Autodesk Takes Simulation Mobile with New ForceEffect App for iOS Devices
Autodesk, the creator of software like Inventor and top-selling consumer apps like SketchBook Mobile, is helping make sophisticated engineering tasks less time-consuming and easily accessible to students and future engineers—from any iOS device.
Just one year after it introduced Autodesk TinkerBox, which has been downloaded more than 1.3 million times, Autodesk is offering a new App called ForceEffect that ensures budding engineers can test their concepts on the go.
Originally available for iPad in Nov. 2011, Autodesk ForceEffect is now available at no cost on the iTunes App store globally for iPhone and iPod touch. ForceEffect allows engineers, students and technical DIYers to quickly and easily evaluate their designs upfront in the design process. ForceEffect tackles a calculation-intensive engineering activity in the place where students spend a majority of their time – their mobile device.
ForceEffect lets you perform a calculation of forces on a static object (buildings, bridges, furniture, machines, etc.)–a process typically done with long hand calculations and paper-and-pencil drawings—to explore problems like minimizing the reaction force across a piston of a mountain bike or testing whether a beam is long enough to support a load.
ForceEffect provides an intuitive environment for drawing, constraining and simulating concepts using free body diagrams by simply tapping objects to select, move, rotate and scale. (A free body diagram is a pictorial representation used to show the relative magnitude and direction of all forces acting upon an object. Static systems analysis captures the calculation of forces used to predict the performance of of objects that do not move or change states—buildings, bridges, furniture, machines, etc. )
Real time solving capabilities provide immediate feedback on the performance of a design, enabling users to bring engineering to the point of the problem—whether they’re in the field, at the office or in the class room.
Mobile Simulation Made Easy
ForceEffect solves static systems analysis using free-body diagrams. Users simply create diagrams be leveraging existing design images or create new systems from scratch.
Using the scaled static image, users can easily create joints, supports and loads, and compute reaction forces. User can then easily manipulate the geometry to iterate on the design quickly and efficiently and calculate new reaction forces to optimize the design. Unlike the traditional approach of using paper, pencil and a calculator to develop equations for design options, Autodesk ForceEffect does all simulation and engineering calculations on iPad.
Autodesk ForceEffect generates a rich results report that can be printed, emailed or viewed using any Web browser. In addition, export capabilities enable easy workflow continuation in any CAD design application.
“Autodesk ForceEffect is a mobile conceptual simulation app that brings engineering to the point of the problem,” said Robert “Buzz” Kross, senior vice president, Manufacturing Industry Group at Autodesk. “This user-friendly app can greatly benefit engineers, students and technical DYIers who need to quickly and easily evaluate their designs upfront in the design process.”
Pricing and Availability
The Autodesk ForceEffect App is available for free* from the App Store on iPad or at iTunes App Store. Videos are also available on the Autodesk YouTube Channel.
*Free products are subject to the terms and conditions of the end-user license and services agreement that accompanies the software.
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