If any company in the design tools space seems ready to steer its future toward new computing paradigms like the cloud and mobile, Autodesk seems to be it.
In its latest foray, Autodesk took the wraps off ForceEffect, a free mobile simulation app designed for the Apple iPad that lets engineers quickly simulate design options in the conceptual phase while out in the field or in the classroom.
Unike Autodesk's other simulation offerings around FEA or CFD analysis, ForceEffect is all about the conceptual stage, allowing engineers, designers, and students to perform static systems analysis on free body diagrams -- a process typically done with hand calculations and on paper-and-pen drawings. By comparison, with CFD and FEA, designers need to have some of the design completed in addition to the requisite 3D models that are then brought into the CAE tool for simulation and refinement.
Using ForceEffect, designers and students can explore problems like whether a beam is long enough to support a load or whether the linkage in a bike design is sufficient. "Typically, these are done with long hand calculations, which can be very time-consuming, prone to error, and involve a lot of rework," Luke Mihelcic, Autodesk product marketing manager, told us in an interview.
By leveraging the interface of the iPad, users can simply tap objects to select, move, rotate, and scale objects. In addition, real-time solving capabilities and the ability to take a snapshot of the image or background lets users get immediate feedback on the performance of their design in the context of the problem or environment.
Given that Autodesk's simulation lineup -- an area in which it's made a lot of investments over the last few years -- lacks a comparable simulation tool on the desktop, we asked Mihelcic why the iPad was his company's platform of choice for launching this type of design tool. "We want to get the tool in the hands of as many people as possible, and we really see folks using this tool in the field or in the classroom, where they don't necessarily have access to a high-power, simulation-ready desktop," he said.
It's all about making simulation as accessible as possible early on in the design process, even before any kind of CAD work is started, Mihelcic said.
Autodesk's ForceEffect already has some mobile app competition. Maplesoft, a leader in technical computing software, recently launched Maple Player for the iPad, a free version of its technical computing software that can be used to make similar calculations.
That makes more sense -- that the parts of design process which are amenable to mobile (like two engineers talking about something on a plane while travelling) are done on mobile. Also, I neglected to consider your second point, which is that vendors have to meet their users on the platforms where those users want to be. For younger engineers, that's obviously tablets and smartphones, notwithstanding what I might prefer.
Yes, I agree that we're just getting started on mobile apps in new areas, whether it's in design or in running the plant. In the plant, it's simply easier to take along a smartphone or tablet rather than trying to balance a laptop on your knee. But I'll bet we'll see applications we can't even imagine now showing up on mobile devices.
I think it's too soon to tell how useful these early-stage mobile design tool apps are for engineers. I do, however, agree with you 100% that younger engineers are going to be looking for tools that run on their platform of choice, which in many cases, will be mobile smart phones or tablets.
Not that these will replace the work done on workstations--rather augment it and give them access to their designs and key designing capabilities while in field or on the road. My guess is these early apps are an exercise in kicking the tires. As engineers' use case of the mobile paradigm is better understood, we'll see second and third-generation mobile apps that will likely be of way more value. I think we're just getting started.
Nice article, Beth. Do you have any idea of what the adoption is for mobile design apps? Is this a solution looking for a problem, or do the mobile apps truly enhance the ability to work with the software? Like a lot of new technology, this may have a generational aspect. Young people are discarding both desktops and laptops in favor of tablets. Engineers coming out of college may see mobile apps as preferable.
Don't think of it as mobile CAD. You're right--doing full blown CAD work, extruding parts and modeling on an iPad or another tablet platform does not make sense. I don't think anyone thinks it does. But there are parts of the design process and engineering flow that do lend themselves to mobility and I think that's what all these early tools are about and where the vendors are heading.
Maybe it's me, but mobile CAD seems like a tech analysis version of texting while driving? I understand that you can do presentations and maybe back-of-the-napkin stuff on an iPad. (How you can do anything serious, CAD-wise, on the iPhone's screen is beyond me.) Maybe I'm being a Luddite here, but mobile CAD seems like it will be impacted by at least some platform limitations.
Autodesk's latest mobile app offering is just the latest in a string of new mobile design tools and the category of mobile really appears to be heating up. I'm curious whether our readers are ready to take the plunge and whether tools that can jumpstart conceptual design is a good starting point given the way engineers currently work.
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