CAD Solutions for Fabric Design Professionals
MP ANEL N EWS
Form-finding and patterning software for AutoCAD
June 2007
IFAI Expo 2007—Las Vegas, October 3-5
The IFAI Expo 2007 will be held in Las Vegas, Nevada on October 3-5. As usual, MPanel will be well repre-
sented by our sales and technical staff from the US, the UK, and Australia. We will be in booth 566 on the show
floor.
This year the IFAI is offering several interesting symposiums and workshops. We are assisting with the presen-
tation of the Design Software Workshop that will be available on Wednesday, October 3. These 2 hour work-
shops will include: Banners and Exhibits, Tents and Tension Structures, and Awnings and Canopies. Workshop
places will be limited, so contact the IFAI soon to ensure your attendance.
It may seem a long way off, but October will be here before you know it. We hope to see you there!
IFAI Magazines for the Tensile Fabric Industry
The IFAI publishes seven magazines that cater for a whole spectrum of fabric industries. Fabric Architecture
and the Review magazines are especially attuned to the tensile fabric market.
The May issue of the Review magazine included an article, A Mighty Draft, about using CAD in the design,
patterning, and production of fabric structures. Timothy Akes, MPanel distributor in America, reported on
the use of MPanel software and one of our drawings was featured on the cover.
The IFAI magazines can now be downloaded from their website in PDF format. Click on the pictures above
to view the latest issue of Review and Fabric Architecture.
MPanel Users… relax, relax, relax
The most common mistake made by MPanel users is not relaxing the mesh enough. The default setting on
MPanel is to relax for 250 iterations, but a complex drawing or geometry will need more.
For example, in the illustration above the red mesh was relaxed for 50 iterations, the green mesh for 500 itera-
tions. Notice the difference in the shape of the cone tent, and also in the panels produced.
A mesh is fully relaxed when it doesn’t change it’s shape on the last relaxation. The mesh movement is re-
ported in the MPanel text window, but comparing the old model with the new model on the screen is your best
check for full relaxation.
Have you downloaded the latest MPanel Maintenance Release?
If you are an MPanel customer with a current Support Contract, you will have automatically received the latest
maintenance release of MPanel v12.2 in April. If you have not done so, please download and install this latest
release of MPanel to keep all of your MPanel features up to date. If you haven’t received this latest update or if
your Support Contract has expired, please contact us for assistance.
And remember, our MPanel Support Team is always there to help when you need assistance. Just call or email
us for advice on how MPanel can best be used in your own design environment .
US and Americas contact:
Australia contact:
UK, Europe and Asia contact:
Timothy Akes
Alan Stewart
Andrew Askwith
CAD Effects, LLC
Structureflex
Meliar Design
10805 Sunset Office Drive, Ste 300
280 Bay Road
Lower Cwm Barns
St. Louis, Missouri 63127 USA
Cheltenham, 3192 Victoria, AU
Llanafan Fawr, Builth Wells,
(314) 631-6300 voice
(03)9581 6150 voice
Powys, Wales, UK LD2 3SG
(314) 754-9388 fax
(03) 9581 6177 fax
+44 (0)1597 860291
takes@cadeffects.com
alan@structureflex.com.au
andrew@meliar.com
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