DN Staff

October 15, 2009

3 Min Read
Siemens NX 7.0 Goes HD with Visual Analytics

Siemens PLMSoftware is bolstering its NX CAD software with critical visual analyticscapabilities designed to help companies make better product development-relateddecisions against the tide of globalization, an increasingly tough regulatoryenvironment, and the growing sophistication of manufactured goods.

The primary new feature of NX7.0 is HD3D, a new visual environment within NX that will eventually beadded to the Teamcenter PLM software, which helps users collect and presentproduct information in an easy-to-interpret, visual way so it can easily beapplied in decision making. Users can tap the new tool, for example, toevaluate a product design on key factors such as release status, weightthresholds, material type or delivery status. HD3D will present the data in agraphical, visual way making it easy for users to take action.

Rather than a static 2-D graphical format, HD3D promotes ahigher definition of 3-D data by borrowing from familiar interface paradigmslike attaching tags to objects employed by Google Earth or the "cover flow" GUI concept ofiTunes used to visually scroll through documents or artwork - or in this case,3-D parts and models. "The high-definition is a whole new concept," says PaulBrown, senior marketing director for the NX product line. "It's more than a 3-Dgeometry model, but rather a window onto the whole rich vein of PLM data thatbacks up a solid model or a subassembly."

Here's an example of how HD3D can be employed: Say anengineer or product development manager wants to examine a design for partsthat are currently in development and registered as on schedule or late. Usingthe new analytics capabilities, the 3-D NX model of the product underdevelopment will visually highlight all of the parts that are more than oneweek late and thus a cause for concern. In addition, the software will displayinteractive tags on screen, which when selected, will deliver more detailedinformation. This visual interaction eliminates the need for engineers tomanually sort through written bill-of-materials and status reports andcorrelate part numbers against the 3-D model, Brown says. The HD3D analyticscapabilities will also be implemented in Check-Mate, an application thatensures compliance with design criteria, so engineers can take advantage of thesame visual environment and new GUI standards to validate model quality.

In addition to HD3D, NX 7.0 also serves up enhancements to SynchronousTechnology, its next-generation modeling approach delivered in both the NXand SolidEdge CAD programs. The enhancements expand the coverage of taskssupported by Synchronous Technology in addition to adding more intelligenceinto the models to improve predictability. For instance, a new synchronouspattern capability removes the need to understand the original creationapproach when working with legacy CAD models while also offering expandedfeatures for cut, copy, paste and mirror.

Finally, Synchronous Technology in NX 7.0 also includes newclean-up tools to enable faster and easier editing of models imported fromthird-party CAD systems. Specifically, automatic and semi-automatic blend andchamfer recognition functions build and maintain relationships for two of themost common manufacturing features while automatic and manual healing optionsand the ability to merge segmented geometry remove unwanted gaps and fixesmismatched geometry, Brown says.

Siemens NX 7.0 Goes HD with Visual Analytics

Siemens NX 7.0 Goes HD with Visual Analytics_A

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