ANSYS Releases SpaceClaim 2015

 ANSYS announced the new release of SpaceClaim software that it claims will speed the time it takes users to manipulate geometries, prepare 3D printing files and reduce product development times. SpaceClaim 2015 is the first product to be introduced since SpaceClaim’s acquisition by ANSYS earlier in the year.

According to the company, SpaceClaim 2015 will greatly improve product development and manufacturing workflows by enabling engineers to work faster through such innovations as expansive editing and management of faceted models, improved toolpath functionality for the machinist and more complex geometry creation upgrades for anyone looking to edit or create 3D models.

I had a personal demo of the product today by Justin Hendrickson, director of Product Management for the SpaceClaim product line. The new features he showed me were quite impressive, especially the speed and ease of making changes, a hallmark of the company’s direct modeling approach. I saw several customer examples of how they are using the software, and what interested me the most was how diverse its use actually is.

Some customers use SpaceClaim software to prepare models for simulation, others for preparing models for manufacturing (including 3D printing), while still others use it for designing a product from start to finish. In light of that, I asked Hendrickson what makes the tool so versatile. His response was that the software is popular for myriad of applications because it’s easy to use and very flexible, which is “very liberating to users who are accustomed to dealing with history-based modelers,” says Hendrickson.

Additional SpaceClaim improvements include imprint and wrap tools for easier simulation edits, clean and detection functionality, as well as improved integration with ANSYS Workbench– which enable engineers to focus their time and expertise on simulation analysis, not geometry preparation. Computational fluid dynamics engineers, for example, can take advantage of the new features in SpaceClaim to quickly extract the fluid volume of designs instead of relying on CAD engineers to edit geometries.

SpaceClaim’s 3D Printing module now includes more tools for repairing models and analyzing print success. In addition, direct editing of meshes with SpaceClaim’s intuitive Pull and Move tools are now available with the 2015 release, making it faster and easier for users to get models ready for printing.

The new release of SpaceClaim improves product development and manufacturing workflows by enabling engineers to work faster with expansive editing and management of faceted models, improved toolpath functionality for the machinist and more complex geometry creation upgrades.

ANSYS has delivered a variety of other improvements to concept design, manufacturing preparation, detailing and interoperability. These enhancements enable users to make more efficient use of time, engineering talent and materials as they pursue faster time to market with better product designs.

“The new enhancements in SpaceClaim have allowed me to design the most complex version of my award-winning Perplexus 3D Labyrinth games in record time,” said Mike McGinnis, originator of Perplexus. “The tools are significantly upgraded. In particular is the RELIEF tool, which has saved me days in preparing files for CAM.”

What’s New

Easier 3-D Printing Preparation
• New cleanup and print prep tools, including: Repair Holes, Repair Sharps, Thicken,
Smooth, Regularize, Separate and Join
• New print analysis tools: thickness analysis, overhang analysis
• Merge/subtract/edit open meshes, including direct editing of meshes with
Pull/Move tools
• Ability to scale meshes non-uniformly
• Localized reduce capability for increased mesh accuracy
• Mesh to mesh deviation analysis
• Volume and area measurements, as well as Volume Extract, Enclosure, and
Replace tools now supporting meshes

Upgrades to Simulation Prep
• New Imprint and Wrap tools for better control over connections between parts
• New simulation cleanup and detection tools: Short Edges, Overlap Faces,
Corrupt Faces
• Power selection and update of mid-surfaces to geometry changes
• Driving dimensions from Pull tool edge pivot, as well as imports of layer
contents into selection sets
• Improved integration with ANSYS Workbench, including:
– Import geometry from Workbench and Design Modeler into SpaceClaim
– ANSYS Neutral File (ANF) format export
– 10-20x transfer speed improvement for assemblies
– New transfer option — “explode during transfer”
– Shared topology performance improvements
– Direct connection to ANSYS HFSS is now supported

Concept Design and General Modeling Improvements

• Custom shortcuts that personalize SpaceClaim tools to your needs
• Pivoting of surface edges and vertices
• Reverse engineering improvements, such as a dedicated mesh curve fitting tool
and snap to point
• Blend improvements — blend to point capability
• Automatic Clip Volume for Repair tool options
• Tangent/natural extensions for curves and surfaces
• Variable radius rounds, re-ordering of overlapping round chains,
and projected linked points
• Plugin for Makerbot Upload
• Mirror depression/protrusion, min/max curvature points shown,
and ability to scale points/axes
• “Paste Independent” and replace component commands, support multiple components
Manufacturing Preparation Enhancements
• Relief tool for automated cutout creation at sharp corners
• Deburring and Lathe profile creation tools for generating deburring and lathe tool path
• Curve Table tool for generating associative table of curve data for export
• Edges tool for extracting the wireframe version of a part
• Support for Mastercam X8
Interoperability Advances
• New import information, including layers, materials, JT facets only, and PDF
faceted curves for optimal model editing
• Multi-threaded import for more file formats (JT, CATIA CGR), creating
faster imports
• IDF Sync to update changes made in SpaceClaim
• Ability to map CATIA Geometric sets to SpaceClaim groups on file import
• OBJ improved texture export
• Updated version support for: Inventor 2015, NX 9, Parasolid 26, Solid Edge ST6,
SolidWorks 2014
• Improved automated Converter application

Sheet-Metal Enhancements
• Swept walls, rounded louvers, split of blend junctions, and configurable junctions gaps
• Power Select of features to use only what you need faster
• Support for editing of U-shaped bends
• Fold up of individual walls and user-defined wall overlap %s

Detailing
• BOM display controls: include and collapse properties
• Highlight selected point dimension, leader underline control, and 45° chamfer note
• Overall usability improvements, including option to hide annotations behind bodies