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Project Falcon Technology Preview now available on Autodesk Labs

63 REPLIES 63
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Message 1 of 64
scott.sheppard
3746 Views, 63 Replies

Project Falcon Technology Preview now available on Autodesk Labs

Project Falcon for Autodesk® Alias software is a wind tunnel simulator that seamlessly integrates with Alias allowing designers to interactively investigate the aerodynamic performance of their designs at any stage. Industrial designers can get intuitive simulation results for their designs in seconds with no specialist knowledge required. Simply launch Project Falcon and results appear immediately. Project Falcon makes use of a revolutionary new automatic meshing technology that can handle any geometry at any stage of design. Flow and wind pressure results update almost in real-time in response to changes in wind-direction and speed. These results can be used to improve design decision making much earlier in the process.

 

Understanding the aerodynamic behaviour of your design is critical whenever air flows over, around, or through a design. As “organic” surfacing becomes more prevalent in industrial design, so too does the opportunity to create designs that work in harmony with the wind to reduce costly aerodynamic drag.

 

http://labs.autodesk.com/utilities/falcon/

 

Please try it and post your comments as a reply in this thread.



Scott Sheppard
Program Manager
Autodesk Labs
Autodesk, Inc.
63 REPLIES 63
Message 2 of 64
Hypster
in reply to: scott.sheppard

Falcon is a good plug-in for Alias(and other softwares of Design pakage, great idea!!!), U need only to update it, I think, too heavy in CPU work for me...is not possible use GPU power?

Other point, flow simulation on simple animation of models. Ideal would be to have simulation of objects on Alias window in it's real status(simple surface, surface in animation, and so on), and only on active layer. At now all surfaces in layers(hiden too), are be insert in falcon for wind simulation and this is not good. But ok, I think U work on it so, good job and thks for this plug.

Message 3 of 64
c3systems
in reply to: scott.sheppard

Fantastic plug-in. I guess it will open a can of worms .. in a political sense.

Many a times I had to modify front fascia grills for air flow, multiple times .. it is a time consuming process with hundreds of surfaces involved. Surprisingly when testing such a grille (with the whole car) using project Falcon... there is hardly any flow through it .. I am sure that I am making some mistakes regrading the settings.

It is imperative that some sort of tutorials are needed, based on realistic scenarios. It will help designers uninitiated in aerodynamics, to effectively use this tool.

Message 4 of 64
scott.sheppard
in reply to: c3systems

Today I updated the Labs site to include a 32-bit installer in the download.



Scott Sheppard
Program Manager
Autodesk Labs
Autodesk, Inc.
Message 5 of 64

Today I also added a help file that you can download from the Labs site.



Scott Sheppard
Program Manager
Autodesk Labs
Autodesk, Inc.
Message 6 of 64
csegard
in reply to: scott.sheppard

Hello,

 

i would have a question regarding the falcon plugin.

Is it working only with air or is it working also with other fluids?

 

Regards

 

Cédric

Message 7 of 64
Njohn123
in reply to: scott.sheppard

Has project falcon expired or something aswell as some other user i know i cant activate the plugin although it says "The Alias software add-on will operate until August 31, 2012" any reason as to what has happened.

Message 8 of 64
scott.sheppard
in reply to: Njohn123

There is a new installer that you can download where the technology preview does not expire until August 31, 2012.

 

http://labs.autodesk.com/utilities/falcon/



Scott Sheppard
Program Manager
Autodesk Labs
Autodesk, Inc.
Message 9 of 64

I would like to know would it be possible to use this software to test wind turbines?

Message 10 of 64

I'm interested in modeling transitions - e.g. a car passing a truck. is there a way to accomplish this?

 

Tags (2)
Message 11 of 64
hm50
in reply to: csegard

Hello,

you can account for other fluid properties via the Reynolds number (see Wikipedia, e.g.).

Regards

Herb

 

 

Message 12 of 64
xet
Explorer
in reply to: hm50

Hi,

 

I can not download the "ProjectFalcon.zip" after the login. I receive the error message : Referral Denied  You don´t have permission to access ........

 

And I did not find any help about that anywhere.

 

What's wrong?

 

Thank you

Thomas

Message 13 of 64
scott.sheppard
in reply to: xet

The Autodesk download servers make sure that the download request is coming from an Autodesk web page. So the download referrer has to have an autodesk.com domain. When thsi fails, it normally means that there is something unusual with your browser or processing of cookies on your machine. If you email me directly, I can help you out.



Scott Sheppard
Program Manager
Autodesk Labs
Autodesk, Inc.
Message 14 of 64
xet
Explorer
in reply to: scott.sheppard

Thank you for the tip. I tried Opera instead of Firefox an it worked. Maybe my Firefox settings are too rigorous.

 

Regards

Thomas

Message 15 of 64
allenhung
in reply to: scott.sheppard

today I test the software with our areo engineer and we think the software need some update.

 

1.the voxel size is too big that will cause the result is much different from the true one, for our experience that the Voxel size attache the math data should set 1x1x15mm. need set 5 layers.then there are 5mm cover the math data. and the outer zone we set the Voxel size is 5x5x15mm. 5 layers. then 15x15x15mm, 5 layers.  then 40x40x40mm,5layers. then 60x60x60mm, 5layers. the rest set is 80x80x80mm. so we think the software only one voxel size will cause the resault too rough otherwise will cause the caculate time too huge. we suggest the Voxel size set needs be more clever according the math model shape. that is the better way to balance the accurat and the time.

 

2. after we can set the voxel size according the distance to the math data. that will inprove the accurate of the result but will cause huge calulate time, or let the computer broke down, so we suggest these kind of  software develop the GPU+Net+CUP ability. we think the GPU is the first one that you need to think of it. it will help this kind of software improve the accurate, which is the only value of the software.

 

3. we suggest that the software have the mirror plane fuction, with will make the caculate time reduce to half. because in the automative area. most of the data is sysmetic.

 

we think it is the good plug-in for us, we hope you to make good progress. thank you.

Message 16 of 64
allenhung
in reply to: scott.sheppard

we think it is a good plug-in for alias but need some improvement.

 

1. the voxel size should be more clever. in this software the voxel size is too big that will cause the resault is not accurate. and if we set a small voxel size, that our workstation will break down. we suggest that the voxel size set can be more clever. for our experience, we set the voxel size 1x1x15mm attache the math data. 5 layers, that is 5mm. then 5x5x15mm,5 layters, then 15x15x15mm, 5 layers, then 40x40x40mm,5layers, then 60x60x60mm, 5 layers, then 80x80x80mm for the rest. of cause you can change it if you find a good way, we just think it should have some clever method such like the SUBMESH in other polygon 3D software that will permit the accurate and dont cause too much caculation.

 

2.we suggest the plug-in have the GPU power, that will make the software balance the accurate and the time more easy. GPU+CPU+NET will be the best way if you can.

 

3. we suggest that the softwar have the mirror plane function, that will cause the caculate time reduce to half. because in automotive area, most the math data is symmetric.

 

holp you can make more progress. many thanks.

Message 17 of 64

I see the cd and drag force are there, with the drag force obviously mathematicallly linked with the cd through size, speed, density, etc. 

 

Is the software capable of generating downforce numbers as good as the drag numbers? Perhaps more importantly, is it able to give downforce numbers at given points (at each wheel/pair)? Another thing that can be vitally important is the center of pressure. 

 

It's all well and good to go for low drag; but if the center of pressure is underneath the front wheels then you're in trouble.

Message 18 of 64
jamsterpro
in reply to: BrendanBennett

I cant seem to rotate the model. I am using it as a stand alone piece of software, and when I import an stl it always positions it with the nose cone in the air, and the compass on the same plane as the front of the nose cone. This means I cant get the windflow flowing over the car, just from the left side to right or vice versa. And when I try and open the online help it says that there is nothing in it. Help!

Message 19 of 64
ABukowski
in reply to: jamsterpro

Unfortunately I cannot open any STL files.

 

Using as standalone, 64-bit version on Vista 64 Professional.

 

When I choose 'Open STL FIle' the animation spins for a couple of seconds and then presents an error and suggests checking the file name.  This is the same for any model including the example files.

 

I shall try updating drivers etc and hopefully try the 32-bit version on another machine.

 

Looking forward to getting this working, looks like a nice bit of software.

Message 20 of 64
ABukowski
in reply to: ABukowski

I fixed my above problem by updating my Nvidia drivers; seems that they were a little outdated.

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