Cadalyst - August 2008 - (Page 30)

cadalystlabsreview when changes need to be made, you can make them in Maple 12 and update your model. All kinds of help and reference materials are available to you in Maple 12. The Getting Started Guide will take you quickly through the basic functioning of the program and have you up and running in no time at all. Under the Tools menu you will find tutors that will actually teach you math. It’s almost like taking a class. You can learn algebra, calculus, and more. Then, as you grow along with Maple 12, you will want to know more about the complicated things. Maple Portal is a collection of short flash videos that are available to you at any time. It’s pretty obvious that Maplesoft is trying to be as helpful as it can be. Figure 5. Maple 12 is not an island unto itself. It can interface with your CAD program and run variables that define your models. Pay the Piper About the only thing some people might hold against Maple 12 is its price. Maple 12 Professional goes for $1,895. Of course, Maple 12 has academic pricing as well. Maple 12 Academic is $995 (for educational institutions) and Maple 12 Student is $99 (for students). I don’t think those prices are unreasonable for the kind of power you get. Maple 12 is a bit more than merely a virtual calculator. Try it; you’ll like it. For more information about Maple 12, visit the company’s Web site. Highly Recommended. Mike Hudspeth, IDSA, is an industrial designer, artist, and author based in St. Louis, Missouri. shot!” Maple 12 has some of the most powerful downstream capabilities in the industry. Do you work with a parametric-based modeling program? If so, you have no doubt found yourself entering mathematical equations to get the parameters you want. Has the modeler’s interface for that function been easy to use? That’s not a problem for Maple 12. You can use it to create any formulas you want and then link them right into your modeler with the CAD linker assistant (figure 5). You can assign the formulas to any particular dimension or constraint you wish. Then, Hot Tip Harry is back in print! Enter your AutoCAD tips in Hot Tip Harry’s 2008 Hot Code Contest for a chance to win a trip to Autodesk University 2008! Brought to you by Submit your original AutoLISP and VBA routines and custom hatch patterns to Cadalyst’s “Hot Tip Harry” for a chance to win a trip to Autodesk University 2008 in Las Vegas! Plus, each month, Hot Tip Harry awards an ofﬁcial Cadalyst T-shirt to every published tip author and sends a $100 cash prize for that month’s “Top Tip.” Got code? Hot code? Email it to: harry@cadalyst.com For more information about Hot Tip Harry’s Hot Code Contest, visit www.cadalyst.com/harry2008 Visit Harry online at www.cadalyst.com/harry2008 30 www.cadalyst.com cadalyst August 2008 http://www.cadalyst.com/harry2008 http://www.cadalyst.com/harry2008 http://www.cadalyst.com/harry2008 http://www.cadalyst.com

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

Cadalyst - August 2008 Contents Editor's Window CAD Central Tech Trends: Rotor Bug Strikes Again Cadalyst Labs Reviews: Digital Dreams — Visualization Software: Make Your Design Visions a Reality Maple 12 — Math Software AutoLINE 2009 — Linetype Management Add-On Deep Access — Digital-Media Asset Management Software View Point: Examining the Autodesk–Bentley Agreement CAD Manager: Managing Multioffice Mayhem MCAD Modeling: Do You Need Modeling Standards? AEC Insight: Modeling Technology for Building Engineers CAD Cartoon Issue Indexes Hot Tip Harry: Better Living with Objects and Smart Entities

Cadalyst - August 2008

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