PTC’s browser-based CAD platform gets a long-awaited addition, now available in beta.
Welcome to Engineering Paper, where every week we bring you the hottest headlines and headiest hot takes from the world of design and simulation software.
Let’s start with some breaking news: Today PTC announced CAM Studio for Onshape, a new computer-aided manufacturing environment for the cloud CAD platform. A beta of CAM Studio is available now for Onshape Professional and Enterprise subscribers.
CAM Studio supports 2.5 and basic 3-axis machining for common manufacturing strategies and machines, according to Onshape. Just as with CAD data, Onshape will provide versioning, branching and merging functions for CAM strategies.
There will also be a premium version, CAM Studio Advanced, that will support advanced 3-axis, 3+2 axis, 4-axis, and 5-axis machining strategies, as well as advanced mill and turning machines. CAM Studio Advanced will not be included with any Onshape subscription and will instead be available as a separate purchase, though Onshape has yet to announce its price or release date.
PTC describes CAM Studio as “one of the most requested features in Onshape’s history,” and it really does feel like the last puzzle piece for the platform. What began with browser-based CAD has steadily expanded its scope to PDM, simulation, PCB design, rendering, and now CAM—rounding off Onshape into an end-to-end design platform.
Stay tuned for details as we learn more about CAM Studio, and let me know your thoughts and questions about the release at [email protected].
Motif raises $46 million for next-gen BIM software
Engineering software startup Motif announced that it’s raised $46 million towards its goal of revolutionizing building design. Motif believes that building design software is outdated, overdue for an overhaul. They want to revitalize it with modern techniques like cloud computing and machine learning.
Not only is Motif flush with funds, it’s helmed by an experienced leadership team. That includes CEO Amar Hanspal, former co-CEO and chief product officer at Autodesk, and CTO Brian Matthews, former VP of platform engineering at… Autodesk. What do you know, Autodesk is also on the résumés of Motif’s VP of product Matt Jezyk and Motif’s VP of design Lira Nikolovska, who both worked on Autodesk’s industry-dominating BIM platform, Revit.
In a blog post about Motif’s vision, Hanspal laments a “lack of innovation” in BIM software due to “complacency among incumbent vendors with near-monopolistic control.” He doesn’t go so far as to name names, so there’s really no way to know who he’s talking about. Yet I can’t help but feel that, like a magic eye puzzle, the answer is hiding in plain sight.
Altair Enlighten Award open for submissions
The Altair Enlighten Award, which honors sustainable and lightweight design in the automotive industry, is officially open for 2025 submissions. Now in its 13th year, the annual award is presented in association with the Center for Automotive Research (CAR).
There are seven award categories this year: sustainable product, sustainable process, sustainable computing, responsible AI, module lightweighting, enabling technology, and future of lightweighting. The deadline to apply is June 16, 2025. Altair and CAR will present the awards on September 16, 2025 in Detroit, Michigan.
Think you got the light stuff? Apply here.
The Engineer’s Guide to Digital Transformation
This newsletter may be about software, but let’s not forget that there are real people using that software. Or real AI agents, programmed by real people, or maybe programmed by different AI agents, but someone probably had to program those. Point is, there are people somewhere, and if you’re a person too, you may enjoy The Engineer’s Guide to Digital Transformation.
This 77-page e-book is all about the human element of digital transformation. Written by Peter Carr, author and instructor of the University of Waterloo Watspeed Digital Transformation Certificate Program, it’s chock-full of accessible advice for planning, executing and leading digital change at any organization. Because digital transformation isn’t as simple as downloading some shiny software and bracing for metamorphosis. It needs to be a measured, collaborative strategy that spans your whole organization, humans and all.
This e-book has been a long time in the making, and I’m thrilled it’s finally available for you to read (or for your AI agent to ingest and summarize). Best of all, it’s free—and if you can’t afford that, we’ll send you two copies on the house. Here’s one to get you started.
One last link
To tariff or not to tariff? That is the question. If you’re watching the maybe trade war possibly unfold, perhaps you’d enjoy 13 KPIs to track the impact of 25% tariffs on your manufacturing company by my definite colleague Michael Ouellette.
Got news, tips, comments, or complaints? Send them my way: [email protected].
