I-DEAS ARTISAN PACKAGE (A300)

SDRC offers a scalable range of core, solids-based modeling products that enable you to match price point and collaboration level to your requirements.

Three levels are available:

The modeling, assembly, and drafting functionality included in each of these core offerings is the same. These core I-DEAS offerings are differentiated by the level of I-DEAS Team Data Manager™ functionality provided and the packaging of concurrent licensing available for each application task. I-DEAS Product Design Package and I-DEAS (I-DEAS Master Modeler™, I-DEAS Master Assembly™, and I-DEAS Master Drafting™) are described in their own individual write-ups. I-DEAS Artisan Package is the entry-level core I-DEAS offering. I-DEAS Artisan Package includes 3D solid modeling, assembly, and drafting. I-DEAS Artisan Package provides a basic I-DEAS Team Data Manager capability that provides data sharing among small engineering teams. I-DEAS Artisan Package is secured as a single bundle of tools using a named user licensing methodology. 

3D Modeling


I-DEAS Artisan Package includes high-performance 3D design information, and is the multi-purpose geometric modeling foundation of I-DEAS. You work with a user interface tuned for ease of learning and optimal productivity to design complex mechanical parts in an intuitive feature-based solid modeling environment. The solids-based approach aids design productivity by simplifying construction of complex geometry, facilitating design changes, automatically removing hidden lines, and directly calculating mass properties. An integrated data management system provides a foundation for concurrent engineering by maintaining associativity across the master model, drawings, assemblies, and all of the I-DEAS optional applications. With I-DEAS, your design team members can work together concurrently, creating assemblies, drawings, simulations, and NC jobs from the master model. This lets one image of a part in the master database underpin any number of linked application studies, such as assembly packaging models, layout and detailed drawings, and NC part programs. I-DEAS provides Concurrent Associativity. This means a designer can provide an early snapshot of a design to fellow team members, who can begin to create drawings, build assemblies, generate toolpaths, and bring the concept to reality. I-DEAS also includes award-winning VGX™ technology for maximum ease of use.

What Is It?

Architecture

User Interface

Advanced Graphics

(Requires H/W Support)

VGX Technology

Features

Feature Operations

Feature Management

Feature Catalogs

Translators

I-DEAS Artisan Package includes functionality to allow you to exchange data with other 3D CAD systems via IGES, VDA-FS, and SET data translators. The 3D IGES data translator provides you with an accurate and flexible mechanism for generating and processing IGES files. With the VDA-FS data translator, you can import and export 3D wireframe and trimmed surface data to and from I-DEAS Artisan Modeler. The SET data translator provides a comprehensive mechanism for generating and processing SET (Standard d’Echange et de Transfert) data files.

I-DEAS Artisan Drafting

I-DEAS Artisan Drafting functionality is used by engineers, designers, draftsmen, and detailers to create detailed production mechanical drawings. As a tool for solids-based drafting, I-DEAS Artisan Drafting is integrated within I-DEAS for detailing solid models and creating production drawings, using the Dynamic Navigator style of user interaction which delivers a truly innovative style of CAD operation. Orthographic,

section, detail, and auxiliary views are easily created from the master model geometry along with dimensions and feature control frames. Drawings are bi-directionally associative to the master model.

I-DEAS Artisan Drafting provides complete detailing capability and functions effectively for concept design. Variational sketching provides broad capability for geometry creation and captures design intent to ease design change. A dynamic icon palette and the Dynamic Navigator make I-DEAS Artisan Drafting exception-ally easy to learn. It is an excellent starting point for organizations transitioning to solids-based design from traditional systems. Users can rapidly master I-DEAS Artisan Drafting, and achieve measurable productivity gains over previously used tools. As appropriate, these users can grow directly into solid modeling without losing data.

Solids-Based Drafting with Concurrent Associativity

For organizations which use a solids-based approach to design, I-DEAS Artisan is ideal for creating associative production drawings from solid models.

High-Performance Detailing


I-DEAS Artisan Drafting provides you with many tools to fully document your solid designs. Additional geometry can easily be added to adequately detail the design for such characteristics as tapped threads, screw head types, etc. Geometry can be created in I-DEAS Artisan, incorporated from user-defined symbol catalogs. I-DEAS Artisan Drafting offers a wide variety of dimensioning techniques which use the Dynamic Navigator style of user interaction. As you traverse the drawing, geometry entities are highlighted. Appropriate icons are displayed next to the cursor which represent the dimensions that can be added to entities simply by picking with the cursor. This innovative approach reduces menu selection and picking, and significantly improves the productivity of the dimensioning function. Dimensioning within

I-DEAS Artisan Drafting supports the international standards ANSI/ASME, ISO, DIN, BSI, and JIS. With a simple selection of the standard you want, all your dimensions will have the appropriate characteristics, such as arrowhead style, decimal type, etc. I-DEAS Artisan Drafting provides interactive creation of feature control frames. Notes and text needed to complete your drawing are easily added with an integrated paragraph text editor. A local language editor can be integrated so that notes in international character sets can be created directly in the I-DEAS Artisan Drafting session. Also, text from the Windows NT clipboard can be copied and placed directly on the drawing. This "hot copy and paste" style integration allows data to flow freely between I-DEAS Artisan Drafting software and other applications you may have on the workstation.

Bill of Materials

I-DEAS Artisan software provides a dynamic Bill of Materials (BOM) that automatically updates when changes are made on the drawing. When the quantity of a part changes on the drawing, the BOM immediately updates. Or when the attributes of a part change (making it a different part) the BOM immediately updates by creating a new line for the new item. Bill of Materials attributes can be associated to symbols. The attributes can be visible on the drawing, visible in the BOM listing, or combinations thereof. The BOM information is avail-able to the I-DEAS Artisan programming language.

Customization

I-DEAS Artisan provides capabilities for modifying the system to specific company requirements. It lets you customize the icons to better fit your needs, create macros to auto-mate tasks, or build application programs. Whatever your requirements, the customization capabilities are easy enough to be used by the beginner, yet powerful enough to meet the needs of the experienced programmer.

Translators

I-DEAS Artisan includes functionality to allow you to exchange data with other CAD and CAM systems via 2D IGES, AutoCAD DWG, and DXF translators.

I-DEAS Artisan Assembly

I-DEAS Artisan Assembly functionality allows you to work in a multi-user environment to lay out, design, and manage large mechanical assemblies. It shortens design time and improves design quality by simplifying packaging and interference studies. I-DEAS Artisan Assembly facilitates a disciplined, "top-down" design approach. It helps you create a logical product structure for products which allows designs to begin with little or no geometry and grow into a complete "master assembly" database.

Model Assemblies

I-DEAS Artisan provides a comprehensive set of interactive tools for creating and manipulating mechanical assemblies. Parts are positioned relative to other parts using intuitive constraints and dimensions which define design intent. Users can dimension and constrain parts relative to one another with natural and intuitive methods that closely represent the physical assembly process. Design changes to one part ripple through the entire assembly dynamically updating part and subassembly positions.

I-DEAS Artisan Assembly modeling features include:

You can also store prune settings with the assembly to facilitate yourself and others to return to the same subset of parts (working layout).

Top-Down Design

With I-DEAS, you can work in a "top-down-to-bottom-up" manner. You can lay out and plan the assembly and create a product structure for the entire project team. The product structure is associative to assembly geometry and remains accessible to the project team. The assembly design and layout can be started before parts are designed. Outline geometry or spatial envelopes for a subassembly or part can be defined and included in the hierarchy. As you develop more detailed designs of parts or subassemblies, these designs are included in the assembly to replace the spatial envelopes. The design grows in complexity while maintaining the top-down spatial constraints defined at the outset. This approach is aided by the following modeling features of I-DEAS Artisan Assembly software:

Capture Product Design Intent

The Associative Copy functionality enables you to capture and control the design intent between part instances in an assembly. You manage design intent by copying one or more surfaces and/or reference geometry from one part instance (the source instance) to another (the target instance) within a context assembly. Each associative copy relation (ACR) exists within a context assembly. If you later modify the geometry or orientations, I-DEAS software enables you to update the target, which automatically incorporates all the changes to its associatively copied geometry. Designers can specify a point in the part’s construction history to use for creating the copy. A graphical browser is available for viewing parts, assembly relations, and constraints. This browser lets you easily view constraints and associative copy relations associated with a selected part instance. The browser also shows important library status information.

Design Evaluation

Once your assembly is designed, you have a full set of tools for evaluating the design to identify design problems before production. Because you are designing in solids, you can easily check interferences and clearances between parts and subassemblies. I-DEAS will display interference volumes and provide a log of parts which interfere with one another. You can animate the motion of kinematic assemblies to evaluate how mechanisms work. Because I-DEAS is a variational system, you can easily vary the lengths of members in the mechanism to study the impact of design changes, and you can articulate the mechanism in real time. You can calculate assembly-level mass and inertial properties. Concurrent engineering reviews of your products’ designs are significantly more effective because I-DEAS provides advanced shaded image capabilities which allow you to explain your design to help others visualize overall appearance and how parts fit together.

The following design evaluation features are available with I-DEAS Artisan Assembly:

Data Management

In today’s competitive Design and Manufacturing arena, time-to-market, increased productivity, and faster throughput are requirements. One of the obstacles to attaining higher productivity levels is the burden of data translation, data exchange, and data sharing. SDRC surmounts these obstacles with I-DEAS Artisan, providing superior solutions.

Data Translation

I-DEAS Artisan Modeler includes Data Translators for the following file formats:

These file formats are utilized by most CAD/CAM/CAE systems on the market. Use of these data formats ensures that there is a means to share data between commercial CAD/CAM/CAE systems.

Data Exchange

I-DEAS and I-DEAS Artisan Package software have the ability to exchange "Universal" files, which allows for the complete bi-directional exchange of part geometry, assemblies, drawings, and design intent and history.

Data Sharing

Packaging of data within I-DEAS and I-DEAS Artisan Package allows for collaborative engineering. In addition to complete bi-directional associative exchange of part geometry, assemblies, drawings, and design intent and history, the sending and receiving of package files allows for revision control during the design through manufacturing process.

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