MCAD Tech News (#219)

5 Sep, 2007 By: Jeffrey Rowe

Autodesk Pushes Ahead with DP

Company intends to leverage recently acquired PlassoTech to extend Inventor's simulation and optimization capabilities

As part of its initative to move customers toward digital prototyping (DP), Autodesk has purchased PlassoTech, a supplier of analysis and simulation software for mechanical design. This latest acquisition will help Autodesk enhance the simulation and optimization capabilities found in Autodesk Inventor, the company reports, thereby making it easier for customers to simulate, optimize, and validate a complete digital prototype. Autodesk did not disclose the terms of the transaction.

Just a couple of weeks ago, Autodesk completed its purchase of the technology and product assets of Opticore, a provider of technology used to produce interactive and realistic 3D digital product visualizations and presentations. Autodesk said the reasoning behind that acquisition was to further its strategy of delivering more comprehensive and powerful design visualization offerings through Autodesk Showcase, which addresses the visualization requirements of industrial designers for interactively evaluating their work and presenting it to others for review.

Autodesk plans to integrate PlassoTech technology into the Inventor product family, augmenting existing finite-element analysis (FEA) tools. The technology brings two primary capabilities to the Inventor product line:

the ability to perform analysis on entire assemblies, as well as individual parts

the ability to perform analysis based on real-world structural and thermal conditions.

The Hip Bone's Connected to ... a Marble

By Michelle Nicolson

Marbotz toys

It began, like all creative endeavors, with a simple idea. A bag of marbles -- those classic toys generations of kids have carried around in leather pouches -- provided the inspiration for industrial designer Gil O'Brien's Marbotz toys. A combination of childhood nostalgia and modern design, these robot-like toys are finding a place in the ultra-competitive toy market, thanks to one man's vision, persistence, and discovery of 3D CAD design software.

There's a lot of cachet, nostalgia, and collectibility with glass marbles," said O'Brien, the founder and sole employee of Xobotz Toys. "Every age has some sort of connection to or memory of marble toys. I was trying to think of something different from marble ramps or marble-shooter games, and I came up with this idea for a construction toy that used marbles." Read more>>

Mark Your Calendar: MCAD Events

The Future of PLM: Decision Support Across the Value Chain
September 13, 2007
11 a.m. PDT
In this Webcast, AMR Research and Right Hemisphere will discuss recent findings on how new technologies in visual communication and collaboration are enabling transformational efficiencies in NPDL business processes. Read more

Micro and Nano Systems Conference
October 1-4, 2007
Lancaster , U.K.
This series of events will showcase the technical advances in the field of micro- and nanosystems engineering through the European Network of Excellence in Design for Micro & Nano Manufacture and related programs. The event will also address technology access, services, and opportunities in the field for small and medium-sized industries.
Read more

MSC Software Corporation's 2007 Americas VPD Conference
October 11-12, 2007
Detroit , Michigan
Gaining Competitive Advantage through Engineering Productivity is the theme of this virtual product development (VPD) conference, dedicated to providing attendees with the latest information on the strategies and technologies they can use immediately to enhance concept development, design, simulation, testing, manufacturing, and business performance. Read more

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