PTC Introduces Pro/ENGINEER Manikin

By DE Editors

PTC (Needham, MA) launched Pro/ENGINEER Manikin, a 3D digital human modeling solution that enables design teams to add a digital human model to a CAD product model to simulate and communicate human-product interactions.

Two new modules, Pro/ENGINEER Manikin Extension and Pro/ENGINEER Manikin Analysis Extension, provide ergonomic and human factors analysis capabilities for customers of Pro/ENGINEER, PTC’s parametric 3D CAD/CAM/CAE software and a key component of the PTC Product Development System. By accelerating detailed design processes and reducing the need for expensive physical prototypes, Pro/ENGINEER Manikin helps customers create innovative, winning products with faster time-to-market, improved quality, and reduced costs, says the company.

Pro/ENGINEER Manikin, said to be the industry’s first ISO standards-based solution, provides comprehensive, easy-to-use capabilities that offer early lifecycle visualization.

Highlights of Pro/ENGINEER Manikin Extension include the ability to quickly insert, customize, and manipulate accurate, standards-based 3D human models; to create human reach envelopes and vision cones to understand what limitations may exist in a design; to gain a first-person perspective of a product and “see” what the manikin can “see”; and to accelerate design by leveraging libraries of global populations and manikin postures.

The highlights of the Pro/ENGINEER Manikin Analysis Extension include the ability to simulate, communicate, and optimize manual handling tasks by validating them against published standards and guidelines; to ensure conformance with health and safety guidelines and ergonomic standards; and more.

Effective December 2008, basic manikin capabilities that enable users to insert a pre-defined manikin into a CAD model and easily manipulate the posture to gain an understanding of how a human would fit or interact with a proposed design will be included in all Pro/ENGINEER packages at no additional charge for those customers on the latest maintenance release of Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 4.0.

For more information on Pro/ENGINEER Manikin products, please visit PTC.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.