CAD/CAM Corner

Where you\'ll find the latest news and trends in the areas of CAD/CAM software, PLM, innovation, and product development.

Virginia Tech Team Steers Blind Drivers

Posted by Beth Stackpole on November 20, 2009

Here’s a cool student engineering project: A team of students at Virginia Tech is leveraging CAD software to help blind people drive using their hands and ears to navigate instead of their eyes. The Virginia Tech Blind Driver Challenge team is working with SolidWorks to create a roulette-style click wheel and other components for their specially-equipped, semi-autonomous dune bu ...... Read More

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Industries: Software/Hardware

Cray's Take: Cash-for-Clusters

Posted by Beth Stackpole on November 17, 2009

You’ve heard of “cash for clunkers” as it relates to trading in that tired old minivan. But what about that outdated computing system used for high-end engineering work? Cray just announced its own take on the federal government’s program, launching a buy-back initiative that lets organizations trade in their old clusters or workstation towards the purchase of new ...... Read More

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SpaceClaim 2009+ Preps For Simulation

Posted by Beth Stackpole on November 12, 2009

In the fifth release of its 3-D direct modeling software, SpaceClaim appears to be firming up its positioning, not as an alternative to 3-D CAD packages, but rather as a utility to prepare models for simulation. The company, which launched its tool in 2007 and seemed ready to take on the leaders in the CAD space, has steered SpaceClaim off that track into the CAE space, adding capabilities that ma ...... Read More

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Industries: Software/Hardware

MIT Lab Cooks Up Cornucopia 3-D Printer

Posted by Beth Stackpole on November 3, 2009

Okay, they are two passions that likely worlds apart. But if you happen to love food and are an enthusiast for 3-D technology, there’s a project underway at MIT Media Lab’s Fluid Interfaces Group that you should make note of. The group, whose charter is to “radically rethink the human-machine interactive experience,” has just kicked off a project called Cornucopia, whic ...... Read More

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Autodesk Previews Change Manager for Inventor Fusion

Posted by Beth Stackpole on October 30, 2009

Autodesk peeled back another layer of detail about its new Inventor Fusion technology, specifically showcasing a new change manager function that unites direct and parametric modeling workflows within a single digital CAD model. The second preview, available now on Autodesk Labs, provides a first look at technology, which gives users the freedom to choose the best modeling approach for their parti ...... Read More

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Industries: Software/Hardware

NVIDIA Gets Real With 3-D Cloud Computing

Posted by Beth Stackpole on October 22, 2009

Talk about a technology innovation that packs the punch of a pair of big buzzwords. GPU maker NVIDIA and mental images, a leading provider of photorealistic rendering software, are coming together to bring 3-D visualization capabilities to cloud computing. The new NVIDIA RealityServer is a combination of Tesla GPUs and software that can stream interactive, photorealistic 3-D applications to ...... Read More

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Industries: Software/Hardware

Epcot Ride Gives Kids A Math Thrill

Posted by Beth Stackpole on October 16, 2009

What do mathematics and amusement park rides have in common? Raytheon is combining the two for its new Sum of all Thrills ride, located within the INNOVENTIONS section of Epcot. The new ride lets park guests custom design their own ride using mathematical tools, a touch-screen table and a robotic simulator. Guests choose a ride theme-it could be a roller coaster, bobsled or jet plane-and using a m ...... Read More

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Autodesk Gives Mac Users More Options

Posted by Beth Stackpole on October 14, 2009

An avid fan of Autodesk software, but precluded from tapping some of the more popular 3-D design tool because you’re on a Mac? Not a problem any more, according to Autodesk officials. The firm recently inked a deal with Parallels to make the Parallels Desktop for Mac the preferred virtualization software for Autodesk products. The partnership means Mac users can run programs like Auto ...... Read More

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Microsoft Brings Multi-touch To The Mouse

Posted by Beth Stackpole on October 7, 2009

Want a look at how Microsoft envisions what it dubs Mouse 2.0? A Microsoft hardware research team recently released a paper and video showcasing five different multi-touch mouse implementations that explore different touch sensing strategies, including those optimized for 3-D interaction. The prototypes, still in the early concept stage, attempt to enrich the standard, desktop mouse and pointer-ba ...... Read More

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Free MEDUSA4 CAD Tool Goes Commercial

Posted by Beth Stackpole on October 2, 2009

These days, every penny counts, especially when you’re looking for design tools that can help with projects that are outside of your professional engineering role or are perhaps part of a startup endeavor where budgets are extremely tight. CAD Schroer Group, a global engineering solutions provider, just added a new service to accompany its free personal 2D/3D CAD software that gets around r ...... Read More

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NVIDIA Teams With Microsoft To Promote Tesla GPUs

Posted by Beth Stackpole on September 28, 2009

NVIDIA called in the big guns to help promote its Tesla graphics processing units (GPUs), announcing new efforts this week with Microsoft to explore applications for high performance parallel computing using Windows HPC Server 2008. In that vein, NVIDIA Research developed several GPU-enabled applications on the Windows HPC Server 2008 platform, including a ray tracing application that can be tappe ...... Read More

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Calling 3DVIA Mobile For The iPhone

Posted by Beth Stackpole on September 23, 2009

Sure, your iPhone rocks as a smart device and the burgeoning library of apps means there are games and gadgets galore to make your day easier and keep you entertained. But what about the device becoming an extension of your day-to-day engineering work? It can, thanks to a number of new iPhone apps–the latest being 3DVIA Mobile, which lets users search, share and interact with the vast libra ...... Read More

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