Are you itching to do some real design work on your iPad? For all the hoopla over the tablet form factor being a replacement for laptops, I'm still not convinced it will ever be the go-to platform for complex parametric-based modeling. Yet, while there are surely signs that mobile apps seem destined to change the way engineers work, for now the primary focus is on visualization and collaboration.
IMSI/Design is the latest to dish up an app supposedly built from scratch for the iPad, meaning it should deliver more functionality than mere iPad display candy. TurboViewer, available in the App Store for free, lets users quickly view native 3D DWG files (both AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT), in addition to native 2D files. The app leverages the iPad's multi-touch navigation for panning, zooming, and orbiting functions. There's also an autosense capability to determine whether something is a 2D or 3D drawing or model, so the appropriate gesture navigation is automatically set.
IMSI/Design is differentiating its new app as being "built from the ground up for the iPad," and for its fast viewing capabilities. Both functions, it says, separate TurboViewer from other 2D and 3D viewers in the App Store.
So, what else is out there in the way of 2D/3D CAD apps? Autodesk made a big splash late last year with its AutoCAD WS collaboration and viewing tool. AutoCAD WS lets AutoCAD users view, edit, and share design and DWG files through a Web browser or a mobile device -- including the iPhone, iPad, and, just more recently, Android devices -- without requiring collaborators to have a full-blown version of the software. For 3D viewing, Autodesk offers Inventor Publisher Mobile Viewer, which supports the viewing of animated 3D assembly instructions on an iPhone or iPad created by Inventor Publisher.
Dassault Systemes also addresses 3D-model viewing with 3DVIA Mobile HD, a $4.99 app that lets users view the thousands of 3D models uploaded to 3DVIA.com. Robert McNeel & Associates offers iRhino 3D, a $3.99 app for viewing native Rhino 3DM files on your iPad or iPhone. Let's not forget newcomer CadFaster, which in February announced CadFaster/Collaborate, a real-time annotation and co-viewing tool for 3D CAD models for the iPad and iPhone that works with SolidWorks, among other design tool packages.
Most of the viewing apps serve the purpose of allowing collaborators to conduct design reviews from wherever they are, or to use the highly-visual capabilities of the iPad to show customers early designs in progress. While definitely useful in terms of boosting the productivity factor of engineers, these apps are hardly game-changers.
Do any of the iPad CAD apps allow one to use a stylus for input? Seems like that would really make the difference between an ancillary app (or a viewer) and something on which you could do "real" CAD work.
These first wave of apps are definitely more focused on viewing and simple collaboration tasks as opposed to "real CAD work." My guess is the gestures and touch interface of the iPad and other tablets will usher in new paradigms for working with 3D models and geometry that have the potential to replace what you might do today with a stylus or mouse. Doing conceptual design and sketching seems to lend itself well to the graphical nature of tablets; inputting numbers and values for parametric-based modeling--that's a whole other story.
I really can't see the use of the iPad and such as design tools, per se. I think there will always be a need for something with horsepower and an array of input devices (and big screens). That said, these devices are great for go-anywere applications such a viewing a drawing in the field or making an minor adjustment. Just like I wouldn't want to write the next great American novel on an iPad.
Now, what I could see happening in the coming generations of these devices is a type of docking for the office, like laptops.
I agree, Jack, and I don't think any one sees the tablets as a replacement for a CAD-optimized workstation--mobile or otherwise. I think just as iPads have become a supplemental tool for mainstream business folks, they are likely to become yet another accessory in the digital toolbox for on-the-go engineering professionals.
@johngaltrules: Not sure this is what you had in mind, but I know 3D Systems has some sort of iPad/iPhone free 3D content app that lets users view, share, and edit 3D files on their devices and prepare them for 3D printing. The tool is called netfabb Mobile and you can check it out here.
These seem like nice evolutionary advances in extending the ability of collaborators in different parts of the company, supply chain and world to review designs and design changes, particularly when travelling away from their offices. But doing designs on an iPhone? I don't think so.
Are there any security issues? Say from News of the World-type hackers?
I suspect there will be a place for using iPads in this field. I think of most of these tools as supplemental to the workstations. Frequently we go to meetings and display output from a workstation on a projector. It would be interesting to have a meeting discussing the latest engineering model for exampel and some could use an iPad to view it on their own, others might use the projectors images from the workstation.
The key is flexibility to use the tools available in a way that is convenient and useful to the people involved. Not everyone needs an expensive workstation to do their work. Tools like this allow for others to view and discuss the models without having to bring a workstation with them.
In short if it improves collaboration at an effective price then there will be a place for it.
One thing that surprises me about all the new enterprise iApps is the cost. $4.99 seems to be a popular price. I would guess the real use will be for trouble shooting on the run. Ipads, iPods, iPhones are easier to use on the run than laptops.
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