Learning for the future

Learning to use 3D CAD is not just about learning to produce 3D models faster. It is about improving creativity and coming up with new concepts, according to Stephen Stott – a former academic institution lecturer who is now an education programme manager at Autodesk. At Autodesk’s recent annual conference in London, he told delegates how to evolve new concepts by seeking inspiration from natural forms. “Look at the form and structure of a starfish and deconstruct it into its component elements,” he told the audience. His design process includes expressing ideas using drawings and crude paper sculptures to encourage learners to “think in terms of form and function”. The design concept is navigated into Autodesk Inventor at an appropriate point, allowing the user to create a solid model of the sculpture and rationalise the shape into a functional assembly for a product design. At one end of the size scale the design was shown translated into a desk top lamp but at the other end, he said it could equally have produced a large scale piece of architecture. His approach is to offer creative freedom to students who research 2D images or 3D tactile objects from disparate subjects to inspire the form and function of a design proposal for a possible commercial product. The images and sculptures are all converted into 3D products using Autodesk tools. Ongoing training But those who are no longer college students still need to learn. Martin Budgell, who is in charge of channel training and development for Northern Europe, says that training is still necessary – even though many 3D CAD products) are relatively easy to use, with a little help from help-based instructions. “There is an element of the product that can be self-taught, but what we teach is how to improve productivity,” he said. “You can make a cube in many ways but you need to know the most efficient way.” In the past Autodesk trained its own people, then held training sessions for resellers, who would train users. This is still done, but the company also supports channel training centres that offer core technologies for vertical solutions too. “We now need to teach the end user why our method of solving a problem is the best one and more efficient than his solution,” he said. “Rather than teaching features, we are teaching solutions.” As to how long it might take to learn the new version of Inventor, he replied: “This will require a two- to four-day course for a completely new user.” But Inventor now includes Ansys FEA. Autodesk believes that designers should run FEA analysis in the same way that people spell check Word documents. How hard was this to learn? “The skill is in making sure the loads are realistic and the results are reasonable,” he said, something that might once have taken stress analysts half a lifetime to master. “On the face of it FEA is now very easy.” Autodesk Pointers * A new approach encourages creativity by teaching users how to capture organic forms, analyse them and turn them into marketable products using facilities within 3D CAD * Traditional training continues, despite the increasing ease of use of CAD, with the emphasis on improving productivities DESIGN DAY Designers can learn about the latest cutting-edge software in a forthcoming event organised by Eureka – called ‘Software for the Future’. The magazine’s series of Design Days is now gathering pace. Two events – one on linear motion, the other on designing in plastics – will go ahead during March 2007. The next in the series covers simulation, which encompasses the latest design-related software: advanced CAD, visualisation, finite element analysis (FEA), computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and more. A series of technical presentations in the morning will introduce and explain several of the key simulation technologies, using illustrative case studies. In the afternoon, delegates can see these technologies in action during a number of hands-on workshops. If you are interested in receiving more details on Eureka’s Design Day on simulation, visit the event website www.designdays.co.uk