MCAD Tech News #151

Show Report: IDSA 2005

Pondering the attainability of sustainability

by Jeffrey Rowe

About 500 of some of the most creative minds in the world of product design just convened in Washington, D.C., for the 2005 Industrial Designers Society of America National Conference. Being an industrial designer, I always look forward to attending this event to meet with other designers and check out the many interesting products in the Design Gallery.

This conference is unlike many professional conferences where you just sit and try to take in what is presented (as well as try to stay awake). At this conference most attendees are drawn in and really want to engage and challenge each other — it's a very participatory atmosphere and experience.

Call for Responsible Design
The first — and I felt, most important — of the several thought-provoking events that occurred during the conference was the opening keynote address given by architect, designer, author and activist Bill McDonough. McDonough issued a call to action for what he termed responsible design, challenging designers to think about their work in a truly global context. It’s no longer acceptable, he believes, to create products and systems that contaminate the planet. Even developing so-called “sustainable” products is no longer good enough. All this has been said before, but McDonough provided what I felt were some of the most compelling reasons yet to change the way things have been done.  Read more >>

Autodesk Inventor Tutorial: Getting Acquainted with 3D Grips and Feature Generator

by Kevin Schneider

Sometimes when you need to modify a part, you can envision that just a small nudge of a line in a particular direction is all that's needed. The 3D Grips and Feature Generator tools in Autodesk Inventor 10 provide a fast and flexible way to add and edit parametric features in your new and existing models. You can insert many types of pre-established features from the built-in Content Center and modify them using 3D Grips.

The addition of 3D Grips tools is handy for new and advanced users. For example, arrows indicate the drag direction, and the tools' function previews the impact of a change before it's made. Read more >>

Mark Your Calendar: MCAD Events
RoboNexus: October 6-9, 2005, San Jose Convention Center, San Jose, California. International business development, consumer and educational event for personal, service and mobile robotics. http://www.robonexus.com/

2006 International ANSYS Conference: May 2-4, 2006, David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. User event designed for engineers and analysts from all disciplines of computer-aided engineering will address how to improve products and processes by using automated and integrated ANSYS simulation software to drive design. Training sessions offered April 30-May 1. http://www1.ansys.com/conf2006/

For Cadalyst's full calendar of events, click here>>