Cadalyst - May 2008 - (Page 10)

cadcentral Electriﬁed CAD The reconciliation between mechanical CAD (MCAD) and its estranged cousin electronic CAD (ECAD) continues with SolidWorks’ recent acquisition of Priware, the developer of CircuitWorks. Priware, a SolidWorks Gold Partner based in the United Kingdom, had already done much of the legwork required to let SolidWorks users read and write printed circuit CircuitWorks for SolidWorks is another example of the type board (PCB) layouts drawn in of MCAD–ECAD bridging capability that will be crucial in standard ECAD formats such as manufacturers’ mechatronics product development. IDF or PADS. With CircuitWorks, SolidWorks users can produce a detailed tronics; that is, complex electromechani3D assembly of a PCB and its components. cal products driven by software (such as According to Priware, these assemblies a luxury vehicle with voice recognition, are particularly useful for Bluetooth-enabled multimedia consoles, and automatic navigation features). u checking interferences between the Joe Barkai, Manufacturing Insights’ PCB components and the surrounding practice director for Product Life-Cycle mechanical parts Strategies research service, predicted, “By u designing PCBs with complex shapes 2010, the number of software-embedded u producing physical PCB prototypes control units will represent 35–40% of u thermal analysis of products with the value of the average car. This industry embedded PCBs (such as cell phones) is investing heavily in improving the capaFor more clues about where this may bilities of mechatronics, and as much as lead, you can turn to the MCAD–ECAD 90% of future innovation in new vehicle Collaboration Extension in Pro/ENGINEER, systems will be in in-vehicle software introduced by PTC in January. The motiand electronics” (“Mechatronics Product vation for bridging these disparate Life-Cycle Management: Trends and Best engineering branches comes from the Practices,” www.manufacturing-insights.com). manufacturers’ rush to develop mecha- By Kenneth Wong Test Draw Autodesk Labs launched another online application for the curious crowd. Project Draw (http://labs. autodesk.com/technologies/ draw), a new vector-based program, follows the classic software-as-a-service model, allowing users to create floor plans, printed circuit board layouts, flowcharts, user interfaces (for both Mac and Windows), kitchen and bath layouts, and other 2D diagrams by dragging, dropping, and resizing primitive shapes and geometric blocks. The finished drawings can be exported to JPEG, DWG, DXF, PDF, and several other formats. The application provides shading and gradient options, along with the choice to take a drawing offline and continue working on it. In its present incarnation, it doesn’t allow someone to use Project Draw to open an exiting AutoCAD, DWG, or DXF file and modify it. Because this technology is in a preview stage, the application will continue to morph, based on user input. A quick scan of the discussion forum for Project Draw reveals users are interested in universal modeling language drawing objects, a more refined ruler display, and a reworking of the shadowing command. Cadalyst contributing editor Kenneth Wong explores the innovative use of technology. On-Site or On-Demand? In the Webcast titled “Gaining Control of Your Product Lifecycle with PLM,” broadcasted March 27 (archived online at www.arenasolutions.com), on-demand product lifecycle management (PLM) provider Arena Solutions’ co-founder and chief technology officer Eric Larkin outlined the difference between companies more suited for on-site PLM (or in-house PLM) systems and those well-positioned to take advantage of the on-demand (or software-as-aservice) option. “If your business relies on a patented 15-step business process that has to be done just so, then you might be better off working with one of the big PLM toolkit providers, who can develop a custom solution that tailors to that process,” he said. “On the other hand, if you have tens, hundreds, even thousands of parts, and you succeed by getting this product to the market more quickly with better quality, and you do that following best practices in design development and manufacturing, then on-demand is really worth a look . . . The customers who selectively share their product records with their suppliers get the greatest value from the [on-demand] service. Finally, we get a significant number of customers who are looking for a low risk way to get their feet wet in PLM. A traditional PLM solution has significant upfront costs, so by the time you find out if the solution works for your business, the vendor has already received most of the financial benefit they’ll get from that relationship.” More News Find breaking and current news at www.cadalyst.com/news. 10 www.cadalyst.com cadalyst May 2008 http://labs.autodesk.com/technologies/draw http://labs.autodesk.com/technologies/draw http://labs.autodesk.com/technologies/draw http://labs.autodesk.com/technologies/draw http://labs.autodesk.com/technologies/draw http://www.manufacturing-insights.com http://www.arenasolutions.com http://www.cadalyst.com/news http://www.cadalyst.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Cadalyst - May 2008

Cadalyst - May 2008 Contents Editor's Window Cad Central A Solid Job in AutoCAD Today’s Power — Quad-Core Workstations Performance — Tomorrow’s Possibilities Reverse Engineering an Antique Italian Treasure Trends in Reverse Engineering NextEngine 3D Scanner — Reverse-Engineering Tool Setting CAD Standards Fight for Your Hardware Rights The Jack and Jill of Ergonomics Technology for Civil Infrastructure Cad Cartoon Issue Indexes Shortcuts and Solutions

Cadalyst - May 2008

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