Google Sketchup ideas

An engineering drawing is a type of drawing that is technical in nature, used to fully and clearly define requirements for engineered items, and is usually created in accordance with standardized conventions for layout, nomenclature, interpretation, appearance (such as typefaces and line styles), size, etc. Its purpose is to accurately and unambiguously capture all the geometric features of a product or a component. The end goal of an engineering drawing is to convey all the required information that will allow a manufacturer to produce that component. Engineering drawing is not only the province of the draftsperson. It is the language of the engineer. It is their means of developing and recording their ideas, and conveying them to others. Every engineer will be using and referring to some form of drawings almost daily. They will often be producing or directing the preparation of drawings. Usually, they make the preliminary sketches and design drawings in accordance with principles of engineering drawing. Because this is the most unambiguous way of to convey and record information. It is also likely that every engineer at sometime will be checking the work of designer drafters and approving drawings before they are sent to manufacturing. When engineers sign off the final approval of a drawing, they take responsibility for it. An overlooked error in the drawing could be costly.

 Engineering drawings often include such features as various types of lines, dimensions, lettered notes, sectional views, and symbols. They may be in the form of carefully planned and checked mechanical drawings, or they may be freehand sketches. Usually a sketch precedes the mechanical drawing.Many objects have complicated interior details which cannot be clearly shown by means of front, top, side, or pictorial views. Section views enable the engineer or detailer to show the interior detail in such cases. Features of section drawings are cutting-plane symbols, which show where imaginary cutting planes are passed to produce the sections, and section-lining (sometimes called cross-hatching), which appears in the section view on all portions that have been in contact with the cutting plane.

In addition to describing the shape of objects, many drawings must show dimensions, so that workers can build the structure or fabricate parts that will fit together. This is accomplished by placing the required values (measurements) along dimension lines (usually outside the outlines of the object) and by giving additional information in the form of notes which are referenced to the parts in question by angled lines called leaders. Layout drawings of different types are used in different manufacturing fields for various purposes. One is the plant layout drawing, in which the outline of the building, work areas, aisles, and individual items of equipment are all drawn to scale. Another type of layout, or preliminary assembly, drawing is the design layout, which establishes the position and clearance of parts of an assembly.

A set of working drawings usually includes detail drawings of all parts and an assembly drawing of the complete unit. Assembly drawings vary somewhat in character according to their use, as design assemblies or layouts; working drawing assemblies; general assemblies; installation assemblies; and check assemblies.

The Benefits of Engineering Drawing :

Redrawing or redrafting of a paper or a scanned engineering drawing to AutoCAD or another CAD software. Why should I digitize my engineering drawings, I can keep a scanned copy?
Certainly but the scanned engineering drawing copy would be poor quality. It might be illegible, would occupy a lot of space and any stains, dirt marks, eraser marks etc would be scanned as well.

 The benefits are many:

• Longevity
• Easy retrieval
• Easy archiving
• Clean drawings
• Less space taken (4 mb for a scanned A4 drawing, just 4 kb for a digitized one)

 http://www.sketchup4architect.com/service.html

Architectural renderings, visualizations and animations are essentials of today’s architectural marketplace. Renderings and animated 3D visualization allow architects and clients see the built view of the work in progress. Architectural rendering, or architectural illustration, is the art of creating two-dimensional images showing the attributes of a proposed architectural design. Traditionally rendering techniques were taught in a “master class” practice, where a student works creatively with a mentor in the study of fine arts. Contemporary architects use hand-drawn sketches, pen and ink drawings, and watercolor renderings to represent their design with the vision of an artist. Commercial demand for hand-drawn rendering has declined as computer generated renderings replace human skills.

Architectural rendering and walk through animation based on 3-D digital technology completely transform the way any building or structure is conceptualized, designed, presented and sold in the residential and commercial property development sectors. Creative studios listed below focus only on delivering high end photo-realistic architectural renderings, various full color architecture rendering services, architecturally accurate 3-D illustrations, technical illustrations and panoramic virtual tours easily applicable to new conversion, new construction and interior space design projects. 3-D architectural visuals and vistas bring 2-D design plans and working drawings to life long before the ground breaking ceremony or renovation actually happens.

It’s so amazing that nowadays you can start advertising and marketing your development, or envision and test your design with possible color options and various angles in almost no time. And most important that you as a developer or architect can decide for yourself either you want to use it to your benefit or not. Architectural Rendering is the most popular, powerful and flexible tool being used in the planning and development of any building or interior space. There is wide variety of rendering techniques being used today. The main advantages of 3-D architectural rendering are the uncompromised quality, accuracy in fine details, and an ability to allow multiple vantage points to be ordered at attractive costs. Concept Visualization concentrates primarily on realistic color renderings, exterior renderings, interior perspectives, floor plan rendition & site plan illustration solutions, as well as full blown animated walkthroughs. 

Architectural rendering in photo-realistic style will surely make its positive impact on every key decision maker. Imagine how possibly an non-realistic or low end architectural rendering which was done within few hours and not few days or even weeks can “complement” your marketing initiatives. It may slightly help you as the architect to express your preliminary concepts in a very schematic way, however it’s clear to everyone these days that developers desperately in need of realistic and highly professional visualizations to achieve their sales and marketing goals quickly, effectively and painlessly.

Benefits

• Combination of manual and software assisted processes to get the desired effects
• Customized handling of each project based on specific client requirements
• Compatibility of a Wide Variety of input & output formats
  AutoCAD 3D Architectural Renderings
  Autodesk VIZ Architectural Renderings
  Discreet 3dsmax Architectural Renderings

Overall, the 3D rendered models helps the customers to review the building plans and make changes at the drawing stage before going for a construction or renovation or decoration of houses. Thus it helps the Customer to save enormous costs by preventing any renovations and changes at the construction stage.

http://www.sketchup4architect.com/service.html 

Computer-aided design (CAD) or computer-aided design and drafting (CADD), form of automation  that helps designers prepare drawings, specifications, parts lists, and other design-related elements using special graphics- and calculations-intensive computer programs. The technology is used for a wide variety of products in such fields as architecture, electronics, and aerospace, naval, and automotive engineering. Although CAD systems originally merely automated drafting, they now usually include three-dimensional modeling and computer-simulated operation of the model. Rather than having to build prototypes and change components to determine the effects of tolerance ranges, engineers can use computers to simulate operation to determine loads and stresses. For example, an automobile manufacturer might use CAD to calculate the wind drag on several new car-body designs without having to build physical models of each one. In microelectronics, as devices have become smaller and more complex, CAD has become an especially important technology.

Among the benefits of such systems are lower product-development costs and a greatly shortened design cycle. While less expensive CAD systems running on personal computers have become available for do-it-yourself home remodeling and simple drafting, state-of-the-art CAD systems running on workstations and mainframe computers are increasingly integrated with computer-aided manufacturing systems

Benefits of Converting paper drawing by Computer Aided Design (CAD)

There are millions of drawings lying all around the world. These are invaluable pieces of paper, which have created monuments, buildings, machines and infrastructures. As the time passes by, these paper drawings are endangered being lost to disaster or being lost. There is an urgent need to make sure that all the paper drawings which are lying in offices, godown and secured places to be restored in a manner which will enable them to be with us for a long time.Modern technology has enabled us to create systems, which can enhance the lifetime of anything. For old paper drawings, we have come up with solutions such as computer aided design and drafting (CADD). With use of modern techniques, these days all the drafting and design work are being done using CAD software’s. There are numerous popular software’s depending on the use. This CAD software allows us to generate drawings, which were earlier done on paper.The various means by which we can convert the old paper drawings to CAD are:

• Automatic conversion using software
• Manual conversion by draftsman
• Precision redrafting
• Scanning and storing

• Of the above-mentioned methods, the cheapest method is to scan the document and store it in a computer. You can get it printed as and when you want it. There are numerous scanning companies all over the place who can scan large documents using highly complex scanning machine. You can scan any old documents and once scanned the document is there with you for lifetime.  

• If you plan to use the CAD file in future for making changes to the original design, which was done on paper, the best method is to get the drawing converted to CAD using draftsman with experience in CAD software. During this process, and as requested, text is re-typed and drawings are re-scaled 1:1. Specified items are also converted to different layers and colors to conform to the drawing standards. The end result of this meticulous process, being a CAD files which is identical to a drawing done on paper and which also requires no further work. 

• Simple vectorisation is the conversion of a scan or raster image into a CAD or vector file. The process is achieved through the use of software that studies the raster image and tries to recognize and then replace the raster image with lines or vector information. The result is a dxf file, which is layered according to line thickness, line type and text. The image will require some manual clean up, the extent of which will depend upon: 1) The quality of the original      2) The amount of information required from the converted file. 3) The quality of the line work and whether the text was typed or hand written.

BENEFITS OF CAD CONVERSION

• Perfect drawings, which can be modified as and when required in the fastest possible manner.
• Able to access drawings at a click of a button
• Storage of the drawings becomes very easy
• Can make multiple copies at no cost
• Transmission of document is very fast
• Multiple print can be taken as a very high speed
• Thousands of drawings can be stored in a single DVD / CD
• A new file, we can create as many layers as you require. We generate separate layers for dimensions, text, body, hidden lines, and centerlines, etc.
• Text is separated and has its own layer and is recognizable as text
• Dimensions are intact and are shown by a separate layer.
• High accuracy
• Normally create a drawing as a new file; the final output is editable and will be in DXF, DWG, DGN or any other CAD formats
• Cost effective hand-drawn conversions.
• The converted drawings are manually drawn with precision and are fully editable and contains:
• Accurate layer information Accurate text (editable)
• Accurate line types (editable)
• Associative dimensions (adjustable)
• Symbols & blocks of standard components Title blocks (as per scale)
• Associative hatch patterns (editable)

 http://www.cadconversionservice.net

Structural design is one of the most important parts in structural engineering. Structural engineering is used in large number of industrial areas. These areas include construction of residential buildings, dams, shop designing etc. Here structural design plays a vital role to accomplish these tasks effortlessly. It can be identified as a process used for construction of buildings or other structures. In this process, “engineering mechanics” is used so that these structures can resist load. Structural design mainly focuses on giving them maximum stability.

Now when the structural design gets completed, one will have a feasible solution in the form of a secure and economic designed structure. Structural design needs great amount of planning and concentration. Structural/Civil engineers deeply observe the situation and make a strategy in order to make structures strong enough to withstand loads and other external forces. They plan it according to engineering mechanics and give these structures strong integrity and safety. There has always been a need for economy and elegance in structural design.  This is as true for simple and low cost structures as it is for large complex ones.

Economy and programme certainty are vital components of any project. More and more clients want statement buildings that provide a feel-good factor for the people using them and seeing them.  This generally means being innovative in the design process and making sure that design is properly integrated across discipline boundaries.

Structural Design Services has the expertise and knowledge to assist any customer in top quality residential or commercial designs. Structural design ensures that ideas are translated into an economic design which fulfils the client’s requirements and complies with building legislation and this is carried out by the Architectural and Engineering Design Services section of Combined Services. Armed with a complete and approved set of plans the client can obtain competitive quotations from a number of contractors. When the work starts Architectural and Engineering Design Services can formally administer the contract for the client or simply carry out site inspections from time to time to check workmanship, etc.

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In the world of architectural design, overheads can be significant. Personnel, computer systems, software, office space and drafting equipment require considerable investment by a company. In order to thrive in the business environment of today, companies must seek higher profits not only through increased sales, but also by reducing expenses. Architectural and Design Services are the perfect solution for new buildings or a successful expansion, consolidation, or relocation. Regardless of your industry, whether industrial or commercial, our expert team of architecture and design professionals can assist with your project from the drawing board to ribbon-cutting and beyond. Architecture and architectural services design buildings and structures for commercial and industrial applications. They analyze a client’s current and future requirements in order to develop site plans, floor plans, room layouts, and building specifications. Some architecture and architectural services specialize in landscape architecture or historic preservation. Other architects provide town planning, urban design, or code compliance services. As a rule, however, architecture and architectural services complete projects in three phases: preliminary design, documentation, and construction observation or construction management.

Architecture and architectural services perform many activities during the preliminary design phase. After completing an initial consultation, they may perform a feasibility study to analyze a customer’s potential for growth. Expansion vs. relocation studies, assistance with site selection, and coordination with existing facilities may also be necessary. Subsequent activities often include meetings with local planning boards, research regarding applicable building codes, and communications with the general public. During the preliminary design phase, architecture and architectural services may also develop a master plan or comprehensive plan for the long-term development of a site. If the review and revision process satisfies the client, the coordination of the design process with financial planning begins.

The secret of a beautiful and practical home is excellent design and a perfect balance of form and function. By combining fundamental architectural design principles with modern technology and innovative products & construction techniques the results can be truly amazing even on a modest budget. A well designed building or living space should be:

• Aesthetically pleasing with a welcoming and relaxing feel. Light, and in particular natural daylight, plays an extremely important part in making a space feel inviting.
• Practical, functional and user friendly especially for everyday spaces such as kitchens and bathrooms.
• Harmonious with its surroundings taking into account the local style or vernacular and other features such as the adjacent buildings, landscape and specific geographical location.
• Constructed where possible from sustainable or ecologically sound materials.

Architectural design values make up an important part of what influences an architect and designer when they make their design decisions. However, architects and designers are not always influenced by the same values and intentions. Value and intentions differs between different architectural movements. It also differs between different schools of architecture and schools of design as well as among individual architects and designers.The differences in values and intentions are directly linked to the pluralism in design outcomes that exist within architecture and design. It is also a big contributing factor as to how an architect or designer operates in his/hers relation to their clients.

http://www.sketchup4architect.com/service.html  

Sketchup for Architect

Want to create 3D graphics for architecture, construction, landscaping, interior design or more? Then try SketchUp, a powerful program that makes 3D modeling intuitive and easy to learn. A powerful new tool from @Last Software, SketchUp makes creating 3D sketches and creating professional-looking renders as effortless as drawing on a napkin.

In this 3-lesson course, you’ll learn how to draw two-dimensional shapes and how to bring them to life in 3D. With SketchUp’s intuitive inference features and “sticky” geometry, you can create complex interconnected shapes and detailed 3D designs. You’ll focus less on the mechanics and more on the drawing—it’s as close to pencil and paper as you can get. In no time you’ll be creating surfaces, polygons, complex 3D shapes, even an entire rendered 3D neighborhood of your designs.

Computerized sketching: Architects widely rely on sketching during their early phase of design, because sketching appears to be the most adapted mean to express and to manipulate creative ideas. Quite a long time architectural concept design sketching software resources were extremely limited. New software has recently appeared to fill the

existing gap. SketchUp from Google Inc. (before @Last Software) is deceptively simple

and powerful tool for creating, viewing, and modifying 3D ideas quickly and easily. It was developed to combine the elegance and spontaneity of pencil sketching with the speed and flexibility of today’s digital media. Thus, 3D sketch design approach was implemented in the subject through training exercise. Students find to learn and use sketching in digital versus traditional media very easy. The second computer aided exercise was to develop the model using SketchUp software. An average time to complete this 3D sketching exercise does not correlate with students’ Architect CAD skills.

The advantages of Sketchup for Architect Free to download and use, easy installation, tons of time saved and disadvantages of Sketchup for Architect Not included in the basic sketchup, no automatic refresh of components dialog available.

http://www.sketchup4architect.com/service.html

Architecture is the art and science of designing buildings and other physical structures. Since we moved from our primitive abode, we started exploring and setting new milestones. What initially used to be jungles and mountains have taken shape into beautiful skyscrapers and monuments, which definitely represents the creative genius in us. Taj Mahal in India, along with other wonders is the evidence of this art of erecting dreams and the fact that these wonders have withstood the test of time emphasizes the science involved in making these dreams come true. Another example is The Great Sphinx of Egypt, one of the wonders of ancient Egyptian architecture, which adjoins the pyramids of Giza. It is 240 feet long and is approximately 4,500 years old.

 While architectural drawings were an essential part of the design process for architects and builders in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, they have not necessarily been highly regarded by later generations as important historical records or attractive art objects. Like the strength of humans and trees lay in their roots, similarly the architectural drawings are the Architectural drawing is the pre planning (plan & different cross sections) or vision put on papers before the building gets the final shape. Most important aspect of architectural drawing is the beauty combined with the strength. In architectural applications, aesthetic demands require greater attention as strength of the building is the subject matter of civil engineers.  base - the root and the backbone for the designers, developers and the architects.  Architectural drawings are a task to locate, cumbersome to handle and difficult to view. The apprehension on the well being of invaluable architectural drawings is a common phenomenon worldwide. Architectural technicians prepare detailed drawings of buildings and other structures from sketches and specifications usually prepared by engineers and/or architects. These drawings will be used to produce functional, efficient, safe, aesthetically pleasing, and structurally sound construction. Gone are the days when it used to take years to plan structures with drawing board, sheets, t-square, scales, drafter, pencil, eraser and lots of hard work. With the latest softwares available in the market everything has become so simple.

 Today all we need is to put the dimensions and the virtual image comes up on the screen. Architectural designs have become so much simpler as every applicable standards, every factor of safety is taken care of. These days many architectural design and architectural drafting programs in which one can acquire the fundamental skills in drafting and building designs are available such as AutoCAD which comes with many courses like Working Drawings and Building Systems. Yes! It is talent coupled with imagination, which allows one to excel in a specialized career, such as remodeling, and design of building. Many of the design and drafting students start their own businesses or work for giant design firms after graduation.

  http://www.revitdesign.com/Architecture.html

Interior design concerns itself with more than just the visual or ambient enhancement of an interior space; it seeks to optimize and harmonize the uses to which the built environment will be put. It is practical, aesthetic, and conducive to intended purposes, such as raising productivity, selling merchandise, or improving life style. Interior design is a practice that responds to changes in the economy, organization, technology, demographics, and business goals of an organization.

As a human activity, interior design is centuries old. By the 1940s, the terms “interior design” and “interior designer” were used primarily by those individuals providing services to a small but growing number of business clients. After World War II, nonresidential design—offices, hotels, retail establishments, and schools—grew in importance as the country rebounded economically. Interior design is generally divided into two categories, residential and contract or commercial. Today, interior design is becoming increasingly specialized as buildings and materials get more complex technologically and regulations and standards more demanding. Interior design is a multi-faceted profession in which creative and technical solutions are applied within a structure to achieve a built interior environment that solves the customer’s problems and links space to business strategies and goals. These solutions are functional, enhance the quality of life and culture of the occupants, and are aesthetically attractive. Designs are created in response to and coordinated with the building shell, and acknowledge the physical location and social context of the project. Designs must adhere to code and regulatory requirements, and encourage the principles of environmental sustainability. Interior design can also influence the choice of real estate that will address the organization’s needs through the architecture and design elements. The interior design process follows a systematic and coordinated methodology, including research, analysis, and integration of knowledge into the creative process, whereby the needs and resources of the client are satisfied to produce an interior space that fulfills the project goals.

The industry of interior design has changed dramatically over the past few years in order to better accommodate consumers. In it’s early to mid stages of evolution; interior design was an industry of prestige. In today’s work culture it is normal for people to spend nearly two-thirds of their lives in offices. It is therefore important to think deeply into providing them with a good working environment, one that is comfortable, fosters creativity and growth. The first thing you need to do before you start thinking of interior design is to consult with your landlord or landlady as to what you can and cannot do. It all really has to do with the specific restrictions of the apartment building that you live in. If you find the restrictions too stifling in terms of the interior design ideas that you have, you have two main choices. You can either try to find a compromise with your landlady or landlord, or you can move to another apartment. When you have figured out what you are able to design in the apartment, you are ready to assemble your interior design ideas. First of all, you need to think about the current furniture that you have. Are you happy with the furniture, or do you want to get rid of it and start from scratch? If you want to keep your furniture, there is a certain way to arrange them so that you have more room. For example, if you have a larger couch, you need to make sure it is not positioned right in the middle of the room. Rather, be sure that you push the couch against the wall in one area so save space. If instead you want to purchase new furniture, such as a couch, you need to think about the dimensions of the room versus the dimensions of the couch. You might like the idea of having a large couch, but make sure that it does not take up the entire room! First and foremost, you need to think about the color of the room. If your room is a darker color that will automatically make the room look even smaller than it really is. Thus, in order to make the room look larger, you need to paint the room in a lighter color. When it comes to interior design ideas for the windows, opt for something other than heavy draperies. Instead, choose light blinds to let in light during the day and be closed at night.

The interior designer must not only be knowledgeable (though not an expert) in building systems, but also at times recommend a system concept that supports the goals of the client and the design direction. For example;

• Flexibility may be a key driver for the space. The interior designer may request that the engineers consider an under floor air distribution system with a raised floor solution to solve this problem. This impacts the architecture, electric, and data distribution.
• Lighting and equitable fairness may also be a driver. The interior designer in developing a scope of work for a lighting consultant must be aware of the coordination of daylight/views with electrical ambient light and individual task lights. This can impact the electrical engineer’s work. In new construction, the interior designer may request that the window design accommodate equitable light distribution to all associates in the workplace.

It is important that the interior designer is included in these decisions and is given or develops with other disciplines the cost analysis and life-cycle costing to make the best design decision for the client. It is important to analyze building systems from a holistic viewpoint and specify environmentally sustainable materials and methods.

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Picture is worth a thousand words, 3D says it all. Sometimes the use of conventional techniques of visualization is just not enough. When plain graphics and animation cannot express the idea or represent your product the right way — then comes the 3D. As the Web has evolved, users have grown increasingly accustomed to its utility, convenience, information access and first-comer opportunities. Yet, people today want more. The fundamental human thirst for sensation and experience remains unquenched. The desire for a richer, more satisfying interactive experience that’s simple to use, enjoy, and benefit from remains unfulfilled.

3D modeling of various objects based on any information such as drawings, sketches, design concepts, or special requirements of customers.

• 3D modeling services for e-commerce, remote education, internet-advertising.
• 3D modeling services for concept design, industrial design, architecture, interiors, furniture, etc.
• Development like order-for-a-design of complex enclosure for consumer & industrial purposes

Constructing the 3D Model

In using 3D digitization for analytical applications, there are several situations where a single image suffices to perform a task. For example; detection and monitoring of cracks, or documentation of tool marks on specific areas of an object.

However, most objects and environments require the acquisition of more than one range image in order to achieve sufficient coverage of the surface of interest. The necessary number of images will depend on the shape of the object and its amount of self-occlusion, the eventual presence of obstacles to sensor positioning, as well as on the size of the object if it exceeds the field of view of the sensor. A benefit of merging different views is that the unavoidable noise present in the original data is filtered through the integration process, provided that there are no biases in the data. There is a progression from 2D to 3D, 4D, and BIM. While 3D models make valuable contributions to communications, not all 3D models qualify as BIM models since a 3D geometric representation is only part of the BIM concept.

Principle

A 3D modeling methodology for the construction of models from a set of range images, now commercially implemented. The first three steps form the acquisition loop range images are acquired one at a time, until the desired surface coverage is obtained; a user-guided tool sequentially aligns (or registers) each new image with the previous ones, and to rapidly detect surface areas not yet measured. The following steps constitute the modeling sequence: these completely automated steps globally refine the alignment between images, integrate them into a unified model that can be directly used, or alternately geometrically compressed and texture-mapped. If required, the models can be manually edited at any step of the modeling sequence.

Computer-aided design (CAD) of power substations has become standard practice since the introduction of commercial computer-aided design and drafting systems in the 1970s. However, two-dimensional (2D) computer-aided design has been used almost exclusively in the utility industry to design and document the physical substation arrangement. During the same time, other industries have adopted three-dimensional (3D) modeling for applications including process plant design and mechanical design. The benefits of 3D design and modeling in these industries are well acknowledged and documented: Concurrent engineering design, elimination of interferences (hard and soft), increased quality of design, accurate material requirements, faster project throughput, visualization and construction sequencing have all shown quantifiable benefits.

Clearly, the time is ripe for the utility industry to rethink substation design strategies. 3D modeling and content management technologies, combined with new implementation strategies that take advantage of other technologies, will shape a new generation of power delivery systems design and engineering for the coming decades.

Compared to 2D methods

3D Photorealistic effects are often achieved without wireframe modeling and are sometimes indistinguishable in the final form. Some graphic art software includes filters that can be applied to 2D vector graphics or 2D raster graphics on transparent layers.

Advantages of wireframe 3D modeling over exclusively 2D methods include

• Flexibility, ability to change angles or animate images with quicker rendering of the changes;
• Ease of rendering, automatic calculation and rendering photorealistic effects rather than mentally visualizing or estimating;
• Accurate photorealism, less chance of human error in misplacing, overdoing, or forgetting to include a visual effect.

Disadvantages compare to 2D photorealistic rendering may include a software learning curve and difficulty achieving certain hyperrealistic effects. Some hyperrealistic effects may be achieved with special rendering filters included in the 3D modeling software. For the best of both worlds, some artists use a combination of 3D modeling followed by editing the 2D computer-rendered images from the 3D model.

The benefit of a 3D Modeling chain in Exploration Production is demonstrated on a real case study. It consists in constructing a Shared Earth Model integrating data and interpretation from geophysicists, geologists and reservoir engineers. Fast and easy updating of consistent 3D information is a key aspect. The shared earth model is the integration of the following speciality models:  

1. 3D Structural Model
2. 3D Sedimentary Model  
3. 3D Reservoir Model. As it contains all reservoir data, it is the reference model for: - Integrating new data, Integrating analysis form structural unfolding, forward sedimentary modeling, Checking new or alternative interpretations, Uncertainties This case study highligths that a consistent model can only be achieved through a full 3D interdisciplinary team work.

Intelligent 3D Design

The basic concept of 3D substation design is to develop an integrated design model that includes the equipment arrangement, structures, foundations, control house, raceway, and grounding, as well as miscellaneous components.

The 3D model must

• Be spatially correct;
• Include connectivity between components; 
• Contain intelligent data about materials, engineering properties, physical details, stock numbers, compatible units and so on;
• Be linked to design database and functional design documents such as one-line diagrams; 
• Provide information required to automate the extraction of drawings,   schedules and cost estimates; and
• Provide a framework to integrate with both enterprise systems and      engineering design and analysis applications.

Design Standards

The resulting 3D substation models can be saved as standardized designs and reused. For example, standard distribution substation designs could be saved as templates. Then, when a new substation design is required, the appropriate template could simply be copied into the design for the new substation as a quick starting point. The resulting model could be modified for site-specific requirements and the design deliverables easily created.

Standardized designs can also be useful to provide rapid response to customer requirements such as proposing and designing dedicated substations for industrial, commercial and institutional clients. The requested design can be created and cost estimates quickly completed.

Unique designs such as those for transmission substations can be created from scratch, or designs can be incorporated from other substation models. As with standardized design templates, deliverable drawings and schedules can be quickly generated from the model.

Benefits

To benefit from 3D, we must be able to provide users with tools to create new designs and modifications to existing substations. The goal is to automate the process of creating both standardized designs for reuse and unique designs based on advanced 3D modeling techniques.

The benefits of 3D design and modeling of substations include:

• Cost savings through design automation, reduction of construction problems and faster throughput of projects;
• Rapid evaluation of design alternatives to optimize design;
• Reduced time-to-market to meet customer demands and competitive pressures;
• 3D standards for advanced engineering, automated drawing and data extraction, and reusability of designs;
• Improved quality and reliability of design;
• Computer-aided visualization of the substation for site selection, permitting       and community acceptance; and
• 3D visualization and walkthrough for construction, commissioning, operations and maintenance.

The Future

This is only the beginning. In the future, users may integrate engineering design and analysis with the 3D model, readily share model data with manufacturers, perform design reviews in 3D, provide intelligent models for construction and commissioning, and share information with contractors and other stakeholders in a secure manner across the Internet. In fact, many of these operations can be accomplished today.

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Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 4.0

PTC PMTC, The Product Development Company(R), today announced the availability of Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 4.0, a major release of its integrated 3D CAD/CAM/CAE software and a key component of the PTC(R) Product Development System

Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 4.0 Preproduction offers numerous new capabilities and usability enhancements that will improve global design processes and further improve personal and process productivity including electro-mechanical design.

Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 4.0 enables customers to create innovative, winning products with faster time-to-market, improved quality and reduced costs.

“Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 4.0 provides numerous enhancements and resolutions to some key product development challenges,” said Frank Menendez, principle engineer, Alcon Research. “We have no doubt that the added functionality and increased flexibility of Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 4.0, coupled with the improvements we’ve seen in Windchill(R) PDMLink(R) 9.0, will assist us in continuing to improve product development processes at Alcon.”

“The improvements in electromechanical design capabilities will increase productivity at Daktronics,” states Jon Sprang, engineer, Daktronics. “Importing a complex design that used to take over three hours to complete we can now do in about 15 minutes with Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 4.0. Efficient ECAD-MCAD design collaboration is also an area that we have been struggling with. The new ECAD-MCAD collaboration capabilities will help us address these challenges.”

“The new capabilities in Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 4.0 focus on strengthening key processes that have the greatest impact on the success of a customer’s global development initiatives,” said James E. Heppelmann, executive vice president, software products, and chief product officer, PTC. “This release also underscores PTC’s continued emphasis on quality, usability and responsiveness to customer needs. By constantly evaluating our customers’ needs and the trends impacting the industry, PTC has made a significant investment in new capabilities for Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 4.0 that will continue to speed new product development in a globally dispersed environment.”  

Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 4.0 Upgrades and Product Availability :–

– Innovative new Auto Round(TM) Technology — Saves valuable time with automated rounding of even the most complex features. A rounding task which took an expert user 20 minutes to complete was accomplished by Auto Round in 40 seconds!

– Enhanced 3D Drawings — Automatically displays dimensions in 3D drawings which increases design information reuse and delivers production ready drawings. Publishes and accesses saved 3D drawing views in PTC ProductView(TM)

– Improved Large Assembly Performance — Automated and optimized assembly file management using simplified representations reduces memory consumption by 40% and model retrieval times by 60%

– Faster Surface Removal — Quickly removes round and hole geometry to prepare designs for mold making or simplify designs for analysis. Reduces model editing time by up to 50%!

– Advancements in Surface Editing — Helps optimize designs with new capabilities for directly editing surfaces including multi-resolution editing and smoothing

– New Pro/ENGINEER Tolerance Analysis Extension Powered by CETOL Technology — This new module quickly analyzes geometric tolerances and variances directly in the CAD model

– New Feature Recognition Tool — Quickly converts imported geometries to features in your model

– Improved Data Exchange — New and upgraded processors allow customers to better leverage other CAD data (including new module Pro/ENGINEER Interface for JT), publish Pro/ENGINEER data in 3D PDFs, and import exact product representations from ProductView

– Other features of Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 4.0 include an enhanced import DataDoctor with an easy-to-use, modernized user interface; updated data-exchange processors with support for CATIA V5, AutoCAD, 3D PDF, ProductView, and Rhino, and new support for JT; new security and rights management protection; easier and enhanced simulation; and more.

Design Outsourcing

– New Pro/ENGINEER Rights Management Extension — This new module persistently and dynamically protects valuable design intellectual property (IP) enabling additional levels of security when collaborating across and beyond the enterprise

Verification and Validation

– Easier and Enhanced Simulation — Helps customers analyze designs faster and easier with smart diagnostics, improved meshing, better assembly connectivity management and analysis of results Manufacturing Tooling and Factory Equipment Design — Improved Usability — Simplifies and automates the transformation of engineering designs into manufacturing processes with an easy to use, powerful process manager for toolpath definition, annotation features, and other key capabilities

Electromechanical Design Enhancements

– New Ribbon Cabling — Wildfire 4.0 also includes a new ribbon cabling function. It is said to create electromechanical designs faster with intelligent, automated capabilities for adding and routing ribbon cables (see March 08 DE for a detailed description).

– Faster Design Collaboration — New Pro/ENGINEER ECAD-MCAD Collaboration Extension accelerates electromechanical design with a new interface between MCAD and ECAD designs. Users can automatically identify incremental changes and cross-highlight between MCAD and ECAD board designs

– Modernization of the user interface (UI) was a major theme in the introduction to the software. The desire to deliver a familiar and consistent UI and the company’s success at that has paid off in the small- and medium-sized business market over the last four to five years, according to Campbell. PTC is intent on creating an environment that will allow the users of its software to spend less time learning the program and more time designing products.

Global Design Process Enhancements

• Optimize Detailed Design - Create both simple and complex designs faster with improved assembly performance, new Auto Round^TM capabilities, advanced surface editing, automated 3D drawing annotations, and more
• Optimize Manufacturing Tooling & Factory Equipment Design - Simplify and automate the transformation of engineering designs into manufacturing processes with an easy to use, powerful process manager tool for toolpath definition, annotation features, and other key tasks
• Optimize Verification and Validation - Analyze your designs faster and easier with smart diagnostics, improved meshing, better assembly connectivity management and analysis of results

– Among the first improvements highlighted during the launch event was Wildfire’s new Auto Round feature. Once a designer designates the sections of a model that need to be rounded, he then enters a few parameters and clicks a button. Auto Round takes over and places fillets and rounds on edges automatically using a library of existing algorithms. PTC says the task that might have taken a Pro/E expert 20 minutes to accomplish the old way can now be completed by the software in 40 seconds. A demonstration of the new feature after the introduction certainly backed up this claim.

– Among other improvements is automatic memory management to help with retrieval of such things as large assembly performance. It is said that automated and optimized assembly file management using simplified representations reduces memory consumption by 40 percent and model retrieval times by 60 percent.

– Also improved in this latest release is the display of dimensions in 3D drawings to increase design information reuse; new capabilities for directly editing surfaces including multi-resolution editing and smoothing; faster surface removal for mold making or analysis; and a new feature recognition tool to quickly convert imported geometries to features in your model.

– The new feature recognition tool (FRT) is a plug-in application for Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 4.0 and gives design engineers a comprehensive set of tools to selectively replace the geometries of features in imported solid models (IGES, STEP, etc.) with true parametric features. The feature enables design engineers to build design intelligence into imported models for easy, predictable changes. For example, a user can replace static hole geometry with a fully editable hole and use it downstream for assembly, detailing, and manufacturing. FRT can even recognize and place patterns of features.

– FRT enables the replacement of static geometry with feature-rich content, and works with simple or sketched holes, protrusions or pockets on flat or curved surfaces, extruded slots, constant-radius rounds, chamfers, and table patterns for holes. PTC says the feature will enable downstream reuse of imported models; rebuild flexibility into imported designs from a single, familiar modeling environment; and increase efficiency over remastering 3D imported designs by hand.

– One of the slickest pieces of the new version of Pro/E Wildfire is the package’s new ECAD-MCAD Collaboration Extension. This electromechanical capability enables both the solid model and the electronic design of the same component to be connected and viewed side by side. It’s a great way to help engineers working in each discipline on the same project, perhaps on different ends of the world, communicate their intentions and ideas better and more clearly. Enabled by a new interface between MCAD and ECAD designs, it allows for making fast work of incremental changes that can be cross-highlighted between MCAD and ECAD board designs. It allows each designer to work in his or her native environment and collaborate with ease.

– Using the new intellectual property (IP) module, Rights Management Extension (RMX) and Adobe LiveCycle Rights Management ES, a user can protect parts, assemblies, and drawings files by assigning varying levels of security to those sharing the files. For example, the person charged with controlling the digital rights management (DRM) policy, does so from a policy server and can give someone in another department or a partner in a project an “only open” permission for a specified period of time. This policy will allow for the part or assembly file to be opened, and interrogated (measured, cross-sections viewed, etc.), but will prevent all actions that could persist or replicate the data such as save, export, copy geometry, etc.

– Protected Pro/E files have “persistent and dynamic protection,” meaning the originator can grant more rights or disable access quickly and easily from the policy server to change the permissions or revoke a vendor’s right to access the file at any time. In addition, the policy server includes auditing capabilities, which report both successful and unsuccessful attempts to open protected content. This provides the IP owner with insight into how and when a model is accessed and provides accountability through the tracking of each partner’s use of a model.

–  Also within the Open Dialog is a new tool – Open Representation. This allows you to work with the types of huge datasets that are now common and allow you to do so, efficiently, loading the data you need. This tool allows you to either open a predefined representation that perhaps reflects a zone of work (incidentally, zoning is updated with the ability to use a bounding box, rather than work planes), a sub-system with additional information etc. It also allows you to open a very lightweight version automatically if you allow Pro/E to make decisions about what it’s going to load up. For example, as default, it will load a pure graphics-based representation thought to be around 75% lighter in terms of memory usage.

– This technology also extends into working with the system, and as you work with sub-assemblies and parts these are swapped in and out of memory as required. The active sub-assemblies are fully loaded but the remainder of the model is greyed out and transparent – making complex sub-assembly much less ambiguous as you can see where it is in the grand scheme of things. What’s important to note is that when you’re done with your modelling task the system unloads the data and reverts back to the graphics only representation.

Reference Viewer

The new Reference Viewer is interesting as it consolidates a number of existing tools into a single chunk of functionality for inspecting product structure and the inherently complex parent and child references that exist in a modelling system like Pro/Engineer.It allows you to explore inter-part and inter-assembly relationships to a very granular level (we’re talking feature to feature level). This serves a couple of purposes. If you have a complex product model, a seemingly small change can wreak havoc with your model, so with this tool you can graphically see how changing a feature can propagate through your model where problems could potentially arise. In many cases, a bit of forethought can save you the sheer pain of having to redo that work if you can see the effects and make an informed decision. Also, accepting that sometimes you do need to break though relationships, the Reference Viewer allows you to do that in a controlled environment.

Unrelated Model Replace

Another feature which will prove useful for those working with ever-changing assembly models (and who’s not these days?) is the Unrelated Model Replace function. While most of us should be familiar with working intelligently with families of parts and assemblies to create product variants and configurations, many also have to build products from seemingly unrelated sub-systems and sub-assemblies – something that’s not particularly applicable to automation when it’s on a case by case basis. What the Unrelated Model Replace function does is support this by providing you with the tools you need to dynamically swap parts or sub-assemblies out of an existing design. It allows you to break the initial mating and positioning references, then gives you a mechanism to reassign them to the new data; whether it’s native Pro/E data or imported third-party geometry. It works on both upstream and downstream (parent or child) relationships and when combined with the Reference Viewer, makes light work of something that could traditionally be a royal pain in the behind. If it’s a common process then you can take a workflow and set of references and set-up the processes an interchange assembly to make it much more automated – the system will take the work you’ve done already and standardise it, so it can be reused and distributed amongst your design team.

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