IMAGINiT Manufacturing Solutions Blog (Caleb)

All good things...

imaginitfeeds@rand.com (Caleb Funk) — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 11:18:22 EDT

...must come to an end. You may have noticed that it has been a while since the last time I put up a blog post. I have been busy with so many other things, and I decided that to keep up the quality and quantity of postings, I should pass it off to someone else.

Mark Flayler will be taking over my blogging duties, and I cannot think of a better candidate. Mark is a bigger CAD geek than I am, so the blog is in good hands.

Thanks for everyone who read, asked questions, and made suggestions.

Update your RSS Readers! The new url is:
http://imaginit.rand.com/blogs/getBlogByBlogId/14/five.xml

Mark continues the IMAGINiT Manufacturing Solutions Blog at:
http://www.rand.com/imaginit/1/rss/manufacturing_blog.asp?feedid=BLOGS_MFG_ALL

Shrinkwrap: New on Labs!

imaginitfeeds@rand.com (Caleb Funk) — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 13:53:36 EDT

Submitted by Mark Flayler, IMAGINiT applications specialist from Toledo, OH.

In a marketplace that is ever expanding across the globe an increasing concern with engineers is that their designs will be used without their permission. I have had heard many stories from clients about overseas outsourcing and how countries without Patent Law protection often infringed on others intellectual property.

Imagine if you will your companies hard earned effort in a new product whisked away by a knockoff from an overseas fabrication shop. It looks like yours, tastes like yours, and it even has the same company engravings and trademark details. Oh did I mention that it sells for less and breaks more often? Even more treacherous is that the owners of these knockoffs come to you to fix them because it has your company trademarks on it.

Enter Shrinkwrap; a tool in the arsenal against copyright and patent infringement. This utility was originally bought up by Autodesk some time ago from a company in Switzerland named CAM&more GmbH and was originally called iShell which I played with for a little bit and found the code strikingly familiar to Shrinkwrap, right down to the Dynamic Prompt for the tool that is still in a foreign language.

Now, as for the features for Shrinkwrap; this is taken directly from Autodesk's lab site.

Shrinkwrap Add-in for Inventor is an Inventor Add-in to create envelope parts from Inventor assemblies.

Shrinkwrap Add-in for Inventor enables you to:

Create substitutes for use with alternative representations in Autodesk Inventor
Reduce detail of production data to protect intellectual property
Create simplified data for complex purchased assemblies

Shrinkwrap Add-in for Inventor takes advantage of Inventor's derived part workflows to create a standalone, single part solid version of a model assembly. Once the user identifies penetrations in components to be filled with solid material, Shrinkwrap Add-in for Inventor fills any internal voids that remain in the assembly.

More info
// Check out the video
// Read the user guide (PDF)

A couple of quick hints for you as well:

You have to add the Toolbar to your Environment or the Commands individually to your Panels. This can be done through the Tools --> Customize pull-down on the Toolbars Tab, or if you want to add the commands directly to your Assembly and Part Feature Panels you can access the Commands tab and find them under Add-ins. I added the Shrinkwrap Derived to my Assembly Tools Panel and the Shrinkwrap Close Faces to my Part Features Panel
If you want to make a Shrinkwrap of a single part file, simply place it into an assembly first and follow the same workflow. The command does work on a single part but defeats the purpose of removing your modeling information if not used through derived parts.

I encourage you to try out this new technology and see how it can protect not only your ideas, but your companies as well. As well as actively report enhancements to the Labs email feedback and Autodesk discussion forums. Only together can we make this technology preview blossom into a fully fledged Inventor utility.

Until next time, may your mouse always zoom in the right direction!

Lattice Updates XVL Translator

imaginitfeeds@rand.com (Caleb Funk) — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 11:18:20 EDT

Lattice Technology announced that their XVL Converter Plug-in for Inventor 2009 was scheduled to ship on June 30.

The XVL Translator Add-in for Inventor 2008 is already available for free download from Autodesk Labs.

Friday Eye Candy - Amazing unfolding table

imaginitfeeds@rand.com (Caleb Funk) — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 11:13:04 EDT

I don’t know if this was designed in Inventor, but it is just awesome. I wish I had one of these tables when I had my first apartment. It could have sat the corner of the kitchen for eating macaroni and cheese with fishsticks, and then grandly expanded to fill the living room for poker night. Enjoy the video.

Fun at the Acrobat site

imaginitfeeds@rand.com (Caleb Funk) — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 14:57:19 EDT

As much as I love the DWF format for working with CAD files, I still use PDF files for documents. I went to www.acrobat.com today, and it looks a bit different. It is now a portal for some online services, such a word processor, file sharing, and a online meeting room.

To use the services, you have to sign up for an Adobe ID. I did, and so far so good. I love free stuff.