IMAGINiT Manufacturing Solutions Blog

Product Design Suite: Large Assembly Review with Navisworks Simulate

It seems like the updates to Product Design Suite have focused on the software integrations and the inclusion of the AutoCAD Electrical package, but there is another hidden gem in those new Suites.  Navisworks Simulate has been included in the Premium and Ultimate versions of the Suite.  So what is this product, what does it do for me, and why do I want utilize it in my organization?

Well those are all good questions, and lets take a look at answering them.  Autodesk Navisworks Simulate software provides advanced tools for simulation and powerful features to help you better communicate project information. Multidisciplinary design data created in a broad range of Building Information Modeling (BIM), digital prototypes, and process plant design applications can be combined into a single, integrated project model. Comprehensive schedule, cost, animation, and visualization capabilities assist users in demonstrating design intent and simulating construction, helping to improve insight and predictability.

Real-time navigation combines with a review toolset to support collaboration among the project team. Entire project models can be published and viewed in NWD and DWF file formats to provide valuable digital assets from design through construction planning.  The NWD models can then be viewed in Navisworks Freedom for live sectioning, animations, flythroughs and comment review.

Yea, that verbiage was right off the product description.  So what does it do for me really Mr. Senior Application Engineer?  Isn't this another Design Review and DWF thingy for review?  Well, this essentially seperates it from Design Review and other viewing products.

• Very Large Assembly Review without need of Inventor
• View recorded animations in the free viewer
• 4D simulations with TimeLiner
• Create AVIs, images, DWFs, Google Earth
• More security controls than DWF
• MS Project Export of Gantt charts for construction
• Reference together other data from Revit, Microstation and other software that you don't own

Enough of the reading, do some watching here in this 18 minute video I created talking about it more and demonstrating it.  Afterwards consider how you could use this software in your post fabrication processes for installation, pre-planning for design change scheduling, create some awesome construction animations, or just look more awesome with your Product Design Suite in general.

 

This video was done as an addendum to our Autodesk 2013 Virtual Event.  If you want to hear more about the 2013 products and hear more of my presentations and more from the rest of our team, be sure to check out the on demand sessions still available for about another 90 days.  Go register for free and then watch enough during lunch to call it an "executive" lunch.

Know.It.All 2013 Virtual Event On Demand Sessions

Product Design Suite: Conceptualize Design

In yesterday's post we focused on the mobile apps that Autodesk has for conceptual designer. From the mobile apps and your free cloud storage, we can take our design right into Inventor or AutoCAD from that Force Effect DXF file or we can use images as a sketch reference to create geometry.  If we were not doing simulations but we do want an image based guide for developing our geometry inside Inventor.  This type of image to model refererncing is rather common in today's design environments.

Now I am sure after reading the post that your manager was very understanding of why you need an iPad for work.  No?  Well maybe we can sneak it in on our next project budget.  Until then we can always use Sketchbook Designer that comes with our Product Design Suite for some really nice conceptual visuals of the design you intend to create, or for some quick itteraiton and manipulation in the initial concept meetings.  What you will find most awesome about this "Photoshop for Engineers" is that the output is not all raster but in fact vector data that can be used directly in your CAD apps.

Check out this video on Sketchbook Designer data into AutoCAD, Inventor and Showcase to aid in the conceptual design process.

 

Now if you would rather circumvent the AutoCAD process or if noone has data in AutoCAD for your design cycle you can jump right to Inventor with your Sketchbook Designer DWG.  Take a look at this video from the 2012 Product Design Suite.

 

Next up we will take a look at Large Assembly Review and planning software in Navisworks Simulate which is as of the 2013 release, now included in the Product Design Suite Premium and Ultimate.

Autodesk Mobile Apps: Force Effect and Sketchbook Mobile

The Autodesk line of mobile apps seems to be growing all the time, but I wanted to focus on a few of the apps that are beneficial for when you are not in the office but still want to let that engineer swagger come out.  Two of them have been around for some time while the third is actually an update of a previous one.

Force Effect and Force Effect Motion both allow you to do Simulation anywhere for free body diagrams.  Force Effect Motion was recently released and allows the user to perform studies with linear actuators and motors and even show trace points.  This has really been a nice benefit to me when I am inspecting a user's machine and I can quick snap a pic and use it as the background for my FBD or Motion study while in the field.  The other side of this coin is that I can then transfer the FBD back to a DXF in my immense Autodesk Cloud storage and then access back on my PC.  Oh yea, the reports are cool too, it can save my images, equations, and graphs of data.

And if you have an Android tablet or phone, don't worry, I hear its coming soon for that.

But what if I don't have a camera on my device or the product doesn't actually exist yet?  Well look no furthur than Sketchbook Mobile Express or Pro (lots more features for a cheap price).  Simply start sketching your idea in the canvas and then apply that to the Force Effect app of your choosing as a background.  I will also go on record as saying in the past I was not a fan of Sketchbook for Engineers...I am eating my words in this post, it has REALLY grown on me for design work.

Check out how these apps can work in conjunction with each other in the video below.

 

Don't have any tablet to do this cool sketching?  Well fret not, you have Sketchbook Designer in your Product Design Suites.  Well post on that tomorrow with a little more detail about how we are going to get into design with these concept sketching tools.

Autodesk Technology Preview: Inventor Factory Modz

Autodesk just released a Physics Based Factory Animation Technology Preview on Autodesk Labs called Factory Modz.  It allows you to animate and simulate your products as they interact with people, forklifts, and conveyors.  For the initial tech preview, it really is nice.  If you are working with the Factory Design Suite, Product Design Suite, or plain Inventor, make sure to download it and check it out.  Here is our very own Factory Expert Rusty Belcher's initial review video and be sure to download it here and try it out: Autodesk Labs