Spaceclaim 2009

PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT TECHNOLOGY REVIEWS » DEVELOP3D’s editor, Al Dean, looks at the latest release of SpaceClaim, the system that brought Direct Modelling back to the fore after decades of anonymity. What has the vendor got in store for its next major release? SpaceClaim 2009

he world of 3D product development technology appears Tto be in a state of fl ux. Over the past two years the movements of many vendors, new and old, have seen a rebirth of interest in a fi eld that many pundits considered to be mature, tired and almost squeezed dry of innovation. If the twenty-year ‘overnight’ success of direct modelling/direct editing has done one thing, it’s made 3D CAD interesting again. While there are many reasons that this has happened (advances in solid modelling algorithms and CPUs), it got kick started by the new kid on the block, SpaceClaim. Two years ago the company appeared out of nowhere and showed off its eponymous entitled SpaceClaim application. Much has been said about the product, which rather than relying on a construction history, adds intelligence to the model, regardless of the source. Rather than focussing on what’s new with the 2009 release, I’m going to look at 1 the system as a whole and where it fi ts into the crowded product development sector. After a tumultuous two years, things have fi nally started to settle down in terms of »SpaceClaim 2009 section through the model. Instead of all from both PDF and EMN fi les (N.B. this is how SpaceClaim is being positioned. It’s » SpaceClaim manner of 3D operations, the user has a not included in SpaceClaim Style - more on not being touted as a competitor to the couple of basics that are used eight times out this later). Price from £895 mainstream product development systems, of ten - Pull and Move. Pull will directly move www.spaceclaim.com but rather something a little more leftfi eld, geometry, points, edges, lines, and features, FIXING GEOMETRY a product that does things that other and maintain tangency and another other These days, while most systems are able typical history/ feature systems can not. ‘inferred’ relationships where required. to output pretty solid geometry, there are In terms of how this translates into a Move essentially shifts entities. While this is still some that’ll throw out a few clunkers. product, because SpaceClaim doesn’t rely interesting and, compared to some systems, With the 2009 release, SpaceClaim has on sketch-driven, feature-based history, it incredibly easy, where SpaceClaim excels is a new set of tools collected under the allows users to think much more clearly in 3D when it comes to editing geometry created in ‘Prepare’ tab, specifi cally for working dimensions. You sketch a simple shape, pull another system. with geometry. The fi rst fi xes common it into 3D, then edit that geometry, directly, problems in solid geometry: gaps, missing rather formalising your 2D sketch fi rst. DATA TRANSLATION faces, split edges and inexact edges. The There are a number of tools that allow The system has a range of translators that system highlights problem areas and helps users to make quite dramatic changes to cover pretty much every system on the step the user through them to create a the form of the 3D model, either by editing market today. At the base level it supports valid model. Progress is highlighted by a it directly in 3D, or by using a temporary ACIS, STEP, IGES, Rhinoceros, CGR (from colour and display style change, as well as Catia), DWG, DXF, STL, OBJ, XAML, VRML, an icon appearing in the structure panel. and 3D PDF (assuming you have Acrobat 9 Most minor problems can be fi xed with this Pro Extended). There are several additional tool, but if there are bigger gaps, which data translation modules, one of which adds require complex, manual work, then more Pro/Engineer, Inventor, Catia V4, and VDA, advanced tools for merging faces, closing another for SolidWorks, NX, and Parasolid, tangency, fi lling gaps are also available. another for JT and, fi nally one more for Catia V5. The system can also read in the PREPARING DOWNSTREAM DATA main ECAD fi le formats and use that data The other purpose of the ‘Prepare’ tab to construct a 3D model of a PCB board is to provide tools with which to prepare

●1 This shows one of the most interesting ways of working with 3D geometry in SpaceClaim. By working at a sketch or section level, and directly manipulating the geometry, users can maintain clarity of sight on what’s going on and the effects of edits, while maintaining the 3D geometry at the same time. This makes working with certain products, such as this lens, much easier ●2 Here, a cast component is taken and the features removed for downstream processes, such as CAM 2 or FEA. Machining stock can be very quickly added to the part, which is particularly useful when the machine shop might not have access to the native geometry DEVELOP3D MARCH 2009 37 SOFTWARE REVIEW

that users can mix and match some best in class tools and create a workable process SpaceClaim to take a product from conceptualisation, through the engineering (which SpaceClaim 3 provides handles) and pop it out the other side. a toolset CONCLUSION models for downstream purposes and this is perhaps one of the best things about that can get I haven’t got a huge amount of column is something that SpaceClaim is highly SpaceClaim. users out inches to cover all of what SpaceClaim does suited to in general. The two examples that With current economic pressures, most and how, but you should get a feeling for spring to mind are CAM and FEA (Finite smart organisations are looking to change of some of the fl exibility that’s on offer here. Element Analysis). FEA, for example, how things are done, and how they can There’s a huge debate raging in many requires a process called abstraction, squeeze more from their products. One the sticky quarters about how the new breed of direct which strips out all of the extraneous way to do that is to redesign existing situations editing tools stack up against the traditional detail to give a much more effi cient model products, using new material selections. parametric- and history-based systems. to mesh. This means stripping out fi llets/ For example, whereas once an aluminium they may However, to my mind, this seems almost chamfers, small features and holes. casting was used, it’s now been replaced fi nd them- redundant. The fact is that the different SpaceClaim has specifi c tools to remove by plastic. This is something that crops approaches suit different workfl ows and chamfers and fi llets/rounds, faces and up in the medical sector in particular, or selves in projects and for some organisations it to fi nd interference. There are also more indeed any other fi eld that relies on high- might even mean a mix of the two. The good manual tools to dive in and work on more cost, low availability products. SpaceClaim news is that SpaceClaim is pretty affordable problematic areas. The good thing is is ideal for this type of redesign work. Most so it can easily be used in parallel with that the tools are easy to use and don’t products iterate, rather than being built other systems. particularly rely on the sometimes arcane from scratch and using the direct edit tools I’ve been talking to some users that have language of 3D CAD. Want to fi ll a hole? a product designed for one manufacturing acquired SpaceClaim in the last few years Click fi ll. The user doesn’t need to decide process can easily be adapted to suit and if there’s something that connects how; the system makes all the decisions. another, while ensuring that the form them all, it’s the simple fact that the Also, on the simulation side of things, and function requirements are met. The application is very easy to use, and allows the new volume extract tool will make reason this is so easy is by removing the them to get their ideas into a digital format mincemeat of creating fl uid fl ow volumes need to edit the history tree, the user can in a very short space of time. The system for CFD runs. immediately dive in, and push, pull and isn’t likely to go head to head with the likes edit geometry into shape. of SolidWorks, Solid Edge and Inventor, CORE DESIGN ●3 In a history- even if they are starting to feature similar based system to But what about core design work? What SPACECLAIM PRODUCTS dive in and move modelling concepts (Solid Edge is perhaps can the system do? When looking to tweak There are two versions of the software: the two mounting the closest, but Synchronous Technology geometry, move the odd feature slightly, SpaceClaim Engineer, which is the features in this cast is a different kettle of fi sh entirely). What or to add or remove fi llets, simple pull or all-singing, all dancing version, then component would SpaceClaim can do though is sit alongside move operations are suffi cient in many SpaceClaim Style, which provides all the require editing a these tools and provide a toolset that sketch and rebuilding cases. However, when things get complex 3D modelling tools, but without the ECAD, that geometry. In can get users out of some of the sticky there are also a variety of tools to handle mechanical detailing, sheetmetal, and SpaceClaim you situations they may fi nd themselves in. more manual jobs, such as reconstructing model cleanup tools. While the Style version simply select the It’s an impressive system and, now geometry from scratch or adding new costs £895, the higher-end version costs geometry and move in its fourth major release, is maturing features. There are also a range of just £1,995, which is still not a great deal in it. The end result having solved some of the early teething (pictured right) sketching tools that enable users to make anyone’s books. There are also a number problems. With this in mind it has all the merges nicely with pretty dramatic changes to a 3D model of product bundles available, such as the the thin wall of the ingredients to fi nd itself a niche in the 3D and work it into different shapes. This link with Rhino or HyperShot, which mean component design tool market.

As you’d expect from a by task, rather tab for preparing and you have it installed. SpaceClaim in that standard display views. SPACECLAIM’S system as new as this, than functionality. processing imported Down the left it does not rely on a The majority of the USER the SpaceClaim user There’s Design (for geometry), Measure hand side, you have construction history. interface is given over INTERFACE interface is all about geometry creation (for review and mark- a number of panels. Instead the system to the model window Microsoft’s Ribbon. and editing), Details up) and HyperShot, There’s the usual adds the intelligence to and considering Commands are (for drawing), Display which contains a part browser, which the model, no matter the very direct and presented in logical (for display control, single icon that as you’ll probably what the source. You interactive nature of groups and those layer management links to Bunkspeed be aware, is one of also have layer and SpaceClaim, this is a groups are deﬁ ned etc), Prepare (a new rendering system if the selling points of selection control and huge beneﬁ t.

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