New System Release Offers Direct Modeling, Reverse-Engineering Capabilities

The 2013 release of Delcam’s PowerShape CAD system includes enhancements to its direct-modeling and reverse-engineering capabilities, which are said to make the software more flexible and increase ease of use. In addition, the solid and surface-modeling options are faster and more robust, the company says.

PowerShape provides a comprehensive range of modeling techniques in a single CAD program to reduce the need to transfer data between multiple programs. This streamlines the product-development process. The CAD system’s functionality range makes it well-suited for re-engineering existing products into improved designs and creating specialized items, the company says.

Selection and editing of faces in direct-modeling tools have been improved. Groups of faces can be selected by surrounding them with a boundary, either by dragging the mouse or by clicking a series of points.

New options for direct modeling include “replace face” and “solid core.” Replace face enables a selected face, or group of faces, to be replaced with another face or group of faces, either from the same solid or from a separate solid or surface model. Any other faces within the design that are affected by the change are extended and re-trimmed as necessary to maintain a closed solid. Replace face can be used for offsetting surfaces of the model to provide machining allowances or clearances for electrodes for EDM.

The solid core command automatically selects the smallest rectangular or cylindrical shape that will fully enclose a group of solid faces. It can be used to create blanks for the manufacture of electrodes or when modeling slides within molds to accommodate undercuts. The shapes can be selected from spreadsheets that can be edited to each company’s specifications.

For reverse engineering, the system now allows point-cloud data to be captured directly. Point data can be displayed on-screen instantly as a laser attachment is passed over the object being scanned. This ensures that all the required information can be captured, as any gaps in the data will be apparent immediately.