SolidWorks Animator

Citation

(1999), "SolidWorks Animator", Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Vol. 71 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/aeat.1999.12771fab.012

SolidWorks Animator

Keywords SolidWorks, CAD, Software

SolidWorks Corporation, a provider of 3D CAD software for the mainstream design-centric market recently announced SolidWorks Animator, a new animation and visualisation tool immediately available for SolidWorks 99 software. The Animator easily captures and creates animations for existing parts and assemblies, it is claimed. These animations can then be replayed within SolidWorks or in Windows AVI format. Animations saved in AVI format can be viewed by anyone using a Windows-based system. The AVI file is opened through the Windows Media Player, so no CAD software is required to view the animations. SolidWorks Animator enables engineers, designers, contractors, marketing personnel, and others to communicate, understand, and present design intent quickly and easily.

"SolidWorks Animator is a powerful communications tool that will speed up review cycles and reduce overall manufacturing cycle times", said John McEleney, vice president of the Americas for SolidWorks Corporation. "This application is as easy-to-use as SolidWorks software, and adds tremendous value to designs. Animations help engineers envision the actual design movement so that potential manufacturing problems can be easily identified and quickly solved. The added ability to send these animations to anyone, even non-SolidWorks users, is a great achievement for the design world. With SolidWorks Animator, people who have no experience using CAD can visualize, analyse, and critique a realistic 3D product design."

The Animator is equipped with an AnimationWizard, a default assistant that allows users to create animations easily with a simple click of the mouse. With the help of the Animation Wizard, users reportedly can create several types of animations including:

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  Exploded animations and collapsed animations - users can quickly and easily create exploded or collapsed animations based on existing SolidWorks exploded views. Users can also manually drag and drop parts to selected locations to create exploded or collapsed views.

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  Turntable or "Fly-Around" animations - parts and assemblies can be animated so that they appear to be rotating. Rotation around the part provides a 360° view of the model and enables engineers and designers to see all sides of the product prior to creating expensive mock-ups or prototypes.

Additional capabilities claimed include:

1. 1.

   Capturing and creating assembly motion - when the user dynamically manipulates an assembly, it automatically captures the motion.

2. 2.

   A screen capture function that enables users to automatically capture all graphic information in SolidWorks 99. With the Animator, users can capture the information that is currently displayed within the SolidWorks window. For example, users can:

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     capture the results of Gold Partner applications that inherently run within the SolidWorks window;

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     replay a rollback in the design history to demonstrate the design intent;

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     capture the results of any Visual Basic Application (VBA) custom program.

3. 3.

   Seamless integration with SolidWorks 99 - this enables the Animator users to experience the powerful functionality and extensive solid modelling capabilities found in the product. The ability to combine SolidWorks 99 features with those of the Animator eliminates the need for users to recreate models in a separate environment. Users of this product can take advantage of key SolidWorks 99 features including: Automatic updating of assemblies and parts, control of surface smoothness, manipulation of light control,'complete and comprehensive on-line help and support.

SolidWorks Animator is seamlessly integrated with all SolidWorks add-in applications, including PhotoWorks. With PhotoWorks and SolidWorks Animator, users can reportedly manipulate animation attributes, such as material mapping, transparencies, textures, and bump maps. Background colour and images can also be added to the animation and the specular lighting can be controlled. SolidWorks Animator combined with PhotoWorks enables engineers to create photo-realistic, raytraced animations, enhancing the ability to present high-quality images quickly, easily, and cost-effectively.

Details available from SolidWorks UK (Sales). Tel: +44 (0) 118 931 0436; Fax: +44 (0) 118 931 3177; E-mail: sbooker@solidworks.com; www.solidworks.com