solidThinking Revolutionizes Product Development with Inspire(TM) 9.0

TROY, Mich., Nov. 1, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- solidThinking, Inc., today announced the release of Inspire™ 9.0, the latest version of its unique simulation-driven product development software. Inspire 9.0 provides design engineers and architects with an intuitive environment that enables the exploration of structurally efficient concepts in the earliest phases of the design process.

"It's never been easier to address structural challenges at  the conceptual phase of a design project," said Andrew Bartels, Program Manager for solidThinking Inspire. "By employing the new capabilities introduced in this release, users can rapidly generate design spaces and arrive at efficient design concepts while improving both static and dynamic stiffness and reducing weight."

New features and improvements available in Inspire 9.0 include:

• Sketching tools: Users can build simple design spaces by modifying or creating new solid parts using line, rectangle, circle and arc sketching tools. In addition, geometric relationships, such as tangents, perpendicular and collinear, can be applied to sketches. When sketches are modified, constraints ensure the intended relationship between the sketch and entity. The sketched solid geometry can be exported from Inspire in various formats including Parasolid, Step and IGES.
• Boolean operations: New solid objects can be created by performing Boolean operations to combine, subtract or intersect sets of objects.
• Maximum thickness control: Users can control wall thickness and the diameters of beam-like structures in a generated shape by specifying a minimum and/or maximum thickness.
• Frequency targets: Design concepts can be optimized to maximize or meet specified frequency targets.
• Faster shape exploration: The shape exploration function is now controlled by a single material slider.
• View controls: In one click, users can switch between perspective and orthogonal views to enable more precise sketching. Models also can be aligned to the closest principal axis when oriented arbitrarily.
• Improved geometry capture: Powerful new internal algorithm results in higher quality design concepts.
• Altair HyperWorks integration: Files generated by Inspire can be exported to HyperMesh for validation and advanced structural analyses.
• 64-bit Support: A 64-bit executable is available for Windows 7, Vista and XP.

"The advancements in Inspire 9.0 continue to drive experimentation and analysis," said Peter Macapia, Ph.D., director of labDORA (Design Office for Research and Architecture). "Inspire has become an indispensable tool for innovation in structural design and architecture."

For more information on the latest release and access to new video tutorials highlighting the latest features and for pricing and trial information, visit the solidThinking Inspire Web page.

About solidThinking
solidThinking, Inc. develops and markets innovative software tools that are revolutionizing the creative process for the design, engineering and scientific communities. Concepts for new solidThinking products and enhancements are conjured from a lively partnership with the ThinkLabs Design Studio (www.thinklabsdesign.com) and parent company Altair Engineering, Inc. (www.altair.com). 

Products include solidThinking Evolve, a highly-integrated 3D concept modeling and rendering environment for designers, and solidThinking Inspire, a unique simulation-driven concept design tool for design engineers and architects.

solidThinking products are sold and supported by a global network of select partners. They also are included with Altair's HyperWorks CAE Suite (www.altairhyperworks.com). See more at www.solidthinking.com.

About Altair
Altair Engineering, Inc. empowers client innovation and decision-making through technology that optimizes the analysis, management and visualization of business and engineering information. Privately held, with more than 1,500 employees, Altair has offices throughout North America, South America, Europe and Asia/Pacific. With a 26-year track record for high-end software and consulting services for engineering, high-performance computing and enterprise analytics, Altair consistently delivers a competitive advantage to customers in a broad range of industries. To learn more, visit www.altair.com and www.simulatetoinnovate.com.

SOURCE solidThinking, Inc.