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3D Printing:
Stratasys launches universal design-to-3D-print application called GrabCAD Print

3D printing and additive manufacturing specialist Stratasys has a very cool new software utility available that makes 3D printing significantly easier, more intuitive, and highly accessible. It's called GrabCAD Print, and it resides on the popular GrabCAD SaaS platform, which is supported by a community of more than 3 million designers, engineers, and students.

3D printing techniques are typically characterized by significant "model fixing" time, which forces businesses to devise costly, manual solutions to construct an acceptable workflow. GrabCAD Print is designed to make 3D printing fast and easy to use, while reducing errors by eliminating requirements to translate and repair CAD files.

In short, GrabCAD Print allows you to print directly from your favorite professional CAD formats, such as PTC Creo, Dassault Systèmes' SOLIDWORKS, Siemens PLM Software's NX software, CATIA, and Autodesk Inventor, saving hours of time usually spent converting and fixing STL files. It can natively read the CAD formats, and it works with a variety of Stratasys FDM and PolyJet 3D printers.

The application also facilitates data sharing related to job scheduling, print queue status, material usage, and historical usage. All information is readily available via standard web browsers, mobile applications, or locally installed clients while securely managed through the GrabCAD Platform. The software is in public beta right now.

"When keeping up with fast-paced development, frequently things will change in the last minute," said Jimmy Callaway, design engineer, Joe Gibbs Racing. "In the past, when a build had to be switched to a different 3D printer, I'd have to do a clean restart -- redo all of that file preparation work. With GrabCAD Print, it's easy to switch between 3D printers within a single app. That's a huge step forward in improving the workflow."

Going forward, Stratasys is aiming to create additional value-added applications based on the GrabCAD Platform. Industry-leading CAD solution providers such as PTC, Dassault Systèmes' SOLIDWORKS, and Siemens PLM Software will be collaborating with Stratasys to further simplify key functions in CAD-to-3D-print workflow. Users will be able to access Stratasys 3D-printing solutions, analyze designs for 3D printability, and prepare and print jobs from their native CAD environment.

Find out more at https://grabcad.com/print.

Source: Stratasys

Published August 2016

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