A tiny group of developers saw that the future of CAD was on the web in 2010. They called it Buerli.
cad
nTopology’s GPU Acceleration
nTopology found a way to dramatically speed up their 3D modeling operations.
Shapr3D Introduces “Drawings”
Shapr3D announced some big changes to their popular and easy-to-use 3D CAD tool.
Book of the Week: Artificial Intelligence Revolution
This week’s selection is “Artificial Intelligence Revolution: how AI Will Change Our Society, Economy and Culture” by Robin Li.
SOLIDWORKS For Students And Makers Coming Later This Year
Dassault Systèmes announced some changes to SOLIDWORKS pricing that will be of interest to both students and makers.
Matt Rittman’s Gun CAD Creations Show How The Real Things Work
It can be baffling how CAD encompasses a seemingly infinite number of fields: from animation, to product prototyping, to homemade 3D printing.
Autodesk Fusion 360 Discount Available
Autodesk is offering a notable discount on their powerful 3D CAD tool, Fusion 360.
Siemens’ Latest NX Offers Big Enhancements
When Siemens implemented its continuous release plan almost two years ago, it promised enhancements to NX every six months.
Autodesk Adds Fusion 360 To Netfabb
Autodesk announced a very interesting addition to Netfabb: Fusion 360!
Rhino3D Version 7 Released
Robert McNeel & Associates has released version 7 of their popular 3D CAD tool, Rhinoceros, a.k.a. Rhino3D.
The UK’s Design For AM Network
There’s a meeting place for those working on methods for additive manufacturing design in the UK: the Design for AM Network.
Book of the Week: Feature-Driven Method for Structural Optimization
This week’s selection is “Feature-Driven Method for Structural Optimization” by Weihong Zhang and Ying Zhou.
Book of the Week: The Complete Guide to Blender Graphics
This week’s selection is “The Complete Guide to Blender Graphics: Computer Modeling & Animation” by John M. Blain.
Shining 3D Launches Reverse Engineering Service
Shining 3D has launched a new reverse engineering service.
NVIDIA is Buying Arm for $40 Billion
How much would you sell your arm for? For SoftBank Group, the answer is $40 billion.
Modeler Recreates Scenes From Studio Ghibli’s “Nausicaä” in 3D
If you’ve never watched a Studio Ghibli movie before, stop what you are doing and watch one now.
A Portable 4K Touchscreen For High-Res CAD on the Go
With 4K screens the norm nowadays, you would think there are many an option for portable 4K displays.
Autodesk Opens Up About Generative Design
Thousands of Autodesk users, employees, and partners converged this week for the annual Autodesk University conference.
KeyShot 3MF Support Offers Full-Color 3D Prints
The 3D Manufacturing Format (3MF) file type is about to go prime-time owing to KeyShot and Stratasys.
Bullish on the CAE Market: Tech Soft 3D Acquires Visual Kinematics
Engineering software toolkit provider Tech Soft 3D has acquired California-based Visual Kinematics (VKI). VKI develops a suite of software development kits (SDKs) called DevTools for computer aided engineering (CAE) applications.
BeYou Chair Lets You Sit Anyway Way You Like
Have you ever sat on a chair and thought, “Man, I wish there was a more comfortable place to sit”?
CAD Exchanger Adds CATIA, DWG, U3D, FBX Support
If you’re a user of multiple CAD platforms and 3D creation apps…
Book of the Week: Parametric Solid Modeling Projects
This week’s selection is “Parametric Solid Modeling Projects” by Prof. Sham Tickoo of Purdue University.
Sony’s Spatial Reality Is a New Type of 3D Display Technology
As technology becomes more compact, trendsetters start researching ways to improve multi-sensory experience.
SimplyColor3D Goes 2.0
SimplyColor3D has now now moved to version 2.0, and it includes a lot more features.
New Fusion 360 Features: Text on a Path, Text Frame, and More
The latest update from the Fusion 360 crew has us pulling our sock over our knee-caps and throwing our hats in the air.
MSC Joins the Generative Design Parade
We catch up with Dr. Thomas Reiher, cofounder of AMendate, who is now director of Hexagon’s generative design division.
NVIDIA Snaps Suspenders, Announces RTX A6000 and A40 Video Cards
NVIDIA officially snapped their suspenders announcing the next in their series of GPUs sporting the latest graphics-crackin’ Ampere microarchitecture.
Free Online Sculpting Tool: SculptGL
I’m trying out something called “SculptGL”, an online 3D sculpting tool.
The GeForce RTX 30 Cards Are Insane. What’s Coming Up for Quadro?
NVIDIA has come out to play with three new graphics cards, the GeForce RTX 30 Series.
Generating Gradient Material 3D Prints With GraMMaCAD
Fraunhofer IGD has developed a new type of software for 3D printing that enables use of gradient-style materials.
RIP Vic Leventhal: SOLIDWORKS Former COO and True Legend
If you use SOLIDWORKS now or used it in the past, one person you have to thank is Vic Leventhal.
SOLIDWORKS 2021 Now Available
Dassault Systèmes has released SOLIDWORKS 2021, the latest version of the powerful 3D CAD tool.
Onshape CAD | Four Surface Modeling Tech Tips to Grow By!
The folks over at Onshape have been cranking out a ton of resource material across all categories.
Entirely New Form Of 3D Design Developed: Computational Design Synthesis
Researchers have developed what appears to be a far more accessible method of developing highly complex 3D models for 3D printing.
Mesh Modeling, Part 2: Siemens Convergent Modeling for Meshes and NURBS-based Geometry
Developers of Siemens NX are working to integrate mesh data for everyday CAD users.
Mesh Modeling, Part 1: 3D Printer Company 3D Systems Has Geomagic, Other Software for Meshes
For decades, many CAD users have looked askance at data for any purpose made from point clouds, or polygonal meshes.
Why Would You Need CAD Conversion?
I hadn’t deeply considered the idea of CAD file conversion until I realized this could be a very difficult challenge for larger companies.
Shapr3D Adds Adaptive UI, Proves 3D CAD Can Be Smarter
Shapr3D has been doing a lot of ‘bringing’ to their iPadOS-based CAD app over the past three years.
nPower’s New Power Shell and Power Thicken Powers Up Your SOLIDWORKS Shelling
Shelling a 3D model can be daunting, but nPower’s new Power Shell makes it a lot easier.
ZBrushCoreMini is the New, Free Sculpting App from Pixologic
Get your sculpt brushes and buckets of inspiration ready. Today, Pixologic introduced ZBrushCoreMini, a free entry-level version of its ZBrushCore and ZBrush software designed to help people get started with digital sculpting.
Planning On A Move To Fusion 360? Deal Available Until July 17
We’ve learned Autodesk has an excellent promotion this month for their very popular Fusion 360 suite.
SketchUp Goes Subscription-Only
SketchUp, the 3D tool many of us began learning 3D concepts from, has moved to a subscription payment model.
Book of the Week: CAD Monkeys, Dinosaur Babies and T-Shaped People
This week’s selection is “CAD Monkeys, Dinosaur Babies and T-Shaped People: Inside the World of Design Thinking and How It Can Spark Creativity and Innovation” by Warren Berger.
Behold: Pico CAD
Game developer Johan Peitz posted a tweet recently with an animation of a project he’s working on called Pico CAD, an 8-bit 3D modeling tool.
Another Generative 3D CAD Alternative: Gen3D
I’m taking a quick look at Gen3D, a CAD tool for generating complex structures that can then be 3D printed.
MAINGEAR Pro WS Workstations Bring Big Power to 3D Professionals
Designers, artists, and 3D professionals across different industries know there’s nothing better than a powerful computer that cuts through your processes like warm butter.
Free Access To Fusion 360 — For A Short Time
Autodesk is offering use of their powerful CAD tool, Fusion 360, at no charge for a limited time to help emergency COVID-19 efforts.
Book of the Week: Design for Additive Manufacturing
This week’s selection is “Design for Additive Manufacturing” by Martin Leary, who explains the economics of 3D printing and how to apply them through CAD design.
Dassault Systèmes Introduces Flow-Driven Design System
Dassault Systèmes introduced a new workflow to optimize generative design that is 10x faster than previous methods.
Creo 7.0 Adds Generative Design and More
PTC has revealed details of the latest Creo release, Creo 7.0, available on April 14.
Vagon.io is the New Cloud Computer for Designers, Engineers, and 3D Professionals
A new cloud-based virtual desktop service could provide a platform to perform high performance 3D work.
Book of the Week: The Pushing Points Topology Workbook
This week’s selection is “The Pushing Points Topology Workbook” by William C. Vaughan.
Lenovo ThinkStation P520 Workstation [Review]
Lenovo has released a workstation that is quite appropriate for use as a CAD platform.
Tech Soft 3D Snags ‘Significant’ Funding
Tech Soft 3D, a producer of powerful toolkits for CAD/CAM applications, received significant funding.
More 3D Print Workflow Automation Coming from Additive Flow
Additive Flow has unveiled a new generative design tool for additive manufacturing that has the unique ability to handle solutions for materials and mechanical design simultaneously.
A 3D Modeling Newbie Tries SelfCAD
Could a complete 3D newbie master the easy-to-use SelfCAD? We put it to the test.
Free CAD Utility Recommendations Available
I’ve found a source with a ton of CAD utility recommendations that could make life easier for anyone using 3D CAD to create designs for 3D printing.
The Dawn of Dual-Screen for 3D CAD Apps… Is Upon Us
You would think this article is from a decade or two ago, but no. It’s really about dual-screen and CAD software using dual-screens… but not like you’re used to.
ParaMatters’s CogniCAD “Lightweights” Experimental EV
EV maker Archimoto leveraged ParaMatters’ CogniCAD generative CAD tool to optimize the weight of several key metal components.
Wacom Starts Off 2020 With A $400 Drawing Tablet
Wacom announced the new Wacom One, a handy drawing tablet that may be of use to those doing 3D CAD design.
A Smarter Way to Look at Simulation Results?
The company’s main product is VCollab, a solution created to make the results of engineering simulation more easily shared and understood.
Book of the Week: 3D Printing Projects
This week’s selection is “3D Printing Projects” by Sachidanand Jha. It is a book that will definitely increase your 3D CAD design efficiency.
A Great Way To Learn Grasshopper
A new book explains how to use McNeel’s Grasshopper plug-in for Rhino 3D in a very simple and easy-to-learn manner.
peel 3D Announces The peel 2 CAD 3D Scanner
peel 3D just announced a new professional handheld 3D scanner, the peel 2 CAD, which includes some intriguing workflow simplification features.
Book of the Week: Python for 3D Printing
There’s a rather interesting book that can show you how to use Python programming to supercharge your 3D modeling experience for 3D printing.
Dollars and Sense: Your Next Simulation Should Be On the Cloud
You might value the perfect simulation model, striving for perfection—an engineering ideal if ever there was one.
Skilled Implementation Vs. Solution Creation
Did you know there are two ways to solve design problems?
The New Tesla Cybertruck is Dang Easy to Model in Blender
How hard is it to design the new Tesla Cybertruck in 3D? One designer tried to do so in Blender.
Book of the Week: Fusion 360 For Makers
This week’s selection is “Fusion 360 For Makers” by Lydia Sloane Cline.
nTopology Releases nTop Platform 2.0
nTopology released the latest version of their nTop Platform software, 2.0, and it seems to include some incredibly powerful built-in toolkits.
Tutorial: Model Wave Forms using Creo Parametric Variable Section Sweep and TRAJPAR Function
3D modeling waveforms may be a very complex matter, but here is a tutorial to show you how it’s done in PTC CREO.
Robiot Can Automatically Design Handy Household Machines
Researchers have developed an incredible system to automatically design 3D printable parts to implement mechanical systems from only a video.
Assembly Required: New Photo Series Makes Fine Art Out of Exploded Views
An increasingly frequent approach to 3D design is to employ an “exploded view” of the components. Here we see how they can be turned into artwork in addition to their functional use.
What Is Digital Inventory And How Does It Work?
Digital Inventory is a new approach to manufacturing and few know how it works. We spoke with Dominik Lindenberger of 3YOURMIND to find out more.
Question of the Week: Getting Involved in 3D Printing
How can one get involved in 3D printing? There are many ways to learn, use and exploit 3D printing, and we list many ways to do so.
Hello Class, Today We’re Making a Jumbo 747
Learning CAD? How about starting with modeling an entire Boeing 747? Yes, that actually happened.
Lockheed Martin Goes All In On 3DEXPERIENCE
Lockheed Martin agreed to make use of Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE platform. Why did they do so and what benefits might they incur? We speculate.
Whoa! Onshape Acquired By PTC!
In a blockbuster corporate acquisition, PTC is to acquire Onshape to gain access to a powerful CAD cloud system that can be marketed to all their users.
Autodesk Adds Extensions to Fusion 360
Autodesk is expanding its Fusion 360 repertoire by adding extensions.
COMSOL Multiphysics 5.5 Is Evolutionary
What new features are found in COMSOL Multiphysics 5.5? We have a list of new features in the CAD optimization tool.
Digits2Widgets Rebrands as “Additive”
Why would a popular 3D print service change their name? It turns out Digits2Widgets had a very good reason.
Autodesk Changes Fusion 360 Free License Terms
It will no longer be as easy to obtain a free license of Autodesk Fusion 360 CAD software with new requirements for qualification.
Cool CAD Tips: How to Easily Thread Parts in Autodesk Fusion 360
If you ever wanted to create threaded fasteners for screws, nuts, bolts and the like on the fly using good old Fusion 360, Autodesk has a simple method to easily implement them.
Acer Powers Up Their Concept D Laptops With NVIDIA RTX GPUs
Never one to fall behind the times, Acer is updating their previously announced Concept D laptops with NVIDIA’s new Quadro RTX graphics cards.
Cloud-Based Design and Simulation Powers Next-Generation Engineering
CAD tools have changed significantly, and today the promise of cloud-based design services could provide even greater capabilities in the future.
This Insane 3D Art Series Shines a Modern Light on Retro Technologies
The magical retro-technology renderings of Julien Rivorie – a 3D artist and graphic designer based in France.
Product Design in the Cloud Gets a Helping Hand
There’s no longer much doubt about the benefits and ubiquity of the cloud, but its utility in product design is still being understood.
How Lockheed Martin is Using Augmented Reality in Aerospace Manufacturing
Lockheed Martin is famous for engineering innovation, dating back to the legendary Skunkworks.
Are Your Parts ADfAM?
What kind of parts are in your digital inventory? Are they ADfAM? We propose a new class of 3D printable parts.
Autodesk Introduces Fusion 360 Extensions
Using Autodesk Fusion 360 for manufacturing? Autodesk has introduced extensions to the popular 3D CAD software to enhance manufacturing and additive operations.
Is Blender 2.8 Suitable for 3D Printing?
Blender is upgraded to v2.8. Does this mean it is suitable for making 3D printable 3D models? We look at the pros and cons of the new software system.
SimSolid Faster than FEA, Just as Accurate. What’s Not to Like?
It’s no fun to get a part or assembly ready for simulation. SimSolid is a very useful FEA tool that can assist with CAD simulations and designs.
Onshape Bringing Back the Local User Meeting
Turn out at the Onshape user meeting was light.
nTopology’s New nTop Platform Offers High Speed Complex Design
Have a gigantic 3D model? nTopology’s nTop Platform can easily handle it, and also provide super-complex analyses, simulations and generative design.