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Engineering, particularly engineering project management, is all about understanding and addressing the constraints that control the critical pathways to project success.

Time, cost, technology, labor, capital availability and of course opportunity cost are always factors, but today there’s another: sustainability. That word means many things to many people, but from a project management standpoint, sustainability can be thought of a little like Russian dolls.

Designing a steel mill for example to minimize CO₂ output may be the design goal of a project, but there is also the environmental impact of the construction of the mill to consider, and environmental impact of the design and development activities that precede construction.

Clear definitions of the desired sustainability outcomes, timelines to achieve them, and a well-defined pathway to that success, are all essential, and this puts a premium on designers, managers and the tools they use to minimize project risk.  

Panelists:

David Symons, Future Ready Leader, WSP
Anthony Kane, President & CEO of the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure (ISI)
Dr. Rodrigo Fernandes, Director of Sustainability, Bentley Systems

Moderator:

Jim Anderton, Multimedia Content Director, engineering.com

* * *

Learn more about how to reduce carbon and enhance sustainability with Bentley System’s Carbon Analysis.

The post Managing and designing for success with sustainability appeared first on Engineering.com.

First up, Altair has released Altair HyperWorks 2026. The developer says its flagship simulation platform is now faster, more intuitive, and more multiphysical.

Altair highlighted six “key innovations” of HyperWorks 2026:

• AI-powered design and simulation: HyperWorks continues to offer Altair PhysicsAI, a tool that uses AI to predict simulation results from historical data. In the 2026 release, Altair has expanded PhysicsAI support for vectors and smoothed-particle hydrodynamics.
• Enterprise-scale pre-processing and model assembly: Altair says large, complex assemblies will load and update “almost instantly” in HyperWorks 2026, and that model building, meshing, and connector creation are also significantly faster.
• Integrated multiphysics simulation: Improved solver performance and domain coupling in HyperWorks 2026 means faster and more accurate multiphysics simulations, according to Altair. In particular, users should notice improvements in motor and system design, reliability testing for electronics and batteries, and electromagnetic simulations.
• Automation, collaboration, and connectivity: HyperWorks 2026 adds more Python and API support and better visualization and plotting tools.
• Realistic particle, fluid, and material behavior: Altair says new modeling approaches in HyperWorks 2026 better capture the behavior of bulk materials, particle interactions, and high-temperature effects.
• Intuitive design and motion exploration: HyperWorks 2026 has new comparison and motion modeling tools that Altair says will make for more flexible design exploration. That includes new implicit modeling and warp-map tools, multi-window analysis for side-by-side comparison of results, and more.

Altair HyperWorks 2026 is now available. You can see more release highlights on Altair.com.

Altair, recall, is now part of the Siemens ONE Tech Company hivemind (speaking of which, anybody else watching Pluribus? You should). Here’s the second simulation update from that Unum.

Siemens launches Simcenter X Advanced

Siemens has announced what it says are significant updates to Simcenter X, the cloud-based version of its simulation suite (anytime you see an X trailing a Siemens software brand, it means it’s the cloud version; occasionally this branding backfires).

Siemens first launched Simcenter X in May 2024. At the time it supported only Simcenter STAR-CCM+, Siemens’ CFD software. The latest update, which Siemens refers to as Simcenter X Advanced, now includes more of Siemens’ simulation portfolio.

In addition to STAR-CCM+, Simcenter X Advanced supports Simcenter Amesim for mechatronic system simulation, Simcenter HEEDS for design exploration and optimization, Simcenter 3D for multidisciplinary simulation, and Simcenter Femap for finite element analysis. Siemens says these applications are tightly integrated in Simcenter X, sharing a single named-user license and common token pool with built-in data management through Teamcenter X (Siemens’ cloud-based PLM software).

“By unifying our multiphysics and optimization technologies and enhancing them with robust data management, collaboration capabilities, AI-driven guidance and design exploration, we’re empowering every engineer to accelerate innovation that matters, reduce complexity and make smarter decisions faster — anytime, anywhere,” Jean-Claude Ercolanelli, senior VP of simulation and test solutions at Siemens Digital Industries Software, said in the press release.

You can read more about Simcenter X in this Siemens blog post about the new update, or this other Siemens blog post about Bear Grylls.

One last link

In last week’s Engineering Paper I wrote about the launch of Comsol Multiphysics 6.4. My colleague Martin Rowe, senior technical editor of EE World Online, provides a few more details in Comsol v6.4 enhances simulations, including electromagnetics.

Got news, tips, comments, or complaints? Send them my way: malba@wtwhmedia.com.

The post Simulation spotlight: HyperWorks 2026 and Simcenter X Advanced appeared first on Engineering.com.

Seeing clearly is essential for education, employment and a general sense of wellbeing. In many parts of the world, getting eyeglasses that fit properly can be a luxury good. A simple pair of prescription glasses can cost weeks or even months worth of income. For children, that means learning becomes harder; for adults, work becomes less possible. A overlooked problem, left unsolved, becomes a generational barrier to success.

GoodVision (EinDollarBrille), a nonprofit organization headquartered in Germany, is working to change that equation through engineering, local empowerment and thoughtful design. Their mission is as straightforward as it is ambitious: make vision care accessible to people who would otherwise never receive it.

At the center of the initiative is a remarkably simple and durable pair of glasses. The frame is made from lightweight, flexible wire that is bent into shape using a portable mechanical forming machine. The lenses, which are generally the most expensive and technically precise component, are standardized in shape and “clicked” into the frames based on the user’s prescription.

Sabine Adams, Design Engineer at GoodVision, explains, “We go out with vans and people that do the testing and have the glasses with them. And so, we can go anywhere and do the testing and provide the glasses in one step.”

This simplicity is not an accident. It’s the result of iterative design rooted in a clear guiding principle: if the glasses are going to help the people who need them most, they must be buildable anywhere.

Simplicity by Design

The bending machine is the backbone of the GoodVision system. It requires no electricity, no specialized infrastructure and minimal training to operate. A single machine can travel in a small van to remote rural areas where medical resources and infrastructure are scarce. The team performs vision tests on-site, selects the correct lenses, bends the frame, and assembles the glasses — all in one visit.

That “one visit” concept matters. In regions where travel is time-consuming and expensive, asking someone to return later for their glasses is often unrealistic. GoodVision eliminates that gap by creating custom-fitting glasses in real-time.

The idea originated with a German schoolteacher, Martin Aufmuth, who noticed low-cost reading glasses in a dollar shop and wondered, “If a pair of glasses could cost so little here, why were they inaccessible to millions elsewhere?” With no background in industrial manufacturing, he began experimenting in his basement, shaping prototypes by hand, and seeking a way to make them repeatable and scalable.

Designing a low-cost frame was only the first step. It needed to be manufacturable under a wide range of conditions, consistent enough to meet medical quality standards and durable enough for real-world wear. That led to the creation of the bending machine and eventually to multiple generations of improved models.

Simple Designs Still Need CAD

To achieve this level of repeatability and reliability, GoodVision used Designcenter Solid Edge from Siemens to develop their frame-bending device as well as the glasses. Aufmuth had been part of a school that was partnered with Siemens, so the transition from using the software in education to using it for philanthropic ventures was obvious. Now the organization uses Solid Edge X Premium. GoodVision also receives support from their Siemens Solution Partner, Var Group, who assisted the organization with joining the Siemens’s start-up program, and continues to provide professional support for any user issues with Solid Edge.

Leveraging Solid Edge has allowed volunteer engineers to build, refine and test designs digitally long before they reach the field. It also ensures that every component, from the frame hinge to the tiny locking fit of the lens interface, can be manufactured with the precise tolerances required for medical equipment, even in the field.

“It’s a medical product, so we have to test the glasses,” Adams explains. “For example, the insert is set up in a special way so that they always fit and we have to have certificates for that. And in some countries, we are not allowed to sell the complete glasses without certification. To get the certifications needed, we had to provide all the designs, the drawings of everything with tolerances. You need to provide how you test your product afterwards, so we not only designed the machine, we also designed tools to test our product and tools for additional tasks.”

The organization has now gone through five major generations of the bending machine. Each version focuses on refining ease of use, cost efficiency and manufacturability. Sometimes progress means tighter tolerances. Other times it means widening them to reduce costs without sacrificing function or certification.

Precision in the Field

GoodVision has now supplied more than a million pairs of glasses worldwide in countries such as Burkina Faso, Nepal, Brazil and India, just to name a few. But scaling also requires quality control, especially when it comes to medical equipment. Lenses are sourced from overseas manufacturers, and each shipment must be inspected to ensure consistent fit with the frame system. To make this process volunteer-friendly, the organization designed physical go/no-go testing gauges that indicate whether the lenses meet required specifications without requiring calipers or specific technical training.

Turning precision engineering into repeatable, human-centered workflows is where GoodVision has really taken hold.

The organization intentionally does not give glasses away for free to most adults. Charging the equivalent of one to three days’ wages ensures that the glasses carry value, supporting dignity rather than dependency. For schoolchildren, the glasses are provided at no cost because GoodVision views education as a foundational form of economic opportunity. That’s why they have developed this pricing structure to be thoughtful, culturally sensitive and rooted in long-term sustainability.

Scaling Across Continents

GoodVision now operates in multiple regions across Africa, India and South America. The challenge ahead is not just engineering, it’s adaptation. Each region has its own cultural norms, logistical realities and operational landscapes. Ensuring consistent standards across different countries while maintaining local autonomy is one of the organization’s most significant ongoing efforts.

Yet the mission remains to empower communities to produce glasses locally, using local hands, for local needs. That’s why the organization is looking to continue to grow in a number of ways. “Right now we have three different sorts of glasses, and we are looking into more of the design,” Adams says. “There’s a lot to develop at that point. We also want to continue to make the testing easier, when the frames are done, to really do the quality check.”

GoodVision reminds us that engineering is not just about designing products. It’s about designing systems that remove friction, empower communities and honor human dignity. And sometimes, the most powerful tools are the simplest ones.

To learn more, visit Designcenter Solid Edge from Siemens.

The post Simple Design for a Complex Issue appeared first on Engineering.com.

Designing modern aircraft requires extreme precision. Even a small design oversight can have severe consequences, from safety risks to costs in hundreds of millions. Long development cycles stretching years and involving thousands of interdependent components mean that minor changes can cascade across structural, aerodynamic and avionics systems.

Traditional digital design workflows often compound these challenges. Different engineering teams typically work in parallel on separate 3D CAD models, creating gaps in communication and interpretation. Without a unified spatial understanding of the aircraft, assumptions about interfaces or material properties can go unverified until late-stage reviews or physical prototype builds. At that stage, identifying and resolving issues becomes expensive and time-consuming, especially when iterations involve new tooling, complex composite structures or tightly integrated subsystems.

Siemens’ NX Immersive Designer, combined with the Sony XR head-mounted display, directly addresses these challenges by placing designers and stakeholders inside a unified, full-scale virtual environment. Instead of interpreting geometry on a 2D monitor, teams can walk through the aircraft, evaluate integration decisions in real-time and validate ergonomics and routing with far greater confidence.

One of the most immediate benefits is restoring a true sense of scale. Aerospace spans from large airframes to compact avionics bays and understanding spatial relationships is critical. Traditional 3D CAD simply cannot convey the physicality of an 85-ft wingspan or the constraints inside a cockpit. Immersive Engineering brings that intuition back.

Immersive Engineering for a blended wing body aircraft

A compelling real-world example comes from Natilus, a California-based startup developing next-generation remotely piloted cargo aircraft. Its blended wing body (BWB) design aims to deliver 50 percent more internal volume and 50-60 percent lower fuel consumption than conventional designs.

Using Siemens NX Immersive Designer with Sony’s XR headset, the engineering team could visualize the digital twin of their 85-foot-wingspan aircraft directly in their hangar. Wearing the XR headset, engineers walked around and inside the virtual airframe to examine components as if the prototype physically existed.

For example, designers reached into the cargo hold to place or rearrange components and evaluate fit. This hands-on, spatially aware workflow makes it far easier to spot interference issues or ergonomic constraints that are often overlooked in 2D drawings or traditional CAD reviews.

Perhaps the transformative benefit was the reduction in design cycle time. Issues identified during an immersive review can be addressed immediately because Siemens Immersive Designer is an integrated extension within the Designcenter NX CAD software. Any changes made during the immersive session are reflected in the master 3D model in real time. This instant feedback loop shortens iteration cycles significantly compared to traditional methods.

Immersive Engineering has also proved valuable for communication and collaboration with non-engineering stakeholders. Natilus could bring a laptop and the Sony XR headset to investor meetings or customer sites and effectively “bring the aircraft with them.” Demonstrating the aircraft’s interior space, loading mechanics and container configuration at true scale accelerated understanding and alignment.

“Natilus is one of the early adopters of this technology. With immersive tools, Natilus can virtually configure each customer’s containers inside the aircraft, walk stakeholders through the layout and even show animations of how cargo is loaded and unloaded,” says Ben Widdowson, Head of Marketing Immersive Engineering at Siemens.

Even before completing their prototype, Natilus secured more than $6 billion in initial orders for over 400 aircraft from major airlines and integrators. The immersive demonstration played a key role in building confidence. For instance, customers could validate that their standard shipping containers fit within the angled BWB cargo hold and test variations of loading sequences digitally.

This type of interactive, customer-centric validation was nearly impossible without a physical prototype in the past. Immersive Engineering now allows aerospace companies to optimize design decisions collaboratively well before manufacturing begins.

Conclusion

Immersive Engineering is emerging as a necessary evolution in aerospace development. As demonstrated by Natilus, real-time, full-scale interaction with digital aircraft twins enables accurate component placement, ergonomic evaluations, and system validations. By integrating engineering workflows with intuitive spatial understanding, immersive tools aim to reduce design risks, accelerate decision-making, and create new pathways for stakeholder engagement.

“When designers can experiment with configurations and evaluate digital twins upfront, it lowers program costs by minimizing early physical prototyping and ultimately opens the door to greater innovation in complex defense and aerospace programs,” Widdowson concludes.

Visit Siemens to learn more about Immersive Engineering with NX CAD.

The post Accelerating aerospace innovation with Immersive Engineering appeared first on Engineering.com.

Traditional CAD tools have always been constrained by flat screens, 2D interactions and limited spatial feedback. Engineers interpreting complex geometry through a monitor often struggle to judge scale, evaluate fit and identify interferences. As products grow more complex, these limitations push decisions later into the design cycle and shift many errors downstream into physical prototyping.

“Engineers can zoom in indefinitely within a 3D CAD setting, but that also means you can quickly lose perspective on what you’re looking at. As a result, design flaws remain hidden until physical prototypes are built, whether you’re working on boats, airplanes and cars, or on compact consumer electronics,” says Ben Widdowson, Head of Marketing Immersive Engineering at Siemens.

Immersive Engineering solves these challenges by providing an intuitive environment for designers to assess geometry, ergonomics and assembly intent. Siemens is among the first to integrate Immersive Engineering and AI-driven assistance into a mainstream CAD environment through its Designcenter NX platform.

Siemens AI-enhanced Immersive Engineering platform

Siemens has long been integrating immersive capabilities as an optional module into its Designcenter NX platform. It transforms product development from a visual add-on to a fully operational engineering environment. The Immersive Designer lets users open assemblies at a true scale, modify geometry and collaborate with remote teams.

A major enabler is the purpose-built Sony XR headset designed specifically for engineering workflows. “Sony built a mixed-reality headset specifically for engineering workflows that focuses on all-day comfort, ultra-high-resolution displays and controllers tailored for precision work,” Widdowson adds.

This integration addresses one of the most significant gaps in earlier generations of VR tools: the inability to perform real engineering tasks. Siemens’ approach treats immersiveness as an alternate mode of CAD, and not an isolated experience. “Users can do everything they would normally do on a desktop, but fully immersive and collaborate in real-time,” Widdowson explains.

AI adds another dimension to this environment. Siemens is developing a foundational engineering model capable of interpreting 3D geometry, design intent, bills of materials and manufacturing rules. These are some of the areas where generic LLMs like ChatGPT and Gemini have limited understanding.

This underpins tools like NX Copilot for natural language assistance, automated DFM (Design for Manufacturing) advisors that flag manufacturing issues and ML-based productivity features such as adaptive UI and selection prediction.

“We’re developing our own foundational model that can connect to LLMs while teaching them the language of engineering. It allows AI to understand a customer’s specific products and processes, while drawing on Siemens’ aggregated industry knowledge and the broader capabilities of public models,” Widdowson notes.

Case Study: BAC Mono Supercar

The immersive tools are already in use. Briggs Automotive Company (BAC), the boutique British automaker behind the Mono supercar, demonstrates how Immersive Engineering accelerates real-world product development. As they engineer the next-generation Mono, the team uses NX Immersive Designer to evaluate and refine cockpit ergonomics, packaging and regulatory compliance.

By putting on the Sony headset, BAC designers can sit in a virtual driver’s seat and see the cockpit exactly as a driver would. They can test reach, visibility, pedal comfort, steering-wheel positioning and spatial feel with full-scale accuracy. One standout use case is the ability to reposition interior components on the fly in an immersive setting.

Designers can move the steering wheel, adjust seat geometry or reposition the pedals using the hand controllers. At the same time, other experts such as ergonomists, manufacturing engineers and regulatory reviewers, can join the same immersive session. This collaborative environment is important for navigating global compliance requirements.

“They had to meet a wide range of global regulations, so they described a design review where designers, engineers and even manufacturing stakeholders all joined the same immersive session. They evaluated something as simple as headlight placement, and whether it still meets regulations, without anyone needing CAD expertise,” says Widdowson.

Conclusion

Immersive Engineering is far more than a flashy new way to look at models. It is proving to be a transformative technology that, when combined with AI, can compress development cycles, reduce errors, and improve collaboration across the product lifecycle. The Siemens Designcenter NX integration with the Sony XR headset shows how Immersive Engineering is being used in real workflows.

“Our view is that in ten years, Immersive Engineering won’t be a new capability at all. It will simply be the way engineers work, just as naturally as using a desktop today. Our customers build everything from smartphones to airplanes. As the next generation of engineers enters the workforce, we see it as our responsibility to make engineering more exciting, intuitive and engaging,” Widdowson concludes.

Visit Siemens to learn more about Immersive Engineering with NX CAD.

The post How is Immersive Engineering transforming product development? appeared first on Engineering.com.

In Estonia, craftsmanship has never been just about making products. The country’s forests, traditions and work ethic have shaped creative practices for generations. Artem Arbor, a small woodcraft company founded by two friends, sits firmly in that lineage. While the brand produces laser-cut wooden toys and decorative pieces, the story behind Artem Arbor is less about commercial scale and more about making things.

At the center of that story is Märt Tammisaar, who balances roles as both teacher and craftsman. “I’m a teacher, and I also have a small hobby company,” he explains, describing how Artem Arbor began as a passion project outside his day-to-day work.

The name Artem Arbor comes from the Latin for “art wood.” The company was never conceived as a high-stakes startup or a shot at instant financial success. Instead, it emerged from curiosity, collaboration and the kind of creative problem-solving that happens when people have the freedom to tinker. “I teach what comes before engineering — simple tools, woodcraft, metal craft and their machines — in the eighth and ninth grade. For example, they design their own key chain, and I cut it out with the laser using plexiglass.”

That tinkering mindset didn’t appear out of nowhere. Before stepping into teaching, Tammisaar spent summers doing physically demanding industrial work like “sewer” welding while getting exposure to CAD with the military.

The experience left him with a deep respect for hands-on skill and generally understanding the need for practicality in design. It also shaped how he approaches craft today. “It really helps you when you design something,” he says. “You know how something works and how this piece comes together with that one.”

This blend of practical knowledge and thoughtful design is visible in Artem Arbor’s products. The company focuses on objects that are tactile and intentional. The products reflect Estonia’s broader cultural relationship with nature and making, where craft is not nostalgia, but continuity.

New Iterations and New Products

Even small craft brands require strategy and adaptation. Artem Arbor has developed and iterated on many products over time, sometimes with surprising results. One of their most popular items — a miniature stable — was originally a side idea, not a flagship product.

“That was just a random thought. Someone liked stables and they were popular,” Tammisaar explains. “So, we did a stable, and it’s our most popular product, not the one that we started with.”

It’s a reminder familiar to many makers that the market responds to what resonates emotionally, not just what is clever on paper. “You may think one way, but the customer is the other,” he adds.

Artem Arbor’s goal has not been rapid expansion or high-volume manufacturing. Estonia’s market is small and the company intentionally looks beyond national borders to find a broader audience, but growth is measured differently. “You want a self-sustaining company… to be able to do what you want to do,” Tammisaar explains.

Sustainability, in this sense, means time to create, refine and explore. Time to collaborate. Time to maintain the machines, solve problems and keep the workshop running. As Tammisaar puts it, with a laugh, “I’m the one who makes the machines go. If there’s maintenance and there’s something wrong with it, then I’m the guy.”

Meanwhile, his business partner is the one who handles much of the day-to-day making and ideation. Their combined efforts have led to the creation of a micro-factory for their wooden widgets and toys. It’s a partnership that isn’t built on defined roles, but rather on trust and complementary strengths.

Designing with Digital Precision

While Artem Arbor’s identity is rooted in traditional craftsmanship, digital design plays a quiet but vital role behind the scenes. Like many small businesses blending art and engineering, the team uses Siemens Solid Edge to visualize and refine concepts long before a single board is cut.

The software’s modeling environment allows them to move fluidly between idea and execution, iterating on tolerances, joinery and geometry digitally. Then with digital designs, they can easily mass produce their products on a CNC laser cutter. For a small organization, that precision shortens the gap between imagination and material.

What makes this approach valuable isn’t automation or making millions of parts, it’s control. Solid Edge’s combination of history-based and synchronous modeling lets Artem Arbor design like makers, not machine operators. The result are products that maintain a handmade soul while benefiting from engineering-grade accuracy and tools.

This collaborative approach extends to Artem Arbor’s relationship with its audience. The products feel personal because they are. They are shaped by the needs and curiosities of real people, carefully calibrated in small batches and designed to last. This is not factory production. It is something smaller and more deliberate.

Educating Leads to Good Business

Tammisaar teaches, designs, builds, repairs, experiments and adapts. His practice shows that craft can evolve without losing its grounding, and that independence in work is not only a financial condition, but a philosophical one.

Ultimately, that’s what makes Artem Arbor compelling. It isn’t trying to be something louder or flashier than it is. It is a small workshop making meaningful objects, shaped by the lived expertise of a team who has worked on making in both the digital and physical worlds.

“The last time we had the Estonian teachers conference, the shop teachers were at my place in school, and I had a little workshop where I showed them what we can do with CAD and lasers, which the other teachers would know well,” Tammisaar explains. “But I compiled all the things I did with TinkerCAD (for the younger students) and Solid Edge (for the older students) and compiled them into one room. There was 3D printed stuff, laser cut stuff, and then there was the CNC milled stuff, and their jaws dropped. They haven’t seen that much stuff done with machines in a school shop.”

As he builds both his business and his educational repertoire, Tammisaar seems to be hitting the sweet spot with digital and hands-on work. In the end, he embraces his teaching with a different perspective because he is using the same tools to both teach and grow his business.

Visit Siemens to learn more about Solid Edge for Startups program and the Solid Edge Maker Community edition.

The post Balancing the roles of teacher and craftsman to educate young engineers appeared first on Engineering.com.

You’re reading Engineering Paper, and here’s the latest design and simulation software news.

Nvidia and Synopsys have announced a new strategic partnership that aims to tighten the bond between Nvidia’s computing hardware and Synopsys’ engineering software. As any good strategic partner would, Nvidia has also invested $2 billion in Synopsys common stock.

Naturally, AI is a big part of the new partnership. Nvidia and Synopsys will integrate their respective agentic AI technologies, including Synopsys AgentEngineer, Nvidia NIM microservices, Nvidia NeMo Agent Toolkit and Nvidia Nemotron. Synopsys will further tap into Nvidia’s CUDA-X AI libraries to optimize its simulation software for GPU computing.

The non-exclusive partnership will also include a collaboration on digital twin technologies, a focus on cloud solutions and joint go-to-market initiatives.

“Our partnership with Synopsys harnesses the power of Nvidia accelerated computing and AI to reimagine engineering and design — empowering engineers to invent the extraordinary products that will shape our future,” said Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang in the joint press release.

Synopsys CEO Sassine Ghazi filled out the same mad lib with slightly different words: “Together we will re-engineer engineering and empower innovators everywhere to more efficiently realize their innovations.”

Comsol releases Multiphysics version 6.4

Comsol has released the latest update to its simulation platform, Comsol Multiphysics version 6.4. It comes with new features, expanded capabilities, and major performance improvements, according to Comsol.

Among the version 6.4 updates is GPU support for all physics via Nvidia’s cuDSS direct sparse solver library, which Comsol says can provide substantial speedups compared to CPU-based solvers. The new release also supports multi-GPU acceleration for acoustics simulations, another potential speedup.

Another release highlight is the new Granular Flow Module, which uses the discrete element method to simulate grain and powder systems being mixed or conveyed.

Comsol Multiphysics 6.4 users will also have access to AI-assisted simulation through a chatbot window that now supports connections to OpenAI API-compatible LLMs including GPT-5, DeepSeek, Google Gemini, Anthropic Claude, and more. Comsol says this will enable model-aware assistance that leverages active simulation information along with Comsol documentation.

For a full list of the Multiphysics 6.4 updates, including geometry and meshing enhancements, new capabilities in the Application Builder, and new visualization features, check out the Comsol Multiphysics 6.4 release highlights.

Veni, Vidi, Vinci

A startup called Vinci has emerged from stealth with an AI solution for semiconductor thermal simulation. The company announced $46 million in total funding and boasts that its physics-based AI software runs up to 1000x faster than conventional FEA tools.

Vinci says that its AI foundation model can currently simulate steady-state conduction, transient conduction, and steady-state thermoelasticity.  According to Vinci, the AI software does not require meshing, does not hallucinate (the press release boldly claims “guaranteed accuracy”), and does not require nor train on proprietary customer data.

“Vinci empowers engineers to simulate how designs will perform in seconds instead of days, at a fraction of the compute cost,” said Vinci CEO Hardik Kabaria in the company’s press release. “On next-generation geometries that conventional tools must simplify, such as nanometer-scale components on centimeter-scale dies, Vinci maintains full-fidelity accuracy.”

Vinci says its software is already deployed at three leading semiconductor manufacturers, and has been successfully benchmarked at several more. The startup is currently offering scheduled demos through its website.

Quick hits

• In more Synopsys news, developer JuliaHub has announced that its Dyad simulation platform will be integrated with Ansys TwinAI (Ansys is now owned by Synopsys) to “combine physics-based simulation with adaptive AI models, allowing engineers to create ‘hybrid digital twins’ that are both predictive and grounded in physical laws.”
• CAM developer Ency has released Ency 2.5, an update with “130 changes focused on smoother day-to-day workflows and increased stability across machining, simulation, and platform features.”
• Artec 3D has launched Artec Studio Lite, a lower cost version of its Artec Studio software for 3D data capture and processing. Studio Lite does not support 3D scanning, but Artec says it will offer the core processing features of the full version with a simplified workflow for photos and videos. In particular, it provides AI photogrammetry, which Artec says can deliver accurate 3D models with very few photos. Artec Studio Lite is available in two tiers: Business ($960 per year) and Individual ($480 per year). The full version, Artec Studio Pro, costs $1,700 per year.

One last link

If you made it this far, you must like engineering news roundups. So here’s another one for you, from Engineering.com senior editor Ian Wright: 3D printing research roundup: Fast-curing concrete, blood vessels on a chip, micro delta robots and more!

Got news, tips, comments, or complaints? Send them my way: malba@wtwhmedia.com.

The post Nvidia and Synopsys team up to accelerate engineering appeared first on Engineering.com.

Like castells or underwater hockey, additive manufacturing (AM) is a team sport: success in 3D printing on an industrial scale requires collaboration and input from experts across multiple domains. Examples abound, from consortiums of the largest 3D printing companies, to research projects between Ivy League rivals, to joint efforts between public and private institutions on materials discovery.

Three of the latest examples of this trend originate with one company: Renishaw.

Hot on the heels of its participation in a new metal AM project spearheaded by Airbus, the British engineering company has announced collaborations with the French Dassault Systèmes and the Belgian Materialise, portending significant growth in European AM collaboration (Brexit notwithstanding).

RenAM 500 series now integrated into 3DExperience

According to a recent press release from Renishaw, users of the 3DExperience Delmia Powder Bed Machine Programmer Role can now set-up, program, and analyze AM processes for Renishaw 500 series metal AM systems.

“A virtual machine is an exact representation of a machine in the virtual world, with all its parameters. You can launch a production run and make virtual parts; it’s unique in terms of quality validation,” said Jérémy Mosse, team & application manager at Dassault Systèmes, in the release.

This role provides a 3D interactive environment that’s intended to enable manufacturing engineers to optimize powder bed fusion manufacturing techniques, and it includes Renishaw’s TEMPUS technology, which is designed to allow the machine’s laser to operate while the recoater is in motion. Renishaw claims this can result in time savings of up to nine seconds per build layer without compromising part quality, reducing overall build times by as much as 50%.

“This collaboration enables a unique approach to efficient metal 3D printing,” said Olivier Scart, DELMIA alliances director partnerships at Dassault Systèmes, in the same release. “The combination of Renishaw’s TEMPUS technology and the end-to-end unique solution provided by the 3DExperience platform will break silos and open a new stage for additive manufacturing industrialization.”

Highlighted benefits of the integration, according to Renishaw, include part validation prior to 3D printing, part simulation of the AM process to explore machine parameters virtually, and part traceability between design and manufacturing.

Next-generation Build Processor software with Materialise

In addition to its integration with 3DExperience, Renishaw has also announced the launch of next-generation Build Processor (NxG BP) software developed in collaboration with Materialise. The new software aims to strengthen integration between Materialise Magics and Renishaw’s RenAM metal AM systems by enabling the direct export of job files from Magics to Renishaw machines using the QuantAM file format.

“We’ve worked closely with users to understand where the bottlenecks are in their AM workflows,” said Ben Diaz, product manager at Renishaw, in a press release. “NxG BP enables swim lane laser control, integrated inspector tools, implicit modelling support and compatibility with the RenAM 500 series of machines. Ultimately, customers will have a more intuitive and efficient way to get from design to print.”

According to Renishaw, a key innovation in the software is the Swim Lane feature, which is designed to distributes laser scanning intelligently across defined regions of the build platform.

“By enabling direct integration between Magics and Renishaw systems, we’re removing the friction that slows down advanced users who are pushing the boundaries of what’s possible with metal 3D printing,” said Karel Brans, partnership director at Materialise, in the same release. “Whether it’s handling complex implicit geometries or optimizing multi-laser performance with features like swim lane control, this collaboration gives Renishaw customers the workflow control they need to succeed on their terms.”

NxG BP also incorporates an integrated Inspector tool for real-time verification of laser paths and job setup directly within the workflow. The processor is fully compatible with the complete RenAM machine range and is intended for advanced AM “power users” who manage a wide variety of part types and need functionality that goes beyond QuantAM per se.

Stay tuned for lots more AM news this week as Formnext 2025 kicks off in Frankfurt.

Here’s a taste of what you can expect from the show.

The post Additive manufacturing partnerships galore at Renishaw appeared first on Engineering.com.

PTC has announced that it’s selling Kepware and ThingWorx, its brands for industrial connectivity and Internet of Things (IoT) software, to asset management firm TPG.

You might find this news surprising. PTC has long been bullish on those brands, particularly ThingWorx, which it bought in 2013 for approximately $112 million. The company even adapted the brand name for its erstwhile annual user conference, PTC LiveWorx, the last of which was in 2023.

ThingWorx was the first of several acquisitions for an IoT strategy that would cost PTC half a billion dollars over the next few years. PTC bought Kepware in 2015 for over $100M, machine connectivity provider Axeda in 2014 for $170M, and big data platform Coldlight in 2015 for $105M.

Industry watchers at the time noted the gamble PTC was taking on IoT. In 2015, Engineering.com contributor Verdi Ogewell asked: Is PTC’s CEO Jim Heppelmann Playing with Fire? to which the then-CEO replied: “[W]e are confident, and our customers agree, that not only is IoT an exciting new opportunity, but it will also reset expectations in the arenas of CAD, PLM, ALM [applications lifecycle management] and SLM [service lifecycle management].”

Ten years later, however, Heppelmann was gone (replaced by Neil Barua) and the IoT shine was starting to wear off. This summer a rumor was swirling that PTC might be acquired by Autodesk, and writing about that possibility, Engineering.com contributor Lionel Grealou noted that “ThingWorx and Kepware, once central to PTC’s digital transformation narrative, now appear most vulnerable to divestment.”

The Autodesk rumor went nowhere, but ThingWorx and Kepware have indeed gone somewhere. TPG and PTC didn’t disclose the terms of the acquisition, but they expect the transaction to close in the first half of 2026.

“We’re pleased to reach this agreement with TPG as we increase our focus on delivering our Intelligent Product Lifecycle vision for customers through our core CAD, PLM, ALM, and SLM offerings and the ongoing adoption of AI and SaaS,” Barua said in the joint press release.

Let’s check back in ten years to see how the AI play pays off. Speaking of…

Tech Soft 3D launches HOOPS AI for CAD machine learning

Engineering software development kit (SDK) provider Tech Soft 3D has launched HOOPS AI, a new tool that it says is “purpose-built to unlock AI and machine learning for CAD data.”

According to Tech Soft 3D, HOOPS AI is an end-to-end solution for CAD-based machine learning. It ingests and prepares CAD data, provides pre-built neural architectures for CAD tasks like feature recognition, and has built in visualization tools, among other features. It’s a standalone product that incorporates features from Tech Soft 3D’s HOOPS Exchange (for CAD data translation) and HOOPS Visualize (for CAD rendering).

“HOOPS AI represents a major leap forward for organizations looking to finally harness artificial intelligence for 3D CAD,” said Gavin Bridgeman, CTO of Tech Soft 3D, in the company’s press release. “It provides a complete, reproducible pipeline that makes machine learning workflows with CAD data both practical and scalable.”

Quick hits

• Chaos has released Vantage 3, the latest update to its real-time visualization platform for AEC. The update adds support for USD, MaterialX, and Gaussian splatting, as well as a new camera tracking features, a new material editor, extended texture support, and more.
• Siemens has introduced Electrical Designer for its TIA Selection Tool Cloud. The new feature aims to simplify main circuit design by automatically selecting components, verifying short circuits, sizing cables, and creating documentation, all in accordance with IEC standards, according to Siemens.
• Celus, a developer of AI-based electronics design software, and NextPCB, a PCB manufacturer, have announced a strategic partnership that will allow NextPCB customers access to the Celus Design Platform.

One last link

Who figured software licensing could be such a dynamic topic? Here’s Lionel Grealou again with From seats to outcomes: rethinking engineering software licensing.

Engineering Paper will be off for the next two weeks. See you in December.

Got news, tips, comments, or complaints? Send them my way: malba@wtwhmedia.com.

The post PTC’s IoT dream ends with sale of ThingWorx and Kepware appeared first on Engineering.com.

A few weeks ago I wrote about Flux, a browser-based ECAD tool, and its announcement of new AI capabilities to design circuit boards from text prompts.

I’ve since had the chance to speak with Flux CEO Matthias Wagner to learn more about the platform and its AI features. Like many founders of engineering software startups that I’ve spoken to recently, Wagner, a former Facebook product manager, was fed up with the stale state of design software—especially in comparison to tools for developing software.

“Hardware was somehow still stuck in what could have been the 90s,” he complained. And complained. And complained some more. Wagner grumbled about the problem so much that eventually a friend told him to “either do something about it or stop talking about it.”

He chose door number two, and in 2019 he founded Flux, a cloud-based tool for electronic design with modern features like real-time collaboration. But by 2025 Flux, like many design tools, has become enraptured by AI, and so has Wagner’s vision for the platform.

“You can go to ChatGPT and turn a prompt into a poem, into a recipe, into everything,” Wagner began. “We want to enable that for atoms. We want to enable people to go from a text prompt to a manufactured piece of hardware.”

How close is Flux to that vision today? I asked.

“It’s day one,” Wagner said. “Just two weeks ago we shipped what I call an AI hardware engineering intern that has incredible capabilities, but oftentimes requires some supervision by somebody who’s more experienced.”

All Flux users can now access that AI intern in beta (“I feel like interns are professionals in beta,” Wagner quipped). The AI can help electrical engineers across their entire workflow, from planning a design to laying out a circuit schematic to optimizing and debugging boards, according to Wagner.

“When it works, it’s magical,” he said. “There’s a lot of use cases where, just from a single prompt, it will do the full thing. And then there’s a lot of use cases that will get you, 80% there, 90% there, 50% there. And then the user has to either provide input or drive it over the line manually.”

Flux’s AI is built on top of commercial LLMs (like those from OpenAI and Anthropic) with some smaller custom AI models built in-house (like one for optical character recognition, OCR, to read charts and tables). The custom models are trained on a mix of publicly available designs, synthetic datasets, and in-house data, according to Flux. Wagner noted that “we don’t train models on user data.”

Flux is subscription software, licensed in four tiers: Starter ($15/month), Pro ($39/month), Teams ($49/month) and Enterprise (custom pricing). Each tier comes with some amount of AI credits (from 100 to 500 per month) which are spent every time a user accesses the AI. The cost of any prompt is only determined after the computation, Wagner told me, adding that there’s high variance.

Why? “It’s like trying to estimate the time it takes to complete a project that you have never done before,” Wagner said. “You’ll figure it out as you do it.”

I asked if he could estimate a rough cost of using Flux’s AI, and Wagner said that the company’s example prompts (such as those pictured above) would cost about $6 to $7 apiece. Since 100 credits cost $4 or $5 (depending on your tier), that’s roughly 120 – 175 credits per prompt.

If the Flux AI works as well as you’d hope, and could truly save hours of engineering effort, then the costs would be easy to justify. But what about when it doesn’t work? If you’ve used AI, and by now you have, you know that it often takes a few prompts to get where you want to go. Sometimes many more. If you had a mystery bill due on every prompt, you might be reluctant to experiment. Flux isn’t the only developer charging credits for AI calls (Depix does it for AI rendering, for example), but it’s the first I’ve seen that doesn’t have a standard price per prompt.

Regardless, what matters is whether or not electrical engineers find value in Flux AI. Wagner says users are “generally ecstatic” about the new capabilities, but I have yet to see much real user feedback. If you have some, I’d love to hear it in the comments or at malba@wtwhmedia.com.

Check out the 2025 LEAP Awards winners

Design World has announced the winners of the 2025 Leadership in Engineering Achievement Program (LEAP) Awards. Judged by an independent panel of industry experts, the awards celebrate innovative engineering across 11 categories.

The 2025 LEAP categories were:

• Advanced materials
• Computer hardware and software
• Connectivity
• Embedded computing
• Fluid power
• Industrial automation
• Mechanical
• Motion control
• Power electronics
• Switches and sensors
• Test and measurement

Congratulations to all those who leapt to the podium. You can watch a replay of the winners announcement or see a list of the winners here.

Quick hits

• NCG CAM Solutions has released NCG CAM v20.0. The developer calls it a major release that provides huge improvements to finishing operations, new features such as the ability to machine with shaped cutters in 3-axis, a new C/C#/C++ API, and much more.
• Keysight has launched a new EDA application called Quantum System Analysis that it says will reduce reliance on costly cryogenic testing. Part of Keysight’s Quantum EDA portfolio, Quantum System Analysis provides a time dynamics simulator and the ability to model cryostat input lines to qubits.
• Lumafield has announced Auto-Dimensioning, a new feature for automated geometric dimensioning and tolerancing (GD&T) in its CT scanning technology. “Auto-Dimensioning turns CT scanning into a true metrology tool, making it accessible to every engineer. By automatically identifying and measuring features inside and out, we’re giving teams reliable, traceable data they can use to move faster, catch problems earlier, and build better products,” said Andreas Bastian, co-founder and head of product at Lumafield, in the company’s press release. Currently in private beta, Auto-Dimensioning will be available in Lumafield’s Voyager software in early 2026.

One last link

My former colleague Shawn Wasserman led this fun Altair blog post that uses simulation to prove that Back to the Future, the classic time travel flick in which a teenager and mad scientist drive into the past, isn’t quite as realistic as you may have thought: Digital Debunking: Doc Brown’s Survival in Back to the Future.

Got news, tips, comments, or complaints? Send them my way: malba@wtwhmedia.com.

The post Flux’s electrical engineering AI: “When it works, it’s magical” appeared first on Engineering.com.