To celebrate the launch of the 2014 R2 release of Delcam’s PowerSHAPE Pro CAD system, the software will be offered at the special price of £8,875, including comprehensive training and technical support for the whole of 2014, at the MACH exhibition and the Develop3D Live conference. MACH takes place at the NEC, Birmingham, from 7th to 11th April, while Develop3D Live will be held at the University of Warwick on 15th April.
The offer software includes all of PowerSHAPE Pro’s comprehensive range of solid, surface and direct modelling options, plus powerful new tools to make reverse engineering of complex parts from scanned data faster and easier, fully-integrated drafting and rendering with the KeyShot rendering engine. Full details on the software are at www.powershape.com
By offering a combination of solid, surface and direct modelling, together with reverse engineering functionality, PowerSHAPE Pro provides the most comprehensive range of design techniques available in a single CAD program. Having all the different technologies in the same package reduces the need to transfer data between multiple programs and so streamlines the whole product development process. At the same time, the combination of quick and easy direct modelling options, together with powerful and flexible surface modelling, makes PowerSHAPE the perfect choice for “design for manufacture” for manufacturers of all types of tooling.
PowerSHAPE Pro can connect directly to a range of scanning devices, with the data points appearing on the screen in real time as they are collected. The new automated tools for re-engineering in the software provide quicker and simpler methods for segmenting the mesh of scanned data into primitive regions, such as planes, spheres, cones, cylinders and tori, as well as into revolved or extruded surfaces. Primitive surfaces or solids are then fitted automatically to those regions.
For more complex geometry, or when finer control is needed, mesh segmentation can be carried out manually. The user simply chooses the region where the geometry is to be created and selects the primitive type to be used. PowerSHAPE Pro then creates the surface or solid to the specified tolerance.
Regions with complex, free-form geometry can be replaced with a single surface in PowerSHAPE Pro. The target area can be selected with a set of easy-to-use options, while a single dialogue box gives control of the fit of the surface to the mesh. The same technique can be used for areas with large amounts of detail, such as logos or textures.
For companies that work from their customers’ CAD models, the Solid Doctor in PowerSHAPE Pro has offered quick and easy repair of imported data for many years. These capabilities have been enhanced recently with the addition of the Smart Feature Manager and the Smart Feature Selector. PowerSHAPE Pro can recognise a variety of solid features within imported “dumb” geometry, such as fillets, slots, bosses etc. The Smart Feature Manager allows users to identify all these features within a solid in a single operation and so makes the analysis of the imported data easier and faster. The Smart Feature Selector then allows multiple similar features to be found and selected, regardless of where they appear in the model’s history tree.
One common problem for tooling designers is finding fillets that are too small for successful filling of the mould. The Smart Feature Selector can be used to identify all the fillets having radii less than a particular size so that they can be modified to more suitable values.
Another common problem during tooling design is that many product designers still produce designs with insufficient draft, making it impossible to remove the as-designed part from its tooling. Direct modelling in PowerSHAPE Pro allows draft to be added solid models either by using a specific value or by modifying the model interactively. The change can be applied to a single surface or to a group of surfaces, such as the sides of a pocket. In the latter case, the software is intelligent enough to maintain the radii of any fillets linking the sides.
The core/cavity separation wizard in PowerSHAPE has been a key option for toolmakers for many years. This functionality has been rewritten to make it even faster and more effective. It divides the solid model into core and cavity pieces that can then be separated dynamically using a simple slider. Any ambiguous faces can be assigned to the appropriate side, while any regions where slides or lifters might be required can be allocated to a completely new line of draw.
With the KeyShot rendering software now built in to PowerSHAPE Pro, more realistic images of new designs can be shown to prospective customers for styling and marketing reviews. This reduces the need for physical samples, cutting overall costs and shortening the time to market for new products.
Another benefit of the more realistic images is improved communications between design and manufacturing teams, minimising the chance of errors and again helping to introduce new designs to market more quickly. The images can also be used in marketing materials, allowing new designs to be promoted before they are manufactured.
For further information on Delcam’s PowerSHAPE Pro software, please contact: –
Peter Dickin, Marketing Manager
Direct phone: 44 (0)121 683 1081 e-mail: marketing@delcam.com
Delcam plc
SmallHeathBusinessPark,
Birmingham,B10 0HJ, UK
Caption: Delcam’s latest PowerSHAPE Pro software includes automated tools for converting scan data into CAD models
