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The objectives of collaborative design that still need to be addressed (e.g., version con- 80 include optimizing the mechanical function of a trol, data translation and repair, and security and product, minimizing production or assembly legitimacy issues), and recommends directions costs, and ensuring that the product can be easi- for future research. ly and economically operated and maintained. Collaborative Design Effective collaboration tools can help resolve product design conflicts early in the design According to Wang, Shen, Xie, Neelamkavil, & Pardasani (2001), if a product is

echnology Studies stage. As a result, product development, lead- time, and manufacturing cost can be greatly designed through the collective and joint efforts of many designers, the design process used can

nal of T reduced. Thus, companies that use collaborative design tools realize many benefits. For example, be called collaborative design. The collaborative by using a collaborative design tool to create its design process might include all design activi- The Jour LBP-1210 laser printer, Canon was able to ties from concept creation through product defi- reduce design iterations, total cost, and lead- nition, detailed design, manufacturing, assem- time (www.cocreate.com). Hewlett-Packard bly, maintenance, and even product retirement. found that using a collaborative design tool Furthermore, some companies may enhance the helped immediately reduce overseas travel costs. collaborative design process by involving their Overall, using a collaborative design tool helped customers, suppliers, and partners, over the HP achieve a 135% return on investment (ROI) Internet, throughout the product development after one month and 240% after three months and delivery process (Waltham, 2000). (www.cocreate.com). Due to the often distributed nature of mod- Modern design teams often use CAD/CAM ern, Internet-based collaborative design process- (computer aided design and computer aided es, many different CAD tools may be used by a manufacturing) tools to help facilitate their collaborative design team. When design teams design process, from conceptual design stage to use different CAD tools, problems often arise final production. Different companies or design because different CAD tools still use different partners may use different CAD/CAM tools. native file formats. For example, Autodesk Since most existing CAD/CAM applications Inventor generates part files in .ipt file format, were designed to work in an isolated environ- and Pro/E generates part files in .prt file format. ment, inconsistent file formats often cause prob- If design team members must share data stored lems during information exchange. in both file formats, a problem in model consis- tency might exist. Data communication prob- Due to the now widespread use of the lems due to using the Internet as a communica- Internet, most companies now require CAD tion channel may also exist. tools that support distributed collaborative design on the Internet (Lavana, Brglez, Reese, Therefore, collaborative CAD tools need a Konduri, & Chandrakasan, 2000). Such CAD common, secure communication framework and tools should enable designers to share product protocol so that CAD files can be transferred models, as well as related data, from geographi- safely and accurately. To meet the need, many cally distant locations (Shyamsundar & Gadh, CAD tools have recently added at least some of 2001). However, integrated collaborative design the following collaborative design capabilities: capability over the Internet has not fully (a) real-time communication, (b) support for matured. For example, Potter (1997a) found that various CAD formats, (c) tools for publishing security and authentication are still major con- 2D/3D CAD designs on the Web, and (d) tools cerns when transferring CAD files over the for manipulating CAD models outside the origi- Internet. Designers or companies need to protect nal CAD program. intellectual property (Fornaro & Sanna, 2000). Real-Time Communication This article determines the Internet-based The Internet is probably the most conven- collaborative design capabilities available in ient medium available for sharing CAD files in modern CAD tools, outlines the major problems real time. CAD program vendors have begun to The Journal of Technology Studies 81 - ws customers fer stand-alone tools hich allo ersations using text v , w endors of w uted design team members to ie KEY FEATURES Some CAD v Distributed design teams need tools that elop tools for publishing designs on the Web. designs on the elop tools for publishing v ith tools for manipulating CAD models out ools for Manipulating CAD Models ools for T Outside the Original CAD System that provide more than just viewing capability. more than just viewing that provide W Tools for Publishing and Viewing and Publishing for Tools Web on the 2D/3D CAD Designs that are address critical communication issues Often, not addressed in stand-alone CAD tools. for distributed customers, suppli- design teams, partners do who and development ers, vendors, CAD tools or CAD-tool expertise need not have To designs. developing and evaluate to view to begun have CAD vendors problem, the solve de collabora- side the original CAD environment, design team members without CAD tools or tive and efficiently CAD-tool expertise can quickly design models. Manipulation tools allow review For example, Parametric Technology Parametric example, For a stand-alone tool offers Corporation () now called ProductV and other distrib thus reducing Web, designs on the preview product design and modification time and cost. with current versions of Inventor and Pro/E, and currentwith of Inventor versions file .ipt an Inventor not read B could Company A. However, Company Internetsent via the by A design, Company collaborative for successful its CAD filescould save another in STEP (or neutral file format) the result- and then transfer filesing STEP B via the Internet. to Company Most modern CAD tools currently support sev- eral design filetheir com- formats to improve for CAD tools. SolidWorks, patibility with other STL, VRML, supportsexample, IGES, DWG, and STEP file formats. DXF, SAT, VDA, Communicating in real time using graphics during a conference Sharing programs Operating a computer from a remote location mode during a NetMeeting conference Sending files in background Using security measures to protect privacy Communicating on the Internet using video and audio Conducting multi-user real-time con y of the e design v er the Internet. To deal To er the Internet. v iles, collaborati ving to install a cop ver the Internet. With remote With the Internet.ver FUNCTION , o ram at his or her remote site. As a ram at his or her remote site. g t for Various CAD Formats CAD Formats Various t for o share CAD f T Toc20151059Windows NetMeeting remote Toc20151059Windows vironment. Table 1 provides a summary of 1 provides Table vironment. Chat Whiteboard sharing Program Remote desktop sharing File transfer Security Video and audio conferencing Suppor teams often must transfer CAD data from one CAD tool to another o result, the remote user can participate in a col- at the same time design session while laborative costs. investment reducing CAD program CAD pro designers can store with the issue, collaborative design files in a neutral file exam- format. For AutoDesk uses A in the U.S. ple, if Company B in Japan uses Pro/E, Company while Inventor collaborative functions available in Windows in functions available collaborative NetMeeting (Microsoft, 2001). a remote user to run a desktop sharing allows on a has been installed which CAD program, local computer the desktop sharing, the remote user can use runninglocal CAD program, on the local machine, without ha use the existing power of the Internetand many power existing use the Internet-basedexisting tools to communication capabilities of their the collaborative improve help designers to example, For CAD programs. the Internet, over data and models share design to incorporate begun have CAD vendors Internet-based 3-D conferencing and real-time into their products directly tools model viewing Autodesk inte- & Gadh, 2001). (Shyamsundar into the latest ver- NetMeeting Windows grates includes chat, NetMeeting sion of Inventor. sharing, file program transfer, whiteboard, and video and security, remote desktop sharing, Inventor Autodesk Thus, audio conferencing. communication online real-time users have design within the Inventor capability available en Table 1. Summary of Collaborative Functions in Windows NetMeeting. Table

The Journal of Technology Studies 82 Table 2.Viewers Provided byCADCompanies. Autodesk CAD toolsinstalled. Volo View ing Express, afreetoolforviewing andmanipulat- up CADmodels. users totranslate,rotate,pan,zoom,andmark- Company Product Autodesk SolidWorks SolidWorks SDRC EDS Tech. Corp. Parametric Solid Concepts Viewer Web Publisher Volo View SolidWorks Professional eDrawings Metaphase 3.2 ProductView SolidView Autodesk-for As anexample, Autodesk offers Volo View mat CADf • • Rasterdrawings • DWF • DXF • DWG • SAT (ACIS) • format orbinary ASCII, • STL, • ® • VRML • DWG •STEP • IGESDXF • • SolidW • R14.x • AutoCAD 2000, • AutoCAD • SolidWorks2001 • DWG •HPGL • CGMGIF • BMPDXF • DWG • DXF • VRML • 3DIGES/2DIGES •UG •SW • IDEAS •Pro/E • DWG • CADD (.wrl) • VRML • Stereolithography (.) sldasm) • SolidWorks(.sldprt, Exchange• SolidFile (.sfx) • Object(.obj) VD A A In (AutoCAD-base) SP10 orhigher (.ipt .iam.idw) utoCAD designdata utoCAD MechanicalR14.5 v File Format Supported Format File AFS (VD entor orks designdata iles without A) Designs on Publishing CAD a a a a N/A N/A N/A T ools for assembly, part, anddrawing plug-in, VoloView allows userstoview andprint an additionaldownloadable Autodesk Inventor and D View Expresssupports Autodesk DWG, DXF, w Express allows userstoopen,view, make light- eight markups,andprintCAD designs. Web WF (ePlot and eView) file formats. WF (ePlotandeView) formats. With file Mark Up Object Object a a a N/A a Note/ Add metaphase/index.shtml http://www.sdrc.com/ http://www.solid-edge.com/ http://www.ptc.com http://www.solidview.com http://usa.autodesk.com http://solidworks.com http://solidworks.com URL V olo The Journal of Technology Studies 83 - ile fer mats and the y saving and y saving w-resolution solid ile for vels, a system may a target vels, t designs in a neutral f y le rading a lo lem. Often, users need an expen- ts into his or her CAD tool. ve problems with internal data problems ve arning functions inside AutoDesk arning functions inside ferent CAD tools often use dif ts into a single design, the designer nal accurac ring CAD par , 1997). Upg t the par icult prob lem due to mismatched f f Since dif In a collaborative design environment, team design environment, In a collaborative the The design team could eliminate both After a user activates the file activates After a user reservation y concerns (Potter, 1997b). For example, a example, 1997b). For y concerns (Potter, mat (e.g., STEP or IGES). However, saving mat (e.g., STEP or IGES). However, w files If anoth- for that user. the user creates umar ve repair and healing tool to make the model repair and healing tool to make ve for and transferring CAD files in neutral file format does not remo ent inter an imported model as a to recognize not be able Errors such as solid body after data conversion. duplication, holes, and over- cracks, degeneracy, users occur in the models when laps usually import other CAD tools (Barequet & them from K model into a high-resolution solid model can be a dif consistency. consistency. time required for data translation b transfer si 1999). In addition, state-of-the- (Farrell, usable repair art often cannot successfully healing tools importedmodels. CAD Data Translation and Repair Issues and Repair Translation Data design software different members might use A major problem on a model. working when CAD pro- heterogeneous with using various the grams is lack of interoperability between cause systems (NIST). Data translation issues man three parts from three designer could receive different design team members in three different file (.ipt), a Pro/E formats, e.g., an Inventor the combine (.prt), and a STEP (.stp) file.To three par to translate all the files need would into a for- his or her CAD tool and then mat supported by impor prob Inventor, Inventor automatically reserves any automatically Inventor Inventor, ne edit a reserveder person attempts to file, a the message alertswarning the person for whom file is reserved. AutoDesk Inventor also enables safeguards enables also Inventor AutoDesk files. the same are editing users several when w system and - , all members xample, 10 in ve built-in multi- ve , and modify any w net-based collabora y do not ha y Inter wing and modifying different wing and . Users must select the multi-user option roup can access the same project files. lems with man While working on a project, collaborative While working Many existing single-user CAD tools allow existing Many To allow multiple users to access the same allow To Some third-party also provide companies entor ith the multi-user option selected v tion tools is that the discards the oldest version AutoDesk Inventor), is saved. version a new of the model whenever The user can then open, vie designers frequently make changes to parts make that designers frequently others are being accessed at the same time by on the same project. One of the biggest working prob Issues in Collaborative Design Issues in Collaborative Update Issues As a result, users control capability. user version of a file, use an older version can mistakenly be may Drawings rather than the latest version. sent out and considered final actually they when design Therefore, efficient collaborative are not. and tools must support prevention inconsistency & Schellin, 1993). detection (Despres, Piloty, numbers to help the user to set model version the prod- design changes made during track any process. Each time a model’s uct development file,content is modified in a working and saved number to the version the tool assigns a new of the model is cre- version file.A new working the ated each time the file Usually, is saved. versions CAD tool, after the number of saved reaches a maximum limit (for e project. on a collaborative before starting work W saved version of the model. version saved files,AutoDesk added a multi-user option to In of a g CAD tools for vie CAD tools types of CAD files example, For online. (from Cocreate Corp.,OneSpace Designer Suite (from SPeeD and IX www.cocreate.com) users allow ImpactXfot, www.impactxoft.com) different inspect, and modify view, to load, types of CAD files during concurrent and design projects. collaborative files without Inventor installed. Table 2 presents Table files installed. Inventor without for vendors major CAD by of tools offered a list files manipulating CAD and viewing and the corresponding supported file formats. The Journal of Technology Studies 84 software arerequired. more adv order tomanipulateCADmodelsinrealtime, eling experiences frustrating. very Therefore, in theirmod- collaborative CADusersmightfind Without even connections, higher-speed Internet cannot, seedesignanimationsinrealtime. culties. similardiffi- chain alone;otherindustriesface lion peryear ontheU.S. automotive supply interoperability imposescostsofatleast$1bil- estimatedthatimperfect (http://www/rti.org) users can exchange and share CAD files inreal users canexchange andshareCADfiles packages. With available currently capabilities, based collaborationfunctions inmajorCAD Conclusion orati collab- mation ineveryAs aresult,current file. data generall response forlo Inter CAD researchersanddevelopers. Today’s fast Speed Issues securing f CAD toolsmustoffer morecapabilitiesfor (Potter, 1997a). Thus, inthefuture,collaborative use theInter indicate thatmany companiesarenotwillingto Indeed,modify thefile. somesurveys already sent over someone mightstealor theInternet, is Usersoftenbelievethe Internet. thatifafile across comfortable when sendinginformation (Farrell, 2000),andmany peoplearenottotally stolenduringtransmission having theirfiles about Knol, 1998).Usersoftenexpress concerns exposing theirdesignstooutsiders(Hauck& be willingtouseany toolsthatcreateariskof legal documents,cautiousCADusersmay not as oftenserve & Le,2000).SinceCADfiles foragrowingcern numberoforganizations (Yu network securityhasbecomeaninevitable con- Internet SecurityandLegitimacyIssues A 1999studyby RTI International Growing usehasledtoInternet- Internet Speed isanotherissuef With theexplosive growthuse, inInternet v net connectionsallow almost immediate e CAD tool users need to, but currently e CADtoolusersneedto,but anced communicationhardware and iles andencr net totransfertheirCADdata y containsalar w-density data.However, CAD ypting models. ge amountofinfor acing Inter net-based - data integrity, anddatasecurity. needed ties e capabilities shows thatalthoughsomecapabili- well. A review collaborative ofcurrent CAD tools forCAD/CAMdesignneedtoimprove as improve. However, capabilitiesincollaborative er netw becomes morewidespread, andcomput- Internet and manuf CAD toolscanalsoreduceproductde CAD/CAM industr tools canenhancecommunicationinthe w their designsmightbelost,stolen,ormodif leaveInternet many that companiesconcerned overlaps inmodels.Securityissuesonthe cracks, de security.and file Datatranslationoftenleaves related todatatranslation technical difficulties CAD toolresearchersanddevelopers include over isbecoming easier. theInternet mat capability for collaborative design. for- With neutralfile as STEPandIGES),which isacriticalfeature such formats (inparticular,formats neutralfile inseveral different CADfiles file importing CAD toolsnow offer forsaving support and copies oftheCADtool(s)used.Mostmajor tions, withoutpurchasingorinstallingseparate tively, even fromdifferent geographical loca- design teammemberscancommunicateeffec- ing, andmanipulatingtools,collaborative gram. With CADmodel Web publishing, view- CAD modelsoutsidetheoriginalpro- on the Web andforviewing andmanipulating offer toolsforpublishing 2D/3DCADdesigns somemajorCADvendors nowFurthermore, conferencingutilities. time usingInternet-based State Univer Industrial Educationand Technology atIowa Assistant Pr hen transfer Impro Remaining problems collaborative facing Dr. ShanaShiang-Fong Smithisan xist, fur , particularly intheareasofdatarepair, orking capabilitieswillcontinueto generac v acturing costs. ed Inter of sity ther researchanddevelopment is red over theInternet. essor intheDepartmentof , collaborative CAD file exchange , collaborative CADfile . y, duplications,holes,and y. As aresult,collaborative net-based collaborati As Inter net use velopment v e CAD ied The Journal of Technology Studies 85 . , , oceedings EURO- oceedings Design erence, 2 Pr , 637-651. , pp. 567–570. Computer Graphics World Computer Graphics ournal of Industrial , 34, 981-996. . Retrieved March 12, 2002, . 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