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IronCAD Design Collaboration Suite (DCS) 2015 Product Update #1 includes many enhancements as well as quality improvements to the 2015 release. This update boasts a 10X speed improvement in the import of Native Files by directly importing the graphical model representations. Software products from Dassault, Siemens and Solidworks can store lightweight graphical representation of models, which IronCAD DCS can directly access. Once imported into an IronCAD's scene, users can select parts or assemblies from the imported data to reconstruct into a solid model to allow modification. This ability improves design workflow and cuts down on memory and storage requirements when using customer data in the design process. Additionally, users can use the imported graphical representation in an IronCAD 2D drawing for layout and communication purposes. Further import improvements include support for JT and SolidEdge formats in the Native Translator Add-on.
The IronCAD DCS update seeks to improve 3D communication with improved capabilities in 3D Annotations (PMI). The latest improvements include support for tolerances, intersection points and provides new grouping abilities to control what information is displayed in a particular viewing orientation.
IronCAD customers will benefit from many update improvements, which include
- Support for structural steel member creation with multiple body trimming and butt connections
- Improved editing of sheet metal parts with new reference edge association that makes it easy to modify parts with automatically bend updates
- Enhanced KeyShot integration supports textures passed from IronCAD to speed up visualization setup
Below you can find more details about this update release.
Improving The User Experience
Quick Shape/Sizebox Handle Toggle
In cases where users are working with very large parts and need to toggle between the IntelliShape Sizebox handles and the profile handles, it is no longer necessary to zoom out to find the display box for switching between the handle styles. In PU1, users can now use the tab key to automatically toggle between these two handle styles when the IntelliShape level is active.
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Fast Import Using Display Graphics
For Native CAD file formats that contain graphical (facet data in addition to BREP solid data), IronCAD now has the option to import only this graphical data. This option improves import performance by about 80% by importing the visual display data. Once imported, existing commands are available to use the graphical data such a dimension for estimate measurements. In addition to the graphical data, you have the option to selectively load the BREP solid data for parts/assemblies in the tree structure reducing the need to load the full model when using it as reference.
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Import Support for JT and SolidEdge Formats
You can now import the .JT and SolidEdge (.par, asm, .psm) formats using the add-on Native TRANS product. JT is a 3D data format developed by Siemens PLM Software and is used for product visualization, collaboration, and CAD data exchange. It can contain any combination of approximate (faceted) data, boundary representation surfaces. SolidEdge formats can contain both graphical and solid BREP data to import directly into IronCAD DCS solutions.
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Export All Sheets to DWG/DXF and By View Scale
Two new options have been added to allow export of drawing sheets to DWG/DXF. One option is the ability to export all the sheets in a drawing in one command instead of individual sheet exporting. The second option allows you to set the view scale per sheet. This is denoted by setting the view on the sheet as the default scale to be used which is found in the property browser on a selected view.
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Intelligent Attachment Points Associated with Features
When using IronCAD's Smart Assembly capability, it is often needed to have attachment points associated with the IntelliShapes for holes for example. When the hole moves, the attachment point should update. However, the Smart Assembly action needs to apply at the parent level (part/assembly) when other components connect to it. A new option has been added to the catalog entry to enable this behavior to give more power and options with Smart Assembly.
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Support for Textures in KeyShot Integration
New enhancements have been made to support Textures in the KeyShot Integration. Parts and Faces that have textures placed on the IronCAD DCS solutions, can now be exported to the KeyShot Integration while maintaining the textures. This reduces the time requred to re-apply textures to your IronCAD models and speeds up the rendering preparation for KeyShot.
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Sheet Metal Default Handle Setting
The sheetmetal handles by default are the sizebox handles. Users can now set the default handles to be the feature shape handles.
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Sheet Metal Unfold to Include in BOM Setting
Previously, if a user wanted to include unfolded sheet metal parts in their BOM's, they had to do this manually on each part. Users can now set a default option to "Include in BOM" their unfolded sheet metal parts.
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Sheet Metal Stock Table Selection Consistent
When selecting a new stock size on sheet metal parts to change the thickness, the information that appears now matches the stock table in the sheet metal options table.
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Sheet Metal Improved Association
New association setting have been added to sheet metal to aid in the updating and modification of parts. Once enabled, bends and stock can automatically associate to the stock edge they are dropped/attached too. When the stock is adjusted, the associated items will automatically move and adjust. Offsets can be applied to offset the ends while still maintaining the association. In addition, this new setting enables improved miter and closed corner conditions for in/out bends by removing the extra stock that can sometimes appear.
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Sheet Metal Bend Adjustment Improvements
When changing the angle and radius of a sheet metal bend, the behavior has been improved to maintain the default connection type. For example: A Smooth connected Bend will retain the in-bend smooth alignment setting and a regular bend would retain its setting (previous versions the bend setting could change based on these modifications).
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PMI Group Improvements
The PMI Groups introduced in 2015 have been improved to allow for naming, view orientation setting, and to allow visibility states. You can now orient a PMI set to a particular orientation and save the viewing direction to define an appropriate view direction. In addition, a PMI Group can control the show/hide states of PMI annotations such that each group can be set to show only the annotations of interest for the particular group.
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PMI Intersection Point Support for Dimensions
PMI Linear Dimension now support the ability to dimension to the intersection point of two lines. This is useful when there is not a planar face to point to dimension to (For example angle faces with blends added to the edge).
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PMI Tolerance Supported
PMI Linear Dimensions now support the ability to add tolerance information. Simply access the tolerance setting in the dimension properties and add various tolerance information to be displayed in the 3D scene.
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Steel Frame Trim Improvements
Trimming in the Steel Frames has been enhanced to allow multiple frame selection (connected in a loop) for the miter operation as well as support for Butt Trim. These improvements make it faster to develop steel structures and to design appropriate trim conditions.
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PMI Weld Support for Styles and Multiple Leader Extension
The PMI Weld creation has been updated to support multiple leader lines similar to the CAXA DRAFT 2D Weld. In Addition, the Weld Feature has been updated to support the style settings that exist in the PMI Styles.
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