Complex shape modelling software gets upgrade

Delcam is to launch a significant upgrade of its PowerSHAPE modelling software for the design of products and tooling featuring complex shapes.

Delcam is to launch a significant upgrade of its PowerSHAPE modelling software for the design of products and tooling featuring complex shapes.

PowerSHAPE 3 will feature enhancements for both designers and toolmakers that will reinforce its reputation as the most powerful and flexible hybrid design system currently on the market.

The system gives users the combined advantages of both solid and surface modelling approaches to design and so provides an ideal CAD solution for companies designing products such as automotive and aerospace parts, electrical appliances, ceramics, footwear, packaging, sports equipment and toys, as well as all types of tooling.

The combination of surface and solid modelling within PowerSHAPE makes the user more productive in a wide range of design projects.

For example, many plastic mouldings feature complex external surfaces, together with relatively simple internal geometry, such as reinforcing ribs or bosses for screws.

Surface modelling will be needed for styling the visible surfaces, while the simpler internal geometry can be created more quickly with solid modelling.

Also, the creation of internal surfaces from external surfaces is easier with solid modelling.

Toolmakers usually need surface modelling to cope with the complex shapes they have to manufacture.

However, the solid modelling options are valuable when subtracting the cavity shape from the tooling block and also when creating electrodes from a model of a cavity or core.

Both designers and toolmakers will benefit from improvements to the appearance of PowerSHAPE.

Changes here included the ability to use a graduated background for the modelling area, plus new toolbar icons that are easier to organise as the user prefers.

Additional information can now be generated by PowerSHAPE's "intelligent cursor".

This can now provide details of part thickness and draft angle, as well as the usual construction lines, intersection points, and dimensions.

This constant feedback is invaluable for new or casual users, but also speeds the design process for the experienced operator.

New options are being added for the automatic creation of the most difficult blends and fillets, while modification of the way in which data is stored will make all the solid modelling operations both faster and more robust with complex models.

By combining the best of both surface and solid modelling, PowerSHAPE now provides a complete solution for companies working with complex shapes, allowing them to produce the designs they want, without the need for compromises caused by limitations in their CAD systems.

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