Glow-in-the-dark Pavements

A new material developed by a company called Pro-Teq creates a glow-in-the-dark effect when it is applied to a surface.  The first application has been used on a 140m stretch of Christ's Pieces pathway in Cambridge to great effect as you can see in the image below.

The surface looks impressive, but the luminosity is questionable as this
photo is over-exposed as can be seen by the bicycle light trails

The liquid material is enriched with luminous particles and once a protective layer is sprayed over the top, the result is an anti-slip surface which emits light based on the amount of solar energy captured.  The company states that customers have a choice of size and colour, and that the material is environmentally-friendly and aesthetically pleasing.

The nightly longevity of the effect is as yet unknown, so if you've had a night out on the town in Cambridge please take a trip down and let us know if the lights are still on.

LABS - Material Profiler for Inventor

This plugin is a design tool that allows users to visualise information concerning the various materials used inside an assembly. The materials from top level assembly to all of its sub-assemblies and their components are listed by the plug-in interface.

Visit the Material Profiler for Inventor website to find out more, or download to try for yourself.

How to Create a Central Material Library for 3ds Max

When you have a Material that you wish to reuse and share with your colleagues, you can save the Material to a Central Library for all users to access. See the steps below to achieve this:

• Select the material in the Material Editor and pick Get Material.

Granta Design Release Eco Materials Adviser Full Version

Granta Design is delighted to announce the availability of Eco Materials Adviser Full Version.

Eco Materials Adviser is an easy-to-use, interactive tool within the Autodesk Inventor software. It enables engineers to make more sustainable design decisions by exposing information on environmental impact, cost, and performance to guide materials selection.

The Base Version is already available to you in Autodesk Inventor 2012. It allows you to interactively generate an eco impact analysis for an assembly of less than twenty parts. An easy-to-read dashboard display shows key indicators such as energy usage, CO2 footprint, water usage, compliance with RoHS legislation, and materials cost.

The Full Version extends the scope and depth of analyses. You can:

• Study assemblies of any size
• Access and apply Granta’s comprehensive database of around 3,000 materials
• Include the environmental impact of finishing processes
• Study the full product lifecycle, including transport and use phases

To find out more see the video below and/or visit Granta's website at http://inventor.grantadesign.com/e2/upgrade.asp:

Create a New Material Style

You want to know how to create a New Material Style for use in the Inventor Material Library.

This Autodesk video shows how to create a New Style and Save it to your shared Design Data folder for all to see.