Alibre release notes as /
Release scheduled for 8th April 2018
Updated Technology Components
Alibre has completely upgraded all the core technology components of Alibre Design including ACIS, 2D-DCM, 3D-DCM, HLM, ST-Developer, Datakit, ODA Toolkit, Adobe PDFLibs, and Visual Studio. This update includes several years' worth of enhancements by our technology providers.
Viewer Mode
Stakeholders can install Alibre Design and run it in Viewer Mode to inspect files without messing with licensing.
New License Types
Network Licensing and Passive Licensing allow total control over the licensing experience in secure environments where on-premises licensing is required.
Active on maintenance?
Look for an email from us around April 9 for details on the launch.
Not active on maintenance?
Learn about our offers by replying to this email or calling 0844 3570378
High Resolution Displays
The product has been combed over to provide a significantly better experience on high resolution monitors. Many dialogs have been fixed to properly scale, icons have been tweaked, selection is easier, and much more.
New Home Window
A new Home Window with image icons for your most recent files, easier access to help and training, and faster access to common tools and licensing.
Miter Flange
A major enhancement to sheet metal, miter flanges are now available to create complex non-overlapping flanges. This new corner condition opens up many new classes of parts that were previously prohibitively time consuming to create and edit.
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
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 colour scheme
Small changes to the default colour 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 Colour 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