Machine learning (ML) techniques are now widely being used in almost all areas of application. Six months back, CCTech Research started investigating how we may use ML in the area of Design of Mechanical Systems. One of the key application we were particularly interested is in Control Valve industry. simulationHub's Control Valve Performer app is already calculating valve performance within minutes compared to weeks in traditional CFD way. But one still yearns for a solution that could predict the flow performance in less than 5 seconds. The machine learning app developed by CCTech research team is now able to predict the value performance within seconds. Read more about the app, what went into creating the app and the app workflow.

Last week CCTech hosted its first hackathon. All CCTech developers were divided into six different teams and were asked to create app or product feature based on simulationHub Web Services, Autodesk Forge Platform, Amazon Web Services and General Electric Predix Platform. In just a 9 days development time, it’s great to see the variety of apps created, from virtual and augmented reality to a voice-assisted user interface, the teams created innovative apps and features. Here is the summary of what apps are developed and who finally stood out as the winner.

As a computational geometry developer I have worked on several meshing software development projects. Every time mesh quality has become focal point. As matter of fact this becomes conflicting topic between the various teams due to the difference of opinion in engineering community.

For any CAD developer who is developing interactive CAD application one of the important topic of interest is Selection or Picking. However this topic is not discussed in detailed in most of the OpenGL resources. I hope this article helps you understand basic techniques available for selection. The geometric models use complex representations such as NURBS surfaces and geometric solids that are typically converted to simpler representations for display.

The most general form of the lighting equation uses both the vertex position and a vector that is normal to the object’s surface at that position; this is called the normal vector. Ideally, these normal vectors are captured or computed with the original model data, but in practice there are many models that do not include normal vectors.

AutoCAD Electrical is a vertical application developed by Autodesk on the top of AutoCAD for electrical, electronics, and mechtronics industry. AutoCAD Electrical provides with more than 2,000 schematic symbols. A simple, icon-menu-driven system for inserting electrical, pneumatic, hydraulic, and P&ID devices is provided, allowing user to quickly build standards-based control designs by simple pick and place.