VX CAD/CAM, working with assemblies, drafting,  and modeling. Plans are under way to make more tutorials available for download. Future tutorials will cover parametric and open shape modeling,  sketching, assembly, drafting, 2X and 3XCAM, automated hole drilling, importing and healing, part splitting, electrodes, direct editing, morphing, surfacing,  and reverse engineering.

“It is exciting to be on the forefront of making professional CAD/CAM easier to discover and learn. The new Show-n-Tell tutorials and QuickTips are just two examples of how VX is leading in the area of learning,” added Fischer.

Show-n-Tell is not the first tool along these lines from VX Corp. The company expects Version 14, due out in the end of November, will offer a new capability to let you encapsulate balloons to contain your annotations (instructions) and then use arrows to attach the balloon to a part or parts onscreen.

For more information on Show-n-Tell  — and CAD/CAM solutions for consumer products in general, visit VX Corporation.

Read why DE’s editors chose this as a Pick of the Week.

Contact VX to request a live in-house demonstration of VX.

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It is possible for you to see the demo.

At IMTS, VX Corp. had an engine on display that was designed entirely in VX in one month.

Download VX training manuals, tutorials, and/or VX online help and installation guide.

Read a customer testimonial about how Tim Kruse of Cruzin’ Machine delivers custom parts faster using VX CAD/CAM.

Access further information on downloads possible from VX Corp.

Read further VX customer testimonials.

Read the source of Mike Hudspeth’s remark in DE, “I have been keeping my eye on VX for several years now and I really like what I see” in “Modeling with VX v13: Take an empirical approach to hybrid solid modeling” (DE, Nov. 2007).

For the source of Hudspeth’s earlier DE coverage, “Watch the quiet ones. ...Some companies make a lot of noise but deliver hot air. Others, like VX Corporation of Palm Bay, FL, deliver the goods” about VX Version 12 in “Delivering the Goods: VX Version 12 covers a wide range of functionality in a handful of specialty bundles.” (DE, June 2006).

Margaret S. Gurney is the editor for new products at Desktop Engineering magazine.