DEVELOP3D - Technology for the product lifecycle

This last week has seen some resolution for those users involved with Bunkspeed’s HyperShot product as their rendering tool of choice. As we discussed a few weeks ago, disagreements between Bunkspeed and Luxion saw the code revert back to the developers, Luxion, while the product name remained with Bunkspeed. Now the mists have cleared somewhat and we’re seeing how things are panning out.

In the Red corner: Bunkspeed Shot

Not too many details except plans and a few images posted to show what the iRay rendered can do.

The Hyper prefix has been dropped, so it’s just SHOT from now on. The product is now being built on Mental Images iRay technology, which allows you to take advantage of both CPU calculation and GPUs - assuming that you have the Nvidia CUDA-enabled graphics hardware in place. The product will start to ship in the second quarter of this year and will be available as a free 30 day trial, an upgrade to all current HyperShot customers, and no charge to all those on maintenance or pre-order (there’s been some concern over this in the comment stream). More info at www.bunkspeed.com/shot

In the Blue Corner: Luxion KeyShot

New Icons and a few tweeks - but KeyShot is what HyperShot users are used to working with.

Luxion is headed up by the team behind the original product, Henrik Wann Jensen and Thomas Teger (formerly of Bunkspeed). The product has been renamed KeyShot (www.keyshot.com) but the same core is still there, using the CPU-based renderer Henrik developed. They’ve just launched the product and it’s available to download here. There are a few things to note here.

• New material library.
• New HDR library - new scenes in partnership with HDRI-locations and LightMap (Developers of HDRLightStudio).
• New data translators - Pro/E isn’t there yet, the SOlidWorks data import is and there’s now IGES and STEP for Mac).
• Snow Leopard Certified for Mac users.

I’ve been playing with the latest cut of the code and it looks like the guys have tweaked things a little - seem a bit snappier in terms of realtime performance and there’s definitely been some work done on the ground shadows, which look much more… realistic. In terms of migration, the team are offering a free upgrade or transition for existing HyperShot users and your content will migrate pretty nicely too with the Migration Assistant (particularly key as KeyShot has a slightly different folder structure for the various components).

Packaging is staying much the same but with the following name and price changes:

KeyShot is $995 and gives you up to 2.1 megapixels realtime rendering resolution, up to 4.1 megapixels offline rendering resolution. KeyShot Pro is $1,995 (which is a $1,500 price drop from HyperShot Pro) and gives you unlimited realtime and offline rendering resolution (64bit OS and 4+GB RAM recommended) and adds a render queue, turntable animation, render in separate process, and region rendering. Subscription to updates for KeyShot Pro is $500 annually and there’s a floating license option too. If you’re in education, there’s a KeyShot for Education version that’s $95. It’ll available now at the store www.keyshot.com/store

An intriguing situation

There you have it. One product became two. Team members swapped and moved and the products got rebranded. I guess what it comes down to is how are both organisations going to perform in the coming months. Yes, in one case, there’s a change of rendering code and approach (the GPU thing might be interesting), but HyperShot was about being effective at producing photorealistic imagery, not just the renderer under the hood. Let’s see. The nice thing to see is that while there’s been a lot of turmoil around the situation, things are settling, users have options and are being treated fairly by both sides. Luxion has hit the ground running and is shipping the product. While there’s been an announcement, there’s no product from Bunkspeed as yet - and the clock’s ticking. Users will be making their decisions based on what’s available now to solve their needs.

The product development technology industry is an intriguing one. Like many industries there are various levels of user, various levels of developer and various levels of component technology providers. While for those that aren’t deeply embedded in the industry, much of the interaction, deals and licensing goes on out of public view. Does the user really want to know where the various component technologies that make up their workhorse products come from? In the majority of instances, no, probably not, but I think there is some value in talking a little bit about where many of the technologies come from. I was reminded about this just last week at SolidWorks World when I bumped into an good friend, Joe Walsh, a gentleman that I’ve come to know over the course of many years.

Joe’s been around the industry for years, yet unlike the head-grabbing names and faces we’re all familiar with, he’s relatively unknown by the user community. Joe’s been around the industry, having worked at FEGS (now part of Transcendata), Spatial and IronCAD to name but a few.

Until recently, Joe worked with an organisation called Simmetrix. That company developed and sold a component technology widely used in many of the simulation codes we use on a daily basis. In specific it provides geometry and mesh handling tools that allow the mesh based world of simulation to talk to the geometry-based world of 3D CAD, that allows rapid mesh generation and simulation data management.

In January I got the inevitable LinkedIn job update and he’s now set-up an organisation called intrinSim and I finally got a chance to sit and have a chat about what it is that he and his team are up to.

When you look at the development and component community within this industry, many organisations license the same technology from the same partners. There are those ‘household’ names like Siemens’ PLM Components group (that supply Parasolid, D-Cubed) and Dassault’s Spatial (ACIS, data translation tools). Alongside this, there are organisations that provide a wide variety of services, such as TechSoft3D, who develop and sell core technology such as HOOPS as well as reselling 3D Interop tools from Spatial, Parasolid and Autodesk’s RealDWG.

Now, to those not familiar with how this works, it might seem odd that you have multiple organisations developing their own products, but also reselling the products from other vendors. The reason is that it’s a single source of acquisition for vendors looking to license multiple components.

Joe’s new organisation is set to jump into the industry with a set of tools that differs from the existing tools out there, but to accomplish the same task. He’s set-up intrinSIM to do much the same but with a simulation focus. Alongside the Simmetrix products, he’ll also be taking Datakit’s data translation tools, simulation results compression, visualisation and collaboration tools from VCollab (which I’ll be looking at in a few months time) and the tools from EASA that help bring applications to the web and mobile devices. It looks like an interesting product stack and with Joe’s experience I’m sure you’ll be seeing some of this technology show up your workhorse tools at some point soon.

The point of telling you all this is to make the point that if you’re looking to find out where much of design and engineering technology is heading towards, there’s a case for playing close attention to the component suppliers and technology developers as there is to the vendors themselves. If you want to get an idea of what’s coming in say, SolidWorks, then read Parasolid related press releases - you’ll get a heads up before everyone else.

This came in from Autodesk’s rocking PR team while I was out in California, but as long time readers of the blog will know, I can resist a bit of music mixing it up with some righteous 3D technology use. According to the press release, VOX Amplification has started to use Inventor and Showcase to assist with the design of four newly minted guitar amplifiers, the AC30C2 and the AC15C1 Custom Series, as well as the AC15VR and the AC30VR.

The press release states that VOX have been used by numerous influential bands and musicians.* Reality is, if you’re a gear-head, the AC30 brings back memories and smells of vintage tube amps warming up for some abuse, from the Stones to Radiohead and all points in between. If you’ve picked up a guitar, then you’ve probably plugged into or wanted to plug into a VOX amp or stomped on a VOX Wah pedal (as Hendrix did) at some point.  So let’s look at the details.

Dave Clarke, product development manager, VOX’s UK-based R&D centre said “In today’s economic climate, we need to react fast to market trends. Creating digital prototypes with Inventor software and using Showcase for 3D visualization reduces costs and cuts development time in half. Digital prototypes help save money by reducing the need for more costly physical prototypes. With Showcase, we’re able to make real-time changes to a design and quickly reach a concept that the whole team is happy with. This significantly reduces time to market.”

For those that are unfamiliar with Showcase, it’s probably the best kept secret in Autodesk’s Manufacturing solutions division and it combines real-time design evaluation, presentation and photo realistic rendering all in one wicked package.

Design Goals

VOX wanted to maintain the quality and iconic look of its AC30 amplifier, while adding modern design features, improving serviceability and lowering the price point. The result is the new AC30C2 Custom Series. For the more affordable AC15VR and AC30VR amplifiers, it was important to keep manufacturing costs down while maintaining the renowned VOX sound quality. The economical amps also needed a look that distinguished them from the company’s premium Custom Series offering.

Digital Prototyping with Inventor Software

Inventor software was used to help design and digitally prototype the new amplifiers, reducing the need for multiple costly physical prototypes. VOX also developed cost-effective manufacturing processes using Inventor software, enabling the company to achieve target price points. 

“We wanted a more accessible price point for the AC30C2 Custom Series, but there was no way we would sacrifice quality,” said Clarke. “Using Inventor for the mechanical design of the Custom Series, we were able to more quickly prototype construction techniques that achieved the best possible quality and value. We did the same thing with the AC15VR and AC30VR amps.”



3D Visualization with Autodesk Showcase Software

VOX used Autodesk Showcase software for real-time 3D visualization, creating highly realistic digital imagery of the new products before they were built. 3D visualization helped VOX to more quickly refine and finalize aesthetic decisions, before physical prototypes were built. 

“The biggest challenge we faced when launching the new AC30 was adding cool features while remaining true to our roots,” said Clarke. “We used Showcase to help make and finalize cosmetic decisions at the earliest possible stage of the design process. Creating near photo-realistic visualizations also helped eliminate the need for small but costly changes further down the line, which saved a lot of time and money. We also used Showcase from the start of the conceptual design phase for the AC15VR and AC30VR amps,” added Clarke. “The software’s real-time visualization capabilities helped us determine the precise differences between the VR Series and the premium Custom Series.”

So. Here’s the obligatory music video. Hmm. Could I link up some of the righteous riffing from Brian May’s live shows with Queen? nope. Gallows. London is the Reason from the best album of last year. Crank It.

* They’re also endorsed by The Edge of U2 and Chad Kroeger of Nickleback - and yes. I threw up a wee bit just typing this sentence.

Most of us have experienced the joys of a mobile home - and the cramped beds and lukewarm baked bean dinners that go hand and hand with them, but a mobile virtual reality centre? What’s all that about?

Well, the UK’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) has just launched MANTRA. No, not a path to spiritual enlightenment, but the MANufacturing Technology TRAnsporter, a specially modified 14 metre long lorry that travels the UK demonstrating the latest manufacturing, machinery and simulation technologies.

The MANTRA lorry, which expands to more than doubles in width to create quite a sizeable VR centre, has been made possible with the help of VR specialist, Virtalis, and features the company’s StereoWorks ActiveWall system. This means stereoscopic 3D viewing with full depth perception and movement tracking for all.

“Transferring industry ready manufacturing solutions to companies as quickly as possible is a vital component to maximising the UK’s manufacturing competitiveness,” says research director of the AMRC, Professor Keith Ridgway. “Using MANTRA and the stereoscopic 3D capabilities of the Virtalis StereoWorks ActiveWall system, we can demonstrate to businesses how VR technology can help achieve a smooth integration of new technologies into production environments.

MANTRA has been designed primarily as a technology demonstration and transfer tool for businesses, but it will also be used to inspire young men and women to become the next generation of engineers, something that is badly needed in the UK. On board the lorry, AMRC engineers will give students the experience of assembling, design reviewing and rehearsing the maintenance of a multi-million pound Rolls-Royce jet engine. That will certainly make a change from beans on toast.