News from the Developer

Product News, Updates and Tips from the Developer

ViaCAD/SharkCAD Service Packs:

The development team has been working on rolling out service packs for ViaCAD and Shark. The English language updates for ViaCAD 2D, ViaCAD 2D/3D, and ViaCAD Pro are ready now. This update includes 50+ corrections and minor enhancements. Some of the key changes include:

• Support for MacOS 10.13 High Sierra
• KeyShot 7 Live Linking
• DWG/DXF Updates

For a complete list of changes, visit the PunchCAD User Forum. To access the latest build for ViaCAD, launch the application and select the Current Version from the Window menu bar.

Mac OS 10.13 High Sierra Released:

Apple recently released Mac OS 10.13 High Sierra. The new release has been challenging for some users and apps including ViaCAD/Shark. The new OS unfortunately broke some of the event handling in ViaCAD and Shark. The V10 service pack corrects this issue. Be sure to get the ViaCAD/Shark update before updating your OS. If you updated the OS before updating ViaCAD/Shark, contact Encore technical support for direct download links.

Unfortunately, earlier versions including V9 no longer work with the new OS. You will need to either upgrade to V10 or hold off updating to Mac OS 10.13.

Tips, Tricks and Design Examples

Tip of the Month: Feature Array with Gripper

Feature Arrays with Gripper

Below is a tip from the ViaCAD Tips and Tricks E-Book for copying groups of faces representing features. Click the image to see a video demonstration of the tip performed with ViaCAD.

How can I copy a feature with the Gripper?

• Use the Deep Select tool to select the faces associated with the features you want to copy.
• Then, hold down a copy key and drag the faces to a new location. Upon release, the copied
• faces are merged into the body.
• After you copy faces, you can go to the Data Entry Window to do a linear or polar array. Note

you can only select faces inside a larger face. Selecting the most outside face will fail the copy operation.

For more tips like this check out the ViaCAD Tips and Tricks E-Book.

3D Printable Wrench with ViaCAD

We gave ViaCAD 2D/3D a spin recently and tested the direct edit features of the app using the 3D printable wrench files found on Thingiverse. Our design mission was to create a branded version of the wrench by replacing the slot and some imprinted text from the initial STEP file.

Using the white flexible plastic material option from Shapeways, we printed an eight inch version of the part for $29.

Watch the video to see the steps used to derive this version of the 3D printable wrench. Or jump to 16:50 of the video to see the final 3D printed part.

This was a fun exercise using ViaCAD 2D/3D and 3D printing of an assembly of moving parts. However, the moving pieces are tight. It took a bit of Vaseline and lots of prying to get the screw to move smoothly!