Rhinoceros 3D_CAD Software9

Rhinoceros 3D

(Latest release - 4.0 / March 2007, Website - http://www.rhino3d.com/)

 

Rhinoceros (Rhino) is a stand-alone, commercial NURBS-based 3-D modeling tool, developed by Robert McNeel & Associates.

The software is commonly used for industrial design, architecture, marine design, jewelry design, automotive design, CAD / CAM, rapid prototyping, reverse as well as the multimedia and graphic design industries.

Rhino specializes in free-form NURBS modeling. Plug-ins developed by McNeel include Flamingo (raytracerendering), Penguin (non-photorealistic rendering), and Bongo. Over 100 third-party plugins are also available.

Like many modeling applications, Rhino also features a scripting language based on the Visual Basic language, and an SDK that allows reading and writing Rhino files directly.

Rhino's increasing popularity is based on its diversity, multi-disciplinary functions, relatively low cost, and its ability to import and export over 30 file formats, which allows Rhino to act as a 'converter' tool between programs in a design workflow.

The Rhino file format (.3dm) is useful for the exchange of NURBS geometry. The open-source toolkit (openNURBS) is provided by the Rhino developers.

The development is on-going; version 4.0 is current with version 5.0 expected in 2009.

Solid Edge_CAD Software8

Solid Edge

(Latest release - Solid Edge with Synchronous Technology / 2008,

 Website - www.solidedge.com)

 

Solid Edge  Originally developed and release by Intergraph in 1996 using the ACIS geometric modeling kernel it later changed to using the Parasolid kernel.

 

In 1998 it was purchased and further developed by UGS Corp (the purchase date correspond to the kernel swap).

 

In 2007, UGS was acquired by the Automation & Drives Division of Siemens AG. UGS company was renamed Siemens PLM Software on October 1, 2007.

 

Since Sep 2006 Siemens also offers a free 2D version called Solid Edge 2D Drafting.

 

Solid Edge is a 3D CAD parametric feature solid modeling software.

 

It runs on Microsoft Windows and provides solid modeling, assembly modelling and draftingfunctionality for mechanical engineers.

 

Through third party applications it has links to many other Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) technologies.

List of Versions:

§                     Solid Edge V1 (1995)

§                     Solid Edge V2 (1996)

§                     Solid Edge V3 (Spring 1997)

§                     Solid Edge V3.5 (October 1997 - introduced the sheet metal environment)

§                     Solid Edge V4 (1998)

§                     Solid Edge V5 (1998 - UGS + switched from ACIS modeling kernel to Parasolid )

§                     Solid Edge V6 (1999)

§                     Solid Edge V7 (1999)

§                     Solid Edge V8 (2000)

§                     Solid Edge V9 (2001)

§                     Solid Edge V10 (2001)

§                     Solid Edge V11 (2002)

§                     Solid Edge V12 (2002)

§                     Solid Edge V14 (2003 - "Rapid Blue")

§                     Solid Edge V15 (2003)

§                     Solid Edge V16 (2004)

§                     Solid Edge V17 (March 2005)

§                     Solid Edge V18 (September 2005)

§                     Solid Edge V19 (June 2006)

§                     Solid Edge V20 (August 2007)

§                     Solid Edge with Synchronous Technology (2008)

 

 

   

 

Autodesk Inventor_CAD Software7

Inventor

(Latest release - Inventor 2009 (13), Website - www.autodesk.com) 

  

Autodesk Inventor is the 3D parametric solid modeling package produced by U.S.-based software company Autodesk and is the foundation for their Digital Prototyping solution.

Unlike AutoCAD, Inventor is based on the more advanced parametric modeling techniques using an approach that Autodesk calls "Functional Design."

 

List of revisions:

 

For the first several releases Autodesk Inventor was developed with a code name taken from a popular vehicle. Starting with R11 all releases are codenamed with the name of a famous inventor or scientist. Below is the release history (with codenames) of the Inventor product:

§                     Inventor 1 "Mustang" 9/20/99

§                     Inventor 2 "Thunderbird" 3/1/00

§                     Inventor 3 "Camaro" 8/1/00

§                     Inventor 4 "Corvette" 12/1/00

§                     Inventor 5 "Durango" 9/17/01

§                     Inventor 5.3 "Prowler" 1/30/02

§                     Inventor 6 "Viper" 10/15/02

§                     Inventor 7 "Wrangler" 4/18/03

§                     Inventor 8 "Cherokee" 10/15/03

§                     Inventor 9 "Crossfire" 7/15/04

§                     Inventor 10 "Freestyle" 4/6/05

§                     Inventor 11 "Faraday" 4/6/06

§                     Inventor 2008 "Goddard" 4/11/07

§                     Inventor 2009 "Tesla" 4/16/08

SolidWorks_CAD Software6

SolidWorks

(Latest release - SolidWorks 2008, Website - www.SolidWorks.com)

 

  

SolidWorks is a 3D mechanical CAD (computer-aided design) program that runs on Microsoft Windows and was developed by SolidWorks Corporation -

 

SolidWorks Corporation was founded in 1993 by Jon Hirschtick, with its headquarters at Concord, Massachusetts - US, and released its first product, SolidWorks 95, in 1995.

In 1997 Dassault Systèmes, best known for its CATIA CAD software, acquired the company and currently owns 100% of its shares.

 

SolidWorks was introduced in 1995 as a low-cost competitor to CAD programs such as Pro/ENGINEER, I-DEAS, Unigraphics, AutoCAD andCATIA.

 

SolidWorks was headed by John McEleney from 2001 to July, 2007, and is now headed by Jeff Ray.

 

SolidWorks is a parasolid-based solid modeler, and utilizes a parametric feature-based approach to creating models and assemblies.

 

It is currently one of the most popular products in the 3D mechanical CAD market.

Editions:

 

SolidWorks CAD software is available in 3 commercial editions and 3 educational editions.

 

COMMERCIAL PRODUCTS

1. SolidWorks Mechanical
2. SolidWorks Office Professional
3. SolidWorks Office Premium

 

1. SolidWorks:

The SolidWorks core product includes tools for 3D modeling, assembly, drawing, sheetmetal, weldments, and freeform surfacing. It can import numerous file types from other 2D and 3D CAD programs. It also has an API for custom programming in Visual Basic and C. Also included is an entry level finite element analysis program called CosmosXpress.

 

2. SolidWorks Office Professional:

The SolidWorks Office Professional bundle includes the SolidWorks core product plus several add-in programs. These include:

§                     Animator (Create AVI animations of a model in motion)

§                     Design Checker (Checks notes, dimensions and other settings in drawings to make sure they adhere to company standards)

§                     eDrawings Professional (Adds markup and measuring capabilities to the free eDrawings viewer)

§                     FeatureWorks (Adds editable features to "dumb" imported geometry)

§                     PDMWorks Workgroup (A workgroup level document management program to manage SolidWorks files as well as other file types)

§                     PhotoWorks (Realistic Photo rendering)

§                     Task Scheduler (Schedule SolidWorks to bulk print, import/export files, and create eDrawings)

§                     Toolbox (A collection of common fasteners and hardware, Screws, Nuts, Washers, etc.)

§                     Utilities (Additional tools for selecting features and comparing features and geometry)

§                     3D Instant Website (Publishing an HTML document of SolidWorks documents, uses eDrawings for viewing)

3. SolidWorks Office Premium

The SolidWorks Premium bundle includes the SolidWorks core product and Office Professional add-ins plus the following:

§                     CosmosWorks Designer (Finite Element Analysis)

§                     CosmosMotion (Motion analysis)

§                     Routing (Piping, Tubing, plus Wiring and Harness layout)

§                     ScanTo3D (Utility for converting scanned data into solid models)

§                     TolAnalyst (GD&T Tolerance analyse tool)

§                     CircuitWorks (a bi-directional IDF and PADS file interface)

 

EDUCATIONAL PRODUCTS:

1. SolidWorks Student Design Kit
2. SolidWorks Education Edition
3. SolidWorks Student Edition

 

1. SolidWorks Student Design Kit

The SolidWorks Student Design Kit is a limited-term trial version of the SolidWorks Education Edition. It does not include all of the features that the licensed edition does.

 

2. SolidWorks Education Edition

The SolidWorks Education Edition is a licensed version of SolidWorks. It is intended to educate students in grade schools, middle schools, high schools, vocational schools, colleges, and universities. It also includes CosmosXpress The educational edition is always 1 year behind the industry edition. When you print drawings from the EDU edition, there is a watermark which says "SolidWorks Student License - Academic Use Only."

 

3. SolidWorks Student Edition

The SolidWorks Student Edition is intended for individual student use outside of the classroom. It includes all of the same features as the SolidWorks Education Edition.

List of Versions:

§                     SolidWorks 95

§                     SolidWorks 96

§                     SolidWorks 97

§                     SolidWorks 98

§                     SolidWorks 98 Plus

§                     SolidWorks 99

§                     SolidWorks 2000

§                     SolidWorks 2001

§                     SolidWorks 2001 Plus

§                     SolidWorks 2003

§                     SolidWorks 2004

§                     SolidWorks 2005

§                     SolidWorks 2006 (Native Windows x86-64 version was released from SP4.0 onwards)

§                     SolidWorks 2007 (A Beta version for Vista exists with limited support.)

 

Current Version:

§                     SolidWorks 2008 (Includes full support for Vista x32. Out in October, 2007. SP3.1 includes native Vista x64 support)

 

Future Editions:

§                     SolidWorks 2009 (Due out in September, 2008)

 

I-DEAS_CAD Software5

New Name: NX I-DEAS (Old Name: I-DEAS)

(Latest release – I-deas 12 NX Series (I-DEAS 12m4), Website - www.ugs.com  )

 

I-DEAS (Integrated Design and Engineering Analysis Software), a Computer-aided design software package originally produced by Structural Dynamics Research Corporation (SDRC).

 

I-DEAS was bought in 2001 by SDRC competitor, Electronic Data Systems. EDS acquired, but later sold, UGS Corp. (maker of Unigraphics) and SDRC (maker of I-DEAS) and decided to merge these two products into NX. UGS was purchased by Siemens AG in May 2007, and was renamed Siemens PLM Software.

 

Many I-DEAS users are transitioning, or considering transition, to a more current solution-set. One such transition path is to NX 5 which has enriched the NX product by incorporating many features of I-DEAS. Other users are transitioning through use of I-deas NX developed under Siemens PLM Software's I-DEAS Evolution of Excellence program designed to transfer and protect I-DEAS users' skills.

 

NX I-deas

I-deas NX was developed to provide a smooth transition for current users of the old SDRC I-DEAS product, planning an orderly migration to NX. I-deas NX incorporates NX features while retaining a consistency with the I-DEAS user interface.

AutoCAD_CAD Software4

AutoCAD

(Latest release –AutoCAD 2009, Version 23, March 2008,

Website - autodesk.com/autocad  )

 

 

AutoCAD is a CAD (Computer Aided Design) software application for 2D and 3D design and drafting, developed and sold by Autodesk, Inc.

 

Initially released in late 1982, AutoCAD was one of the first CAD programs to run on personal computers, and notably the IBM PC. Most CAD software at the time ran on graphics terminals connected to mainframe computers or mini-computers.

 

In earlier releases, AutoCAD used primitive entities — such as lines, polylines, circles, arcs, and text — as the foundation for more complex objects. Since the mid-1990s, AutoCAD has supported custom objects through its C++ API.

 

AutoCAD currently runs exclusively on Microsoft desktop operating systems. Versions for Unix and Macintosh were released in the 1980s and 1990s, but these were later dropped.

 

AutoCAD's native file format, DWG, and to a lesser extent, its interchange file format, DXF, have become de facto standards for CAD data interoperability.

 

AutoCAD in recent years has included support for DWF, a format developed and promoted by Autodesk for publishing CAD data.

 

In 2006, Autodesk estimated the number of active DWG files to be in excess of one billion. In the past, Autodesk has estimated the total number of DWG files in existence to be more than three billion.

 

Though there are Powerful 3D software’s, Still Blueprints of drawings AutoCAD is excessively using.

List of releases:

Version 1.0 – version 1.0 – release 1 –December 1982

Version 1.2 – version 1.2 – release 2 –April 1983

Version 1.3 – version 1.3 – release 3 –August 1983

Version 1.4 – version 1.4 – release 4 –October 1983

Version 2.0 – version 2.0 – release 5 –October 1984

Version 2.1 – version 2.1 – release 6 –May 1985

Version 2.5 – version 2.5 – release 7 –June 1986

Version 2.6 – version 2.6 – release 8 –April 1987

Version 9 –      N/A        – release 9 –September 1987

Version 10 –    N/A        – release 10 –October 1988

Version 11 –     N/A       – release 11 –October 1990

Version 12 –    N/A        – release 12 –June 1992

Version 13 –    N/A        – release 13 –November 1994

Version 14 –    N/A        – release 14 –February 1997

AutoCAD 2000 – version 15.0 – release 15 –March 1999

AutoCAD 2000i – version 15.1 – release 16 –July 2000

AutoCAD 2002 – version 15.6 – release 17 –June 2001

AutoCAD 2004 – version 16.0 – release 18 –March 2003

AutoCAD 2005 – version 16.1 – release 19 –March 2004

AutoCAD 2006 – version 16.2 – release 20 –March 2005

AutoCAD 2007 – version 17.0 – release 21 –March 2006

AutoCAD 2008 – version 17.1 – release 22 –March 2007

AutoCAD 2009 – version 17.2 – release 23 –March 2008