PlanetCAD.com is a new web portal developed
by Spatial, Inc as the home base for its three online applications. The
launch was announced in a press
release of 12 June, three days after CADinfo.NET visited PlanetCAD.com
in Boulder, Colorado.
The new Web applications business is
developing in parallel with Spatial’s main business of providing 3D
solid modeling technology. Spatial is the developer of the ACIS solid
modeling engine. ACIS is widely deployed in more than 215 applications
used by more than 1.5 million people around the world. ACIS is used in CAD
programs such as AutoCAD, TurboCAD, Vellum Solids, IronCAD, MegaCAD and
CADKEY to name just a few.
In news just to hand (5 July
2000), Spatial has
announced that it intends to sell its Component Business Division to
Dassault Systèmes. This division is responsible for all 3D components for
solid modeling with its flagship ACIS® 3D geometrical modeler,
IntraVISION and JetScream visualization product lines, and CAD/CAM
interoperability with its 3D data translation and healing tools and
services. All intellectual property will transfer to Dassault and trade as a
Dassault subsidiary trading under the Spatial name. Mike Payne, current
CTO of Dassault Systèmes, will become CEO, and Dick Sowar, CTO and
chairman of Spatial, will remain in a leadership role within the new
company.
This news turns upside down a perceived
towering strength that existed in PlanetCAD.com being so closely linked to
Spatial. 3Dshare.com and 3Dpublish.com applications are both based on the
same ACIS 3D technology that Spatial licenses to many different CAD
software developers. Improvements to online applications working on ACIS-based models can be made in very short order for instant use online.
These benefits would also trickle down to desktop software users, but over a
much longer timeframe. However at least one ACIS customer is not perturbed
by the departure of ACIS to Dassault. Robert
"Buzz" Kross of Autodesk's Mechanical Division commented
"Spatial did a great job when they became their own customer--that
they put a lot more effort into error checking and into performance. Even
now that Dassault is taking over the ACIS technology, Spatial still will
have an important relationship with the ACIS development team and continue
to leverage that technology."
The impending separation of PlanetCAD.com and
Spatial certainly enhances PlanetCAD's neutrality as an information
provider with balanced editorial content. With its future ahead
disconnected from the 3D technology that was the original backbone of the
parent that spawned it, PlanetCAD.com has no fall-back position.
The three foundation applications at the heart of
PlanetCAD are detailed below. 3DShare.com and 3DPublish.com are based on
Spatial's core 3D technology and expertise. Bits2Parts.com provides a
valuable service for businesses that need 3D prototypes and those that
produce them. Indications are that further applications will come online
in coming months and these will also offer new services to the mechanical
engineering and manufacturing community.
3DShare.com
3DShare.com
(originally launched as 3Dmodelserver.com) provides online model
translation and healing services. Problems in translation between various
systems will always occur because each developer’s tools interpret data
differently. The problem is complex and tackled with varying degrees of
success by CAD system developers. The same model exported from different
CAD packages can produce very different results. The reality is that
models require a significant amount of fix-up time to successfully move
data between packages or systems. 3DShare.com can automate a large part of
the translation massage task.
According to Spatial, it's not perfect and
some manual model cleanup might still be required. However in many cases,
manual clean up is not required and if it is, the amount of work required
is very much diminished on what it would have been without 3DShare
processing. Problems in translation are very quickly fed back into the
applications development process. Fine-tuning the application is a
constant process and changes are made weekly. Spatial asserts that if your
model cannot be correctly translated today, chances are that next week
3DShare will probably be able to handle it with much better results.
To use 3DShare you must register yourself
as a user. This is done online naturally, and registration information is
sent to you by return email. Then you can login and submit model data for
translation and healing. 3DShare offers an unconditional money back guarantee on the service, which eliminates any satisfaction risk.
3DShare
has a specific data security and privacy statement available online.
Spatial impressed up me the importance of data security to the 3DShare
service and its regard for the subject is commendable. I suspect that in
the majority of cases the security available is more than adequate. For
those situations where it is not, the penalty of secrecy is in the much
higher cost of performing the same task in-house.
Cost for translation and healing services
is based on the size of the model.
3DPublish.com is a
service that enables users to extract a high quality publishable image
from model data. It’s one thing to have a model spinning around in 3D
space on the desktop and quite another to present it as a high quality
image in a proposal or report. The creation of high quality presentation
images is exactly what 3DPublish.com is good at.
Based on Spatial’s iBatch graphic
manipulation system in tandem with IntraVision technology, 3Dpublish can
generate images from 3D CAD formats such as DWG, DXF, CGM, SAT, IGES 3D,
STEP, STL, VDA-FS and VRML. 2D output formats include PostScript, CGM,
JPEG, PCX, RTL, CALS Raster, TIFF, Interleaf, Framemaker and HP-GL.
The entire model upload and image retrieval
process is conducted through a browser using industry-standard security
protocols.
Anyone who has tried to get a decent image
from a CAD file knows just how time-consuming and frustrating this
exercise can be. 3DPublish.com really does make it a simple matter indeed.
For all the benefits
of electronic design and the marvels of visualization, nothing beats
holding the finished part in your hands. Better still, to really appreciate
a design solution try fitting a part into an assembly where it’s supposed to go. Generating a real 3D part without resort to the workshop is
easily done by a variety of rapid prototyping processes that can generate
physical models from electronic data. The variety of processes and
different specializations surrounding the creation of physical models can
present hurdles if experience in rapid prototyping is low. Trial and error
can be an expensive exercise and the more help you can get during the
learning curve the better.
Of the many businesses that could use rapid
prototyping technology only a fraction could justify having a rapid
prototyping machine in-house. They’re big, they’re expensive and they
require a specialized contingent of people around them to get the work
done. Outsourcing prototype parts production makes sense, but if you’re
new to this where do you start? If you’re an old hand at this maybe
there’s room in a new project to try a different supplier or a different
technology. Some technologies are better suited to different end uses.
Bits2Parts.com provides a smooth connection
between people with design data and people with rapid prototyping
facilities. The service is an intelligent way to connect with rapid
prototyping services, get quotes on specific projects and facilitate the
transaction.
CADinfo.NET has something of an advantage
at the moment in already having seen inside the system which is currently
in closed beta. Bits2Parts.com provides a centralized point for designers
to manage requests for quotation (RFQs) on parts production from a variety
of service providers. The list of providers will come from the independent
Rapid Prototyping Directory covering the gamut of service providers in
this field.
Data collection in preparing RFQs is
intelligent and based on information input as the forms are completed.
This eliminates unnecessary questions for a particular process yet ensures
that all essential information is collected. A CAD model file can be
uploaded for inclusions with the RFQ. Appropriate service providers can be
included in the process and even those not listed in the Guide can be
invited to join in the quotation process. Designers and service providers
alike can monitor RFQ status online.
