Latest multi-media offering from National Instruments

National Instruments has announced the company’s newest multi-media test offering, the NI PXIe-1491 digital audio and video analyser for HDMI, DVI and mobile devices.

Designed for performance testing and high throughput test of consumer devices such as set-top boxes, Blu-ray players, smartphones and tablets, the NI PXIe-1491 delivers automated, high-performance measurements to eliminate subjective manual inspection.

The NI PXIe-1491 is shipped with NI Video Measurement Suite, a versatile test suite for analysing a wide variety of video standards. NI also offers add-ons such as NI AudioMASTER software, designed for in-depth audio testing including frequency response and THD, and NI Picture Quality Analysis (PQA) software. NI PQA software delivers world-class quality of experience (QoE) metrics such as peak signal-to-noise-ratio (PSNR) and structural similarity index metric (SSIM). In addition, NI PQA software enables engineers to measure lip synch, macro blocking, dropped frames, pixelation and more in real time by combining PXI Express technology with highly parallelized measurement algorithms.

The benefits of NI PXIe-1491 extend beyond at-home consumer electronics. Applications include testing of aerospace and defense systems, automobile rearview camera and infotainment systems, in-flight entertainment systems, video conferencing and professional audio/video equipment.

“The NI PXIe-1491 enables the audio/video analyser industry to think beyond the manual solutions used today,” said Charles Schroeder, director of marketing for test at National Instruments.

“By automating the inspection process with our new, high-performance hardware and software, our customers can now guarantee the video quality of their HDMI and mobile devices with breakthrough efficiency and cost savings.”

info [dot] newzealand [at] ni [dot] com
0800 553 322

MapleSim models motion of complex optical system

In an optical system, ray tracing simulations are often performed for an ideal situation of perfect alignment of optical components.

In practical situations, however, it is usually necessary to move optical components for various reasons. The mounts that hold these components can be complicated and modelling their motion is important to understanding their effects on the performance of the system. In this application, Maples was used to investigate and understand precisely how a mirror moves with its mount, and quantify any cross-coupled motion that may occur during actuator adjustments.

This positional information can be used to mitigate errors, improve ray tracing results, and assist in alignment.

A team at Canadian Light Source Inc – a world-leading synchrotron research facility – used MapleSim as a modelling tool to determine the positioning of a six-strut kinematic mirror mount. The model representing the six-strut kinematic mount was easily built in MapleSim. The equations describing the system were generated automatically from the model and were simplified by the Maple symbolic engine. The results of the simulated motion of the motion actuators were used to get the induced position and orientation of the mirror. This information was then used as input for ray tracing.

“MapleSim is a highly useful simulation tool for complex systems and it can produce quick results with sufficient accuracy to be applicable to optical mounts that require precise positioning at the micron level,” says Alan Duffy at Canadian Light Source.

The motion of six-strut kinematic mounts is such that the arc of motion of the individual struts introduces cosine errors that cause minor coupling of otherwise independent axes. As a result, the motion in any one direction may cause slight movement in another direction and also alter rotational orientation. Without a means of properly quantifying these changes in position and orientation, ray tracing results may not be truly accurate.

MapleSim provided a means of inferring the actual positioning and orientation of these six-strut kinematic mounts as a function of the motors that control their movements. A more realistic understanding of the operation of the six-strut system is useful for beamline alignment and improving performance. The ultimate objective of the Canadian Light Source team is to create a real-time x-ray tracing of the system that uses the beamline control system to access the positions of optical components and then sends these as inputs to an X-ray tracing program.

The MapleSim model was built using domain specific palettes such as signal blocks or multi-body components. The struts were modelled using a 3D rigid body, two rigid body frames, and two spherical joints from the multi-body library. It was also possible to create an animation of the system in motion using Stifles exported from CAD.

Maple’s symbolic engine was utilized to perform model simplification, which allowed the governing equations to be reduced without any loss of fidelity. MapleSim allowed the re-use of systems by converting them to subsystems. The mirror tank is modelled as a rigid body with rigid body

Frames defining the displacement from the centre of mass to the connection points where the struts are attached. There is also an additional rigid body frame defining the displacement to the mirror pole.

An immediate application of the results is to use this positional information to mitigate cosine errors and improve ray tracing results and assist in alignment of the optical system. The simulation results were used to verify the vendor supplied look-up table (which provides mirror position and orientation as a function of motor actuator positions) and extend it to motor positions that were not included.

3D printing heads into biotechnology

Shoes, robots, houses and prosthetic hands – 3D printing has already gone well beyond the bounds of model making. Now biotechnology is another of the new frontiers where the technology is set to make a huge impact.

Nanoscribe GmbH, a spin-off of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), is pushing the boundaries of this space with the release of what is claimed to be the world’s fastest and highest resolution commercially available 3D printer of micro- and nanostructures – the Photonic Professional GT.

The Photonic Professional GT uses a 3D laser lithography system developed by Nanoscribe that can handle data transfer rates of more than five terabits per second. The system achieves its high-speed through the use of galvo technology – a series of rotating mirrors that deflect laser light for quick and precise focus. Similar technology is used in laser light shows and in the scanning units of CD and DVD drives.

Using this system, tiny 3D objects are created through the use of two-photon polymerisation, where ultra-short laser pulses are trained on photosensitive material, polymerising it. Once areas of the photosensitive base-material are exposed, the material is developed and unwanted material washed out, leaving self-supporting micro- and nanostructures.

According to Nanoscribe, the scanning field is limited physically to “a few 100μm” (μm = one-thousandth of a millimetre). These scanning fields can then be precisely stitched together, like floor tiles, to extend the printing area.

Safety boots designed to go the extra mile

Newly released in New Zealand is the Blundstone Xfoot Rubber range, is a work boot offering revolutionary protection and comfort for those working in heavy industrial applications.

Style 994 provides underfoot penetration resistance and metatarsal (top of foot) protection which has become a standard requirement in an increasing number of sites over the past few years.

Previously, this type of protection came at the cost of comfort for the wearer as the extra piece placed across the top of the boot was manufactured from bulky, rigid and constricting material. Blundstone led the way in Australasia to find a solution to this problem by being the first footwear manufacturer to release a boot with a soft, flexible moulded metatarsal guard which is actually incorporated into the boot rather than as an extension of the footwear.

From a comfort perspective, wearers wouldn’t even know the extra protection was there. The material is soft, flexible and lightweight until high speed impact occurs at which point the molecules freeze creating a protective shield by absorbing and dissipating the impact.

The material’s molecules do not break down and after impact are able to return to the natural resting state to perform time and time again. The non-metallic penetration resistant insole resists penetration even by small diameter nails and other objects.

There are many other features and benefits with the metatarsal guard boot such as full external Kevlar stitching, a moulded toe guard, and top of the range bamboo lining which is thermal regulating, deodorizing, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, breathable and quick drying. Now wearers will be able to ulitise the unique cooling properties of bamboo not only in their socks, but also in their boots.

Blundstone is the first footwear company in Australasia to use the revolutionary PORON®XRD™ in its underfoot comfort system material, providing the wearer with a new level of underfoot shock protection and comfort.

The sole has been designed to reduce any unnecessary weight improving the comfort for the wearer and reducing fatigue. The results of this are that our Xfoot rubber range are up to 20 percent lighter than leading competitor products.

As with all Blundstone safety footwear this boot includes a steel toe cap, providing maximum protection against impact, greater cut resistance, greater penetration resistance and optimum protection against rolling forces.

www.blundstone.com/nz
09 813 1730

Luxion refines and boosts Keyshot

Luxion has released KeyShot 4, the next generation of Luxion’s ground breaking rendering and animation solution.

This release builds on the integration and accuracy that sets KeyShot apart from other rendering solutions - allowing designers, engineer, marketing professionals, CGI artists, and photographers to create stunning renderings, animations and interactive visuals even faster than ever before.

New approaches to features and greatly improved rendering enhancements make KeyShot the fastest, most accurate 3D rendering an animation system for the product visual workflow, Luxion says.

New 'Live Linking' capability allows Creo®, SolidWorks®, and Rhinoceros users to maintain all part and feature updates made to their models without having to redo any of their work inside KeyShot.

Luxion introduces an all new method for applying physical lights, with the ability to turn any object in the scene into a point, area or IES light source. Improved import options give users more flexibility when importing 3D geometry and the ability to work with the actual units of their modeling software.

Additionally, users gain the advantage of increased colour options through the inclusion of Pantone®, RAL and custom colour libraries to create, store and share their own colour creations.

More material options come with an exclusive partnership with Mold-tech® introducing the first accurate representations of Mold-Tech textures. More realism is seen with improved algorithms for subsurface light scattering within Translucent materials. Increased control over the model and environment is provided with the ability to apply rounded edges to sharp corners, multi-select objects in the real-time window and create ground planes.

KeyShot Pro users now have the ability to apply render layers to objects and create Model or View Sets to explore different configurations of product appearances, camera views and environments. Pro users will also experience enhanced HDR editing capability with dynamic environment highlighting and options to tilt and blur HDRI's.

The KeyShot user interface now comes with the ability to dock project, library and animation windows. Optionally, models can now be viewed in full stereoscopic 3D on supported 3D monitors, with the use of any stereo-capable graphics card.

Luxion has developed the ability to connect Creo®, SolidWorks® and Rhinoceros 3D modeling applications with KeyShot in a live session. With this enhancement, users will be able to make a change to the design at any level and send it directly to a running session of KeyShot.

The scene inside KeyShot will update automatically and either replace the existing design or add the new design iteration to the existing scene. Live Linking will be included as part of each plugin for KeyShot and can be accessed from the 3D software menu or toolbar area with a single click that transfers the updated SolidWorks model to the KeyShot session.

This capability requires a separate plugin which is available free of charge from the KeyShot website.

KeyShot introduces a new approach to creating physical light sources. Import preset studio light models, primitives or any 3D data and turn it into a light with KeyShot light materials. Light materials are easy to apply. Simply double-click on the object and, from the 'Type' pulldown, select Point Light Diffuse, Point Light IES Profile or Area Light Diffuse to apply.

Since the light materials are applied to objects, lights may be moved, animated or positioned with all visual changes in the scene updating in real time.

KeyShot 4 brings in more options to import data accurately and keep the geometry updated throughout the product development workflow. Users have the choice of keeping the original size, units and location of the model, adjusting the environment to match.

In addition, updates to the model can be applied from the 3D modelling software with a click of a button, while maintaining all materials and animations.

Synchronous technology software free till May

Based on technology shown to increase productivity by a factor of 10 or more when working with imported CAD files, 3DSync is now available to use free until May 15 this year.

One of the significant benefits associated with Siemens’ proprietary synchronous technology software capability is now being made available to users of any vendor’s CAD application.

Siemens’ product lifecycle management software business unit is introducing a new 3D CAD editing tool to the mainstream market, based on synchronous technology. This has been shown to increase productivity by a factor of 10 or more when working with imported CAD data.

In today’s global manufacturing industry, product development collaboration among multiple companies is a predominant practice.

However, due to inconsistent data formats employed by many of the world’s competing CAD software applications, importing and working with digital 3D product data from an incompatible CAD solution is often labour intensive, error prone and costly.

The design intent built into CAD models in the form of parametric rules is lost during the translation process, making the imported model difficult to work with and often unusable. As a result, engineers are often forced to spend hours or days “fixing” an imported model or simply recreating the model from scratch.

This problem was virtually eliminated for users of Siemens’ Solid Edge® software when the company introduced its exclusive synchronous technology breakthrough in 2008.

As a result of its ability to interrogate imported 3D models, recognize design intent, and automatically apply appropriate design parameters, synchronous technology has been reported to produce ten-to-one reductions in model rework time, with some users citing time reductions of certain tasks from days to minutes.

The availability of Siemens’ new 3DSync offering now extends this benefit beyond the Solid Edge user community, to the users of any commercially available CAD system.

“3DSync is the next evolutionary step in Siemens’ constant drive to deliver open solutions that help significantly increase product development productivity, while at the same time improve product data compatibility throughout the global manufacturing industry,” says Chuck Grindstaff, chief executive officer and president, Siemens PLM Software.

“By enabling CAD models to be shared and easily edited between incompatible versions of the same CAD offering, or among different CAD applications, 3DSync delivers the productivity and cost reduction benefits of synchronous technology to mainstream CAD users by allowing them to more effectively reuse 3D product data.”

3DSync supports widely used CAD formats such as STEP, IGES, Parasolid® software, JT™ data format and others and has built-in data translators to help eliminate version incompatibility issues. 3DSync provides engineers with a fast, straightforward method for importing, editing and exporting most neutral 3D CAD files from suppliers and customers. This can save time and reduce costs by decreasing the need to remodel features or to pay suppliers to make edits.

For more information:
Visit: www.cadconsultplm.com

Better and faster with Solidtec Solutions

By Nick Palfrey

Solidtec Solutions is a value added reseller of SolidWorks products for the Australian and New Zealand market. The company supplies engineers, designers and manufacturing organisations with industry leading CAD software SolidWorks.

Solidtec had a team of technical engineers at SolidWorks World 2013 learning the latest 3D CAD software platforms which will translate to better solutions for its customers.

The old engineering adage of good, fast and cheap – choose any two – no longer applies to the engineering and manufacturing sector as cheap is now out the window.

That leaves Solidtec with two very distinct objectives in order to deliver comprehensive software support to its customer base.

“Cheap is gone so we just want to be better and faster is effectively what it boils down to,” says Solidtec chief executive Shane Preston.

“One definition of fast is customers who configure to order. For a lot of our customers the workflow is generating customer interest, convincing them enough to the point where they provide a price, and then they make something.

“The big challenge there is for a lot of people, depending how complex their products are, they have to either invest a lot of time and money coming up with an accurate quote, and they may or may not win the deal, or they guess and could be well over or well under.

“Some of the new functionality in SolidWorks over the last two releases that helps them more accurately estimate what their designs are going to be means they’ve squashed that time and taken the risk out of that which means they end up winning a lot of business,” Mr Preston says.

Solidtec customer projects vary according to geography but consistently across Australia and New Zealand they include fabrication including machines, sheetmetal and machine components. This has led the company to explore areas it traditionally hasn’t been and that would be considered 3D CAD central.

“With the evolution of the new software you have the electrical market which is really important to us and the plastic simulation market. When people think plastic product design in Australia and New Zealand they think SolidWorks – so giving them the opportunity to go back and say ‘now we can simulate this.’ In both countries there are really sophisticated plastic manufacturing facilities and that’s a part of the market that most people think has gone offshore but in reality there are some really quite good companies in both countries,” says Mr Preston.

Solidtec’s point of difference and original company vision remains its support structure with a designated application engineer assigned to each customer.

“What I know is New Zealanders are quite parochial and they like local support. Because SolidWorks has such an impact on business it’s really important to be there when the customer needs help so that’s why we put this support structure in place.”

Mr Preston calls SolidWorks and other design tools disruptive technology as many of Solidtec’s customers are pen and paper customers and their processes change drastically with SolidWorks technology.

“I went to a company in Auckland that makes winches and they used to have a really long prototyping setup to get it right. Of course if you can simulate that imagine the time to market savings, cost savings, and often what people find when they do a simulation is that if you build something and test it and it passes, great, but if you simulate it then it still passes but you can see how you can improve it to create a better design.”

Editor’s note: Solidtec has an application engineer in Christchurch who runs simulation seminars and who is the firm’s in-house expert. Every month a web session is run for customers in simulation which solves real world problems that customers file and then share with the rest of the community.

For more information:
Visit: www.solidtec.co.nz