Ellipsis

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  Ellipsis is the official blog of Autodesk's Technical Evangelist Team. We will discuss all things design and manufacturing related with a focus on industries such as automotive and transportation, consumer products, industrial machinery and building product manufacturing and fabrication. We also have resident experts who will blog about specific product developments in CAD, Simulation, Industrial Design and Data Management.

  We look forward to providing you, our user community, with the most relevant and up to date developments in our industry, and hopefully with information that will assist you in doing your job better, faster, and more precisely.

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  Ahh, the Week Before AU
  November 20, 2009 09:19 AMby Rob Cohee

  So I’ve been working for a while now on my new BIM for Manufacturers class, videos, presentation, etc and I’m pretty geeked about rolling it out at AU. BIM as many of you know is one of the few ackronyms we through around here… just a few [grin]. It stands for Building Information Modeling and it is absolutely revolutionizing the way in which buildings are designed, constructed, and commissioned. If you are a building product or equipment manufacturer you are already aware of the demands for “BIM content”.

  So what architects, contractors, and building owners are asking of you sounds at the surface at least an easy request. “Hey, you already have that thing-a-ma-bob already modeled up – why don’t you just sent that my way so I can put it into my Revit file?” Oh, what’s that you say…. It’s a 15,000 part assembly, and you have every nut bolt and washer, tolerance, drilled and tapped hole, folded and unfolded sheet metal parts built into that model. Well that’s just too much detail, why would you put that much detail into a 3D model…. Hmmm, maybe its because our entire manufacturing process is derived from my Digital Prototype.

  

  So this is the dilemma that I’m working to resolve. How can I provide information to architects, contractors, and engineers that contains the right information, with the right level of detail, right now?
  Ready for it….wait, here it comes – It depends.
  That’s Confucius level thinking there eh? Did you hear the harpsichord in the background while you read the ultimate answer – It depends… I did.
  But seriously it depends on two key things. Your current deliverables – are you a 2D or 3D house. Second it depends on your desired result – is this a situation where I can send “the” exact configuration of a specific order to the architect, or do I want to market my products through an online resource designed specifically to host product specifications and design files?
  So you see what I mean then, right? It honestly depends. Over the next month I’m going to be rolling out workflows for four key profiles in this process.
  1.       2D design houses that are happy to be 2D for now but still need to create 3D BIM content. Without slowing down engineering production.
  2.       Autodesk Inventor houses that want to protect intellectual property, but also want to provide BIM content without remodeling what has already been modeled.
  3.       AnyCAD houses that can utilize the tools designed specifically to simplify models using native translators and AEC Exchange functionality again to provide BIM content without remodeling.
  4.       Houses that want to publish a catalog of products, in multiple formats, and host that data on an online resource designed to host product specification and design files.

  So a lot of information coming out after Autodesk University. Stay tuned and I hope to see many of you in two weeks in Las Vegas baby!. (what you can’t say Vegas without saying Vegas Baby….right?)

  -Rob

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  Countdown to Autodesk University...
  November 9, 2009 07:21 PMby Chris Hall

  The MFG lounge will host a Digital Prototyping Answer Bar throughout the week.  If you have questions, or need hands-on technical support for Inventor, AutoCAD, or any of your Digital Prototyping products, or would like to know product direction and general information you can get friendly, expert advice at the Digital Prototyping Answer Bar in the Manufacturing Lounge at AU 2009.

  Product managers and experts have extensive knowledge of Digital Prototyping products and can answer all of your technical questions.  In fact, our experts can take care of all of your troubleshooting needs.  Come to AU 2009 with all of your questions ready for our team.

  Visit the A-Bar page for more information.

  BRING YOUR BEST TIPS AND TRICKS AND YOU COULD WIN

  Throughout the week in the MFG lounge, you will have an opportunity to sit with one of our product evangelists and share your best tips and tricks for using our products.  Sit down and record a video that will be uploaded onto our YouTube channel, and make sure to tell all of your friends and co-workers to check it out.  If your video is in the top 10 at the end of AU, you will receive an amazing prize that will WOW them all.  All you need to bring is a flash memory or external hard drive with your best tip and/or trick and a smile, and you could find yourself at the top of the leader board at AU.

  Member from the Ellipsis team will be there, come and meet us in person!

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  YouTube Question
  November 5, 2009 11:57 AMby Rob Cohee

  Every now and again I get a question like this. What's the difference between Inventor and [insert CAD software here]. Fundamentally it comes down to standards, analysis, documentation, motion, collaboration, that makes a difference as I see it. Read on:

  Q: OK...I know you're biased...but can you be "Candid" and tell me why Inventor is better/easier than using SketchUp Pro? I haven't tried Inventor but I use SU professionally with great results...but inventor is making me scratch my head. Your thoughts?....

  My Answer: SketchUp is a geometry creation tool where Autodesk Inventor is an engineering tool. FEA, Part Libraries (750,000+ standard components), Sheet Metal part creation and flat patterns, Tube and Pipe, Cable Harness, Document in 2D DWG directly from the 3D model. I could go on and on, and that's not being biased - just honest.

  Sure you can create 3D solids with SketchUp, but is it the right size, the right material based upon its application, can you create 2D DWG's from the model, can you test the strength or fatigue of a part in an assembly while in motion? That's the difference between a geometry creation tool and an engineering tool.

  So, was I biased? (This is the interactive portion of this blog...really I'm looking for your thoughts....)

  -Rob

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