3 Must-Have Tools to Supercharge Product Design

Welcome back, Cadversity Family! Today, we're showcasing some pretty top-notch stuff we've found to boost the efficiency and productivity of your next product design cycle.

There are THOUSANDS of high-value software tools out there, so this was really difficult to narrow down - but we wouldn't recommend something our team doesn't use in-house.

With that, there's nothing left to do but get started.

1. CoLab Software

Founded by ex-Hyperloop university competition titans in Canada, CoLab Software boasts an impressive online and plugin user interface for CAD review & collaboration.

With your team onboard, each user can define feature-specific changes in an organic solid parts viewer and assign relevant schedules and responsibilities for revisions. Projects are easily segmented - CoLab brings a fresh visual air to the otherwise bland PDM arena.

You can generate fully rotational, seamless design reviews - almost Prezi-style, but inarguably better. CoLab's interface will even help identify key areas for potential cost reduction on parts, and your team can collaborate with external vendors on selected components.

You could just copy and paste CAD screenshots into PowerPoint and send 1,000 emails - but we highly advise against this solution. The Cadversity founding team has used CoLab to initiate reviews on several personal projects.

2. Exact Flat

Designing fabric- and textile-based products, well, sucks. It's not easy - never has been. But it CAN be. And that's exactly what the Exact Flat plugin for SolidWorks provides.

Unfortunately, the Advanced Surface Flattening tool in SolidWorks Premium is not optimized for soft materials. It's very useful in the case where, for example, you might be cutting a vehicle chassis out of sheet metal - but certainly not when you're trying to pattern a T-shirt layout.

ExactFlat enables the user to simulate fabric behavior in various environments, even with considerations for wrinkles and sags. Notches and seams can be automatically enabled, and there are features to determine optimal material usage and downstream cost.

At Cadversity, we use Exact Flat to provide fully accurate textile layouts to our clients in the consumer textiles niche, and beyond.

Maybe it's time to design that brand new multi-dimensional air mattress you thought of in the shower at 1AM. Or not, I guess.

3. CAMWorks

This is another SolidWorks plugin for you - after all, that's our homestay CAD software, and we recommend it for those shopping around.

If you're sick and tired of playing the guessing game when it comes to Design for Manufacturability (DFM), so are we. That's why, at Cadversity, we use CAMWorks to generate fully intelligent CNC toolpaths on our production-quality metal parts for clients.

CAMWorks supports multi-axis milling and turning simulations on all your components while also incorporating toolkits for additive manufacturing & wire EDM processes. That new, sexy splined shaft you failed to make the other day? You can now make it today.

Well, we hope you gained some value with these 3 earth-shattering software tools - looking forward to seeing you on next week's blog!

Sincerely,

The Cadversity Team