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Small improvements add up

Written by nTop

Published on October 10, 2022

October 2022

In engineering product development, continuous improvements in time-constrained intervals can quickly add up. We follow a similar agile process to develop our design software. This month’s newsletter highlights incremental improvements that make your work in nTop more streamlined and immersive.

Don’t forget to click the Update Available button to download the newest version of nTop.

New product updates

Faster latticing (and other improvements)

Last month, we released a series of improvements that make using nTop faster and more intuitive.

Beam & Face Lattices: We changed the logic used to thicken the beams or faces of a Lattice. The thickness is now evaluated only at the nodes and interpolated between them. The result is a considerable speed boost! For example, the field-driven lattice of the image above now generates in 0.9 seconds from 12.5 seconds—more than 12x faster! Learn more.

Voronoi Lattices: The algorithm of the Voronoi Volume Lattice block was enhanced to run significantly faster when you provide an optional Surface Mesh. The speed increase depends on your model. In our tests, lattices that used to take 90 seconds now generate in just 4 seconds—that’s a 22x increase! Learn more.

Topology Optimization: We have added a "Halt Process" option to stop a running optimization block and keep the results of the last completed iteration. If you want to restart the optimization, you can use the density property from the halted block as an input field of a new block. Learn more.

Slicing: We added a new option to our hatching blocks that allows you to specify the hatching angle of your choice. Learn more.

New content and resources

A closer look at the nTop notebook

The nTop Notebook is integral to nTop’s interface. In this article, John Piotrowski, Product Manager of Platform Experience at nTop, delves deeper into the core elements of the nTop Notebook.

Learn more about the origins of the nTop Notebook and how we drew inspiration from Google Docs to develop new features that help increase your productivity and stay in the flow.

Read Article

Architected materials for impact absorption

Architected materials and additive manufacturing unlock new opportunities for managing impact absorption.

This article describes how to maximize impact absorption using the right design methodology and tools to maximize impact absorption.

Read Article

Quote of the month

"All creative people want to do the unexpected."

— Hedy Lamarr, Actress & Inventor

She starred in films during the Golden Age of Hollywood and invented the technology that is the basis of today’s WiFi, GPS, and Bluetooth communication systems.

That’s all we’ve got for this month. If monthly updates aren’t enough nTop for you, find us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube.

Until next month,

The nTop team

nTop

nTop (formerly nTopology) was founded in 2015 with the belief that engineers’ ability to innovate shouldn’t be limited by their design software. Built on proprietary technologies that upend the constraints of traditional CAD software while integrating seamlessly into existing processes, nTop allows designers in every industry to create complex geometries, optimize instantaneously, and automate workflows to develop breakthrough 3D-printed parts in record time.

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