IronCAD Inovate 2023 IronCAD

• Performance Improvements on Import 3D with Combine as Reference – Often when dealing with large assemblies from customers, you can import data using the Combine as a reference option which creates a single part of the imported assembly. Performance improvements have been made to increase the model update on these large single parts that may generate many faces/surfaces. When importing, go to the Import Options and use primarily “Combine as Reference (or Import as Reference).” The combine option will have a more noticeable performance impact as it combines multiple parts to a single part (Import as Reference keeps individual parts).
• Import Step Files (without Repair Option Enabled) – Importing STEP files without the Repair Option enabled has been improved to reduce multiple repair sequences. When importing, go to the Import Options and Turn off Repair Body for STEP files that experience long import times.
• Box Selection on Large Assemblies – Box selection with large assemblies with thousands of parts/assemblies has been greatly improved to reduce the overhead of selecting and highlighting objects. Both Right-to-Left and Left-to-Right Box selections have been improved in performance from minutes to a few seconds in many cases.

User Interface Improvements

• Property List Browser – With the recent addition of the Object Viewer, a new Property List Browser has been added to allow the visibility of the Properties of catalog items and selected objects sent to the Object Viewer from the Scene Browser. This improves the ability to clarify the desired object for use in catalog operations or scene operations. Located initially as a tab next to the Object Viewer, you can quickly select the Properties to see the content from the selected scene element or the selected catalog element.
• Catalog Single SmartPaint Property Object – New ability to create a single property object using the Smart Paint Eye Dropper to collect Surface Finish, Material, and Text Properties into a single object that can be placed on other objects in the scene. Use the Smart Paint Eye Dropper to select an object. Right-click in the Catalog to drop and select All Properties. This will create a Folder with all the properties of the object. When you drop the folder, you can select which property to apply. Drill into the folder to select individual properties to apply to objects.
• View Currently Set Front View Definitions – New options to quickly view the Front View Definition on any selected object to determine its location and if the object has the definition defined.
• Multiple Apply Front View Definition – New ability to apply the front view definition to a selection of parts based on Anchor location of local/global orientation. This can dramatically increase the speed of placing the front view definition in the Bulk View Creation Process.
• Share Web Viewer Support for Graphical Measurements – The Share Web Viewer now supports basic measurements for users to get rough dimension sizes for models quickly. Note: The measurements are based on the graphical data and are not precise as measuring in IronCAD Solid Modeling applications.
• Set Rotation Reference – New option on the Right-click of the scene to set a rotation reference when using the Middle Mouse orbit. Once selected, pick a point or location on a part in the scene. All rotations will revolve around that location. Right-click in the scene for options Remove the Rotation Reference. This command can also be set to a Keyboard shortcut if desired.
• Set Transparency on Selected – A new Right-click menu option to quickly set the currently selected object to Transparent. Selection actions still works on these objects, but this is a quick way to see through the various objects without completely hiding them. Right-click for options to remove the transparency setting on all objects in the scene.
• Scene Level Section Tool – A new section tool has been added to the scene to allow multiple plane sections and isolation section areas. This section is not an object in the scene browser and is geared only for visibility in the scene. Multiple sections can be created and stored with names that you can quickly toggle between. This command is located on the Status Bar at the bottom of the Scene window.
• New Smart Motion Editor – New improvements have been made to redesign the Smart Motion Editor to match more modern animation UI’s. Common controls are added to the editor to make it a single location to modify, run and export animations. Add Viewports (and Keys) to control the scene rotation timeline. This improvement helps streamline the creation of Animations.
• Pin File Favorites Added to Main Menu Recent List – The new “Pin Favorites” from the recently opened file list in the Welcome dialog has now been added to the Main Menu recent list as well to make it convenient to access the recent favorites list in multiple locations.
• Delete Key to Clear Sizebox Values – Users wanted more control over the floating Sizebox edit box. The old behavior, when hitting the Delete Key, was the shape would delete from the scene. This is not always expected with new users. Most new users expected the number inside of the sizebox edit box to be deleted if they had recently made a change to it. Now, if you pull a handle and then hit delete, the delete behavior will delete the value in the edit box to allow you to type over the displayed full value.

Advanced Design Improvements

• New 3D Curve Constraints – 3D Curves now support adding constraints to drive the 3D Curves parametrically. This is a major improvement and opens the possibilities for more complex path generation for surfaces and sweeps. Using the Structure Part, you can fully drive the structured part using the 3D Curves. Innovative Parts – make sure to add the constraint to the 3D Curves under the generated features that consume the 3D Curve data (not on the source 3D curve).
• Copy as Link Body Mirror – A very powerful new option on the Part/Assembly Mirror Creation on the TriBall allows for a Linked Body to be created from the original part/assembly however it is a copy in such that you can change the color and make other changes from the original part/assembly. When updates are made to the source geometry, the body will update with these changes.
• Linked Body Open File Containing Folder – When you have linked bodies, you can now right-click on the linked BREP and have access to open the containing folder where the linked file exits. This saves time locating the file location and opening outside of the product.
• Specific Removal Commands – Users from other CAD systems are familiar with Add Extrude, Spin, etc, and Remove Extrude, Spin, etc. IronCAD typically has these inside the same command. Now you can have individual commands on your Ribbon Bar to simplify the process.
• Property Template Improvements and Property Tab Editor – Improvements have been made to the Property Template capabilities to add System Properties such as Part Number, Mass, etc. in the Template. In addition, a Property Tab Editor is available on Parts/Assemblies to edit these in a common location. Users with IronCAD Mechanical typically used the ProActive BOM, but now can achieve an editing style of the common properties for users without IronCAD Mechanical. For the Property Tab Editor to populate, the newly created parts/assemblies need to have property templates applied in the Tools/Options/Default Property Settings.
• Apply Cosmetic Threads to Holes – Useful new utility for Imported Data to apply Thread data to Imported Brep models with holes based on standards. This can quickly apply thread data to multiple-size holes on a part/selection that is not transferred during import operations. You can manually place threads as well to a single selection or use the Auto Detect to create multiples on an entire part based on available options.
• Replace Parts Remember Self-Contained Parameter Expressions – Using the Ctrl-Right-Click from a Catalog to replace a part with self-contained parameters (that refer to itself) will now be maintained/updated on the replace command. This is supported for parts/assemblies stored in catalogs that will replace the same part in the scene. Replacing other parts, this command may not fully find identical parameter references.
• Selection Tolerance for Ctrl-Alt Click for Attachment Points – When multiple attachment points are in close proximity, it is difficult to select the attachments. A new tolerance based on the selected aperture setting has been added to select nearby attachment points when using the Ctrl-Alt-Left-Click selection list.
• Custom Properties as Text Parameter – New capabilities have been added to use the Formula behaviors for Custom Properties to link to other Custom Properties values. Using the custom property name, you can construct a formula (=$CustomProperty&) to pull from other properties that can be text or parameter-driven strings.

Sheet Metal Improvements

• Deletion of Linked Folded Sheet Metal Retains Unfold – When you have a folded sheet metal part (that has an unfolded part) and link it multiple times in the scene, deleting one instance of the sheet metal part will not delete the unfolded part now but transfer it to one of the remaining linked instances. This auto-detect functionality to relink is added in 2023.
• Corner Relief Option to Support Inside/Outside Closed Conditions – When you create a sheet metal bend and move the bends stock segment outside using the corner relief handles, it will automatically add the closed corner condition. However, this was more difficult if the stock was moved inside. Now in this release, if you move with corner relief with the Ctrl-Left-Click drag, it will create the inner corner relief.

Component and Collaboration Updates

• Support for the Latest Translator Versions – IronCAD’s Native Translator has been updated for the formats listed below for formats such as SolidWorks, Inventor, Pro/E, Unigraphics, and Catia.
• CATIA V5: V5R8 – V5–6R2023
• Pro/E (CREO): 16 – Creo 9.0
• UG NX: 11 – NX 2206
• Inventor: V11 – V2023
• SolidWorks: 98 – 2023
• SolidEdge: V18 – SE 2023
• JT Import: 8 – 10.2, 10.3, 10.5, 10.6, and 10.7, And Graphics Import
• IFC: IFC2x3, IFC4
• Rhino: V2-7
• Multiphysics for IronCAD – Multiphysics for IronCAD has been updated to the latest version.