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WELCOME EDITORIAL Editor-in-Chief Al Dean al@x3dmedia.com +44 (0)7525 701 541 Managing Editor Greg Corke greg@x3dmedia.com +44 (0)20 3355 7312 Digital Media Editor Stephen Holmes stephen@x3dmedia.com +44 (0)20 3384 5297 Special Projects Editor Tanya Weaver tanya@x3dmedia.com +44 (0)20 3384 5296 Consulting Editor Martyn Day martyn@x3dmedia.com +44 (0)7525 701 542
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SUBSCRIPTIONS
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o, did you make it to DEVELOP3D LIVE? I do hope you did. We know that we had a record year for this, our fourth event since starting. All told, we had around 1,000 folks through the door on the day as well as streaming over 1,282 hours of the keynote presentations over three time zones and to around another couple of thousand people that couldn’t make it in person. Organising an event, as anyone that’s ever done it will tell you, is a mix of organisation, disorganisation, constant fighting fire (like last minute runs to PC World in a trannie van to buy a Wacom tablet) and utter exhaustion as soon as the last stand is broken down. That heady mix is offset against the ability to bring people together. To bring you, our readers, into contact with not only one another, but also with some of the leading technology providers. We hope to give you both food for thought and inspiration as well as new knowledge and ideas about better ways to work. I think over the course of that day, once we’d all got parked (sorry to anyone stuck in the traffic — we know it was an issue for many), there was enough to keep the energy levels up without resorting to chemicals or, at the least, Red Bull. Now it’s back to the magazine production business. We’ve got a fantastic issue that ranges from a CNC focussed start-up I met in San Francisco to farming equipment designed, engineering and manufactured in Suffolk. We also take a look at two leading proponents of cloud-based design and engineering with updates on Onshape and Fusion 360. Plenty to dig into, so enjoy and we’ll be back in June.
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2015 SHOW GUIDE.indd 51
17/04/2015 16:59
CONTENTS MAY 2015 ISSUE NO. 68
7
NEWS Carbon3D emerges from the shadows, Objet 1000 Plus gets a speed boost, MainFrame2 changes name to Frame and Nvidia gets serious about interactive rendering
COMMENT 13 When is a designer not a designer? This is the question that Jeremy Pullin is pondering this month YOUR DEVELOP3D 14 Tell us what you think: Your views on the challenges that the cloud is trying to solve 16 18 23 31 36
FEATURES Visual design guide: Crown Hockey stick Product design showcase: Hand-built products COVER STORY Othermill desktop CNC machine DEVELOP3D LIVE 2015 event report Claydon Drills enters the 3D CAD world
38 46 53 56
REVIEWS Mobile Workstation group test Onshape — Beta overview Autodesk Fusion 360 Q1 Vero VISI Series 21
60 DEVELOP3D SERVICES 61 DEVELOP3D JOBS 66 THE LAST WORD With a move to a new office, Al Dean is spending a little time looking at the equipment that he takes for granted
The wood used to produce this magazine comes from Forest Stewardship Council certified well-managed forests, controlled sources and/or recycled material
DEVELOP3D.COM MAY 2015 5
develop3d-2015-04-14-renda-microsoft.pdf
1
14/04/2015
10:55:21
NEWS
PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT NEWS
CARBON3D'S CLIP 3D PRINTING TECH IS FASTER THAN HAS EVER BEEN SEEN BEFORE » Carbon3D has finally emerged from the shadows to launch its take on polymer-based 3D printing — and it’s fast, really fast. Stephen Holmes takes a look at what it means Finally launched, Carbon3D’s CLIP 3D printing technology has everyone excited
C
omparative test figures announced by Carbon3D suggest a model that takes over three hours to print on a SLA machine, can be produced using its technology in less than seven minutes. Its Continuous Liquid Interface Production technology (CLIP) harnesses light and oxygen to continuously ‘grow’ objects from a pool of resin instead of printing them layer-by-layer. At the heart of the process is a special window that is transparent to light and permeable to oxygen, much like a contact lens. By controlling the oxygen flux through the window, CLIP creates a “dead zone” in the resin pool just tens of microns thick where photopolymerisation cannot occur. As a series of cross-sectional images of a 3D model is played like a movie into the
resin pool from underneath, the physical object emerges continuously from just above the dead zone. By carefully balancing the interaction of UV light, which triggers photo polymerisation, and oxygen, which inhibits the reaction, CLIP continuously grows objects at speeds that are claimed to be 25-100 times faster than traditional 3D printing. Excitingly, the CLIP technology isn’t simply about speed; the finish of the printed objects we’ve seen is extremely good due to a noticeable lack of layering. Where existing 3D printing technology is repeated layers, Carbon3D has a tunable photochemical process instead to allow for a layer-less and continuous process that eliminates layer stepping. Already there are some exciting material properties available, including the ability
to add elasticity, stretch, or dampening to a part. Conventionally made 3D printed parts are notorious for having mechanical properties that vary depending on the direction the parts were printed because of the layer-bylayer approach. Due to a continuous forming process, the Carbon3D parts should therefore be more consistent and predictable, and in a way similar to injection moulded parts - smooth on the outside and solid on the inside. The technology was originally developed by Professor Joseph DeSimone, Professor Edward Samulski, and Dr. Alex Ermoshkin at Carbon3D, based in Silicon Valley, founded in 2013 in North Carolina, USA. With Beta testing already taking place, it shouldn’t be long before we begin to see the technology in the marketplace. carbon3d.com
ANALYSIS — THOUGHTS ON CARBON 3D & HOW IT CHANGES THE GAME We alluded to this technology in our 2015 3D Printing Preview, having had a sneak preview of what it could do late last year, but it’s hard to imagine the kind of shakeup this will mean for the industry. First, the major players are likely to take a line similar to when HP announced its technology
— that no customer-ready machine has yet been built — however we know of Carbon3D Beta machines working in bureaus in the US that are already getting the job done. While the financial clout of HP might have shook the industry from its plateau of mainstream media hype, this announcement should have the R&D departments
of Stratasys and 3D Systems working overtime. All of which is great new for users of all machines. Secondly, it’s proof that the next big leap in 3D printing technology can still come from out of the blue. Carbon3D is not a company from the initial founding fathers of the technology, many
with fixed ideological limitations of what the technology can do after 30 years of existence. Instead the CLIP technology is one built on fresh ideas and possibilities by a team new to the industry. Autodesk has agreed to back it with $10 million from its Spark investment fund, so already we’re seeing top tier support for
advancing the system. It’s all rather exciting, and we’re extremely optimistic about what this will bring for all industries and sectors looking to harness 3D printing. Want to know more about what 2015 will hold for 3D Printing? Read our top five trends to watch out for, here — tinyurl. com/3dprintingtrends15
DEVELOP3D.COM MAY 2015 7
NEWS
ROUND UP
DEVELOP3D LIVE 2015 talks now available online
O
ur special live event, DEVELOP3D LIVE 2015, featured a fantastic lineup of speakers, and we’re putting the talks online for people to view for free. The event, which took place on 26 March at Warwick Arts Centre, covered three key areas — product design, make/fabricate and start-ups — with a great mix of designers, engineers and industry specialists taking to the stage. Yet, with so much to choose from and people unable to attend every session, the talks are now available to view via the show website — develop3dlive.com With more than 30 talks, keep checking back over the next few weeks as we continue to upload more to the site. Some of the talks currently available include Autodesk CEO Carl Bass who discusses new means of cloud-based design and engineering and SolidWorks CEO Gian Paolo Bassi who looks at the opportunities
and challenges resulting in the shifts in technology and society. Also online is Onshape Chairman Jon Hirschtick, on how the design world has changed and how CAD needs to change with it, and Mark Shayler of Ape who gave the final keynote of the day on the need to restore manufacturing to the UK. This year we have also uploaded the panel session on the future of 3D design tools, an eye opening discussion from some of the leading figures in the industry, and an exclusive to our live event. develop3dlive.com
Watch Andy Claughton, Ben Ainslie Racing's technical director, talk about how the company is pushing the limits in America's Cup boat design
A
presentation on “Why CAD in the cloud is closer than you think.” A limited number of Frame BETA accounts are being made available to the CAD community. Sign up via the website. fra.me
Autodesk Inventor running in a web browser on the Frame cloud platform
Share 3D data within the Adobe PDF format
T
heorem Solutions has launched its Publish3D-Document suite of products, which enable the translation of 3D CAD data from within CATIA V5, NX, PTC’s Creo Parametric, and JT applications into a readable PDF with an interactive 3D product image embedded within the document. Using Adobe reader, either on a PC, tablet
Samsung has taken its 2.5-inch 850 EVO Solid State Drive (SSD) and shrunk it down for both mSATA and M.2 form factors. The miniaturised drives, which can store up to 500GB (M.2) or 1TB (mSATA), can be housed in some mobile workstations and ultrathin PCs samsung.com
See p31 for the DEVELOP3D LIVE event report together with attendees views of the day
MainFrame2 changes its name to Frame t DEVELOP3D LIVE in March, Mainframe2 became Frame and unveiled the public BETA of its new end-user product that allows engineers and designers to put their CAD applications in the cloud and access them through a web browser on any device. Frame says its cloud platform is fully compatible with any existing Windows software and can connect to any PDM or cloud storage. Even the most demanding graphics tasks run smoothly from the cloud super-computer powered by NVIDIA GRID graphics, it claims. The move to open up its cloud platform to end users marks a broadening of focus for the California-based company. At DEVELOP3D LIVE, Dr. Nikola Bozinovic, founder and CEO of Frame, gave a great
Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE platform for Academia is now available on the cloud. Teachers and students can now access its design and engineering applications on a student’s or an institution’s own devices eliminating the need for complex IT infrastructure 3ds.com
or phone, users can access the interactive 3D data without the use of specialist CAD software. Theorem claims that interactive 3D data created using its Publish3D-Document suite of products provides a higher level of Intellectual Property (IP) security than native CAD files by allowing the documents to be password protected. theorem.com
The 2015 release of Delacm’s PowerMILL Robot software for the programming of robots for multi-axis machining operations enables manual and CNC programming to be combined in a single program providing increased programming flexibility delcam.com
Materialise has obtained EN9100 and EASA 21G certification allowing it to expand its current offering to the aerospace industry. It will now be able to deliver airworthy additive manufactured end-use parts to its customers together with prototypes and software materialise.com
Sir James Dyson has announced the Dyson School of Design Engineering at Imperial College London. The new School, made possible by a £12 million donation from the James Dyson Foundation, will develop the next generation of graduate engineers dyson.com
DEVELOP3D.COM MAY 2015 9
NEWS
NVIDIA ISSUES STATEMENT OF INTENT FOR GPU RENDERING
Date for the diary: TCT Show
T N
vidia is getting serious about interactive, physically-based rendering, which it delivers through its GPU-accelerated rendering software Iray Announced during Nvidia’s GTC conference in March, Iray will be made available for a much wider range of 3D tools. Rhino, Cinema 4D, Revit, Siemens NX, 3ds Max and Maya will all support Iray or Iray+ (developed by LightWork Design) this year through plug-ins or direct integration. With Catia Live rendering, SolidWorks Industrial Designer, Bunkspeed Shot and Zoom and SketchUp already supporting the GPU ray tracer, the move will mean Nvidia will have a much wider set of customers to target for sales of powerful GPUs that are needed for the complex processing. Physically-based materials will also be interchangeable across all of these apps thanks to support for Nvidia’s Material Definition Language (MDL). Nvidia says MDL is being supported by a growing number of companies who allow designers to create physically-based materials
including Allegorithmic, Old Castle and X-Rite. Iray is a “push-button” renderer designed for ease of use by designers, architects and engineers, rather than visualisation specialists. Greg Estes, VP marketing at Nvidia, says Iray is basically like a camera. It understands the physics of the world. The latest 2015 release delivers much faster rendering performance, he adds. Iray can run on CPUs but performance is far superior with Nvidia CUDA GPUs — Quadro, GeForce and Tesla. Nvidia emphasises that Iray is highly scaleable. It can run on a laptop GPU, but for those serious about design visualisation and need results back fast Nvidia says its new Quadro M6000 GPU is the optimal GPU for physically-based rendering. Multiple GPUs can be used in parallel, with up to three in a typical high-end workstation. The new Nvidia Quadro Visual Computing Appliance (VCA) builds on this, giving designers access to a shared, centralised rendering resource over LAN or in the cloud. nvidia.com
The Quadro VCA can host 8 Quadro M6000 GPUs
he TCT Show + Personalize will return to the NEC in Birmingham from 30th September to 1st October 2015. Held annually, this free-to-attend event focusses on 3D printing, additive manufacturing and product development. Alongside an exhibition space featuring 200 exhibitors, there is also a comprehensive conference programme. Other show highlights include initiatives such as Bright Minds UK, the Startup Zone and the RepRap Hub. tctshow.com
3D printers at Central Scanning
F
ollowing an increase in demand for 3D printing, Midlandsbased 3D scanning and printing company Central Scanning recently invested in two 3D printing machines. The first of the two new printers, which will be installed alongside the current FDM Prodigy plus and Objet Eden 500V printers, is the Mojo FDM printer that builds models up to 5 x 5 x 5 inches, and can print in a variety of different colours and P430 materials. The second is the Fortus 4ooMC printer that is capable of building models up to 14 x 10 x 10 inches and is accurate to within 0.0015 of an inch. central-scanning.co.uk
THE BEST FROM DEVELOP3D.COM
Videos of the talks from DEVELOP3D LIVE 2015 are now available to view online, including the amazing panel session tinyurl.com/D3DLivepanel
Dassault Systèmes’s new upgrades to R2015x Simulia engineering simulation tool brings focus to the designer tinyurl.com/D3DSimulia
10 MAY 2015 DEVELOP3D.COM
Solid Edge is experimenting with the cloud by offering a cloudbased streaming 45 day trial version of Solid Edge tinyurl.com/D3DSolid
A look into what the March update of Autodesk’s Fusion 360 has to offer — rendering, design, CAM a-go-go tinyurl.com/D3Dagogo
Siemens FEA tools, including Femap with NX Nastran, helped create the extremely lightweight Solar Impulse 2 plane tinyurl.com/D3DSolar2
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17/04/2015 08:27
COMMENT
When is a designer not a designer? This is the question Jeremy Pullin has been pondering recently and here he comes to the conclusion that design is a matter of approach rather than education and qualification
R
ecently I was having a conversation when the question arose about a group of people who refer to themselves as designers. The person I was talking to said “only one in that group is a designer, the rest are engineers who work at CAD stations”. This made me question the difference between designers and engineers. What is it that makes a designer a designer and not just another engineer? Both are problem solvers and possess technical skills. Both also change the status quo of the world around them. So, on the surface, there is no difference. However, the term engineer is broad, covering many disciplines. Specifically those in engineering institutions have for many years argued that the term is too widely used. This certainly does seem to be the case in the UK compared to many other parts of Europe. For instance, a person who fixes vending machines but does not have any engineering qualifications cannot call themselves an ‘engineer’ in Germany, but they can (and do) in the UK. It seems that here we have come to use the word to describe a job function rather than a professional standing. You need to have a medical qualification to call yourself a surgeon but you only need to own a chainsaw to call yourself a tree surgeon. We can argue all we want that it shouldn’t be this way but the fact remains that it is. So, back to the original question, and here is where it gets messy. The role of design largely (although not exclusively) sits within the two disciplines of art and engineering. To simplify matters, let’s exclude artistic design from the discussion. Now, you can argue that every designer is an engineer but, as design is a subset of engineering, the reverse is not true. Similarly, every man is a human being but not every human being is a man. If engineers spend their live’s writing CNC code then it’s easy to see why they should not be called a designer but do they become
one when they sit on a CAD station and model a fixture? The simple answer is no. In essence, all they are doing is defining the physical geometry of an object that serves a particular function. Also, there is far more to design than that. Design embodies a holistic approach that encompasses exploring and understanding a complex set of requirements and opportunities and defining a total solution that addresses not only how to do something but also the why, where, when and who. A non-designer engineer will be able to accurately define the geometric properties of a 20 litre bucket on a CAD station but a designer will be able to examine and understand all of the issues surrounding the design of a product to contain a 20 litre volume of an amorphous substance. They would for example look at the corrosive properties of any substances that may be put into the product and use this to decide upon suitable construction material. They would establish the needs for containment restrictions (i.e. how much does it matter if any of the substance escapes the product?) and how to address this. They would also look at the portability needs and how the product would be transported. The list goes on and includes target costs, end of life, market analysis, environmental considerations, applicable regulations and standards, DFM, DFA etc etc. For a true designer, the geometry definition or CAD work forms but a single part. There was a time when the lines between engineers and designers were far more blurred. This was because roles were not as studiously defined as they are today. Despite the commonly held misconception, Isambard Kingdom Brunel was not a great inventor like his father Marc. He was, however, a civil engineer, a quantity surveyor, a structural engineer, an architect, a mechanical engineer, a project manager, a naval architect and all sorts of other roles which today are discrete professions in their own right. We don’t have people who fulfil so many roles as these today because we are
A person who fixes vending machines but does not have any engineering qualifications cannot call themselves an ‘engineer’ in Germany, but they can (and do) in the UK
educated in different disciplines separately. We are taught maths in a maths classroom within a maths block by a maths teacher who belongs to a maths department. The same is true of all STEM subjects. Design is a discipline in its own right and is a matter of approach rather than education and qualification. Bearing all of this in mind I have to admit that I was wrong in the conversation that I referenced at the beginning of this piece, in that not every engineer who works at a CAD station is a designer. Jeremy Pullin is the rapid manufacturing manager for Renishaw, having set up and now in charge of its pioneering Rapid Manufacturing Centre. He can be found tweeting as @jezpullin All views expressed here are Jeremy Pullin’s own and not necessarily those of his employer
In Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s day, the lines between engineers and designers were far more blurred and during his professional life he wore many different hats from civil engineer to naval architect
DEVELOP3D.COM MAY 2015 13
FEEDBACK
Your DEVELOP3D
» Your views on the challenges that the cloud is trying to solve, Solid Edge using the cloud for CAD distribution and a ‘hands on’ environment in the toolmaking industry reap large gains in flexibility and efficiency and will out produce those clinging to desktop file based systems that create way too many copies of the design to manage the data. The forward thinking engineers are merging with the makers to produce the next generation of things at a blistering pace. Exciting times to be on the creative end and have the ability to utilise massive compute capabilities. It’s going to be a fun ride. Pete Yodis
Got an opinion on anything that has (or has not) appeared in DEVELOP3D? Let us know what you think Greg Corke greg@x3dmedia.com Facebook /develop3d Twitter @develop3d Web develop3d.com Linked In DEVELOP3D group Letters may be edited
LAST WORD: THE CLOUD — A BRIGHT FUTURE AHEAD DEVELOP3D APRIL 2015 Nice points Al. I love what Autodesk and Onshape are doing to the pricing structure of professional CAD tools. It’s about time. Dassault will have to get off their stance of trying to protect Catia like prices in their next gen tools… and or stop calling them SolidWorks. Also, spot on about people eventually coming around to CAD and engineering tools in the cloud. I hear all the arguments against it from the older crowd. Things will trend this way because of the pure and simple reduced cost and greatly increased efficiency of working this way. It might take the retirement of some decision makers in a lot of organisations for that to happen in full force. In the mean time, the less fearful ones will be able to
60 SECOND INTERVIEW NICK GRAY
Why did you become a designer? There is a heritage of traditional engineering on my father’s side and I also have a hobbiest interest in the social sciences and from this is born an inquisitive nature to ask why, when and who. Which designer or company do you most admire and why? I don't really idolise any one designer or company although I do admire all designers and companies that have a lasting heritage built around quality and genuine need. What product couldn’t you live without? During the week it would be my beloved collection of Japanese pull saws for their precision and versatility and my sunrise simulating alarm clock. What design would you have
14 MAY 2015 DEVELOP3D.COM
Thanks Al, yes the times they are a'changin', for the better we all hope. It will be interesting to see how fast Onshape can add functionality to become a more capable replacement for existing systems. Their pricing model will certainly help more people try before they buy, and if they can keep to that pricing as they get to be more fully functional, things will get really interesting. Stan Przybylinski, CIMdata An only cloud future is no future at all. Imagine this for renting houses renting. You’ll have only bills to pay, but no property at all and when you are in trouble all the stuff is gone. You wont buy things anymore, but you have the “choice” to rent… dedmin Al, if OnShape (or any web app) is available offline, then the computational power I didn't buy with my new cloud-oriented workstation comes from where? Alex Bausk
NEW DESIGNERS 2012: OUR BEST FINDS — PART 1 DEVELOP3D.COM JULY 2012
loved to have designed and why? Without a doubt the original Swiss Army Knife. For the user it is as useful now as it was when first introduced. Play-Doh, Meccano or Lego? Always Lego due to its balance of create and play. What are your weapons of choice? A small, un-ruled moleskin, the red pen under my pillow for those Eureka moments and the time and space to think. What is missing from your toolset? Knowledge of basic coding, to a level of understanding that would enable the faster turn around of early stage prototypes. Is there anything that would make your design process run smoother? I still feel there is a void in the
Just wanted to say hello, we met at New Designers 2012. I am now at BigRep Berlin, the huge 3D printer that does an uppercut to the Stratasys series. I am doing R&D plus client visits. In March alone I am going to Singapore, Kiev, USA, UK and France to train clients and to guided in their facilities. Thank you for the article you wrote about me in DEVELOP3D, it gave me a push :) Adam de Kaminski
SOLID EDGE USE THE CLOUD FOR CAD DISTRIBUTION TWITTER @develop3d @SiemensPLM An interesting, and obvious, contradiction to their "we won't go cloud" mantra. @ScottWertel @ScottWertel @develop3d @SiemensPLM From a #SolidEdge POV, we are about end-user productivity. Does streaming Solid Edge help? You tell us. @danstaples
IS RESHORING HAPPENING? DEVELOP3D I fully agree with Peter Sims' comments on the toolmaking industry and what is needed in this 'hands on' environment. I have been a mould polisher for 43 years and plan to retire in the next couple of years. I feel that some work is now coming back to the UK from China as we have the precision and quality needed, the problem now is skills going forward. With an aging workforce more apprentices are needed now. I am sure there are youngsters out there who 'just want to make things', let's hope they are encouraged into this trade sooner rather than later. Stewart Frith
development process between the physical and the digital. Sketchbook to CAD, and then back again, CAD to moulding, casting, etc. The gaps are beginning to be bridged but time and again I see it causing time consuming breaks and confusion in the process. What would you say is the biggest challenge facing designers? The ever shortening product life cycles. Can you predict any future trends? Multi-cultural societies are having a positive impact on global markets but this means the traditional national identities are being eroded, because of this the physical, digital and subliminal interfaces, across all products and platforms, become increasingly important.
If you were hosting a dinner party who would you invite and why? Ben Fogle, the perfect balance of gentleman meets adventurous ‘go-getter’, Gary Fisher, accredited with being one of the founders of modern day mountain bikes, Rosie Swale-Pope, an amazing person who literally ran around the world, Donald Crowhurst, I have so many questions, Graeme Obree, an incredible human being, and, Lance Armstrong, whatever the reasons — we could talk all night. Nick Gray is a product designer dedicated to producing pertinent products and systems. Currently employed at Ultra ID, a company within the Ultra Electronics Group, he has most recently co-founded DesignWhys, a new venture including design related podcasts, show reviews and general design discussions.
If you want to take part please contact tanya@x3dmedia.com
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17/04/2015 08:29
VISUAL DESIGN GUIDE CROWN HOCKEY STICKS END CAP The end cap is produced using industrial grade silicone for a soft and durable finish in a matt colour choice of either jet black or brilliant white
SILICONE-BACKED GRIP The non-slip silicone-backed grip exhibits excellent memory and dimensional stability over time and under the force of the users grip, where traditional foam backed grips would compress making them feel hard and uncomfortable
COMPOSITE COMPOSITION Working with composite experts in British F1 racing and aerospace, the use of carbon fibre has resulted in a component that is not only incredibly strong, but overall much lighter than conventional sticks
VIBRATION REDUCING DIMPLES The dimples on the reverse side increases the overall surface area of the stick, creating a greater distance for the vibrations to disperse over before reaching the players hands
TESTING Throughout May 2015, Crown Hockey will be physically testing the stick with cyclical and destruction tests
PRICE The Crown 100 stick will be available to purchase in May 2015 for £325. Preorders are currently being taken via the website crownhockey.com
16 MAY 2015 DEVELOP3D.COM
Crown, a new British sports innovation company, has launched its first product — a hockey stick that utilises expertise in the field of composites engineering and features a unique dimpled design to significantly dampen vibrations
FOUNDERS
Evan Mackrill and Matt Hutton, both recent Sports Product Design graduates from the University of Brighton, launched Crown Hockey. “Using the globally-renowned expertise of the British composites industry we have created a product that we feel is in its own category,” says Hutton
DESIGN PROCESS Once the sticks had been modelled in CAD, ANSYS was used for engineering stress and frequency analysis as well as for simulations
HYBRID COATING SYSTEM A specially formulated hybrid coating means a surface finish that is not only tough but also offers clarity, revealing the detailed carbon fibre weave beneath
CROWN TOUCH PADS Touch Pads are a renewable transparent grip that is applied to the playing face of the hockey stick, providing control when dribbling and trapping the ball even in the wettest of conditions. Touch Pads can be renewed before a game with each one backed with a resilient non-residue adhesive
PRODUCT DESIGN SHOWCASE HAND-BUILT PRODUCTS » This month Tanya Weaver takes a look at three very different products that are all designed and hand-built in the UK
One of the newer models in Moulton Bicycle’s range is the SPEED. Despite being a full-suspension road bike it only weighs in at 9.1kg. The spaceframe design is constructed entirely from stainless steel with every joint silver-brazed and the entire frameset hand polished
PROFILE
YOU’VE BEEN FRAMED
T
he small-wheeled, fullsuspension Moulton bicycle has been hand-built in the UK for 53 years. It was invented by Dr Alex Moulton CBE who also invented rubber- and gas-sprung suspension units found in over 12 million British cars from the original Mini to the MGF. Inspired by his background in aeronautical and automotive engineering, Moulton’s design flew in the face of conventional bicycle design with its small wheels, suspension, stiff unisex frame, adaptability and innovation in design. He approached Raleigh, the biggest bicycle manufacturer in the UK at the time, with his prototype with a view to offering a licence to manufacture. Being refused, Moulton built a bicycle factory in the grounds of his Bradford-Upon-Avon home and launched the Moulton bicycle to great success at the Earls Court Cycle Show in 1962. Today a small team of eight craftsmen, one of whom has been there since 1962, still work in this factory hand-brazing the frame and forks as well as making a number of parts, including the suspension. Alex Moulton continued to evolve his bicycle designs right up to his death in 2012 at the age of 92. “Many people who buy a Moulton bicycle now don’t buy them to ride but rather to hang on their wall. Alex Moulton created something that was really a work of art without intending to and we really feel the responsibility for that. We are only a small team but we have been fortunate to work with him and to learn from him,” says Dan Farrell, technical director of the Moulton Bicycle Company. “Some of the geometric relations that make the design look so good had disappeared from his newer designs but referring back to his original drawings, I’m starting to put these back in.” Unlike Moulton, who did all his drawings by hand, Farrell uses SolidWorks in his design process. “We like how we can model things like rubber and do wheel simulations. Also, clash testing is very useful.” moultonbicycles.co.uk
DEVELOP3D MONTH 200X 19
Ernest Wright and Son’s ‘Antique Pattern’ Stork embroidery, needlework and thread scissors is one of its best selling products retailing for £25.20
WHAT A STEEL
O
nce a thriving industrial town, Sheffield was home to over 150 small scissor manufacturing companies. Today one of the last to remain is Ernest Wright & Son, a family owned company established in 1902. With over 150 scissors in its range, it has a pair suitable for just about any application, and each is hand made using traditional techniques and skills. In fact, it takes five years as an apprentice to qualify as a ‘scissor putter-togetherer’, a title
still used for the company’s craftsmen today. The process begins with hot-forged stainless or carbon steel ‘blanks’. Each ‘half’ of a pair is hardened and tempered in furnaces and quenched in oil. The blade is then hand-ground on a traditional saddlemounted grinding wheel before it’s polished and assembled by the putter-togetherers. “We are just in the process of getting several of our more unique traditional item forgepatterns 3D scanned and turned into CAD files, in case we ever need to order forgings
for them again. The local universities (Sheffield University and Sheffield Hallam University) are involved in these projects,” explains Nick Wright, managing director. “Our real pride is in the traditional methods we use to make our scissors, but I see opportunities to move into CAD/CAM, CNC milling and even possibly 3D printing for a future range – even if to complement, and not actually replace, the traditional methodology.” ernestwright.co.uk
The new Shackleton Islander, with its price tag of £1,999, is an openback banjo with an ash block-rim and flame maple neck, with ebony fingerboard and ebony headstock veneer
TAKE YOUR PICK
T
he Great British Banjo Company is a relatively new company founded by Simon Middleton in Norwich with the aim of manufacturing banjos from scratch. Its first instrument, launched in 2013, was the Islander Ash Leaf open back, which has been superseded by the Shackleton Islander. “The Shackleton Islander model is our most luxurious instrument inspired by classic open back banjos from the southeastern United States, but with a particularly English take,” describes Middleton.
20 MONTH 200X DEVELOP3D
The banjo design process begins with sketches. These become technical drawings which are then turned into carved prototypes. “There is a lot of hand-making in our products. Some of our instruments are made entirely by hand whilst others use CNC to cut out the necks, but we are moving away from CNC to use hand-controlled tools. The Shackleton Islander doesn’t use CNC at all.” Wood is sourced from an East Anglian FSCcertified timber merchant and all the wooden components are made in the factory. The
remaining components are outsourced with the build and finishing process completed in-house. “Our instruments do involve a huge amount of handcrafting, and even when we use powered tools the result is dependent on the skill levels of the craftsman. This means our instruments are more expensive than imports but we offer a six year warranty and many of our instruments, like the Islander model, will actually increase in value.” DEVELOP3D MONTH 200X 20 thegreatbritishbanjocompany.com
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17/04/2015 08:31
PROFILE
LOOK THE OTHER WAY
» Tanya Weaver tracks the design and manufacture of the Othermill — a San Francisco-born desktop CNC milling machine — from an educational research project to a Kickstarter campaign to a commercial product
PROFILE
T
1
he Schoenstein Organ Factory in San Francisco’s Mission District has a long history of manufacturing. In the early 1900s it saw pipe organs leave through its doors, and today it serves as the office, factory and showroom for a completely different product — a desktop CNC machine called the Othermill. Alongside the hardware, Other Machine Co. (OMC) has also designed easy-to-use software called Otherplan, which guides users through the process of milling on a computer or laptop. Once the software has been downloaded from its website, the process of cutting objects can begin immediately, straight out of the box. “We are incredibly excited about putting innovation in the hands of a much broader group of people, those who have the drive to start their own companies and perhaps want to do their own circuit boards, but also those who want to cut out expertly crafted products, such as jewellers. We are at a turning point where these technologies are now accessible,” says Danielle Applestone, an engineering and materials science graduate who is the co-founder and CEO of OMC. The Othermill was actually born out of a governmentfunded educational research project tasked with bringing
OTHERMILL AT A GLANCE
READY OUT OF THE BOX Users are able to cut 2D and 3D objects right away out of a range of materials including wood, metal and plastic. System requirements include MAC OS X 10.8 or higher.
contemporary manufacturing technologies into the classroom. OMC’s three founders — Applestone, CTO Mike Estee, a former Apple software engineer, and board chairman Saul Griffith, an entrepreneur and engineering graduate — met and worked together on this project as part of the research group Otherlab. However, in March 2013, after having created Othercutter, a low-cost alternative to laser cutters that used scalpel blades in a two-axis desktop cutting machine, the project suddenly lost its funding. It seemed a shame that, after all the hard work put into creating this product, including the accompanying software that Estee had been developing, it would never see the light of day. Following two tense weeks while the project team decided what to do next, Estee noticed a side project that fellow team member Jonathan Ward had been fiddling around with to cut out 3 x 2 inch blank copper circuit boards for making guitar effects pedals. Ward developed the MTM Snap whilst studying at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). It didn’t use traditional fasteners but was rather held together using snap fits. “From a machine design standpoint, it was a Zen Kōan — a minimalist meditation in materials and methods,” remembers Estee. Estee thought that such a desktop machine would be rather useful, especially for creating circuit boards, so
FAMILIAR FILE FORMATS The free software, Otherplan, imports user’s designs in familiar formats including Vector graphics (.svg), Eagle (.brd), Gerber, and G-code. Users can even download and cut millions of free vector graphic designs that are online.
FAST AND PRECISE 0.001 in (0.0254 mm) - Max Traverse Speed (Rapid): 60 in/min (1,500 mm/min) - Spindle Speed: 7,000–16,500 rpm
- Precision:
1 The Othermill ●
desktop CNC milling machine is easy to use — unpack, insert the collet, install Otherplan on your computer or laptop, and make your first project
SMALL AND LIGHTWEIGHT - Build Area: 5.5 × 4.5 × 1.25 inches - Small Frame: 10 × 10 × 12 inches - Lightweight: 16.8 lbs (7.62 kg)
he reworked it. In less than a month he had developed a prototype, which he named the Othermill. To judge whether others would find it useful too, a campaign was launched with a $50,000 goal on the crowdfunding site Kickstarter. By the time it closed in June 2013, $311,657 had been pledged and 205 backers wanted an Othermill.
THE REAL WORK BEGINS To design Othermill for manufacture, Estee designed it from scratch using SolidWorks. However, the two variables from Ward’s original prototype that he wanted to keep were portability and precision. The aim was for users to be able to easily carry the machine on public transport and for it to achieve repeatability in the range of +/- 0.001 inches (0.025mm). One of the first things to be reworked was the construction of the frame. Although Estee admits that the MTM Snap design was great when trying to save money as a graduate student, a machine constructed without screws did pose some manufacturing issues, especially as the snap fits tended to come apart over time. Instead he created a hybrid design — one that used locating pins as well as traditional fasteners. The next challenge was increasing the machine’s cutting area, as a 4 x 3 inch bed size was thought to be too small. But adding just an inch would result in a cascading host of
2
interdependent design problems. The reason is that a CNC machine is not a static piece of kit. An equal and opposite force is generated from the rapidly moving cutting tool, which then moves through the entire machine and back to the part being cut. So, every component in the machine’s structural loop has to remain as rigid as possible to counter these forces and keep the machine accurate while cutting. “The ripple effects of upping an inch was that the rail sizes needed to be stiffer and as they went up, the carriage sizes had to change, which in turn caused a change in the mounting hardware to accommodate it and so it went on. “We needed to find the sweet spot between enough stiffness and rigidity to be useful for very fine precision work whilst still being portable,” explains Estee. It may seem counterintuitive to use a plastic frame as the main component in the structural loop; however, Estee discovered that high-density polyethylene (HDPE) was cheaper, lighter and more suitable than many metals for the high frequency of the spindle speed and low forces that are found in the Othermill. It also allowed him to incorporate many features into the frame itself, such as cable guides, wire routing, lighting mounts, back panels, handles etc.
We ‘‘ needed to
find the sweet spot between enough stiffness and rigidity to be useful for very fine precision work whilst still being portable
’’
SCAFFOLDING TECHNIQUE Using the structural loop as inspiration, Estee began the task of upsizing the model using a technique he calls scaffolding. Starting with a base set of 2D parametric sketches, the largest governing variables are arranged in free space, with the components built off of them using the underlying sketches as references. “After years of doing ad hoc construction in SolidWorks I eventually learned that, with a little bit of foresight and planning, you can make things work a lot better by using a base sketch scaffold. “This technique also allows the designers to go back to the original design intent and make a macroscopic change without hopefully destroying too much of the downstream dependencies,” explains Estee. With his background as a software engineer, Estee was also simultaneously working on the machine’s user interface. His goal with the software, which he called Otherplan, was for it to easily guide users through the milling process by showing a visual 3D representation of the piece being milled on the computer screen. He describes this as a “what you see is what you get” software application. “In designing the system I wanted to remove as many steps as possible so that users are at a point where they can just start cutting. Just getting rid of anything that didn’t need to be there and add enough features to the software and hardware that the software can figure out where the material is within reason. And so, integrating locating brackets for finding the corner of square things, for instance,” describes Estee.
2 The two main aims during the design ●
3
and development of the Othermill were precision and portability
3 The Othermill was designed from ●
scratch in SolidWorks
DEVELOP3D.COM MAY 2015 25
PROFILE In ‘‘ designing
the system I wanted to remove as many steps as possible so that users are at a point where they can just start cutting
’’
4 The result of the hardware and software working side by side is that when the user looks at the 3D interface on their computer, it will look exactly like the real machine sitting next to them on their desktop.
CAD TO CAM The design was polished and refined until a frame design had been achieved that could easily be manufactured using a CNC machine. “The tooling needed to injection mould the frame would have cost more than our entire Kickstarter funds, and we would have had to get it right the first time. By milling out our frames, we could stay flexible and fix problems as they arose,” comments Estee. To turn the SolidWorks design into machine-ready toolpaths, HSMWorks — a CAM package that had been acquired by Autodesk but which was still supported in SolidWorks — was utilised. As well as using HSMWorks for their own internal CAM programming to build the machines, HSMWorks was also integrated into Otherplan to help build efficient toolpaths. It’s also worth noting that users of SolidWorks (through the HSMWorks plugin), Inventor, and now Fusion 360 can also output using a post processor designed to drive the Othermill as well. “Autodesk’s cloud platform Fusion 360 came along much later in this process and there was an opportunity for us to work closely with Autodesk to get Fusion 360 to generate output for our Otherplan software. “So, not only do we use HSMWorks to build the Othermill, HSMWorks can also generate toolpaths for the
4 The Other Machine Co. staff saying ● ‘thank you’ to its Kickstarter backers following a successful crowdfunding campaign 5 The three founders of Other Machine ●
Co. From left: Mike Estee, CTO, Danielle Applestone, CEO, and Saul Griffith, board chairman
26 MAY 2015 DEVELOP3D.COM
Othermill. There is a post processor in there that works with our machine,” says Estee.
INVESTORS ONBOARD Developing and manufacturing the product was more challenging than anticipated, and with the deadline for delivery of the Kickstarter machines looming, more money was needed. So, Applestone and Estee pitched their Othermill project to a number of investors and managed to bag $3 million in funding. One of these angel investors, who also backed the Kickstarter campaign to receive a machine, was Autodesk’s CEO Carl Bass. “Our strategy in raising this round was to bring together a group of early stage investors who are passionate about our potential to impact the manufacturing sector, can lend their deep operational expertise as we scale, and have incredibly broad networks,” says Applestone. This funding resulted in the establishment of the Other Machine Co. (OMC) and meant that the Othermill was no longer a research project.
5
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An
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PROFILE BUMPY PATH TO MANUFACTURE The next challenge was manufacturing, and Estee is really open about how their path to manufacture was a pretty bumpy one, especially being their first experience. “We didn’t realise it at the time, but getting our manufacturing strategy in order would be just as much, if not more, work than designing the machine itself,” he admits. The original plan was to build the plastic frames and metal Z-blocks in-house using a Haas CNC router, outsource the remaining component production and have the final assembly handled by a contract manufacturer. But following numerous problems with quality control, such as the warping of frames, bushings that worked loose and a fatal flaw in the packaging, the decision was taken to bring assembly in-house too. “One of the original painful lessons learned from the Kickstarter is that if we didn’t know how to build in very intricate detail our own products, we were not going to effectively be able to instruct somebody else to do it in a timely fashion to the quality levels we came to expect,” comments Estee. Despite the setbacks, by August 2014 OMC had managed to build all 205 Othermills and get them shipped off to the Kickstarter backers. In the meantime, Estee and his team had been working on a second-generation Othermill. So, having worn numerous hats in the development of the first-generation
machine, including those of industrial designer, software architect, lead software engineer and lead mechanical engineer, Estee now passed these on to others. “I don’t do most of those things anymore but I like to joke that your job as CTO is to wear as many hats as possible and then hire people who are better at wearing that particular hat than you are,” he says. In the office, the two teams — the hardware team consisting of eight people and the software team consisting of five people — sit side by side. According to Applestone, this was a deliberate decision. “They need to know exactly what is going on in each other’s heads. For example, if you change the dimensions of the build volume, that will affect the software and how the machine works. So, the two aspects of the machine have to be designed in parallel,” she explains. The second-generation Othermill includes a range of subtle changes both to the software and hardware, such as dust protection, lock-out switches on the windows, improved cable management, different power supply configurations and polycarbonate windows instead of acrylic ones. Interestingly, during this design and development process, the first-generation Othermill was used extensively to prototype parts for the second-generation machine. In October 2014, the Othermill was launched for $2,199, and it is available to buy through OMC’s website. During the past six months it has found its way into numerous technology firms, small design houses, workshops, classrooms and homes. One manufacturing firm who is finding it particularly useful is Adafruit, a New York-based electronics hobbyist company, which uses it extensively to make precision circuits and prototypes for manufacture. It is also used to teach the company’s staff about PCB design and manufacture, due to the machine’s fast turnaround times and low barrier to entry.
we are working on making as many of these as fast as possible. Making thousands and selling thousands is our next goal, and once we can do that we will think about expanding into other products
’’
PLANS FOR THE FUTURE
6
Back in the Schoenstein Organ Factory, the OMC team is working on a number of goals for the future. In the short term, the aim is to become CE-certified so that the machines can be exported to Europe, to expand the 6 Timor ‘Ladyada’ ● Fried, founder software platform beyond Mac OS X and to improve on its of Adafruit, a manufacturing lead times. New York-based “Currently we are working on making as many of these as electronics hobbyist company, with the fast as possible. Making thousands and selling thousands is our next goal, and once we can do that we will think about Othermill which her company uses expanding into other products,” says Applestone. extensively to make precision circuits So, in other words, this small company that has been on quite a journey over the past few years is keeping itself busy. and prototypes for manufacture “Yeah, it’s never boring around here. It’s certainly been 7 Assembly of the ● hard, but it’s been worth it,” smiles Estee. Othermill is carried
7
othermachine.co
WOMAN IN TECH
‘‘ Currently
To her role as CEO of Other Machine Co., Danielle Applestone brings a diverse background in science, technology, education and entrepreneurship. Growing up in a small town in Arkansas, U.S., she could often be found with her dad in his workshop. “Building things was never foreign to me,” she says. With an interest in chemistry, Applestone went to a math and science high school. Following an advanced degree in chemical
28 MAY 2015 DEVELOP3D.COM
engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and having learned how to write code as a hobby, she co-founded her first company in 2003 — an internet software as a service (SaaS) company that she still operates. Having worked as a materials scientist, she then went on to study at the University of Texas in Austin, where she received her PhD in materials science and engineering. Whilst there, she developed several battery
out in-house
materials, which have been patented and subsequently licensed. Applestone then made her way to San Francisco to work on a government-funded education project, from which the OMC spun out. “Obviously everything I ever did was male-dominated, but I did get a lot of encouragement. There were many programmes that I took advantage of for women,” she comments. So, as a female in a male-
dominated industry, Applestone is particularly passionate about science and math education, especially for women and girls. “I think that we need to do more, especially in the leadership of companies, and make a difference in whether or not your workplace is welcoming for all genders, races and ages. “I think equality is possible, obviously, but it is going to take a lot of work from the leaders of tech companies to make it happen.”
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21/01/2015 12:21
EVENT REPORT
» Our yearly celebration of all things product design had its fourth outing on 26th March at Warwick Arts Centre. Featuring 35 speakers, four tracks and over 60 exhibitors, for one day the eyes of the global design industry were on the UK. Event director Martyn Day reports
E
very year when we start organising DEVELOP3D LIVE we wonder how it’s possible to top the previous year’s event. We really appreciate everyone’s efforts to get to Warwick to experience a very unique event. The editorial team travels far and wide each year, gathering material for articles by seeing great technology and hearing from fascinating and innovative designers. We then spend months inviting designers and industry developers to come and talk on a variety of topical areas. Those that attended this year would
Martyn Day Our two opening keynotes have noticed the beautiful BAC welcoming attendees were extremely different. Mono that graced the mainstage to DEVELOP3D LIVE Dominic Wilcox is a designer area, brought courtesy of 2015 in the opening session, he was with a unique attitude and Autodesk. This amazing single joined on stage by approach to coming up with seater road-legal Formula One car Empire Cycles’ 3D ideas, from stain glass cars, is designed and made in Liverpool printed titanium mountain bike desks that turn into coffins and by Briggs Automotive Company. brought by Renishaw luggage with legs not wheels. Renishaw also provided my and keynote speaker Then we had Andy Claughton on-stage opening session with Dominic Wilcox with the BAC Mono from Ben Ainsle Racing (BAR) the first fully titanium metal 3D describing how you go about printed mountain bike, which designing a world beating America’s it had created for Empire Cycles – and Cup yacht. We don’t have permission I suspect probably cost as much as to upload Dominic’s talk but we do the Mono to produce. Both wonderful have Andy’s online now (develop3dlive. examples of the kind of innovations that com/videos/) and it’s well worth thirty are happening in British design and minutes of your time. manufacturing.
DEVELOP3D.COM MAY 2015 31
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8 1 Everyone loves 3D printing ● 2 Al Dean ● hosting the ‘Building a Start-up Business’ 3 Andy Claughton of Ben Ainslie on track ● 4 Chatting to stage talking yacht design ● 5 The BAC attendees at the ANSYS stand ● Mono taking pride of place in front of the 6 A stage during the keynote sessions ● 7 A steady stream of visitors to the stands ● virtual reality experience on offer at the HP 8 Mark Sanders brought his / AMD stand ● 9 The panel latest bicycle invention along ● 10 Visitors to session at the end of the event ● 11 Delegate Nick Harvey the Roland stand ● walked away from the event with a prize
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DEVELOP3D.COM MAY 2015 33
EVENT REPORT
GETTING PERSO » From delegates and exhibitors to sponsors and speakers, eight attendees share their personal experiences of DEVELOP3D LIVE
ADAM GREEN SOLIDWORKS USER GROUP NETWORK NORTH WEST
CLARE PHYTHIAN RENISHAW
My colleague Robin Weston and I joined the event on the Wednesday The event was very evening for the well run. I was pre-conference interested to see the wide variety of CAD packages get together. The D3D Live team were perfect hosts, we and supporting products and were introduced to and chatted services available. The speakers with MAS Design Products, were fantastic; I found it particularly interesting listening Carbon3D, IPF and Onshape. Staying on site really helped to Dominic Wilcox and seeing maximise our time. Even just his approach to design. I also walking over to the Arts Centre, enjoyed the talk from Richard on the Thursday morning, Varvill at Reaction Engines and hearing how they have overcome allowed the good fortune for us to be joined by Sarah Giblin, design obstacles for their Sabre RiutBag creator. Engine. Six of the Renishaw team attended the conference and I Highs: For me the highs were believe we all came away with meeting SolidWorks CEO Gian a positive experience, from Paolo Bassi and watching Jon being inspired by intelligent Hirschtick present his latest and informative talks to seeing product OnShape. It was also the latest exhibits and making particularly interesting to hear valuable contacts. Prior to and from all of the different CAD throughout, the D3D team were packages and listen to how they plan to tackle the inevitable move there and straight on it with answers to queries and solutions away from the desktop to the for any changes we required as cloud. sponsors. Great collaboration Lows: As the event is growing, and an all-round excellent 24hrs. and more and more exhibitors The 31st March 2016 is fixed in are represented, navigating the various rooms and floors made my diary. the event seem a bit disjointed. I guess this is a good problem to Highs: Rising star and amazing have for a growing event. creative talent, Dominic Wilcox’s inspirational and captivating talk, Most surreal moment: Just before Martyn Day’s witty opening lunch I had the privilege of welcome with the Renishaw/ meeting Gian Paolo Bassi. I was Empire bike and then watching accepting a drone on behalf of colleague David Ewing take the one of the UK SolidWorks User Group NW members, who won it stage and nail Q&As. at our last meeting. Lows: What lows? Most surreal moment: Being introduced to inventor and engineering legend Mark Sanders having studied his work. 34 MAY 2015 DEVELOP3D.COM
MARK SANDERS MAS DESIGN PRODUCTS
MIKE WATKINS AUTODESK
As previous D3D Lives, this is one of my design ‘brain feeds’ of the year: there is almost too much fascinating information to feed on. Thank goodness the talks are all video’ed for later snacks. The overall impression I got is that the CAD industry is finally waking up to realise that user experience is king – gone are the days when users were grateful for simple improvements to their CAD systems (such as the ability to draw a line from its centre). Today, just as we aim to make our product designs state-of-the-art and a total delight for our end users, we want our CAD design tools to do the same. And not just for big auto and aero with thousands of seats, but for every user. This year’s exciting new and disruptive CAD products such as OnShape are showing the rest of the industry that end users expect more. Such competition will mean that one man bands such as myself may finally get all the tools that big auto and aero use at a fair price and with interfaces that don’t make ‘a monkey’ of us.
This was my fourth year at DEVELOP3D Live and I can honestly say that this event has grown into something huge. Where else can you go and see everyone in our industry all in the same place and the respective CEO’s sharing the main stage? “Epic”, as my kids would say. Even though Autodesk had a stand, it’s unlike any other conference in that we all still found time to share ideas and network with all other vendors at the show. It’s amazing really what you can learn just by doing one circuit of the exhibition halls. The highlight for me is the quality of presenters. There is no ‘death by powerpoint’ – they are always informative and on the money. I’m looking forward to next year.
Highs: Mingling with CAD legends such as Jon Hirschtick, Mike Payne, Carl Bass and Gian Paolo Bassi. Lows: Having to miss some overlapping talks. Most surreal moment: Unexpected offer to ask a question during the panel session. I asked “Why are CAD companion products not included in main CAD?” and then watched some squirming.
Highs: ‘Accidentally’ handing out free Fusion 360 Ultimate subscriptions to everyone in the Onshape room. Lows: Realising that most of the Onshape team did not find it funny. Most surreal moment: Being sober for the actual conference and having a grown up conversation with Al over coffee.
E V LI
SONAL KEVIN QUIGLEY QUIGLEY DESIGN
SARAH GIBLIN RIUT
JON HIRSCHTICK ONSHAPE
MIKE HARVEY AMALGAM MODELMAKING
This was my fourth Develop3D Live, but the first time I had stayed the night before for the networking event – and what a great night it was, finally meeting so many people I’ve “known” for years via social media. I thoroughly enjoyed Dominic Wilcox’s opening keynote – very different to previous years, and very entertaining. I spent the morning in the keynote track, which was particularly strong this year, then hopped around the exhibition area and different tracks in the afternoon. One of the joys of DEVELOP3D Live is that you get side tracked into conversations you didn’t anticipate. Mark Shayler’s blockbuster finale (always entertaining, always thought provoking and always in great shoes) and the welcome return of the panel discussion, which I have to say was the best yet, completed another fantastic event at a great venue.
I was invited to talk to some of the most experienced designers on the planet about… design. The design of my creation – the RiutBag rucksack – to be exact. Yes, my heart was thumping when I went up on stage.
The DEVELOP3D team did it again! A fantastic event. The main reason is the quality and energy of the attendees. That’s why we chose DEVELOP3D Live as the first live event to show Onshape publicly and we could not have dreamed of a better response. We were talking CAD nonstop from the day before the show until the drive away. It’s also great to talk to people about their product design process, 3D printing, design education, and all sorts of topics beyond CAD. I managed to squeeze in time to catch some of the other speakers. Dominic Wilcox – wow! What a creative guy and in true DEVELOP3D style, not just informative but highly entertaining. The DEVELOP3D sense of humour and fun seems to pervade everything at the event from the keynote speeches to the bar.
I have attended all four Develop3D Live events and each has exceeded the last in both size and quality, so much so that I wonder how long before it out-grows the existing venue – which would be a shame as the Warwick Arts Centre is just the right size to give an intimate feeling while being big enough to include a lot of relevant and interesting content. I’m never the first to arrive, which does make parking a problem, however, once that frustration is overcome, a cup of free coffee while deciding where to start allows me to gather my thoughts while nodding to a few familiar faces. Half an hour in, and a lot more information later, off to find Lloyd Pennington who was sadly there without his new CNC machine as he had made the wise if difficult decision not to rush things. Then a catch-up with SYS, who supplied our Objet system, followed by a chance to see Markforged’s Mark One Composite printer – and some sample parts. Then lunch, a very good presentation by Mark Sanders and a tour of the trade stands saying hi to old friends and making some new acquaintances. And before I knew it another D3D Live was over.
Highs: Witnessing two CEOs
at the very top of their game, Carl Bass and Jon Hirschtick, outlining future plans.. Lows: Missing Mark Sanders’ talk. Most surreal moment: Walking back from the networking event at 1am and being approached by a guy in a dark pathway. “Tell me how to get to Liverpool”, he said. “Go up there, then right, then left, then straight on”, I said. And off he staggered. I wonder if he made it.
Highs: It feels like there’s a real desire to get strategy right in your industry, even radically, so a desire to win long term battles and yet respond to new directions that are breaking out in the short term too. There was a serious buzz of friendly rivalry, competition, knowledge and care. It was a pleasure to behold. I told everyone who came to the start-up theatre that they need to revolve their thinking around the user. This might just lead to the production of radically different products. Revolution in user thinking (Riut) is my mantra. It also describes my first ever creation, the RiutBag. The audience was fantastic. They had so many great questions and interest in the project. It’s been a party on social media ever since! Lows: No lows. Most surreal moment: When asked during my talk how I modelled my creation, I said I just wore it myself. Confusion reigned until we realised what was going on. I didn’t use software to design the RiutBag. The sketches I drew have been PDFed but that’s as far as it’s gone. I’ve blogged about my design process on the website riutbag.wordpress.com to prove that I’m not kidding.
Highs: Opening up our exhibit
in the morning and showing Onshape live for the first time ever. Having crowds visiting with us all day. Lows: Could not possibly see all the speakers and exhibits I would have wanted to. Only having time for brief hellos with old friends. Most surreal moment: After many years of work I finally did my first-ever Onshape live demo in front of a crowd during my keynote, CADing in a browser and on my iPhone using the event’s wi-fi.
Highs: Why catching up with Tanya Weaver of course. Lows: Getting parked. Most surreal moment: Listening to Mark Sanders’ thoughts on IP and realising we were in total (almost word for word) agreement. DEVELOP3D.COM MAY 2015 35
PROFILE
» Solving farming problems through technology, Stephen Holmes meets farmers turned designers Claydon Drills
BACK TILLER
F
arming equipment company Claydon Drills began its life on the farm, and still brings generations of experience to its products from the rural fields of Suffolk. Founded in 1980 by Jeff Claydon, his first creation, the Yield-O-Meter, was a revolutionary load counter for combine harvesters. Essentially a calculator in the driver’s cabin, it could calculate how much crop the machine had collected over a certain area. Arriving at a period where digital technology was beginning to find its way into farming, it also allowed farmers to experiment too. Trial plots – using different fertilisers, seeds, planting methods – to get the best results and being able to measure these yields, allowed farming to take the first steps into becoming the modern, technology-driven industry it is today. Claydon Drills is still farming the family’s thousand acres of arable land, however a loss of profits in 2002 saw Jeff Claydon inventing once more. Over a decade later, and with a cluster of storage barns and assembly workshops humming with action, this path to rescue has been a success with customers as far away as
36 MAY 2015 DEVELOP3D.COM
New Zealand and Chile. Jeff’s son Oliver, now design director at Claydon Drills, explains that the path to innovation came through that lossmaking patch in 2002. “We can’t change the input costs of farming because diesel is a fixed price, fertiliser is a fixed price, we’re told what we will buy everything for, and can’t change what we sell for because it’s demand on the global market. All we can really do is play with what we’ve got in the middle, which is really how we farm,” he explains. 1 Claydon Drills ●
AIMING HIGH Jeff Claydon’s aim was to improve the process of ‘direct drilling’ arable land, which struggles to work in the UK because of heavy clay-based soils that fill up with water, rotting the seed. Natural factors like earthworms not thriving in the same soil to de-compact it also mean that slugs then thrive, tearing through harvests. Claydon Drills decided that by tilling the soil over only in the area that needed to be planted – a labour intensive process needed to air the soil - and ignoring the rest of the field, it could halve this cost. The idea came to put a digging tine directly in front of a seeding tine, with a harrow on the back. The digging tine
produces time and cost-saving agricultural tools, such as this Hybrid-T model, for cultivating and planting the land
2 Folding ‘wings’ ●
mean customers can have bigger machines that fit on the road legally
3 The team use ●
SolidWorks to model increasingly complex design systems for weight distribution, strength and efficiency
The design process at the beginning was to get some off-the-shelf parts, go into the workshop with an oxyacetylene torch, a mig welder and some hand tools – it was very much A-Team stuff! Oliver Claydon, design director
THE FUTURE 1
2
3
provides cultivation and breaks the soil, and in the same pass the seeding tine places the seed in the right place with the harrow covering it back over with soil. A huge success, the general principle of how the product works has not changed since 2002 – yet its evolution has not stopped. The expanded product line is a continuing progression of tweaks and design improvements built on the Claydon Drills team’s own experiences, and from its users around the world that run the equipment 12 hours a day for nearly two months during the season. The demand for bigger machines meant the need to incorporate a folding-mechanism, allowing the ‘wings’ to pull upright so as to fit on public roads, and pushed through the need for in-house 3D CAD and a shift from building solution and outsourcing 2D drawings afterwards. “The design process at the beginning was to get some offthe-shelf parts, go into the workshop with an oxyacetylene torch, a mig welder and some hand tools – it was very much A-Team stuff!” says Oliver Claydon.
JUMP TO 3D In 2006 the company made the jump to 3D, taking SolidWorks in-house with help from Innova Systems, freeing its designs from the limitations of stock parts and
increasing the amount of its own design work. By 2009 it had designed the Hybrid model – a combination of the best parts of its previous drills – dropping the weight and adding some deceptively well thought out design components. A better-designed hopper to hold the seed means the wings can fold upright, doubling the wingspan from three metres to six. The latest design has cut operation time on the Claydons’ own farm by a fifth, and costs them only a third of their original design – a saving of nearly £100,000 a year. At an estimate, Claydon suggests that 80 to 90 per cent of its operation now is first modelled in 3D and through taking in STEP files from component suppliers. With a workload of producing over 300 machines annually for this small enterprise, it means things like rendering models in Photoview 360 are a luxury. Yet a tool such as the SolidWorks assembly structureplanning tool, Treehouse, proves invaluable for getting machinery built, ready for the new season. In the future the company will utilise more of the software features, adding more virtual engineering to the team’s hands-on approach, and increasing the range of products that has already expanded to form a flourishing business. claydondrills.com
DEVELOP3D.COM MAY 2015 37
MOBILE WORKSTATION GROUP TEST
There’s no standard template for these next gen mobile workstations. Manufacturers blend portability and performance in different measures
The sleek HP OMEN Pro (p44)
Group test: Ultra portable 15-inch mobile workstations » CAD folks with hefty laptops have long envied the Ultrabooks and MacBooks of fellow travellers. But a new generation of slimline mobile workstations is changing the way you can do CAD on the go, writes Greg Corke
T
he first mobile workstations were 5kg beasts, almost guaranteed to put your back out on work trips. Weights have now come down, but most 15-inch machines still come in at a hefty 3kg. Bruised shoulders from laptop bags are no longer guaranteed, but you’ll likely feel the strain at the end of the day. Until recently, attempts at ultra mobile workstations have meant serious trade-offs in both performance and screen size. And when your job relies on detailed engineering design, running CAD on a 14-inch laptop simply won’t cut it for some. Everything changed in 2013 when Dell unveiled the Precision M3800, the first proper ultra portable mobile workstation with a 15.6-inch screen. At 1.88kg in weight and 8mm at its most slender, this MacBook Pro look-alike certainly turned some heads. Since then HP, Lenovo and MSI have all followed suit, delivering 15-inch machines that are certified and optimised to run 3D CAD but also offer the same mobility as a slimline business laptop. Compared to a standard 15-inch mobile workstation, there are some compromises. On the whole, performance is lower. There’s a maximum 16GB of RAM (instead of 32GB). There is only room for one or two drives (instead or two or three) and you can forget about having a DVD drive. But they are considerably lighter. Most come in
under 2kg and when power adapters are included the savings can be as much as 1.5kg. There is no standard template for these next gen mobile workstations. Manufacturers blend portability and performance in different ways. Broadly speaking there are two types of machines. 1) Those based on a business-class laptop chassis, so include enterprise features like fingerprint scanner and docking port. Some models are classified as Ultrabooks. With low voltage Dual Core CPUs and low power professional GPUs they prioritise battery life over performance. They are more suited to entry-level CAD than rendering or simulation. They include the HP ZBook 15u (p40) and Lenovo ThinkPad W550s (p41).
To test battery life, we used PCMark 8’s Creative test (OpenCL) which uses CPUs and GPUs for tasks including video editing, media transcoding and gaming. It’s not CAD but should give a fairly good indication of what to expect under a heavy compute load — though it is important to note that the test uses built in Intel graphics, rather than the discrete Quadro or FirePro GPUs which draw more power, so it’s not perfect. All machines were set to high performance. Display brightness was set at lowest and highest levels and both scores recorded. Of course, don’t take the battery figures as gospel. If you only use your machine for Word or Excel then the battery will last a whole lot longer.
2) Those based on a 3D gaming laptop chassis where performance is an absolute priority but battery life is more limited and fans are noisier under load. They feature Quad Core CPUs that deliver in CAD as well as rendering, simulation and CAM. Professional GPUs sit between entry-level and mid-range. They include the Dell Precision M3800 (p42), MSI WS60 (p43) and HP OMEN Pro (p44).
MOBILE WORKSTATION BUYER’S GUIDE
To assess performance we used our standard suite of application-specific workstation benchmarks (see tinyurl.com/D3Dbench for details).
EVERYTHING YOU EVER WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT CAD-CLASS LAPTOPS TINYURL.COM/WS-BUYER
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Details of all benchmarks can be found at tinyurl.com/D3Dbench
ULTRA PORTABLE 15-INCH MOBILE WORKSTATIONS HP ZBook 15u
Lenovo ThinkPad W550s
Dell Precision M3800
MSI WS60
HP OMEN Pro [pre-production unit]
Processor (CPU)
Intel Core i7-5600U (2.60GHz up to 3.20GHz (2 cores, 4 threads)
Intel Core i7-5600U (2.60GHz up to 3.20GHz (2 cores, 4 threads)
Intel Core i7-4712HQ (2.30GHz up to 3.30GHz) (4 cores, 8 threads
Intel Core i7-4710HQ (2.50GHz up to 3.50GHz) (4 cores, 8 threads)
Intel Core i7-4870HQ (2.50GHz up to 3.70GHz) (4 cores, 8 threads)
Memory (RAM)
16 GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3L-1600 SDRAM
16GB (2 x 8GB) 12800 DDR3L 1600MHz
16GB (2 x 8GB) 1600MHz DDR3L
16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3 L 1,600MHz
16GB (2 x 8GB) 1600MHz DDR3L SDRAM
Graphics (GPU)
AMD FirePro M4170 (1 GB) + Intel HD Graphics 5500
Nvidia Quadro K620M (2GB) +Intel HD Graphics 5500
Nvidia Quadro K1100M (2GB) + Intel HD Graphics 4600
Nvidia Quadro K2100M (2GB GDDR5)
Nvidia Quadro K1100M (2GB) + Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
Display
15.6” diagonal LED-backlit FHD UWVA IPS eDP antiglare + PSR (1,920 x 1,080)
15.5” 3K (2,880 x 1,620) IPS Multi-touch, 350nits
15.6” 4K Ultra HD (3,840 x 2,160) Dell UltraSharp, IGZO2, 10 finger multi-touch, wide view, LED-backlit
15.6-inch 1,920 x 1,080, Anti Glare, Wide Viewing Angle
15.6” diagonal full HD WLED backlit touch screen display (1,920 x 1,080)
Drives
256GB HP Z Turbo Drive (PCIe SSD) + 512GB 2.5-inch SATA SSD
512GB 2.5-inch SATA SSD
256GB Solid State Drive (SSD)Full Mini Card
128GB M.2 SATA SSD + 1TB 2.5-inch HDD
512 Gb HP Z Turbo Drive (PCIe SSD)
Keyboard / Mouse
Spill-resistant keyboard. Image sensor Touchpad with two-way scroll, gestures. Pointstick with two buttons
ThinkPad Precision Keyboard with NumPad & Backlight
Backlit full size keyboard. Gesture enabled multi-touch touchpad with two buttons
Full-colour Backlight Keyboard by SteelSeries (includes numeric keypad)
Full-size islandstyle backlit keyboard. Touchpad with multi-touch gesture support
Battery
HP Long Life 3-cell, 50 WHr Li-ion polymer prismatic
3 cell Front (44 Whr) + 6 cell Rear High Capacity (72 Whr)
Dell 61 WHr 6-Cell Lithium-Ion Battery
6-Cell Li-polymer Battery (52.9Wh)
4-cell, 58 WHr 3.82Ah Lithium-ion polymer battery
Wireless
Dual Band Wireless-AC 7265 802.11a/b/g/n (2x2) and Bluetooth
Intel Dual Band Wireless- AC 7265, 2x2, Wi-Fi + Bluetooth, M.2 card
Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260 @ 5GHz + Bluetooth 4.0
Wi-Fi (Intel 802.11 a/c) Bluetooth v4.0
Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260 802.11ac (2x2) WiFi + Bluetooth 4.0 Combo
Ports
3 x USB 3.0 (1 x USB 3.0 charging) Intel I218-LM Gigabit Ethernet
3 x USB 3.0 (one Always-On charging port), RJ45 Gigabit Ethernet
2 x USB 3.0 + 1 x USB 2.0 (all with PowerShare), Thunderbolt 2.0/mini DisplayPort (mDP). USB 3.0 to Ethernet adapter included
3 x USB 3.0 Thunderbolt 2 RJ45 Gigabit Ethernet
4 x USB 3.0 USB to Ethernet Adapter (included)
Expansion / security
1 secure digital; 1 smart card reader
Fingerprint reader. Smart Card reader. Integrated 4-in1 SD card reader
3-in-1 media card reader
SD (XC/HC) memory card reader
Multi-format SD media card reader
Display outputs
VGA, DisplayPort
VGA, Mini DisplayPort v 1.2
Mini DisplayPort, HDMi
Mini DisplayPort, HDMi
HDMI, Mini DisplayPort
Webcam
720p HD
720p HD
Light sensitive HD video webcam
FHD type (30fps @ 1080p)
HP TrueVision Full HD WVA Webcam
Docking
Side docking port for HP UltraSlim Docking Station
Bottom docking port for Ultra Dock Docking Station
No dedicated docking port Dell D3100 USB 3.0 dock
No dedicated docking port
No dedicated docking port
Size (W x D x H)
375.5 x 253.6 x 21.42 mm
380.6 x 258.2 x 23.3 mm
372 x 254 x 8-18 mm
390 x 266 x 19.9 mm
383 x 248 x 15.5 mm
Weight (machine + power adapter incl UK plug)
Starting at 1.91kg + 0.45kg
2.48kg + 0.33kg
Starts at 1.88kg + 0.49kg
Starting at 1.9kg + 0.67kg
2.12kg + 0.63kg
Operating System
Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
Microsoft Windows 8.1 Professional 64-bit
Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
Warranty
Standard limited 3 years parts, 3 years labour, and 3 years onsite service (3/3/3)
3 year on site
Standard 1-year (optional 3, 4 or 5 year) Next Business Day Service On Site Service after Remote Diagnosis
3 year: parts, labour, collect and return
3-year Next Business Day Onsite
Website
hp.co.uk
lenovo.co.uk
dell.co.uk
uk.msi.com
hp.co.uk
CAM (PowerMill 2010)
(i) 296 (ii) 537 (iii) 814
(i) 316 (ii) 511 (iii) 745
(i) 190 (ii) 302 (iii) 426
(i) 176 (ii) 272 (iii) 386
i) 176 ii) 283 iii) 411
Rendering (3ds Max Design)
574
643
300
267
273
CAD (SolidWorks 2013)
3.14
Benchmark does not run on Win 8
4.28 @ HD / 1.85 @ 4K
4.55
4.26*
CAD (PTC Creo 2.0)
3.45
3.44 to 4.12*
4.24 @ HD / 4.14 @ 4K
4.98
4.46*
Battery test (PCMark 8) Compute intensive creative test (max & min brightness)
2h 40mins 3h 23mins
6h 33mins* No min brightness recorded
2h 11mins 2h 42mins
1h 32mins 1h 45mins
1h 50mins* 2h 07mins*
Price (excl VAT)
£1,315
£1,956
£1,599
£1,416
£TBC
CPU benchmarks (smaller is better)
Graphics benchmarks (bigger is better)
* Testing performed on pre-production unit so performance could change with final production unit
DEVELOP3D.COM MAY 2015 39
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HP ZBook 15u » This new addition to the HP ZBook family goes all out for portability but still retains the key enterprise features of its older siblings
P
ortability is now a big focus for HP, launching not one but two slimline 15-inch mobile workstations in the space of six months. The HP ZBook 15u is the more enterprise-focused of the two (the HP OMEN Pro (p44) being the other) and delivers many of the features you’d expect to see in a higher-end mobile workstation. This includes fingerprint scanner, Smart Card reader, (side) docking port and the impressive HP Easy Access Door (more on this later). The big pitch for the ZBook 15u is its portability and HP is placing much of its marketing efforts around the machine’s ‘Ultrabook’ standing. For those not familiar with this Intel classification, for a laptop to be called an Ultrabook manufacturers have to meet certain specifications relating to battery life, thickness, performance, wake from sleep time and others. With the HP ZBook 15u (and the Lenovo ThinkPad W550s) things get a little confusing as not all models qualify as an Ultrabook — specifically, we think, those that don’t use an SSD for OS — but on the whole one can expect all models to come close. Key to the ZBook 15u achieving its Ultrabook status is the Core i7-5600U, an Ultra low voltage (ULV) dualcore CPU based on the Broadwell architecture. This CPU might lack the multi-threaded power of the quad core chip found in the HP OMEN Pro and Dell Precision M3800, but with a clock speed of 2.6GHz rising to 3.2GHz, it still delivers where it matters for CAD. And it does so without breaking into a sweat with fan noise kept to an absolute minimum, even under heavy loading. Like most mobile workstations, the HP ZBook 15u relies on switchable graphics with a view to saving power. It uses the built in Intel HD Graphics 5500
for mainstream apps and swaps over to the higher performance CAD-focused AMD FirePro M4170 (1GB GDDR5) as and when required. This should happen automatically, as it did for our CAD test suite, but individual apps can be matched to GPUs in AMD’s Catalyst Control Center software. Despite its entry-level positioning, the AMD FirePro M4170 delivered some decent scores in our SolidWorks and Creo tests. Compared to the more powerful Dell Precision M3800 with Nvidia Quadro K1100M, it was only 19% slower in Creo and 27% slower in SolidWorks. In practice it should give users a good experience with small to medium-sized CAD assemblies. While compromises have been made with CPU and GPU, there’s nothing entry-level about the storage with a PCIe-based 256GB HP Z Turbo Drive for operating system and applications and a 512GB SATA-based SanDisk X210 2.5-inch SSD for data. Our tests showed that the HP Z Turbo Drive delivered around 70% better sequential read speeds and 40% faster sequential read speeds than the SanDisk X210, which is great news if you frequently copy large files. 3ds Max also opened slightly quicker, taking 17.3 secs on the HP Z Turbo Drive and 18.4 secs on the SanDisk X210. However, in the AS SSD benchmark, the SanDisk X210 SSD actually scored higher in random read/ write performance and access time so the benefits of PCIe storage aren’t as broad as one might presume. As you would expect from an HP ZBook, build quality is excellent and despite its 1.91kg mass the machine feels solid and well built. Serviceability is superb with all key components easily accessible behind the excellent HP Easy Access Door. Simply remove the optional security screw, slide the switch, pull off the panel and
memory, storage, WLAN and battery are all within easy reach. HP scores big points here, standing head and shoulders above the competition which all require messing about with lots of fiddly screws. Despite its moderate spec, the HP Long Life 3-cell, 50 WHr Li-ion battery lasted a respectable 2 hours 40mins under the heavy load PCMark 8 battery test. The multi-touch image sensor Touchpad is precise and the backlit keyboard comfortable in use but a numeric keypad is noticeably absent. Dedicated power, airplane mode and mute buttons sit conveniently between keyboard and screen. The HD (1,920 x 1,080) matte screen is of good quality but, in this age of IPS panels, nothing outstanding. There is no optional touch screen like there is with its ‘Ultrabook’ sibling, the ZBook 14. Even with a thickness of 21.42mm HP has managed to include a standard RJ45 port in the chassis. This ingenious design has a spring-loaded hinge that expands the port to its full width when you plug in an Ethernet cable. Dual Band WirelessAC is on tap for high-speed WiFi. There are four USB 3.0 ports, one of which is always on so smart phones and other devices can be charged even when the mobile workstation is off. DisplayPort and VGA give both digital and analogue options for connecting to external displays. The HP ZBook 15u is an impressive addition to the HP ZBook family, giving fans of the enterprise-class CAD laptops an ultra-portable 15-inch offering. While the ZBook 15 and ZBook 17 are pitched as desktop replacements, the ZBook 15u, with its entry-level 3D graphics feels more like a companion to a desktop machine. But if you want a slimline, highly portable ‘Ultrabook’ for travel that is also optimised for entry-level 3D CAD, it’s an excellent choice.
6 5 7 7
4 2
3
The HP ZBook 15u offers impressive serviceability, head and shoulders above all other ultra portable mobile workstations 1 HP Easy Access Door ● 2 3-cell, 50-WHr, 4.5-AHr battery ● 3 2.5-inch drive (SSD or HDD) ● 4 HP Z Turbo Drive ● 5 WLAN module ● 6 Memory modules ● 7 Screws to release keyboard ●
1
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MOBILE WORKSTATION GROUP TEST
Lenovo ThinkPad W550s
[pre-production unit]
» With unrivalled battery life Lenovo has created a CAD-class laptop that can truly be used all day long without having to plug into power
B
attery life can be a big issue for CAD on the go. But when a laptop has workstation-class components throughout one can’t really expect it to last more than a few hours away from the mains. This really sucks if you’re a frequent traveller or too old to be fighting over sockets in Starbucks. And something that Lenovo has acknowledged with its new ThinkPad W550s, which gets the Intel Ultrabook seal of approval in some configurations. Lenovo claims its new slimline machine has the best battery life of any mobile workstation. And we’d have to agree. Fully loaded with 9 cells, it lasted an incredible 6h 33mins in our compute intensive PCMark 8 battery test, about twice as long as its closest rival, the HP ZBook 15u. With the benchmark hammering CPU and GPU for most of its duration, we would expect this machine to last well over a whole day under more restrained use (think Word and Excel with a sprinkling of CAD). The secret to the ThinkPad’s longevity is not rocket science — powerful batteries combined with low-voltage processors mean the power issue is tackled on two fronts. However, the way that Lenovo has implemented its batteries is rather unique. Rather than having a single battery the ThinkPad W550s has two: a fixed internal 3 Cell (44 Whr) and a removable external battery that clips underneath. The external battery comes in three options. A 3-cell (23 Whr) model that sits flush with the underside of the machine or a 6-cell (48 WHr) or 6-cell (72 Whr) that protrudes from the bottom – by about the width of an AA battery. As the eternal battery can be easily removed, you can extend battery life even further by keeping a spare in the laptop bag. This makes 3D CAD all the way from LHR to SFO a distinct reality. You can even swap out the external battery without having to power down. Keeping power consumption down, the ThinkPad W550s features the same Ultra Low Voltage (ULV) processor as the HP ZBook 15u – an Intel Core i7-5600U. With only 2 CPU cores, performance will be restricted in simulation or ray trace rendering software. However, with a clock speed of 2.60GHz (Turbo up to 3.20GHz) it’s a decent option for single threaded CAD operations. For 3D graphics, Lenovo has taken a different tack to HP, partnering the Intel CPU with an entry-level Nvidia Quadro K620 GPU. In our hands-on 3D CAD tests the machine felt responsive, even with some relatively complex models. However, it’s hard to put an exact figure on performance as a) our SolidWorks benchmark does not run on Windows 8.1 and b) the benchmark scores in Creo were a little erratic — ranging from. 3.44 to 4.12. This inconsistency could be down to our test machine being a pre-production unit. We did experience a few quirks with the system, specifically in relation to Lenovo’s ‘Intelligent
Cooling’ technology, which seemed intent on clocking the CPU right down to 1.2GHz under most loads, significantly impacting performance. Switching off Intelligent Cooling meant performance was restored to expected levels – and it did this without negatively impacting fan noise. Lenovo told DEVELOP3D it is working on a patch to fix this issue. Intelligent Cooling is one of a number of features that can be adjusted through the intuitive Lenovo Settings software. Rather than having to drill down into the Windows Control Panel and dialogue box upon dialogue box, the touchpad, wireless, network, power, camera and fingerprint reader can all be configured from an easy-to-use touch screen menu. Having initially been a little sceptical about the real value of touch screens on a mobile workstation, using the ThinkPad’s 15.5-inch 2,880 x 1,620 multi-touch display with Windows 8.1 was a moment of enlightenment. While we wouldn’t recommend it for precise CAD work, in terms of navigating files, apps and web pages, touching the screen directly is often much quicker and more intuitive than using the trackpad or point stick. That’s not to say the trackpad is poor. A vast improvement over the one used in the ThinkPad W540, we found it comfortable and precise. The backlit keyboard took a little getting used to, as the island style keys have more travel than most, but we adjusted quite quickly and the numeric keypad is a big bonus for CAD. The ThinkPad W550s and the MSI WS60 were the only two machines in this group test to boast this often-valued feature. The chassis is classic ThinkPad – a solid, well built simple design with a soft touch finish on the lid. However, it lacks the serviceability of Lenovo’s desktop P-series workstations and accessing the internals is a bit of a challenge due to an awkward plastic back panel with multiple screws. In saying that there probably isn’t much need for access as upgrades are limited. Like all of the mobile workstations in our group test, RAM is maxed out at 16GB. However, more surprisingly, Lenovo only has room for one 2.5-inch drive. Our test machine’s 512GB SATA SSD is perfectly adequate, but those in need of more capacity to store hefty CAD datasets will have to choose a slower 1TB HDD. One would expect a machine of this
class to offer both 2.5-inch for data and a small form factor SSD (mSATA or M.2) for operating system and applications. Of course, storage can be supplemented by an external USB 3.0 drive. There are three ports (one is always on, which is useful for charging smart phones). Data can also be brought in and out via Gigabit Ethernet or fast Intel Dual Band Wireless - AC 7265. 3G or 4G WWAN is an option extra with a Sierra EM7345 LTE or Ericsson N5321 3G, HSPA+ module. The ThinkPad has always been a popular choice with enterprise customers so it’s good to see that Lenovo has not cut corners when developing this slimline model. Fingerprint and smart card readers are available and, thanks to the underside docking port, it can mate with a ThinkPad Pro Dock or UltraDock making it easy to hook up to external displays, peripherals and LAN – via DisplayPort, VGA, DVI, Gigabit Ethernet and USB. The ThinkPad W550s offers a unique proposition in the ultra portable 15-inch mobile workstation – a CAD-class laptop that can last all day on batteries. As a result it’s a little thicker (23.3mm) and heavier (2.48kg) than other models, though with all day battery you probably won’t need to carry the power adapter with you so that saves some weight. With the slightly bulkier frame it’s a little disappointing it doesn’t have more storage options, but this shouldn’t detract from what is otherwise an excellent enterprise-class mobile workstation ideal for truly mobile designers.
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Dell Precision M3800 [2015] » Recently updated with a new 4K screen and Thunderbolt 2, Dell’s slimline beauty continues to shine, albeit with a few tradeoffs
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irst unveiled in Autumn 2013, the Dell Precision M3800 was the original ultra portable 15-inch mobile workstation and, in our opinion, still the best looking. This slender MacBook Pro look-alike may lack originality but it is still a thing of beauty. Beyond aesthetics, there’s an innovative use of premium materials. A CNC machined aluminium lid protects the glorious 4K touch display, while a magnesium mid panel, overmoulded with silicone does a great job of keeping the palm rest surface cool to touch. The carbon fibre base gives lightweight strength as well as keeping laps at a comfortable temperature. And the insulation is important as the machine does produce a fair amount of heat, evident by its two audible fans, which kick into action during most CPU and GPU intensive operations. Warm air is expelled at the rear underside of the machine. What the Precision M3800 lacks in acoustics, it makes up for in performance. With four CPU cores, the 37W Intel Core i7 4712HQ CPU cut through our 3ds Max rendering benchmark in a mere 300 seconds, twice as fast as the UltraBook-class HP ZBook 15u and Lenovo ThinkPad W550s, and not far behind the HP OMEN Pro or even the desktop Lenovo ThinkStation P500 reviewed earlier this year. With a clock speed of 2.30GHz going up to 3.30GHz, a small improvement over the Intel Core i7 4702HQ CPU in last year’s model, it also performs well in single threaded applications. For a machine of this size, 3D graphics performance is impressive and the 2GB Nvidia Quadro K1100M delivered solid scores in our SolidWorks and Creo benchmarks. But there is a BIG caveat to this — and that is the impact of display resolution on 3D performance. The new 4K (3,840 x 2,160 ) Dell UltraSharp touch panel is a thing of beauty. Vibrant colours
certainly make the most of its pin sharp resolution and it is arguably the best laptop panel we’ve seen at DEVELOP3D. However, unlike most mobile workstation panels it has a glossy finish so can be prone to annoying reflections in direct light. But with four times as many pixels to push about on screen 3D performance can slow down. Running our SolidWorks benchmark at 4K (3,840 x 2,160) resulted in a significant drop in performance, less than half that we experienced at HD (1,920 x 1,080). With PTC Creo the impact of resolution was negligible, so it’s important to note that performance in relation to resolution will likely depend on the application, datasets and how the model is viewed (e.g. realistic effects or shaded). The good news, because HD uses exactly half the horizontal and vertical pixels, the image still looks good at 1,920 x 1,080 resolution. With other panels when you use a non-optimal resolution fonts and images will be blurry. This is also an important consideration as software developers make changes to the user interface. Many applications are still not optimised for 4K so icons and dialogues appear unreadable even with Windows settings ramped up. Having a real choice of HD or 4K will help smooth the transition. An HDMi and Mini DisplayPort are included to connect to external displays. Storage is more standard, courtesy of a 256GB Solid State Drive Mini-Card (mSATA). While some may find this a little light on capacity, there’s plenty of ways to remedy this — either by upgrading to a 512GB or (soon) 1TB mSATA, or adding a 2.5-inch drive (HDD up to 1TB, SSD up to 512GB or Solid State Hybrid Hard Drive (SSHD) up to 512GB). User upgrades are possible but you’ll need a T5 Torx screwdriver to remove the 12 screws that secure the back panel. In addition
to storage and memory, you’ll also find the 6-Cell battery which is rated at 91 WHr and not bad considering the spec of the machine. It lasted 2h 11min in our heavy duty PCMark battery test but we would expect much longer operation when using standard office applications. The backlit island style keyboard and spacious trackpad with soft touch surround are a pleasure to use, but there’s no numeric keypad. For connectivity, the laptop is well appointed with 3 x USB 3.0 ports and Thunderbolt 2 — a nice addition for those that want lightning fast external storage. Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260 means CAD data can be transferred over WiFi more quickly than with 802.11 a/b/g/n (providing you have an optimised network, of course). Gigabit Ethernet is still the preferred way to connect to the network but the slimline design means no Ethernet port. A USB to Ethernet adapter is included in the box though. Other notable omissions include fingerprint scanner, smart card reader or dedicated docking port — all important enterprise features — although the machine can connect to a USB dock. Finding the balance between performance and portability is a major challenge for mobile workstation manufacturers. The emphasis on delivering performance in an exceedingly sleek chassis means inevitable trade offs in battery life and fan noise but the Dell Precision M3800 continues to be an exceptional machine for CAD on the go, though be sure to consider the implications of having a 4K screen.
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MOBILE WORKSTATION GROUP TEST
MSI WS60 mobile workstation » The best performing of all the ultra portables but there are some compromises
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e first looked at MSI’s slimline workstation-class laptop back in October 2014 (tinyurl.com/MSI-WS60). Since then the machine has undergone a few tweaks — a faster CPU (Intel Core i7 4720HQ CPU - 2.6GHz up to 3.6GHz) and optional 4K (3,840 x 2,160) display — but the key specs remain the same. As this new model is not available quite yet, we revisited the exact same machine we tested last year. The Intel Core i7 4710HQ CPU (2.5GHz up to 3.5GHz) may be a touch slower than the new 4720HQ but this quad core CPU still makes the WS60 the fastest ultra portable mobile workstation available. Coupled with an Nvidia Quadro K2100M GPU it just edged out the HP OMEN Pro in all of our processor intensive tests from rendering to 3D graphics. Considering MSI has packed so much power into a small envelope, it has done a pretty good job on acoustics. Dedicated fans for both CPU and GPU mean it doesn’t get too loud or too hot, even under heavy loads. However, they do run all the time, even when idle, which can be annoying. With levels of performance that rival standard 15-inch mobile workstations, it will come as no surprise that the WS60 had fairly poor battery
EXTERNAL STORAGE Mainstream 15-inch mobile workstations can typically hold up to three internal drives but their slimline siblings are limited to one or two. This increases the importance of external storage for storing huge CAD datasets. When you’re talking about Gigabytes of data performance is important. No one likes waiting, particularly when rushing out of the door and late for an appointment. Mechanical Hard Disk Drives (HDDs) with spinning disks used to be the only serious technology for storing CAD data but with capacities increasing and prices dropping Solid State Drive (SSD) technology is now becoming an attractive alternative — not only because of the superior performance but built-in protection against accidental drops. Most drives are USB 3.0 but with Thunderbolt 2 now being introduced in some machines (e.g. Dell Precision M3800) this could change over time. We tested four different portable storage options, all of which can be powered by the USB or Thunderbolt bus. Our initial testing was simple: the time taken to
transfer 7GB (13,500 files) of CAD data to and from the drive. We then did a parallel copy test where we transferred three sets of data in quick succession so all three were being copied at the same time. If, like me, you often grab datasets from different folders as and when you find them, this can be a real bottleneck with mechanical drives. Akitio Palm Raid (512GB) £436 (scan.co.uk) 1 1 year warranty This high-speed Thunderbolt drive features two mSATA SSDs combined in software RAID 0 (where two drives become one to boost performance). For those that prefer to protect against data loss, it can also be formatted in RAID 1 (mirrored) so your data should stay safe even if one drive fails. The drive is primarily designed for Mac OSX so needs reformatting for Windows. This proved to be easier said than done as some partitions were locked (needed both DISKPART and Disk Management tools). Once up and running it was the fastest drive on test, taking just 40 secs to read the CAD dataset and
life. High-powered components also mean a bigger 150W power adapter, which weighs in at a hefty 670g. The good news is the machine is only 1.9kg so the overall package is still significantly lighter than a standard 15-inch machine. At 390 x 266mm it is the biggest ultra portable in terms of height and width and even though build quality is good it is not quite on par with the others. There are some compromises. Despite having room for three drives (2 x M.2 SSDs and 1 x 2.5-inch HDD) the M.2s are limited to 128GB. To get up to 256GB you need to stripe two drives in a RAID 0 array. While this has the benefit of delivering faster sustained read/write performance, it does mean you have two points of failure on the critical OS drive. In saying that, if you only use a handful of apps 128GB should be more than sufficient. The keyboard is excellent and comes with a numeric keypad, great for engineering input. The touchpad is less impressive and we found the cursor jumped about at times, which makes precise CAD work very difficult. Of course, this is not a problem if you use an external mouse. The WS60 is well connected. With 3 x USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt 2.0 there are plenty of options for
36 secs to write. However, rather surprisingly, it slowed down in our parallel test completing it in 137 secs (read) and 133 secs (write). With a high-quality aluminium case, built in cable, carry case and high-speed transfer, the premium grade pocket size drive is no doubt an attractive package. However, at over £1 per GB the price is high and despite it winning our standard copy test by some margin, with performance dropping under parallel copy you need to carefully consider the way you work to choose it over the Samsung T1. Samsung T1 (500GB) £180 (scan.co.uk) 2 3 year warranty Smaller than a business card and only 9mm thick Samsung’s USB 3.0 T1 SSD fits easily within a pocket. The performance of the drive is also excellent, taking 48 secs to read and 55 secs to write our CAD dataset. It also performed exceedingly well in our parallel test completing the copy in 100 secs (read and write), quicker than it would have taken to copy all three in sequence! Overall, it’s a hugely impressive drive and comes highly recommended. At £0.36 per GB it’s significantly more expensive than a mechanical drive, but for
the performance it offers in a compact footprint it can’t be beaten. The Samsung T1 SSD is also available in 250GB and 1TB capacities. SSD 850 EVO M.2 (500GB) £144 (scan.co.uk) 3 3 year warranty + Startech M.2 Enclosure £17 (uk.insight.com) This DIY solution houses a SATA-based Samsung M.2 (2280) SSD in a metal Startech caddy. Installation takes a few minutes and, hey presto, you have a highly portable SSD, not much bigger than a USB stick. Performance is slightly below that of the Samsung T1 (sequential - 51 secs read, 58 secs write) (parallel - 118 secs read, 120 secs write).
peripherals. Thunderbolt doubles as a mini DisplayPort, which together with HDMI, means you can connect up to two external displays. Overall, the WS60 is an impressive machine and very hot on price (£1,416). There is no other sub 2kg mobile workstation that can deliver such performance, but there are some downsides including battery life and always on fans and it’s let down a bit by the poor touch pad.
At £161 it’s the cheapest of all the SSDs and offers flexibility, should you wish to install the M.2 (2280) SSD in a laptop or desktop, but other than that we’d find it hard to recommend over the Samsung T1 SSD. Seagate Backup Plus Slim (2TB) £62.50 (amazon.co.uk) 2 year warranty 4 This slimline traditional mechanical drive is only 12mm thick. It is housed in a solid metal case which comes in blue red, silver or black. For sequential read and write, performance is pretty good. Read speeds, in particular were only 1.5 times slower than the Samsung T1 SSD, completing in 72 secs (124 secs write).
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The limitations of mechanical drive technology were exposed in our multiple copy test, as the drive slowed right down when transferring three separate datasets in parallel (525 secs). This is likely to slow down as data gets scattered over different parts of the disk (as the drive head has to move further). However, a managed approach to file copy (dataset by dataset, rather than throwing everything at it at once) will help ease this bottleneck. At 1.6 pence per GB, the Seagate Backup Plus Slim wins hands down on cost. And it also can’t be beaten on capacity - 2TB makes it incredibly attractive to those with swelling datasets. iPhone 5S for scale
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MOBILE WORKSTATION GROUP TEST
HP OMEN Pro [pre-production unit] » With a brand new mobile workstation, HP breaks the mould of its enterprise-focused ZBooks offering a uniquely styled machine that is highly tuned for performance
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ot content with producing one ultra portable 15-inch mobile workstation, HP surprised everyone this April with the launch of a second. The fact that the HP OMEN Pro was not a member of HP’s established ZBook family also got everyone talking. HP has spent years building up its Z Workstation brand, which spans both desktops and laptops, so to launch a CAD-certified mobile workstation under a different name at first seemed odd. We were lucky enough to get our hands on a preproduction unit (the final shipping machine may be slightly different) and having seen the OMEN Pro in the flesh it all makes perfect sense now. Like the Dell Precision M3800 and MSI WS60 the HP OMEN Pro is based on a gaming laptop of the same name. As a result it was originally designed to tick two boxes. One, be high performance (both CPU and GPU) and, two, be slim and styled for gamers. This means it lacks many of the features that have become synonymous with ZBooks over the years: enterprise features, such as docking port and fingerprint reader, plus serviceability that has become the hallmark of all Z Workstations, both desktop and mobile. It is also less customisable, coming in a few base configurations. With this in mind it would actually be a bit disingenuous for HP to call the OMEN Pro a ZBook. The OMEN Pro also gives HP another string to its bow in this growing Ultra Portable market. The ZBook 15u prioritises battery life over performance with a Dual Core Ultra Low Voltage CPU and entrylevel GPU, whereas the OMEN Pro is all about performance, with a Quad Core processor and higher spec GPU. In this respect it is very similar to the Dell Precision M3800. Both Dell’s and HP’s machines feature Quad Core CPUs; the OMEN Pro having a slightly more powerful Intel Core i7-4870HQ (2.50GHz up to 3.70GHz) compared to the M3800’s Intel Core i7-4712HQ (2.30GHz up to 3.30GHz). Both have a Quadro K1100M (2GB) GPU and 16GB of RAM. In terms of spec, storage is the big differentiator with the HP OMEN Pro having fast PCIe-based storage in the form of a 512GB HP Z Turbo Drive while the Dell has an mSATA SSD and, crucially, space for a 2.5-inch drive (SSD or HDD) which can be very useful if you want to store a lot of CAD data. While the HP Z Turbo excels in sequential read/ write tasks — i.e. copying large files or in workflows where exceedingly large files are the norm (e.g. video editing, point cloud processing and simulation) — mainstream CAD users probably won’t notice much benefit. (See our PCIe vs SATA SSD article for more on this - tinyurl.com/PCIe-SATA-SSD). Beyond the core specifications, similarities to the M3800 end. While Dell’s machine is a dead ringer for MacBook Pro, the HP OMEN Pro is like no other laptop we’ve seen before. Its striking angular chassis falls away at the front and sides with a sharply bevelled edge,
giving the appearance of a much more slender machine. That’s not to say it needs any visual trickery. The beautiful chassis, CNC milled from solid aluminium and anodised with a black textured finish, is only 15.5mm at the front and 19.9mm at the rear. It looks exceptionally smart but is prone to fingerprints. Its gaming pedigree becomes apparent as soon as you switch it on as you are greeted by glowing red lights. Colour emanates from everywhere — speakers, power button, keys and the exhaust grills at the rear of the machine. While gamers reportedly love this kind of thing, product designers may not be so enamoured. The good news is, the lights are fully customisable and can be toned down to a calmer shade, including white, or switched off altogether. HP has said that lights will be switched off by default when the final machine ships next month. The keyboard is excellent: firm, responsive and a pleasure to use. While there is no numeric keypad (none of the gaming-evolved mobile workstations have them) they are six programmable keys that sit to the left of the main keys. While these were designed with games in mind they could be put to good use as CAD shortcuts. Each key (P1 to P6) can be used on their own or in conjunction with four modifier keys (shift, FN, CTRL, ALT) giving up to 30 different combinations. Customisations can be saved to profiles. The multi-touch touchpad is excellent. It feels very similar to the MacBook Pro’s, but is presented in a much wider landscape format. The touch screen panel is also very useful for navigation, though not recommended for accurate CAD work. Of course, with Windows 7 64-bit pre-installed on the HP OMEN Pro as standard you won’t get as much out of the touch screen as you would with Windows 8.1 Pro 64 (which is supported but can’t be pre-installed). The panel itself is glossy so reflections and fingerprints show up more but the colours are extremely vivid and bright. At 1,920 x 1,080 (HD) it may not match the pixel count of the 4K Precision M3800 but it’s an impressive display nonetheless. By having such a sharply bevelled chassis, which falls away at the front and sides, all of the I/O ports are found at the rear. At first this looks like a neat solution for keeping unsightly cables out of the way, but it can be a real pain to plug monitors, mice and external storage.
Rather than leaning slightly to the side to see exactly where the ports were, we found we had to turn the machine round a full 180 degrees. At the rear you’ll find four USB 3.0 ports (all charging), mini DisplayPort and HDMi. With such a slimline chassis, there’s no Ethernet port but a USB to Ethernet adapter comes in the box. Performance is excellent. Having a full 0.2GHz over the M3800 (0.4GHz in Turbo) it has a clear lead in our multi-threaded, CPU intensive 3ds Max and Delcam PowerMill benchmarks and is only a whisker behind the MSI WS60. With the same Quadro K1100M GPU as the M3800 the performance increase is far less pronounced in our Creo and SolidWorks graphics tests. Fans kicked in significantly under load, making a fair bit of noise. They also ran slowly in the background when idle but this was less noticeable than with the MSI WS60. We actually experienced a few issues in our SolidWorks test with PhotoView 360 crashing regularly. It should be emphasised again that this was a pre-production unit and software issues like these are likely to be ironed out with the shipping machine and during CAD certification. Performance could also change slightly. Overall, the OMEN Pro is an excellent addition to HP’s workstation portfolio — a beautifully styled, slimline laptop that delivers performance to rival most standard 15-inch mobile workstations. There are some compromises, of course. Battery life is not great and some may find the storage too limiting and rear ports annoying but, apart from these minor gripes, the OMEN looks to be a very impressive machine for mobile CAD and entry-level simulation and rendering.
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REVIEWS
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Onshape - Beta Overview We’ve been waiting for it to go public for a while and it’s finally here. Al Dean takes a look at the beta release of Onshape’s cloud-based 3D design and engineering system to see how it works and what it offers to the market
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f you’ve been connected to the world of 3D design and engineering software for the last few months, you’ll have heard about Onshape. Founded by most of the same team that started and grew SolidWorks, the company has been gaining headlines and column inches across the globe. That said, in case you’re not aware of what the company is doing, let’s have a quick recap. Onshape is delivering a free 3D-led design system in the browser. That means there’s little local computation and no install or manual updating of software. However, it’s worth bearing in mind that Onshape is currently in Beta test. That means it’s not intended for production use although some products are already on the market that have been developed using it. So, the software will change, probably on a monthly if not weekly basis.
GETTING UP AND RUNNING The first step in getting signed up for the system is registering at Onshape. com. Once complete, the user can simply log-in and get started as long as their web browser is WebGL compliant. For PC, users that’s Chrome and Firefox and for OSX users, that’s Safari, Chrome or Firefox. Even at this very formative stage, it’s clear that Onshape isn’t like traditional 46 MAY 2015 DEVELOP3D.COM
desktop software. There is no download of multi Gb installation files, no trials and no serial numbers. At its core, Onshape is a history-based parametric modelling system built on the Parasolid kernel and is designed to work predominantly in a multi-body environment. So, once logged-in, the user is presented with the ‘Documents’ page. It’s worth spending some time here as all work is managed in Documents. (See the list of documents shown in figure 2). However, the word Documents is a little misleading. A better way to get your head around it is to think of each as a project because within each ‘Document’, there can be as many data files as needed. So, alongside the Onshape native Part and Assembly Studio data, the user can also upload all manner of data into Documents, such as requirements spreadsheets, PDFs, MSDSs, third party data etc.
» Product: Onshape » Supplier: Onshape Price: Free to $100 per month per user onshape.com
BUILDING YOUR FIRST MODEL To start modelling, simply create a Document by giving it a name and a description. As already discussed, Onshape is a multibody parametric modelling system that uses a feature and history approach. This will feel familiar to users of the likes of SolidWorks, Inventor, Catia etc.
1 Onshape’s user ● interface (in the browser) for part and assembly modelling is stripped back, uncomplicated and clearly laid out
The difference with Onshape is that all modelling activities, whether it’s the building of a single part or an assembly, are done in a single Part Studio. All the modelling tools are located across the top of the user interface. There are the usual sketching tools together with features such as extrudes, revolves, sweep (no loft as yet), fillets, chamfers and the like. There are also patterns and mirroring, Booleans, part splitting, transforming geometry (move, rotate etc.) as well as a couple of direct geometry editing tools for fillets, deleting or replacing faces and offsetting. The 2D sketch is pretty slick and in line with today’s expectations. Inferred constraints are added on the fly and constraints and dimensions can be added in where needed. Of course, relations between dimensions can also be added in where required. Whilst modelling, the features and history are added to a sequential list on the left hand side of the screen. This is not just a list of features. Rather it combines a feature list and the history of everything that is done in that Part Studio. As the system takes a multi-body based approach, different bodies can represent different solid chunks of that model. Each of the operations allows the user to define whether their current feature is
SOFTWARE REVIEW added to existing geometry or whether it’s maintained as a separate body. To make this more clear, the system automatically colour codes each body. The user can even have a “parts” list below the feature and history to provide even more control. That said, there are many occasions where separate bodies will be used for a single part. A couple of features, including patterning and mirroring tools, only work at the body rather than the feature level. To replicate features, the user will need to model them as explicitly separate bodies, create the patterns or mirrors and then either join them together or remove them from the geometry (for patterned pockets, holes etc.) using Boolean operations. On a side note, Boolean operations now come with an offset option for either all of the faces or a selection. That’s a pretty nice feature for building interfaces between components. It’s also worth noting that the system has the standard direct editing tools such as move, rotate (done with the transform tool) and deleting of sets of faces, resizing fillets etc. Because of the multi-body environment, these can be applied to multiple parts at one time. So you can move faces of two parts, or edit fillets on five parts together. However, using these will also add a ‘feature’ entry to that list but it does mean that they remain a part of the history and are editable. Any user that’s used a parametric modelling system in the last few years will be able to jump in and get to work almost immediately and I’d encourage you to do just that. For those that haven’t worked in a multibody way before, the system might take a little while to get your head around, but it’ll click after the first few sessions.
BUILDING ASSEMBLIES While the modelling tools are all found in the Part Studio environment, the other ‘modelling’ environment is the Assembly Studio. It’s here where parts can be inserted (from any of the studios in the current document) and relationships built up between those parts. Onshape uses a joints based approach, so the preferred method is to define joints on each part, then snap them together using a variety of mates. The current beta release includes fixed mates, rotational, slots, planar, slot or ball mates. There’s also a more recently introduced selection of mechanism style relations including gears (to define rotational ratios), rack and pinion, screw (which mimics a lead screw) and a linear movement (think: Vice). These allow the user to link up mates to create specific mechanisms between the geometry. Building up assemblies is pretty slick. The parts or sub assemblies link back to the originating Part Studios, propagating
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TABS ARE KEY At this point, we’ll look at a key element of the user experience — tabs. These are found at the bottom of the user interface and provide access to all of the data inside each Document, whether that’s native Onshape Part or Assembly Studios or other data. As the user’s document gets more data uploaded into it, the strip expands enabling them to scroll across to select the data required. Data can also be accessed from a pop up list (the + symbol). It’s also worth spending some time looking at the right click menu options on each of these, which provide access to download geometry to carry out translation or conversion. Tabs will also allow users to copy data from one Document to another. Although it won’t maintain that link, it’s a good way to combine data if needed.
ALL CLOUD DATA STORAGE Being a cloud-based system, whilst the user is modelling, all their data is being stored on Onshape’s servers. This means
that when viewing, interacting with and editing the model, the user is essentially remotely accessing it through the browser. There’s no synchronisation with a local copy and no local download and reupload. The data on the screen is the same data stored online. So should the internet connection drop, although access to Onshape stops the data doesn’t suffer at all. The same is true for a browser crash — something we found happened occasionally, particularly if other tabs are running. But generally, you get a good response rate. Feature previews are slick and dynamic. Of course, the dynamic nature of those interactions will be controlled by the connection’s bandwidth, but even on a laptop tethered to a 4G network, it’s pretty zippy. One way to see perfectly how this works is to build an extrude and use the dynamic drag handles to vary the length. Depending on the user’s speed, there will be a momentary wait while the system catches up with the geometry before it displays a preview. To understand what’s going on here, the in browser tool is used to select geometry and then pulls it out. The system talks
2 Onshape’s ● Documents windows gives you insight into all of your documents/ projects, their status and account management 3 The toolbars for ● Part Studio (above) and Assembly Studio (below) are clean, clear and nicely designed. Let’s hope they keep them as more functions are introduced into the system 4 When you’re ● building features, hit the ‘Final’ button. This will show the resultant part as you make design changes — refresh times will depend on the complexity of your history, but it’s useful
DEVELOP3D.COM MAY 2015 47
SOFTWARE REVIEW to the server and sends back what the geometry will look like. This happens every time the user moves that handle. In terms of calculation, something that’s not immediately clear is that while the data resides on the cloud and much of the calculation is done on the serverside, there are some functions that are computed locally. One example is geometry selection. When working with complex (in terms of part count) assemblies, selecting multiple parts using, for instance, a window select, puts a pretty heavy load on workstation resources. The reason is that it uses the local graphics hardware to determine what was in the box selection, which is a computationally expensive process. For that reason, the specs best performancefor Onshape are both a lot of RAM and decent graphics processing hardware (the latter being key).
WORKING WITH IMPORTED AND 3RD PARTY DATA So far we’ve talked about how to build a product model from scratch. While that’s key, it’s also a fundamental requirement to be able to work with imported geometry — whether that’s data from a customer, a supplier, a previous project or output from a third party system.
5 As a cloud-based system, anything that needs importing into the system has to be uploaded into the Documents space either within an existing Document or as the basis of a new Document. Onshape currently works with a number of formats. In terms of neutral or standards based formats, you’ve got Parasolid, IGES and STEP. On the native format front, you’ve got SolidWorks, CATIA, Creo, Inventor and AutoCAD data.
Getting these data types into the system is a little complex as there’s a different approach required depending on whether the user is working with parts or assemblies. For parts, it’s a simple case of importing the part into a Part Studio. For assemblies, it’s more complex. If you import an IGES or STEP Assembly file into a traditional CAD system you would most likely get an individual file not only for the top level assembly but also for
5 Joints are the ●
order of the day for assembling parts together. These allow you to predefine location and orientation, making assembly easier
TIPS & TRICKS: NINE THINGS THAT YOU MIGHT MISS
MEASURE: This is a subtle one. Select an entity and the lower right will show a basic measurement. This can be expanded to give more details for multiple selections
VIEW CONTROLS: The small cube below the view cube gives you display preferences, perspective control, presets (such as isometric, dimetric) as well as section view
TAB COMMANDS: You can upload all manner of files, but if you upload a CAD file, you can translate it direct from the tab. Hit the tab with your right mouse button
TRANSFORM: It took me a while to work this one out. If you’re working in a part studio, the Transform command allows you to move/rotate components as you’d expect
FEEDBACK: Stuck? Got a question for support? Hit the help menu, select Feedback. You can then mark up a screenshot and add questions in text. They’ll be back to you via email
SYNCHRONISED COLLABORATION: Invite someone to your session, you’ll see a small icon for each. Doubling click this gives them control and you follow their every move. Slick
SECTION VIEW: Find the small cube below the view cube, click it (left mouse button) - there you’ll find your dynamic sectioning tool
HISTORY: As well as the version control, Onshape also stores a history of your operations - not just for that session (like an undo/redo stack), but a full history from scratch
INTER DOCUMENT COPY OF TABS: To move data between documents, find the Tab, right click, copy to Clipboard, paste using the create tab command + symbol at bottom left
48 MAY 2015 DEVELOP3D.COM
SOFTWARE REVIEW every part and subassembly. In Onshape, all the parts are imported into one part studio, and tabs are created for each subassembly, and top level assembly. This may be confusing to a new user, because the part studio may appear as a pile of parts laying on top of each other. Since you currently cannot edit geometry within the assembly tab, making changes to specific parts can be challenging. Onshape is looking to improve this workflow.
DATA MANAGEMENT WITH BRANCHING & MERGING We’ve talked about how to create and edit data so now let’s look at the management of that data. Onshape, due to its very nature, provides version management with the files. That means that the data on the system is the most up to date (as it’s inherently centralised and single source) along with some versioning tools. This means that the user can formalise the development stages of their product model. Interestingly, it also features branching and merging capabilities. This is an approach that’s popular in software development circles, but hasn’t really become a part of the design and engineering workflow as yet. The concept is that a product model can be developed to a point where the user might be faced with two directions of development, each of which they want to explore and progress further. It’s the type of thing that can be done very easily using paper or manual prototyping processes, but is traditionally very difficult in the digital world. Using a traditional data management system, this would require a complete new product model and history of development for each — with very little in the way of tools to help rationalise the better parts
6 from each into a single stream again. Onshape brings branching and merging into the world of 3D CAD for perhaps the first time. The concept is that at any point in the development cycle, the user can choose to create a branch from the current state. This copies the data to a new variant allowing ideas and concepts to be explored. Branches from branches can be created. Figure 7 shows how this is done by providing a graphically led idea of what’s going on. Once the user’s at the point where they want to consolidate these streams, the merge command will bring everything together into a single model again.
COLLABORATION Now let’s look at another area that is inherently enabled because of Onshape’s cloud based nature — collaborative working. In traditional software installs, the process of sharing the resultant data
with partners can be problematic. From the most basic of FTP-based file sharing, through dropbox, then into the realms of PDM or PLM linked hosting of data, it can prove tricky to say the least. Data is out of date almost immediately as you lose control of it once it’s outside your firewall. However, Onshape differs and differs dramatically. As both the data and the tools to do constructive things with it are cloudbased, if a link is sent to someone, they not only get access to the data along with some nifty viewing tools, but also the editing tools are right there in the browser too. They don’t have to download, install, or google the use of a viewer for an obscure file format. The user has control over what folks can do with that data (view only or view and edit). Also, by removing their share privileges access can be revoked. Alongside the asychronous sharing of data and tools, there’s also a more realtime, immediate collaboration capability
6 Onshape ●
Assemblies lets you bring together multiple parts and sub assemblies from your Document into a single environment, then use intelligent joints and relations to build up positional and functional requirements
ONSHAPE & MOBILE: WHAT’S OUT THERE & WHAT’S COMING?
O
ne of the benefits that Onshape and its browser based way of working is that you can fire up any suitable browser and get to work straight away. And of course, that’s not just restricted to PCs and Macs. The browsers on mobile devices typically should work as well. But of course, in this day and age, an app(lication) is all the rage, so the team have those in place as well. There’s also the issue that a desktop solution isn’t ideal for a touch and multi-touch focussed device. At launch, Onshape is looking at Apple iOS devices for its first apps. Whether you’re running
A
it on an iPad or an iPhone, the experience is much the same — a specialised interface (rather than the browser version which isn’t necessarily suited to a multi-touch-based interaction method). Download it from the Apple Store and log-in. What you’ll get is a version of the Onshape user interface that is suited to the touch based and smaller form factor nature of such devices. Commands and operations are tucked away when needed (this is particularly key on the iPhone version as screen real estate is limited) but you’ll get to grips with it quickly enough.
B
Whenever anyone releases a mobile app, particularly in the design and engineering space, you’ll find that the Apple variants come first. Why is that? Because vendors know that their community favours Apple products — that information is immediately available at the click of a mouse (thank Google Analytics for that). So, it makes sense to get Apple on the street first, then follow up with Android. Onshape have, at the moment, just the apps for iOS devices but we’re told that Android support is coming and, of course, in the meantime it’ll run in the browser anyway.
A Onshape on the ●
iPad and iPhone is configured for multi-touch
B It’s not just ●
viewing, it’s modelling too
C Android is ● coming soon
C DEVELOP3D.COM MAY 2015 49
SOFTWARE REVIEW built into Onshape. Grab a part, send it to someone and then jump on the phone or skype. If you’re both running the same part, you can choose to follow one user or the other (by clicking on the icon at the top of the window). That will synchronise the views in terms of rotation, panning, zooming and sectioning etc. Any modelling will be updated in real time as well. To try this for yourself, just log into the same dataset using two browser windows and see how it works.
PRICING Now, with a good understanding of Onshape and what it can do, let’s talk turkey. How much does it cost? The answer is that the system is free. That’s right. There’s no trial or a reduced functionality demo. It’s free, for life. What you get for that freeness is 5Gb of storage space and five active documents or projects. You can have more than five in your account, you just have to make them inactive. Nothing will happen to this data, you just can’t access it until you activate the document again. So, where does the payment come into play? The answer is when you want more storage. In other words, more than five documents active at one time. To move up to the paid version or Pro it’s $100 per month, per user. It really is that simple.
7
CONCLUSION (A LENGTHY ONE) If I have a criticism of Onshape at present, it doesn’t have anything to do with the technology. It’s too early to start pulling it apart and comparing its capabilities with other systems on the market. Yes, the system has a small selection of the types of tools that many 3D design and engineers users are used to. And yes, many of these users will quickly find that they’ll try something and support isn’t there yet. But this will come with both time and customer demand. That’s the nature of introducing a brand new product into a market that has a wide ranging and experienced community. If you’ve got potential users that are familiar with systems that have decade long development cycles, it’s going to take a while to catch up. Although I do have some concerns relating to the inter-relation of Part and Assembly Studios and the workflow needs to be straightened out. Those who are used to organising and editing their geometry in the context of multi-level assemblies will also find that difficult, unless they’ve got everything in a Part Studio (the Assembly Studio environment doesn’t give you any editing tools at the moment). No, my criticism is some of the language that the team is using to describe the various portions of the system. ‘Documents’ aren’t really documents, they’re Projects. Similarly, Part Studios aren’t just about parts, they’re about editing parts and being able to edit multiple parts. When users are able to get access to 50 MAY 2015 DEVELOP3D.COM
8 the system without much in the way of barriers, this type of issue will reduce some of the effect of that immediate accessibility. There are a few instances where a simple rethinking of names in line with what designers, engineers and makers might be trying to do, rather than what the technology is doing, might help reduce this. Ultimately, and as we said at the outset, Onshape is in beta. The development cycle is going to be fast and furious. The good news is that the cloud-based nature of the system means that all users will get access to developments the instant they’re rolled out. That’s a huge difference compared to the usual bi-monthly or quarterly service pack roll out. It also means that if you have an interest in the system, whether to complement or potentially replace your existing tools, you can’t rely on your first experiences. It’s worth considering putting a recurring date in your calendar to log-in to Onshape and see how things are progressing, see where functionality has been added, changed and enhanced. Considering that this is the first month of the open beta, the toolset is impressive and expanding with each release (which
seems to be every three weeks). The last update saw the introduction of the assembly relations. Yes, the modelling tools will need to be fleshed out and there are a few kinks to be worked out with some fundamental parts of the system, but the platform onto which something truly interesting can be built, is there and in place. Onshape is causing a stir in the 3D CAD and rightly so. There’s much to be very excited about. At present, it probably won’t suit the majority of our readers, as they tend to be at the upper end of the geometry creation spectrum, but if you’re working on forms that can be modelled with a limited toolset and can live without drawings, then it might just do it. But let’s be clear here — just because Onshape doesn’t provide those tools now, don’t get fixated on that fact, and keep up to date with its developments. There’s an incredible team behind the tool, they’re well funded and there’s the potential to build something remarkable here that solves many users’ needs. And at a cost that’s dramatically lower on a monthly basis than almost anything else out there. onshape.com
7 The last two weeks ●
have seen a bunch of new tools added to Onshape, such as offsetting options when creating Boolean operations
8 The Assembly ●
Studio lets you create some pretty complex mechanisms to test out design concepts
THANK YOU FOR AN AMAZING FIRST MONTH We’re proud to have made our worldwide public debut at DEVELOP3D Live – and are inspired by our many thousands of Beta users in more than 100 countries who are already designing great products!
Visit Onshape.com and nd out why they couldn’t wait to get started. ONSHAPE IS THE FIRST AND ONLY FULLLCLOUD 3D CAD SYSTEM THAT LETS EVERYONE ON A DESIGN TEAM SIMULTANEOUSLY WORK TOGETHER USING A WEB BROWSER, PHONE OR TABLET.
WELCOME TO THE FUTURE OF CAD onShape Ad.indd 1
17/04/2015 14:34
CAD reinvented Autodesk reimagined 3D CAD from the ground up The first tool of its kind, Autodesk® Fusion 360TM allows teams to work together in an integrated design, engineering, and fabrication tool, virtually anywhere and on any device.
Try it for free at autodesk.com/fusion360
Autodesk and Fusion 360 are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., and/or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates in the USA and/or other countries. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders. Autodesk reserves the right to alter product and services offerings, and specifications and pricing at any time without notice, and is not responsible for typographical or graphical errors that may appear in this document. © 2015 Autodesk, Inc. All rights reserved.
MODEL CREDIT: INVENTABLES.COM
SOFTWARE REVIEW
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Autodesk Fusion 360 Q1
It’s been a good few months since we last took a look at Autodesk’s Fusion 360 offering. With a burgeoning market for cloud-focussed design tools, Al Dean takes a look through the latest updates to find out what’s changed in recent months
U
nless you’ve been under a blanket all winter (or, more likely, buried with work), you’ll know that Autodesk has been pushing the messaging around its Fusion 360 product pretty hard. Fusion is Autodesk’s cloud-based design, engineering and manufacturing offering that relies on a cloudbased infrastructure combined with more localised computation where neccessary It brings together direct editing, parametric and history modelling, 2D drawings and much more. The concept is that while you have a locally streamed application (that keeps you up to date), your data primarily resides in the cloud — and that enables some interesting things to be done. Not least, centralised and accessible data enables sharing of that data with those that need it and more in depth project collaboration where you may have multiple parties working on the same project. In the last review, we looked at some of the key updates that Autodesk had made to Fusion in the months preceding. To recap, those included the introduction of history tracking, 2D drawings based on your 3D models, 2.5 and 3 axis CAM and a whole lot more work done on both the workflow of existing tools as well as
» Product: Fusion 360 » Supplier: Autodesk Price: FREE to $25 (standard) /$100 (Ultimate) per user per month fusion360.autodesk. com
project management and collaboration. What’s interesting is that the team is sharing its roadmap publicly, so you can dive in and see what’s coming in the next few months. Our goal here is to catch you up, so you have a good appreciation of what’s going on.
USER EXPERIENCE CHANGES The user interface hasn’t changed a great deal. Perhaps the biggest change is how the user interacts with projects — much of this has been removed from the Fusion interface and moved to the A360 collaboration platform. While it removes some of the immediate look up and project tools, it does make the workflow easier if you just want to get designing and making parts.
ERROR HANDLING
1 Fusion’s latest ● updates have brought photorealistic rendering including Depth of Field and animation support
This is one of those smart ones — we’re all used to modelling systems not giving us the geometry we want. It’s often the case that the mathematics behind it can’t work — fillets is a solid example. What’s key is that the system gives you feedback about why the geometry you want can’t be built, so you can learn from it and fix it. Fusion’s March update brings online some of this type of feedback, particularly when you’re dealing with the likes of holes, chamfers, threads, shells and such.
STANDARD PARTS LIBRARY If you’re not familiar with McMaster Carr, then its a predominately US focussed organisation that sells all manner of engineering fixtures, fittings, fasteners and components. It also has a very nice filtering and search front end to its catalog and a good range of 3D CAD models for many of those components. What Autodesk has done is integrate that exact same front end into Fusion. Found in the Insert pull down, it fires up a browser window inside Fusion, lets you find the part you want and instead of downloading the part file, it’ll insert it directly into your Fusion session. It can then be positioned and reused where needed. The part entry in the product structure is automatically given the part number from McMaster Carr, so BOMs should be a snap to turn into an order, particularly when you’re building prototypes.
RENDERING - LOCAL Perhaps one of the most useful, for those in design and engineering, is the introduction and refinement of the rendering options in Fusion. While the system got KeyShot integration pretty early on, that wasn’t much use unless you already had the system licenced. Since earlier this year, Autodesk has brought similar-ish tools directly into DEVELOP3D.COM MAY 2015 53
SOFTWARE REVIEW
2 Fusion and they’re found under the Render environment. The workflow follows a pretty standard process — if you’ve not defined materials and textures for your model, you have a library (that can be customised) of materials that can be dragged and dropped onto your parts — these alone are pretty well developed and give you realistic results just with the standard shading options in Fusion. If you then want to up the ante, you can set-up scenes, which uses a range of prebaked in HDR images to define lighting and background (though you can adapt background to your requirements). There’s controls for the brightness and contrast of those lights as well as rotate to allow fine tuning of highlights and such. Now it’s time to try the different rendering methods. The standard view is pretty good and doesn’t require any computation. Fusion has some nifty bells and whistles that make models look realistic while you’re working on them. You then get into the ray tracing. As is
now standard, Fusion uses a progressive renderer that’s built on its own, brand new engine — with the company’s master of rendering in the movie world, this comes as no surprise. As you soon as you hit the Ray-trace icon (A teapot of course), you’ll hear your workstation’s fan spin up. There are a couple of settings. Normal gives you a nice result, but without any self shadowing. Switching to advanced gives you those self shadows and your model looks much more realistic. If you want to really nail things, then you open up the camera controls dialog. This is where you’ll start with using the model view, but you can dial things in further. Recent updates have introduced controls over perspective view as well as providing depth of field controls — pick the point you want to focus on, vary the controls to adjust focus and you’re done.
RENDERING - CLOUD The issue with the ray tracing is that it’ll hammer your local processing resources pretty hard and render your workstation
pretty much inoperable until it’s settled (there’s no core limiter as yet). To combat this, Autodesk has, in the last update, introduced a cloud rendering option. The concept is this. Rather than using local computational resources (read: making your workstation run hot enough to melt aluminium), you can off load that load to Autodesk’s servers. The system gives you a nice clean dialog to define size, resolution and such. Click Start Rendering and the system sends the job to compute. It’s worth noting that there’s a cost implication for this service. It uses Autodesk’s cloud credits. Each Fusion 360 account gets 100 cloud credits to use across all of its services (that covers rendering as well as simulation solves). A quick way to think of the costs is that each costs $1 and one credit gets you a megapixel. You’ll see a cost (in terms of credits) before you send it off, so you know what you’re getting yourself into — it also sums up what you’ve used and what you have left. I’m told that Autodesk is keeping a close
2 This release brings ● direct integration of McMaster Carr's parts library into the Fusion interface
WORKFLOW: ACCESSING YOUR FUSION DATA WITH AUTODESK’S A360 MOBILE
1 Fusion also supports Autodesk’s A360 collaboration ● platform for both mobile access and collaboration
54 MAY 2015 DEVELOP3D.COM
2 You can log-in and view your data — all from your iOS ● device — it's configured for multi-touch
3 The A360 Mobile app gives you full model inspection ● tools as well as commenting, mark up and lots more
SOFTWARE REVIEW eye on usage patterns in the context of Fusion and we might see some adjustment in terms of what you can get and how much additional credits cost. Alongside the off-loading of computation, the cloud renderer option gives you access to a stored library of images (it gives you small scale, standard views for free — you’ll see this across the bottom of the UI in figure 1 on page 53) as well as the ability to calculate a turn table animation. Beware that the turntables use the same credit system. So, if you bump up the image size and the number of frames, you’ll use more credits — if you render out a 36 frame turntable at 7.9 megapixels (that’s just 1280 x 1024) it’s going to cost you $24 worth of credits. It’s a discounted rate, and again, this is being looked at by the powers that be, but at present, you could burn through your allowances very quickly indeed. Pricing aside, once calculated, you can download these turntables either as static frames, as a movie or as a webembeddable file, without the need to compute them again.
DOCUMENTATION & DRAWINGS Just at the tail end of 2014, Autodesk began to introduce 2D drawing capabilities into Fusion. Based on the lessons they’ve learnt with the web-based AutoCAD 360, these tools are laser focussed on the creation of drawings based on Fusion models. They follow the same protocol as most of today’s 3D design systems — you start with a base view, add in projected views, isometric view then start to add in your annotations, sections, etc. The most recent releases have seen the introduction of sections as well as parts lists and associated balloons that link to that part’s list. There’s also parity across both the Windows and Mac platform (the initial release was Windows only).
3 CONCLUSION Fusion has been released for a couple of years and that time is showing the maturity of the toolset. The 3D modelling tools, whether you’re using the direct modelling, history based tools or t-splines for organic shape, is maturing nicely. The new environments for animations (we haven’t touched on), rendering and CAM are also starting to mature. There’s also an interesting set of tools that see Autodesk take advantage of the cloud in interesting ways, whether that’s cloud-based rendering or the new standard parts focussed tools. On that subject, the McMaster Carr is another good example of combining local and cloud. It’s shame that’s it’s such a US centric outfit, but there’s plenty of metric options in there for those that need it — even if the fasteners come in with the threads hard modelled (if you’re reusing them a lot throughout your assemblies, I’d suggest a quick remodel after import to simplify them some what). The drawing creation tools are also
coming along nicely. You aren’t likely to get a fully annotated drawing with full GD&T out of it yet, but if you’re documenting a design, perhaps for quotation, perhaps for contract manufacturing based on a 3D model, it could get you there. And let’s face it, Autodesk knows digital drawing inside out. The coming months are going to be interesting for Fusion. The published roadmap shows that there’s much more to come. From simulation and better working with electronics data, from simultaneous collaboration with shared sessions to the introduction of 5 axis support to CAM on the horizon. There are also a few things coming that we’ve seen that aren’t on that public roadmap, but believe us, you’ll like it when you see it. Keep an eye of Fusion 360. The 3D design world is exploring new places and trying new things, and Autodesk are leading the charge. fusion360.autodesk.com
3 Recent updates ● have seen drawing tools enhanced. Parity is there across PC and Mac as well as new tools for sectioning, detail views as well as parts lists and balloons
FUSION CAM: WHAT’S NEW FOR CNC PROGRAMMING & MACHINING While all of the CAD modelling and rendering tools are nice, what’s got a lot of folks interested in Fusion 360 are the CAM tools. Whether they’re looking for a lower cost alternative to the 2.5 or 3 axis CAM they’ve already got in-house or indeed, are bringing machining (whether at the production end of the spectrum or in the prototyping/workshop environment) in-house for the first time). If you’ve not had a chance to try it out, the gist is this. The CAM tools are found in their own Environment. This switches the UI from modelling to the programming of operations. You then work through a clear workflow for part programming. You start with set-up details — defining the set-up, datum, material stock and the like. You then get into the selection and creation of operations. Fusion 360 has two levels of product — Fusion 360 and Fusion 360 Ultimate. The difference between the two is that the standard variant gives you 2 and 2.5 axis machining capabilities, allowing you to program simple parts (and if you’re into CNC routing, it’ll handle that perfectly too). The Ultimate version brings you more complex 3 axis tools (with 3+2 and 5 axis machining coming later on in the year). Whichever you’re working on, the workflow is the same — build the operations, using the built in simulation tools
to perform simulated stock removal, keep an eye of tool movement and such, then when you’re happy with it, run it through the post processor to generate your G-code. There’s been a number of key updates for this release. For those using the system already, the addition of personal libraries, which are transportable between different computers, is a biggie. This lets you keep your tools/cutter, posts and templates with you, rather than having to manual copy (or worst case) recreate them between each computer you ran Fusion on. Another (and a personal one on my wishlist) is the ability to measure the remaining stock between the simulated stock and the work piece when you’re running a simulation. There’s a whole bunch of other updates, but I’ll let you dig into them if you’re running it already. The CAM tools in Fusion are perhaps one of its best kept secrets — there are a lot of folks getting back into machining again or perhaps for the first time. The rise of affordable desktop or small workshopbased CNCs is another factor (we’ve just ordered one for the D3D workshop to run tests on). There’s a desire for professional grade CAM tools, but few are able to justify the high costs of traditional software. Considering that Fusion includes up to 3 axis for $100 a month, that’s a bargain.
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SOFTWARE REVIEW
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Vero VISI Series 21 Vero has been through some exciting times, the most recent being its acquisition by Hexagon Metrology. Al Dean looks at VISI 21 and finds a release that centres on combining existing tools with the best practices in the product portfolio
I
f you’ve not been paying attention to the manoeuvres around Vero Software, it’s perhaps a good time for quick recap. The company has recently been acquired by Hexagon Metrology, but preceding that the company had been expanding its portfolio of software tools through pretty aggressive acquisition. Under the Hexagon banner now, we have VISI for mould and die design, Surfcam, Edgecam, PEPS, WorkNC, Alphacam and not to forget, Radan for sheet metal design and fabrication. While it’s still early days in terms of discovering what Hexagon plans to do with this wealth of manufacturing related technology, it is clear that the company is looking to bring these tools together, find where the best practices lie in each, and roll them out across many of those products — all of which is evidenced in this latest VISI 21 release.
USER EXPERIENCE User experience is, of course, all about the complete process, rather than just the user interface. So, with that in mind, it’s nice to see Vero integrate previews of native part files in the Windows environment. Instead of the familiar static thumbnail in Explorer, you now get a dynamic preview of the part 56 MAY 2015 DEVELOP3D.COM
that’s rotatable and zoomable, making life much easier before you’ve even fired up the software. VISI has been going through redevelopment and refreshing of the user interface for some time and it’s now looking pretty clean and clear. This release, however, takes a step back, evaluating the best practice across all of the company’s products and adapts the user experience to give the best experience, rather than purely relying on how things have been done historically. Selection of geometry is a good example. You now have much more flexibility, particularly when selecting multiple faces or other geometry types. A window (or polyline) select will, as the default, select everything inside that box, whether it’s visible or not. You also have options to select just the visible entities or faces that have just edges visible (the latter is particularly useful for selecting holes and pockets when you’re looking directly down onto them). It might sound like a small update, but when you consider the complexity (in terms of numbers of surfaces) involved in mould and die design, it’ll prove useful. Moving onto the modelling and mould design tools, there’s been a lot of work across the board. Much of this revolves
» Product: VISI 21 » Supplier: Vero Software Price: On Application verosoftware.com
around the design of complex moulds and die, in particular, where you’ve got multiple cavities in a single mould as well as more complex mechanisms. Multi-cavity support (in this release, this pertains to instances of the same part) now gives you a mirroring tool. This creates a component copy and allows you to array them as you need. The system maintains the link to the original core/ cavity geometry, but allows you to edit any of those instances and have the rest update automatically. VISI 21 also includes many new surface modelling tools which expand on the previous toolset for surface extension, surface tangency, and blending between curves and faces with curvature constraints. The new tools are particularly important for mould tool parting faces and sheet-metal forming stage development.
MECHANISM DESIGN & TEST
1 VISI 21 brings ● improved Automatic Feature Recognition (AFR) for complex plate geometry
VISI 20 introduced mechanisms to the existing constraints tools for linking together components, but these were manually controlled (you had to drag and drop them to move them). VISI 21 introduces more formalised constraints that closer mimic real world mechanisms such as springs, trajectories and paths, gears, racks and pinions. This means you can not only do the complex work of
SOFTWARE REVIEW developing the moving components of a mould, but also simulate their action to ensure that they’ll work. Also related to this are animation tools that allow you to define a timeline for those animations, and they work in three modes. Normal lets you just move components. Collision detection will stop the parts (and highlight those affected) when there’s a collision (useful for finding and fixing mechanism lock). Physical dynamics gives you a full run down of what happens, letting you see what you’re going to get once built — ideal when checking for potential collisions with slides, cams and lifters. These tools are super easy to use and are designed to require the minimal number of constraints so you can dive in, use them and find any areas that need fixing, without too much hassle or time spent setting up the job.
2 AND 2.5 AXIS MACHINING Let’s now look at some of the updates for the machining tools in VISI 21. Compared to previous releases, this doesn’t bring a huge amount of new tools — the existing toolset is pretty complete. That said, there’s also room for improvement and to rework how existing tools operate to make them either more efficient or more intelligent. We’ll start with two axis machining. The interface for 2-axis has been reworked, particularly inside the CAM navigator (the panels used to define stock, set-ups, operations etc.). The whole process is much more accessible, more clear and more intelligent. The driver for that intelligence is Automatic Feature Recognition. This will find all of the features (in a 2D context) from your part and offer them up for programming. Once found, you now have greater organisation tools that allow you to remove, move, add, reorder and group those machinable features. While for a single part, this won’t save you a huge amount of time, when you’re programming multiple parts at once (perhaps in a tombstone
arrangement in a vertical mill) it’ll save you a huge amount of time by allowing you to do all the sorting up front. What’s also interesting is that Vero has added in the ability to edit these ‘recognised’ features. This means that in the event of a design change or a quick tweak, you can quickly edit the parameters for these features (perhaps hole size or pocket depth) without having to run through the AFR process again. Another new feature that’s worthy of note is the ability to stack features together. It’s often the case that you have a large machinable feature which also contains smaller features. These can now be grouped and quickly reused where needed. The flip side to this is dealing with complex pockets that might typically require a further 3-axis license. These are relatively simple in terms of outer boundary, but might have more complex surfaces around them or at the bottom of a pocket for instance. VISI now allows these to be machined using a 2-axis machining licence.
ACCESSIBLE TOOLS Alongside the 2-axis updates, there’s also a shift in this release. There are several instances where tools or capabilities from higher-end modules are now available in the entry level modules. All of the operations are high-speed enabled, with the feed and speed control, ramping options and such. There’s also been work done to maintain a more accurate stock model between each operation. Previous releases would have simply tracked the outer boundary of the cutter — it now keeps a record of where material remains across the whole feature. Elsewhere, it’s now possible to run full gouge checking against not only the part, cutter and tool holder, but also any fixtures, jigs or clamps.
3-AXIS MACHINING VISI already has a comprehensive set of high-
speed 3-axis machining capabilities. What the team has done for this release is look at the workflow from part geometry to final machined component and find a way to make it more efficient for the operator to achieve the final toolpath. 3-axis projects are now much more structured. You begin with an end goal, the final, finished component. Then you work through the processes to reach it. That takes you from importing or designing the workpiece, defining stock, adding in auxiliary features and geometry (such as filling holes and shut off surfaces) and obstacles (such as clamping and fixtures). Once done, you then begin adding in the set-ups and operations to machine that part. This gives you the benefit that with all features defined up front, you can use simulation and collision/gouge checking at any time and a greater level of control over what you’re machining.
MORE ACCESSIBLE TOOLPATHS Alongside the organisational matters, VISI 21 also sees the company take a different approach to providing access to all of the options, variables and parameters for each operation. In previous releases, more advanced options have been tucked away in separate dialogs or tabs - making them harder to find. For VISI 21, this changes. Each operations’ dialog features all of the options, commands and variables in a single window — it might sound more complex (and it is, until you get used to the wealth of information presented in one hit) but ultimately, research showed this is what customers wanted, and this is about giving the user tools that are accessible. Each dialog is clearly organised and there’s heavy use of tool-tips and help where needed.
G-CODE SIMULATION Completing the CAM developments, a new NC simulator has been introduced for VISI 21 capable
JUST HOW COMPLEX CAN VISI PROJECTS GET?: INSTRUMENT PANEL MOULD
1 Automotive IP panel with over 600 shut off faces and six ● part modifications during the design stage
2 21 undercut areas with mechanical side action ● movement on the ejection side
3 10 undercut areas with mechanical side action ● movement on the injection side
4 24 separate parts with cooling, 36 different cooling ● circuits and 685 cooling holes
5 254 fully detailed general assembly drawing sheets ●
6 Final project statistics : 5,740 solids, 1,348 screws, 3 ●
concurrent designers, 486 hours design time
DEVELOP3D.COM MAY 2015 57
SOFTWARE REVIEW
2 of real G-code verification after the toolpaths have been post-processed. All relevant G codes, M codes and movements are simulated. During the simulation the axis positions, status variables, offset and other parameters can all be monitored and checked. Importantly, the processing times can be realistically computed, accurately reporting the processing times for each tool and each machining program.
WIRE-EDM Within the mould and die industries, Wire Electrode Discharge Machining (Wire EDM) is a common manufacturing process — it allows the creation of complex and often fine detailed features that would be difficult, if not impossible, to machine with traditional cutters. VISI has supported Wire EDM for many years, but the VISI 21 release introduces a new ‘Smart’ operation that eliminates the need for the user to assign a specific 2 or 4 axis operation to a feature. The cycle creates the simplest NC code by analysing the upper and lower contours of a feature and applying the most efficient toolpath. For example, if a 4-axis feature can be machined with 2 axis NC code then the smart operation will intelligently decide this. Another key point to highlight is that VISI 21 fully supports AgieCharmilles machines with HMI controllers. The technology information is read directly from the AgieCharmilles EDM Expert software, which means the operator can now fully program the machine, including technology, in an offline environment.
CONSOLIDATING TOOLPATHS One thing that’s worth discussing is that alongside all of the changes, updates 58 MAY 2015 DEVELOP3D.COM
3 and enhancements we’ve discussed, VISI 21 also sees the company embark on a pretty long term project to consolidate the toolpaths of choice across all of its products to produce a multi-discipline CAM engine — remember, we’re talking VISI, Surfcam, WorkNC, Edgecam, Alphacam. The development team is working to find the best toolpaths amongst that wealth of knowledge and you’ll see the same consolidation across all of these products where appropriate. It’s also worth noting that for many years, Vero has been OEM licensing its toolpath libraries, and others within the industry will benefit from this technology consolidation.
CONCLUSION VISI is a comprehensive set of tools for designing and manufacturing complex products in the mould and die industry (though it is seeing adoption elsewhere)
and has the tools that industry needs. From handling complex but dumb geometry, through machining preparation to programming machining operation and simulation. As part of the Hexagon group, it’s going to be interesting to see how the system grows and how the consolidation across that product range is going to pan out in the coming years. Also the interesting thing happening in the CAM market is how pricing is shifting. Looking at VISI 21, it’s clear that the company is seeing this too and some of the more advanced, typically greater priced cost options (such as machining complex pockets in 2.5 axis as well as full gouge checking against 3D fixtures) are now available in two axis modules. This makes it more affordable for those that don’t need the highly complex capabilities but want to operate efficiently. verosoftware.com
2 VISI 21 has ● an updated CAM interface for power users which presents all of the options and variables for an operation in a single dialog 3 This release also ● introduces easy to use kinematic tools with an animation timeline
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Where next? Wherever you take us. DESIGN, MECHANICAL AND RESEARCH ENGINEERS £COMPETITIVE | WILTSHIRE, UK What’s next for Dyson? You tell us. Actually, you won’t just tell us, you’ll show us. Because we’ll give you the freedom to invent, to pursue your ideas and to push technological boundaries. Great things are happening here. Not only are we working on some incredible new projects, but we’re continuing to invest heavily in our UK Research, Design and Development (RDD) centre. Which tells you two things. Firstly, that we’re doing fantastically well as a global business. Secondly, just how vitally important engineers are to us. In many ways, engineers are Dyson. That’s why we’re looking for more like minds to join us and create the technology of the future. So if you’re unafraid to take risks and ready to turn conventional thinking on its head, we need to hear from you. Your background could be mechanical engineering, technology, science.... we’re open to ideas. Find out more at www.careers.dyson.com
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PRODUCT DESIGN ENGINEER
WORCESTERSHIRE, UK
JMDA had a fantastic 2014, and we are now in a position to further expand our Worcestershire team and bring in an experienced design engineer. This is a unique opportunity for a talented individual to join a small design consultancy with big ambitions and global reach. We are seeking someone with proven ability to turn ideas into viable products. We want to find a candidate with an entrepreneurial spirit to help build JMDA and lead projects. This role has career advancement potential and the opportunity to influence at a strategic level. As a senior product design engineer, you will work on a broad range of product design, problem solving, detailed engineering, project delivery and business development activities. You will be expected to contribute to various phases of the product development process, applying your knowledge to engineer feasible design solutions. The right candidate will have: • • • •
5 years experience working in a professional design environment, ideally with some client facing experience. Strong 3D CAD skills (ideally Solidworks): Top-down design techniques, ability to use CAD to create conceptual designs, understanding of engineering structure. Good grasp of mechanical engineering fundamentals, including competency in design analysis to validate design concepts. A strong understanding of manufacturing processes, ideally plastic moulding and metal fabrication.
A degree in Product Design, Mechanical Engineering or a related discipline. For more details please vist our blog jmdadesign.com/our-blog How to Apply To apply, please send your CV and examples of work to design@jmdadesign.com Application deadline: 15th May 2015
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THE LAST WORD
With a move to a new office, Al Dean is spending a little time looking at the equipment that he takes for granted. What’s proving useful, what’s not and why it is that we become attached to outmoded ways of working
R
egular readers of this last page will know that for the last few years, I’ve been working out of a small workshop in the back of my garden. While it’s been fun, the simple facts are that a 12 x 6 wooden building isn’t cutting it any more. Along with all the usual ephemera we collect over the years, the recent months have seen the hardware we have access to expand somewhat. With the delivery of one of the first Autodesk Ember 3D printers in the UK and soon a 1m x 1m 3 axis CNC router and a new 3D filament based printer later on in the year, it’s clear that something bigger is needed. So move I must. The good news is that it has given me a chance to sort through, what probably amounts to 15 years worth of collected stuff. While I’m not a big one for keeping paper work anymore (I’ve already documented a solution to that), there’s a whole tonne of books, manuals and devices that have come and gone. I think I have one of every SpaceMouse model since its inception and some others from now defunct vendors. And cables. A billion cables. I’m also trying to learn a little more about the world of electronics — it’s something that has always escaped me, but I’m digging into what can be done with today’s accessible, modular and hacked hardware. So, I need somewhere where I can stare blankly at an Arduino or a breadboard till something starts to stick. The good news is that I’ve found the perfect spot. A quiet 200 sq ft office above a local garage. The landlords also don’t mind
2 66 MAY 2015 DEVELOP3D.COM
1
me tinkering with near industrial machinery, light curable resins and all manner of other stuff — something that might be rather difficult in a normal office block. But during one of the hours of clearing out and boxing up, I found myself pondering how the computing world has changed. It was once the case that if you want to do some serious digital design work, you had to get into the office, fire up 20 grand’s worth of hardware and sit there staring at a 21” cathode ray tube monitor to get it done. Contrast that to today. We’re now spoilt with all manner of mobility enabling tools and devices. Yes, the workstation is still a big part of it, but they’re complimented with laptops that can have similar horse power. We have smart phones and iPads or Surface Pros ever present in our bags or pockets.
And of course, mobile high-speed data connections to back them up. What’s interesting is that the tools we want to use are finally starting to catch up with these advances. We’re now seeing systems that can run in the browser or through specialised apps. We have the ability to centralise our data, to ensure that we have access to all of that mission critical data whenever we need it, wherever we need it. So, will I be abandoning the hoarding genes and running clean and lean in the new office? Chances are, not so much. I’ll still be taking all those reference manuals and engineering text books with me. I’ll also probably maintain “Al’s Museum of 3D control devices” on a bookshelf somewhere and I’ll certainly be keeping all those experimental things I’ve built over the years. That said, I’ll be sorting the wheat from the chaff, and be taking a few trips up to the recycling centre, the local RSPCA shop and donating a few things to local schools to help them out. But it’ll be a much tighter, leaner ship than before. Remind me of that in 12 month’s time. If you happen to be passing Wolverhampton and fancy a brew and a natter, the kettle is always on - hit me up al@x3dmedia.com / @alistardean My phone number is in the front of the magazine
1 Assuming that ● you’ve uploaded the data, you can kick off a print job to Autodesk’s Ember printer, monitor it’s progress all from a web browser. It’ll connect to your office or workshop hard wired network or your wireless in a snap. That’s a remarkable shift 2 The next addition ● to the DEVELOP3D Workshop — the X-Carve — a 1m x 1m CNC Router from Inventables.com
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