Onshape (Cambridge, MA) now offers powerful cloud-based design tools that enable faster creation and refinement of sheet metal parts with simultaneous generation of editable, synchronized flat, folded and tabular views. Features include:
- Simultaneous Sheet Metal Views: Unlike traditional desktop-installed CAD systems that force users to work in only one mode (flat, folded or tabular) at a time, Onshape shows all representations in one simultaneous view. When designers edit one view, the other two are synchronized automatically using Onshape’s full-cloud database architecture. Seeing the flat and folded views side-by-side allows users to visualize errors and interferences immediately, consider alternatives and ultimately, reduce scrap and wasted time.
- Editing Sheet Metal From a Bend Table View: The manufacturer can quickly change the parameters of a model in a bend table view – such as the radius or order of individual bends – while preserving the original design intent and seeing the impact immediately on the flat and folded views.
The new precision sheet metal features, now concluding early visibility testing, will be made available to all Onshape users in a near-term release.
For more information, visit www.onshape.com.
!['It's very inspiring to see how these [hair-like] structures occur in nature and how they can achieve different functions,' says Jifei Ou, a graduate student in media arts and sciences at MIT. 'We're just trying to think how can we fully utilize the potential of 3-D printing, and create new functional materials whose properties are easily tunable and controllable.' Pictured is an example of 3-D printed hair.](https://img.ien.com/files/base/indm/ien/image/2016/06/3d_printed_hair.576815a452cbf.png?auto=format%2Ccompress&fit=crop&h=167&q=70&rect=0%2C0%2C950%2C533&w=250)
