Preview of Alibre Design 12 Release, New Features

Only days remain before the public release of Alibre Design 12 as of time of this article. Alibre 12 definitely continues the standing tradition of delivering powerful, easy-to-use features at low cost. Here is a list of some of them, grouped by their work space:

New commands and tools in Alibre Design:

Alibre Design will offer a 3D-text feature tool allowing text to be added as a parametric part feature. Individual features will support colour change for better identification, and the user will also be permitted to set the default 3D new part colour. Edit commands will include multiple clipboard paste in "rubber stamp" mode. Toolbars will be more customizable, and additional box select modes will speed up editing. Editable 3D section veiws, colour schemes and light sources are also supported now.

The Alibre Sketcher will display missing constraints as degree of freedom callouts (with configurable colourisation). It will also offer optional real-time dimensioning and placement while geometry is drawn, rather than requiring this be completed as an additional design step. This option saves users considerable time in constraint specification. Alibre Sketch will also offer quick bi-directional conversion between model sketch figures and reference geometry. Constraint and snap options for drawing have been added, as well as a new axis mirror option. 2D drawing space will support a new freeform table creation for relevant model data fields.

Alibre version 12 files will offer a convenient thumbnail view from both Windows Explorer and Alibre Vault PDM, which makes file selection easier.

Assembly:
The assembly space move and rotate commands have been merged into a single dialogue for faster model placement by the user. Assembly part arrays / patterns now offer placement preview. View performance for large assemblies has been greatly improved.

Alibre Sheet Metal Design:

Contour and lofted flange support is added. Now sheet metal designs can include tapered corners or profile flange with variable radius along its length. These "lofted flanges" are nicely flattened in Alibre (along with the rest of the part) for the initial pattern stamp or cut-out.

For more information about Alibre 12 improvements, feel free to contact CADDIT in Australia HERE. There is also a downloadable PDF version of this list available HERE.

$99 Alibre Announced, Special Promotion in Australia

PRESS RELEASE (Modified for Australia)
Richardson, TX (August 11, 2009) - Alibre, Inc. (http://www.alibre.com/) today announced the boldest marketing initiative in the history of 3D CAD - making professional grade 3D CAD software, including parts, assemblies, and 2D drafting, available to anyone for under $100. In Australia the promotional price will be AUD $149.00, sold through CADDIT.net.

For a limited time, anyone can get Alibre Design for $99 (regularly $999). Alibre Design is the core CAD component of Alibre's product offering, providing a complete parametric toolset for unlimited 3D part and assembly design and 2D drafting. Capable of creating complex mechanical designs with thousands of components, full assembly motion, automatic 2D drawing updates, and many other benefits, Alibre Design is similar to products such as SolidWorks, Inventor, and Pro/E. Tens of thousands of Alibre Design users in 50 countries and 15 languages use the software to design, verify, and virtually test their products.

With today's announcement consumers have the option of spending $99 for Alibre Design or a minimum of around $5000 for competitors' software. Paul Grayson, Chairman and CEO of Alibre, Inc., says, "Alibre has the unique ability to offer its professional engineering products at a fraction of the cost of the competition. But by lowering the price to $99, the offer is irrefutably the best in the history of 3D CAD. It's absolutely unheard of given the tools we're offering, without restrictions of any kind, and we expect a lot of people and businesses to take advantage. It's really that simple. We also know that our competition can't begin to come close to this, not even within a few thousand dollars."

Alibre is ideal mid range 3D CAD for Australia, offering the best of both worlds in design function, interoperability with other systems like CATIA and Pro/Engineer via Alibre Translate, and - most of all - value. Alibre Design Standard includes the basic 2D/3D design tools as well as Tutorial access, IGES & STEP import/export and Excel spreadsheet driven design. In Australia see CADDIT.net for more information, other countries can see Alibre.com for their nearest representative.