In the first two blog posts in this series, we focused on offerings that benefit students – printed and electronic training guides, as well as Video-Enhanced eBooks. In addition to these products, ASCENT also offers a solution that supports instructors.
Our Instructor Tools are available for ASCENT’s Autodesk, CATIA and PTC products and are designed to be used in conjunction with ASCENT’s Student Guides.
Instructor Tools are downloadable pdf files containing timing suggestions for delivering classes, as well as answers to the questions posed in the student training guides. Some Instructor Tools also include presentation files for use when teaching classes. This means trainers can spend less time on class preparation and focus their attention instead on teaching and fielding student questions. Many trainers find ASCENT Instructor Tools to be a helpful teaching aid.
ASCENT is committed to providing comprehensive education solutions that serve the needs of both students and trainers. In addition to classroom resources like training guides and instructor tools, ASCENT also offers eLearning solutions – we’ll explore these in more depth in the next two blog posts.
In our first blog post in this series, we explored ASCENT’s printed and electronic training guides. In addition to these offerings, Autodesk users also can benefit from ASCENT’s Video-Enhanced eBooks. These versions of the Autodesk Official Training Guides contain all the same content as the corresponding printed guides, but they are also augmented with video content produced by CADLearning.
Embedded videos include explanations of product features and processes, product demonstrations, and hands-on exercises. This video content is very effective at reinforcing important learning concepts.
Based on our experience with clients, we have found that Video-Enhanced eBooks work well in situations where:
Students have different learning styles.
Learners want to see features and tools clearly demonstrated as they are intended to be used. In each video, it’s possible to watch every step that an expert takes to complete a particular task or operation.
Employees want to return to their training guides to refresh themselves quickly on key concepts, tricks, and tips. Videos allow students to jog their memories in a fast, efficient way, rather than reading through text.
When you invest in engineering tools and training, you want employees to retain knowledge both during and after class. ASCENT’s Video-Enhanced eBooks are a proven way to make that happen. To learn more, feel free to contact us. Stay tuned for our next blog post in this series which will explore how ASCENT’s Instructor Tools can make life easier for trainers.
Welcome to a 5-Part Blog Series where we'll cover the breadth of offerings that ASCENT has to offer. ~This is Post #1 in this Series~
If your employees rely on engineering software to do their work, it’s essential that they understand how to use these tools in the most efficient ways possible. As teams achieve higher levels of productivity, it has a positive impact on their organizations’ bottom line.
ASCENT’s courseware developers, engineers, instructional designers and technical writers understand what it takes to create effective training solutions for organizations. In this blog series, we’ll explore ASCENT’s educational offerings and how you and your team can benefit from them.
Training guides are a great study aid and reference tool and ASCENT provides both printed and electronic guides for software from Autodesk, as well as for Dassault Systèmes’ CATIA and PTC’s Creo and Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire. ASCENT’s training guides (also referred to as Student Guides), include links to training files and practice exercises that help bring students up to speed quickly on their chosen software.
While some students prefer printed training guides, others like the convenience of eBooks that can be viewed on their computers or tablets. One advantage of eBooks is that they are immediately accessible after purchase, since there’s no need to wait for a shipment of a physical book. eBooks offer several other features, including:
Accessibility on multiple devices. ASCENT’s electronic training guides are downloadable to both mobile and desktop devices, so students have access to the information they need at any time.
Ability to annotate and share notes. Students can highlight and make notes in ASCENT’s eBooks. That information can be synchronized and shared on multiple devices and with multiple users of the same eBook.
Searchable content. Keyword search is supported within electronic training guides.
Flexible and configurable highlighting. Different colored highlights can be configured for different purposes, such as exam-related content, information that needs clarification, and more.
Dynamically updated content. The latest updates and revisions to ASCENT’s training guides are automatically delivered to students.
Training guides and eBooks are just the beginning of ASCENT’s educational offerings. In our next blog post, we will explore the benefits of Video-Enhanced eBooks, including greater information retention among learners.
With the release of Autodesk Inventor 2016 R2, subscription customers were given access to an exciting new tool called Shape Generator. With last month’s release of Autodesk Inventor 2017, this tool is now available for everyone to use.
What is Shape Generator?
The Shape Generator tool enables you to design light-weight models based on specified loading and design requirements. After setting the requirements and running the Shape Generator, you are presented with a 3D mesh design that can be used as a guide to redesign the initial geometry. The following shows the progression of a model from its initial design, through Shape Generator, to the final design.
TIP: Before getting started, your model should represent the overall volume and shape of the intended geometry. The model should contain any required contact points (such as holes) that will represent pin locations and surfaces that will sustain forces.
The following steps describe how to generate a design using Shape Generator:
1. In the 3D Model tab>Explore panel, click (Shape Generator) to open the model in the Shape Generator environment. The Analysis tab becomes active and the first Shape Generator study is automatically created in the Model browser. As you define settings, they are automatically added as nodes in the Model browser.
2. In the Material panel, click (Assign). Using the Assign Materials dialog box, you can select a new material for testing or maintain the “As Defined” material. You can skip this step if you simply want to use the default material that is already assigned.
3. Assigning the constraints and loads is a key step in achieving a successful result. The constraints and loads you assign to the model should accurately represent the stresses that the part will encounter. A Constraints and Loads panel is provided to assign these settings.
Constraints should accurately define the translational or rotational degrees of freedom that exist in its working environment. Fixed, Pin, and Frictionless constraints can be assigned. To assign the constraint, select the required type and then select the face, edge, or vertex to assign it to.
Loads should be assigned to represent the applied load on the model. Force, Pressure, Bearing, Moment, Gravity, Remote Force, and Body loads can be assigned. Similar to assigning constraints, select the required Load type and then select the face, edge, or vertex to assign it to. In addition to reference selection, you must also specify the load’s magnitude.
4. Define the design criteria using the Shape Generator Settings. To open the Shape Generator Settings dialog box, click (Shape Generator Settings). You can:
Reduce the mass by a specified percentage or to a specific value.
Define a specific member size that must be maintained during 3D mesh creation. This helps ensure that the mesh does not generate a wall thickness that cannot be manufactured or might fail structural testing.
5. (Optional) In most models, there will be regions that should not be removed. For example, specific areas around bolt holes or other supporting features may need to be maintained to ensure that the model functions as required. In the Goals and Criteria panel, click (Preserve Region). By dragging a cylindrical or box geometry around these “keep out” areas (shown below) you can set zones that will be preserved during the analysis. To start the area, select a reference face and then drag the boundary shape, as required.
6. (Optional) Symmetry planes can be assigned in the model to force the Shape Generator to produce a 3D mesh result that is symmetric about a selected plane or up to three planes (XY, XZ, or YZ). In the Goals and Criteria panel, click (Symmetry Plane). Toggle the active planes to define the model symmetry. Active planes appear red in the model.
7. Once the analysis has been set up, click (Generate Shape) and then click Run in the Generate Shape dialog box to start the analysis. The result will be a 3D Mesh model.
8. Once the mesh model is generated, it can be promoted to the modeling environment to be used as a guide for making modeling changes to the geometry. In the Export panel, click (Promote Shape) and select whether to copy the 3D mesh model directly to the part modeling environment (Current Part File) or to an STL file (STL File) that can be imported separately.
9. Once the 3D mesh model is overlayed on top of the original file, you can use the standard part modeling tools to remove material from the non-meshed areas of the geometry.
This process is as straight forward as it sounds. In my opinion, the key step is in defining the constraints and loads to be as accurate as possible. In fact, there are even some advanced customizations that can be made when assigning these that can more accurately help you to define the model. Once you have used the 3D Mesh to redesign the model, it is highly recommended that you still incorporate the use of the Stress Analysis environment to further analyze the structural integrity of the final geometry.
Good luck and have fun trying it out!!
If you are familiar with our ASCENT student guides, I have added an entire chapter on Generative Shape Design to the Autodesk Inventor 2017 Advanced Part Modelingstudent guide that is now available. This includes a hands on exercise that you can work through, as well as more detailed steps about how to use this great tool.
Thank you to everyone that joined my Visualization in Civil 3D webcast on April 1, 2016. For those of you that were not able to join the webcast, here is a link to the recording so that you can watch it.
As I mentioned, this material was all taught from the content that is available in Chapter 8 of the Civil 3D 2016 Grading training guide. I thought I would use this blog to reiterate answers to questions that came into the Q&A and Chat panels.
Q1: Is there a way to import/export material libraries? Or download more styles or templates from online?
A1: Yes. To open a custom library, expand (Manage Libraries) at the bottom of the Materials Browser and select Open Existing Library. Library files are saved with an .ADSKLIB file extension. To import a new material into the drawing, just drag and drop the material into the drawing as I showed in the webcast.
Q2: Is there a section in the study guides that will walk us thru how to use the mapping.
A2: I assume this question has to do with the AutoCAD Map 3D commands. If so, no,the Grading book does not cover any AutoCAD Map 3D commands. However we do have a Map 3D training guide that takes you through many of the commands found in AutoCAD Civil 3D’s Planning and Analysis workspace plus a lot more productivity commands that originate in AutoCAD Map 3D but are available in AutoCAD Civil 3D.
Q3: How could you add materials if your parking lot is created using feature lines?
A3: Create a separate surface for each type of material. Then apply the material to the surface. This means I will create a surface using the Edge of Asphalt feature lines along with any drainage points. Once done, assign it the render material Asphalt. Then I would create a surface using just curb feature lines and assign it a render material of concrete. To ensure you have an overall finished ground surface, create a new surface, then paste into it all the other surfaces starting with the existing ground, then curbs, then asphalt, etc. Keep in mind that if two surfaces share the same location horizontally, the triangles used to set the elevation for the surface are defined by the last paste.
Q4: Why not just use ncopy to import the polyline then assign a finished floor elevation before extruding instead of feature?
A4: Tom Richardson, thank you for pointing this out. I was not aware of the ncopy command until this webcast. That is why I used the featureline command. Now that I know it exists, I will definitely recommend it to people.
Q5: Could you paste those together? The surface that is?
A5: Yes, you can paste the various surfaces together. However, as soon as you do, the entire surface becomes one material. That is I why I suggest using the overall finished ground surface for staking purposes and not visualization purposes.
Q6: I missed that part where you exploded the feature line from the building. After you exploded it, it became a polyline and then you extruded it a certain height right?
A6: Correct, once I had a polyline in my drawing, I used the 3D molding command Extrude to create a solid to represent my building. If you would like to learn more on how to work with solids, check out our AutoCAD 2016 3D Drawing and Modeling training guide.
Q7: Would it help with processing in you turned off the display of the surface triangles?
A7: Are you are asking if it will help the render processing by turning off the surface triangles or the regen process? If so, I don’t think it would hurt especially if your surface is very large. Another option to speed things up is to turn off isolines.
Q8: What specs would your computer need to do the rendering you did today? Like ram and memory?
A8: My computer is running Windows 8, has an Intel® Core™ i7-3720QM CPU @2.6 GHz processor, and 16 GB of RAM. As I said, if you are doing a full render, I highly recommend rendering to the cloud to save your computer from being overloaded. Besides, rendering in the cloud allows you to keep working while the model renders which definitely raises your value to your employer.
Q9: Would you use a mask instead of creating different surfaces to represent different materials?
A9: I found that rather than using the mask tool, I like to create hide boundaries in my overall surface to show other surfaces in its place. Definitely watch the video because I walked through how to do this during the webcast. If you did not catch all of it, buying the book is definitely worth it to see each step broken out.
Again, thank you for attending and for all your positive feedback on this training guide. I love hearing from you on how things are working and how we can make enhancements to the training guides we provide. Feel free to email me at feedback@ASCENTed.com with your comments.
