The CAD Insider

Fuel3D to Bring Point and Shoot to 3D Scanning

SAN MATEO, CA (MakerFaire 2014) - Getting 3D models from photographs seems magical when you see the results, but there are some barriers with existing systems. Consider Autodesk's 123D Catch, which involves someone taking 30 to 40 photographs. That's a lot of photos. A lot of data. And time. And though you don't have to be precise, some technique is involved as you must take a series of photos in two different orbits around the object. What happens if the subject moves? Racks of cameras shooting simultaneously can alleviate the time issue, but that means you have to have 30-40 cameras.

Fuel3D device contains a pair of cameras which take multiple shots with one click to generate a 3D model.

Fuel3D was at Maker Faire offering a system that seems to do away with the above problems

• It takes one exposure*
• There is one device.

People were lining up at their booth to get their faces scanned. Catering to individual vanity proved to be the way to draw a crowd. The ragged, incomplete scans were far from flattering, but the novelty seemed to make up for it.

Fuel3D was developed for biomedical application -- wound care, in particular. It could certainly lend itself to fitting objects around the face such as sleep apnea masks or prosthetics. Live subjects are a specialty. I expect a premium importance has been placed on accuracy and so I was hoping it could also lend itself to 3D scans for reverse engineering or other modeling of existing 3D objects but Fuel3D adamantly states that it is not capable or interested in it. Pity. The Fuel3D system can have an accruacey of 0.250 mm with the right conditions.

The device, which looks more like my bathroom scale than my camera, uses twin cameras mounted some distance apart. It is the difference in position that is used to calculate the position of points of the object in 3D space. The camera records color properties surface point positions, so it is subject to reflectance. Irregular subjects and surfaces (faces, skin, body parts), artwork, food...work well, shiny, smooth, sharp edges... not so good.

Perhaps that is a deficiency that can be overcome in the software? I hope so. The Fuel3D device offers considerable advantage over multi-shot or multi-camera photogrammetry systems.

When and How Much?

The Fuel3D is expected to ship October 2014. You can pre-order one for $1450 with mesh software included.

For More Information

http://www.fuel-3d.com/

----------------

*Technically, not a single exposure but a series of shots are taken over half a second. Movement of the device during this time is removed from the result by using a optical "tracker," which the people at the booth were holding to their chins. A tripod mount would do away with the need for a tracker --though there is still a question as to movement by the subject.

Will GE Buy PTC?

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO - Dennis Nagy, head of BeyondCAE and industry veteran, predicted to those assembled for the joint CIC2104/NAFEMS 2014 show that GE will acquire PTC. Dennis was later to admit he had no real insider knowledge of this acquisition. However, what might be pure conjecture is worthy of consideration:

1. Siemens (likened to the GE of Europe) acquired a major CAD company with UGS in 2007
2. PTC has been seen as an acquisition target as early as 2009 (see DATAMONITOR report)
3. GE and PTC are already in bed, see GE and PTC Expand Collaboration...

How to Get a $300 CNC Machine? Buy a Scrapbook Cutter

SAN MATEO, CA (Maker Faire 2014) -  Your own personal CNC machine could sit on your desktop and cost $300.

The Cricut was cutting patterns in paper at MakerFaire -- and attracting a crowd, both at its own booth and in space it shared in the Autodesk Instructables booth. What essentially like a bigger than normal desktop printer, albeit much more attractive, uses a very sharp, thin carbide blade (a pen is included, too) to cut intricate patterns in paper, cardboard and a variety of other material. The Circut's original reason for existence may have been scrapbookers, where it was no doubt a godsend, alleviating scissor-fatigued fingers and bi-focally corrected eyes straining at intricate patterns. Possibly because of that market, the Cricut was made to look so good and sit on top of a table -- and be very inexpensive. Laser cutters and industrial cutting machines don't come anywhere near the Cricut's $300 retail price -- or look as nice.

But frilly patterns and good looks aside, the Cricut is really a CNC cutter at a price no one can touch, and is begs for application in architects and engineers model shops.

Free Your Interns

If a primary activity for interns at your architectural firm is making models, you may consider incorporating a Cricut. Your interns will gladly drop their scissors and Exacto knives to run one. Granted, big building models and models for final presentation would still require skills, material and and tools closer to carpentry than scrapbooks, but a Cricut can cut shapes out of cardboard and up to thin balsa wood with its carbide blade. It could  offload some parts of a bigger model or be able to cut patterns for all of a small model. Or you could get used to making small model yourself for the the first show and tell.

Paper architectural model that would lend itself to a desktop cutter, like Cricut (picture originally appeared on Pictures Collection )

Another application that would be well suited for Cricut would be a topograhic model, such as the one below, where each contour be exported from a CAD application, cut on a flat sheet, then glued together to make the model.

Contour model of landscape, the type that could be made on a personal cutter. Picture courtesy of Jim Leggitt, originally appeared here.

For More Information

www.cricut.com

ANSYS Buys SpaceClaim. What Were They Thinking?

The CAD world expected a lot from SpaceClaim. A promising startup founded in 2005 by none other than Mike Payne, whose previous companies, PTC and SolidWorks forever changed mechanical design. SpaceClaim, the product, looked good, it was easy to use and with direct modeling the trending topic in MCAD, it seemed to be in the right place at the right time. On the product side, CAD insiders gave it a thumbs up.

Despite all its promise, however, it failed to take the world by storm.

Some would say it faltered out of the gate. Its subscription pricing came was ahead of its time, and was eventually abandoned for a more conventional perpetual license model. Then it proved to be difficult to unseat SolidWorks and Pro/E users. SpaceClaim's "adjacent seat" tactic really meant you had to to have two CAD systems. That's one more than the number CAD users want. Then they were a front end to CAE software. A front end to CAM systems. Even a ECAD (electrical CAD) system. Maybe users would use it to read, to convert from one CAD system to another, be a super viewer of CAD data... the tactics seemed to vary with the weather.

As late as December of last year, SpaceClaim claimed to have 40,000 seats. Not bad. But not enough to change the big picture. Even perennial contender Solid Edge had risen to an order of magnitude larger.

Co-founder Leaves

It doesn't look good when a founder leaves for a day job with another company in the same space. Co-founder Blake Coulter left SpaceClaim in early 2013 and surfaced at GrabCAD.  Marketing had been lackluster, consisting mostly of Blake tirelessly tweeting and talking his online friends into reviews of the product, plus the occasional press release about key customer wins. Bernie Buelow, VP of Marketing left not long after Blake. The position remained unfilled.

ANSYS the White Knight

Then ANSYS buys them. $85 million may seem like a lot of dough at first, but compare that what Dassault paid for SOLIDWORKS, over $310 million SolidWorks 17 years ago (1). At the time SolidWorks had only 6,000 installed seats. That's over 3.6 times as much as SpaceClaim -- for less than one sixth the number of seats.

Was it the channel? CAD insiders say Dassault bought SOLIDWORKS for the reseller channel they had set up. But also, SOLIDWORKS was already perceived as a company on the rise.

Already in Bed

SpaceClaim was already in bed with ANSYS. SpaceClaim had signed up with ANSYS as their modeling front-end. It made sense, as modeling was hardly the strength of CAE programs, whereas it is a SpaceClaim specialty. But why buy a capability you already have access to? And why pay $85 million for it? I doubt it would be justifiable in savings of license fees.

An Answer to Autodesk

The answer of why ANSYS bought SpaceClaim may have more to do with Autodesk's actions of late. Autodesk, mostly a CAD company, has been buying up CAE companies to the tune of $300M. CAE companies collectively have been shrugging this off. The seemed content, almost complacent, failing to notice rising temperatures, making excuses for inactions: What does a CAD company know about analysis? Who would believe them? Their channel cannot support it. Not like us, who know what we are doing. We have real solutions. Our results are precise. We have PhDs writing our software. And PhDs using it. What does Autodesk have?

Such an encroachment did not go unnoticed by CAE market leader ANSYS, who saw Autodesk enjoying an unopposed march deep into its homeland. If Autodesk was going to buy up companies in the CAE space, well, they would buy up a company in the CAD space. Just as Autodesk could hope to migrate their CAD users to their newly acquired CAE tools, why couldn't ANSYS buy CAD users to convert them to ANSYS? Two could play this game.

The most likely CAD users to be interested in what ANSYS offers are MCAD users, many of them are already mechanical engineers, in which case their education would involve FEA and other analysis tools. No doubt ANSYS went shopping for MCAD users -- and had to look no further than SpaceClaim, a company they had already partnered with.

See Also

• 3 Key Questions as ANSYS Acquires SpaceClaim - tighter integrations to enable engineers, full-blown CAD offering, parametric driven design studies, Chad Jackson, Lifecycle Insights, May 6, 2014
• ANSYS Buys SpaceClaim (Finally) - for $85 million in cash, expects SpaceClaim to have revenue of about $14 million in 2014, Monica Schnitger, Schnitger Corp Hot Topics, May 1, 2014
• ANSYS Acquires SpaceClaim: May the Force(s) Be With Them, Jeffrey Rowe, MCADCafe, May 1, 2014

---

(1) Dassault Systemes Signs Definitive Agreement to Acquire SolidWorks, June 24, 1997

Zuken - E3.series Nominated for Best of Solid Edge University 2014

ATLANTA, GA (Solid Edge University 2014) - Zuken's E3.series bridges the gap between the electrical engineer and the mechanical designer.  Most companies use the following work process  - the EE designs the boards, exports the board data out for the mechanical designer/engineer.  The nechanical person then has to design the enclosures and the wire harnesses.  Zuken's E3 offering imports the EE's data, creates the raw data needed to develop the wire harnesses and then imports into SOLIDWORKS or Solid Edge.  Then SOLIDWORKS/Solid Edge uses the imported data to translate over to the routing and harness module to build up the correct harness cable. Right now, I translate data over directly from the EE into SolidWorks, but I can see this tool as really shortening my design cycle as I wouldn't have to trouble-shoot connections and input/outputs as much. One thing I would like to have is the ability for E3 software to be able to calculate proper wire lengths based on the 3D geometry, but I was told that is not available. The other downside is it is pretty pricey with one seat at $18K.

For more information see http://www.zuken.com/en/products/electrical-wire-harness-design/e3-series

TenLinks Judge

Elise Moss has been teaching Autodesk and SolidWorks software for the past decade. She is an Autodesk Certified Instructor and teaches at an Autodesk Authorized Training Center in San Francisco. She speaks regularly at SolidWorks World and leads the Oakland SolidWorks user group. Elise has a mechanical engineering degree. More...

Everybody Wants Hardi at the Party

ATLANTA, GA (Solid Edge University 2014) - Hardi Meybaum, CEO of GrabCAD, takes the stage at the Solid Edge annual conference to announce that he will be licensing Parasolid for use with his Workbench. It has nothing to do with Solid Edge, though Hardi ingratiates himself with the Siemens staff and Solid Edge users when he reveals Solid Edge was his first CAD tool when he was a mechanical engineer in Estonia.

Photo from Giacom article.
Hardi Maybaum announces GrabCAD will be using Parasolid at Solid Edge University 2014

Since Hardi arrived in America, with the proverbial shirt on his back and a few dollars (his own story), he has become the golden boy of the CAD world and his presence, endorsement or partnership is much sought after. Carl Bass, CEO of Autodesk, no stranger to deal making, took the extraordinary step to video their GrabCAD partnership last November. In a industry of aging practitioners (I include myself) looking for the next wave of more youthful customers, a blond and boyish success story (GrabCAD is billed as the largest community of engineers with over a million subscribers), Hardi is almost too good to be true.

Having Hardi announced licensing the Parasolid geometry kernel is enough to start a storm of speculation by CAD insiders, no doubt including all of GrabCAD's previously announced CAD partners. This leads to GrabCAD issuing a public denial of any such intention. Left on the website, however, is Hardi's bio which states "GrabCAD aiming to be the biggest software Company in the Manufacturing industry."

Best of Show

At this years Solid Edge University, TenLinks itself shamelessly connects to GrabCAD by nominating it for a Best of Show. TenLinks judge Elise Moss, recognizes GrabCAD Workbench as a valuable collaboration tool for users. "GrabCAD continues to improve and I am eager to see what their new BOM configuration tool will do when it is launched in Q3 of this year.  GrabCAD is quickly demonstrating that it is the up-and-comer tool for most CAD users."

TenLinks Judge

Elise Moss has been teaching Autodesk and SolidWorks software for the past decade. She is an Autodesk Certified Instructor and teaches at an Autodesk Authorized Training Center in San Francisco. She speaks regularly at SolidWorks World and leads the Oakland SolidWorks user group. Elise has a mechanical engineering degree. More...

---

*Crunchbase, funding from venerable Boston-area VCs and investors, some of whom have SOLIDWORKS ties.

Create Parts Using Spreadsheet with Solid Edge Design Configurator

ATLANTA, GA (Solid Edge University 2014) - Hiroshi Takaki, president of EDA, a Solid Edge developer, was on hand to show the Edge Design Configurator, which uses an Excel spreadsheet as a front end to create and manage configurations in Solid Edge.

EDC is a rules-based application but unlike the other better known DriveWorks and Rulestream, the use of a spreadsheet front end -- and playing well with Solid Edge -- set it apart. Most configurators have you jump right into equations and programming, which means having to learn syntax and language. With EDC, the equations are in the spreadsheets. The customer can create the spreadsheets, but EDA, based in Bellingham, Washington, will do that as a service so a company can get up and running quickly. Mr Takaki shows me one project from a large manufacturing company he has created for $15K for one of their product lines. Clearly, the customer was banking on an ROI that, with a parts configurator, can be rapid. Imagine changing a few cells in a spreadsheet and out comes a part. "No need to learn Solid Edge," says Mr Takaki, who says he was able to do the project in one month what would might have taken the company 18 months with no guarantee of success.

Says TenLinks judge, Elise Moss: "Design Configurator for Solid Edge is a great tool. I have had several clients who wanted something like this- a web-based tool, so customers could create a design of their choosing, build the parts list, get the quote, and then order. It looked like a nice clean interface and worth the investment."

EDA will generate a spreadsheet with parameters (example: height, thickness, etc.) plus embedded rules, thereby capturing the "design knowledge" of a part. A custom menu includes actions such as a creating a script that Solid Edge will read to actually create the part.

EDA also works with Solid Edge and AutoCAD.

If you have never used a configurator, try EDA's live configurator at http://www.edainc.net/ . It will design a simple enclosure and email you a parts file so you open in your Solid Edge, SOLIDWORKS or AutoCAD.

Solid Edge University Judges

Roopinder Tara, TenLinks' founder and CEO, has spent over 28 years in the CAD, CAM and CAE business, including roles as CAD manager, senior engineer, manager of a CAD division, editor in chief of CAD magazine, conference chair, professor of engineering and CAD. He has a masters in engineering and is a registered professional engineer. More...

Elise Moss has been teaching Autodesk and SolidWorks software for the past decade. She is an Autodesk Certified Instructor and teaches at an Autodesk Authorized Training Center in San Francisco. She speaks regularly at SolidWorks World and leads the Oakland SolidWorks user group. Elise has a mechanical engineering degree. More...

Related articles

EnvisionTEC Nominated for Best of Show at Solid Edge University

Solid Edge Looking Like a Big CAD Company in Atlanta

EnvisionTEC Nominated for Best of Show at Solid Edge University

ATLANTA, GA (Solid Edge University 2014) - EnvisionTEC - a German 3D printer company is focused on precision. Indeed their first models were for very small parts, like replacement teeth. It is $10,000. They are now gradually introducing ever larger 3D printers, while maintaining the high resolution during printing.

(picture from EnvisionTEC blog)

For more information: see http://envisiontec.com/

TenLinks Judge

Ralph Grabowski, TenLinks' senior editor, is one of the leading CAD journalists and authors, with over a 100 books and many hundreds of articles. His upFront.eZine may be the industry's longest running newsletter. Ralph holds a civil engineering degree. More...

Sweet Gig - 8 Month Cross Country RV Trip to Promote Reality Computing

SAN RAFAEL, CA -- A giant blue RV took up a row of spaces at Autodesk HQ parking lot. It was ready to embark on an 8 month, 100+ stop journey to spread the gospel of reality computing and was drawing a crowd. 

For those who have not been following, "reality computing" is a concept Autodesk has coined and an initiative it is leading, which through a variety of fast improving and increasingly affordable technologies (including photogrammetry, 3D laser scans and point cloud processing) seems to have a goal no less ambitious than modeling all the existing world, a world of shapes for which CAD is mostly unsuitable.

TJ McCue, technology writer, on left, will be looking to spread the gospel of 3D reality capture across the country.

Autodesk employees file out of their offices to see what all the commotion is about. The event has attracted the local press (see Marin IJ article). A drone demonstration is provided as a 3D Robotics flies its IRIS UAV (they don't like to say "drones") over the RV that will eventually result in a 3D photo. Ice cream is served and speeches are made. An opportunity to break a bottle of champagne across the bow is missed.

TJ McCue, who will be commandeering the RV on its journey, is the object of much envy.

"I would so love to drive around the country doing that," I hear, no doubt an Autodesker who has to return to his cubicle after his ice cream.

Hey, This is Work

But TJ McCue, veteran journalist on a technology beat, knows this is no picnic.

Have you ever driven something this size? I ask.

"This will be his first time," says TJ. He's nervous about the wind. Believe it or not, no license is required for this behemoth of a vehicle unless it is to be used commercially. And this is a family trip. TJ's wife and son, 10 year old Joshua, will be accompanying him. Joshua is already fending questions about the school he'll miss. Not to worry, he's home-schooled.

What's inside the RV? I wander in, expecting it to be full of 3D hardware or set up as a mobile showcase, but it's just family living space. As winds gusts across the parking lot, I feel the vehicle sway and I think TJ driving across the Golden Gate Bridge to his first stop, the Maker Faire in San Mateo, CA.

How Much?
Autodesk is teaming up with HP, NVIDIA, FARO, Stratasys and Jayco (RV manufacturer and Autodesk customer) to fund the trip, which according to SWAG analysis will be in the neighborhood of $75K*.

Autodesk, as lead sponsor, is on a mission to etch "reality capture" onto your brain, the way CAD has been, and TJ's 3DRV journey is the first major step in doing so. It will be a major effort and even Autodesk knows it needs broad industry support and partners for it to happen. A reality capture conference in also being planned.

Sponsors Autodesk and NVIDIA launch TJ McCue on his 8 month journey to promote reality computing. From left, Andrew Rink, Marketing Strategy, Manufacturing for NVDIA; Angela Simoes, Sr PR manager, Autodesk; Etienne DeGroot, Director of ISV alliances, NVIDIA; TJ McCue; Robert Shear, Sr Director, Reality Solutions, Autodesk

Drone over Autodesk captures the RV for a 3D photo

More Information

• www.3drv.com -- official website, see the trip plan
• Twitter - Follow TJ McCue @TJMcCue or use hashtag #3DRV
• Forbes Writer Kicks Off Nationwide Tour to Highlight Autodesk's 3D Software - Laith Agha,  Marin Independent Journal
• Autodesk ReCap - overview of reality capture on  Autodesk site

 -----------

*Scientific wild ass guess, assuming TJ is paid only with the opportunity, RV time is borrowed, $200/day expenses (hotel stays to prevent cabin fever) $10,000 start up costs and allowing $17K for unforeseen costs (the RV's air conditioning is already on the fritz).

Related articles

Is That a Drone? Run for Cover

Autodesk ReCap Makes 3D Photos

Autodesk take 3D on the road, Sparks fly! #3DRV

Solid Edge Looking Like a Big CAD Company in Atlanta

ATLANTA, GA (Solid Edge University 2014) -Solid Edge is clearly trying to look like a big CAD company at its 3rd straight Solid Edge University, its annual user meeting and conference which this takes place over 3 full days in Atlanta.

Solid Edge University packs the room. Solid Edge looking every bit a big CAD company.

The event borrows its name from Autodesk University, the mother of all CAD events, where 10,000 users and 200 exhibitors are the norm. Solid Edge University had a few less of each: a little over 400 attendees and may be a dozen exhibitors. A hundred of the attendees were Siemens employees (Siemens owns Solid Edge) and another 50 or so may have been from 3rd party vendors.

It's not as if Solid Edge didn't try. Many Solid Edge employees were tasked with cajoling users from their workstations and into Atlanta, but in the end, the city proved to be not near enough to so many users, says one employee. Last year's venue in Cincinnati, though a smaller city, attracted a few more, quite possibly due to its proximity to manufacturing.

Still, Solid Edge University was a million dollar event that can scale up to a bigger audience (wherever the next one might be), with a big stage, inspirational speakers, interesting classes, a special event (you can't go wrong with a brewery tour) -- and plenty of staff to attend to every need of the media.

Did we miss something? Karsten Newbury, Sr VP and GM at Siemens, reveals 500,000 seats of Solid Edge have been sold.

According to Siemens, the user base exists for larger Solid Edge Universities. We heard there are 500,000 Solid Edge licenses sold, a number that seemed to immediately send the analysts into a huddle. Did we miss something here? The last we heard, numbers of seats of Solid Edge were low enough that we could ignore them. But half a million suddenly puts them in the same ball park as market leader SOLIDWORKS.

This year there were also more press, analysts and blogger. There was even a blogger event (though both Ralph Grabowski and I arrived too late to attend).

Go Karsten

Though relatively small compared to more established CAD user events, the fact that Solid Edge University even exists is testament to the will of GM and Senior VP, Karsten Newbury. Now in his 6th year in charge of Solid Edge, Karsten has been able to create a separate community for his users, balancing the tight control exerted by parent company Siemens with a need to establish a separate identity for a more populist CAD product. For example, changing a font on a product page on the website can be like "moving heaven and earth," says one Solid Edge employee.

Yet, Karsten has been successful in many ways. For example, Solid Edge presenters on stage wore jeans -- in sharp contrast to black suits commonly found at Siemens events.