Esko ArtiosCAD 12 brings a new dimension to structural packaging design

With the introduction of a new major release of ArtiosCAD, version 12, Esko offers a 'paradigm shift' in packaging design from 2D to 3D. Providing tools for 3D design, editing, rendering and visualisation, ArtiosCAD 12 assures that the viability of a package is discovered further upstream in the supply chain. It also provides new tools for packaging design and process integration to help users gain productivity and increase efficiency.

ArtiosCAD is the flagship structural packaging design editor in Esko's software suite with over 13.000 licenses sold worldwide. “It all starts with structure. The structural design determines the placement of the graphics. The package converting is determined by the structure. Structure and graphics, as well as structure and logistics, are brought together with the use of ArtiosCAD. Only ArtiosCAD offers end-to-end communication for the entire packaging supply chain,” says Richard Deroo, Esko Product Manager, Structural Design. “Our commitment to continuously improve our solutions for our customers help them fulfill increased demand to push more products to market faster, at the lowest cost, in a global market.”

Supporting Esko’s vision of shifting design from 2D to 3D, ArtiosCAD 12 brings customers many time-saving features. It has integrated the latest native 3D file import libraries from Esko’s technology partner, Spatial. This offers a speed improvement of over 50%, which means designers will spend less time waiting to import 3D models. Users will also benefit from the 3D import preview feature, allowing them to select individual parts from a model assembly. This lets the structural designer quickly and automatically build a carton around the imported 3D parts to be packaged.

In addition, ArtiosCAD helps to assemble multi-part designs and displays with a number of new time-savings features. For example, with a single mouse click users can fill a carton, case or tray with the product to be packaged. This saves hours developing multi-part designs. Placement of one design within another is now easier with the new Collision Detection feature, which gives visual feedback when the two designs intersect.

"We have been asking for some of the 3D tools that have found their way into ArtiosCAD 12,” comments Chuck Pomles, Senior Packaging Design Engineer at Premier Packaging Inc. “A lot of the work we do is complex â€" assembled fabricated foam protective packaging for electronics companies. These can have as many as 15-25 unique components. As part of our design work, we create manufacturing assembly drawings (how to build and heat weld the pieces together) and customer packing instructions (how to use the packaging to protect the electronic components). Creating these assemblies in ArtiosCAD 3D could take us from 45 minutes to 1½ hours to do. With the new ArtiosCAD 12 Collision Detection feature, with a click, the components are automatically placed in a box. Using the Collision Detection tool along with the Tab Slot tool, these assemblies now only take 5-15 minutes to create. For the projects we have built using ArtiosCAD 12 thus far, I consistently see a phenomenal 75% savings in time."

To accurately communicate printable areas for graphic design, ArtiosCAD 12 is able to show the flap priorities of panels. For Re-Board® and multi-wall displays and designs, ArtiosCAD 12 can add edge bands for finished edge calculations and visualisation, along with building reverse v-notches with partial cuts for accurate conversion of these materials.

One of the fastest growing trends in the industry is Retail Ready & Shelf Ready packaging. IGD shopper research reported that over 90% of shoppers experienced products hard to find, damaged and unavailable. This is driving retailers toward implementing Retail Ready Packaging (RRP) and Shelf Ready Packaging (SRP). According to IGD Retail Analysis over 50% of suppliers facing an increased demand for those projects. Following these trends, ArtiosCAD 12 lets suppliers quickly and easily build RRP designs and automatically create stunning 3D animations. These can accurately show user-defined perforations and tear-away designs required in RRP packaging designs, in addition to the full set of common perforations.  Beta ArtiosCAD 12 customers reported saving hours of time with new automated animations of tear-aways and RRP designs.

The concept of Intelligent Dielines in ArtiosCAD 12 is a set of editing tools that enriches an ArtiosCAD file with detailed panel information, such as ‘Copy free’, along with placeholders for barcodes, nutrition facts and other pre-defined artwork. Brand owners can use the Intelligent Dielines features to communicate brand guidelines within their technical drawings, helping to improve communications between structural and graphic designers.

“ArtiosCAD 12 is fantastic. Esko added all the features that I needed, including some 3D rendering tools I suggested to them,” enthuses Peggy Underwood, Graphic Design Manager at Corrugated Container Corp., a company that focuses on POP and displays for product packaging. “I was trained as a graphic designer and knew that Intelligent Dielines would be very helpful as we send structural designs to graphic designers and ad agencies. Before, to assure designs would be correct, I manually placed the art orientation using Adobe® illustrator® and explained which panels would be printed. Now it’s all done with the click of a button. This probably cuts three-quarters of the time it took in the past.”

“No graphic designer is going to feel so helpless and confused again when looking at flat structure,” adds Underwood. “Some of our projects, including sales kits with many compartments, are very complicated and it is difficult to see which of the pieces are visible in the final layout. Now, there are ‘up’ and ‘down’ arrows to show orientation in the artwork. The 3D views with arrows help designers understand why a panel is in a certain direction. And, with all the 3D tools in ArtiosCAD and Esko Studio, we are able to show our art without having to produce mock-ups. The new Array and Collision tools make packing out our displays very quick and easy, saving us a ton of time.”

Supporting the supply chain downstream, ArtiosCAD 12 supports bi-directional communication between both CAPE and TOPS palletisation software packages. This eliminates the need for structural designers to re-enter data into both systems, removing wasted steps and any potential human error. Additionally the full pallet load can be visualized in ArtiosCAD 3D for high-resolution presentations and reports.

In an industry that is becoming more commoditised, sign and display shops are realizing that the uniqueness of 3D display projects offers higher margins. More and more companies are investing in ArtiosCAD for structural design. ArtiosCAD’s extensive library of resizable display designs helps designers so that they do not have to start from scratch designing new displays. The ArtiosCAD Tab & Slot tool ‘assembles’ components of a display with just a few clicks. The Mate tool helps to build and visualise connected folds and multiple parts. Users can identify glue areas and corresponding targets to quickly connect designs or perform simple assembly of displays. Curved Creases, a patent pending technology only available in ArtiosCAD, makes it easy for designers to work with curved folds and cuts by allowing them to visualize designs with curved creases as part of its 3D module. Support for thicker materials such as Re-board, along with correctly designing V-notches and edge bands makes it easier to visualize and convert designs of this material.

ArtiosCAD is available in two versions: the standard version and ArtiosCAD 12 Enterprise, enabling global “cloud” sharing and collaboration with WebCenter 12. With ArtiosCAD 12 Enterprise, all assets are centralised in a corporate private cloud, a secure web-accessible database enabling dynamic online collaboration between design groups, CAD and graphic designers, suppliers, brand owners and production. An easy to use online dashboard provides real-time feedback on project status, task lists and other parameters. An embedded design browser lets users easily search designs on production dies. To maintain file and project integrity, global and template-based project and document auto-numbering and naming allows the organisation to uniquely name each asset.

"I am also looking forward to the increased search ability in ArtiosCAD Enterprise, whether it is Internet or intranet based,” adds Pomles. “We have existing designs in our database and using ArtiosCAD Enterprise we now have a very quick searchable reference. While I certainly like getting design requests off the Internet, it is even a greater timesaver to be able to search existing designs. What used to take 10-15 minutes now takes as fast as I can type."

For more information, please visit www.esko.com