Esko announces ArtiosCAD 7.0

Esko, the market leader in integrated packaging pre-production solutions, has announced the release of ArtiosCAD 7.0, a major update to the leading structural design software for packaging. ArtiosCAD 7.0 features extended support to select from a larger variety of design board materials, new tools to support 3D visualization, and elements to increase user productivity.

ArtiosCAD is Esko’s flagship and the industry’s most popular computer aided packaging design (CAD) software, providing structural designers a tool for conceptual design, product development, and ‘live’ prototyping. It provides users an extensive library of standard designs, or users can draft their own designs from scratch. As one of the core components of Esko’s Scope integrated packaging software suite, ArtiosCAD is the ideal product for packaging designers.

Extended support for materials – foam and plastics

ArtiosCAD now provides support for an extended number of board materials beyond corrugated and folding carton, such as foam and plastics - and they are defined in a flexible and user-accessible way. For example, these new material boards can be assigned attributes such as color, texture, sheen and transparency. Boards are also hierarchical and can be arranged by users to match the materials and structures they typically work with in their organizations.

These new board features will allow converters to provide virtual samples based on their own, customized and exclusive materials. The weight and cost per square foot can be utilized to calculate packaging weight and unit costs. These features are also used in the 3D module of ArtiosCAD to provide even more realistic rendering of packaging. Multi-wall boards are displayed accurately based on the parameters of the board. Boards can also have advanced features such as texture, transparency and sheen that will display accurately in 3D. By adding support for specialty boards like honeycomb, plastics and foam, ArtiosCAD 7.0 can create amazingly realistic 3D models of virtually any type of packaging material.

More tools to support 3D visualization

One of the more interesting and innovative features of ArtiosCAD 7.0 is the ability to import a 3D image as a background for a 3D model. For example, an image of a supermarket shelf can be imported to demonstrate how a package being developed may look next to other products. A 3D supermarket aisle can be imported to reveal how an end-aisle display will look in the store. Or, for corporate presentations, a background can contain a corporate logo to reinforce the brand.

While VRML files have always been available to export animated product views for demonstrations, ArtiosCAD 7.0 provides a simple and automatic way to export the ‘animation frames’ of a 3D model to a set of JPEG or PNG files. These images can then be used in other programs to create various types of documents, such as more effective display instructions or shelf plan-o-grams. Animation frames can also be exported automatically and directly to a PowerPoint presentation - each frame on a separate slide. Programmed correctly, the PowerPoint presentation can display the movement of the animation. Frames can also be exported to single or multiple page Microsoft Word or Adobe PDF documents.

User productivity features

Listening to requests from ArtiosCAD users, Esko has added features that make operation of the program easier and more productive.

ArtiosCAD files often have similar elements, such as flaps, that are repeated in other parts of a design. Previously, if a user copied and rotated a piece of a design that contained dimensions, the dimension text would rotate as well. Now, dimensions are automatically scaled and rotated so that they are always in the correct orientation and readable.

Various text elements can be associated with an ArtiosCAD file. This text may include annotations, prompted text in Reports and database information. ArtiosCAD now provides a spell check, to check the spelling of all text associated with a design. Spelling can be checked throughout an entire design or in any of the places where ArtiosCAD users create text. This significantly reduces the opportunity for operator error.

‘The new features in ArtiosCAD 7.0 are noteworthy because they provide users more power with their customers - by demonstrating more board materials that are relevant and perhaps exclusive to their businesses, providing better 3D visualization of product displays, and delivering tools that make them more efficient, and thus faster, in their work,’ remarked Jan De Roeck, Esko’s marketing director for packaging software. ‘All of these features enable everyone in the packaging supply chain to visualize packaging faster, thus developing packaging that is delivered to market faster.’