Engineering Education for the Mechanically Inclined

A new addition to the family

No, not a child but no less exciting (please don’t tell my kids I said that).

 Alias Design for Autodesk Inventor is now available for download on the Autodesk Education Community. This tool has the potential to allow students and faculty to explore a new connection between design and engineering.

Autodesk Inventor is an exceptional modeler and can create incredibly complex shapes by like all “3D CAD” systems you really need to have a good idea of what it is you’re creating before you begin modeling. On the other hand Industrial Design systems like the Alias Automotive application also on the Education Community allow you to radically change the model in ways you may not have anticipated that you would like to.

This is where the Alias Design for Autodesk Inventor comes in. It bridges the gap between the two allowing the engineer in Inventor to manipulate the part outside of the original vision for the Model. While not as flexible as Alias Automotive it uses tools that will be more comfortable for engineers. Industrial Designers will no doubt want to continue to use Alias Automotive and communicate using the linking to Inventor; but more and more often engineers are being called upon to make things look cool.

Please take a look at the links above to get preview of what is possible and then unleash that creative side! While, of course, staying safe and secure in the Inventor environment. It is the best of both worlds.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year…

Want to know why? Follow this link and register to learn more: www.autodesk.com/webcast

You will not want to return this gift. No need to send a thank you card either, I know you care.

Mel's top 10 for 2009, number 10

I love spring because it is a time for flowers, warmth in the North, and NEW SOFTWARE.  If you are one of us lucky ones to see the new software before it comes out, then you know what I mean by this.  I just absolutely love getting my hands and a couple free hours here and there to play with the Beta software.  I am going to do a top ten favorite features that would have made my job that much faster (and let's face it...much more fun as well). 

As we go Through these products, I will give you a link to the experts of each of these products.  I love all software, but never claim to be the expert on each.  There are however some great experts to watch your favorite software and learn something new.  The first is for a product called AutoCAD Electrical.  If you are not sure what that is, you can look at my previous posts on the subject.  The expert on the subject is Nate Holt and here is a link to his blog http://mfgcommunity.autodesk.com/blogs/blog/7/. 

Now back to my pick for number 10: It is called Circuit Builder and it is found in AutoCAD Electrical 2009. The official definition from the help menu is as follows:

"The Circuit Builder tool builds a circuit based on your selection from a list of available circuits. The circuit is built dynamically, matching the rung spacing, adding wiring between components, and annotating the circuit.

Circuit Builder comes with many motor control circuits predefined. Select a circuit from the list and select the location on your drawing to insert it. The circuit is inserted as defined or configured, changing the individual components within the circuit, wire types, or annotation values. Annotation values are extracted from a lookup table based on engineering standards. Circuit Builder looks for a match on the motor horsepower and supply voltage. If a match is found, Circuit Builder provides the Full Load Amp value, appropriate motor wire type, motor starter size, fuse or circuit breaker size, overload size, and so on. Each time a circuit is configured it is added to the list of available circuits for quick insertion at a later time.

The Circuit Builder tool comes prepopulated with data to build and annotate many motor control circuits. Circuit Builder is fully customizable. You can add motor control circuit definitions and edit existing motor control circuit definitions. Circuit Builder can be set up to insert other circuit types besides motor control. The feature is driven by a spreadsheet, a set of drawing templates, and an annotation database. The spreadsheet defines the available circuits, circuit types, and defaults for each option within a circuit. The template for a selected circuit defines the placement for the individual components and the wiring. The annotation database provides the values used to annotate the components within the circuit."

Here is a link to to video of the new capability http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/item?siteID=123112&id=8444021.  Just click on the "View Now" under Circuit Builder.

Stay tuned for #9...

New addition to Inventor from Autodesk Labs

For those of you who are loving the creativity of Alias and the manufacturability of Inventor then this is for you.  Just released this week is a plug in for Inventor that reads the wire files from AliasStudio.  This add in helps to streamline the design process by connecting the Industrial Designer with the Mechanical Engineer.  I happen to love both and if you do as well, this tool is a must have.   Here is the link to try it out for yourself

http://labs.autodesk.com/utilities/alias_iv_trans/.   

Keep in mind that this is a technology preview and the more we use it, the more likely it will become part of the product.  So don't delay in adding this to you list of tools to use.  Oh yeah, and help spread the word will you?

Getting started with AliasStudio 2008 Part 2

Today we are going to talk about navigation.  The first thing that you have to get comfortable with is that there is always an active command in this program.  Opposite to the systems that I had used before... "Esc, Esc".... in AliasStudio there is no such thing as no command active.  There is an option to "Pick Nothing", but be prepared that it will still leave you in the last command picked.  So if I am selecting a curve and pick on a curve, it will highlight.  If I then Pick Nothing it will unhighlight the curve, but it is still in the select a curve command until I pick another one.  So for those of us that are used to highlighting something and then RC (Right Click) to invoke a command, we will have to adjust to first picking the command.  So now to try this out, go to File-New.  It will bring a box up to "Delete all object....".   Pick Yes and it should start a new file with 4 distinct windows.  We will be working with the one in the top right corner.  If you then go to Surfaces on the Palette and select sphere, you can place as many spheres as you like by clicking in the workspace.  To unhighlight the last one placed, go to the pick tab and pick nothing.  Notice that the sphere goes from white to black.  However, if you once again pick in the workspace, another sphere will appear.  This is an example of how Alias works with commands.  They are all like this so be prepared to change commands not clear them!    Now lets look at the window and discuss some of the built in navigation commands. In the top of the window you will see several icons.  To see what they do, look at the picture to the left.  Make sure you try these and move around the spheres you just placed until comfortable.

Now the last part of the blog today is the menus.  These are what you will find yourself using most of the time.  They appear when you hold down Control-Shift and a button on the mouse or Shift-Alt and a button on the mouse.  You will notice some familiar commands like "pick nothing" on these.  They are the convenient once you get used to them.  Here are capture of each of them.  Happy Designing!

 

Getting started with AliasStudio 2008 Part 1

I am going right to the beginning with this one.  If you have used Alias before you might be bored.  This is for those who are just starting with it or will soon.  I am going to go over a few setup points as well as navigation in the program. 

Be aware that this may reflect on the way that I was taught the software.  So to begin you will need to execute the program.  If you went with the defaults during installation, you should find it located under Autodesk as shown in the first picture.

When it executes you will find two options, paint or default.  We are going to work with default right now.  To find out the difference between the two see my previous blog.  Once you pick default, you may have to wait a couple of seconds while the program loads.  You should see a splash screen that lets you know that the program is indeed loading. 

The screen should look something like this one by default.  Now we are going to change a few things.  Take a look at the screen.  You will find the shelves at the bottom and the palette to the left on the screen.  The first change that we are going to do is to add our own shelf. You will do this by holding down the right mouse button anywhere in the grey area of the shelf.  Pick new shelf and name it "Shortcut_shelf". Click on the tab of your new Shortcut_shelf.

Now expand the Surface tab on the palette.  You will see commands listed there.  Holding down the middle mouse button, drag any command to the new shelf that you created.  You can add your favorite commands on one tab just for your use.  Play around with adding commands.  Now to remove the ones that you don't want.  You will need to once again Hold down the middle mouse button and drag that command on the shelf to the trash.

Where do you use AliasStudio?

Today I want to cover where AliasStudio fits into Engineering.  AliasStudio has two distinct sides to it.  The place where AliasStudio can be used instead of Inventor is design exploration and visualization.  Depending on whether you are coming here from the Industrial design side or Engineering side will depend on how you see "Design Exploration".  So let me differentiate those for you. The one that I am alluding to is the "Design Exploration" in regards to what you would do at the local restaurant.  Yes, I am referring to the paper napkin sketches.  Whether you are ID or ME you will still go thru this sketching phase of your design.  Most of us still use paper (come on admit it).  There is a better way to organize your random design thoughts.  Many Industrial Designers in the commercial market use AliasStudio for this "Design Exploration".  Some companies are GM, Nike, and Chrysler.  The sketching is 2D but can look like 3D.  In this "Paint" side you can sketch many different ideas including adding fake shadowing, color, and reflections.  The watch shown with the light reflecting is nothing more than a drawing.  This means that there is no surface or solid to it.  This is what the industry uses to "sell" an idea before building a manufactureable model.

This is a perfect segway into the "Visualization" side.  Visualization usually brings to mind "Rendering", but that is only one part of this program.  By saying "Visualization" I mean surface creation and rendering of the image.  This is the other side of AliasStudio.  Yes, you can do surfaces in Inventor, but the analysis tools and tweaking is not near what you will find in AliasStudio.  This is why it is used in the auto industry.  Your vehicle may be the most expensive design that you buy.  Because of that, we are very picky about the "feel" of the vehicle.  I went to a lecture by one of the FORD execs who described it as an emotional connection.  Because of the importance and expense of these designs, an extensive amount of time is spent on the surface of them.  Surfaces created are hard to evaluate without the analysis tools in AliasStudio.  Part of the analysis is also adding in other factors, for instance the arm which helps visualize how a watch will look. 

The last part of the program is in translation.  The AliasStudio can utilize scanned in clay models.  This would be for those more into the hands on approach.  You can also use it the opposite way to transfer the design surfaces into Autodesk Inventor for the manufactured deliverable.  You can translate that date to Inventor for FEA and Dynamic analysis and build in the support ribs and parting lines among other things. 

What is Autodesk AliasStudio?

Here is the formal definition for Autodesk AliasStudio:

"The Autodesk^® AliasStudio™ family of design software products—Autodesk^® DesignStudio^®, Autodesk^® Studio, Autodesk^® AutoStudio, and Autodesk^® SurfaceStudio—is a complete set of tools for the creative design process. It integrates all design disciplines required for shape definition and communication into a single intuitive working environment. Productivity-enhancing features—including a customizable user interface for designing, photorealistic interactive visualization functionality, accurate data transfer capabilities, and semi-automated modeling tools—streamline product and transportation design workflows and make it easy for new users to start producing world-class designs. By promoting productivity and creativity, AliasStudio helps companies create superior designs—which drives superior business."