Mobile workstations P38 Siemens

OnshapeNX 7.0 P40

Beta P46 Fusion 360 Q1 P53

TECHNOLOGY FOR THE PRODUCT LIFECYCLE MAY 2015 | 6 | 7 | $10 | DEVELOP3D.COM

EVELOP3D
D
L I V
RE
EORT
P
EVENT
PAGE 31

A CNC machine
from Othermill
you can carry

CUT ABOVE
HAND-BUILT PRODUCTS HOCKEY STICKS TECHNOLOGY ON THE FARM
 RedDOT needed fine resolution
and snap-fits in their prototypes.

Watch the video or call

to see how Stratasys 3D printing with to discuss your application
Nylon12 saved RedDOT time and money: with our experts:

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 WELCOME
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DESIGN/PRODUCTION
Art Director
Rob Biddulph o, did you make it to DEVELOP3D LIVE? I do hope you did. We
know that we had a record year for this, our fourth event since
Design/Production starting. All told, we had around 1,000 folks through the door
Greg Corke
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ADVERTISING Organising an event, as anyone thats ever done it will tell you,
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2015 SHOW GUIDE.indd 51 17/04/2015 16:59

 CONTENTS

MAY 2015 ISSUE NO. 68

7 NEWS
Carbon3D emerges from the shadows, Objet 1000 Plus
gets a speed boost, MainFrame2 changes name to Frame
and Nvidia gets serious about interactive rendering

COMMENT
13 When is a designer not a designer? This is the question
that Jeremy Pullin is pondering this month

YOUR DEVELOP3D
14 Tell us what you think: Your views on the challenges that
the cloud is trying to solve

FEATURES
16 Visual design guide: Crown Hockey stick
18 Product design showcase: Hand-built products
23 COVER STORY Othermill desktop CNC machine
31 DEVELOP3D LIVE 2015 event report
36 Claydon Drills enters the 3D CAD world

REVIEWS
38 Mobile Workstation group test
46 Onshape Beta overview
53 Autodesk Fusion 360 Q1
56 Vero VISI Series 21

60 DEVELOP3D SERVICES

61 DEVELOP3D JOBS

66 THE LAST WORD

With a move to a new office, Al Dean is spending a little time
looking at the equipment that he takes for granted

The wood used to produce this magazine

comes from Forest Stewardship Council
certified well-managed forests, controlled
sources and/or recycled material

DEVELOP3D.COM MAY 2015 5

develop3d-2015-04-14-renda-microsoft.pdf 1 14/04/2015 10:55:21
 NEWS PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT NEWS

CARBON3D'S CLIP 3D PRINTING TECH IS

FASTER THAN HAS EVER BEEN SEEN BEFORE
Carbon3D has finally emerged from the shadows to launch its take on polymer-based
3D printing and its fast, really fast. Stephen Holmes takes a look at what it means
Finally launched,
Carbon3Ds CLIP 3D
printing technology has
everyone excited

C
omparative test figures
announced by Carbon3D
suggest a model that takes
over three hours to print
on a SLA machine, can be
produced using its technology in less
than seven minutes.
Its Continuous Liquid Interface
Production technology (CLIP) harnesses
light and oxygen to continuously grow
objects from a pool of resin instead of
printing them layer-by-layer.
At the heart of the process is a special
window that is transparent to light and
permeable to oxygen, much like a contact
lens. By controlling the oxygen flux through
the window, CLIP creates a dead zone in
the resin pool just tens of microns thick
where photopolymerisation cannot occur.
As a series of cross-sectional images of
a 3D model is played like a movie into the
resin pool from underneath, the physical
object emerges continuously from just
above the dead zone.
By carefully balancing the interaction
of UV light, which triggers photo
polymerisation, and oxygen, which inhibits
the reaction, CLIP continuously grows
objects at speeds that are claimed to be
25-100 times faster than traditional 3D
printing.
Excitingly, the CLIP technology isnt
simply about speed; the finish of the
printed objects weve seen is extremely
good due to a noticeable lack of layering.
Where existing 3D printing technology is
repeated layers, Carbon3D has a tunable
photochemical process instead to allow for
a layer-less and continuous process that
eliminates layer stepping.
Already there are some exciting material
properties available, including the ability
to add elasticity, stretch, or dampening to
a part.
Conventionally made 3D printed parts are
notorious for having mechanical properties
that vary depending on the direction the
parts were printed because of the layer-by-
layer approach.
Due to a continuous forming process, the
Carbon3D parts should therefore be more
consistent and predictable, and in a way
similar to injection moulded parts - smooth
on the outside and solid on the inside.
The technology was originally developed
by Professor Joseph DeSimone, Professor
Edward Samulski, and Dr. Alex Ermoshkin
at Carbon3D, based in Silicon Valley,
founded in 2013 in North Carolina, USA.
With Beta testing already taking place, it
shouldnt be long before we begin to see
the technology in the marketplace.
carbon3d.com

ANALYSIS THOUGHTS ON CARBON 3D & HOW IT CHANGES THE GAME

We alluded to this
technology in our 2015 3D
Printing Preview, having
had a sneak preview
of what it could do late
last year, but its hard to
imagine the kind of shake-
up this will mean for the
industry.
First, the major players
are likely to take a line
similar to when HP
announced its technology
that no customer-ready
machine has yet been built
however we know of
Carbon3D Beta machines
working in bureaus in the
US that are already getting
the job done.
While the financial clout
of HP might have shook the
industry from its plateau
of mainstream media hype,
this announcement should
have the R&D departments
of Stratasys and 3D
Systems working overtime.
All of which is great new
for users of all machines.
Secondly, its proof that
the next big leap in 3D
printing technology can
still come from out of the
blue.
Carbon3D is not a
company from the initial
founding fathers of
the technology, many
with fixed ideological
limitations of what the
technology can do after 30
years of existence. Instead
the CLIP technology is one
built on fresh ideas and
possibilities by a team new
to the industry.
Autodesk has agreed to
back it with $10 million
from its Spark investment
fund, so already were
seeing top tier support for
advancing the system.
Its all rather exciting,
and were extremely
optimistic about what this
will bring for all industries
and sectors looking to
harness 3D printing.
Want to know more
about what 2015 will hold
for 3D Printing? Read our
top five trends to watch
out for, here tinyurl.
com/3dprintingtrends15

DEVELOP3D.COM MAY 2015 7

 NEWS

STRATASYS GIVES ITS OBJET solidThinking

1000 PLUS A SPEED BOOST Evolve 2015

T
he latest solidThinking Evolve
2015 release features new
rendering technology, an
enhanced user interface and
a new PolyNURBS toolset,
enabling users to convert polymesh
objects into NURBS curves and surfaces
with a single click.
Evolve 2015 gave us the opportunity
to focus on what matters most to our
user base, says Darren Chilton, program
manager for solidThinking Evolve.
This release gives users more control
and flexibility for efficiently creating
visually stunning models. Adding

S
tratasys, a global provider
of 3D printing and additive
manufacturing solutions, has
introduced the Objet1000
Plus 3D Production System
with an extra large print size for
producing industrial end-use parts.
Its 1000 x 800 x 500mm or 39 x 31 x
19 inch build envelope now comes with
polygonal modelling and state-of-the-
bureaus need an additive manufacturing For tough parts art rendering to an already robust set of
system that can take on all challenges in high-speed tools truly makes Evolve 2015 the Swiss
mode, the
large and small. We believe that's the army knife of modelling and rendering
Objet1000 Plus 3D
big advantage of the Objet1000 Plus Production System software," adds Chilton.
Production System, comments Ron is compatible solidthinking.com/evolve
Ellenbogen, Stratasys product marketing with Endur
director. polypropylene-like
material
It is the first of its kind to combine large
print sizes, multiple materials, accelerated
Dell for CAD

a new optimised print block movement,
said to accelerate print speeds up to 40
per cent faster than its predecessor, while
maintaining its multi-material abilities.
Alongside other refinements and a
simplified post processing, costs-per-part
should also see an improvement from the
original machine launched in 2012.
Users can choose from more than 100
Stratasys materials including the range of
digital materials that can combine two
resins in a single material for a wider range
of material properties.
"Today's designers and engineers at
manufacturing companies and service
D
print speeds, super fine resolution and
a simplified workflow. If you need to ell is looking to take the
create industrial 1:1 scale prototypes, pain out of workstation
large ergonomic production tools or low virtualisation with the new
volumes of small parts all Dell Precision Appliance for
with the superior Wyse, which it claims can get
surface finish up and running in just five minutes,
and fine details once powered on, and only limited
engineers expect virtualisation experience is required.
from Stratasys The appliance features all the software
3D printing and hardware needed to deploy a CAD-
the Objet1000 focused virtual workstation solution and is
Plus is the best currently being certified to run a variety of
choice." CAD applications.
stratasys.com dell.com

DEVELOP3D.COM THE BEST FROM THE WEBSITE

A partnership between
Dassault Systmes and
Assystem is looking to
transform personalised
aircraft cabins
tinyurl.com/D3DAssystem
Not content with having
four mobile workstations
in its portfolio, HP has now
launched the HP OMEN Pro
Mobile Workstation
tinyurl.com/D3DHPOMEN
First Look: sneak peek
at The Foundrys next
Modo release version
901 shows new tools and
interface
tinyurl.com/D3DModo901
Autodesk has announced
changes to its data capture
offerings including ReCap,
a free desktop application
for laser scan preparation
tinyurl.com/D3DReCap
Product designers have
new options for low volume
metal production parts
with Proto Labs injection-
moulded metals range
tinyurl.com/D3DMetals

8 MAY 2015 DEVELOP3D.COM

 NEWS

ROUND
DEVELOP3D LIVE UP
2015 talks now Dassault Systmes

available online 3DEXPERIENCE platform

for Academia is now

O
ur special live event,
DEVELOP3D LIVE 2015,
featured a fantastic lineup of
speakers, and were putting
the talks online for people to
view for free.
The event, which took place on 26 March
at Warwick Arts Centre, covered three key
areas product design, make/fabricate and
start-ups with a great mix of designers,
engineers and industry specialists taking to
the stage.
Yet, with so much to choose from and
people unable to attend every session, the
talks are now available to view via the show
website develop3dlive.com
With more than 30 talks, keep checking
back over the next few weeks as we continue
to upload more to the site.
Some of the talks currently available
include Autodesk CEO Carl Bass who
discusses new means of cloud-based design
and engineering and SolidWorks CEO Gian
Paolo Bassi who looks at the opportunities
available on the cloud.
Teachers and students can
now access its design and
engineering applications
on a students or an
institutions own devices
eliminating the need for
complex IT infrastructure
and challenges resulting in the shifts in Watch Andy 3ds.com
technology and society. Claughton, Ben
Ainslie Racing's
Also online is Onshape Chairman Jon
technical director,
Hirschtick, on how the design world has talk about how Samsung has taken its
changed and how CAD needs to change the company is 2.5-inch 850 EVO Solid
with it, and Mark Shayler of Ape who gave pushing the limits State Drive (SSD) and
the final keynote of the day on the need to in America's Cup shrunk it down for both
boat design
restore manufacturing to the UK. mSATA and M.2 form
This year we have also uploaded the panel factors. The miniaturised
session on the future of 3D design tools, drives, which can store
an eye opening discussion from some of up to 500GB (M.2) or 1TB
the leading figures in the industry, and an (mSATA), can be housed in
exclusive to our live event. some mobile workstations
develop3dlive.com and ultrathin PCs
samsung.com
See p31 for the DEVELOP3D LIVE event report
together with attendees views of the day
The 2015 release of
Delacms PowerMILL
Robot software for the

MainFrame2 changes its name to Frame programming of robots

for multi-axis machining

A
operations enables manual
t DEVELOP3D LIVE in March, and CNC programming
Mainframe2 became Frame to be combined in a
and unveiled the public BETA single program providing
of its new end-user product increased programming
that allows engineers and flexibility
designers to put their CAD applications in delcam.com
the cloud and access them through a web
browser on any device.
Frame says its cloud platform is fully Materialise has obtained
compatible with any existing Windows EN9100 and EASA 21G
software and can connect to any PDM or certification allowing it to
cloud storage. Even the most demanding expand its current offering
graphics tasks run smoothly from the cloud to the aerospace industry.
super-computer powered by NVIDIA GRID It will now be able to
graphics, it claims. presentation on Why CAD in the cloud is Autodesk Inventor deliver airworthy additive
The move to open up its cloud platform closer than you think. running in a web manufactured end-use
browser on the
to end users marks a broadening of focus A limited number of Frame BETA accounts parts to its customers
Frame cloud
for the California-based company. At are being made available to the CAD platform together with prototypes
DEVELOP3D LIVE, Dr. Nikola Bozinovic, community. Sign up via the website. and software
founder and CEO of Frame, gave a great fra.me materialise.com

Sir James Dyson has

Share 3D data within the Adobe PDF format announced the Dyson
School of Design

T
heorem Solutions has launched
its Publish3D-Document suite
of products, which enable
the translation of 3D CAD
data from within CATIA V5,
NX, PTCs Creo Parametric, and JT
applications into a readable PDF with an
interactive 3D product image embedded
within the document.
Using Adobe reader, either on a PC, tablet
Engineering at Imperial
or phone, users can access the interactive College London. The new
3D data without the use of specialist CAD School, made possible
software. by a 12 million donation
Theorem claims that interactive 3D data from the James Dyson
created using its Publish3D-Document Foundation, will develop
suite of products provides a higher level the next generation of
of Intellectual Property (IP) security than graduate engineers
native CAD files by allowing the documents dyson.com
to be password protected.
theorem.com

DEVELOP3D.COM MAY 2015 9

 NEWS

NVIDIA ISSUES STATEMENT OF Date for the

INTENT FOR GPU RENDERING diary: TCT Show

T
he TCT Show + Personalize
will return to the NEC in
Birmingham from 30th
September to 1st October 2015.
Held annually, this free-to-attend
event focusses on 3D printing, additive
manufacturing and product development.
Alongside an exhibition space
featuring 200 exhibitors, there is also a
comprehensive conference programme.
Other show highlights include initiatives
such as Bright Minds UK, the Startup Zone

N
vidia is getting serious
about interactive,
physically-based rendering,
which it delivers through
its GPU-accelerated
rendering software Iray
Announced during Nvidias GTC
conference in March, Iray will be made
and the RepRap Hub.
including Allegorithmic, Old Castle and The Quadro VCA tctshow.com
X-Rite. can host 8 Quadro
M6000 GPUs
Iray is a push-button renderer designed
for ease of use by designers, architects
and engineers, rather than visualisation
specialists. Greg Estes, VP marketing at 3D printers at
Nvidia, says Iray is basically like a camera.
It understands the physics of the world. Central Scanning

available for a much wider range of 3D
tools. Rhino, Cinema 4D, Revit, Siemens NX,
3ds Max and Maya will all support Iray or
Iray+ (developed by LightWork Design) this
year through plug-ins or direct integration.
With Catia Live rendering, SolidWorks
Industrial Designer, Bunkspeed Shot and
Zoom and SketchUp already supporting the
GPU ray tracer, the move will mean Nvidia
will have a much wider set of customers to
target for sales of powerful GPUs that are
needed for the complex processing.
Physically-based materials will also be
interchangeable across all of these apps
thanks to support for Nvidias Material
Definition Language (MDL). Nvidia says
MDL is being supported by a growing
number of companies who allow designers
to create physically-based materials
F
The latest 2015 release delivers much
faster rendering performance, he adds. ollowing an increase in demand
Iray can run on CPUs but performance for 3D printing, Midlands-
is far superior with Nvidia CUDA GPUs based 3D scanning and printing
Quadro, GeForce and Tesla. company Central Scanning
Nvidia emphasises that Iray is highly recently invested in two 3D
scaleable. It can run on a laptop GPU, but printing machines.
for those serious about design visualisation The first of the two new printers, which
and need results back fast Nvidia says its will be installed alongside the current
new Quadro M6000 GPU is the optimal FDM Prodigy plus and Objet Eden 500V
GPU for physically-based rendering. printers, is the Mojo FDM printer that builds
Multiple GPUs can be used in parallel, models up to 5 x 5 x 5 inches, and can print
with up to three in a typical high-end in a variety of different colours and P430
workstation. The new Nvidia Quadro Visual materials.
Computing Appliance (VCA) builds on The second is the Fortus 4ooMC printer
this, giving designers access to a shared, that is capable of building models up to 14
centralised rendering resource over LAN or x 10 x 10 inches and is accurate to within
in the cloud. 0.0015 of an inch.
nvidia.com central-scanning.co.uk

THE BEST FROM DEVELOP3D.COM

Videos of the talks from
DEVELOP3D LIVE 2015
are now available to view
online, including the
amazing panel session
tinyurl.com/D3DLivepanel
Dassault Systmess
new upgrades to R2015x
Simulia engineering
simulation tool brings
focus to the designer
tinyurl.com/D3DSimulia
Solid Edge is
experimenting with the
cloud by offering a cloud-
based streaming 45 day
trial version of Solid Edge
tinyurl.com/D3DSolid
A look into what the March Siemens FEA tools,
update of Autodesks including Femap with NX
Fusion 360 has to offer Nastran, helped create the
rendering, design, CAM extremely lightweight Solar
a-go-go Impulse 2 plane
tinyurl.com/D3Dagogo tinyurl.com/D3DSolar2

10 MAY 2015 DEVELOP3D.COM

SOLIDWORKS-Simulation-Advert-2015-Develop3D.pdf 1 09/04/2015 09:31:35
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PNY Ad.indd 1 17/04/2015 08:27


When is a designer not a designer?
This is the question Jeremy Pullin has
been pondering recently and here he
comes to the conclusion that design
is a matter of approach rather
than education and qualification
R
ecently I was having a
conversation when the
question arose about
a group of people who
refer to themselves as
designers. The person
I was talking to said
only one in that group
is a designer, the rest are engineers
who work at CAD stations. This made
me question the difference between
designers and engineers. What is it that
makes a designer a designer and not
just another engineer?
Both are problem solvers and possess
technical skills. Both also change the status
quo of the world around them. So, on the
surface, there is no difference.
However, the term engineer is broad,
covering many disciplines. Specifically those
in engineering institutions have for many
years argued that the term is too widely
used. This certainly does seem to be the
case in the UK compared to many other
parts of Europe. For instance, a person who
fixes vending machines but does not have
any engineering qualifications cannot call
themselves an engineer in Germany, but
they can (and do) in the UK.
It seems that here we have come to use
the word to describe a job function rather
than a professional standing. You need to
have a medical qualification to call yourself
a surgeon but you only need to own a
chainsaw to call yourself a tree surgeon. We
can argue all we want that it shouldnt be
this way but the fact remains that it is.
So, back to the original question, and here
is where it gets messy. The role of design
largely (although not exclusively) sits within
the two disciplines of art and engineering. To
simplify matters, lets exclude artistic design
from the discussion. Now, you can argue that
every designer is an engineer but, as design
is a subset of engineering, the reverse is not
true. Similarly, every man is a human being
but not every human being is a man.
If engineers spend their lives writing CNC
code then its easy to see why they should
not be called a designer but do they become
one when they sit on a CAD station and
model a fixture? The simple answer is no.
In essence, all they are doing is defining the
physical geometry of an object that serves a
particular function.
Also, there is far more to design than that.
Design embodies a holistic approach that
encompasses exploring and understanding
a complex set of requirements and
opportunities and defining a total solution
that addresses not only how to do something
but also the why, where, when and who.
A non-designer engineer will be able to
accurately define the geometric properties
of a 20 litre bucket on a CAD station but
a designer will be able to examine and
understand all of the issues surrounding
the design of a product to contain a 20 litre
volume of an amorphous substance. They
would for example look at the corrosive
properties of any substances that may be
put into the product and use this to decide
upon suitable construction material. They
would establish the needs for containment
restrictions (i.e. how much does it matter if
any of the substance escapes the product?)
and how to address this.
They would also look at the portability
needs and how the product would be
transported. The list goes on and includes
target costs, end of life, market analysis,
environmental considerations, applicable
regulations and standards, DFM, DFA etc etc.
For a true designer, the geometry definition
or CAD work forms but a single part.
There was a time when the lines between
engineers and designers were far more
blurred. This was because roles were not
as studiously defined as they are today.
Despite the commonly held misconception,
Isambard Kingdom Brunel was not a
great inventor like his father Marc. He
was, however, a civil engineer, a quantity
surveyor, a structural engineer, an architect,
a mechanical engineer, a project manager,
a naval architect and all sorts of other roles
which today are discrete professions in their
own right.
We dont have people who fulfil so many
roles as these today because we are
COMMENT
A person who fixes vending machines
but does not have any engineering
qualifications cannot call themselves
an engineer in Germany, but they
can (and do) in the UK
educated in different disciplines separately.
We are taught maths in a maths classroom
within a maths block by a maths teacher
who belongs to a maths department. The
same is true of all STEM subjects. Design is
a discipline in its own right and is a matter
of approach rather than education and
qualification.
Bearing all of this in mind I have to admit
that I was wrong in the conversation that I
referenced at the beginning of this piece, in
that not every engineer who works at a CAD
station is a designer.
Jeremy Pullin is the rapid manufacturing
manager for Renishaw, having set up and
now in charge of its pioneering Rapid
Manufacturing Centre. He can be found
tweeting as @jezpullin
All views expressed here are Jeremy Pullins
own and not necessarily those of his employer
In Isambard Kingdom
Brunels day, the lines
between engineers
and designers were
far more blurred and
during his professional
life he wore many
different hats from
civil engineer to naval
architect
DEVELOP3D.COM MAY 2015 13
 FEEDBACK

Your DEVELOP3D
Your views on the challenges that the cloud is trying to solve, Solid Edge using the
cloud for CAD distribution and a hands on environment in the toolmaking industry
Got an opinion on reap large gains in flexibility and efficiency Just wanted to say hello, we met at New
anything that has and will out produce those clinging to Designers 2012. I am now at BigRep Berlin,
(or has not) appeared
desktop file based systems that create way the huge 3D printer that does an uppercut
in DEVELOP3D? Let us
know what you think too many copies of the design to manage to the Stratasys series. I am doing R&D
Greg Corke the data.The forward thinking engineers plus client visits. In March alone I am going
greg@x3dmedia.com are merging with the makers to produce to Singapore, Kiev, USA, UK and France to
Facebook the next generation of things at a blistering train clients and to guided in their facilities.
/develop3d pace. Exciting times to be on the creative Thank you for the article you wrote about
Twitter end and have the ability to utilise massive me in DEVELOP3D, it gave me a push :)
@develop3d compute capabilities.Its going to be a fun Adam de Kaminski
Web ride.
develop3d.com Pete Yodis SOLID EDGE USE THE CLOUD FOR
Linked In CAD DISTRIBUTION
DEVELOP3D group Thanks Al, yes the times they are TWITTER
Letters may be edited a'changin', for the better we all hope. It @develop3d @SiemensPLM An interesting,
will be interesting to see how fast Onshape and obvious, contradiction to their "we
can add functionality to become a more won't go cloud" mantra.
capable replacement for existing systems. @ScottWertel
Their pricing model will certainly help more
people try before they buy, and if they @ScottWertel @develop3d @SiemensPLM
can keep to that pricing as they get to be From a #SolidEdge POV, we are about
LAST WORD: THE CLOUD A more fully functional, things will get really end-user productivity. Does streaming Solid
BRIGHT FUTURE AHEAD interesting. Edge help? You tell us.
DEVELOP3D APRIL 2015 Stan Przybylinski, CIMdata @danstaples
Nice points Al.I love what Autodesk and
Onshape are doing to the pricing structure An only cloud future is no future at all. IS RESHORING HAPPENING?
of professional CAD tools.Its about Imagine this for renting houses renting. DEVELOP3D
time.Dassault will have to get off their Youll have only bills to pay, but no property I fully agree with Peter Sims' comments on
stance of trying to protect Catia like prices at all and when you are in trouble all the the toolmaking industry and what is needed
in their next gen tools and or stop calling stuff is gone. You wont buy things anymore, in this 'hands on' environment.
them SolidWorks. but you have the choice to rent I have been a mould polisher for 43 years
Also, spot on about people eventually dedmin and plan to retire in the next couple of
coming around to CAD and engineering years. I feel that some work is now coming
tools in the cloud.I hear all the arguments Al, if OnShape (or any web app) is available back to the UK from China as we have the
against it from the older crowd.Things will offline, then the computational power I precision and quality needed, the problem
trend this way because of the pure and didn't buy with my new cloud-oriented now is skills going forward. With an aging
simple reduced cost and greatly increased workstation comes from where? workforce more apprentices are needed
efficiency of working this way. Alex Bausk now. I am sure there are youngsters out
It might take the retirement of some there who 'just want to make things', let's
decision makers in a lot of organisations NEW DESIGNERS 2012: OUR hope they are encouraged into this trade
for that to happen in full force.In the mean BEST FINDS PART 1 sooner rather than later.
time, the less fearful ones will be able to DEVELOP3D.COM JULY 2012 Stewart Frith

60 SECOND Why did you become a designer?

There is a heritage of traditional
INTERVIEW engineering on my fathers side
NICK GRAY and I also have a hobbiest interest
in the social sciences and from this
is born an inquisitive nature to ask
why, when and who.
Which designer or company do
you most admire and why?
I don't really idolise any one
designer or company although
I do admire all designers and
companies that have a lasting
heritage built around quality and
genuine need.
What product couldnt you live
without?
During the week it would be my
beloved collection of Japanese
pull saws for their precision
and versatility and my sunrise
simulating alarm clock.
What design would you have
loved to have designed and why?
Without a doubt the original Swiss
Army Knife. For the user it is as
useful now as it was when first
introduced.
Play-Doh, Meccano or Lego?
Always Lego due to its balance of
create and play.
What are your weapons of choice?
A small, un-ruled moleskin, the
red pen under my pillow for those
Eureka moments and the time and
space to think.
What is missing from your toolset?
Knowledge of basic coding, to a
level of understanding that would
enable the faster turn around of
early stage prototypes.
Is there anything that would
make your design process run
smoother?
I still feel there is a void in the
development process between
the physical and the digital.
Sketchbook to CAD, and then back
again, CAD to moulding, casting,
etc. The gaps are beginning to be
bridged but time and again I see
it causing time consuming breaks
and confusion in the process.
What would you say is the
biggest challenge facing
designers?
The ever shortening product life
cycles.
Can you predict any future
trends?
Multi-cultural societies are having
a positive impact on global
markets but this means the
traditional national identities are
being eroded, because of this the
physical, digital and subliminal
interfaces, across all products and
platforms, become increasingly
important.
If you were hosting a dinner party
who would you invite and why?
Ben Fogle, the perfect balance
of gentleman meets adventurous
go-getter, Gary Fisher, accredited
with being one of the founders of
modern day mountain bikes, Rosie
Swale-Pope, an amazing person
who literally ran around the world,
Donald Crowhurst, I have so many
questions, Graeme Obree, an
incredible human being, and, Lance
Armstrong, whatever the reasons
we could talk all night.
Nick Gray is a product designer dedicated
to producing pertinent products and
systems. Currently employed at Ultra ID,
a company within the Ultra Electronics
Group, he has most recently co-founded
DesignWhys, a new venture including
design related podcasts, show reviews
and general design discussions.
If you want to take part please
contact tanya@x3dmedia.com

14 MAY 2015 DEVELOP3D.COM

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VISUAL DESIGN GUIDE
CROWN HOCKEY STICKS

END CAP
The end cap is produced
using industrial grade
silicone for a softand SILICONE-BACKED
durable finish in a matt
colour choice of either jet GRIP
The non-slip silicone-backed grip exhibits
black or brilliant white
excellent memory and dimensional stability
over time and under the force of the
users grip, where traditional foam
backed grips would compress making
them feel hard and uncomfortable

COMPOSITE
COMPOSITION
Working with composite experts in British
F1 racing and aerospace, the use of carbon
fibre has resulted in a component that
is not only incredibly strong, but overall
much lighter than conventional sticks

VIBRATION
REDUCING
DIMPLES
The dimples on the
reverse side increases
theoverallsurface area of
the stick, creating a greater
distance for the vibrations to
disperse over before reaching
the players hands

TESTING
Throughout May 2015, Crown
Hockey will be physically testing
the stick with cyclical and
destruction tests

PRICE
The Crown 100 stick will be
available to purchase in May
2015 for 325. Preorders are
currently being taken via the
website
crownhockey.com

16 MAY 2015 DEVELOP3D.COM

Crown, a new British sports innovation company, has launched its first product
a hockey stick that utilises expertise in the field of composites engineering
and features a unique dimpled design to significantly dampen vibrations

FOUNDERS
Evan Mackrill and Matt Hutton, both recent
Sports Product Design graduates from the
University of Brighton, launched Crown
Hockey. Using the globally-renowned
expertise of the British composites industry
we have created a product that we feel is in
its own category, says Hutton

DESIGN
PROCESS
Once the sticks had been modelled
in CAD, ANSYS was used for
engineering stress and frequency
analysis as well as for simulations

CROWN TOUCH
PADS
Touch Pads are a renewable
HYBRID COATING transparent grip that is applied to

SYSTEM
A specially formulated hybrid coating means
the playing face of the hockey stick,
providing control when dribbling and
trapping the ball even in the wettest of
a surface finish that is not only tough but conditions. Touch Pads can be renewed
also offers clarity, revealing the detailed before a game with each one backed
carbon fibre weave beneath with a resilient non-residue adhesive
PRODUCT
DESIGN
SHOWCASE
HAND-BUILT
PRODUCTS
This month Tanya Weaver takes a look at
three very different products that are all
designed and hand-built in the UK

One of the newer models in Moulton

Bicycles range is the SPEED. Despite
being a full-suspension road bike it only
weighs in at 9.1kg. The spaceframe design
is constructed entirely from stainless
steel with every joint silver-brazed and
the entire frameset hand polished
 PROFILE

YOUVE BEEN
FRAMED

T
he small-wheeled, full-
suspension Moulton bicycle
has been hand-built in the
UK for 53 years. It was invented
by Dr Alex Moulton CBE who also
invented rubber- and gas-sprung
suspension units found in over
12 million British cars from the
original Mini to the MGF.
Inspired by his background
in aeronautical and automotive
engineering, Moultons design
flew in the face of conventional
bicycle design with its small
wheels, suspension, stiff unisex
frame, adaptability and innovation
in design.
He approached Raleigh, the
biggest bicycle manufacturer
in the UK at the time, with his
prototype with a view to offering
a licence to manufacture. Being
refused, Moulton built a bicycle
factory in the grounds of his
Bradford-Upon-Avon home and
launched the Moulton bicycle to
great success at the Earls Court
Cycle Show in 1962.
Today a small team of eight
craftsmen, one of whom has been
there since 1962, still work in this
factory hand-brazing the frame
and forks as well as making a
number of parts, including the
suspension.
Alex Moulton continued to
evolve his bicycle designs right
up to his death in 2012 at the age
of 92.
Many people who buy a
Moulton bicycle now dont buy
them to ride but rather to hang on
their wall. Alex Moulton created
something that was really a work
of art without intending to and
we really feel the responsibility for
that. We are only a small team but
we have been fortunate to work
with him and to learn from him,
says Dan Farrell, technical director
of the Moulton Bicycle Company.
Some of the geometric relations
that make the design look so good
had disappeared from his newer
designs but referring back to his
original drawings, Im starting to
put these back in.
Unlike Moulton, who did all his
drawings by hand, Farrell uses
SolidWorks in his design process.
We like how we can model
things like rubber and do wheel
simulations. Also, clash testing is
very useful.
moultonbicycles.co.uk

DEVELOP3D MONTH 200X 19

Ernest Wright and Sons Antique Pattern
Stork embroidery, needlework and thread
scissors is one of its best selling products
retailing for 25.20
WHAT A STEEL
O
nce a thriving industrial town,
Sheffield was home to over 150 small
scissor manufacturing companies.
Today one of the last to remain is Ernest
Wright & Son, a family owned company
established in 1902.
With over 150 scissors in its range, it has a
pair suitable for just about any application,
and each is hand made using traditional
techniques and skills.
In fact, it takes five years as an apprentice to
qualify as a scissor putter-togetherer, a title
The new Shackleton Islander, with its price tag
of 1,999, is an openback banjo with an ash
block-rim and flame maple neck, with ebony
fingerboard and ebony headstock veneer
TAKE YOUR PICK
T
he Great British Banjo Company is
a relatively new company founded by
Simon Middleton in Norwich with the
aim of manufacturing banjos from scratch.
Its first instrument, launched in 2013, was
the Islander Ash Leaf open back, which has
been superseded by the Shackleton Islander.
The Shackleton Islander model is our most
luxurious instrument inspired by classic
open back banjos from the southeastern
United States, but with a particularly English
take, describes Middleton.
20 MONTH 200X DEVELOP3D
still used for the companys craftsmen today.
The process begins with hot-forged
stainless or carbon steel blanks. Each
half of a pair is hardened and tempered in
furnaces and quenched in oil. The blade is
then hand-ground on a traditional saddle-
mounted grinding wheel before its polished
and assembled by the putter-togetherers.
We are just in the process of getting several
of our more unique traditional item forge-
patterns 3D scanned and turned into CAD
files, in case we ever need to order forgings
The banjo design process begins with
sketches. These become technical drawings
which are then turned into carved prototypes.
There is a lot of hand-making in our
products. Some of our instruments are made
entirely by hand whilst others use CNC to
cut out the necks, but we are moving away
from CNC to use hand-controlled tools. The
Shackleton Islander doesnt use CNC at all.
Wood is sourced from an East Anglian FSC-
certified timber merchant and all the wooden
components are made in the factory. The
for them again. The local universities
(Sheffield University and Sheffield Hallam
University) are involved in these projects,
explains Nick Wright, managing director.
Our real pride is in the traditional
methods we use to make our scissors, but I
see opportunities to move into CAD/CAM,
CNC milling and even possibly 3D printing
for a future range even if to complement,
and not actually replace, the traditional
methodology.
ernestwright.co.uk
remaining components are outsourced with
the build and finishing process completed
in-house.
Our instruments do involve a huge
amount of handcrafting, and even when we
use powered tools the result is dependent on
the skill levels of the craftsman. This means
our instruments are more expensive than
imports but we offer a six year warranty and
many of our instruments, like the Islander
model, will actually increase in value.
DEVELOP3D MONTH 200X 20
thegreatbritishbanjocompany.com
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22 D3D Ads.indd 1 17/04/2015 08:31
 PROFILE

LOOK
THE
OTHER
WAY

Tanya Weaver tracks the design

and manufacture of the Othermill
a San Francisco-born desktop CNC
milling machine from an educational
research project to a Kickstarter
campaign to a commercial product
 PROFILE
T
he Schoenstein Organ Factory in San
Franciscos Mission District has a
long history of manufacturing. In the
early 1900s it saw pipe organs leave
through its doors, and today it serves
as the office, factory and showroom
for a completely different product
a desktop CNC machine called the
Othermill.
Alongside the hardware, Other Machine Co. (OMC) has
also designed easy-to-use software called Otherplan, which
guides users through the process of milling on a computer
or laptop. Once the software has been downloaded from
its website, the process of cutting objects can begin
immediately, straight out of the box.
We are incredibly excited about putting innovation in the
hands of a much broader group of people, those who have
the drive to start their own companies and perhaps want
to do their own circuit boards, but also those who want to
cut out expertly crafted products, such as jewellers. We
are at a turning point where these technologies are now
accessible, says Danielle Applestone, an engineering and
materials science graduate who is the co-founder and CEO
of OMC.
The Othermill was actually born out of a government-
funded educational research project tasked with bringing
OTHERMILL READY OUT OF THE BOX
Users are able to cut 2D and
AT A GLANCE 3D objects right away out of a
range of materials including
wood, metal and plastic. System
requirements include MAC OS X
10.8 or higher.
1
contemporary manufacturing technologies into the
1 The Othermill
desktop CNC milling
classroom. OMCs three founders Applestone, CTO
machine is easy to
Mike Estee, a former Apple software engineer, and board use unpack, insert
chairman Saul Griffith, an entrepreneur and engineering the collet, install
graduate met and worked together on this project as part Otherplan on your
computer or laptop,
of the research group Otherlab. However, in March 2013, and make your first
after having created Othercutter, a low-cost alternative to project
laser cutters that used scalpel blades in a two-axis desktop
cutting machine, the project suddenly lost its funding.
It seemed a shame that, after all the hard work put into
creating this product, including the accompanying software
that Estee had been developing, it would never see the light
of day.
Following two tense weeks while the project team decided
what to do next, Estee noticed a side project that fellow team
member Jonathan Ward had been fiddling around with to
cut out 3 x 2 inch blank copper circuit boards for making
guitar effects pedals. Ward developed the MTM Snap whilst
studying at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT). It didnt use traditional fasteners but was rather held
together using snap fits.
From a machine design standpoint, it was a Zen Kan
a minimalist meditation in materials and methods,
remembers Estee.
Estee thought that such a desktop machine would be
rather useful, especially for creating circuit boards, so
FAMILIAR FILE FORMATS
The free software, Otherplan,
FAST AND PRECISE
- Precision:0.001 in (0.0254 mm)
SMALL AND LIGHTWEIGHT
- Build Area: 5.5 4.5
imports users designs in familiar
formats including Vector graphics
- Max Traverse Speed (Rapid):
60 in/min (1,500 mm/min)
1.25 inches
- Small Frame: 10 10 12 inches
(.svg), Eagle (.brd), Gerber, and - Spindle Speed: 7,00016,500 rpm - Lightweight: 16.8 lbs (7.62 kg)
G-code. Users can even download
and cut millions of free vector
graphic designs that are online.
he reworked it. In less than a month he had developed a
prototype, which he named the Othermill.
To judge whether others would find it useful too, a
campaign was launched with a $50,000 goal on the
crowdfunding site Kickstarter. By the time it closed in June
2013, $311,657 had been pledged and 205 backers wanted
an Othermill.
THE REAL WORK BEGINS
To design Othermill for manufacture, Estee designed it
from scratch using SolidWorks. However, the two variables
from Wards original prototype that he wanted to keep were
portability and precision. The aim was for users to be able
to easily carry the machine on public transport and for it
to achieve repeatability in the range of +/- 0.001 inches
(0.025mm).
One of the first things to be reworked was the
construction of the frame. Although Estee admits that the
MTM Snap design was great when trying to save money as
a graduate student, a machine constructed without screws
did pose some manufacturing issues, especially as the
snap fits tended to come apart over time. Instead he created
a hybrid design one that used locating pins as well as
traditional fasteners.
The next challenge was increasing the machines cutting
area, as a 4 x 3 inch bed size was thought to be too small.
But adding just an inch would result in a cascading host of
2 locating brackets for finding the corner of square things, for
3
interdependent design problems. The reason is that a CNC
machine is not a static piece of kit.
We
needed to
An equal and opposite force is generated from the rapidly
moving cutting tool, which then moves through the
find the
entire machine and back to the part being cut. So, every sweet spot
component in the machines structural loop has to remain between
as rigid as possible to counter these forces and keep the enough
machine accurate while cutting.
The ripple effects of upping an inch was that the rail
stiffness
sizes needed to be stiffer and as they went up, the carriage and rigidity
sizes had to change, which in turn caused a change in the to be
mounting hardware to accommodate it and so it went on. useful for
We needed to find the sweet spot between enough
stiffness and rigidity to be useful for very fine precision very fine
work whilst still being portable, explains Estee. precision
It may seem counterintuitive to use a plastic frame as the work whilst
main component in the structural loop; however, Estee
discovered that high-density polyethylene (HDPE) was
still being
cheaper, lighter and more suitable than many metals for the
high frequency of the spindle speed and low forces that are
portable
found in the Othermill. It also allowed him to incorporate
many features into the frame itself, such as cable guides,
wire routing, lighting mounts, back panels, handles etc.
SCAFFOLDING TECHNIQUE
Using the structural loop as inspiration, Estee began the
task of upsizing the model using a technique he calls
scaffolding. Starting with a base set of 2D parametric
sketches, the largest governing variables are arranged in
free space, with the components built off of them using the
underlying sketches as references.
After years of doing ad hoc construction in SolidWorks
I eventually learned that, with a little bit of foresight and
planning, you can make things work a lot better by using a
base sketch scaffold.
This technique also allows the designers to go back to
the original design intent and make a macroscopic change
without hopefully destroying too much of the downstream
dependencies, explains Estee.
With his background as a software engineer, Estee
was also simultaneously working on the machines user
interface. His goal with the software, which he called
Otherplan, was for it to easily guide users through the
milling process by showing a visual 3D representation of the
piece being milled on the computer screen. He describes
this as a what you see is what you get software application.
In designing the system I wanted to remove as many
steps as possible so that users are at a point where they
can just start cutting. Just getting rid of anything that
didnt need to be there and add enough features to the
software and hardware that the software can figure out
where the material is within reason. And so, integrating
instance, describes Estee.
2 The two main aims during the design
and development of the Othermill were
precision and portability
3 The Othermill was designed from
scratch in SolidWorks
DEVELOP3D.COM MAY 2015 25
 PROFILE

In
designing
the system
I wanted to
remove as
many steps
as possible
so that
users are
at a point
where
they can
just start
cutting

The result of the hardware and software working side by
side is that when the user looks at the 3D interface on their
computer, it will look exactly like the real machine sitting
next to them on their desktop.
CAD TO CAM
The design was polished and refined until a frame design
had been achieved that could easily be manufactured using
a CNC machine. The tooling needed to injection mould
the frame would have cost more than our entire Kickstarter
funds, and we would have had to get it right the first time.
By milling out our frames, we could stay flexible and fix
problems as they arose, comments Estee.
To turn the SolidWorks design into machine-ready
toolpaths, HSMWorks a CAM package that had been
acquired by Autodesk but which was still supported in
SolidWorks was utilised.
As well as using HSMWorks for their own internal CAM
programming to build the machines, HSMWorks was also
integrated into Otherplan to help build efficient toolpaths.
Its also worth noting that users of SolidWorks (through
the HSMWorks plugin), Inventor, and now Fusion 360 can
also output using a post processor designed to drive the
Othermill as well.
Autodesks cloud platform Fusion 360 came along much
later in this process and there was an opportunity for us to
work closely with Autodesk to get Fusion 360 to generate
output for our Otherplan software.
So, not only do we use HSMWorks to build the
Othermill, HSMWorks can also generate toolpaths for the
Othermill. There is a post processor in there that works
with our machine, says Estee.
INVESTORS ONBOARD
Developing and manufacturing the product was more
challenging than anticipated, and with the deadline for
delivery of the Kickstarter machines looming, more
money was needed. So, Applestone and Estee pitched their
Othermill project to a number of investors and managed
to bag $3 million in funding. One of these angel investors,
who also backed the Kickstarter campaign to receive a
machine, was Autodesks CEO Carl Bass.
Our strategy in raising this round was to bring together a
group of early stage investors who are passionate about our
potential to impact the manufacturing sector, can lend their
deep operational expertise as we scale, and have incredibly
broad networks, says Applestone.
This funding resulted in the establishment of the Other
Machine Co. (OMC) and meant that the Othermill was no
longer a research project.
5

4 The Other Machine Co. staff saying

thank you to its Kickstarter backers
following a successful crowdfunding
campaign

5 The three founders of Other Machine

Co. From left: Mike Estee, CTO, Danielle
Applestone, CEO, and Saul Griffith,
board chairman

26 MAY 2015 DEVELOP3D.COM

 Design Freely

Evolve is a high quality 3D Hybrid Modeling and

Rendering environment that enables industrial designers
to evaluate, research and visualize various designs faster
than ever before.

Request a free trial at solidThinking.com/D3D

Evolve runs on both Mac OS X and Windows. An Company

 PROFILE

BUMPY PATH TO MANUFACTURE

The next challenge was manufacturing, and Estee is really
open about how their path to manufacture was a pretty
bumpy one, especially being their first experience. We
didnt realise it at the time, but getting our manufacturing
strategy in order would be just as much, if not more, work
than designing the machine itself, he admits.
The original plan was to build the plastic frames and
metal Z-blocks in-house using a Haas CNC router,
outsource the remaining component production and have
the final assembly handled by a contract manufacturer. But
following numerous problems with quality control, such
as the warping of frames, bushings that worked loose and a
fatal flaw in the packaging, the decision was taken to bring
assembly in-house too.
One of the original painful lessons learned from the
Kickstarter is that if we didnt know how to build in very
intricate detail our own products, we were not going to
effectively be able to instruct somebody else to do it in a
timely fashion to the quality levels we came to expect,
comments Estee.
Despite the setbacks, by August 2014 OMC had managed
to build all 205 Othermills and get them shipped off to the
Kickstarter backers.
In the meantime, Estee and his team had been working
on a second-generation Othermill. So, having worn
numerous hats in the development of the first-generation
machine, including those of industrial designer, software
architect, lead software engineer and lead mechanical
Currently
engineer, Estee now passed these on to others.
I dont do most of those things anymore but I like to joke we are
that your job as CTO is to wear as many hats as possible and working
then hire people who are better at wearing that particular on making
hat than you are, he says.
In the office, the two teams the hardware team
as many
consisting of eight people and the software team consisting of these
of five people sit side by side. as fast as
According to Applestone, this was a deliberate decision. possible.
They need to know exactly what is going on in each others
heads. For example, if you change the dimensions of the Making
build volume, that will affect the software and how the thousands
machine works. So, the two aspects of the machine have to and selling
be designed in parallel, she explains.
The second-generation Othermill includes a range of
thousands
subtle changes both to the software and hardware, such is our next
as dust protection, lock-out switches on the windows, goal, and
improved cable management, different power supply once we
configurations and polycarbonate windows instead of
acrylic ones.
can do that
Interestingly, during this design and development we will
process, the first-generation Othermill was used extensively think about
to prototype parts for the second-generation machine. expanding
In October 2014, the Othermill was launched for $2,199,
and it is available to buy through OMCs website. During into other
the past six months it has found its way into numerous
technology firms, small design houses, workshops,
products
classrooms and homes.
One manufacturing firm who is finding it particularly
useful is Adafruit, a New York-based electronics hobbyist
company, which uses it extensively to make precision
circuits and prototypes for manufacture. It is also used
to teach the companys staff about PCB design and
manufacture, due to the machines fast turnaround times
and low barrier to entry.

PLANS FOR THE FUTURE

6 Back in the Schoenstein Organ Factory, the OMC team
is working on a number of goals for the future. In the
short term, the aim is to become CE-certified so that
the machines can be exported to Europe, to expand the 6 Timor Ladyada

software platform beyond Mac OS X and to improve on its Fried, founder

of Adafruit, a
manufacturing lead times. New York-based
Currently we are working on making as many of these as electronics hobbyist
fast as possible. Making thousands and selling thousands company, with the
is our next goal, and once we can do that we will think about Othermill which
her company uses
expanding into other products, says Applestone. extensively to make
So, in other words, this small company that has been on precision circuits
quite a journey over the past few years is keeping itself busy. and prototypes for
manufacture
Yeah, its never boring around here. Its certainly been
7 Assembly of the
7 hard, but its been worth it, smiles Estee. Othermill is carried
othermachine.co out in-house

WOMAN To her role as CEO of Other

Machine Co., Danielle Applestone
IN TECH brings a diverse background in
science, technology, education
and entrepreneurship.
Growing up in a small town in
Arkansas, U.S., she could often
be found with her dad in his
workshop.
Building things was never
foreign to me, she says.
With an interest in chemistry,
Applestone went to a math and
science high school. Following
an advanced degree in chemical
engineering from Massachusetts
Institute of Technology (MIT)
and having learned how to write
code as a hobby, she co-founded
her first company in 2003 an
internet software as a service
(SaaS) company that she still
operates.
Having worked as a materials
scientist, she then went on to
study at the University of Texas
in Austin, where she received
her PhD in materials science
and engineering. Whilst there,
she developed several battery
materials, which have been
patented and subsequently
licensed.
Applestone then made her way
to San Francisco to work on a
government-funded education
project, from which the OMC
spun out.
Obviously everything I ever did
was male-dominated, but I did
get a lot of encouragement. There
were many programmes that I
took advantage of for women,
she comments.
So, as a female in a male-
dominated industry, Applestone
is particularly passionate about
science and math education,
especially for women and girls.
I think that we need to do
more, especially in the leadership
of companies, and make a
difference in whether or not your
workplace is welcoming for all
genders, races and ages.
I think equality is possible,
obviously, but it is going to take
a lot of work from the leaders
of tech companies to make it
happen.

28 MAY 2015 DEVELOP3D.COM

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 EVENT REPORT

Our yearly celebration of all things product design had its fourth outing
on 26th March at Warwick Arts Centre. Featuring 35 speakers, four tracks
and over 60 exhibitors, for one day the eyes of the global design industry
were on the UK. Event director Martyn Day reports

E
very year when we start
organising DEVELOP3D
LIVE we wonder how its
possible to top the previous
years event. We really
appreciate everyones efforts to get to
Warwick to experience a very unique
event.
The editorial team travels far and
wide each year, gathering material for
articles by seeing great technology
and hearing from fascinating and
innovative designers. We then spend
months inviting designers and industry
developers to come and talk on a variety
of topical areas.
Those that attended this year would
have noticed the beautiful BAC
Mono that graced the mainstage
area, brought courtesy of
Autodesk. This amazing single
seater road-legal Formula One car
is designed and made in Liverpool
by Briggs Automotive Company.
Renishaw also provided my
on-stage opening session with
the first fully titanium metal 3D
printed mountain bike, which
it had created for Empire Cycles and
I suspect probably cost as much as
the Mono to produce. Both wonderful
examples of the kind of innovations that
are happening in British design and
manufacturing.
Martyn Day Our two opening keynotes
welcoming attendees
to DEVELOP3D LIVE
were extremely different.
2015 in the opening Dominic Wilcox is a designer
session, he was with a unique attitude and
joined on stage by
Empire Cycles 3D
approach to coming up with
printed titanium ideas, from stain glass cars,
mountain bike desks that turn into coffins and
brought by Renishaw
luggage with legs not wheels.
and keynote speaker
Dominic Wilcox with Then we had Andy Claughton
the BAC Mono from Ben Ainsle Racing (BAR)
describing how you go about
designing a world beating Americas
Cup yacht. We dont have permission
to upload Dominics talk but we do
have Andys online now (develop3dlive.
com/videos/) and its well worth thirty
minutes of your time.

DEVELOP3D.COM MAY 2015 31

 EVENT REPORT

INDUSTRY TALKS
Thankfully this year it was much easier
to identify the most pertinent industry
topics. With the old SolidWorks team
reforming outside of Dassault Systmes
and launching Onshape, a cloud-based
3D modelling tool to join Autodesks
Fusion 360 cloud application, the next
generation of modelling tools was
now turning into a battle. Carl Bass,
CEO of Autodesk, and John Hirschtick
of Onshape were our first speakers
to confirm and attendees benefitted
from $1,200 of Fusion 360 Pro, as well
as guaranteed access to an Onshape
account.
While all the established CAD systems
offer years of in-depth development
and capability, their Windows-based
architectures limit them to operating at a
desktop level. Onshape and Fusion, while
embryonic, have been developed from
scratch to leverage the strength of cloud-
based collaboration and compute power.
Given the low cost and subscription
nature of these products, they could
revolutionise the industry, or the internet
could prove just too bandwidth limited,
unreliable or insecure.
Of course Autodesk and Onshape
arent the only game players in town.
PTC has had a version of Windchill
available on the cloud for several years
and recently revamped this offer.
Siemens PLM is also experimenting
with cloud-delivery of its latest SolidEdge
trials. We were honoured to have Dan
Staples, VP of Mainstream Engineering
R&D at Siemens PLM, and PTCs Paul
Sagar, Director of Product Management
at Creo Parametric, give keynotes on
product developments and the impact of
the Internet of Things (IoT). We expect
to hear more from both these firms on
cloud strategies moving forward.
No industry event would be complete
without SolidWorks and we were blessed
with Gian Paolo Bassi, the companys
new CEO who spoke about the latest
developments in SolidWorks, together
the recently announced 3DExperience
Industrial Designer, which uses a
combination of desktop and cloud
infrastructure for design teams.
We were also very fortunate this year to
get an exclusive presentation from J Scott
Schiller, WW Business Director at HP
3D Printing, who gave a lot more insight
into what HP is developing with its
forthcoming Multi Jet Fusion technology
that promises big and strong 3D printed
parts that wont be as toxic or dangerous
as the other materials we have been used
to dealing with.
For the final session on the mainstage
I got to question all those involved in
bringing next generation cloud-based
CAD tools to the market in the panel
session. It seems that those with
existing products are more cautious
about transitioning their customers to
new technologies, while upstarts like
Onshape were keen to mix things up
a little in terms of price and business
model. Nikola Bozinovic, founder of
Frame, was also on the panel and his
company currently offers a technology
that enables any Windows application to
be hosted online.
For the first time we broadcast the
mainstage live and attracted an audience
of an additional 2,000 people around the
world to the UK event. Videos from all
the mainstage have been uploaded onto
the develop3dlive.com website, with
more to come from the other rooms.
SESSIONS
After the first coffee break, DEVELOP3D
LIVE explodes into four tracks: Product
design, Industry Talks, Make/ Fabricate
and Design Visualisation. For the first
time we also ran a track on how to go
about getting funding for start-up
ideas. With speakers from so many
different aspects of design there was
plenty to choose from: jewellery design,
rendering, 3D printing, motorsport,
bicycle design all the way to Game of
Thrones effects and costume design.
Many of these will be uploaded over the
coming weeks.
CONCLUSION
Our fourth year and another record
breaking event for attendance. There was
more exhibitors, more speakers, more
free software on offer than we have ever
managed before and the live broadcast
and delayed feeds to North America help
put British design and engineering in
front of a lot of our peers.
Wed like to thank everyone who made
the effort to get there on the day, we
realise that the unlucky combination of
M6 motorway lane closures, roadworks
and building work made the trip in and
out arduous for many.
We will see you next year in the same
place on March 31st. We have already
started planning and its going to be even
better!
develop3dlive.com

TOP TWEETS @DEVELOP3DLive Is there a US

equivalent for this? Would love,
FROM THE love, love to attend.
pull the trigger on starting one
myself. Thanks!
Post @DEVELOP3DLive sitting in
#coventry cathedral under the
My first @DEVELOP3DLive.. I
really enjoyed a great day... thank
@DriesVervoort sun sketching new ideas using @ you so much...

THE DAY @Aicher

I loved Mike Paynes @
dominicwilcox book as inspiration
@Rigaero
@OpenBoundaries

@DEVELOP3DLive thanks for a develop3dlive panel quote

great event yet again, need a
bigger venue but that might spoil
the special atmosphere. See you
next year.
@p2dme
@greenape: absolutely awesome
talk @DEVELOP3DLive!
@jhirschtick
The rest of us up here are
now following @carlbass and
Autodesk to the cloud
@buzzkross
Well invested day. Thanks to the
@DEVELOP3DLive team!
@XavieMX
@_riut thanks for sharing your
#startup story yesterday at @
DEVELOP3DLive - love the back to
front backpack
@Mushcado
@alistardean @dominicwilcox @ What an absolutely awesome
DEVELOP3DLive Too bad some and inspiring day! Thanks @
of Dominics inventions werent DEVELOP3DLive - cant wait
raffled off at the conference. Love for next year! #cad #design
the square peas! #productdesign
@DarrenCAD @StiffRob

@DEVELOP3DLive Certainly did! Incredible day @DEVELOP3DLive

High points for me were talking to by far the greatest event of the
the Ember crew and seeing what year. Simply ran out of time this
that little wonder can do. year #D3DLive
@Pot8oSh3D @talktonickgray

@DEVELOP3DLive Seen so many
great new tools for starting
businesses. Helped me to finally
Best part of @DEVELOP3DLive for
me was @77A and @greenape.
Real, honest talks with meaning.
No waffle. No fence-sitting.
Quality! #D3DLive
@nick_chubb
Great presentations today from
industry leaders @gpbassi
@jhirschtick @carlbass @
DEVELOP3DLive. Each have
unique value propositions.
@MusicCityTTM
@DEVELOP3DLive West Coast
feed just ended. The about face
of the industry to face the cloud
underlines the huge industry
shifts on the way.
@kat5

32 MAY 2015 DEVELOP3D.COM

1 2 3

4 5 6

7 8

1 Everyone loves 3D printing 2 Al Dean

hosting the Building a Start-up Business
track 3 Andy Claughton of Ben Ainslie on
stage talking yacht design 4 Chatting to
attendees at the ANSYS stand 5 The BAC
Mono taking pride of place in front of the
stage during the keynote sessions 6 A
steady stream of visitors to the stands 7 A
virtual reality experience on offer at the HP
/ AMD stand 8 Mark Sanders brought his
latest bicycle invention along 9 The panel
session at the end of the event 10 Visitors to
the Roland stand 11 Delegate Nick Harvey
walked away from the event with a prize

9 10 11

DEVELOP3D.COM MAY 2015 33

 EVENT REPORT

GETTING PERSO
From delegates and exhibitors to sponsors and speakers, eight
attendees share their personal experiences of DEVELOP3D LIVE

ADAM GREEN CLARE PHYTHIAN MARK SANDERS MIKE WATKINS

SOLIDWORKS USER RENISHAW
GROUP My colleague
NETWORK - Robin Weston and
NORTH WEST I joined the event
The event was very on the Wednesday
well run. I was evening for the
interested to see pre-conference
the wide variety of CAD packages get together. The D3D Live
and supporting products and team were perfect hosts, we
services available. The speakers were introduced to and chatted
were fantastic; I found it with MAS Design Products,
particularly interesting listening Carbon3D, IPF and Onshape.
to Dominic Wilcox and seeing Staying on site really helped
his approach to design. I also maximise our time. Even just
enjoyed the talk from Richard walking over to the Arts Centre,
Varvill at Reaction Engines and on the Thursday morning,
hearing how they have overcome allowed the good fortune for us
design obstacles for their Sabre to be joined by Sarah Giblin,
Engine. RiutBag creator.
Six of the Renishaw team
Highs: For me the highs were attended the conference and I
meeting SolidWorks CEO Gian believe we all came away with
Paolo Bassi and watching Jon a positive experience, from
Hirschtick present his latest being inspired by intelligent
product OnShape. It was also and informative talks to seeing
particularly interesting to hear the latest exhibits and making
from all of the different CAD valuable contacts. Prior to and
packages and listen to how they throughout, the D3D team were
plan to tackle the inevitable move there and straight on it with
away from the desktop to the answers to queries and solutions
cloud. for any changes we required as
Lows: As the event is growing, sponsors. Great collaboration
and more and more exhibitors and an all-round excellent 24hrs.
are represented, navigating the The 31st March 2016 is fixed in
various rooms and floors made my diary.
the event seem a bit disjointed.
I guess this is a good problem to Highs: Rising star and amazing
have for a growing event. creative talent, Dominic Wilcoxs
Most surreal moment: Just before inspirational and captivating talk,
lunch I had the privilege of Martyn Days witty opening
meeting Gian Paolo Bassi. I was welcome with the Renishaw/
accepting a drone on behalf of Empire bike and then watching
one of the UK SolidWorks User colleague David Ewing take the
Group NW members, who won it stage and nail Q&As.
at our last meeting. Lows: What lows?
Most surreal moment: Being
introduced to inventor and
engineering legend Mark
Sanders having studied his work.
MAS DESIGN PRODUCTS
As previous D3D
Lives, this is one
of my design
brain feeds of
the year: there is
almost too much
fascinating information to feed
on. Thank goodness the talks are
all videoed for later snacks.
The overall impression I got is
that the CAD industry is finally
waking up to realise that user
experience is king gone are the
days when users were grateful
for simple improvements to their
CAD systems (such as the ability
to draw a line from its centre).
Today, just as we aim to make our
product designs state-of-the-art
and a total delight for our end
users, we want our CAD design
tools to do the same. And not
just for big auto and aero with
thousands of seats, but for every
user. This years exciting new and
disruptive CAD products such
as OnShape are showing the rest
of the industry that end users
expect more. Such competition
will mean that one man bands
such as myself may finally get
all the tools that big auto and
aero use at a fair price and with
interfaces that dont make a
monkey of us.
Highs: Mingling with CAD
legends such as Jon Hirschtick,
Mike Payne, Carl Bass and Gian
Paolo Bassi.
Lows: Having to miss some
overlapping talks.
Most surreal moment: Unexpected
offer to ask a question during
the panel session. I asked Why
are CAD companion products
not included in main CAD? and
then watched some squirming.
AUTODESK
This was my
fourth year at
DEVELOP3D Live
and I can honestly
say that this event
has grown into
something huge. Where else can
you go and see everyone in our
industry all in the same place
and the respective CEOs sharing
the main stage? Epic, as my
kids would say.
Even though Autodesk had
a stand, its unlike any other
conference in that we all still
found time to share ideas and
network with all other vendors
at the show. Its amazing really
what you can learn just by doing
one circuit of the exhibition halls.
The highlight for me is the
quality of presenters. There is no
death by powerpoint they are
always informative and on the
money. Im looking forward to
next year.
Highs: Accidentally handing
out free Fusion 360 Ultimate
subscriptions to everyone in the
Onshape room.
Lows: Realising that most of the
Onshape team did not find it
funny.
Most surreal moment: Being sober
for the actual conference and
having a grown up conversation
with Al over coffee.

34 MAY 2015 DEVELOP3D.COM

SONAL
KEVIN QUIGLEY SARAH GIBLIN
QUIGLEY DESIGN RIUT
This was my I was invited to
fourth Develop3D talk to some of the
Live, but the first most experienced
time I had stayed designers on the
the night before planet about
for the networking design. The
event and what a great night design of my creation the
it was, finally meeting so many RiutBag rucksack to be exact.
people Ive known for years via Yes, my heart was thumping
social media. when I went up on stage.
I thoroughly enjoyed Dominic
Wilcoxs opening keynote very Highs: It feels like theres a real
different to previous years, and desire to get strategy right in
very entertaining. I spent the your industry, even radically,
morning in the keynote track, so a desire to win long term
which was particularly strong battles and yet respond to new
this year, then hopped around directions that are breaking out
the exhibition area and different in the short term too. There was
tracks in the afternoon. One a serious buzz of friendly rivalry,
of the joys of DEVELOP3D competition, knowledge and
Live is that you get side tracked care. It was a pleasure to behold.
into conversations you didnt I told everyone who came to the
anticipate. start-up theatre that they need
Mark Shaylers blockbuster to revolve their thinking around
finale (always entertaining, the user. This might just lead
always thought provoking and to the production of radically
always in great shoes) and the different products. Revolution
welcome return of the panel in user thinking (Riut) is my
discussion, which I have to say mantra. It also describes my first
was the best yet, completed ever creation, the RiutBag. The
another fantastic event at a great audience was fantastic. They
venue. had so many great questions and
interest in the project. Its been a
Highs: Witnessing two CEOs party on social media ever since!
at the very top of their game, Lows: No lows.
Carl Bass and Jon Hirschtick, Most surreal moment: When asked
outlining future plans.. during my talk how I modelled
Lows: Missing Mark Sanders my creation, I said I just wore it
talk. myself. Confusion reigned until
Most surreal moment: Walking we realised what was going on.
back from the networking event I didnt use software to design
at 1am and being approached by the RiutBag. The sketches I drew
a guy in a dark pathway. Tell me have been PDFed but thats as far
how to get to Liverpool, he said. as its gone. Ive blogged about
Go up there, then right, then my design process on the website
left, then straight on, I said. And riutbag.wordpress.com to prove
off he staggered. I wonder if he that Im not kidding.
made it.
JON HIRSCHTICK
ONSHAPE
The DEVELOP3D
team did it again!
A fantastic event.
The main reason
is the quality and
energy of the
attendees. Thats why we chose
DEVELOP3D Live as the first live
event to show Onshape publicly
and we could not have dreamed
of a better response.
We were talking CAD non-
stop from the day before the
show until the drive away. Its
also great to talk to people about
their product design process, 3D
printing, design education, and
all sorts of topics beyond CAD.
I managed to squeeze in
time to catch some of the other
speakers. Dominic Wilcox
wow! What a creative guy and
in true DEVELOP3D style, not
just informative but highly
entertaining. The DEVELOP3D
sense of humour and fun seems
to pervade everything at the event
from the keynote speeches to the
bar.
Highs: Opening up our exhibit
in the morning and showing
Onshape live for the first time
ever. Having crowds visiting with
us all day.
Lows: Could not possibly see all
the speakers and exhibits I would
have wanted to. Only having time
for brief hellos with old friends.
Most surreal moment: After many
years of work I finally did my
first-ever Onshape live demo
in front of a crowd during my
keynote, CADing in a browser
and on my iPhone using the
events wi-fi.
LI
V
E
MIKE HARVEY
AMALGAM MODELMAKING
I have attended all
four Develop3D
Live events and
each has exceeded
the last in both
size and quality, so
much so that I wonder how long
before it out-grows the existing
venue which would be a shame
as the Warwick Arts Centre is just
the right size to give an intimate
feeling while being big enough
to include a lot of relevant and
interesting content.
Im never the first to arrive,
which does make parking a
problem, however, once that
frustration is overcome, a cup of
free coffee while deciding where
to start allows me to gather my
thoughts while nodding to a few
familiar faces.
Half an hour in, and a lot more
information later, off to find Lloyd
Pennington who was sadly there
without his new CNC machine as
he had made the wise if difficult
decision not to rush things. Then
a catch-up with SYS, who supplied
our Objet system, followed by a
chance to see Markforgeds Mark
One Composite printer and
some sample parts. Then lunch,
a very good presentation by Mark
Sanders and a tour of the trade
stands saying hi to old friends and
making some new acquaintances.
And before I knew it another D3D
Live was over.
Highs: Why catching up with
Tanya Weaver of course.
Lows: Getting parked.
Most surreal moment: Listening
to Mark Sanders thoughts on
IP and realising we were in
total (almost word for word)
agreement.
DEVELOP3D.COM MAY 2015 35
 PROFILE

Solving farming problems through technology,

Stephen Holmes meets farmers turned designers Claydon Drills

BACK TILLER
F
arming equipment company Claydon Drills New Zealand and Chile.
began its life on the farm, and still brings Jeffs son Oliver, now design director at Claydon Drills,
generations of experience to its products explains that the path to innovation came through that loss-
from the rural fields of Suffolk. making patch in 2002.
Founded in 1980 by Jeff Claydon, his We cant change the input costs of farming because
first creation, the Yield-O-Meter, was a diesel is a fixed price, fertiliser is a fixed price, were told
revolutionary load counter for combine what we will buy everything for, and cant change what
harvesters. we sell for because its demand on the global market. All
Essentially a calculator in the drivers we can really do is play with what weve got in the middle,
cabin, it could calculate how much crop the machine had which is really how we farm, he explains.
collected over a certain area.
1 Claydon Drills
produces time
Arriving at a period where digital technology was AIMING HIGH and cost-saving
beginning to find its way into farming, it also allowed Jeff Claydons aim was to improve the process of direct agricultural tools,
farmers to experiment too. drilling arable land, which struggles to work in the UK such as this Hybrid-T
model, for cultivating
Trial plots using different fertilisers, seeds, planting because of heavy clay-based soils that fill up with water, and planting the land
methods to get the best results and being able to measure rotting the seed.

2 Folding wings
these yields, allowed farming to take the first steps into Natural factors like earthworms not thriving in the same mean customers can
becoming the modern, technology-driven industry it is soil to de-compact it also mean that slugs then thrive, have bigger machines
that fit on the road
today. tearing through harvests.
legally
Claydon Drills is still farming the familys thousand acres Claydon Drills decided that by tilling the soil over only

3 The team use
of arable land, however a loss of profits in 2002 saw Jeff in the area that needed to be planted a labour intensive SolidWorks to model
Claydon inventing once more. process needed to air the soil - and ignoring the rest of the increasingly complex
Over a decade later, and with a cluster of storage barns field, it could halve this cost. design systems for
weight distribution,
and assembly workshops humming with action, this path The idea came to put a digging tine directly in front of a strength and
to rescue has been a success with customers as far away as seeding tine, with a harrow on the back. The digging tine efficiency

36 MAY 2015 DEVELOP3D.COM


THE FUTURE
provides cultivation and breaks the soil, and in the same
pass the seeding tine places the seed in the right place with
the harrow covering it back over with soil.
A huge success, the general principle of how the product
works has not changed since 2002 yet its evolution has not
stopped.
The expanded product line is a continuing progression
of tweaks and design improvements built on the Claydon
Drills teams own experiences, and from its users around
the world that run the equipment 12 hours a day for nearly
2 two months during the season.
The demand for bigger machines meant the need to
incorporate a folding-mechanism, allowing the wings to
pull upright so as to fit on public roads, and pushed through
the need for in-house 3D CAD and a shift from building
solution and outsourcing 2D drawings afterwards.
The design process at the beginning was to get some off-
the-shelf parts, go into the workshop with an oxyacetylene
torch, a mig welder and some hand tools it was very much
A-Team stuff! says Oliver Claydon.
3 In the future the company will utilise more of the software
JUMP TO 3D
In 2006 the company made the jump to 3D, taking
SolidWorks in-house with help from Innova Systems,
freeing its designs from the limitations of stock parts and
The design process at the beginning
was to get some off-the-shelf
parts, go into the workshop with an
oxyacetylene torch, a mig welder and
some hand tools it was very much
A-Team stuff!
Oliver Claydon, design director
1
increasing the amount of its own design work.
By 2009 it had designed the Hybrid model a
combination of the best parts of its previous drills
dropping the weight and adding some deceptively well
thought out design components.
A better-designed hopper to hold the seed means the
wings can fold upright, doubling the wingspan from three
metres to six.
The latest design has cut operation time on the Claydons
own farm by a fifth, and costs them only a third of their
original design a saving of nearly 100,000 a year.
At an estimate, Claydon suggests that 80 to 90 per cent
of its operation now is first modelled in 3D and through
taking in STEP files from component suppliers.
With a workload of producing over 300 machines annually
for this small enterprise, it means things like rendering
models in Photoview 360 are a luxury.
Yet a tool such as the SolidWorks assembly structure-
planning tool, Treehouse, proves invaluable for getting
machinery built, ready for the new season.
features, adding more virtual engineering to the teams
hands-on approach, and increasing the range of products
that has already expanded to form a flourishing business.
claydondrills.com
DEVELOP3D.COM MAY 2015 37
 MOBILE WORKSTATION GROUP TEST
Theres no standard
template for these next
gen mobile workstations.
Manufacturers blend
portability and performance
in different measures
Group test: Ultra portable
15-inch mobile workstations
CAD folks with hefty laptops have long envied the Ultrabooks and MacBooks
of fellow travellers. But a new generation of slimline mobile workstations is
changing the way you can do CAD on the go, writes Greg Corke
T
he first mobile workstations were 5kg
beasts, almost guaranteed to put your
back out on work trips. Weights have now
come down, but most 15-inch machines
still come in at a hefty 3kg. Bruised shoulders from
laptop bags are no longer guaranteed, but youll
likely feel the strain at the end of the day.
Until recently, attempts at ultra mobile
workstations have meant serious trade-offs in both
performance and screen size. And when your job
relies on detailed engineering design, running CAD
on a 14-inch laptop simply wont cut it for some.
Everything changed in 2013 when Dell unveiled
the Precision M3800, the first proper ultra portable
mobile workstation with a 15.6-inch screen. At
1.88kg in weight and 8mm at its most slender, this
MacBook Pro look-alike certainly turned some heads.
Since then HP, Lenovo and MSI have all followed
suit, delivering 15-inch machines that are certified
and optimised to run 3D CAD but also offer the
same mobility as a slimline business laptop.
Compared to a standard 15-inch mobile
workstation, there are some compromises.
On the whole, performance is lower. Theres a
maximum 16GB of RAM (instead of 32GB). There is
only room for one or two drives (instead or two or
three) and you can forget about having a DVD drive.
But they are considerably lighter. Most come in
38 MAY 2015 DEVELOP3D.COM
Mobile workstations.indd 38
under 2kg and when power adapters are included
the savings can be as much as 1.5kg.
There is no standard template for these next
gen mobile workstations. Manufacturers blend
portability and performance in different ways.
Broadly speaking there are two types of machines.
1) Those based on a business-class laptop chassis, so
include enterprise features like fingerprint scanner
and docking port. Some models are classified as
Ultrabooks. With low voltage Dual Core CPUs and low
power professional GPUs they prioritise battery life
over performance. They are more suited to entry-level
CAD than rendering or simulation. They include the HP
ZBook 15u (p40) and Lenovo ThinkPad W550s (p41).
2) Those based on a 3D gaming laptop chassis where
performance is an absolute priority but battery life
is more limited and fans are noisier under load.
They feature Quad Core CPUs that deliver in CAD as
well as rendering, simulation and CAM. Professional
GPUs sit between entry-level and mid-range. They
include the Dell Precision M3800 (p42), MSI WS60
(p43) and HP OMEN Pro (p44).
To assess performance we used our standard suite
of application-specific workstation benchmarks
(see tinyurl.com/D3Dbench for details).
The sleek HP
OMEN Pro (p44)
To test battery life, we used PCMark 8s Creative
test (OpenCL) which uses CPUs and GPUs for tasks
including video editing, media transcoding and
gaming. Its not CAD but should give a fairly good
indication of what to expect under a heavy compute
load though it is important to note that the test
uses built in Intel graphics, rather than the discrete
Quadro or FirePro GPUs which draw more power, so
its not perfect.
All machines were set to high performance.
Display brightness was set at lowest and highest
levels and both scores recorded.
Of course, dont take the battery figures as
gospel. If you only use your machine for Word or
Excel then the battery will last a whole lot longer.
MOBILE
WORKSTATION
BUYERS
GUIDE
EVERYTHING YOU EVER WANTED TO
KNOW ABOUT CAD-CLASS LAPTOPS
TINYURL.COM/WS-BUYER
17/04/2015 08:33
 ULTRA
PORTABLE
15-INCH MOBILE
WORKSTATIONS
Lenovo ThinkPad Dell Precision HP OMEN Pro
HP ZBook 15u MSI WS60
W550s M3800 [pre-production unit]
Intel Core i7-5600U Intel Core i7-5600U Intel Core i7-4712HQ Intel Core i7-4710HQ Intel Core i7-4870HQ
Processor (CPU) (2.60GHz up to 3.20GHz (2.60GHz up to 3.20GHz (2.30GHz up to 3.30GHz) (2.50GHz up to 3.50GHz) (2.50GHz up to 3.70GHz)
(2 cores, 4 threads) (2 cores, 4 threads) (4 cores, 8 threads (4 cores, 8 threads) (4 cores, 8 threads)

16 GB (2 x 8GB) 16GB (2 x 8GB) 16GB (2 x 8GB) 16GB (2 x 8GB) 16GB (2 x 8GB) 1600MHz
Memory (RAM) DDR3L-1600 SDRAM 12800 DDR3L 1600MHz 1600MHz DDR3L DDR3 L 1,600MHz DDR3L SDRAM

AMD FirePro M4170 (1 GB) Nvidia Quadro K620M (2GB) Nvidia Quadro K1100M (2GB) Nvidia Quadro K2100M Nvidia Quadro K1100M (2GB)
Graphics (GPU) + Intel HD Graphics 5500 +Intel HD Graphics 5500 + Intel HD Graphics 4600 (2GB GDDR5) + Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200

15.6 4K Ultra HD (3,840

15.6 diagonal LED-backlit 15.6-inch 1,920 x 1,080, 15.6 diagonal full HD
15.5 3K (2,880 x 1,620) IPS x 2,160) Dell UltraSharp,
Display FHD UWVA IPS eDP anti- Anti Glare, Wide Viewing WLED backlit touch screen
Multi-touch, 350nits IGZO2, 10 finger multi-touch,
glare + PSR (1,920 x 1,080) Angle display (1,920 x 1,080)
wide view, LED-backlit

256GB HP Z Turbo Drive 256GB Solid State Drive 128GB M.2 SATA SSD + 512 Gb HP Z Turbo Drive
Drives (PCIe SSD) + 512GB 2.5-inch 512GB 2.5-inch SATA SSD (SSD)Full Mini Card 1TB 2.5-inch HDD (PCIe SSD)
SATA SSD

Spill-resistant keyboard. Full-size island-

Image sensor Touchpad with
Keyboard / Mouse
two-way scroll, gestures.
Pointstick with two buttons
ThinkPad Precision Backlit full size keyboard. Full-colour Backlight
style backlit keyboard.
Keyboard with NumPad & Gesture enabled multi-touch Keyboard by SteelSeries
Touchpad with multi-touch
Backlight touchpad with two buttons (includes numeric keypad)
gesture support

Battery HP Long Life 3-cell, 50 WHr 3 cell Front (44 Whr) + 6 cell Dell 61 WHr 6-Cell 6-Cell Li-polymer Battery 4-cell, 58 WHr 3.82Ah
Li-ion polymer prismatic Rear High Capacity (72 Whr) Lithium-Ion Battery (52.9Wh) Lithium-ion polymer battery

Dual Band Wireless-AC 7265 Intel Dual Band Wireless- AC Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC
Wi-Fi (Intel 802.11 a/c)
Wireless 802.11a/b/g/n (2x2) and 7265, 2x2, Wi-Fi + Bluetooth, 7260 @ 5GHz + 7260 802.11ac (2x2) WiFi +
Bluetooth v4.0
Bluetooth M.2 card Bluetooth 4.0 Bluetooth 4.0 Combo
2 x USB 3.0 + 1 x USB 2.0
3 x USB 3.0 3 x USB 3.0 (one Always-On (all with PowerShare), 3 x USB 3.0 4 x USB 3.0
(1 x USB 3.0 charging)
Ports charging port), RJ45 Gigabit Thunderbolt 2.0/mini Thunderbolt 2 USB to Ethernet Adapter
Intel I218-LM Gigabit Ethernet DisplayPort (mDP). USB 3.0 RJ45 Gigabit Ethernet (included)
Ethernet to Ethernet adapter included
Fingerprint reader. Smart
1 secure digital; SD (XC/HC) memory card Multi-format SD media
Expansion / security Card reader. Integrated 4-in- 3-in-1 media card reader
1 smart card reader reader card reader
1 SD card reader

Display outputs VGA, DisplayPort VGA, Mini DisplayPort v 1.2 Mini DisplayPort, HDMi Mini DisplayPort, HDMi HDMI, Mini DisplayPort

Light sensitive HD video HP TrueVision Full HD

Webcam 720p HD 720p HD FHD type (30fps @ 1080p)
webcam WVA Webcam

Side docking port for HP Bottom docking port for No dedicated docking port
Docking No dedicated docking port No dedicated docking port
UltraSlim Docking Station Ultra Dock Docking Station Dell D3100 USB 3.0 dock

Size (W x D x H) 375.5 x 253.6 x 21.42 mm 380.6 x 258.2 x 23.3 mm 372 x 254 x 8-18 mm 390 x 266 x 19.9 mm 383 x 248 x 15.5 mm

Weight (machine + Starting at 1.91kg + 0.45kg 2.48kg + 0.33kg Starts at 1.88kg + 0.49kg Starting at 1.9kg + 0.67kg 2.12kg + 0.63kg
power adapter incl UK plug)

Microsoft Windows 7 Microsoft Windows 8.1 Microsoft Windows 7 Microsoft Windows 7 Microsoft Windows 7
Operating System Professional 64-bit Professional 64-bit Professional 64-bit Professional 64-bit Professional 64-bit

Standard 1-year (optional 3,

Standard limited 3 years 4 or 5 year) Next Business 3 year: parts, labour, collect 3-year Next
Warranty parts, 3 years labour, and 3 3 year on site Day Service On Site Service and return Business Day Onsite
years onsite service (3/3/3) after Remote Diagnosis
Details of all benchmarks can be found at tinyurl.com/D3Dbench

Website hp.co.uk lenovo.co.uk dell.co.uk uk.msi.com hp.co.uk

CPU benchmarks
(smaller is better)

CAM (PowerMill 2010) (i) 296 (ii) 537 (iii) 814 (i) 316 (ii) 511 (iii) 745 (i) 190 (ii) 302 (iii) 426 (i) 176 (ii) 272 (iii) 386 i) 176 ii) 283 iii) 411

Rendering (3ds Max Design) 574 643 300 267 273

Graphics benchmarks
(bigger is better)

CAD (SolidWorks 2013) 3.14 Benchmark does not run on Win 8 4.28 @ HD / 1.85 @ 4K 4.55 4.26*

CAD (PTC Creo 2.0) 3.45 3.44 to 4.12* 4.24 @ HD / 4.14 @ 4K 4.98 4.46*

Battery test (PCMark 8) 2h 40mins 6h 33mins* 2h 11mins 1h 32mins 1h 50mins*

Compute intensive creative 3h 23mins No min brightness recorded 2h 42mins 1h 45mins 2h 07mins*
test (max & min brightness)

Price (excl VAT) 1,315 1,956 1,599 1,416 TBC

* Testing performed on pre-production unit so performance could change with final production unit
DEVELOP3D.COM MAY 2015 39

Mobile workstations.indd 39 17/04/2015 08:26

 HP ZBook 15u
This new addition to the HP ZBook family goes all out for portability
but still retains the key enterprise features of its older siblings

P
ortability is now a big focus for HP,
launching not one but two slimline
15-inch mobile workstations in the
space of six months.
The HP ZBook 15u is the more
enterprise-focused of the two (the HP OMEN Pro
(p44) being the other) and delivers many of the
features youd expect to see in a higher-end mobile
workstation. This includes fingerprint scanner, Smart
Card reader, (side) docking port and the impressive
HP Easy Access Door (more on this later).
The big pitch for the ZBook 15u is its portability
and HP is placing much of its marketing efforts
around the machines Ultrabook standing. For with small to medium-sized CAD assemblies.
those not familiar with this Intel classification, for
a laptop to be called an Ultrabook manufacturers
have to meet certain specifications relating to
battery life, thickness, performance, wake from
sleep time and others.
With the HP ZBook 15u (and the Lenovo ThinkPad
W550s) things get a little confusing as not all
models qualify as an Ultrabook specifically, we
think, those that dont use an SSD for OS but on
the whole one can expect all models to come close.
Key to the ZBook 15u achieving its Ultrabook status
is the Core i7-5600U, an Ultra low voltage (ULV) dual-
core CPU based on the Broadwell architecture.
This CPU might lack the multi-threaded power
of the quad core chip found in the HP OMEN Pro
and Dell Precision M3800, but with a clock speed
of 2.6GHz rising to 3.2GHz, it still delivers where it
matters for CAD. And it does so without breaking
into a sweat with fan noise kept to an absolute
minimum, even under heavy loading.
Like most mobile workstations, the HP ZBook 15u
relies on switchable graphics with a view to saving
power. It uses the built in Intel HD Graphics 5500
for mainstream apps and swaps over to the higher
performance CAD-focused AMD FirePro M4170 (1GB
GDDR5) as and when required.
This should happen automatically, as it did for our
CAD test suite, but individual apps can be matched
to GPUs in AMDs Catalyst Control Center software.
Despite its entry-level positioning, the AMD
FirePro M4170 delivered some decent scores in our
SolidWorks and Creo tests.
Compared to the more powerful Dell Precision
M3800 with Nvidia Quadro K1100M, it was only
19% slower in Creo and 27% slower in SolidWorks.
In practice it should give users a good experience
quality but, in this age of IPS panels, nothing
While compromises have been made with CPU
and GPU, theres nothing entry-level about the
storage with a PCIe-based 256GB HP Z Turbo Drive
for operating system and applications and a 512GB
SATA-based SanDisk X210 2.5-inch SSD for data.
Our tests showed that the HP Z Turbo Drive
delivered around 70% better sequential read
speeds and 40% faster sequential read speeds
than the SanDisk X210, which is great news if you
frequently copy large files. 3ds Max also opened
slightly quicker, taking 17.3 secs on the HP Z Turbo
Drive and 18.4 secs on the SanDisk X210.
However, in the AS SSD benchmark, the SanDisk
X210 SSD actually scored higher in random read/
write performance and access time so the benefits of
PCIe storage arent as broad as one might presume.
As you would expect from an HP ZBook, build
quality is excellent and despite its 1.91kg mass the
machine feels solid and well built.
Serviceability is superb with all key components
easily accessible behind the excellent HP Easy
Access Door. Simply remove the optional security
screw, slide the switch, pull off the panel and
memory, storage, WLAN and battery are all within
easy reach. HP scores big points here, standing
head and shoulders above the competition which
all require messing about with lots of fiddly screws.
Despite its moderate spec, the HP Long Life 3-cell,
50 WHr Li-ion battery lasted a respectable 2 hours
40mins under the heavy load PCMark 8 battery test.
The multi-touch image sensor Touchpad is precise
and the backlit keyboard comfortable in use but
a numeric keypad is noticeably absent. Dedicated
power, airplane mode and mute buttons sit
conveniently between keyboard and screen.
The HD (1,920 x 1,080) matte screen is of good
outstanding. There is no optional touch screen like
there is with its Ultrabook sibling, the ZBook 14.
Even with a thickness of 21.42mm HP has
managed to include a standard RJ45 port in the
chassis. This ingenious design has a spring-loaded
hinge that expands the port to its full width when
you plug in an Ethernet cable. Dual Band Wireless-
AC is on tap for high-speed WiFi.
There are four USB 3.0 ports, one of which is
always on so smart phones and other devices can
be charged even when the mobile workstation is off.
DisplayPort and VGA give both digital and analogue
options for connecting to external displays.
The HP ZBook 15u is an impressive addition to the
HP ZBook family, giving fans of the enterprise-class
CAD laptops an ultra-portable 15-inch offering.
While the ZBook 15 and ZBook 17 are pitched
as desktop replacements, the ZBook 15u, with its
entry-level 3D graphics feels more like a companion
to a desktop machine.
But if you want a slimline, highly portable
Ultrabook for travel that is also optimised for
entry-level 3D CAD, its an excellent choice.

6
5 The HP ZBook 15u offers impressive
7 serviceability, head and shoulders
above all other ultra portable
7
4 mobile workstations

1 HP Easy Access Door
3 2

2 3-cell, 50-WHr, 4.5-AHr battery

3 2.5-inch drive (SSD or HDD)

4 HP Z Turbo Drive

5 WLAN module

6 Memory modules

7 Screws to release keyboard

40 MAY 2015 DEVELOP3D.COM

Mobile workstations.indd 40 17/04/2015 08:26


Lenovo ThinkPad W550s
With unrivalled battery life Lenovo has created a CAD-class laptop
that can truly be used all day long without having to plug into power
B
attery life can be a big issue for
CAD on the go. But when a laptop
has workstation-class components
throughout one cant really expect it
to last more than a few hours away
from the mains.
This really sucks if youre a frequent traveller or
too old to be fighting over sockets in Starbucks.
And something that Lenovo has acknowledged
with its new ThinkPad W550s, which gets the Intel
Ultrabook seal of approval in some configurations.
Lenovo claims its new slimline machine has the
best battery life of any mobile workstation. And
wed have to agree. Fully loaded with 9 cells, it
lasted an incredible 6h 33mins in our compute
intensive PCMark 8 battery test, about twice as
long as its closest rival, the HP ZBook 15u.
With the benchmark hammering CPU and GPU for
most of its duration, we would expect this machine
to last well over a whole day under more restrained
use (think Word and Excel with a sprinkling of CAD).
The secret to the ThinkPads longevity is not
rocket science powerful batteries combined with
low-voltage processors mean the power issue is
tackled on two fronts.
However, the way that Lenovo has implemented
its batteries is rather unique.
Rather than having a single battery the ThinkPad
W550s has two: a fixed internal 3 Cell (44 Whr) and
a removable external battery that clips underneath.
The external battery comes in three options.
A 3-cell (23 Whr) model that sits flush with the
underside of the machine or a 6-cell (48 WHr) or
6-cell (72 Whr) that protrudes from the bottom by
about the width of an AA battery.
As the eternal battery can be easily removed,
you can extend battery life even further by keeping
a spare in the laptop bag. This makes 3D CAD all
the way from LHR to SFO a distinct reality. You can
even swap out the external battery without having
to power down.
Keeping power consumption down, the ThinkPad
W550s features the same Ultra Low Voltage (ULV)
processor as the HP ZBook 15u an Intel Core
i7-5600U. With only 2 CPU cores, performance will
be restricted in simulation or ray trace rendering
software. However, with a clock speed of 2.60GHz
(Turbo up to 3.20GHz) its a decent option for single
threaded CAD operations.
For 3D graphics, Lenovo has taken a different tack
to HP, partnering the Intel CPU with an entry-level
Nvidia Quadro K620 GPU. In our hands-on 3D CAD
tests the machine felt responsive, even with some
relatively complex models. However, its hard
to put an exact figure on performance as a) our
SolidWorks benchmark does not run on Windows
8.1 and b) the benchmark scores in Creo were a
little erratic ranging from. 3.44 to 4.12.
This inconsistency could be down to our test
machine being a pre-production unit.
We did experience a few quirks with the system,
specifically in relation to Lenovos Intelligent
Mobile workstations.indd 41
MOBILE WORKSTATION GROUP TEST
[pre-production unit]
Cooling technology, which seemed intent on class to offer both 2.5-inch for data and a small
clocking the CPU right down to 1.2GHz under most form factor SSD (mSATA or M.2) for operating
loads, significantly impacting performance. system and applications.
Switching off Intelligent Cooling meant Of course, storage can be supplemented by an
performance was restored to expected levels and external USB 3.0 drive. There are three ports (one
it did this without negatively impacting fan noise. is always on, which is useful for charging smart
Lenovo told DEVELOP3D it is working on a patch to phones). Data can also be brought in and out via
fix this issue. Gigabit Ethernet or fast Intel Dual Band Wireless
Intelligent Cooling is one of a number of features - AC 7265. 3G or 4G WWAN is an option extra with
that can be adjusted through the intuitive Lenovo a Sierra EM7345 LTE or Ericsson N5321 3G, HSPA+
Settings software. Rather than having to drill down module.
into the Windows Control Panel and dialogue box The ThinkPad has always been a popular choice
upon dialogue box, the touchpad, wireless, network, with enterprise customers so its good to see that
power, camera and fingerprint reader can all be Lenovo has not cut corners when developing this
configured from an easy-to-use touch screen menu. slimline model.
Having initially been a little sceptical about Fingerprint and smart card readers are available
the real value of touch screens on a mobile and, thanks to the underside docking port, it
workstation, using the ThinkPads 15.5-inch 2,880 can mate with a ThinkPad Pro Dock or UltraDock
x 1,620 multi-touch display with Windows 8.1 was a making it easy to hook up to external displays,
moment of enlightenment. peripherals and LAN via DisplayPort, VGA, DVI,
While we wouldnt recommend it for precise CAD Gigabit Ethernet and USB.
work, in terms of navigating files, apps and web The ThinkPad W550s offers a unique proposition
pages, touching the screen directly is often much in the ultra portable 15-inch mobile workstation a
quicker and more intuitive than using the trackpad CAD-class laptop that can last all day on batteries.
or point stick. As a result its a little thicker (23.3mm) and heavier
Thats not to say the trackpad is poor. A vast (2.48kg) than other models, though with all day
improvement over the one used in the ThinkPad battery you probably wont need to carry the power
W540, we found it comfortable and precise. adapter with you so that saves some weight.
The backlit keyboard took a little getting used to, With the slightly bulkier frame its a little
as the island style keys have more travel than most, disappointing it doesnt have more storage options,
but we adjusted quite quickly and the numeric but this shouldnt detract from what is otherwise
keypad is a big bonus for CAD. The ThinkPad W550s an excellent enterprise-class mobile workstation
and the MSI WS60 were the only two machines in ideal for truly mobile designers.
this group test to boast this often-valued feature.
The chassis is classic ThinkPad a solid, well built
simple design with a soft touch finish on the lid.
However, it lacks the serviceability of Lenovos
desktop P-series workstations and
accessing the internals is a
bit of a challenge due to an
awkward plastic back panel
with multiple screws.
In saying that there probably
isnt much need for access as
upgrades are limited. Like all
of the mobile workstations in
our group test, RAM is maxed
out at 16GB. However, more
surprisingly, Lenovo only has
room for one 2.5-inch drive.
Our test machines 512GB SATA
SSD is perfectly adequate, but
those in need of more capacity
to store hefty CAD datasets
will have to choose a
slower 1TB HDD.
One would
expect a
machine
of this
DEVELOP3D.COM MAY 2015 41
17/04/2015 08:27
 Dell Precision M3800 [2015]
Recently updated with a new 4K screen and Thunderbolt 2,
Dells slimline beauty continues to shine, albeit with a few tradeoffs
F
irst unveiled in Autumn 2013, the Dell
Precision M3800 was the original ultra
portable 15-inch mobile workstation
and, in our opinion, still the best looking.
This slender MacBook Pro look-alike may
lack originality but it is still a thing of beauty.
Beyond aesthetics, theres an innovative use of
premium materials. A CNC machined aluminium
lid protects the glorious 4K touch display, while
a magnesium mid panel, overmoulded with
silicone does a great job of keeping the palm rest
surface cool to touch. The carbon fibre base gives
lightweight strength as well as keeping laps at a
comfortable temperature.
And the insulation is important as the machine
does produce a fair amount of heat, evident by
its two audible fans, which kick into action during
most CPU and GPU intensive operations. Warm air
is expelled at the rear underside of the machine.
What the Precision M3800 lacks in acoustics, it
makes up for in performance. With four CPU cores,
the 37W Intel Core i7 4712HQ CPU cut through
our 3ds Max rendering benchmark in a mere 300
seconds, twice as fast as the UltraBook-class HP
ZBook 15u and Lenovo ThinkPad W550s, and not far
behind the HP OMEN Pro or even the desktop Lenovo
ThinkStation P500 reviewed earlier this year.
With a clock speed of 2.30GHz going up to
3.30GHz, a small improvement over the Intel
Core i7 4702HQ CPU in last years model, it also
performs well in single threaded applications.
For a machine of this size, 3D graphics
performance is impressive and the 2GB Nvidia
Quadro K1100M delivered solid scores in our
SolidWorks and Creo benchmarks. But there is a BIG
caveat to this and that is the impact of display
resolution on 3D performance.
The new 4K (3,840 x 2,160 ) Dell UltraSharp
touch panel is a thing of beauty. Vibrant colours
42 MAY 2015 DEVELOP3D.COM
Mobile workstations.indd 42
certainly make the most of its pin sharp resolution
and it is arguably the best laptop panel weve
seen at DEVELOP3D. However, unlike most mobile
workstation panels it has a glossy finish so can be
prone to annoying reflections in direct light.
But with four times as many pixels to push about
on screen 3D performance can slow down. Running
our SolidWorks benchmark at 4K (3,840 x 2,160)
resulted in a significant drop in performance, less
than half that we experienced at HD (1,920 x 1,080).
With PTC Creo the impact of resolution
was negligible, so its important to note that
performance in relation to resolution will likely
depend on the application, datasets and how the
model is viewed (e.g. realistic effects or shaded).
The good news, because HD uses exactly half the
horizontal and vertical pixels, the image still looks
good at 1,920 x 1,080 resolution. With other panels
when you use a non-optimal resolution fonts and
images will be blurry.
This is also an important consideration as software
developers make changes to the user interface.
Many applications are still not optimised for 4K so
icons and dialogues appear unreadable even with
Windows settings ramped up. Having a real choice
of HD or 4K will help smooth the transition.
An HDMi and Mini DisplayPort are included to
connect to external displays.
Storage is more standard, courtesy of a 256GB
Solid State Drive Mini-Card (mSATA). While some
may find this a little light on capacity, theres plenty
of ways to remedy this either by upgrading to a
512GB or (soon) 1TB mSATA, or adding a 2.5-inch
drive (HDD up to 1TB, SSD up to 512GB or Solid
State Hybrid Hard Drive (SSHD) up to 512GB).
User upgrades are possible but youll need
a T5 Torx screwdriver to remove
the 12 screws that secure the
back panel. In addition
to storage and memory, youll also find the 6-Cell
battery which is rated at 91 WHr and not bad
considering the spec of the machine. It lasted 2h
11min in our heavy duty PCMark battery test but we
would expect much longer operation when using
standard office applications.
The backlit island style keyboard and spacious
trackpad with soft touch surround are a pleasure to
use, but theres no numeric keypad.
For connectivity, the laptop is well appointed
with 3 x USB 3.0 ports and Thunderbolt 2 a
nice addition for those that want lightning fast
external storage.
Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260 means CAD data
can be transferred over WiFi more quickly than with
802.11 a/b/g/n (providing you have an optimised
network, of course). Gigabit Ethernet is still the
preferred way to connect to the network but the
slimline design means no Ethernet port. A USB to
Ethernet adapter is included in the box though.
Other notable omissions include fingerprint
scanner, smart card reader or dedicated docking port
all important enterprise features although the
machine can connect to a USB dock.
Finding the balance between performance
and portability is a major challenge for
mobile workstation manufacturers.
The emphasis on delivering
performance in an exceedingly
sleek chassis means inevitable
trade offs in battery life and fan
noise but the Dell Precision
M3800 continues to be an
exceptional machine for
CAD on the go, though
be sure to consider
the implications of
having a 4K screen.
17/04/2015 08:27
 MOBILE WORKSTATION GROUP TEST

MSI WS60 mobile workstation

The best performing of all the ultra portables but there are some compromises

W
e first looked at MSIs slimline
workstation-class laptop back in October
2014 (tinyurl.com/MSI-WS60). Since
then the machine has undergone a few tweaks a
faster CPU (Intel Core i7 4720HQ CPU - 2.6GHz up to
3.6GHz) and optional 4K (3,840 x 2,160) display
but the key specs remain the same.
As this new model is not available quite yet, we re-
visited the exact same machine we tested last year.
The Intel Core i7 4710HQ CPU (2.5GHz up to 3.5GHz)
may be a touch slower than the new 4720HQ
but this quad core CPU still makes the WS60 the
fastest ultra portable mobile workstation available.
Coupled with an Nvidia Quadro K2100M GPU it just
edged out the HP OMEN Pro in all of our processor
intensive tests from rendering to 3D graphics.
Considering MSI has packed so much power into
a small envelope, it has done a pretty good job on
acoustics. Dedicated fans for both CPU and GPU
mean it doesnt get too loud or too hot, even under
heavy loads. However, they do run all the time, even
when idle, which can be annoying.
With levels of performance that rival standard
15-inch mobile workstations, it will come as no
surprise that the WS60 had fairly poor battery
life. High-powered components also mean a bigger peripherals. Thunderbolt doubles
150W power adapter, which weighs in at a hefty as a mini DisplayPort, which
670g. The good news is the machine is only 1.9kg so together with HDMI, means you
the overall package is still significantly lighter than a can connect up to two external
standard 15-inch machine. displays.
At 390 x 266mm it is the biggest ultra portable Overall, the WS60 is an
in terms of height and width and even though build impressive machine and very
quality is good it is not quite on par with the others. hot on price (1,416). There
There are some compromises. Despite having is no other sub 2kg mobile
room for three drives (2 x M.2 SSDs and 1 x 2.5-inch workstation that can deliver
HDD) the M.2s are limited to 128GB. To get up to such performance, but there
256GB you need to stripe two drives in a RAID 0 are some downsides including
array. While this has the benefit of delivering faster battery life and always on
sustained read/write performance, it does mean fans and its let down
you have two points of failure on the critical OS a bit by the poor
drive. In saying that, if you only use a handful of touch pad.
apps 128GB should be more than sufficient.
The keyboard is excellent and comes with a
numeric keypad, great for engineering input. The
touchpad is less impressive and we found the
cursor jumped about at times, which makes precise
CAD work very difficult. Of course, this is not a
problem if you use an external mouse.
The WS60 is well connected. With 3 x USB 3.0
and Thunderbolt 2.0 there are plenty of options for

EXTERNAL STORAGE 36 secs to write. However,

Mainstream 15-inch
mobile workstations
can typically hold up to
three internal drives but
their slimline siblings are
limited to one or two. This
increases the importance
of external storage for
storing huge CAD datasets.
When youre talking
about Gigabytes of data
performance is important.
No one likes waiting,
particularly when rushing
out of the door and late for
an appointment.
Mechanical Hard Disk
Drives (HDDs) with spinning
disks used to be the only
serious technology for
storing CAD data but with
capacities increasing and
prices dropping Solid State
Drive (SSD) technology
is now becoming an
attractive alternative
not only because of the
superior performance but
built-in protection against
accidental drops.
Most drives are USB 3.0
but with Thunderbolt 2 now
being introduced in some
machines (e.g. Dell Precision
M3800) this could change
over time.
We tested four different
portable storage options, all
of which can be powered by
the USB or Thunderbolt bus.
Our initial testing was
simple: the time taken to
transfer 7GB (13,500 files)
of CAD data to and from
the drive.
We then did a parallel
copy test where we
transferred three sets of
data in quick succession so
all three were being copied
at the same time. If, like
me, you often grab datasets
from different folders as and
when you find them, this can
be a real bottleneck with
mechanical drives.
Akitio Palm Raid (512GB)
436 (scan.co.uk) 1
1 year warranty
This high-speed Thunderbolt
drive features two mSATA
SSDs combined in software
RAID 0 (where two drives
become one to boost
performance). For those
that prefer to protect
against data loss, it can
also be formatted in RAID
1 (mirrored) so your data
should stay safe even if one
drive fails.
The drive is primarily
designed for Mac OSX so
needs reformatting for
Windows. This proved to
be easier said than done as
some partitions were locked
(needed both DISKPART and
Disk Management tools).
Once up and running it
was the fastest drive on
test, taking just 40 secs to
read the CAD dataset and
rather surprisingly, it slowed
down in our parallel test
completing it in 137 secs
(read) and 133 secs (write).
With a high-quality
aluminium case, built
in cable, carry case and
high-speed transfer, the
premium grade pocket
size drive is no doubt
an attractive package.
However, at over 1 per GB
the price is high and despite
it winning our standard
copy test by some margin,
with performance dropping
under parallel copy you
need to carefully consider
the way you work to choose
it over the Samsung T1.
Samsung T1 (500GB)
180 (scan.co.uk) 2
3 year warranty
Smaller than a business
card and only 9mm thick
Samsungs USB 3.0 T1 SSD
fits easily within a pocket.
The performance of the
drive is also excellent, taking
48 secs to read and 55 secs
to write our CAD dataset.
It also performed
exceedingly well in our
parallel test completing the
copy in 100 secs (read and
write), quicker than it would
have taken to copy all three
in sequence!
Overall, its a hugely
impressive drive and comes
highly recommended. At
0.36 per GB its significantly
more expensive than a
mechanical drive, but for
the performance it offers in
a compact footprint it cant
be beaten.
The Samsung T1 SSD is
also available in 250GB and
1TB capacities.
SSD 850 EVO M.2 (500GB)
144 (scan.co.uk) 3
3 year warranty +
Startech M.2 Enclosure
17 (uk.insight.com)
This DIY solution houses
a SATA-based Samsung
M.2 (2280) SSD in a metal
Startech caddy. Installation
takes a few minutes and, hey
presto, you have a highly
portable SSD, not much
bigger than a USB stick.
Performance is slightly
below that of the Samsung
T1 (sequential - 51 secs read,
58 secs write) (parallel - 118
secs read, 120 secs write).
1 4
3
At 161 its the cheapest
of all the SSDs and offers
flexibility, should you wish
to install the M.2 (2280) SSD
in a laptop or desktop, but
other than that wed find it
hard to recommend over the
Samsung T1 SSD.
Seagate Backup Plus Slim
(2TB) 62.50 (amazon.co.uk)
2 year warranty 4
This slimline traditional
mechanical drive is only
12mm thick. It is housed in
a solid metal case which
comes in blue red, silver
or black.
For sequential read
and write, performance is
pretty good. Read speeds,
in particular were only
1.5 times slower than the
Samsung T1 SSD, completing
in 72 secs (124 secs write).
2
The limitations of
mechanical drive
technology were exposed
in our multiple copy test,
as the drive slowed right
down when transferring
three separate datasets in
parallel (525 secs).
This is likely to slow down
as data gets scattered over
different parts of the disk
(as the drive head has to
move further). However, a
managed approach to file
copy (dataset by dataset,
rather than throwing
everything at it at once) will
help ease this bottleneck.
At 1.6 pence per GB, the
Seagate Backup Plus Slim
wins hands down on cost.
And it also cant be beaten
on capacity - 2TB makes it
incredibly attractive to those
with swelling datasets.
iPhone 5S
for scale

DEVELOP3D.COM MAY 2015 43

Mobile workstations.indd 43 17/04/2015 08:27

 MOBILE WORKSTATION GROUP TEST
HP OMEN Pro [pre-production unit]
With a brand new mobile workstation, HP breaks the mould of its enterprise-focused
ZBooks offering a uniquely styled machine that is highly tuned for performance
N
ot content with producing one ultra
portable 15-inch mobile workstation,
HP surprised everyone this April
with the launch of a second. The
fact that the HP OMEN Pro was not a
member of HPs established ZBook family also got
everyone talking.
HP has spent years building up its Z Workstation
brand, which spans both desktops and laptops, so
to launch a CAD-certified mobile workstation under
a different name at first seemed odd.
We were lucky enough to get our hands on a pre-
production unit (the final shipping machine may be
slightly different) and having seen the OMEN Pro in
the flesh it all makes perfect sense now.
Like the Dell Precision M3800 and MSI WS60 the
HP OMEN Pro is based on a gaming laptop of the
same name. As a result it was originally designed to
tick two boxes. One, be high performance (both CPU
and GPU) and, two, be slim and styled for gamers.
This means it lacks many of the features that
have become synonymous with ZBooks over the
years: enterprise features, such as docking port
and fingerprint reader, plus serviceability that has
become the hallmark of all Z Workstations, both
desktop and mobile. It is also less customisable,
coming in a few base configurations.
With this in mind it would actually be a bit
disingenuous for HP to call the OMEN Pro a ZBook.
The OMEN Pro also gives HP another string to
its bow in this growing Ultra Portable market. The
ZBook 15u prioritises battery life over performance
with a Dual Core Ultra Low Voltage CPU and entry-
level GPU, whereas the OMEN Pro is all about
performance, with a Quad Core processor and
higher spec GPU. In this respect it is very similar to
the Dell Precision M3800.
Both Dells and HPs machines feature Quad
Core CPUs; the OMEN Pro having a slightly more
powerful Intel Core i7-4870HQ (2.50GHz up to
3.70GHz) compared to the M3800s Intel Core
i7-4712HQ (2.30GHz up to 3.30GHz). Both have a
Quadro K1100M (2GB) GPU and 16GB of RAM.
In terms of spec, storage is the big differentiator
with the HP OMEN Pro having fast PCIe-based
storage in the form of a 512GB HP Z Turbo Drive
while the Dell has an mSATA SSD and, crucially,
space for a 2.5-inch drive (SSD or HDD) which can be
very useful if you want to store a lot of CAD data.
While the HP Z Turbo excels in sequential read/
write tasks i.e. copying large files or in workflows
where exceedingly large files are the norm (e.g.
video editing, point cloud processing and simulation)
mainstream CAD users probably wont notice
much benefit. (See our PCIe vs SATA SSD article for
more on this - tinyurl.com/PCIe-SATA-SSD).
Beyond the core specifications, similarities to the
M3800 end. While Dells machine is a dead ringer
for MacBook Pro, the HP OMEN Pro is like no other
laptop weve seen before.
Its striking angular chassis falls away at the
front and sides with a sharply bevelled edge,
44 MAY 2015 DEVELOP3D.COM
Mobile workstations.indd 44
giving the appearance of a much more slender
machine. Thats not to say it needs any visual
trickery. The beautiful chassis, CNC milled from
solid aluminium and anodised with a black
textured finish, is only 15.5mm at the front and
19.9mm at the rear. It looks exceptionally smart
but is prone to fingerprints.
Its gaming pedigree becomes apparent as soon
as you switch it on as you are greeted by glowing
red lights. Colour emanates from everywhere
speakers, power button, keys and the exhaust grills
at the rear of the machine.
While gamers reportedly love this kind of thing,
product designers may not be so enamoured. The
good news is, the lights are fully customisable and
can be toned down to a calmer shade, including
white, or switched off altogether. HP has said that
lights will be switched off by default when the final
machine ships next month.
The keyboard is excellent: firm, responsive and a
pleasure to use. While there is no numeric keypad
(none of the gaming-evolved mobile workstations
have them) they are six programmable keys that sit
to the left of the main keys.
While these were designed with games in mind
they could be put to good use as CAD shortcuts.
Each key (P1 to P6) can be used on their own or
in conjunction with four modifier keys (shift, FN,
CTRL, ALT) giving up to 30 different combinations.
Customisations can be saved to profiles.
The multi-touch touchpad is excellent. It feels
very similar to the MacBook Pros, but is presented
in a much wider landscape format. The touch
screen panel is also very useful for navigation,
though not recommended for accurate CAD work.
Of course, with Windows 7 64-bit pre-installed on
the HP OMEN Pro as standard you wont get as
much out of the touch screen as you would with
Windows 8.1 Pro 64 (which is supported but
cant be pre-installed).
The panel itself is glossy so reflections
and fingerprints show up more but the
colours are extremely vivid and bright.
At 1,920 x 1,080 (HD) it may not match the
pixel count of the 4K Precision M3800 but
its an impressive display nonetheless.
By having such a sharply bevelled chassis,
which falls away at the front and sides,
all of the I/O ports are found at the rear.
At first this looks like a neat solution for
keeping unsightly cables out of the
way, but it can be a real pain to
plug monitors, mice and
external storage.
Rather than leaning slightly to the side to see
exactly where the ports were, we found we had to
turn the machine round a full 180 degrees.
At the rear youll find four USB 3.0 ports (all
charging), mini DisplayPort and HDMi. With such a
slimline chassis, theres no Ethernet port but a USB
to Ethernet adapter comes in the box.
Performance is excellent. Having a full 0.2GHz
over the M3800 (0.4GHz in Turbo) it has a clear
lead in our multi-threaded, CPU intensive 3ds
Max and Delcam PowerMill benchmarks and is
only a whisker behind the MSI WS60. With the
same Quadro K1100M GPU as the M3800 the
performance increase is far less pronounced in our
Creo and SolidWorks graphics tests. Fans kicked in
significantly under load, making a fair bit of noise.
They also ran slowly in the background when idle but
this was less noticeable than with the MSI WS60.
We actually experienced a few issues in our
SolidWorks test with PhotoView 360 crashing
regularly. It should be emphasised again that this
was a pre-production unit and software issues like
these are likely to be ironed out with the shipping
machine and during CAD certification. Performance
could also change slightly.
Overall, the OMEN Pro is an excellent addition to
HPs workstation portfolio a beautifully styled,
slimline laptop that delivers performance to rival
most standard 15-inch mobile workstations.
There are some compromises, of course. Battery
life is not great and some may find the storage too
limiting and rear ports annoying but, apart from
these minor gripes, the OMEN looks to be a very
impressive machine for mobile CAD and entry-level
simulation and rendering.
17/04/2015 08:27
Workstation Special.indd 1 17/04/2015 08:36
 REVIEWS
Onshape - Beta Overview
Weve been waiting for it to go public for a while and its finally here. Al Dean takes a
look at the beta release of Onshapes cloud-based 3D design and engineering system
to see how it works and what it offers to the market
I
f youve been connected to the
world of 3D design and engineering
software for the last few months,
youll have heard about Onshape.
Founded by most of the same team
that started and grew SolidWorks, the
company has been gaining headlines
and column inches across the globe.
That said, in case youre not aware of
what the company is doing, lets have a
quick recap.
Onshape is delivering a free 3D-led
design system in the browser. That means
theres little local computation and no
install or manual updating of software.
However, its worth bearing in mind that
Onshape is currently in Beta test. That
means its not intended for production
use although some products are already
on the market that have been developed
using it. So, the software will change,
probably on a monthly if not weekly basis.
GETTING UP AND RUNNING
The first step in getting signed up for
the system is registering at Onshape.
com. Once complete, the user can simply
log-in and get started as long as their web
browser is WebGL compliant. For PC, users
thats Chrome and Firefox and for OSX
users, thats Safari, Chrome or Firefox.
Even at this very formative stage, its
clear that Onshape isnt like traditional
46 MAY 2015 DEVELOP3D.COM
desktop software. There is no download of
multi Gb installation files, no trials and no
serial numbers.
At its core, Onshape is a history-based
parametric modelling system built on
the Parasolid kernel and is designed
to work predominantly in a multi-body
environment.
So, once logged-in, the user is presented
with the Documents page. Its worth
spending some time here as all work is
managed in Documents. (See the list of
documents shown in figure 2).
However, the word Documents is a little
misleading. A better way to get your head
around it is to think of each as a project
because within each Document, there
can be as many data files as needed. So,
alongside the Onshape native Part and
Assembly Studio data, the user can also
upload all manner of data into Documents,
such as requirements spreadsheets, PDFs,
MSDSs, third party data etc.
BUILDING YOUR FIRST MODEL
To start modelling, simply create a
Document by giving it a name and a
description.
As already discussed, Onshape is a multi-
body parametric modelling system that
uses a feature and history approach. This
will feel familiar to users of the likes of
SolidWorks, Inventor, Catia etc.
Product: Onshape The difference with Onshape is that
Supplier: Onshape all modelling activities, whether its the
Price: Free to $100 building of a single part or an assembly,
per month per user
are done in a single Part Studio.
onshape.com All the modelling tools are located
across the top of the user interface. There
are the usual sketching tools together
with features such as extrudes, revolves,
sweep (no loft as yet), fillets, chamfers
and the like. There are also patterns
and mirroring, Booleans, part splitting,
transforming geometry (move, rotate etc.)
as well as a couple of direct geometry
editing tools for fillets, deleting or
replacing faces and offsetting.
The 2D sketch is pretty slick and in
line with todays expectations. Inferred
constraints are added on the fly and
constraints and dimensions can be added
in where needed. Of course, relations
between dimensions can also be added in
where required.
Whilst modelling, the features and
history are added to a sequential list on
the left hand side of the screen. This is not
just a list of features. Rather it combines a
feature list and the history of everything
1 Onshapes user that is done in that Part Studio.
interface (in the As the system takes a multi-body based
browser) for part and approach, different bodies can represent
assembly modelling
different solid chunks of that model.
is stripped back,
uncomplicated and Each of the operations allows the user
clearly laid out to define whether their current feature is
 SOFTWARE REVIEW

added to existing geometry or whether its

maintained as a separate body.
To make this more clear, the system
automatically colour codes each body. The
user can even have a parts list below the
feature and history to provide even more
control.
That said, there are many occasions
where separate bodies will be used for a
single part. A couple of features, including
patterning and mirroring tools, only work
at the body rather than the feature level.
To replicate features, the user will need
to model them as explicitly separate
bodies, create the patterns or mirrors and
then either join them together or remove
them from the geometry (for patterned
pockets, holes etc.) using Boolean
operations. 2
On a side note, Boolean operations now
come with an offset option for either
all of the faces or a selection. Thats a
pretty nice feature for building interfaces
3
between components.
Its also worth noting that the system
has the standard direct editing tools such
as move, rotate (done with the transform
tool) and deleting of sets of faces, resizing
fillets etc.
Because of the multi-body environment,
these can be applied to multiple parts at
one time. So you can move faces of two
parts, or edit fillets on five parts
together.
However, using these will also
add a feature entry to that list
but it does mean that they remain
a part of the history and are
editable.
Any user thats used a parametric
modelling system in the last few years
will be able to jump in and get to work 4
almost immediately and Id encourage you
to do just that.
For those that havent worked in a multi- design changes and enabling the user to that when viewing, interacting with and 2 Onshapes
body way before, the system might take flex those mates and relations. editing the model, the user is essentially Documents windows
a little while to get your head around, but remotely accessing it through the browser. gives you insight into
all of your documents/
itll click after the first few sessions. TABS ARE KEY Theres no synchronisation with a local
projects, their
At this point, well look at a key element copy and no local download and reupload. status and account
BUILDING ASSEMBLIES of the user experience tabs. These are The data on the screen is the same data management
While the modelling tools are all found in found at the bottom of the user interface stored online. 3 The toolbars for
the Part Studio environment, the other and provide access to all of the data inside So should the internet connection drop, Part Studio (above)
modelling environment is the Assembly each Document, whether thats native although access to Onshape stops the data and Assembly Studio
Studio. Its here where parts can be Onshape Part or Assembly Studios or doesnt suffer at all. The same is true for (below) are clean,
clear and nicely
inserted (from any of the studios in the other data. a browser crash something we found
designed. Lets hope
current document) and relationships built As the users document gets more happened occasionally, particularly if they keep them as
up between those parts. data uploaded into it, the strip expands other tabs are running. more functions are
Onshape uses a joints based approach, enabling them to scroll across to select the But generally, you get a good response introduced into the
so the preferred method is to define joints data required. Data can also be accessed rate. Feature previews are slick and system
on each part, then snap them together from a pop up list (the + symbol). dynamic. Of course, the dynamic nature 4 When youre

using a variety of mates. The current beta
release includes fixed mates, rotational,
slots, planar, slot or ball mates.
Theres also a more recently introduced
selection of mechanism style relations
including gears (to define rotational
ratios), rack and pinion, screw (which
mimics a lead screw) and a linear
movement (think: Vice). These allow the
user to link up mates to create specific
mechanisms between the geometry.
Building up assemblies is pretty slick.
The parts or sub assemblies link back to
the originating Part Studios, propagating
Its also worth spending some time
looking at the right click menu options
on each of these, which provide access
to download geometry to carry out
translation or conversion.
Tabs will also allow users to copy data
from one Document to another. Although
it wont maintain that link, its a good way
to combine data if needed.
ALL CLOUD DATA STORAGE
Being a cloud-based system, whilst the
user is modelling, all their data is being
stored on Onshapes servers. This means
of those interactions will be controlled building features, hit
the Final button.
by the connections bandwidth, but even This will show the
on a laptop tethered to a 4G network, its resultant part as
pretty zippy. you make design
One way to see perfectly how this changes refresh
works is to build an extrude and use the times will depend on
the complexity of your
dynamic drag handles to vary the length.
history, but its useful
Depending on the users speed, there will
be a momentary wait while the system
catches up with the geometry before it
displays a preview.
To understand whats going on here, the
in browser tool is used to select geometry
and then pulls it out. The system talks

DEVELOP3D.COM MAY 2015 47

 SOFTWARE REVIEW

to the server and sends back what the

geometry will look like. This happens
every time the user moves that handle.
In terms of calculation, something
thats not immediately clear is that while
the data resides on the cloud and much
of the calculation is done on the server-
side, there are some functions that are
computed locally.
One example is geometry selection.
When working with complex (in terms
of part count) assemblies, selecting
multiple parts using, for instance, a
window select, puts a pretty heavy load
on workstation resources. The reason is
that it uses the local graphics hardware to
determine what was in the box selection,
which is a computationally expensive
process. For that reason, the specs best 5
performancefor Onshape are both a lot
of RAM and decent graphics processing
hardware (the latter being key). As a cloud-based system, anything that Getting these data types into the
5 Joints are the
needs importing into the system has to be system is a little complex as theres a order of the day for
WORKING WITH IMPORTED AND uploaded into the Documents space either different approach required depending on assembling parts
3RD PARTY DATA within an existing Document or as the whether the user is working with parts or together. These allow
you to predefine
So far weve talked about how to build a basis of a new Document. assemblies. For parts, its a simple case of location and
product model from scratch. While thats Onshape currently works with a importing the part into a Part Studio. For orientation, making
key, its also a fundamental requirement number of formats. In terms of neutral assemblies, its more complex. assembly easier
to be able to work with imported geometry or standards based formats, youve got If you import an IGES or STEP Assembly
whether thats data from a customer, a Parasolid, IGES and STEP. On the native file into a traditional CAD system you
supplier, a previous project or output from format front, youve got SolidWorks, would most likely get an individual file not
a third party system. CATIA, Creo, Inventor and AutoCAD data. only for the top level assembly but also for

TIPS & TRICKS: NINE THINGS THAT YOU MIGHT MISS

MEASURE: This is a subtle one. Select an entity and the VIEW CONTROLS: The small cube below the view cube gives TAB COMMANDS: You can upload all manner of files, but if
lower right will show a basic measurement. This can be you display preferences, perspective control, presets (such you upload a CAD file, you can translate it direct from the
expanded to give more details for multiple selections as isometric, dimetric) as well as section view tab. Hit the tab with your right mouse button

TRANSFORM: It took me a while to work this one out. If FEEDBACK: Stuck? Got a question for support? Hit the help SYNCHRONISED COLLABORATION: Invite someone to your
youre working in a part studio, the Transform command menu, select Feedback. You can then mark up a screenshot session, youll see a small icon for each. Doubling click this
allows you to move/rotate components as youd expect and add questions in text. Theyll be back to you via email gives them control and you follow their every move. Slick

SECTION VIEW: Find the small cube below the view cube, HISTORY: As well as the version control, Onshape also INTER DOCUMENT COPY OF TABS: To move data between
click it (left mouse button) - there youll find your dynamic stores a history of your operations - not just for that session documents, find the Tab, right click, copy to Clipboard,
sectioning tool (like an undo/redo stack), but a full history from scratch paste using the create tab command + symbol at bottom left

48 MAY 2015 DEVELOP3D.COM


every part and subassembly.
In Onshape, all the parts are imported
into one part studio, and tabs are created
for each subassembly, and top level
assembly. This may be confusing to a
new user, because the part studio may
appear as a pile of parts laying on top of
each other. Since you currently cannot
edit geometry within the assembly tab,
making changes to specific parts can
be challenging. Onshape is looking to
improve this workflow.
DATA MANAGEMENT WITH
BRANCHING & MERGING
Weve talked about how to create and edit
data so now lets look at the management
of that data. Onshape, due to its very
nature, provides version management
with the files.
That means that the data on the system
is the most up to date (as its inherently
centralised and single source) along with
some versioning tools. This means that
the user can formalise the development
stages of their product model.
Interestingly, it also features branching
and merging capabilities. This is an
approach thats popular in software
development circles, but hasnt really
become a part of the design and
engineering workflow as yet.
The concept is that a product model can
be developed to a point where the user
might be faced with two directions of
development, each of which they want to
explore and progress further.
Its the type of thing that can be done
very easily using paper or manual
prototyping processes, but is traditionally
very difficult in the digital world.
Using a traditional data management
system, this would require a complete new
product model and history of development
for each with very little in the way of
tools to help rationalise the better parts
ONSHAPE & MOBILE: WHATS OUT THERE & WHATS COMING?
O
ne of the benefits that Onshape and its
browser based way of working is that
you can fire up any suitable browser
and get to work straight away. And of course,
thats not just restricted to PCs and Macs.
The browsers on mobile devices typically
should work as well. But of course, in this day
and age, an app(lication) is all the rage, so the
team have those in place as well. Theres also
the issue that a desktop solution isnt ideal for a
touch and multi-touch focussed device.
At launch, Onshape is looking at Apple iOS
devices for its first apps. Whether youre running
A B
from each into a single stream again.
Onshape brings branching and merging
into the world of 3D CAD for perhaps
the first time. The concept is that at any
point in the development cycle, the user
can choose to create a branch from the
current state.
This copies the data to a new variant
allowing ideas and concepts to be
explored. Branches from branches can be
created. Figure 7 shows how this is done
by providing a graphically led idea of
whats going on.
Once the users at the point where they
want to consolidate these streams, the
merge command will bring everything
together into a single model again.
COLLABORATION
Now lets look at another area that is
inherently enabled because of Onshapes
cloud based nature collaborative
working.
In traditional software installs, the
process of sharing the resultant data
it on an iPad or an iPhone, the experience is
much the same a specialised interface (rather
than the browser version which isnt necessarily
suited to a multi-touch-based interaction
method).
Download it from the Apple Store and log-in.
What youll get is a version of the Onshape user
interface that is suited to the touch based and
smaller form factor nature of such devices.
Commands and operations are tucked away
when needed (this is particularly key on the
iPhone version as screen real estate is limited)
but youll get to grips with it quickly enough.
SOFTWARE REVIEW
6
with partners can be problematic. From
6 Onshape
the most basic of FTP-based file sharing, Assemblies lets
through dropbox, then into the realms of you bring together
multiple parts and
PDM or PLM linked hosting of data, it can sub assemblies from
prove tricky to say the least. your Document into a
Data is out of date almost immediately single environment,
as you lose control of it once its outside then use intelligent
your firewall. However, Onshape differs joints and relations
to build up positional
and differs dramatically.
and functional
As both the data and the tools to do requirements
constructive things with it are cloud-
based, if a link is sent to someone, they
not only get access to the data along
with some nifty viewing tools, but also
the editing tools are right there in the
browser too. They dont have to download,
install, or google the use of a viewer for an
obscure file format.
The user has control over what folks
can do with that data (view only or view
and edit). Also, by removing their share
privileges access can be revoked.
Alongside the asychronous sharing of
data and tools, theres also a more real-
time, immediate collaboration capability
Whenever anyone releases a mobile app,
A Onshape on the
particularly in the design and engineering space, iPad and iPhone
youll find that the Apple variants come first. is configured for
Why is that? Because vendors know that multi-touch
their community favours Apple products that
information is immediately available at the click
B Its not just
viewing, its
of a mouse (thank Google Analytics for that). So,
it makes sense to get Apple on the street first, modelling too
then follow up with Android. C Android is
Onshape have, at the moment, just the apps for coming soon
iOS devices but were told that Android support
is coming and, of course, in the meantime itll
run in the browser anyway.
C
DEVELOP3D.COM MAY 2015 49
 SOFTWARE REVIEW

built into Onshape. Grab a part, send it

to someone and then jump on the phone
or skype. If youre both running the same
part, you can choose to follow one user
or the other (by clicking on the icon at the
top of the window). That will synchronise
the views in terms of rotation, panning,
zooming and sectioning etc. Any modelling
will be updated in real time as well. To try
this for yourself, just log into the same
dataset using two browser windows and
see how it works.

PRICING
Now, with a good understanding of
Onshape and what it can do, lets talk
turkey. How much does it cost? The answer
is that the system is free. Thats right.
Theres no trial or a reduced functionality 7
demo. Its free, for life.
What you get for that freeness is 5Gb of
storage space and five active documents
or projects. You can have more than five in
your account, you just have to make them
inactive. Nothing will happen to this data,
you just cant access it until you activate
the document again.
So, where does the payment come into
play? The answer is when you want more
storage. In other words, more than five
documents active at one time. To move
up to the paid version or Pro its $100 per
month, per user. It really is that simple.

CONCLUSION (A LENGTHY ONE)

If I have a criticism of Onshape at present,
it doesnt have anything to do with the
technology. Its too early to start pulling it
apart and comparing its capabilities with
other systems on the market.
Yes, the system has a small selection 8
of the types of tools that many 3D design
and engineers users are used to. And yes,
many of these users will quickly find that the system without much in the way of seems to be every three weeks). The
7 The last two weeks

theyll try something and support isnt
there yet. But this will come with both
time and customer demand.
Thats the nature of introducing a brand
new product into a market that has a wide
ranging and experienced community. If
youve got potential users that are familiar
with systems that have decade long
development cycles, its going to take a
while to catch up.
Although I do have some concerns
relating to the inter-relation of Part
and Assembly Studios and the workflow
needs to be straightened out. Those who
are used to organising and editing their
geometry in the context of multi-level
assemblies will also find that difficult,
unless theyve got everything in a Part
Studio (the Assembly Studio environment
doesnt give you any editing tools at the
moment).
No, my criticism is some of the language
that the team is using to describe
the various portions of the system.
Documents arent really documents,
theyre Projects. Similarly, Part Studios
arent just about parts, theyre about
editing parts and being able to edit
multiple parts.
When users are able to get access to
barriers, this type of issue will reduce
some of the effect of that immediate
accessibility. There are a few instances
where a simple rethinking of names in
line with what designers, engineers and
makers might be trying to do, rather than
what the technology is doing, might help
reduce this.
Ultimately, and as we said at the outset,
Onshape is in beta. The development cycle
is going to be fast and furious. The good
news is that the cloud-based nature of the
system means that all users will get access
to developments the instant theyre rolled
out.
Thats a huge difference compared to
the usual bi-monthly or quarterly service
pack roll out. It also means that if you
have an interest in the system, whether
to complement or potentially replace your
existing tools, you cant rely on your first
experiences.
Its worth considering putting a recurring
date in your calendar to log-in to Onshape
and see how things are progressing, see
where functionality has been added,
changed and enhanced.
Considering that this is the first month
of the open beta, the toolset is impressive
and expanding with each release (which
last update saw the introduction of the have seen a bunch
assembly relations. of new tools added
to Onshape, such as
Yes, the modelling tools will need to be offsetting options
fleshed out and there are a few kinks to be when creating Boolean
worked out with some fundamental parts operations
of the system, but the platform onto which
8 The Assembly
something truly interesting can be built, is Studio lets you create
there and in place. some pretty complex
Onshape is causing a stir in the 3D CAD mechanisms to test
out design concepts
and rightly so. Theres much to be very
excited about.
At present, it probably wont suit the
majority of our readers, as they tend to be
at the upper end of the geometry creation
spectrum, but if youre working on forms
that can be modelled with a limited toolset
and can live without drawings, then it
might just do it.
But lets be clear here just because
Onshape doesnt provide those tools now,
dont get fixated on that fact, and keep up
to date with its developments.
Theres an incredible team behind the
tool, theyre well funded and theres the
potential to build something remarkable
here that solves many users needs. And
at a cost thats dramatically lower on a
monthly basis than almost anything else
out there.
onshape.com

50 MAY 2015 DEVELOP3D.COM

 THANK YOU FOR AN
AMAZING FIRST MONTH
Were proud to have made our worldwide public debut at DEVELOP3D Live and are inspired by our
many thousands of Beta users in more than 100 countries who are already designing great products!
Visit Onshape.com and nd out why they couldnt wait to get started.

ONSHAPE IS THE FIRST AND ONLY FULLLCLOUD 3D CAD SYSTEM THAT LETS EVERYONE ON A DESIGN
TEAM SIMULTANEOUSLY WORK TOGETHER USING A WEB BROWSER, PHONE OR TABLET.

WELCOME TO THE FUTURE OF CAD

onShape Ad.indd 1 17/04/2015 14:34
CAD
reinvented
Autodesk reimagined 3D CAD from the ground up

The first tool of its kind, Autodesk Fusion 360TM allows teams to work
together in an integrated design, engineering, and fabrication tool,
virtually anywhere and on any device.

Try it for free at autodesk.com/fusion360

Autodesk and Fusion 360 are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., and/or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates in the USA and/or other countries. All other brand names,
product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders. Autodesk reserves the right to alter product and services offerings, and specifications and pricing at any time without
notice, and is not responsible for typographical or graphical errors that may appear in this document. 2015 Autodesk, Inc. All rights reserved.
MODEL CREDIT: INVENTABLES.COM
SOFTWARE REVIEW
Autodesk Fusion 360 Q1
Its been a good few months since we last took a look at Autodesks Fusion 360
offering. With a burgeoning market for cloud-focussed design tools, Al Dean takes a
look through the latest updates to find out whats changed in recent months
U
nless youve been under a
blanket all winter (or, more
likely, buried with work),
youll know that Autodesk
has been pushing the messaging
around its Fusion 360 product pretty
hard. Fusion is Autodesks cloud-based
design, engineering and manufacturing
offering that relies on a cloud-
based infrastructure combined with
more localised computation where
neccessary
It brings together direct editing,
parametric and history modelling, 2D
drawings and much more. The concept
is that while you have a locally streamed
application (that keeps you up to date),
your data primarily resides in the cloud
and that enables some interesting things
to be done. Not least, centralised and
accessible data enables sharing of that
data with those that need it and more in
depth project collaboration where you
may have multiple parties working on the
same project.
In the last review, we looked at some of
the key updates that Autodesk had made
to Fusion in the months preceding. To
recap, those included the introduction
of history tracking, 2D drawings based
on your 3D models, 2.5 and 3 axis CAM
and a whole lot more work done on both
the workflow of existing tools as well as
Product: project management and collaboration.
Fusion 360 Whats interesting is that the team is
Supplier: Autodesk sharing its roadmap publicly, so you can
Price: FREE to $25 dive in and see whats coming in the next
(standard) /$100 few months. Our goal here is to catch you
(Ultimate) per user
per month up, so you have a good appreciation of
fusion360.autodesk.
whats going on.
com
USER EXPERIENCE CHANGES
The user interface hasnt changed a
great deal. Perhaps the biggest change
is how the user interacts with projects
much of this has been removed from the
Fusion interface and moved to the A360
collaboration platform. While it removes
some of the immediate look up and project
tools, it does make the workflow easier if
you just want to get designing and making
parts.
ERROR HANDLING
This is one of those smart ones were all
used to modelling systems not giving us
the geometry we want. Its often the case
that the mathematics behind it cant work
fillets is a solid example. Whats key is
that the system gives you feedback about
why the geometry you want cant be built,
1 Fusions latest so you can learn from it and fix it. Fusions
updates have brought
March update brings online some of this
photorealistic
rendering including type of feedback, particularly when youre
Depth of Field and dealing with the likes of holes, chamfers,
animation support threads, shells and such.
STANDARD PARTS LIBRARY
If youre not familiar with McMaster Carr,
then its a predominately US focussed
organisation that sells all manner of
engineering fixtures, fittings, fasteners
and components. It also has a very nice
filtering and search front end to its catalog
and a good range of 3D CAD models for
many of those components.
What Autodesk has done is integrate that
exact same front end into Fusion. Found in
the Insert pull down, it fires up a browser
window inside Fusion, lets you find the
part you want and instead of downloading
the part file, itll insert it directly into your
Fusion session. It can then be positioned
and reused where needed.
The part entry in the product structure is
automatically given the part number from
McMaster Carr, so BOMs should be a snap
to turn into an order, particularly when
youre building prototypes.
RENDERING - LOCAL
Perhaps one of the most useful, for
those in design and engineering, is the
introduction and refinement of the
rendering options in Fusion. While the
system got KeyShot integration pretty
early on, that wasnt much use unless you
already had the system licenced.
Since earlier this year, Autodesk has
brought similar-ish tools directly into
DEVELOP3D.COM MAY 2015 53
 SOFTWARE REVIEW
Fusion and theyre found under the Render
environment.
The workflow follows a pretty standard
process if youve not defined materials
and textures for your model, you have
a library (that can be customised) of
materials that can be dragged and
dropped onto your parts these alone
are pretty well developed and give you
realistic results just with the standard
shading options in Fusion.
If you then want to up the ante, you
can set-up scenes, which uses a range of
prebaked in HDR images to define lighting
and background (though you can adapt
background to your requirements). Theres
controls for the brightness and contrast of
those lights as well as rotate to allow fine
tuning of highlights and such.
Now its time to try the different
rendering methods. The standard view
is pretty good and doesnt require any
computation.
Fusion has some nifty bells and whistles
that make models look realistic while
youre working on them.
You then get into the ray tracing. As is
WORKFLOW: ACCESSING YOUR FUSION DATA WITH AUTODESKS A360 MOBILE
1 Fusion also supports Autodesks A360 collaboration
platform for both mobile access and collaboration
54 MAY 2015 DEVELOP3D.COM
now standard, Fusion uses a progressive
renderer thats built on its own, brand new
engine with the companys master of
rendering in the movie world, this comes
as no surprise.
As you soon as you hit the Ray-trace
icon (A teapot of course), youll hear your
workstations fan spin up.
There are a couple of settings. Normal
gives you a nice result, but without any
self shadowing. Switching to advanced
gives you those self shadows and your
model looks much more realistic.
If you want to really nail things, then you
open up the camera controls dialog. This
is where youll start with using the model
view, but you can dial things in further.
Recent updates have introduced controls
over perspective view as well as providing
depth of field controls pick the point
you want to focus on, vary the controls to
adjust focus and youre done.
RENDERING - CLOUD
The issue with the ray tracing is that itll
hammer your local processing resources
pretty hard and render your workstation
2 You can log-in and view your data all from your iOS
device it's configured for multi-touch
pretty much inoperable until its settled 2 This release brings
(theres no core limiter as yet). To combat direct integration of
this, Autodesk has, in the last update, McMaster Carr's parts
library into the Fusion
introduced a cloud rendering option.
interface
The concept is this. Rather than using
local computational resources (read:
making your workstation run hot enough
to melt aluminium), you can off load that
load to Autodesks servers.
The system gives you a nice clean dialog
to define size, resolution and such. Click
Start Rendering and the system sends the
job to compute.
Its worth noting that theres a cost
implication for this service. It uses
Autodesks cloud credits. Each Fusion
360 account gets 100 cloud credits to
use across all of its services (that covers
rendering as well as simulation solves).
A quick way to think of the costs is that
each costs $1 and one credit gets you a
megapixel. Youll see a cost (in terms of
credits) before you send it off, so you
know what youre getting yourself into it
also sums up what youve used and what
you have left.
Im told that Autodesk is keeping a close
3 The A360 Mobile app gives you full model inspection
tools as well as commenting, mark up and lots more
 SOFTWARE REVIEW

eye on usage patterns in the context of

Fusion and we might see some adjustment
in terms of what you can get and how
much additional credits cost.
Alongside the off-loading of
computation, the cloud renderer option
gives you access to a stored library of
images (it gives you small scale, standard
views for free youll see this across the
bottom of the UI in figure 1 on page 53) as
well as the ability to calculate a turn table
animation.
Beware that the turntables use the
same credit system. So, if you bump up
the image size and the number of frames,
youll use more credits if you render out
a 36 frame turntable at 7.9 megapixels
(thats just 1280 x 1024) its going to cost
you $24 worth of credits.
Its a discounted rate, and again, this is
being looked at by the powers that be, but 3
at present, you could burn through your
allowances very quickly indeed.
Pricing aside, once calculated, you can CONCLUSION coming along nicely. You arent likely 3 Recent updates

download these turntables either as
static frames, as a movie or as a web-
embeddable file, without the need to
compute them again.
DOCUMENTATION & DRAWINGS
Just at the tail end of 2014, Autodesk
began to introduce 2D drawing capabilities
into Fusion. Based on the lessons theyve
learnt with the web-based AutoCAD 360,
these tools are laser focussed on the
creation of drawings based on Fusion
models.
They follow the same protocol as most
of todays 3D design systems you start
with a base view, add in projected views,
isometric view then start to add in your
annotations, sections, etc.
The most recent releases have seen the
introduction of sections as well as parts
lists and associated balloons that link to
that parts list.
Theres also parity across both the
Windows and Mac platform (the initial
release was Windows only).
Fusion has been released for a couple
of years and that time is showing the
maturity of the toolset. The 3D modelling
tools, whether youre using the direct
modelling, history based tools or t-splines
for organic shape, is maturing nicely. The
new environments for animations (we
havent touched on), rendering and CAM
are also starting to mature.
Theres also an interesting set of tools
that see Autodesk take advantage of
the cloud in interesting ways, whether
thats cloud-based rendering or the new
standard parts focussed tools.
On that subject, the McMaster Carr is
another good example of combining local
and cloud. Its shame thats its such a US
centric outfit, but theres plenty of metric
options in there for those that need it
even if the fasteners come in with the
threads hard modelled (if youre reusing
them a lot throughout your assemblies, Id
suggest a quick remodel after import to
simplify them some what).
The drawing creation tools are also
to get a fully annotated drawing with have seen drawing
full GD&T out of it yet, but if youre tools enhanced. Parity
is there across PC and
documenting a design, perhaps for Mac as well as new
quotation, perhaps for contract tools for sectioning,
manufacturing based on a 3D model, detail views as well
it could get you there. And lets face it, as parts lists and
Autodesk knows digital drawing inside out. balloons
The coming months are going to be
interesting for Fusion. The published
roadmap shows that theres much more
to come.
From simulation and better working
with electronics data, from simultaneous
collaboration with shared sessions to the
introduction of 5 axis support to CAM on
the horizon.
There are also a few things coming that
weve seen that arent on that public
roadmap, but believe us, youll like it when
you see it.
Keep an eye of Fusion 360. The 3D design
world is exploring new places and trying
new things, and Autodesk are leading the
charge.
fusion360.autodesk.com

FUSION CAM: WHATS NEW FOR CNC PROGRAMMING & MACHINING

While all of the CAD modelling and rendering
tools are nice, whats got a lot of folks interested
in Fusion 360 are the CAM tools. Whether theyre
looking for a lower cost alternative to the 2.5 or 3
axis CAM theyve already got in-house or indeed,
are bringing machining (whether at the production
end of the spectrum or in the prototyping/workshop
environment) in-house for the first time).
If youve not had a chance to try it out, the gist is this.
The CAM tools are found in their own Environment. This
switches the UI from modelling to the programming of
operations. You then work through a clear workflow for
part programming.
You start with set-up details defining the set-up,
datum, material stock and the like. You then get into the
selection and creation of operations. Fusion 360 has two
levels of product Fusion 360 and Fusion 360 Ultimate.
The difference between the two is that the standard
variant gives you 2 and 2.5 axis machining capabilities,
allowing you to program simple parts (and if youre into
CNC routing, itll handle that perfectly too). The Ultimate
version brings you more complex 3 axis tools (with 3+2
and 5 axis machining coming later on in the year).
Whichever youre working on, the workflow is the same
build the operations, using the built in simulation tools
to perform simulated stock removal, keep an eye of tool
movement and such, then when youre happy with it, run
it through the post processor to generate your G-code.
Theres been a number of key updates for this release.
For those using the system already, the addition of
personal libraries, which are transportable between
different computers, is a biggie. This lets you keep your
tools/cutter, posts and templates with you, rather than
having to manual copy (or worst case) recreate them
between each computer you ran Fusion on.
Another (and a personal one on my wishlist) is the
ability to measure the remaining stock between the
simulated stock and the work piece when youre running
a simulation. Theres a whole bunch of other updates, but
Ill let you dig into them if youre running it already.
The CAM tools in Fusion are perhaps one of its best
kept secrets there are a lot of folks getting back into
machining again or perhaps for the first time.
The rise of affordable desktop or small workshop-
based CNCs is another factor (weve just ordered one for
the D3D workshop to run tests on). Theres a desire for
professional grade CAM tools, but few are able to justify
the high costs of traditional software. Considering that
Fusion includes up to 3 axis for $100 a month, thats a
bargain.

DEVELOP3D.COM MAY 2015 55

 SOFTWARE REVIEW
Vero VISI Series 21
Vero has been through some exciting times, the most recent being its acquisition
by Hexagon Metrology. Al Dean looks at VISI 21 and finds a release that centres on
combining existing tools with the best practices in the product portfolio
I
f youve not been paying attention
to the manoeuvres around Vero
Software, its perhaps a good time
for quick recap. The company has
recently been acquired by Hexagon
Metrology, but preceding that the
company had been expanding its
portfolio of software tools through
pretty aggressive acquisition. Under
the Hexagon banner now, we have VISI
for mould and die design, Surfcam,
Edgecam, PEPS, WorkNC, Alphacam and
not to forget, Radan for sheet metal
design and fabrication.
While its still early days in terms of
discovering what Hexagon plans to do
with this wealth of manufacturing related
technology, it is clear that the company
is looking to bring these tools together,
find where the best practices lie in each,
and roll them out across many of those
products all of which is evidenced in this
latest VISI 21 release.
USER EXPERIENCE
User experience is, of course, all about
the complete process, rather than just the
user interface.
So, with that in mind, its nice to see
Vero integrate previews of native part files
in the Windows environment. Instead of
the familiar static thumbnail in Explorer,
you now get a dynamic preview of the part
56 MAY 2015 DEVELOP3D.COM
thats rotatable and zoomable, making life
much easier before youve even fired up
the software.
VISI has been going through
redevelopment and refreshing of the
user interface for some time and its
now looking pretty clean and clear. This
release, however, takes a step back,
evaluating the best practice across all
of the companys products and adapts
the user experience to give the best
experience, rather than purely relying on
how things have been done historically.
Selection of geometry is a good example.
You now have much more flexibility,
particularly when selecting multiple faces
or other geometry types. A window (or
polyline) select will, as the default, select
everything inside that box, whether its
visible or not.
You also have options to select just the
visible entities or faces that have just
edges visible (the latter is particularly
useful for selecting holes and pockets
when youre looking directly down onto
them).
It might sound like a small update, but
when you consider the complexity (in
terms of numbers of surfaces) involved in
mould and die design, itll prove useful.
Moving onto the modelling and mould
design tools, theres been a lot of work
across the board. Much of this revolves
Product: VISI 21 around the design of complex moulds
Supplier: and die, in particular, where youve got
Vero Software multiple cavities in a single mould as well
Price: On Application as more complex mechanisms.
verosoftware.com
Multi-cavity support (in this release,
this pertains to instances of the same
part) now gives you a mirroring tool. This
creates a component copy and allows you
to array them as you need. The system
maintains the link to the original core/
cavity geometry, but allows you to edit
any of those instances and have the rest
update automatically.
VISI 21 also includes many new surface
modelling tools which expand on the
previous toolset for surface extension,
surface tangency, and blending between
curves and faces with curvature
constraints. The new tools are particularly
important for mould tool parting faces and
sheet-metal forming stage development.
MECHANISM DESIGN & TEST
VISI 20 introduced mechanisms to the
existing constraints tools for linking
together components, but these were
manually controlled (you had to drag
and drop them to move them). VISI 21
introduces more formalised constraints
1 VISI 21 brings
that closer mimic real world mechanisms
improved Automatic
Feature Recognition such as springs, trajectories and paths,
(AFR) for complex gears, racks and pinions. This means
plate geometry you can not only do the complex work of

developing the moving components of a mould,
but also simulate their action to ensure that
theyll work.
Also related to this are animation tools
that allow you to define a timeline for those
animations, and they work in three modes.
Normal lets you just move components. Collision
detection will stop the parts (and highlight those
affected) when theres a collision (useful for
finding and fixing mechanism lock).
Physical dynamics gives you a full run down
of what happens, letting you see what youre
going to get once built ideal when checking for
potential collisions with slides, cams and lifters.
These tools are super easy to use and are
designed to require the minimal number of
constraints so you can dive in, use them and find
any areas that need fixing, without too much
hassle or time spent setting up the job.
2 AND 2.5 AXIS MACHINING
Lets now look at some of the updates for the
machining tools in VISI 21. Compared to previous
releases, this doesnt bring a huge amount of new
tools the existing toolset is pretty complete.
That said, theres also room for improvement
and to rework how existing tools operate to make
them either more efficient or more intelligent.
Well start with two axis machining.
The interface for 2-axis has been reworked,
particularly inside the CAM navigator (the panels
used to define stock, set-ups, operations etc.).
The whole process is much more accessible, more
clear and more intelligent.
The driver for that intelligence is Automatic
Feature Recognition. This will find all of the
features (in a 2D context) from your part and offer
them up for programming.
Once found, you now have greater organisation
tools that allow you to remove, move, add,
reorder and group those machinable features.
While for a single part, this wont save you a
huge amount of time, when youre programming
multiple parts at once (perhaps in a tombstone
JUST HOW COMPLEX CAN VISI PROJECTS GET?: INSTRUMENT PANEL MOULD
1 Automotive IP panel with over 600 shut off faces and six
part modifications during the design stage
4 24 separate parts with cooling, 36 different cooling
circuits and 685 cooling holes
arrangement in a vertical mill) itll save you a
huge amount of time by allowing you to do all the
sorting up front.
Whats also interesting is that Vero has added in
the ability to edit these recognised features. This
means that in the event of a design change or a
quick tweak, you can quickly edit the parameters
for these features (perhaps hole size or pocket
depth) without having to run through the AFR
process again.
Another new feature thats worthy of note is the
ability to stack features together. Its often the
case that you have a large machinable feature
which also contains smaller features. These
can now be grouped and quickly reused where
needed.
The flip side to this is dealing with complex
pockets that might typically require a further
3-axis license.
These are relatively simple in terms of outer
boundary, but might have more complex surfaces
around them or at the bottom of a pocket for
instance. VISI now allows these to be machined
using a 2-axis machining licence.
ACCESSIBLE TOOLS
Alongside the 2-axis updates, theres also a shift
in this release. There are several instances where
tools or capabilities from higher-end modules are
now available in the entry level modules. All of the
operations are high-speed enabled, with the feed
and speed control, ramping options and such.
Theres also been work done to maintain a more
accurate stock model between each operation.
Previous releases would have simply tracked
the outer boundary of the cutter it now keeps
a record of where material remains across the
whole feature.
Elsewhere, its now possible to run full gouge
checking against not only the part, cutter and tool
holder, but also any fixtures, jigs or clamps.
3-AXIS MACHINING
VISI already has a comprehensive set of high-
2 21 undercut areas with mechanical side action
movement on the ejection side
5 254 fully detailed general assembly drawing sheets
SOFTWARE REVIEW
speed 3-axis machining capabilities. What the
team has done for this release is look at the
workflow from part geometry to final machined
component and find a way to make it more
efficient for the operator to achieve the final
toolpath.
3-axis projects are now much more structured.
You begin with an end goal, the final, finished
component. Then you work through the processes
to reach it.
That takes you from importing or designing the
workpiece, defining stock, adding in auxiliary
features and geometry (such as filling holes and
shut off surfaces) and obstacles (such as clamping
and fixtures).
Once done, you then begin adding in the set-ups
and operations to machine that part. This gives
you the benefit that with all features defined up
front, you can use simulation and collision/gouge
checking at any time and a greater level of control
over what youre machining.
MORE ACCESSIBLE TOOLPATHS
Alongside the organisational matters, VISI 21 also
sees the company take a different approach to
providing access to all of the options, variables
and parameters for each operation. In previous
releases, more advanced options have been
tucked away in separate dialogs or tabs - making
them harder to find.
For VISI 21, this changes. Each operations
dialog features all of the options, commands and
variables in a single window it might sound
more complex (and it is, until you get used to
the wealth of information presented in one hit)
but ultimately, research showed this is what
customers wanted, and this is about giving the
user tools that are accessible.
Each dialog is clearly organised and theres
heavy use of tool-tips and help where needed.
G-CODE SIMULATION
Completing the CAM developments, a new NC
simulator has been introduced for VISI 21 capable
3 10 undercut areas with mechanical side action
movement on the injection side
6 Final project statistics : 5,740 solids, 1,348 screws, 3
concurrent designers, 486 hours design time
DEVELOP3D.COM MAY 2015 57
 SOFTWARE REVIEW

of real G-code verification after the

toolpaths have been post-processed. All
relevant G codes, M codes and movements
are simulated.
During the simulation the axis positions,
status variables, offset and other
parameters can all be monitored and
checked. Importantly, the processing
times can be realistically computed,
accurately reporting the processing
times for each tool and each machining
program.

WIRE-EDM
Within the mould and die industries, Wire
Electrode Discharge Machining (Wire EDM)
is a common manufacturing process it
allows the creation of complex and often
fine detailed features that would be
difficult, if not impossible, to machine with
traditional cutters.
VISI has supported Wire EDM for many
years, but the VISI 21 release introduces a
new Smart operation that eliminates the
need for the user to assign a specific 2 or 4
axis operation to a feature.
The cycle creates the simplest NC
code by analysing the upper and lower
contours of a feature and applying the
3
and enhancements weve discussed, VISI and has the tools that industry needs. 2 VISI 21 has
21 also sees the company embark on a From handling complex but dumb an updated CAM
pretty long term project to consolidate geometry, through machining preparation interface for power
users which presents
the toolpaths of choice across all of its to programming machining operation and
all of the options
products to produce a multi-discipline simulation. and variables for an
CAM engine remember, were talking As part of the Hexagon group, its going operation in a single
VISI, Surfcam, WorkNC, Edgecam, to be interesting to see how the system dialog
Alphacam. grows and how the consolidation across 3 This release also

most efficient toolpath. For example, if
a 4-axis feature can be machined with 2
axis NC code then the smart operation will
intelligently decide this.
Another key point to highlight is that
VISI 21 fully supports AgieCharmilles
machines with HMI controllers. The
technology information is read directly
from the AgieCharmilles EDM Expert
software, which means the operator can
now fully program the machine, including
technology, in an offline environment.
CONSOLIDATING TOOLPATHS
One thing thats worth discussing is that
alongside all of the changes, updates
The development team is working to find
the best toolpaths amongst that wealth
of knowledge and youll see the same
consolidation across all of these products
where appropriate.
Its also worth noting that for many
years, Vero has been OEM licensing its
toolpath libraries, and others within the
industry will benefit from this technology
consolidation.
CONCLUSION
VISI is a comprehensive set of tools for
designing and manufacturing complex
products in the mould and die industry
(though it is seeing adoption elsewhere)
that product range is going to pan out in introduces easy to use
the coming years. kinematic tools with
an animation timeline
Also the interesting thing happening in
the CAM market is how pricing is shifting.
Looking at VISI 21, its clear that the
company is seeing this too and some of the
more advanced, typically greater priced
cost options (such as machining complex
pockets in 2.5 axis as well as full gouge
checking against 3D fixtures) are now
available in two axis modules.
This makes it more affordable for
those that dont need the highly
complex capabilities but want to operate
efficiently.
verosoftware.com

58 MAY 2015 DEVELOP3D.COM

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DEVELOP3DSERVICES
TO ADVERTISE YOUR SERVICES HERE CONTACT STEVE KING
STEVE@X3DMEDIA.COM | +44 (0) 20 3355 7314 | +44 (0)7850 507362

Welcome to DEVELOP3Ds professional

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John Ewans Design
professionals.
Industrial Design
To see your service advertised here,
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60 MAY 2015 DEVELOP3D.COM

DEVELOP3DJOBS
Welcome to DEVELOP3Ds jobs section.
Every issue we will bring you the latest product development
jobs to help you kick start your career.

In partnership with CADjobhunter.com we also have a dynamic

jobs website where you can find your dream job by searching by location,
keyword or CAD/CAM/CAE software.
Alternatively upload your CV to help your future employer find you.
Register your details at

jobs.develop3d.com
To advertise on the website or
inside the magazine contact
Matt Wells
matt@x3dmedia.com
+44 (0) 7990 573624

TO ADVERTISE CONTACT MATT WELLS | MATT@X3DMEDIA.COM | +44 (0) 7990 573624 JOBS.DEVELOP3D.COM MAY 2015 61
 JOBS.DEVELOP3D.COM

Where next?
Wherever you take us.

DESIGN, MECHANICAL AND RESEARCH ENGINEERS

COMPETITIVE | WILTSHIRE, UK

Whats next for Dyson? You tell us. Actually, you wont just tell us, youll show us. Because well give you
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Great things are happening here. Not only are we working on some incredible new projects, but were
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important engineers are to us. In many ways, engineers are Dyson. Thats why were looking for more
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So if youre unafraid to take risks and ready to turn conventional thinking on its head, we need to hear
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62 MAY 2015 JOBS.DEVELOP3D.COM TO ADVERTISE CONTACT MATT WELLS | MATT@X3DMEDIA.COM | +44 (0) 7990 573624
 JOBS.DEVELOP3D.COM

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TO ADVERTISE CONTACT MATT WELLS | MATT@X3DMEDIA.COM | +44 (0) 7990 573624 JOBS.DEVELOP3D.COM MAY 2015 63
 JOBS.DEVELOP3D.COM

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JMDA had a fantastic 2014, and we are now in a position to further expand our
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A degree in Product Design, Mechanical Engineering or a related discipline.

For more details please vist our blog jmdadesign.com/our-blog

How to Apply

To apply, please send your CV and examples of work to design@jmdadesign.com

Application deadline: 15th May 2015

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64 MAY 2015 JOBS.DEVELOP3D.COM TO ADVERTISE CONTACT MATT WELLS | MATT@X3DMEDIA.COM | +44 (0) 7990 573624
 JOBS.DEVELOP3D.COM

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TO ADVERTISE CONTACT MATT WELLS | MATT@X3DMEDIA.COM | +44 (0) 7990 573624 JOBS.DEVELOP3D.COM MAY 2015 65
 THE LAST WORD

With a move to a new office, Al Dean is

spending a little time looking at the
equipment that he takes for granted.
Whats proving useful, whats not and
why it is that we become attached to
outmoded ways of working

R
egular readers of this last
page will know that for the
last few years, Ive been
1
working out of a small
workshop in the back of my
garden. While its been fun, the simple
facts are that a 12 x 6 wooden building
isnt cutting it any more. Along with
all the usual ephemera we collect over
the years, the recent months have seen
the hardware we have access to expand
somewhat. With the delivery of one of
the first Autodesk Ember 3D printers in
the UK and soon a 1m x 1m 3 axis CNC
router and a new 3D filament based
printer later on in the year, its clear that
something bigger is needed. So move I
must.
The good news is that it has given me
a chance to sort through, what probably
amounts to 15 years worth of collected stuff.
While Im not a big one for keeping paper
work anymore (Ive already documented a me tinkering with near industrial machinery, And of course, mobile high-speed data 1 Assuming that

solution to that), theres a whole tonne of
books, manuals and devices that have come
and gone.
I think I have one of every SpaceMouse
model since its inception and some others
from now defunct vendors. And cables. A
billion cables.
Im also trying to learn a little more about
the world of electronics its something
that has always escaped me, but Im
digging into what can be done with todays
accessible, modular and hacked hardware.
light curable resins and all manner of other connections to back them up. youve uploaded the
data, you can kick
stuff something that might be rather Whats interesting is that the tools we
off a print job to
difficult in a normal office block. want to use are finally starting to catch up Autodesks Ember
But during one of the hours of clearing with these advances. printer, monitor its
out and boxing up, I found myself pondering Were now seeing systems that can run in progress all from a
how the computing world has changed. the browser or through specialised apps. web browser. Itll
connect to your office
It was once the case that if you want to do We have the ability to centralise our data,
or workshop hard
some serious digital design work, you had to to ensure that we have access to all of that wired network or your
get into the office, fire up 20 grands worth mission critical data whenever we need it, wireless in a snap.
of hardware and sit there staring at a 21 wherever we need it. Thats a remarkable
cathode ray tube monitor to get it done. So, will I be abandoning the hoarding shift
Contrast that to today. Were now spoilt genes and running clean and lean in the new 2 The next addition

So, I need somewhere where I can stare
blankly at an Arduino or a breadboard till
something starts to stick.
The good news is that Ive found the
perfect spot. A quiet 200 sq ft office above a
local garage. The landlords also dont mind
with all manner of mobility enabling tools
and devices. Yes, the workstation is still a
big part of it, but theyre complimented with
laptops that can have similar horse power.
We have smart phones and iPads or Surface
Pros ever present in our bags or pockets.
office? Chances are, not so much. to the DEVELOP3D
Workshop the
Ill still be taking all those reference
X-Carve a 1m x 1m
manuals and engineering text books with CNC Router from
me. Ill also probably maintain Als Museum Inventables.com
of 3D control devices on a bookshelf
somewhere and Ill certainly be keeping all
those experimental things Ive built over
the years.
That said, Ill be sorting the wheat from
the chaff, and be taking a few trips up to
the recycling centre, the local RSPCA shop
and donating a few things to local schools
to help them out. But itll be a much tighter,
leaner ship than before. Remind me of that
in 12 months time.

If you happen to be passing Wolverhampton

and fancy a brew and a natter, the kettle is
always on - hit me up al@x3dmedia.com /
2 @alistardean My phone number is in the front of
the magazine

66 MAY 2015 DEVELOP3D.COM

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3Dx_Ad_CadMouse_A4_EN_v1.indd 1 18.02.15 17:34