BROOMFIELD, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Spatial Corp., the leading provider of 3D development software components for design, manufacturing and engineering applications, has announced the R23 release of 3D ACIS® Modeler and 3D InterOp for CAD file translation. This latest release delivers a combination of enhancements to existing functionality and additional market-driven features, as well as the introduction of new components to better address the needs of 3D application developers. “R23 is a substantial release because it contains so much development driven directly by customer input,” explained Ray Bagley, Spatial Director of Product Planning and Management. “Whether they are tactical enhancements to 3D InterOp, like importing hidden entities from Creo, or following strategic goals like multi-threading the faceting algorithms in 3D ACIS Modeler, we continually seek to build the best product roadmap around our customers’ goals.”
One of the new component options available to developers is a set of 3D InterOp Graphical translators. Using these new translators, developers have access to the native graphical representation of the original CAD model, including graphical PMI, for all 3D InterOp supported formats. The ability to extract graphical information, independent of other data, is a substantial boost in the functionality of 3D InterOp, enables a broad range of workflows, and addresses a high priority need of 3D application developers. “With access to both the tessellated data and the graphical PMI, developers are much closer to having behavior identical to opening the file in the originating CAD system with regards to functionality and performance,” explained Vivekan Iyengar, Director of Interoperability for Spatial.
Most application developers will benefit from performance improvements in both 3D ACIS Modeler and 3D InterOp. As part of Spatial’s continuing multi-core strategy, 3D ACIS Modeler includes support for multi-threaded faceting with thread management handled completely within the modeler. Restoring of SAB models, a function used by most ACIS applications, brings dramatic speed improvements. For 3D InterOp, enhancements to most of the translators also deliver significant performance improvements. Application developers can combine the performance enhancements to 3D ACIS Modeler and 3D InterOp to achieve optimal results.
Three New Translators Plus Additional Enhancements in 3D InterOp
The R23 release includes updates to provide support for the latest CAD file formats. With the introduction of 3D InterOp Graphical, developers can take advantage of new support for 3DXML for the import and export of graphical geometry and graphical PMI. This new capability enables sharing and collaboration through a light-weight 3D publishing format.
New 3D InterOp translators are available for the Parasolid, SolidWorks, and Unigraphics NX file formats which do not rely on the availability of 3rd party software products. These new “Direct” translators are available in addition to the existing translators for these formats. Developers continue to have the option of leveraging native libraries if they are available.
The R23 release of 3D InterOp includes a host of format-specific enhancements. For details, consult the “R23 Release Notes for 3D InterOp“.
3D ACIS Modeler Includes Feature Detection, Fuzzy Boolean Improvements and More
Driven by the ongoing priority for advancements to core algorithms, 3D ACIS Modeler extends Boolean and Stitching capabilities. 3D ACIS Modeler includes enhancements to several of the Fuzzy Boolean operations. These types of operations are especially useful in applications which use an approximation of a piece of geometry in a Boolean operation. ACIS is now better able to handle near-coincidence between surfaces that previously would have resulted in sliver faces, performance problems, or even failure.
New cellular topology capabilities allow developers to attach attributes, such as material properties, to volumetric cells. These attributes can then migrate through Boolean and Glue operations. Additional enhancements to the Glue operation provide non-regularized unite capabilities. This is especially useful in flows where manifold solid bodies are joined along coincident faces, providing a big gain in performance compared to using the standard unite operator.
Seeded feature detection is also available in 3D ACIS Modeler R23. This new capability offers significant benefits to direct-modeling applications and other workflows. Feature detection functionality helps in the identification of protrusion and depression features as well as blends. Developers have the flexibility to specify whether or not the blends at the boundary of a depression or protrusion feature are to be included as part of the feature.
3D ACIS Modeler also includes new APIs for the extrusion of simple planar faces with unnecessary error checking and other overhead eliminated. This new API is up to 90% faster and offers significant benefit to industries such as EDA, CAE, and AEC.
“Intergraph utilizes the 3D ACIS Modeler in large-scale design processes, the automatic creation of large and complex engineering drawings, and the generation of high-quality manufacturing data. The application of the 3D ACIS Modeler involves ‘high volume modeling’ workflows where performance, stability, and robustness are mission critical to our success, “ said Bucky Howell, Executive Manager at Intergraph. “The new functionality in the R23 release provides significant value for continued improvements in our applications. Most notable, the buffered SAB file restore offers significant improvements in the retrieval of large amounts of data, and the edge sampling API will improve workflows for inputs with high curvature, common in the shipbuilding industry.”
For a complete list of improvements see the “R23 Release Notes for 3D ACIS Modeler”.
About Spatial
Spatial Corp., a Dassault Systèmes subsidiary, is the leading provider of 3D development software components for technical applications across a broad range of industries. Spatial 3D modeling, 3D visualization, and CAD translation software components help application developers deliver market-leading products, maintain focus on core competencies, and reduce time-to-market. For 25 years, spatial 3D components have been adopted by many of the world's most recognized software developers, manufacturers, research institutes, and universities. Headquartered in Broomfield, Colorado, Spatial has offices in the USA, Germany, Japan, China and the United Kingdom. For more information, visit www.spatial.com.
ACIS and SAT are registered trademarks of Spatial Corp. Other brand and product names are trademarks of their respective owners. Copyright © 2012 Spatial Corp.
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