Alibre Design

Founded in 1997, Alibre began working closely with Microsoft in 1998 to develop the first web-based collaborative 3D design environment.{{cite web|title=Alibre Featured as Microsoft .NET Associate By Microsoft at Forum 2000|url=http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Alibre+Featured+as+Microsoft+.NET+Associate+By+Microsoft+at+Forum...-a063129418}} The environment operated on a web-browser and allowed multiple users to work on the same design simultaneously. Following this development, Alibre received a patent for "System and method for solid modeling," protecting their technologies for generating 3D geometries across a high bandwidth, distributed network.{{cite web|title=Alibre Patents Multi-Server Modeling|url=http://www.upfrontezine.com/2004/upf-410.htm|publisher=upFront.eZine|access-date=2012-12-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140913201602/http://www.upfrontezine.com/2004/upf-410.htm|archive-date=2014-09-13|url-status=dead}} Alibre's purported aim in this development was to give businesses a cost-effective way to geographically distribute teams by enabling networked design environments without incurring large capital expenditures.{{cite web|title=Alibre Introduces First Web-based Mechanical Design Service With Commercial Availability of Alibre Design 1.0|url=http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/alibre-introduces-first-web-based-mechanical-design-service-with-commercial-availability-of-alibre-design-10-72693042.html}}

Alibre Design is based on the ACIS modeling kernel from Spatial, and a 2D and 3D constraint solving system from Siemens PLM, among other technologies.{{cite web|last=Menezes|first=Deelip|title=Alibre Design Standard for $97|date=February 2010 |url=http://www.deelip.com/?p=1213}} It allows users to create modeled representations of concepts to facilitate design and manufacturing, with 2D and 3D functionality. Parametric solid modeling is driven by intelligent dimensions, meaning that the software automatically recomputes designs to accommodate changes to a single dimension, thereby maintaining the design's dimensional accuracy without necessitating manual adjustment of each dimension.{{cite web|title=Alibre Design PE|url=http://cad-software-review.toptenreviews.com/alibre-design-review.html|publisher=TopTenREVIEWS}}

Alibre's products fall into two categories intended for different users and applications. Alibre Design Professional has a basic set of features intended for users to get started with CAD, whereas Alibre Design Expert is a 3D and 2D modeling application suitable or intended for professional use.

Some of Alibre's key design tools include:

• Part modeling to define the geometry of individual components using a variety of powerful parametric feature creation tools
• Sheet metal modeling to define the geometry of individual components created from sheeted materials, such as sheet metal. Software adheres to the real-world constraints of sheeted goods
• Assembly modeling to define relationships between individual components for final assembled designs. Software analyzes the relation of components to assess real-word constraints and conditions, such as tangency or alignment
• Exploded assembly view creation and publishing animated sequences to 3D PDF
• Surface modeling to create organic surface models
• 2D drafting to convert previously created 3D designs into 2D engineering drawings for manufacturing, patents and design communication. Extensive detailing tools available for creating professional drawings meeting major engineering drawing standards
• Bill of Material generation and inclusion in 2D drawings
• Integrated scripting environment using Python language

• Versioning and rollback
• Search
• Where-used
• Extensible metadata
• Local or LAN installation

Alibre includes free training through a built-in help section in the software. Free training is also available via online tutorials and videos.

To get direct technical assistance for Alibre products, customers must buy a software maintenance plan, which gives access to support via telephone or online ticket system.

• STEP AP203/214/242 (*.stp, *.step, *.ste)
• IGES (*.igs)
• ACIS (*.sat)
• Parasolid (*.x_t, *.x_b, *.xmt_txt, *xmt_bin)
• Rhino (*.3dm)
• AutoCAD DXF (*.dxf), DWG (*.dwg)
• SolidWorks Files (*.sldprt, *.sldasm)
• Autodesk Inventor (*.ipt, *.iam)
• Pro/Engineer (*.prt, *.asm, *.xpr, *.xas)
• Catia (*.CATPart, *.CATProduct)
• Solid Edge (*.par, *.psm, *.asm)
• NX (*.prt)
• Various image formats (bmp, dib, rle, gif, tif, tiff, png, jpg, jpeg, jfif, emf, wmf)

• STEP AP203/214/242 (*.stp, *.step, *.ste)
• IGES (*.igs)
• ACIS (*.sat)
• Parasolid (*.x_t)
• Stereolithography (*.stl)
• DXF (*.dxf), DWG (*.dwg)
• PDF and 3D PDF
• SolidWorks (*.sldprt, *.sldasm)
• JT (Jupiter Tessellation) Visualization format
• Luxion KeyShot (*.bip)
• OBJ (*.obj) - via an add-on in Alibre Design Expert

• Comparison of computer-aided design editors

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• {{cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ornj4oj9pkcC&pg=PA58 | title=Alibre Puts Design Online | work=PC Magazine | date=August 2000 | accessdate=26 June 2016 | author=King, Nelson}}
• {{cite book | last=Rosato | first=D.V. | title=Plastics Engineered Product Design | publisher=Elsevier Science | year=2003 | isbn=978-0-08-051407-9 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I2KPqVml27IC&pg=PA353 | accessdate=June 26, 2016 | pages=353–}} {{subscription required}}
• {{cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bilJAQAAIAAJ&q=%22Alibre+Design%22 | title=(Can't access title) | publisher=Machine Design | work=Volume 79, Issues 18-23 | date=2007 | accessdate=26 June 2016 | pages=12}} {{subscription required}}
• {{cite book | last1=Madsen | first1=D.A. | last2=Madsen | first2=D.P. | title=Engineering Drawing and Design | publisher=Cengage Learning | year=2012 | isbn=978-1-111-30957-2 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qdtJDEPZrrkC&pg=PA73 | accessdate=June 26, 2016 | page=73}}

Category:Computer-aided design software

Category:3D graphics software

Category:Windows-only proprietary software

Category:Product design

Category:Computer-aided design software for Windows

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