MCAD Tech News: 2D to 3D #17

Fast Design, Fast Bike

ThinkID helps Trek quickly produce winning
time-trial bicycle for Lance Armstrong and team

Lance Armstrong had ridden Trek TT time-trial bikes in four of his six Tour de France victories, heading into this year’s race in July on his way to a seventh victory. But Trek was still reviewing its designs and striving to give the Texas superstar and his Discovery Channel teammates every advantage during warm-up races in Europe this past spring.

Under speed-defying time constraints and competitive pressure the likes of which are no strangers to the design team at Trek, Michael Sagan and Trek industrial designers utilized thinkID technology from think3 to help design the TTx time-trial bikes that Armstrong and his teammates rode to victory in the first team time trial of the tour early last month. Like the victory itself, the design feat required speed and accuracy and real-life 3D — not a 2D kind of thing. ... Read more >>

Cadalyst Labs Review: Autodesk Inventor 10
Autodesk Inventor, now in its tenth version, has ascended the mechanical design ladder to hold its own with the competition. And, though there is still plenty of life left in 2D for certain types of design, Inventor, like many of its competitors, continues to attempt to convince users of the undisputed leader in 2D, AutoCAD, that 3D is the way to go. By Jeffrey Rowe Read more>>

Mark Your Calendar: MCAD Events
SolidWorks/Cosmos User Group Meetings. Various dates and locations in August 2005. For a complete schedule, go to http://www.solidworks.com/pages/news/usergroups/calendar.html

For Cadalyst's full calendar of events, click here