What's New in EngView Package & Display Designer 2024.1

Integrations

Build 2024.1.12

Integration with PACKZ, Hybrid Software's packaging and labels editor
EngView is now partner in an integration solution for packaging design with PACKZ, the software for editing of labels and packaging of the Ghent-based graphic arts software developer Hybrid Software. The integration divides the process of packaging creation into two stages:
  1. In EngView, structural designers create projects and upload them to a jobs queue on the cloud. Learn more about how EngView manages this stage.
  2. In PACKZ, users access the queue, take jobs, and start working on them.
The integration takes effect as of EngView 2024.1.12 and PACKZ 10.
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3D

Build 2024.1.15

More features in the display of distance dimensions
You now have greater control over the display of dimensions for distances in 3D models. New controls let you choose whether you want to see:
  • The symbols of the chosen units of measurement — mm, in, cm, and so on.
  • Alternative units of measurement. These appear below the dimension line.
Additionally, you can now select multiple dimension lines in 3D models. You then can set properties for them that will apply to all the lines you have selected.

Build 2024.1.12

Overall dimensions follow point of view
When you rotate the 3D model, the overall dimensions you have added to the model move, too, positioning themselves so as to always appear in front of the panels and visible to you. You set this setting whle setting the general conditions for viewing dimensions in 3D models.
Spatial positioning of overall dimensions
You now have three options for positioning 3D models' overall dimensions so as to make them visible all the time while you rotate and move the model in the 3D area. You set this setting whle setting the general conditions for viewing dimensions in 3D models.

Build 2024.1.5

Export 3D models as AR-friendly content to Shared Space
When exporting 3D models to Shared Space, you can now set them up for environments that support Augmented Reality (AR) on mobile devices. Using a new control (the Enable Augmented Reality View check box) in the Upload to Shared Space dialog optimizes the model content to be viewable in AR apps. (For best results set 'Start At: ---End---'.) On the Shared Space navigation bar, there is a new AR button, which opens your AR app. With the app open, point the device to a flat serface, and move your device until a round indicator appears. Then double-click it to view the 3D design against your surroundings.
Export 3D models to the .mp4 file format
You can now export 3D models to the .mp4 file format and experience the animated folding sequence.
Add public 3D models on Shared Space to your Shared With Me collection
On Shared Space, you can now add publicly shared 3D models to the collection of models others have shared specifically with you. After you add a model, it remains viewable to everyone else. A Shared Space registration is required.
Copying 3D drawings
You can now copy 3D drawings: right-click the drawing's tab, and then click Copy drawing on the context menu. You can copy:
  • An individual part. The underlying 2D drawing is not copied.
  • An entire 3D model. Here you copy only the assembled drawing. The rest of the 3D drawings are not copied.
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Library Index of Parametric Templates

Build 2024.1.15

New templates
Five parametric templates have been added to the ECMA section of the Library of Packaging Templates, as follows:
  • ECMA A: A55.20.01.01; A55.20.01.04.35; A60.20.00.04.35
  • ECMA B: B20.01.82.53
  • ECMA E: E31.20.00.00.A

In earlier builds

New design and functionalities
The Index has been redesigned and comes with a set of new functionalities. These include:
  • Toggable 2D/3D views At any time while browsing for templates, you can switch between viewing their previews in 2D or 3D. This gives you a quick glimpse at what the template looks like in its structural and folded states. Depending on the choice you make, just pointing to a template's preview immediately visualizes the alternative view.
  • Hints for resizable templates with similar designs When you open a template, the Index displays also templates that differ from it by a small feature. For example, if you are viewing a template that has a V-Cut insert, the same template appears at its side but designed with a half-cut insert. By immediately offering such structural options, these hints shorten the time for searching for a template.
  • Improved searchability Searching for templates is now much more straightforward: Just type a code or a specific characteristic, and explore the results.
  • Open templates from previews When you locate the template you need, you can open it directly in EngView or Adobe Illustrator from its preview, without opening its Index file.
New templates
The libraries have been expanded by:
  • 182 templates in the Packaging Structures section: 163 for folding carton, 13 for corrugated board, and 6 for grey board.
  • 17 templates in the Displays and Furniture section.
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Drafting

Build 2024.1.15

Greater control over Master Canvas 1ups
Two new functionalities now give you greater control over 1ups in the Master Canvas drawings:
  • Disperse ups adds space between 1ups that are too close to one another.
  • Line up 1ups puts all the 1ups in a straight horizontal line along the Ox.
Choose between stay or exit a relation mode after setting a relation in component design
When setting manually relations while designing parameteric components, you can tell EngView to stay in the selected relation-setting mode after setting a relation or to exit the mode immediately.
Alternative units of measurement for distances
For measuring distances, you can now use alternative units of measurement, which you can add at dimensions lines. For example, if your global preference for units of measurement is millimeters, you can choose inches as an alternative units. In this way, you can follow distances in the two units at the same time.
Choose to view measurement symbols at dimension lines
When displaying units of measurements at dimension lines, you can choose whether or not to see the measurement symbols — mm, in, cm, and so on. You can set this display globally for the program or locally per dimension line.
The Use Backgrounds command has been retired and broken down to two new commands
The Use Backgrounds command, which used to be on the Format menu and enforced the use of the background colors set for materials, has been retired and broken down to two new commands. Both are now part of the definition of colors. They share a group called Use Background Colors Set For. The two commands are:
  • Materials-based drawings (1up, layout, CAM). Drawings that carry their own material use their preset color.
  • Material Surfaces.
The check boxes play a role when you define the colors for backgrounds, including in presets. To use the colors specifically set for materials, make sure both check boxes are selected. To set your drafting colors, on the Tools menu, click Preferences, and then click the Drafting Colors section.

Build 2024.1.12

Quick access to material name, type, and material thickness at the Front/Rear Marker
The Front/Rear side marker, which displays the side you are working on, now offers a tooltip with quick reference to the following information: material name and current thickness; material type, and name and size of the applied sheet. To see the tooltip, position the mouse pointer over the marker in the upper left corner of the graphical area.

Build 2024.1.5

Target icon over control point
You now get visual indication when reaching a control point. A small crosshairs icon appears at the mouse pointer when a control point is detected. This comes in handy especially while drawing objects or to assist aligning.
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Integration with Adobe® Illustrator®

Build 2024.1.12

Capability to merge duplicated objects into a single object while creating a Step & Repeat layout drawings
When generating a layout drawing in the Step & Repeat functionality, you can now choose to merge duplicated objects into a single object, which is then processed by a single movement of the tool. The setting is now part of the redesigned layout generation dialog box (see the following entry).
All layout generating settings are now in a single dialog
All the options that you use to generate Step & Repeat layouts have been brought together into one dialog box. When you move to generate a layout, all the necessary settings — side, bleed application, merging die-lines — come to you as a single set.
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Diemaking

Build 2024.1.15

New offsets for stripping die offsets and front stripper heights
In the process of stripping die generation, new upper limits have been introduced for the heights of the front strippers and the offsets of the stripping die. The new limits are:
  • 500 mm for the heights of the upper and lower front strippers.
  • 250 mm for the offsets of (1) the cutting knife of the front stripping die and (2) the male and female stripping dies.

Build 2024.1.12

Copying bridges drawings
You can now copy bridges drawings. A copied drawing is a 1up drawing which carries all the information as the original drawing but allows the addition of new objects. This comes in especially handy when working with the Baysek rotary anvil die-cutting technology, in which additional vacuum channels are engraved on a die's rear side. Learn more about bridges drawings.
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Sheet layout

Build 2024.1.5

Display Nesting: Layouts of multipart structures on rolled materials
When creating layouts, you can now use nesting on a rolled material. Using rolled materials produces leftover material, which you can use in subsequent jobs. Under this technique, EngView keeps track of all the leftover rolled material, which you can then use for subsequent jobs. Information about the currently available material is kept in a special store catalog.
Display Nesting: Keeping track of available materials
When creating layout nesting on a rolled material, EngView now keeps track of the leftover material. EngView stores this information in the Materials Store Catalog, and updates it automatically after each completed nesting job to reflect the changed amount of layout material.
Exclamation mark alerts to different thickness/flute directions in layout parts
In layout drawings, tooltips have been added to the exclamation mark that appears in the upper left to indicate alerts. The sign now appears each time when the layout array consists of multiple parts which have different:
  • Material thickness.
  • Flute/grain directions.
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CAM

Build 2024.1.10

Enhanced definition of sample counter
Two new properties have been added to the definition of sample counters:
  • Material thickness: You can now indicate the thickness of the material that you will use for the production of sample counters. This information is then sent to the cutting plotter.
  • Creasing styles: You can specify styles other than Creasing that you want EngView to treat as creases when generating sample counters. You set these additional styles — for example, CutCrease or Plotting — and as a result EngView creates creasing channels also for them.

Build 2024.1.5

Improved CAM output to Zünd Cut Center (ZCC)
The Zünd CAM driver has been reworked to manage the ZCC material information accurately. The new driver matches the EngView material data to that of the ZCC material and outputs the relevant information. When a material database is changed, the driver is easy to adapt without programming.
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Cost Estimator

Build 2024.1.14

Made-Changes warning in cost models UI
When you have made any changes to a cost model and accidentally press ESC, EngView now displays a warning that the changes you have made will be lost if you proceed. This warning prevents accidental data losses.
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Other new functionalities

Build 2024.1.15

The global preferences property sheet now appears in a new design and name. New settings added.
The property sheet where you set your preferences for EngView's default behavior in handling common tasks has been redesigned, renamed and expanded. New settings have been added such as (1) the catalog for materials on rolls, (2) the management of materials and processes, (3) the setting of drafting colors, (4) the management of parameter templates, and (5) the settings for CAM-related operations.
The property sheet, which used to be called Options, is now called Preferences. To access it, on the Tools menu, click Preferences or, alternatively, press CTRL + GO.
The Format menu has been retired
The Format menu has been removed and is no longer part of EngView's user interface. The commands that it used to hold are now part of the global preferences property sheet.
The commands for zooming and fitting of drawings are now grouped on the View menu and on context menus
On the View menu, a new submenu now holds the commands for positioning the drawing you are working on in the visual area. The submenu, called Zoom, now holds the commands for: The Zoom submenu is available also when you right-click in the graphical area, where it has replaced the earlier View group of commands. For details, see the next entry.
On context menus, the View group of commands is now called Zoom
Across the program, context menus that used to contain the View group of commands now offer the same set of commands of commands (see the previous entry) but under the group name Zoom.
Further access to switching between a drawing's front and rear side
A new command that lets you switch between the front and the rear side of the active drawing has been added to the View menu. The command, Front Side, has the same effect as using the side-related context menu at the Front/Rear Side Marker. To improve user experience, this command has been removed from all the context menus that used to contain it.
Choose how to access shared settings and libraries during setup
When installing the program, the Installation Type wizard step, where you select the type of installation (local or in a network), has been redesigned to better guide you in your choice of how to access shared settings and libraries. A special case here is when your installation is part of a network. In this case, you can:
  • Access the libraries and settings from a location where they have already been installed.
  • Install the libraries and settings (locally or in a network) to be accessed by other workstations.

Build 2024.1.12

An Integrations section is now part of EngView's global settings
An Integrations tab has been added to the property sheet where you manage the program's global preferences. In the tab, authorized users log in to enable integration solutions that EngView has with external software.
G-code import preset for importing ACM file
A new G-code preset now makes possible the import into EngView of ACM files, which run Kongsberg-manufactured cutting machines. The preset is named ACM.

Build 2024.1.5

The Show Hidden Objects icon is now in grey
In the graphical area's upper left corner, the eye icon that tells you that the current drawing contains objects that are hidden from view now appears in grey.
Copying 2D drawings and their 3D drawings
When copying a 2D drawing, you can now choose whether to copy also the 3D drawing created from it. You can copy the 3D drawing only if it has already been created; EngView will not create a 3D drawing if one does not exist. Learn more about copying 3D drawings.
Sheet size directly visible on the screen
You can see the size of a sheet directly in the 1up or layout drawing, appearing at the sheet's border. A global viewing setting (Sheet size information) controls this functionality.
Flute/grain symbols are inserted with their own styles and names
When you insert symbols for the flute or grain into drawings, you can now set the name and style that EngView will use to indicate these symbols. This is a global setting, which means that each time you insert such a symbol, EngView applies the set style and name.
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