The CAD model at its very core, like the engineering drawing before it, is primarily a means of documentation and communication. CAD technologies continue to ease the creation and manipulation of increasingly intricate 3D models across a dizzying array of platforms and formats. The focus: reducing the time required to manifest a design or change from a spark in the mind’s eye to something that can be used as quickly and cost effectively as possible. A noble goal, indeed. But in the shadow of all this progress and innovation, there’s a silent war threatening the central purpose of engineering communication: design intent. This summer, in a world where CAD technology reigns, who will defend the last human stronghold for design intent?
Category Archives: CAD
MBE (PMI) AWOL IKR? KTHX
In today’s edition of death by acronyms (DBA?), we’re talking the transformational vision of Model Based Enterprise (or Model Based Engineering depending on your mood and relative wind speed). MBE, quite simply, is a methodology designed to replace the traditional engineering drawing with model-based annotations and information. In theory, MBE aims to dispense with the long-held drafting board legacies in engineering documentation, in order to reduce the labor needed to create drawings while retaining and/or improving the value of documented design intent. In a prior life, MBE was either defined as a drawing-less (Less Drawings – Get it?) initiative or via the prominent subset capability of Product Manufacturing Information (PMI). PMI (not to be confused with the Private Mortgage Insurance or Present Minded Individualism) was a term used to describe the methods of model annotation before it expanded into the full-blown enterprise initiative known as MBE. Chad Jackson of Lifecycle Insights fame just yesterday introduced a 3D Collaboration and Interoperability Report and an accompanying blog entry with some puzzling conclusions.
A RENT-A-CAD Future?
The pace of transformation and innovation in software, combined with the rise of the cloud is beginning to challenge traditional notions of software “ownership”. Perpetual licensing, once the cornerstone of software delivery seems now to be under assault, for good or ill. In the past software has been treated much like an appliance or a car, fork over alot of money and stick with it for quite some time. The boldness of vendors pushing hard on subscription models has been the source of some genuine excitement, but also quite a bit of consternation. And now with recent subscription announcements by both Solid Edge and AutoCAD even the sheltered world of CAD is not immune.
Tony Stark’s PLM
Elon Musk, everyone’s favorite real-life Tony Stark equivalent, recently unveiled a video touting The “Future of Design”, complete with a gestural motion 3D CAD interface and some metallic additive manufacturing thrown in at the end for good measure. While neither Elon himself, nor his pioneering SpaceX engineers are directly responsible for any of the specific technologies involved, their compelling mashup has been quite popular on the interwebs.
The point of the demo, other than fabulous PR, is to emphasize that technologies for intuitively manipulating 3D design are here now. The fact the mashup exists without really having to invent anything is evidence enough. The ideas only need refinement and a healthy dose of iterative development to bring about some interesting new UI innovations.
The Training CADpocalypse
One of the questions I see almost every single day: “Where can I get decent CAD training? Oh and it’d be great if it was cheap as free.”
CAD tools are more complex and capable than ever, especially at the high end of the market. Yet training for those very tools continues to dwell in the Stone Age, clinging desperately to traditional methods and artificial barriers. New users are finding it difficult to get started, and too many current users are failing to keep up with the pace of technology. CAD proficiency has a very real impact on data quality and reusability, yet fails to attract the necessary attention. A developing CAD training crisis could turn into the training CADpocalypse if we’re not careful.
Level up your CAD
A recent Microsoft blog posting from Marques Lyons urges business owners to consider using Xbox consoles for their business needs – something particularly preposterous even for their usual marketeering.
“What is being positioned as an excellent entertainment device can be just as enticing for you and your small business. In fact, it’s entirely justifiable to make the Xbox One a business expense. The Xbox One, priced at $499, is an affordable option for small business owners, as there are many features built into the console that could help it rival even the most modest of video conferencing and networking platforms.”
I had one of those moments where I just start to laugh, hard at first, and then the laughing slowly subsides, as my brain begins to piece together uncounted possibility. And you know what? Microsoft may be on to something here. The game console is seemingly positioned at the center of a perfect storm, where cost effective hardware, robust 3D capability, truly innovative user interfaces, and convenient software delivery/infrastructure are colliding. This particular combination of technology and convenience just might make the thought of using a game console for design and engineering an entirely viable idea.
Streaming Design Context
As the utility of cloud technology accelerates, new avenues of possibility are starting to emerge for concepts that seemed rather absurd even just a few years back. One such avenue is the use of streaming to bring graphically rich remote environments to local desktops in a seamless fashion. And that technology has new and interesting consequences for CAD environments.
Streaming technology is exploding in the gaming industry, with technologies such as cloud-based gaming service Gaikai, which actually began by streaming top-tier graphically intensive PC games directly through Facebook. They are now part of Sony’s streaming strategy for the PS4. NVIDIA’s new SHIELD portable game console will have the capability to stream an environment rendered on a local Geforce GTX-equipped PC and beam it over a home network. While these technologies promise low latency experiences, the lag is noticeable on all but the fattest and most reliable of internet pipes.