Welcome to September of our Ask an Applied Engineer series! Each month, our engineers answer your most pressing questions.
Whether you’re troubleshooting software challenges or seeking industry advice, our team is here to help you succeed.
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This month, we’re answering questions about custom AI agents in Designcenter CAD (formerly NX CAD) and the trade-offs between a top-down and a bottom-up design approach.
Question #1
Q: Can you custom build AI agents into NX?
A: Siemens offers an AI Copilot for Designcenter X (formerly NX X) users and continues to expand its capabilities. Because it requires access to Siemens-hosted servers, it is unavailable without a Designcenter X license. If you’re a customer of ours, contact your Applied CAx Account Executive for more information about Designcenter X.
Designcenter CAD can be integrated with a local LLM or an AI provider’s API through NXOpen. However, Siemens considers this an edge case and does not support the integration process. NXOpen supports multiple programming languages for customizing and automating Designcenter CAD, but users are responsible for building an interface for an external agent.
If your workflow includes NX CAM, consider the Feature Based Machining module, which offers extensive automation and customization for generating CAM operations.
Answered by Troy Petrowicz, NX Application Engineer at Applied CAx
Question #2
Q: When designing a complex assembly with many parts, what are the trade-offs between a top-down and a bottom-up design approach in NX CAD? How do I decide which one is appropriate for my project?
A: There are no significant trade-offs between the two approaches; the choice depends on your company’s workflow and product design process.
A top-down approach is ideal when designing components from scratch within defined envelope and clearance requirements. It allows you to reference existing geometry and design each component in the context of the assembly.
A bottom-up approach is better when working with existing components, COTS items, or parts with fixed geometry. These components can be assembled and constrained to meet the design intent. The power of Designcenter CAD is the ability to combine both approaches and modify components within the assembly to refine clearances and envelope constraints.
Answered by Troy Petrowicz, NX Application Engineer at Applied CAx
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