Sep 13 - Alibre Design 10.0 Released

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Alibre Design 10.0 Released

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RICHARDSON, TX, Sep 13, 2007 - Alibre, Inc. announced the latest version of its flagship 3D CAD application, Alibre Design 10.0 ("V10"). Primarily driven by customer feedback, the new release includes improvements which further differentiate Alibre Design as the most accessible and easiest to use 3D mechanical CAD product on the market. In addition to improving key feature performance ten-fold and decreasing memory consumption by 35%, the application includes productivity improvements in 3D modeling, parametric sketching, and 2D detailing. A new fully integrated CAM add-on, Alibre CAM, supporting 2.5 and 3-axis NC machining, is also available as a component in Alibre Design Expert.

"We've gotten great feedback from our customers and partners who have had early access to V10, so we're excited about the release," comments CEO Greg Milliken. "Alibre has built a unique position in the market by listening to our customers, and V10 is a direct response to their feedback. They are telling us the product is working well. They want us to stay focused on the core functionality everyone needs and not to chase the bells and whistles of the competition -- just make the core faster, easier and more efficient. So that's what we did."

2D Performance and Productivity

Alibre Design 10.0 delivers significant performance gains while more efficiently utilizing memory. Versus Alibre Design 9.2, equivalent operations are completed in half the time with 35% less memory consumption. The new "Fast Views" feature projects 2D views of large or complex models 4 to 10 times faster. In addition, a variety of detailing features are more responsive including inserting dimensions and annotations such as BOM callouts, creating and editing Views, and generating hidden lines and centerlines. Associative updates of drawing views after a corresponding change to the 3D model have also been improved.

New Direct Editing Toolset

Alibre Design 10.0 includes the new Direct Editing toolset, which is ideal for early-stage conceptual design and working with models imported from other CAD systems. This toolset provides intuitive push-pull modeling as well as the ability to quickly move, add and remove design elements. A powerful new inferencing engine automates many functions within these new tools, further reducing the time it takes to make complex changes. It easily identifies a pocket made up of multiple faces by simply clicking on a single face or allows quick edits to imported geometry without having to go back to the originating CAD system. Because the tools are so easy to use, at times completely replacing sketch and feature editing, people who are not CAD experts can easily complete previously complex tasks. Direct Editing opens up many new uses like a machine shop needing to make a quick change before manufacturing or a structural analyst removing small details like fillets that unnecessarily complicate FEA.

"CAD vendors seem to be breaking into two camps regarding the approach to 3D modeling," said Milliken. "One camp is completely invested in direct geometry editing claiming that is the only way to go, while the other is committed to parametric, feature-based modeling. For some, it's become a religious battle, which we find a little amusing. We see value in both approaches so we support them both, and we do it at a fraction of the cost of anyone else, even less than the maintenance cost of a product like SolidWorks."

Integrated CAD/CAM with Alibre CAM

A key addition with Alibre Design 10.0 is the new manufacturing add-on Alibre CAM, a fully integrated NC machining solution supporting 2.5 and 3-axis milling based on proven technology from MecSoft Corporation. Alibre CAM was developed using Alibre Design's API and runs entirely within the Alibre Design user interface. Like all other elements of Alibre Design, Alibre CAM is fully associative, so when a part is edited a previously defined tool path will update automatically. In addition, Alibre CAM supports a large selection of post-processors for popular machine tools as well as the ability to write custom post-processors for any machine.

Availability and Pricing

Alibre Design 10.0 is available worldwide in fifteen languages. Contact Alibre or an authorized international reseller for pricing. To find international resellers, visit www.alibre.com/programs/partners/partners-var.asp. For more information about Alibre Design 10.0, including free trials or demonstrations, please visit www.alibre.com or contact a reseller.

About Alibre

Alibre, Inc. develops and markets Alibre Design™, the fastest growing parametric 3D solid modeling software for mechanical design and manufacturing. One-fifth the cost of comparable software, Alibre Design delivers quick ROI, ease-of-use, rich functionality and unique real-time support, and is enabling small and medium-sized businesses and workgroups to put 3D CAD on every engineer's desk, similar to utilities like Word or Excel. Alibre also delivers Alibre Design Xpress, the industry's only true 3D parametric modeler available free of charge. Alibre Design is available in fifteen languages and distributed worldwide. Founded in 1997, Alibre, Inc. is privately funded and based in Richardson, Texas. www.alibre.com

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