Ashlar-Vellum
Ashlar-Vellum, a dba of Ashlar Incorporated, is a leading developer of Computer-aided design (CAD) and 3D modeling software for both the Macintosh and Microsoft Windows platforms. Ashlar-Vellum’s hallmark is it’s powerful, yet elegantly simple user interface, pioneered in 1988 by Dr. Martin Newell and Dan Fitzpatrick featuring the patented Drafting Assistant.
Originally founded in Sunnyvale, California, Ashlar Incorporated is now headquartered in Austin, Texas with additional offices in Kiev, Ukraine.
The Designer Elements Product Family
The Ashlar-Vellum product family features the Designer Elements including Graphite, Cobalt, Xenon and Argon.
Graphite
Graphite offers powerful, precision 2D and 3D wireframe drafting that is easy enough to be productive even when used only occasionally. Running on Mac and Windows, Graphite provides an interface that lets creative people draw freely with worrying about how to run their software.
Create 2D and 3D precision wireframe drawings of unlimited complexity and detail. Whether it’s a simple sketch, an elaborate architectural design or a precision engineering drawing, Graphite helps express ideas clearly and completely in the fastest way possible.
Graphite is the modern successor to Ashlar’s earlier Vellum program, originally released in 1989. Introduced in 2001, Graphite successfully competes with AutoCAD LT and VectorWorks.
Cobalt
Cobalt is Ashlar-Vellum’s top-level product for 3D modeling and CAD on Mac and Windows. It powerfully integrates advanced parametric wireframe, freeform surfacing, advanced feature-based solid modeling and photo-realistic rendering all using the intuitive Vellum interface. Everything in Cobalt is fully history-driven with advanced associativity and powerful 2D equation-driven parametrics and constraints. Cobalt easily creates virtually any form and facilitates effortless design changes. It offers an enhanced interface, powerful surfacing tools, advanced mold design tools, improved detailing, and powerful engineering features. Cobalt also includes a library of 149,000 mechanical parts.
Cobalt is the successor to Ashlar’s earlier Vellum Solids program released in 1998. Debuted in 2001, Cobalt competes with SolidWorks, Catia and Pro/Engineer. The advantage of Cobalt over any of these programs is that Cobalt’s parametrics are on-demand so that they can be used or not as desired. With the competitive products parametrics must be used at all times, even when just doing initial concepts. Cobalt assists designers to think through an idea in 3 dimensions, not just document a finished idea.
Xenon
Xenon is the mid-level product in Ashlar-Vellum’s Designer Elements line of 3D modeling and CAD software for product design on Mac and Windows. It is especially for designers and creative professionals producing consumer and artistic products with a high degree of aesthetic value, customization and complex shapes. Xenon's complete set of tools within the Vellum interface provides integrated 2D/3D sketching, concept development, design visualization, photorealistic rendering, and precision engineering drawings. Unique hybrid solid and surface modeling offers the flexibility to work in any way, with speed and power. Associativity and history-based modeling make design changes simple.
Argon
Argon is intended for those needing precision 3D without parametric history getting in the way. Its hybrid solid and surface modeling capabilities provide extreme flexibility in shape design combined with data accuracy. This aids data translation and easy collaboration in the design process. Precision 2D drawings generated directly from the 3D model facilitate manufacturing. Argon is Ashlar-Vellum’s entry-level product in their Designer Elements line of 3D modeling and CAD software on Mac and Windows.
The Vellum Interface
Drafting Assistant
Ashlar-Vellum’s uniquely intuitive software solutions are designed specifically to maximize productivity. Their patented Drafting Assistant makes the next move obvious. It automatically keeps track of all the points and parts of the geometry. By brushing over an entity, the Drafting Assistant wakes up the relevant points such as tangent, on, "center", "midpoint", "parallel" or "perpendiclar", making drafting or modeling incredibly fast and easy.
By simplifying the technical aspects of the design process, Ashlar-Vellum software lets designers focus on their work—not on how to run the software.
Associativity & History Tree
A key feature of Xenon and Cobalt, associativity increases productivity of design iterations by automatically updating all related objects when changes are made to the defining geometry. It also updates the 2D sheet views, preserving any annotations made on the sheets.
A key element of associativity is the history tree which lists features and associations of a model in the order they were created. It facilitates fast changes to a model because features can be selected and edited instead of portions deleted and rebuilt, as is required with programs that do not contain history. Changes are rippled through the entire model and the 2D drawing sheets using associativity.
Dimensionally-constrained, Equation-driven Parametrics
Found in Ashlar-Vellum’s Cobalt and Graphite software, parametrics drive the shape of a design by mathematical equations and relationships. They facilitate the easy creation of part families with varying features. When one dimension changes, others within the model will change or not, according to the equations established to govern those relationships.
As a very simple example, imagine a model where the width is constrained with parameters to always be 30% of the depth. When the depth is changed, the width changes accordingly.
Another simple example is a hole designated as centered on a form. When the form changes size or shape, the hole will adjust to always remain in the geometric center.
Ashlar-Vellum History
Founding
Dr. Martin Newell, the most influential person in CAD usability, founded Ashlar, Incorporated in 1988 with Dan Fitzpatrick in Sunnyvale, California. At Xerox PARC during the 1980s, Dr. Newell researched the interaction between a computer terminal and the computer user contributing to the development of such important tools as the graphical user interface and the computer mouse. After leaving Xerox PARC, Dr. Newell realized his vision of a "heads up" CAD interface, where the user was free to focus on designing without distractions from the application. He developed the Inference Engine and patented this intuitive technology as the Drafting Assistant. The Drafting Assistant is the cornerstone of Ashlar-Vellum's unique user interface.
Vellum
First released in 1988, Ashlar’s Vellum software offered powerful precision drafting with unparalleled ease of use. In 2001 the Vellum product was rebranded as Graphite.
Vellum Solids
Originating in 1998, Vellum Solids was Ashlar’s initial 3D solid and surface modeling, utilizing their unique user interface. In 2001 Vellum Solids was rebranded as Cobalt.