The Task UI is a set of controls that appears by default at the bottom of the Showcase viewport.
1 = Main Menu Toggle
2 = Task UI
The controls provide easy access to all of the features of Showcase. Hover your mouse pointer over each to find out what it does. Click a control to open its related options.
For example, here is what the Task UI looks like when you click the Visual Styles control.
In this example, scroll left-to-right through the available Visual Styles. Click a Visual Style to apply it. Click Libraryon the right to see the classic Visual Styles interface.
A Suite Workflow is a mechanism for exporting an engineered design from a source Autodesk product to a target product for detailed rendering or animation. Settings in the workflow automatically transform the design objects for presentation in 3ds Max Design or Showcase. For example, the 3ds Max Design as Solids workflow sends Inventor Models to 3ds Max Design as solid bodies. The Showcase Constraint Animation workflow shows a mechanical assembly in motion, converting a range of constraints into animated behaviors. You can use workflows to prepare for design reviews and to create vivid presentations.
Depending on the suite you have, the source product is either AutoCAD, Inventor or Revit. The target product is always 3ds Max Design or Showcase. The workflows supplied with a suite can vary according to the suite level (Standard, Premium, or Ultimate).
A workflow applies pre-selected settings in 3ds Max Design or Showcase to the design data from the source product (AutoCAD, Inventor or Revit). Different workflows are provided with each source product, and workflows can be optimized for specific purposes, such as high-quality rendering or lighting analysis.
Inventor (Product Design Suite) Workflows are available from the main application menu:
In Showcase it is great that you can put your model into a 360 degree HDRI Environment to view from any angle and these Environments can look very good, carrying a lot of detail. However, this might start to distract from the design you are trying to portray.
Augmented Reality allows the ability to overlay semantically in context information (graphics, text, video, sound) on to a live video feed of the real-world in real-time.
Autodesk Showcase is already a gold standard for photorealistic high quality interactive 3D real-time rendering. With the Showcase 2013 Augmented Reality plug-in, it is now easier than ever to visualize Showcase 3D models in the real-world as viewed through your web or video camera. With the Augmented Reality plug-in, Showcase scene environments can be more dynamic, allowing you to Imagine Design and Create in context to the world around you.
Availability:
The Showcase software add-on will operate until October 31, 2012.
In previous releases of Showcase you had one Import dialogue which appeared during Import, giving a short list of quality settings. After which you would then have to change the Environment, the Up Axis, Create your Shots to your liking.
In Showcase 2013 you can now preset your Import Settings for particular file types, i.e. .STP, .IAM, .IGES. Allowing you to not only choose the Import quality, but also the initial Environment, preset Shots, Up Axis amongst others.
To modify your presets see below:
Open Showcase and go to the File menu > Settings > Import Settings
You will then be presented with the Import Settings dialogue where you can start to tweak the default Import Settings for particular file types to your liking.
This hotfix is for users that have a persistent Autodesk Sync error in their System Tray. Persistent errors can occur when uploading settings or files through publish and save to Autodesk 360. Errors can also happen if you choose to automatically copy to the cloud.
Depending on the size of your dataset the Light and/or Decal Grips can be an inappropriate size. Either obscuring the dataset, making it difficult to work with or too small to grab hold of.
You could and still can change the Light Grips by modifying their Scale in Edit menu > Transform > Transform Properties. However in Showcase 2013 you can change both the Light and Decal Grip sizes much easier, go to File menu > Settings > User Settings.
Simply grab the slider to adjust the size of either the Light and/or Decal Grips.
We have come across this situation a few times on support, where people have placed a Decal onto a face in Showcase. Then changed the properties of the Decal to use an image of their choosing, i.e. Company Logo or Picture. However the colours do not come through from the image file, it appears to be overridden in Showcase.
The first step is to place your Decal on to the Face of your part. This is when you might notice that it is not displaying correctly.
When importing Inventor data into Showcase you may have found that it appears on its side. There are ways of rotating the geometry to the correct orientation, however there is an easier way.
Import your Inventor model as normal into Showcase, using default Inventor templates, it will generally appear on its side.
In Showcase it is quite common place to want to place a Logo or Image onto your design as a Decal. These images can come from various sources, including the Internet.
If you have access to the image in question, it might be in a BMP or JPG format with a coloured background surrounding the logo itself. Not such a good look when you are trying to make your design look as real as possible.
Again, there are lots of ways to remove this, some easier than others. However, I prefer to turn these types of files into PNG files, which can carry a transparent background.
If you have one of the new Product Design Suites, then you already have a tool to help, SketchBook Designer. The following steps, take a JPG file, remove the background colour and export to PNG, take a look yourself.
Start by opening SketchBook Designer, then go to File > Open > find your Logo or Image.
The image file will appear on a Paint layer in SketchBook Designer, use the Wand tool, then click inside the coloured background area. This area will highlight with a dashed outline to tell you what is selected.
Gaoh Energy, an ambitious start-up focused on a range of renewable energy
sectors, is using Digital
Prototyping software from Autodesk, Inc., to help deliver
innovative solutions into the onshore and offshore wind markets and the tidal
energy sector.
Gaoh Energy joined the Autodesk
Clean Tech Partner Program, which provides software for emerging clean tech
companies in North America, Europe, Japan and Singapore, on the recommendation
of Autodesk reseller, Micro Concepts, which provides its IT support. Since
joining the program, in November 2010, the company has been using AutoCAD and increasingly making use
of the Autodesk Product Design Suite, including Autodesk Inventor and Autodesk
Showcase. It uses the Autodesk software in particular to provide design and
engineering solutions to clients developing wind farms and demonstration
sites.
Kocurek Excavators Ltd has been awarded the Manufacturer's Innovation award at the annual Demolition Awards in Amsterdam.
The company saw off stiff competition from the likes of Liebherr, Trevi Benne and Montovanibenne to have its HDI Beast named as the industry's greatest innovation of the year.
David Kocurek (left) and Brian Carroll (right) receive their award from IDE president, John Woodward (centre).
With the introduction of the Autodesk Design Suites (2012),
you now have lots of packages to manage, ensuring they are all up to date with
the latest Service Packs etc. So, to help make this easier, we
have added an Autodesk Suite Updates page to the
Technical Downloads section on our website. This will give you an idea of the latest Service Packs for
each product in the relvant Autodesk Suite you have
installed. Please visit the new page at: http://www.microconcepts.co.uk/members/downloads/autodesk_suite_updates/
The LaunchPad Technology Preview accelerates design efforts by providing a single portal into Product Design Suite applications, project data, and workflows. The LaunchPad’s one-click workflows prepare your design data in the Suite environment that is most appropriate to your task so you can quickly start designing, engineering, simulating, and visualizing your design. The LaunchPad is intended for users who already have Product Design Suite installed.
We thought it was about time we highlighted the currently available Service Packs for the 2012 Autodesk products, which are included in the new Product Design and Factory Design Suites:
Autodesk have created a new Graphics Hardware site: http://www.autodesk.com/graphics-hardware. Here you can select multiple products and find the common driver and hardware configurations that will work best for your system.
You are invited to reserve a free CAD Clinic session where you can ask questions relating to manufacturing software you are either currently using or looking to invest in. Maybe you just want to find out a bit more about the latest CAD technology?
Any and all questions are relevant!
There will be no fixed agenda, you are invited to come along during an agreed time slot and get the answers to your questions and meet some of our team.
If you are a budding renderer, then head over the the Autodesk Showcase Blog, where they are running a competition for ATI graphics cards for your rendered images.
You are invited to reserve a free CAD Clinic session where you can ask questions relating to manufacturing software you are either currently using or looking to invest in. Maybe you just want to find out a bit more about the latest CAD technology?