cadalyst
Manufacturing

MCAD Tech News #180

12 Jul, 2006 By: Jeffrey Rowe


Untitled Document

Vehicle Design for the World

mit Program Strives For Incredible MPG rates, increased Social Responsibility

It’s just about rollout time for SolidWorks 2007, so the company invited industry press for a preview. As usual, SolidWorks hosted an insightful and worthwhile event. Above and beyond the product previews and discussions about the company’s business direction, I had the opportunity to meet and spend time with a group of very interesting and motivated students involved with the MIT VDS (Vehicle Design Summit).

This summer at MIT, from June 13 to August 13, student engineering teams from more than 30 universities are attempting to design better alternative transportation technologies to jumpstart state-of-the-art transportation options and dispel preconceived notions on how to engineer these vehicles. Worldwide, with 6.5 billion potential drivers, the need for efficient personal transportation continues to grow at an astonishing rate. In a serious effort to revolutionize the design process for alternative transportation technology, 60 engineers representing 15 countries are participating in the summit. SolidWorks cosponsors MIT's global solar car initiative and is the 3D CAD sponsor of the nine-week Vehicle Design Summit, donating licenses of SolidWorks Education Edition.

Ten teams of six or seven participants each are working on several vehicle designs. The participants were chosen based on previous experience with vehicles, particularly in the World Solar Challenge, American Solar Challenge, Formula SAE, SAE MiniBaja and Human Powered Vehicle competitions. This intensive program will provide the foundation for ongoing multidisciplinary transportation research (engineering, mathematics, science and human behavior) to develop commuter vehicle designs based on biofuels, solar power, human power and other technologies. Read more>>
CADALYST LABS REVIEW: Alibre Design – Mechanical Design Modeling in 3D

by Mike Hudspeth

You might remember that last year a mystery company came out with a 3D modeler called X-CAD that it provided for free to the first 100,000 people who registered. That company turned out to be Alibre. It got its 100,000 registrations and introduced a lot of folks to 3D modeling. X-CAD is now called Alibre Design Xpress, and Alibre continues to give it away for free.

Why go through all this trouble for something that won't make any money? Alibre Design Xpress is the proverbial hook. It offers some nice capabilities but also has many limitations. After you get used to what it can do, you're going to want more—Alibre Design 9, to be specific. Read more >>

Mark Your Calendar: MCAD Events

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

Large Format Webinar
July 12-27, 2006
Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays
IDEAL is holding large format webinar events that discuss topics, introduce technology and provide suggestions to help with large format scanning and document management problems. Read more

Webcast Series: Autodesk Manufacturing Solutions
July 13-27, 2006
Thursdays
10 a.m. and 2 p.m. EST
Avatech Solutions invites engineering professionals in manufacturing to participate in a series of free webcasts to learn how the new features in Autodesk's manufacturing solutions can help them boost productivity. Read more

2006 MSC.Software VPD Conference
July 17-19, 2006
Huntington Beach, California
Discover how other industry leaders are improving communication and collaboration in their product design and manufacturing processes to accelerate time- and right-to-market. Read more

Z-DAC 2006: Zuken Customer to Customer Conferences
September 11-13, 2006 (San Antonio, Texas)
October 24-26, 2006 (Ulm, Germany)
Z-DAC 2006 for manufacturers includes the introduction of third-party training for the engineer and designer level as well as a management networking event for middle and C-level management. Read more

CAD Manager's Forum
September 14, 2006
London, United Kingdom
EatyourCAD is sponsoring this forum for CAD managers to meet, debate and exchange ideas with peers. Read more

NAFEMS World Congress 2007
May 22-25, 2007
Vancouver, Canada
NAFEMS World Congress 2007 will cover many aspects of the use of simulation in engineering and focus on how the appropriate deployment of simulation can lead to a further competitive advantage through helping to stimulate innovation. Read more


what's new at cadalyst.com

Online Archives:Click here to view an online version of this newsletter and past issues of MCAD Tech News.

Get the Code!Cadalyst’s July code from Hot Tip Harry is now available for download. Brock Narum earned $100 for this month's top tip, No Plotting Layers List, which presents a quick display of the layers that will not plot in the current drawing. Leonid Nemirovsky was June's top tip provider, with some winning code for editing text.

Check Out Cadalyst's Job Search! If you're in the market for a new job -- or if you just want to see what's out there -- Cadalyst.com offers a new online Job Search that will help. Powered by Indeed, this new search tool offers a state-by-state list of CAD-related job openings, or you can customize a search to find your own list of U.S. job openings based on the keywords and locations you specify. Check it out today! Use the Job Search button on Cadalyst's Manufacturing Web site or click here for a direct link.

July Tutorials Live Online: The latest editions of all your favorite Cadalyst tutorials for AutoCAD as well as SolidWorks, Solid Edge, Inventor, Alibre Designand more are now live on Cadalyst.com.

Cadalyst Daily Update
For all the latest news and new products, subscribe to Cadalyst Daily e-newsletter. Plus, every issue includes a feature you won’t find anywhere else -- hardware and CAD software reviews, success stories, AutoCAD tips and much more! Here’s a sample of what you missed in the past week: