Cadalyst - January/February 2009 - (Page 11) cadcentral For Design Answers, Ask Nature What does CAD software giant Autodesk have in common with Janine Benyus, a naturalist who wrote The Secret Language and Remarkable Behaviors of Animals (Black Dog & Leventhal, 1998)? The short answer is: Ask Nature. In November, Autodesk and Benyus launched the portal AskNature. org, an online database of design ideas inspired At AskNature.org, designers and architects can find by nature. Announcing information about projects inspired by nature. the site, Autodesk and the Biomimicry Institute (founded by Benyus) wrote, “This free database is the only public-domain online library of its kind in the world, where architects, designers, and engineers can search for and study nature’s solutions to design challenges — learning, for example, how organisms filter air and water, gather solar energy, and create nontoxic dyes and glues.” The site currently features pages discussing bioSTREAM’s tidal power system inspired by the tuna and mackerel’s swimming movements and NanoSphere fabric inspired by the butterfly’s wing surface, among other topics. At Autodesk University, Autodesk CEO Carl Bass suggested biomimicry might be the next frontier in sustainable design. (See my blog post, “Dispatches from Autodesk University 2008: Day One,” December 3, 2008, www.cadalyst.com/kw.) Because mimicking nature requires creating many variations of the same design to find the best, biomimicry is expected to drive digital manufacturing, Autodesk’s vision. Autodesk Rounds Out FEA Portfolio One week before Christmas, Autodesk delivered what might be a long-delayed present for Autodesk Inventor users: integrated finite-element analysis (FEA) features. At the moment, the present is just a promise. It’s expected to appear in the form of software code after Autodesk completes its acquisition of ALGOR, a recognized name in the FEA market. Amy Bunzel, Autodesk’s director of the Inventor product line, predicted, “Over time, some of [ALGOR’s] features will find their way into Inventor.” Previously, some speculated Autodesk might snatch up ANSYS, another leading FEA software developer (“FEA for All — Part 3: Autodesk and ANSYS Just Friends?” June 26, 2006, CAD Insider, http://cadinsider.typepad. com). The match seems sensible, because SolidWorks, Autodesk’s major competition in the midrange CAD market, has been offering a CAD–FEA combo by pairing SolidWorks CAD software with COSMOSWorks analysis software for nearly seven years. But Autodesk instead relied on partnerships with ANSYS, ALGOR, and other FEA software makers to provide Inventor users with analysis features. Subsequently, the company purchased PlassoTech, a small FEA provider, and Moldflow, a mold-simulation software maker. Currently, Autodesk is showcasing the Autodesk Inventor Plastic Features Technology Preview as a teaser of what Inventor users can expect. If Autodesk manages to incorporate ALGOR’s FEA features into Inventor, Autodesk manufacturing customers would have reason to celebrate. ALGOR also offers FEA products for Autodesk competitors. Bunzel said Autodesk plans to “keep a CAD-neutral product line from ALGOR.” Autodesk’s partnership with ANSYS is also expected to continue. Taiwan Plays Catch-Up in RP Development In January, Professor Sen-Yung Lee, mechanical engineering, National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), and his colleagues completed the prototype of a rapid prototyping (RP) machine or 3D printer. The project was an R&D initiative funded by the Taiwan Ministry of Economic Affairs, but a domestic company, MicroJet, is poised to reap its benefits. Lee’s technique has been transferred to MicroJet, presumably for developing commercial variations. In the announcement, the university predicted, “The annual revenue garnered from this technique is expected to reach . . . approximately US$10–16 million in five years.” Terry Wohlers, founder of Wohlers Associates and the author of Wohlers Report 2008 (an in-depth study of the advances in additive fabrication, including 3D printing and rapid January/February 2009 cadalyst www.cadalyst.com manufacturing), observed, “It’s possible to ramp up to $10–16 million in five years, but they’d have to invest aggressively, put together a strong R&D team, create a good method of distribution and support, and make few mistakes along the way.” In the announcement, the university highlighted the use of “nanoscale powder manufacturing technology, precision positioning and process control, powder compounding, bonding and coherence technique, [and] improved ink injector and driving technique,” among others. If NCKU’s technology results in a commercial RP machine, it would have to compete with some imported RP units already on the scene. Wohlers pointed out, “The Dimension product family from Stratasys, followed by the machines from Z Corp., have been the most successful in Asia.” 11 http://www.AskNature.org http://cadinsider.typepad.com http://cadinsider.typepad.com http://www.cadalyst.com/kw http://www.cadalyst.com
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