NX, formerly known as "UG". In 2000 Unigraphics purchased SDRC I-DEAS and began an effort to integrate the best of both software packages into a single product when became Unigraphics NX or usually just NX, is an advanced high-end CAD/CAM/CAE, since 2007 owned by ^[1] by Siemens PLM Software.^[2]

It is used, among other tasks, for:

• Design (parametric and direct solid/surface modelling)
• Engineering analysis (static; dynamic; electro-magnetic; thermal, using the finite element method; and fluid, using the finite volume method).
• Manufacturing finished design by using included machining modules.

NX is a direct competitor to TopSolid, CATIA, Creo, Autodesk Inventor, and SolidWorks.

History

1972: United Computing, Inc. releases UNIAPT, one of the world's first end-user CAM products.

1973: The company purchases the Automated Drafting and Machining (ADAM) software code from MCS in 1973. The code became a foundation for a product called UNI-GRAPHICS, later sold commercially as Unigraphics in 1975.

1976 McDonnell Douglas Corporation buys United Computing.

1983: UniSolids V1.0 is released, marking the industry's first true interactive Solid Modeling software offering.

1991: During a period of financial difficulties McDonnell Douglas Automation Company (McAuto) sells its commercial services organization, including the Unigraphics organization and product, to EDS which at that time is owned by GM.^[3] Unigraphics becomes GM's corporate CAD system.

1992: Over 21,000 seats of Unigraphics are being used worldwide.^[4]

1996: Unigraphics V11.0 is released with enhancements in Industrial Design and Modeling including Bridge Surface, Curvature Analysis for Curve and Surfaces, Face Blends, Variable Offset Surface, etc. In the area of Assembly Modeling the new capabilities include Component Filters, Faceted Representations, and Clearance Analysis between multiple Components. A fully integrated Spreadsheet linked to Feature-Based Modeling is also included..

2002 First release of the new "Next Generation" version of Unigraphics and I-DEAS, called NX, beginning the transition to bring the functionality and capabilities of both Unigraphics and I-DEAS together into a single consolidated product.

2007 Introduction of Synchronous Technology in NX 5.^[5][6]

2011 Release of NX8 on October 17-2011

2013 Release of NX9 (x64 only) on October 14-2013

Release history

Key functions

• Computer-aided design (CAD) (Design)^[19]
  • Parametric solid modeling (feature-based and direct modeling^[20])
  • Freeform surface modelling, class A surfaces.
  • Reverse engineering^[21]
  • Styling and computer-aided industrial design
  • Engineering drawing (Drafting)
  • Product and manufacturing information (PMI)
  • Reporting and analytics,^[22] verification and validation^[23]
  • Knowledge reuse, including knowledge-based engineering
  • Sheet metal design
  • Assembly modelling^[24] and digital mockup
  • Routing for electrical wiring and mechanical piping
• Computer-aided engineering (CAE) (Simulation)
  • Stress analysis / finite element method (FEM)
  • Kinematics
  • Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and thermal analysis
• Computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) (Manufacturing) ()^[25]
  • Numerical control (NC) programming

Supported operating systems and platforms

NX runs on Linux, Microsoft Windows and Mac OS.

Architecture

NX uses Parasolid for its Geometric modeling kernel and D-Cubed as Associative engine for sketcher and assembly constraints as well as using JT (visualization format)^[26] for lightweight data and Multi-CAD.

See also

• TopSolid
• AutoForm
• Solid Edge
• I-DEAS
• NX Nastran
• CATIA
• PTC Creo Elements/Pro
• SolidWorks
• Autodesk Inventor