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Alibre has been associated with collaborative CAD ever since it introduced Alibre Design over three years ago, however, the developers feel that they now have the necessary tools to be considered a CAD program first—one that also happens to offer built-in collaboration capabilities. So let’s explore the new tools inside this upgrade.

One of the major additions to Alibre Design 6 is the introduction of sheet metal tools, handled as a separate module, similar to how Autodesk Inventor and Solid Edge work. As with part modeling, all sheet metal components in Alibre Design begin with a sketch and then the Flat Tab tool is used to create the base piece of stock. Once this base component is built, other shapes can be sketched and made into holes and dimples, the same way bosses and cutouts can be added to a solid in the part-modeling module.

Figure 1: When building a flange, select the edge and either key-in the length or click and drag the handle located in the center of the default wireframe flange that the program temporarily creates for preview purposes.

It is also possible to add sheet metal features such as flanges, fillets, and chamfers. Performing these operations is easy, and when adding a flange (see Figure 1), Alibre Design automatically calculates the proper bend radius using standard K-factors. It’s possible to set many options including where the flange sits in relation to the edge.

This new sheet metal module in Alibre Design 6 also features the ability to create a flat pattern, and has unbending and rebending tools. To perform either of the latter two tasks, the face that will remain fixed needs to be selected and then by using Shift-click, a technique practiced throughout the program, the desired bends are selected.

Click on each figure to see a larger image.

Figure 2: The first image (A), shows the original way to create a spline in Alibre Design, while the second image (B), shows the added technique. It should be noted that most MCAD programs like SolidWorks and Inventor have only one method to create such a curve.

The new sheet metal module is missing a few advanced features. For example, it needs an easy way to make a flange shorter than the edge it is attached to, as found in VX CAD/CAM, automatic remnant removal, something that Inventor and IronCAD have, and a rip feature to turn standard shelled parts into sheet metal parts, as in SolidWorks. However, for the first implementation, it is more than adequate, and very easy to use.

Alibre Design similar to other MCAD programs, in that all parts begin with a sketch, and enhancements have been made here. Since the first version of the software, users have been able to create splines, but there was only one technique to do so—by defining the actual points on the curve. Now, in version 6, a spline can be defined by control points, as seen in Figure 2. Although I didn’t like the fact that different tools need to be accessed to edit a spline, what is handy is that no matter how a spline is created, it can be edited using either technique. There are also tools to add points and an interesting command automatically removes unnecessary points. This is especially useful when importing 2D sketches that frequently contain extra points.

Figure 3: Using the new Analyze Sketch tool, problems such as overlapping and self-intersecting geometry can be found and, in some cases, healed. Here, Alibre Design is highlighting in red where two lines overlap. Click for larger image.

Speaking of problem 2D geometry, another enhancement is the Analyze Sketch command. A simple dialog box is used that lists five common problems to check for. Once the Analyze button is selected, the problem geometry is highlighted on the screen, and Alibre Design can then be instructed to fix them with a single click, as seen in Figure 3.

Alibre Design 6 also features several new modeling tools. Users who need to create spiral-type shapes, now have both Helical Boss and Helical Cut commands, which house a variety of options, as seen in Figure 4. In addition, another new tool allows threaded holes to be created in 3D.

Figure 4: The new Helical Boss command was used to create this feature. Although similar to the Revolve tool, it works differently; thus the end result requires more steps. This is because the Revolve tool can use any existing axis to define the center of revolution, whereas the Helical Boss needs a reference line to be drawn first.

Unlike most MCAD programs, Alibre Design did not have the capability to drive design parameters from Microsoft Excel, but that has been fixed in version 6. A little setup is involved, including installing a plug-in into Excel, but once this is done, users can change a value in Excel, and have that parameter update in the model. These tables are not yet bi-directional, as they are in some MCAD applications such as SolidWorks.

Another time-saving improvement is Catalog Feature. After a complex sketch or feature is created, this new command saves it for reuse later on. Alibre Design 6 also features assembly enhancements, such as light parts, to increase performance. This combined with the new patterning and mirroring tools, help to bring the software up to par with competing MCAD applications.

The initial version of Alibre Design had an incomplete and slow drafting module, but Alibre has put a lot of effort into this area. This update makes the creation of centerlines a lot easier and hole callouts have been added, as well as other enhancements.

At SFr. 1'190.-, Alibre Design 6 is perhaps the best value in MCAD—its sketching, modeling, and drafting tools have dramatically improved over the years—and I didn’t even discuss the collaboration and PDM tools. However, another excellent value is a brand new product called Alibre Design Professional. For only SFr. 760.- more, this bundle includes software for photorendering as well as links to third-party applications for generating NC toolpaths and calculating finite element properties. There is also access to a part library with more than eight million parts.

With all that software, you might think that Alibre Design Professional is clearly the better deal, but I do have some reservations about this package. For starters, the rendering program, called Alibre PhotoRender is not integrated, which wouldn’t be so bad, except that information such as part color is not passed over from the modeling software. Once inside Alibre PhotoRender, I found some handy tools, for example, placing materials, colors, and patterns on parts is just a manner of dragging; however, setting up lights isn’t as intuitive as it should be. In addition, the rendering quality, even though it is based on LightWork technology, sometimes isn’t what you would expect. For instance, I gave an object a shiny metal material, but it didn’t look that way when placed in a preset environment labeled "Clear Sky and Sun."

The CAM/NC capabilities are via a program called VisualMill version 3 from MecSoft Corp. (Irvine, CA). Although this is a fairly powerful and easy-to-use application, in speaking to Greg Haywood, Vice President at MecSoft, he said that all VisualMill 3 licenses granted via Alibre Design Professional will only be valid for one year. VisualMill 3 is currently available as a free download anyway, albeit without the link to Alibre Design.

FEA is available via a time-limited or feature-limited version of a program called Algor DesignCheck. As with the other modules, calling up this application automatically loads the current model. The first dialog box allows the user to mesh the model for analysis (see Figure 5), and then setting up the engineering parameters is fairly easy.

The final component of the Professional version is a command that links to http://www.cadalog.com/. As with the CAM module, this library is also free to anyone, except Alibre users can generally place parts in fewer steps.

Alibre Inc. has made tremendous strides in improving the CAD capabilities of Alibre Design. While Alibre Design Professional offers some nice capabilities, be aware of its limitations. When Alibre Design 7 comes out later this year, new API capabilities will allow the modules in the Professional version to be more integrated, which will help.