Delcam to show integrated reverse engineering and direct modelling at RAPID 2012
Delcam will highlight the reverse engineering and direct modelling capabilities of its PowerSHAPE Pro CAD software at the RAPID 2012 exhibition to be held in Atlanta from 22nd to 25th May. The latest data repair and surface modeling functionality in PowerSHAPE Pro will also be demonstrated on booth 248.
- (1888PressRelease) May 19, 2012 - To see these demonstrations online, please go to www.delcam.tv/powershape2012.
The comprehensive functionality in the software has been achieved by combining the functionality from Delcam’s CopyCAD reverse engineering package into PowerSHAPE Pro to give a system ideally suited both for the creation of CAD models from all types of digitized scan data, and for the re-engineering of existing products into improved or customized designs.
Having all the different modeling techniques in a single package reduces the need to transfer data between multiple programs and so streamlines the whole product development process. The extended range of functionality, such as the ability to undertake Boolean operations between triangle meshes and solids or surfaces, makes PowerSHAPE Pro ideal for the re-engineering of existing products into improved designs or for creating specialized products, for individual patients in the healthcare industry, for example.
PowerSHAPE Pro offers a flexible and pragmatic approach that allows the design intent to be captured from the physical model rather than simply producing a duplicate digital representation. This is particularly important when generating models from items that might be worn or damaged, and in cases where the quality of the initial data is less than perfect.
For example, PowerSHAPE Pro now contains all the sculpting and model repair tools previously available only in CopyCAD to edit triangle files. These tools allow uneven surfaces to be smoothed out, gaps in the data to be filled, and extra points to be added in areas where only sparse data has been collected.
The incorporation of direct modelling gives an even more flexible solution. The options in PowerSHAPE Pro are focussed on design for manufacture, in particular on preparing the reverse-engineered designs for the development of moulds and other types of tooling. These new options have been made as accessible as possible by enhancing existing commands rather than grouping them in a separate area of the software.
A typical problem is that product designers will produce prototype physical models with insufficient draft. This will be reflected in the reverse-engineered CAD model, making it impossible to remove the resultant part from its tooling. In PowerSHAPE Pro, draft can be added either by using a specific value or by modifying the model interactively. The change can be applied to a single surface or to a group of surfaces, such as the sides of a pocket. In the latter case, the software is intelligent enough to maintain the radii of any fillets linking the sides.
PowerSHAPE Pro can use direct modelling to identify features such as fillets within the reverse-engineered geometry. If necessary, they can easily be replaced with new fillets having more suitable radii.
Other features that can be extracted from the geometry include holes, pockets, cuts and bosses. Intelligent manufacturing information can be added to the features and passed to Delcam’s PowerMILL CAM system. For example, information on the sizes and types of holes can be used for automated generation of drilling programs. These features can be suppressed within the model so that, for example, holes in a surface can be ignored by the machining program until they need to be drilled.
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