New Products

Alibre Atom3D

• Alibre Atom3D is a new product focused on consumer and enthusiast customers. It is similar to the legacy Alibre Design Personal Edition but does contain a different feature set.

Alibre Script

• Available in Alibre Design Professional and Expert, Alibre Script is a fully integrated, Python-based scripting language capable of driving nearly everything available in Alibre Design’s API without the overhead associated with making a standalone add-on. It’s particularly useful for automating repetitive tasks or creating 50 parts that vary slightly, for example. Try out some sample scripts.

 Removed items

In this release we had to remove 2 pieces of functionality that rely on the same 3rd party technology library that we felt was not a good long-term solution and that is no longer under active development by the technology partner. These items are:

3D Print Analysis
The 3D print analysis feature has been removed. Alibre currently has no plans to replace this feature.

Mesh Support
(See KB Article) – The ability to import, view, or use mesh files (OBJ/STL/etc) has been removed from the software. Alibre does currently have plans to replace this feature, pending an evaluation of available technology partners. We do not currently have a timeline, and an analysis of technology partners is occurring with the following criteria:

• Substantially more robust import and conversion tools
• Customer conversations to ensure we not only replace the previous features but enable more robust workflows
• Other available mesh modeling technologies that might be of interest to our customers

User Interface

Open button on Home Window

• The open button has been moved to the left per customer request
  

Quick Access toolbar

• The Roll View Left and Roll View Right commands have been added to the Quick Access toolbar (near the gem) at the top left of the window. 

Reset View

• The Reset View (formerly Orient to Sketch) tool has been made more prominent near the Select tool in Sketch Mode.

 Renamed tools

• Several tools have been renamed for simplicity. For example, the “Measurement Tool” has been renamed “Measure”.

Insert Axis and Insert Point dialogs now DPI aware

• The Insert Axis and Insert Point dialogs in Sketch Mode now properly display on high resolution monitors.

Bug Fixes

• Cannot create external cosmetic thread if the cylindrical face has any feature on it
• Some users experienced an error: “Attempt to access index __; valid range is 0..__” when editing or creating Notes after a Windows update. This has been addressed. 
• Sketches created via the API could become deformed in some circumstances
• Glitch in displaying complex sketch in canvas when outside sketch mode
• Sheetmetal error with converted conical sheet metal parts
• Flatpattern fails for certain classes of converted sheet metal parts
• Workspace orientation is not respected when project as flat pattern is applied
• Object Ref Error seen when regenerating some legacy sheet metal parts
• An “Unable to create bend law when adjacent flanges are coplanar” error has been fixed

Licensing & Viewer Mode

Passive Licensing

• For customers in extremely secure environments who cannot have data leave their computers during the licensing process, a new licensing mechanism now exists. A license can now be generated by sending Alibre the computer’s Site Key, a short code that looks similar to LSURFTBZQX.

Network Licensing

• Allows customers to install a Licensing Daemon on the internal network via a Linux virtual machine.
• All licensing is done on-network
• Great for large, secure deployments

Viewer Mode

• A new Viewer Mode has been added. When a license is not detected during startup, you have the option of inputting a license or selecting the Viewer option. The Viewer option starts the product in Viewer Mode, which allows you to open and interrogate the model (e.g. take measurements).

Component Upgrades

The following core technology components have been upgraded to the latest versions, giving you access to several years of updates and bug fixes from these component providers:

• ACIS – the core modeling kernel
• 2D-DCM – the 2D constraint manager / solver
• 3D-DCM – the 3D constraint manager / solver
• HLM – the hidden line manager
• ST-Developer – STEP import/export
• Datakit – Import/Export of 3rd party proprietary CAD formats
• Adobe PDFLibs – PDF publishing
• ODA Toolkit – 2D import/export
• The build environment for Alibre Design (Visual Studio) was upgraded

New Import Formats

• Solidworks 2018 import is now supported
• Inventor 2018 import is now supported
• Parasolid 30 import is now supported

High Resolution Support

A lot of effort has gone into making Alibre Design more pleasurable to use on high resolution displays (e.g. 4k):

• Design/Drawing/Assembly Explorer icons now support higher resolutions
• In-Place Editing icons now support higher resolutions
• The Ribbon icons now support higher resolutions
• Grabbing the Design Explorer divider to resize it is easier
• Larger 2D Constraint Symbol option (System Options > Parts/Assemblies > Sketching > Sketch Constraints Size)
• Larger Sketch Node option (System Options > Parts/Assemblies > Sketching > Sketch Node Size)
• DPI-aware selection snap makes selecting things much easier on high resolution displays
• DPI-aware dialogs have been created for many that were not DPI aware – this fixes the jumbled look of dialogs on high resolution displays

General Display Fixes

• Several scenarios where the canvas would be replaced by the “Red X”, for example after waking from Sleep Mode, have been addressed.

New Features

Miter Flange

• Miter flanges (video) can now be created via the Miter option on the new Corners tab of the Flange dialog, dramatically simplifying the creation of many classes of sheet metal parts.

New Home Window

• The Home Window has been completely redesigned.

Graphical Most Recently Used

• On the new Home Window you can see icon previews of your most recently used files, making selecting recent documents easy and fast.

STEP export units

• Previously all STEP files were exported in cm. Now, you can choose which units to use via System Options > Interoperability > STEP

 Configurable Mouse Buttons

• The Zoom, Pan, and Rotate commands can now be customized. If you use several programs, you can now make them all operate the same way.

Pick PDF Engine

• The PDF publishing engine is now an option and can be selected from System Options > Drawings > PDF. If you install a new PDF writer (e.g. PDFill), it should show up here to be selected for use.

Default color scheme

• Small changes to the default color scheme for rollover and preview color

API Enhancements

The following API improvements have been made:

• New framework for creating .NET based AD Add-Ons
• AlibreCAM: Trimmed surface API has been updated so AlibreCAM by MecSoft can be upgraded
• Assigning Color to a Feature in Part
• Selection Events
• Access configurations of Global Parameter Files
• Dimensioning Between Points
• Anchor/Hide/Suppress sub-assemblies
• Capture images of the canvas
• Set a part configuration within an assembly

Enhancements

• Fixed some SolidWorks parts importing as assemblies
• Fixed CATIA import issues 

Enhancements

• Changed around 20 default options to make the initial experience better
• Fixed color and part names missing when importing some Parasolid files
• Fixed feature colors missing on some imported parts
• Fixed cursor not changing to represent what was being hovered over
• Fixed BOM callouts changing to all be ? marks.
• Fixed Spanish resources in some dialogs
• Fixed Keyshot’s dialog that used to say “Return to Geomagic Design”

Licensing

• Dark Site licensing – Ability to activate and deactivate license offline
• Show ‘Computer ID’ in product UI for licensing support
• Licensing logic to bypass Trial if user has license code
• Fix issue with pre-dated license maintenance expiry date
• Improved license error reporting
• Support for specifying Proxy Server credential to license server
• Fix Installer looping when Start Menu Shortcut is de-selected
• Non-English Unicode characters in Windows username causes license initialization failure

Product Features

• Rectangle by Center tool in 2D Sketch
• Extrude Boss/Cutout/Thin: Bi-directional unequal lengths option
• Revolve Boss/Cutout/Thin: Bi-directional unequal angle option
• Ability to zoom/pan View Creation Preview in 2D Drawings
• Additional Hide Part option in 2D Drawings allows you to hide parts in all views.
• Add a Select by Layer tool in 2D Drawings, allowing the user to select all items by layer. This can be used for several things, such as the ability to get rid of sick dimensions all at once or performing layer changes on many entities at once without manual selection.
• Home Window > Help > Forum link goes to new forum
• Re-enabled auto-updater in product (only accessible in the next release, not 2017.1)

Component / Addon Upgrades

• Migrate to latest conversion library from Datakit for import/export of 3rd party CAD application data
• Fixed Alibre Parameters Addin for Microsoft Excel v2010 and later
• Keyshot 7 now works with Alibre Design 2017.1

Bug Fixes

• Fix issues with cursor icon artifacts and distortion
• Cannot enter angle values into Japanese Alibre input boxes because the automatically added degree symbol (°) is a multibyte character in Japanese which makes the entry invalid
• Exception when placing Note in 2D drawing on some computers
• Customer Assembly file exported as STEP from Inventor 2017 has some parts incorrectly scaled
• Application crashes if Shift is held while placing a sketch entity with an inferred horizontal or vertical constraint
• Fixed bad Import of SolidWorks SLDPRT file
• Fixed import functionality of CATIA V5 (V26) files

Languages

• Added Danish
• Updated French, German, Czech, Swedish, Japanese, Polish, Chinese CHS, Chinese ZHH resources

Forum, Gallery, and Customer Suggestions

We’ve made a huge upgrade to the user forums. Your old username and password will still work. Come say hi!

Licensing

A new licensing mechanism has been installed in the software.

If you are migrating from Geomagic Design, your license key for Alibre Design will be the same key you use for Geomagic Design today. If you cannot locate your license key, please contact your reseller or support@alibre.comand we will assist you.

Various license types are available today, and more are on the way. For more information, please visit our Licensing Page.

Branding

Alibre, LLC, Alibre Design, and related names have replaced their 3D Systems Corporation equivalents throughout the product.

Removed from the product

The following items have been removed from Alibre Design in this version:

• 3D Systems TeamPlatform integration (deprecated)
• 3D Systems Cubify Cloud Print integration (deprecated)
• 3D Systems Sense integration
  • Mesh files from any source can still be imported via the Mesh Import feature

Fixes in this release

The following dialogs had broken context-sensitive help that has been corrected:

• Home Window > Help > About > License Status
• Create Custom Symbol
• Insert Custom Symbol
• Print (3D Workspaces)
• Replace Assembly Component
• Reproject Views
• 3D PDF Publishing wizard – various pages

Add-on Changes

Keyshot for Alibre Design
This release will require a new version of Keyshot to be installed to function properly. If you have a paid version of Keyshot purchased directly from Luxion, you do not need to install this version. Download Keyshot for Alibre Design 2017 from the Downloads page.

Dynamics and Simulate
Previous versions of Dynamics and Simulate from Design Simulation Technologies (DST) will be unable to run on Alibre Design 2017. A new compatible version of Dynamics and Simulate is available and requires a separate license key from DST to run. To learn about acquiring a license key and the new installer, please reference the FAQ section: “Information about add-ons” near the end.

AlibreCAM
A new version of AlibreCAM is coming from MecSoft Corporation within a few weeks of the launch of Alibre Design 2017. For more information, please contact MecSoft at www.mecsoft.com for sales, upgrades, and support.