DELCAM INTRODUCES ADVANCED DESIGN MODULE
Delcam has introduced a new Advanced Design module for its PowerSHAPE hybrid modelling software. The new module is available as part of a new PowerSHAPE upgrade option – PowerSHAPE for Designers – that also includes the PS-Assembly assembly modelling functionality and the PS-Render photo-realistic visualisation module. This new option gives a very cost-effective way for designers to increase the capabilities of their CAD system.
The new Advanced Design module contains three main pieces of functionality. First is an additional method for sketching and modifying curves based on B-splines. This produces smoother curves initially and maintains this smoothness as the curves are edited. It is especially useful when designing aesthetic or ergonomic shapes. Once the outline form has been defined, geometry created with this method can be used as the basis for quickly and easily producing surfaces or solids in the same way as any other PowerSHAPE wireframe data.
The second new option is the ability to generate solid bulge features, by creating a wireframe “footprint” and then specifying an angle for the bulge to take relative to the surrounding surface. Details of shapes created are stored within PowerSHAPE’s history tree, which allows editing of both the wireframe outline and the bulge angle.
Finally, PowerSHAPE’s new module offers global surface editing in which groups of points can be selected from a single surface or from a group of surfaces, and manipulated as a single entity. This option makes it quicker and easier to undertake precise manipulation of surfaces when finalising the form of complex shapes.
“PowerSHAPE has frequently been associated with design for manufacture applications at prototype modelmakers and toolmakers,” commented PowerSHAPE Product Manager Chris Jones. “With the release of this Advanced Design module, we have made PowerSHAPE ideal for the initial concept design. Its unique combination of solid and surface modelling has already proved extremely effective for companies designing products such as packaging, footwear and ceramics. We now expect to see increased use in other areas where complex shapes are used.”
For further information on Delcam’s PowerSHAPE hybrid modelling software, please contact: -
Peter Dickin, Public Relations Manager
Direct phone: 44 (0)121 683 1081 e-mail: marketing@delcam.com
Delcam plc
Small Heath Business Park,
Birmingham, B10 0HJ, UK
Delcam Inc.
3270 Electricity Drive
Windsor, Ont. N8W 5J1 Canada
Caption: Face mask modelled in Delcam’s PowerSHAPE