Able2Extract PDF Converter Review

Often times in the world of CAD and engineering we find ourselves with a PDF document that we wish we could modify but can't. The solution used to be we had to recreate the document in its native program from scratch. This was especially painful if we were dealing with a complicated AutoCAD drawing in PDF format. Luckily, those days are long gone. Investintech has created the best PDF conversion software around and one of the best benefits is being able to convert those pesky PDFs back into DWG or DXF files. Not  only does it convert PDF to AutoCAD, it also does the whole range of Office products including Excel, Word, PPT, and others. How awesome is that? It's easy to use and there are Windows, Mac, and Linux versions available.

You can see some document conversion examples on their website as well as a link to download a free trial here: http://www.investintech.com/able2extract.html
I highly recommend you check it out!

3D Boat Design Software

I recently found a nice 3D boat design software to help you design anything that floats. If you have ever wanted to design a boat yourself then this is the program for you. 3DBoatDesign is a versatile CAD software package that is easy to use yet also powerful at the same time. Some feature of 3DBoatDesign include enhanced hydrostatic calculations, easy 3d scaling, rotating, and moving, hull sculptor, resistance calculations and more!

3DBoatDesign is to boats as NoLimits Simulator is to roller coasters - simply the best available software to everyday consumers and affordable too!

Download 3D Boat Design today and starting designing the watercraft of your dreams!

Android Application Programming Basics

Today I’m going to share a few of my notes about Android Application programming basics. Recently I’ve been trying to learn how to program Android applications. This post is not directly related to CAD but I will hopefully one day be creating some Android applications for CAD users.

Android Programming Acronyms

• SDK = software development kit
• DP = density pixels
• IDE = Integrated Development Environment
• UI = User Interface

Android apps are written in Java. I think it’s much harder to learn than writing macros for CATIA V5. When you write a macro, you can type up the code in a simple text editor and it is read top to bottom like a book. When writing code for Android applications, code must be inserted into at least three different locations within the Eclipse IDE software.

Pages or screens in Android apps are known as Activities. An Intent is a communicator with another application and you use it to change screens. To create a new activity right click on package: New>Class. Give it a name and set Super class as Activity, which will be a java file. Each activity needs a layout file (.xml) created by going to New>Android xml. Name it file_name.xml. Xml is a way to organize information with structure (as opposed to just using a text file). The xml file is used to organize the layout and properties of all the text, input boxes, buttons, images, etc. Buttons use a method called OnClickListener.

Alright, that might have sounded confusing to you, especially if you’ve never programmed before, so I’m going to leave it at that for now. Would you like to learn more about Android application programming? Please let me know and I will write more detailed posts. I’ve recently created two Android applications and they are available in the Google Play store for Free here.

In your opinion, what are the best CAD apps out there?

CATIA Lego Training Download

I’ve long looked for a good LEGO CAD program and today I’ve finally found one. John B Cearns, founder and

owner of Solid Engineering Solutions, has created an outstanding exercise to help students learn how to use CATIA’s Assembly Design workbench while being super fun at the same time.

While building the Lego model you’ll learn how to use catalogs in CATIA to create different Lego blocks in 3D. Not all the parts required to make the Four Wheeler and Rebel Wrecker are present in the CATParts folder. There are 72 parts missing from this folder but they have provided 12 tabulated parts for you to use to easily create the missing 72 parts. Step by step instructions are provided in the documentation for both sets.  The Four Wheeler contains 102 different parts and the total parts are 338. The Rebel Wrecker contains 123 different parts and the total parts are 468.

The free download contains all instructions necessary to assemble the Four Wheel and Rebel Wrecker. Or, if you just want to build the physical Lego sets you could just do that as well using these instructions. Get them here:

 http://www.solengsol.com/solid_engineering_downloads.htm

After you have created these two CATProduct models, there is a wealth of Kinematics joints you can perform on them: Revolute Joint, Cylindrical Joint, Spherical Joint, Rigid Joint, Universal Joint, Gear Joint, Cable Joint, and Rack Joint. The Lego parts also use a relation law created by a Multiple Value User Parameter to define the color: PartBody.Color = PartBodyColor.

This exercise is a great example if you want to use CATIA or other CAD software as a Lego design software. Many different bricks can be created from the template of a few using catalogs. All around, I highly recommend checking out this tutorial because, as I said, it is a lot of fun and very educational too (and it's free)!

Download the Lego CAD files and instructions here:http://www.solengsol.com/solid_engineering_downloads.htm
Please note: CATIA V5 R19 is required.

Kinect Hack Video: CATIA V5 Manipulation

KinectCAD for CATIA V5

I recently stumbled upon one of the coolest Kinect applications I’ve ever seen. The Kinect is Microsoft’s Xbox 360’s latest webcam style peripheral. This new high tech toy permits users to “be the controller” through natural user interface (NUI) by controlling the game with their voice and body movements. Microsoft took it a step further and released the Kinect software development kit (SDK) for Windows 7 allowing developers to write Kinect applications in C++, C#, or Visual Basic .NET. There are numerous “Kinect hacking” videos on YouTube. One such user has now manipulated the Kinect to provide a gesture based movement of CATIA part objects.

How to use Kinect with CATIA V5? Using this new application in development it is now possible to rotate and zoom in or out of your new Kinect 3D CAD model while standing in front of your monitor and using your arms. It gets even better: utilizing Kinect’s built in microphone there is a rudimentary speech recognition function you can use to change the rotation axes. Can you imagine creating every part in CATIA this way (or any other CAD system for that matter)?

Using the SDK V1 software for Kinect, KinectCAD has been created in Visual C# 2010. It may be a slow way to work (at first) but is a brilliant concept nonetheless. Pretty soon we’ll be seeing 3d Kinect models of all our CAD parts. It would be a great way for automakers to perform layout check in conference rooms (and funny to watch  too). Hats off to the creators and I can’t wait to see more. Checkout the Kinect video recording below:

Please note: this program is still in development.  To learn more please visit this site. So, what do you think of KinectCAD? What other applications could you see between Xbox Kinect and CATIA V5? Please leave a comment below!

Solid Edge Synchronous and Ordered Modeling Video Tutorial

Ally PLM released their latest Lunch Byte video tutorial, this time covering the topics of synchronous and ordered modeling. These videos are meant to showcase some of the feature of Solid Edge that you may not be aware of. Watch the embedded tutorial below to learn about how synchronous modeling accelerates the design process allowing for fast and flexible edits.

Learn AutoCAD for Dummies Review

AutoCAD is one of the leading 2D software used by engineers, architects, and designers. AutoCAD 2012 for Dummies quickly brings readers up-to-date on the latest version with all the new additions and revisions to the program. This book includes great colored illustrations and tutorials to help users better understand the material. This book was a huge help to me, someone used to running AutoCAD 2005 when I needed to, but am now making the upgrade to AutoCAD 2012. Believe it or not, even with model based definition where data is contained with 3D models, I am still needing to go to AutoCAD from time to time to whip up a quick drawing for a fixture or jig. As a mechanical engineer, it never hurts to stay up to date on the latest software available and this book is a great way to do that.

I do want to note this book is written specially for Windows users (sorry MAC peeps).

Purchase AutoCAD 2012 for Dummies and start learning how to use AutoCAD today!

Evolution of Computer Skills of a Mechanical Engineer

Trust me, I'm an Engineer! This is sad but true. Excel is a great and powerful tool. I think you could group PowerPoint into that category too. I also enjoy the engineering flow chart!

Robocoaster Model

I constructed a recreation of a Kuka robocoaster in CATIA. I used the car from my cantilevered roller coaster simulations to save time. The track is created using three sketches with laws (one overhead, one side profile, and one for banking). I made this in about a day so please excuse the lack of detail. The purpose was more to show proof of concept that this was possible to create with CATIA.

For the simulation, I used the DMU Kinematics workbench. There are four user input commands to (1) drive the robotic arm down the track (2) horizontal rotation about the z axis (3)vertical rotation of the upper arm (4) rotation of the seats about the upper arm axis. In fact, in one of the video clips there is a fifth command- the rotation of one of the domes on which video would be projected, similar to the Harry Potter ride at Universal Orlando.

How do you clear history in CATIA?

If you are a regular user of CATIA V5 like I am then you may have run across this error: "operation cannot be completed because part is already in session. Please close the session to complete the operation." This error may occur because of a scenario like this:

I open a Product that contains Part A, Part B, and Part C. I open Part D, modify it, and close it. According to the Desk, Link, and Windows open, the only thing now open is Product with Part A, Part B, and Part C. I go to insert an existing part into the Product, and browse to Part D. The error message above pops up.


How do I close the session without having to completely close and reopen CATIA? There is way to clear the memory cache without having to restart. It is called "Clear History." To find the clear history icon follow these instructions:

• Right click on a toolbars
  
• Select "Customize"
  
• Click on tab "Commands"
  
• Click "All commands" in left frame
  
• Drag´n drop the Command "Clear History" in right frame, to some toolbars.
  

The icon looks like a grey gear with a green check mark in front of it. I think that if you have nothing open in your Catia, the icon will be grayed out. If you open one document the icon will be available. Hopefully this helps eliminate some aggravation.

Theo Jansen Mechanism Matlab Code

I shared my m-code for the Theo Jansen mechanism awhile ago (LINK) but one of our readers recently created his own version of the program and offered to share it with us. Truong Duc Binh says:

"I programed for two legs and now I am making a computer interface with it, user can input parameters for Jansen walking machine. I divide this window form to two modes, you can simulate with constant alpha, or variable alpha."

Here is the complete m-code:

clear all

%Init link's length
L1=286;
L2=100;
L3=400;
L4=275;
L5=400;
L6=295;
L7=285;
L8=275;
L9=400;
L10=290;
L11=400;
L12=280;
L13=80;

alphaMax = pi/36; % 5 degree
alphaStep = pi/36/2; % 5/2 degree
alpha = -alphaStep;
k=3;

%To get the video:
mov=avifile('CoCau4KhauBanLe.avi','COMPRESSION','Cinepak');% None
for (a =1:1:(k+1))
    if a <= (k+1-rem(k+1,2))/2
        alpha = alpha + alphaStep;
    else
        alpha = alpha - alphaStep;
    end
    if alpha > alphaMax
        alpha = alphaMax;
    end
    if alpha<(-alphaMax)
        alpha = (-alphaMax);
    end
    for theta=0:pi/20:2*pi
    %for theta=0:(-pi/20):(-2*pi) % Quay cung chieu kim dong ho

    % Calculate angles:
    theta2 = pi - theta;
    theta3 = pi - theta + alpha;
    ssquared=(L2)^2+(L1)^2-(2*L1*L2*cos(theta3));
    s=sqrt(ssquared);
    beta=asin((L2*sin(theta3))/s);
    psi=acos(((L3^2)+(s^2)-(L4^2))/(2*L3*s));
    BCO2 = acos(((L5)^2+(L6)^2 - (L4)^2)/(2*L5*L6));
    CBO2 = acos(((L5)^2+(L4)^2 - (L6)^2)/(2*L5*L4));
    lambda=acos(((L4)^2+s^2-(L3)^2)/(2*(L4)*s));
    gamma = lambda - (BCO2 + CBO2)+ alpha + beta;
    O2AD = acos(((L9)^2+ssquared-(L8)^2)/(2*(L9)*s));
    omega = O2AD + alpha + beta;
    AO2D = acos(((L8)^2+ssquared-(L9)^2)/(2*(L8)*s));
    CO2D = pi - gamma - AO2D;
    CDsquared = (L6)^2+(L8)^2-2*L6*L8*cos(CO2D);
    CD = sqrt(CDsquared);
    O2CD = asin(L8*sin(CO2D)/CD);
    tempE = gamma - O2CD;
    CDE = acos(((L10)^2+CDsquared-(L7)^2)/(2*(L10)*CD));
    angleE = tempE + CDE;
    DEF = acos(((L10)^2+(L11)^2 - (L12)^2)/(2*L10*L11));
    tempF = DEF - angleE;
    DFE = acos(((L12)^2+(L11)^2 - (L10)^2)/(2*L12*L11));
    angleF = pi - tempF - DFE;

    %Find the points:
    O1=[0,0];
    O2=[-L1*cos(alpha),-L1*sin(alpha)];
    A=[L2*cos(theta) L2*sin(theta)];
    B=[A(1)-L3*cos(psi-alpha-beta) A(2)+L3*sin(psi-alpha-beta)];
    C=[O2(1)-L6*cos(gamma) O2(2)-L6*sin(gamma)];
    D=[A(1)-L9*cos(omega) A(2)-L9*sin(omega)];
    E=[D(1)-L10*cos(angleE) D(2)-L10*sin(angleE)];
    F=[D(1)-L12*cos(angleF) D(2)-L12*sin(angleF)];
    G=[F(1)-L13*cos(angleF) F(2)-L13*sin(angleF)];

    %************************LEFT********************************
    plot ([O1(1),A(1)],[O1(2),A(2)],'g','linewidth',3)
    hold on
    plot ([O2(1),O1(1)],[O2(2),O1(2)],'black','linewidth',3)
    plot ([A(1),B(1)],[A(2),B(2)],'b','linewidth',3)
    plot ([O2(1),B(1)],[O2(2),B(2)],'r','linewidth',3)
    plot ([O2(1),C(1)],[O2(2),C(2)],'r','linewidth',3)
    plot ([B(1),C(1)],[B(2),C(2)],'r','linewidth',3)
    plot ([O2(1),D(1)],[O2(2),D(2)],'b','linewidth',3)
    plot ([A(1),D(1)],[A(2),D(2)],'b','linewidth',3)
    plot ([C(1),E(1)],[C(2),E(2)],'b','linewidth',3)
    plot ([D(1),E(1)],[D(2),E(2)],'r','linewidth',3)
    plot ([D(1),F(1)],[D(2),F(2)],'r','linewidth',3)
    plot ([E(1),F(1)],[E(2),F(2)],'r','linewidth',3)
    plot ([G(1),F(1)],[G(2),F(2)],'b','linewidth',3)
    Gx(a)=G(1);
    Gy(a)=G(2);

    %*************************RIGHT******************************
    theta4 = theta + alpha;
    s2squared=(L2)^2+(L1)^2-(2*L1*L2*cos(theta4));
    s2=sqrt(s2squared);
    beta2=asin((L2*sin(theta4))/s2);
    angle2=acos(((L3^2)+((s2)^2)-(L4^2))/(2*L3*(s2)));
    B1C1O3 = acos(((L5)^2+(L6)^2 - (L4)^2)/(2*L5*L6));
    C1B1O3 = acos(((L5)^2+(L4)^2 - (L6)^2)/(2*L5*L4));
    lambda2=acos(((L4)^2+(s2)^2-(L3)^2)/(2*(L4)*(s2)));
    gamma2 = lambda2 - (B1C1O3 + C1B1O3)+ alpha + beta2;
    O3A1D1 = acos(((L9)^2+s2squared-(L8)^2)/(2*(L9)*(s2)));
    omega2 = O3A1D1 + alpha + beta2;
    A1O3D1 = acos(((L8)^2+s2squared-(L9)^2)/(2*(L8)*(s2)));
    C1O3D1 = 2*pi - A1O3D1 - lambda2 - (pi - B1C1O3 - C1B1O3);
    C1D1squared = (L6)^2+(L8)^2-2*L6*L8*cos(C1O3D1);
    C1D1 = sqrt(C1D1squared);
    O3C1D1 = asin(L8*sin(C1O3D1)/(C1D1));
    tempE2 = gamma2 - O3C1D1;
    C1D1E1 = acos(((L10)^2+C1D1squared-(L7)^2)/(2*(L10)*(C1D1)));
    angleE2 = tempE2 + C1D1E1;
    D1E1F1 = acos(((L10)^2+(L11)^2 - (L12)^2)/(2*L10*L11));
    tempF2 = D1E1F1 - angleE2;
    D1F1E1 = acos(((L12)^2+(L11)^2 - (L10)^2)/(2*L12*L11));
    angleF2 = tempF2 + D1F1E1;

    %Find the points:
    O3=[L1*cos(alpha),-L1*sin(alpha)];%
    B1=[A(1)+L3*cos(angle2-alpha-beta2) A(2)+L3*sin(angle2-alpha-beta2)];%
    C1=[O3(1)+L6*cos(gamma2) O3(2)-L6*sin(gamma2)];
    D1=[A(1)+L9*cos(omega2) A(2)-L9*sin(omega2)];
    E1=[D1(1)+L10*cos(angleE2) D1(2)-L10*sin(angleE2)];
    F1=[D1(1)-L12*cos(angleF2) D1(2)-L12*sin(angleF2)];
    G1=[F1(1)-L13*cos(angleF2) F1(2)-L13*sin(angleF2)];

    plot ([O3(1),O1(1)],[O3(2),O1(2)],'black','linewidth',3)
    plot ([A(1),B1(1)],[A(2),B1(2)],'b','linewidth',3)
    plot ([O3(1),B1(1)],[O3(2),B1(2)],'r','linewidth',3)
    plot ([O3(1),C1(1)],[O3(2),C1(2)],'r','linewidth',3)
    plot ([B1(1),C1(1)],[B1(2),C1(2)],'r','linewidth',3)
    plot ([O3(1),D1(1)],[O3(2),D1(2)],'b','linewidth',3)
    plot ([A(1),D1(1)],[A(2),D1(2)],'b','linewidth',3)
    plot ([C1(1),E1(1)],[C1(2),E1(2)],'b','linewidth',3)
    plot ([D1(1),E1(1)],[D1(2),E1(2)],'r','linewidth',3)
    plot ([D1(1),F1(1)],[D1(2),F1(2)],'r','linewidth',3)
    plot ([E1(1),F1(1)],[E1(2),F1(2)],'r','linewidth',3)
    plot ([G1(1),F1(1)],[G1(2),F1(2)],'b','linewidth',3)
    G1x(a)=G1(1);
    G1y(a)=G1(2);
   
    plot(Gx,Gy)
    plot(G1x,G1y)
  
    %************************************************************
    axis([-800 800 -800 400])
    hold off
    a=a+1;
    pause(.01)
    M=getframe;
    mov=addframe(mov,M);
    end
end
mov=close(mov);

Thanks again to Truong Duc Binh!

Theo Jansen Mechanism Matlab Code M-file

 A few readers have requested the full m file for the Theo Jansen mechanism. I've uploaded it here. If the download won't work for you lease me your email address and I will gladly send it to you. Please don't just copy the file. This is meant for reference only. In other words, figure it out on your own!

http://cadsystemshelp.blogspot.com/2010/04/theo-jansen-mechanism-matlab-code.html

Theo Jansen Mechanism Matlab Code.doc download 

*7/22/2011 download link should be fixed now!

The Future of Assembly Instructions: 3D

You buy a bookcase from your local cabinet store. You want to repair a component in your car engine. For the first task, you may be supplied with paper instructions that are very confusing and inconvenient. There are five copies in five different languages when all you want is English. Or, for task two, there are no instructions but you’re not a mechanic so you have no idea what to do.  In the future, both of these situations will be remedied by 3D Instruction and How-to manuals. Gone are the days of paper instructions. Welcome to the era of looking on your smart phone for a step-by-step simulation of how to repair your vehicle without any prior mechanic’s knowledge. 3D Via, xml, and PDFs will be supplied on a disk or flash drive or, even better, as an internet downloaded included with the cost of the product. This is the future. Check out the video and article link below.

Article