UDE (Unified Design Environment)

With the release of Autodesk's, Inventor Fusion, basically the end of history based solid modeling as the standard is on the horizon. All the high end and popular mid range CAD products NOW have explicit modeling capabilities. The Pro/E paradigm has finally run its course. We are now looking at a totally compatible, very familiar and common user interface and much more productive universal CAD environment. Now it will not matter what CAD program you are using, you be able to send usable data between systems. Hopefully STEP will incorporate associative PMI and/or drawing data.

PMI (Product Manufacturing Information)

Before I get into UDE, I want to make a few comments about PMI. This is basically dimensions, GD&T information and production information in a 3D model. Actually it is quite confusing, and could become quite impossible to read or check. I can only imagine what a checker has to do get the markups back to the designer. No standard views for the annotation. You have flip the views around to get the dimensions, necessary to print. Virtually there is no thought put into this process. It is quite surprising that they didn't develop a simple dimensioning program with the standard or auxiliary views in 2D. This is probably the most confusing way to present critical information I have ever seen.

UDE (Unified Design Environment)

No need to worrying about part numbers or naming until release.
No Modal Barriers. No Part Mode, No Assembly Mode!!
A drawing format that can access all of the parts separately.

Above you can see the different designs for a power strip. As we work with the customer the design develops. As you can see they are all in one file. Not only can we work with similar parts we can works totally dissimilar part or assemblies. On the right is a catalog of shapes, advanced shapes, colors, textures, tools (such as custom holes, fasteners, gears, bearings, etc,), sheet metal or custom catalogs with features, parts or assemblies. This view is in an exploded configuration, not affecting the original location of the parts.

I have worked with many people using the Pro/E environment and have listened to the complaints of having three separate modules to get their engineering done. No wonder we spend a fortune on PDM, when you have to start naming parts from the very beginning. Many of you are IRONCAD/INOVATE users and have been able to do your assemblies for years in one part file. An associate of mine, that only knew SolidWorks, saw this and said it was just so much simpler just to have parts and assemblies available in one file. Many times IRONCAD/INOVATE users can have many different iterations of the assembly with different unique parts in different states of conceptual design.

MODELS and ASSEMBLIES

IRONCAD can do the part and assembly in one part file. By suppressing parts/assemblies, you can do your competed conceptual design in one part file, never having to worry about naming individual parts or sub-assemblies until you finalize the design. You can export or send the file without populating your hard drive with all the parts. How many times has your SolidWorks indicated it can not rebuild the assembly, if you didn't export or send it to another user correctly. If you are a Pro/E paradigm user imagine how easy it is just to start designing, using the existing parts to drop common edges and never worrying about the part itself. Creating different iterations without a concern about saving the part or creating an new external part. The freedom is quite extraordinary.



Above you can see the assembly of one of the configurations of the Power Strip. This was a metal version. You can see that it is an exploded view. This is a special view configuration not affecting the original locations of the parts.



Above you can see the scene browser or tree. The parts are all within one file. Now that the design is done I can externalize these parts or just define them in this assembly. You can have a drawing of each single part with the drawing module as shown below.

DRAWINGS

IRONCAD has a very complete separate drawing mode, that can do incredible documentation, from drawings to manuals utilizing all the parts and assemblies in different configurations.



Above you can see the exploded assembly configuration presented in the drawing module.



Above you can see two separate assemblies ready for detailing. The views are defined by selecting from a list of configuration set up with any of the necessary parts. This is great for doing rigging or any special assembly instructions

HISTORY AND PARAMETRICS: When is it needed?

Truthfully I have only made one parametric part, and it was in IRONCAD. It was a swaged control rod. I did it for a customer that wanted to just input the length to create new rods. It was a success and sort of fun. There are companies that make families of parts that need this capability. Parametrics also can control the relationships in assemblies between parts. Like having a control cable and making sure that the clearance hole is tied to the cable. I have seen attempts to make this happen in the past, but it seems to take quite a bit of management to implement. Many times there are unexpected consequences that can not be seen until too late, so it really hasn't delivered what was promised. But if you do need history and parametric design, IRONCAD has all the capabilities to do this plus a wonderful UDE and explicit modeling.

The bottom line is that by the end of 2012 we will not care what program you use. As long as we are just passing parts and assemblies back and forth we will be totally compatible. I still believe we need a standard associative detailing package. 3DMPD (3D Model Based Definition) is a total failure in providing current product information, checking and inspection. But now with common parts we can start a new engineering process. Incorporating the 3D model and drawing in the same file will solve all these problems.

Yes keeping up the drawing is a separate expense, but it is very simple to keep the critical dimensions up to date, still giving the non-critical surfaces a profile tolerance.

Please give me a call at 206-842-0360 or email at jb@tecnetinc.com to get a 30 day evaluation license for any of our products or if you have any questions. We can also set up a gotomeeting to show you the advantages and compatibility of our products.