Autodesk Fusion adds ECAD tools, Siemens develops CAD for VR, JPR publishes CAD report, more

Fusion 360 with Electronics

Last November, during Autodesk University 2019, Stephen Hooper, Autodesk’s VP and GM for Fusion, promised more electronics design features in Fusion 360.

This week, the company delivered the promised features as updates to Fusion 360.

The upgrade is in part the result of Autodesk’s 2016 acquisition of EAGLE, an electronics CAD (ECAD) software developer.

The tools are gathered in the Electronics Workspace, accessible by initiating a New Electronics Design. You can design and edit schematics and PCB layouts in both 2D and 3D. It supports SPICE simulation for circuit performance analysis.

Autodesk updates Fusion 360 with 2D and 3D PCB design tools.

Design Concept in VR

Siemens, the company known for its NX and Solid Edge software, is developing a CAD program for VR.

The program is called Design Concept in VR, with an emphasis on creating and testing design concepts. You can import existing CAD files into the program as STEP files, but the developers envision this as a complete CAD program to model concepts from scratch.

The program is currently developed with OPEN CASCADE as its modeling engine, but the developers plan to move it to Parasolid, a modeling kernel owned by Siemens. The goal is not to replace the CAD program but rather, to speed up the concept phase.

Siemens software such as Teamcenter VR lets you review design and markup in VR, and is available currently as part of the company’s PLM or product lifecycle management portfolio. Design Concepts for VR is currently still in R&D.

Paramatters releases CogniCAD 3.3

Late last year Paramatters released CogniCAD 3.3 at Formnext, a conference focusing on additive manufacturing or AM. The developers describe the program as end-to-end collaborative platform, covering mechanical, thermal, and generative design.

The new version includes tools to heal and repair imported CAD models, AI-driven tools for adding support structures in your 3D printing projects, simulating metal AM process, and more.

The software is cloud-hosted and distributed through resellers. Michael Bogomolny, cofounder and CTO of Parametters, said that his team also plan to make it possible to run CogniCAD on-premise in the future.

CAD Market report by JPR

The 2020 CAD Market report by the analyst firm JPR is now available. According to it, the software shipment increased 9% from 2018 to 2019.

The CAD market is expected to reach U.S. 9 billion by 2022, according to the report.

In market share by revenue, the three leaders are Autodesk, Siemens, and Dassault. On the outset, the picture remains stable for the past 10 years, the report points out, but "every company has changed their business models and have carved out their own routes to growth," said Kathleen Maher, VP, Editor in Chief of JPR's Tech Watch, and the principle author of the report.

JPR also points out there is still a lot of room for innovative companies and startups.