Shark Designer Wins Rendering Contest

Tim — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 19:10:22 +0000

Congratulations to Antoine Dayer who recently won the Best Student & Faculty Rendering of a recent KeyShot rendering contest. Antoine used Shark to model components of a wristwatch which he then exported using OBJ to KeyShot for final renderings. Check out some of Antoine’s stunning designs. Be sure to click on the images for high resolution views.

For those of you interested in a video showing the work flow from Shark to KeyShot see Antoine’s video.

I’m Just Having Fun

Tim — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 01:00:41 +0000

The Punch!CAD User forum is always full of diverse discussions as well as design projects. I enjoy seeing how people are using the software and the kinds of projects they are working on. I found this week’s gallery post from forum user “Amsterdam” quite enjoyable.

Amsterdam is a new user of ViaCAD Pro and learning the ins and outs of the software. His first project is a Dalek from the early Doctor Who television series. For those of you who recall, Daleks are cyborgs from the planet Skaro. Their primary function is to exterminate all beings inferior to themselves. Amsterdam created an impressive detailed representation of the 1960′s MK2 Dalek featured in the movie The Dalek Invasion of Earth. I particularly like his explanation for using ViaCAD and his choice of design projects: I’m Just Having Fun.

Another forum user posted this follow up image regarding certain Dalek design limitations and their grand objective…

Customer Success Story: BrightLine Bags

Tim — Wed, 09 May 2012 18:34:16 +0000

Ross Bishop is the founder of BrightLine Bags which specializes in the design and sales of pilot flight bags. This June, BrightLine Bags takes another step forward introducing their next generation of bags based on the FLEX System. The FLEX System provides many options that not only appeal to pilots but anyone needing a professional utility or field bag. In support of their design activities, BrightLine Bags uses Shark FX from concept to production design.

Ross is a hands on inventor who masterminded the novel BrightLine product of interchangeable bag options. As a Certified Flight Instructor, Ross experienced the frustration of finding a suitable bag for his gear. So Ross took on the challenge of designing a new bag. Starting off with conceptual design ideas from Shark, Ross shared his ideas with others who encouraged him to continue. Those ideas ultimately led to the first BrightLine bag and now the next generation of FLEX System bags. Check out some of the CAD models of the bags and gear used to take this idea to reality.

“I could not of created all these products and all documentation for manufacturing without Shark.”

Ross Bishop

Founder, BrightLine Bags

www.brightlinebags.com

ViaCAD Pro v8 Beta

Tim — Fri, 04 May 2012 17:32:20 +0000

Encore is pleased to announce open beta testing of ViaCAD Pro v8 for Mac and PC platforms. Most notably, v8 introduces Push/Pull Modeling tools with intelligent face snapping via LogiCursor for intuitive positioning. Come visit our lab site to access the beta and join in on the discussion of this exciting upcoming release.

V8 New Features Videos
Check out the new Push/Pull modeling videos.

Download ViaCAD Pro v8
Download a fully functional beta.

ViaCAD Pro Product Overview

Feature overview of ViaCAD Pro that includes photorealistic rendering, modeling, and drafting.

PunchCAD Labs
News and activity regarding PunchCAD development.

Tip: Tracing an Image with ViaCAD

Tim — Thu, 03 May 2012 16:41:21 +0000

Here is a tip that shows how to set up the scale relationship between an imported image and your drawing. Some key points:

1. Find a known distance in the image.

2. Create a line along the known distance.

3. Create a second line that represents the actual model distance.

4. Use the scale command to scale the image to the desired model scale.

Shark FX Polish Version Available

Tim — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 17:39:58 +0000

Shark has been localized for French, Italian, German, Japanese, Dutch and now Polish languages. Falina, Shark’s authorized reseller in Poland supports the products at www.sharkcad.pl. Check out an example tutorial from Falina that demonstrates modeling a candlestick and rendering. Additional, this tutorial shows the general interface components and using your own library of symbols.

For more tutorials and videos of Shark FX from Falina visit:

Shark FX Tutorial & Videos Poland

Importing Text From Adobe Illustrator

Tim — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 23:24:26 +0000

We have many ViaCAD users who also include Adobe Illustrator in their tool chest. One common use is to create text in Adobe Illustrator using their advanced text tools (kerning/tracking) and then importing into ViaCAD. Once in ViaCAD you can extrude into 3D and perform operations such as blending and chamfering. This video shows how you can share data between the two applications.

ViaCAD™ 2D/3D v8 Now In Apple App Store

Tim — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 15:34:21 +0000

Encore Software, Inc., a leading retail software publisher and wholly-owned subsidiary of Navarre Corporation, is pleased to announce the release and immediate availability of ViaCAD™ 2D/3D v8 in the Apple App Store. ViaCAD is a highly functional, low-cost 2D/3D design product that revolutionizes the entry point for sophisticated, precise, general-purpose design.

New Features: v8 introduces significant feature enhancements related to usability, 2D drafting, 3D modeling, performance, and data sharing. Specific features include:

• New Push/Pull tool for planar objects and faces of solids
• Interactively translate, rotate, scale faces with the Gripper
• Dynamically create linear and polar arrays of features
• Automatically create 3D walls, windows, and doors from 2D drawings
• Create 3D roofs and slabs
• Logicursor™ snapping updated to callout coplanar faces and cylinder axis alignments for intuitive part positioning

Full Featured CAD for All: ViaCAD 2D/3D includes a powerful array of design tools not normally seen at this price including an innovative user interface supporting the LogiCursor™ technology. Based upon the highly precise ACIS® modeling kernel from Dassault, ViaCAD provides over 300 design tools for hobbyist and professional designers. Featured among these tools are:

• Associative NURBS-based modeling with skins, covers, and nets
• Constant and variable radius blending and chamfering
• Twist, bend, boss, hole, Boolean, and shell features
• History based solid modeling
• Local face editing tools for designing independent of history tree
• Draft, annotate, and automatically generate 2D drawings from 3D
• Mass properties and interference checking
• Intelligent wall, door, and window tools
• Access 90 minutes of training videos, plus free phone support

Industry-Standard Interoperability: ViaCAD provides an extensive set of interoperability solutions for professional industry standard data sharing through IGES, STEP, and SAT. Additional formats include SketchUp®, AutoCAD® DXF/DWG, Adobe Illustrator, Rhinoceros®, STL, 3DS Max®, and more.

Pricing and Availability: ViaCAD is available from Apple’s App Store at http://www.itunes.com/appstore/ for $99. For more information including versions for PC visit http://www.punchcad.com/

ViaCAD 2D/3D v8 What’s New Video

Tim — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 02:23:10 +0000

ViaCAD 2D/3D v8 introduces some exciting new features that once again push the “value” bar higher in the CAD industry. Check out some of the new features and the video demonstrating v8 in action.

• New Push/Pull tool for planar objects and faces of solids
• Interactively translate, rotate, scale faces with the Gripper
• Dynamically create linear and polar arrays of faces
• Automatically create 3D walls, windows, and doors from 2D drawings
• Create 3D roofs and slabs
• Logicursor™ snapping updated to callout coplanar faces and cylinder axis alignments for intuitive part positioning

Visit www.punchcad.com for more information on this new product release.

Tip: Using AutoSave

Tim — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 02:02:56 +0000

ViaCAD’s automatic backup utility can help you in situations where your current file has become damaged.

The first thing that you must do is turn on “AutoSave”. If you don’t have the AutoSave setting turned on, there will be nothing to recover. To turn on Auto Save, go to the Preferences dialog box and click on the Filing category. Next click on Auto Save and select a “trigger” option. The trigger will automatically save files based on time or number of commands.

To recover a backup file, just visit your ViaCAD “BackUp” folder. This BackUp folder is located under your user documents folder within the ViaCAD folder.