Think3 Cad Software

Thinkdesign v9 16 Aug, 2004 By: Hybrid modeler continues to innovate.Think3, an emerging leader in the midrange mechanical design market, offers an integrated product development environment for 2D and 3D MCAD design, PDM (product data management), and surface and solid modeling. The company started in Italy in 1979 and is currently headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, with offices in Europe, Asia, and North America. The current think3 suite comprises three modules: thinkdesign, thinkiD, and thinkteam.The company's flagship mechanical CAD product, thinkdesign, provides 3D design functionality, 2D-to-3D migration tools, a complete 2D drafting environment, integrated sheet-metal tools, and large assembly management. By adding thinkiD, industrial designers can perform complex free-form shape design using think3's GSM (global shape modeling) tools (figure 1).

Thinkteam is the company's out-of-the-box PDM solution that gives engineering administrators the tools to implement PLM (product lifecycle management).Figure 1. Watch designs created with thinkiD incorporate style and engineering in one consistent model.Think3's business structure is based on an annual subscription fee. Customers receive unlimited support, maintenance upgrades (one or two per year), and ongoing education for one annual fee.

This approach minimizes risk and initial investment for those adopting the software.Hybrid ApproachThink3 has taken the time to develop and continuously enhance its own proprietary hybrid modeling kernel. Hybrid means that the kernel is not limited to solids. You can mix wire frame, surface, and solid tools to best address the task at hand.A good example of this is the ability to import a set of free-form surfaces, modify them, add your own surfaces, and then turn them into a parametric solid. You can still access the underlying curve and surface geometry that makes up the solid. This means that you have more tools to choose from to control geometry.Figure 2.

The new associative capping feature fills complex multisided holes with a single surface. It automatically creates a four-sided trimmed surface to fill the G2-continuous specified region.Version 9 includes new hybrid modeling tools such as blending shapes, associative capping, and G2 filleting (figure 2, p. Blending lets you connect two or more shapes in a single operation while maintaining control over G1 and G2 continuity and automatically fixing existing discontinuities as needed. Associative capping lets you create a multisided surface while controlling continuity—up to G2—with adjacent shapes. For example, you can fill an n-sided hole by controling continuity at mating surfaces.

With G2 filleting, you can create styled fillets with lead-in control while maintaining G1 or G2 continuity. Although thinkdesign is not the only hybrid modeler on the market with these surfacing tools, the implementation in thinkdesign excels at fixing discontinuities and achieving G2 continuity across multiple surfaces.Figure 3.

With thinkiD's GSM, you can create rapid variations, modifications, and refinements at any time on any dataset while maintaining associativity. In this example, the green boundary curve represents the design change.Global Shape Modeling GSM (global shape modeling) technology makes it easier for industrial designers to make post-design modifications (figure 3, p. You can globally change the free-form shape of a design without worrying about how the model was constructed and without looking at the history tree. History is not required—you can perform GSM on native or imported models.GSM requires only two sets of constraints.

The preserving constraints define the extent to which the existing model can't change, and the target constraints specify what the desired shape looks like or satisfies.Zone ModelingVersion 9 of thinkiD adds new zone modeling functionality to GSM. Zone modeling lets you perform a GSM construction on a localized zone anywhere on the part and define it in the history tree as a historical feature (figure 4, p. This lets you make changes that might otherwise require rebuilding portions of the model. The part can be a solid, a set of open free-form surfaces, any imported geometry, and any subset of the part.

It can be a single face or part of a face, and it can span multiple faces and edges.Figure 4. The model shows data imported into thinkiD as a static solid (STEP or IGES). The transparent color indicates proposed zone modifications that can be implemented without acting on single surfaces.Data ManagementThinkteam v9 includes the standard check-in, check-out, and data vault procedures, along with some extras that you might not find in other built-in PDM applications.

A thinkparts manager creates catalogs of design standards that can include models and drawings from thinkdesign, other applications, and parts libraries.Thinkteam v9 includes a Product Configurator application that ties thinkdesign and thinkteam together by letting you configure product assemblies based on predefined engineering knowledge. It automatically generates the BOM, 3D assembly, and 2D drawings needed for a tailored configuration of a design.System RequirementsTo run thinkdesign you need Windows NT 4 SP5+, 2000 Professional/Server SP2+, 2003 Server, or XP Professional/Home SP1+. If you plan to run thinkteam and thinkdesign at the same time, use Windows NT4.0 Server, 2000 SP2, or XP SP1. Be sure your machine has at at least a 600MHz Pentium III or equivalent, 512MB RAM, 500MB virtual memory, 250MB hard disk space, 32MB OpenGL graphics card, and Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 SP1. For best results, think3 recommends a 1GHz Pentium III or equivalent with 1GB of RAM, 2GB virtual memory, and 128MB OpenGL graphics card.Bottom LineI've used many 3D products over the years, and I've always liked those that provide designers with more control over the underlying geometry.

Thinkdesign is one of those products. The hybrid modeling approach lets you work with curves, surfaces, and solids with greater flexibility. This approach seems to be catching on.

Other nonhybrid modelers recently beefed up their curve and surface capabilities. The thinkiD GSM and zone modeling functionality will be received well by today's industrial designers.The annual subscription model pricing structure gets you started with less upfront investment. If you like the product and it fits well with your engineering requirements, the successive annual subscription fees are comparable to the maintenance fees for other MCAD products. Be sure to plan for that annual investment and you won't have to worry about additional support and maintenance costs. The thinkdesign online support site is among the best. Thinkdesign is a good product worthy of a serious look.

Highly Recommended.

CAD software isn’t cheap. A mainstream 3D CAD program will set you back thousands of dollars upfront, and a bunch more in annual maintenance charges.The cost can be daunting. But what if there was a way to spread it out, and pay as you go?Rental: An idea that’s been tried.A dozen years or so ago, a relatively new CAD vendor, started offering their CAD software on a monthly rental basis. It was an intriguing idea, but it would have worked better had Think3’s software been more mature at the time. People tend not to renew rentals when the software doesn’t do what they need.More recently, has offered their line of CAD programs under a number of licenses, including permanent, one-year, and monthly rental. Though Ashlar’s software is highly respected (especially by industrial designers), the company isn’t one of the big players in the CAD business.Recently, which is one of the big players, revisited the idea of renting CAD software—but with a new twist.

They partnered with, a company that does crowd-sourced design of cars. Members of the Local Motors community can (actually “subscribe,” but with enough flexibility that it seems like renting) a special version of Solid Edge called Design 1, for $19.95 per month.Solid Edge Design 1 is a capable CAD program, incorporating Siemens’ Synchronous Technology direct modeling tools.

Think3 Private Equity

It’s no toy.There are a couple of key things that make this initiative interesting. First, Solid Edge Design 1 is capable of effectively importing and editing solid models imported from most common CAD systems, including SolidWorks and Pro/E. Second, Design 1 is a direct modeler (it doesn’t include history-based modeling), so it’s quite a bit easier for a normal person (as opposed to a CAD guru) to get up and running on than systems such as SolidWorks and Pro/E (or, for that matter, the full-blown version of Solid Edge.)Simplicity can be compelling: Solid Edge Design 1 can work with the data you have, doesn’t take a whole lot of time to learn to use, and only costs 20 bucks a month, with no long-term commitment.One good question might be why Siemens PLM is offering Design 1 through Local Motors, instead of directly. It’s probably because Jay Rogers, Local Motors’ CEO, came to Siemens PLM, and said “this is what we’re looking for.” Siemens PLM responded, saying “that sounds interesting. Let’s give it a try.”The only real “catch” with Solid Edge Design 1 is that it’s really only intended to be used for Local Motors related projects. Its native CAD files can not be read by the commercial versions of Solid Edge (though, because it is a direct modeler, it can write perfectly good neutral files, such as IGES, STEP, and JT.)Siemens PLM has recently gone beyond just offering a $20 per month version of Solid Edge to the Local Motors community.

They’re now offering the full-range of Solid Edge versions, up to Solid Edge Premium, with full FEA simulation, wire harness design, pipe and tube routing, for rental prices ranging from $99.00 to $299.00 per month. These versions of the software can technical support from Siemens.At first blush, $300 a month sounds like a lot of money.

It might be, for a hobbyist who just wants some CAD software to play at designing cars. But, for a person who plans to use the tool for serious work, it’s not that much. Put it in context: A commercial license of Solid Edge Premium sells for on the order of $7,500 up-front, plus another $2,000 or so in annual maintenance fees.To me, $300 per month for this software, including updates and direct support, seems like a bargain.For small to medium size businesses, the ability to pay for software as an expense, rather than as a capital item, is pretty compelling. Even more compelling is the ability to control costs by adding or reducing CAD seats as needed.Is software rental the wave of the future?Software rental has three problems that CAD vendors don’t like: First, the revenue stream has to be recognized for accounting purposes as it comes in, rather than upfront. For publicly held corporations focused on reporting lots of revenue, that’s not very attractive. Second, it’s hard to pay front-loaded commissions and bonuses to salespeople on rentals.

And third, there’s no guarantee that someone who is renting software will continue to do so. That is, it’s difficult to “lock-in” those customers (and their revenue) over the long term.Siemens PLM could get away with this initiative for a few reasons: They limited it to Local Motors community members, so they can learn what works (and what doesn’t) without messing with their entire customer base. As Solid Edge is not the market sales leader, they’re more likely to displace competitive seats than their own. Since the Solid Edge product group is only a tiny part of the giant Siemens corporation, there’s not much risk that this program’s success or failure will impact their next quarter’s financial results (and stock price.) And, finally, they have enough confidence in their product to believe that a pretty reasonable percentage of the people who have a chance to use it will like it.While the Siemens PLM/Local Motors partnership is probably a bit of an experiment, it’s encouraging. Anything that can make good CAD tools more affordable is likely to be popular with users.Siemens PLM SystemsLocal MotorsFiled Under:, Tagged With:, Reader Interactions.