next generation CAD

Next-Generation CAD Systems
As engineers re-enginer the product development process, developers of computer-aided design programs are making sweeping changes in their own products to support emerging streamlined engineering processes.

By Dan Deitz,
Associate Editor

A profound change has taken place in the computer-aided design market: the appearance of a mid-range market of products with many of the features previously available only with high-end systems.

Intergraph Software Solutions, in Huntsville, Ala. developed Solid Edge to use the Windows operating system, with features like Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) so that, according to the company, an application doesn’t have to know anything about the data structure of any object it’s using or about how the original program manipulated the data. Their OLE data servers will allow users to incorporate native AutoCAD, I/EMS, or MicroStation files in a Solid Edge assembly without translation.

Engineer’s navigate master assembly models like this break using Solid Edge’s Pathfinder.
EDS Unigraphics in Maryland Heights, Mo., made assembly modeling the foundation for design in Version 10 of their Unigraphics software. When an engineer opens an assembly, all the associated parts are opened simultaneously, and engineers can predefine zones in a complex assembly. Unigraphics has also been able to add intelligence to complex assembly models. Engineers need to be able to associate anything in their designs with anything, according to Matra Datavision, in Andover, Mass. By adopting object-oriented programming and database technology, Matra Datavision has added intelligence to parts designed with EUCLID 3, its flagship CAD/CAM system, as well as to the geometric and functional links between them. Structural Dynamics Research Corp. (SDRC), in Milford, Ohio developed its I-DEAS Master Series partly to streamline the process of analyzing solid geometry so that design engineers can benefit from analysis insights early in the product development process. SDRC also added a new contact element to the latest release of I-DEAS to help analysts evaluate the interaction of components within an assembly.

Pro/ENGINEER from Parametric Technology Corp., in Waltham, Mass. enables engineers to reuse existing "objects," which could be parts, features of a part, subassemblies, or assemblies. They can also use the FlyThrough tool to visualize a complex assembly.

A sidebar to the article describes the SolidWorks modeler from SolidWorks Corp., in Concord, Mass., which can handle tolerance values when reading in solids from other systems, sew up surfaces into a solid and interface directly into other applications.

The above was adapted from an article in the August issue of Mechanical Engineering magazine. To obtain a copy of this issue, click here.