NX, formerly known as "Unigraphics", is CAD/CAM/CAE software, which has been owned since 2007 by Siemens Digital Industries Software. In 2000, Unigraphics purchased SDRC I-DEAS and began an effort to integrate aspects of both software packages into a single product which became Unigraphics NX or NX.
It is used, among other tasks, for: Design (parametric and direct solid/surface modelling) Engineering analysis (static; dynamic; electro-magnetic; thermal, using the finite element method; and fluid, using the finite volume method). Manufacturing finished design by using included machining modules.
NX is a direct competitor to CATIA, SolidWorks, Creo, and Autodesk Inventor.
History 1972: United Computing, Inc. releases UNIAPT, one of the world's first end-user CAM products.
1973: The company purchases the Automated Drafting and Machining (ADAM) software code from MCS in 1973. The code became a foundation for a product called UNI-GRAPHICS, later sold commercially as Unigraphics in 1975.
1976: McDonnell Douglas Corporation buys United Computing.
1983: UniSolids V1.0 is released, marking the industry's first true interactive Solid Modeling software offering.
1991: During a period of financial difficulties McDonnell Douglas Automation Company (McAuto) sells its commercial services organization, including the Unigraphics organization and product, to EDS which at that time is owned by GM. Unigraphics becomes GM's corporate CAD system.
1992: Over 21,000 seats of Unigraphics are being used worldwide.
1996: Unigraphics V11.0 is released with enhancements in Industrial Design and Modeling including Bridge Surface, Curvature Analysis for Curve and Surfaces, Face Blends, Variable Offset Surface, etc. In the area of Assembly Modeling the new capabilities include Component Filters, Faceted Representations, and Clearance Analysis between multiple Components. A fully integrated Spreadsheet linked to Feature-Based Modeling is also included..
2002: First release of the new "Next Generation" version of Unigraphics and I-DEAS, called NX, beginning the transition to bring the functionality and capabilities of both Unigraphics and I-DEAS together into a single consolidated product.
2007: Introduction of Synchronous Technology in NX 5.
2011: Release of NX8 on October 17-2011
2013: Release of NX9 (x64 only) on October 14-2013
Release history Name/Version Version History Value Release date End of Standard MaintenanceLicense Service VersionSupported Operating Systems (as of 6/20/2022) Unigraphics R1 April 1978 Unigraphics R2 July 1978 Unigraphics R3 October 1978 Unigraphics R4 March 1979 Unigraphics D1 December 1979 Unigraphics D2 September 1980 Unigraphics D3.0 April 1982 Unigraphics D4.0 September 1982 Unigraphics II 1.0 August 1983 Unigraphics I D5.0 March 1984 Unigraphics II 2.0 March 1985 Unigraphics I D6.0 August 1985 Unigraphics II 3.0 November 1985 Unigraphics II 4.0 November 1986 Unigraphics II 5.0 October 1987 Unigraphics II 6.0 December 1988 Unigraphics II 7.0 December 1989 v7.0 Unigraphics 8.0 March 1991 v8.0 Unigraphics II 9.0 August 1992 v9.0 Unigraphics 10.3 June 1994 v10.0 Unigraphics 11.0 January 1996 v11.0 Unigraphics 12.0 January 1997 v12.0 Unigraphics 13.0 July 1997 v13.0 Unigraphics 14 6/22/1998 v14.0 Unigraphics 15.0 November 1998 v15.0 Unigraphics 16.0 September 1999 v16.0 Unigraphics 17.0 October 2000 v17.0 Unigraphics 18.0 July 2001 v18.0 Unigraphics NX July 2002 v19.0 NX 2 v20.0 NX 3 v21.0 NX 4 v22.0 NX 5 4/16/2007 v23.0 NX 6 5/20/2008 v24.0 NX 7 5/20/2010 v25.0NX7.5 v26.0 NX 8.0 10/17/2011March 31, 2014 v27.08.0.1June 30, 20148.0.2March 31, 20158.0.3March 31, 2015NX8.5March 31, 2014 v28.08.5.1December 31, 20148.5.2March 31, 20158.5.3December 31, 2015 NX 9.0 10/14/2013September 27, 2014 v29.09.0.1March 31, 20169.0.2June 30, 20169.0.3September 27, 2016 NX 10.0 12/14/2014December 19, 2015 v30.0Windows 7, Windows 8 & 8.1, Windows 10, RedHat Linux 6, RedHat Linux 7.0-7.5, RedHat Linux 7.6, SuSE Linux 11, SuSE Linux 12, SuSE Linux 12 SP1, Mac OS X 10.8, Mac OS X 10.9, Mac OS X 10.1010.0.1December 31, 201610.0.2March 30, 201710.0.3November 9, 2017NX11.009/08/2016 January 29, 2018 v31.0Windows 7, Windows 8 & 8.1, Windows 10, RedHat Linux 7.0-7.5, RedHat Linux 7.6, SuSE Linux 12, SuSE Linux 12 SP1, Mac OS X 10.10, Mac OS X 10.11, Mac OS X 10.1211.0.1July 19, 201811.0.2December 21, 2018NX12.010/27/2017May 17, 2018 v32.0Windows 10, RedHat Linux 7.0-7.5, RedHat Linux 7.6, SuSE Linux 12, SuSE Linux 12 SP1, Mac OS X 10.1212.0.1October 11, 201812.0.2December 31, 2019NX18471/18/2019 (NX Continuous Release Started)January 1, 2020 v33.0Windows 10, RedHat Linux 7.0-7.5, RedHat Linux 7.6, SuSE Linux 12, SuSE Linux 12 SP1NX18726/26/2019June 28, 2020 v34.0Windows 10, RedHat Linux 7.0-7.5, RedHat Linux 7.6, SuSE Linux 12, SuSE Linux 12 SP1NX1899December 2019December 13, 2020 v35.0Windows 10, RedHat Linux 7.6, SuSE Linux 12 SP1NX1926June 2020June 30, 2021 v36.0Windows 10, Windows Server 2019, RedHat Linux 7.6, SuSE Linux 15NX1953December 2020December 17, 2021 v37.0Windows 10, Windows Server 2019, RedHat Linux 7.6, SuSE Linux 15NX1980June 2021June 30, 2022 v38.0Windows 10, Windows Server 2019, RedHat Linux 7.6, SuSE Linux 15NX2007December 2021December 16, 2022 v39.0Windows 10, Windows Server 2019, Windows 11, Windows Server 2022, RedHat Linux 7.6, SuSE Linux 15NX2206June 2022 (Bi-Annual Naming Convention started)June 16, 2023 v40.0Windows 10, Windows Server 2019, Windows 11, Windows Server 2022, RedHat Linux 7.6, SuSE Linux 15NX2212December 2022December 15, 2023 v41.0Windows 10, Windows Server 2019, Windows 11, Windows Server 2022, RedHat Linux 7.6, SuSE Linux 15NX2306June 2023June 14, 2024 v2023.06Windows 10, Windows Server 2019, Windows 11, Windows Server 2022, RedHat Linux 7.6, SuSE Linux 15NX2312December 2023December 13, 2024Windows 10, Windows Server 2019, Windows 11, Windows Server 2022, RedHat Linux 8, SuSE Linux 15NX2406June 2024Windows 10, Windows Server 2019, Windows 11, Windows Server 2022, RedHat Linux 8, SuSE Linux 15NX2412December 2024Windows 10, Windows Server 2019, Windows 11, Windows Server 2022, RedHat Linux 8, SuSE Linux 15NX2506June 2025Windows 10, Windows Server 2019, Windows 11, Windows Server 2022, RedHat Linux 8, SuSE Linux 15NX2512December 2025Windows 10, Windows Server 2019, Windows 11, Windows Server 2022, RedHat Linux 8, SuSE Linux 15Designcenter NX2606June 2026Microsoft Windows 11 , RedHat Linux 9, SuSE Linux 15
Key functions
Computer-aided design (CAD) Parametric solid modeling (feature-based and direct modeling) Freeform surface modelling, class A surfaces. Reverse engineering Styling and computer-aided industrial design Product and manufacturing information (PMI) Reporting and analytics, verification and validation Knowledge reuse, including knowledge-based engineering Sheet metal design Assembly modelling and digital mockup Routing for electrical wiring and mechanical piping Computer-aided engineering (CAE) Stress analysis / finite element method (FEM) Kinematics Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and thermal analysis Computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) Numerical control (NC) programming
Supported operating systems and platforms NX runs on Linux, Microsoft Windows and Mac OS (Up to NX12).
Starting with version 12, support for Windows versions prior to Windows 10 were removed.
Starting with version 1847, support for macOS was completely removed, and the GUI was removed from the Linux version.
Architecture NX uses Parasolid for its geometric modeling kernel and D-Cubed as associative engine for sketcher and assembly constraints as well as using JT (visualization format) for lightweight data and Multi-CAD.
See also CATIA FreeCAD I-DEAS Inventor PTC Creo Solid Edge SolidWorks List of 3D printing software List of computer-aided manufacturing software List of aerospace engineering software
Further reading
References
Gallery
:Category:Screenshots of NX (Unigraphics)
External links