CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive
29 April 2013
Product News
Autodesk Certifies GibbsCAM for Autodesk Inventor 2014
Gibbs and Associates, developer of GibbsCAM® software for programming CNC machine tools and a Cimatron company, announced today that GibbsCAM has been certified for Autodesk Inventor 2014 3D mechanical design software under the Autodesk Certified Apps Program. Certification for Autodesk Inventor 2014 marks the thirteenth consecutive year that GibbsCAM has been certified under the program, having achieved certification every year since the program began.
Digital prototyping with Autodesk Inventor software gives manufacturers the ability to digitally design, visualize and simulate how a product will work under real world conditions before it is built, which helps reduce cost and increase efficiency. GibbsCAM directly opens Autodesk Inventor part models, allowing CNC programmers and machinists to easily and readily program machine tools from the models, extending cost reduction and efficiency through the programming and machining processes. Certification demonstrates that the product is of high quality and up to date, and that it provides the highest level of interoperability with Autodesk Inventor software.
For companies using Autodesk Vault data management software, the latest version of GibbsCAM includes new features for interaction with the Autodesk Vault software family.
“Autodesk’s recognition of our continued interoperability with Autodesk Inventor demonstrates our commitment to our joint customers, around the world, who can continue to benefit from the productivity of the combined products,” said Robb Weinstein, Senior Vice President of Sales and Strategic Planning of Gibbs and Associates. “With the addition of our Vault Plug-in, joint customers’ traditional ability to read models and assemblies directly into GibbsCAM is now enhanced with browsing, queries, even with automatic update checks within Autodesk Vault, to ensure that GibbsCAM machining models and NC program files are updated with latest part models.”
GibbsCAM offers seamless integration with Autodesk Inventor, by directly reading Autodesk Inventor IPT (part model) files, preserving all color information assigned within Inventor to provide continuity in recognizing and communicating part and feature attributes. Once machining processes are defined in GibbsCAM, they are automatically updated when the Inventor model is revised. GibbsCAM also directly reads AutoCAD DXF and DWG files, enabling use of part geometry to program machining processes.
Furthermore, a new GibbsCAM Plug-in for Autodesk Vault allows interaction between GibbsCAM and Autodesk Vault. Using an interface similar to Autodesk's Vault browser, GibbsCAM users can navigate folders and subfolders, preview parts, query part properties, and import parts from Vault. By enabling persistent-connection parameters GibbsCAM can be activated to locate all Vault-monitored parts, report on modifications, and re-import parts, if needed. Users can specify GibbsCAM actions – import file, the Do It and Redo button clicks, and initiating post processing – to trigger automatic update checking.
“We are very pleased to have Gibbs and Associates renew Inventor certification for GibbsCAM, and their development of Vault interaction is greatly appreciated,” said Carl White, Director, Manufacturing Engineering, Autodesk. “Their continuous dedication to interoperability with Autodesk Inventor, and ease of use is commendable. We are pleased to have companies like Gibbs and Associates as partners in delivering flexible, easy-to-use, and extensible applications to our manufacturing customers.”
GibbsCAM has an easy-to-use and simple-to-navigate interface, with language and icons familiar to programmers and machinists, allowing its users to quickly take advantage of its powerful capabilities – from minimizing the learning curve, to making manufacturing engineering tasks and production machining extremely intuitive and efficient. GibbsCAM provides the capability to program the most complex machining processes, and the flexibility to allow user-preferred approaches to machining, with options that are logical to programmers.
GibbsCAM’s full associativity of geometry, processes and toolpaths easily accommodates updates to Autodesk Inventor part geometry and process parameters. CNC programmers can quickly optimize parts for machining and program machine tools to make the parts, whether they have simple geometry needing only 2-axis turning or 2.5-axis milling, or complex geometry requiring the latest 5-axis machining centers, MTMs or Swiss-style turning centers. GibbsCAM verifies toolpaths with gouge detection and interference checking, and enables additional testing and prove-out with a dynamic display of all moving components of a machine tool as it makes a part. These, and many other features of GibbsCAM help manufacturers eliminate scrap, reduce cycle times, and maximize efficiency, safety and profits.
In addition to its perennial certification of GibbsCAM for Autodesk Inventor, Gibbs and Associates is an authorized member of the Autodesk Developer Network and is an Autodesk Authorized Independent Software Vendor.
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