OPEN CASCADE

CAD PROCESSOR V.1.1 RELEASED!

Svetlana Orlova — Tue, 08 Sep 2020 13:43:44 +0000

CAD Processor provides a powerful set of tools that maximize the ability to reuse existing 3D models by repairing, converting and adapting them to applications beyond their original purpose.

This update perfects what has been achieved in the last major release of CAD Processor and adds a lot of quality of life improvements as well as some new useful tools.

Broader format support

A lot of formats have gained better support, and more data types can now be read from them. For instance, boundary representations inside JT are now supported. The formats that used to require additional licensing, such as CATIA or SolidWorks, are now available out of the box. glTF models can now be imported, and exporting to IGES has become possible.

Mesh deviation testing

This tool lets users visualize where the shape of a mesh deviates from a reference B-rep part and by how much. It works similarly to the Mesh Quality visualization and, just like the latter, provides another very intuitive way to inspect a model visually.

Maximize faces

This new operation is useful when a user needs to get rid of multiple adjacent faces that all lie on the same surface, which makes them redundant. This tool effectively merges them, ensuring that every face is as large as it can be without distorting the model.

Extract visible triangles

This tool tests which triangles of a mesh can possibly be visible from the outside and discards the ones that are surrounded by other geometry and cannot be seen from any angle. As a result of this operation, the mesh loses a lot of its complexity and interior detail, which is useful for simplification and IP protection alike.

Upgraded detection of isolated features

Detection of isolated features was available before, but only for features that completely lie on a single face (as in the first half of the animation below). Now it is possible to use the same tool to hunt down features that span multiple faces.

Expanded scripting

This update makes scripting even more powerful and versatile. CAD Processor team has implemented console commands for the few tools that lacked them and added some entirely new commands and helpers, for instance, a command to slice large objects into streamable fragments, a command to change the parent of an assembly item, and more.

Many existing commands have also been improved, their syntax reworked or extended to make them more straightforward and convenient to use. For example, whenever a user needs to pass a part to a command, he can define that part not only through its part ID, but also through the assembly item ID of any of its instances.

Scripting used to be available only in the Enterprise version of CAD Processor, but now the Desktop version also comes with the script editor which is built into the graphical user interface and lets users put their model processing steps into reusable scripts that automate routine operations.

Finally, the built-in command reference has been updated with better command descriptions as well as some general formatting and readability improvements.

UI makeover

Almost all user interface icons have been reworked, focusing on clarity, cohesion and a tidier, more aesthetic look. Many text strings and log messages are also revised to make them more concise and get rid of occasional misleading bits. Hopefully, this redesign will make the software easier to get into and more pleasant to use.

Better documentation

The user manual of CAD Processor has been almost completely re-written. Step-by-step directions for each task, completed with reworked animations and script examples where applicable, have been added. Several introductory sections have been added, specifically targeted at new users and CAD beginners. The document structure is greatly simplified: now most of it is no more than 2 levels deep, which makes it a lot easier to navigate and find desired topics.

Miscellaneous

There have been some more additions and improvements that deserve a brief mention.

Added commands to clone parts and assembly items.
Added the ability to convert a mesh to B-Rep faces.
Added the ability to export individual parts to a file.
It is now possible to load multiple files into the same scene.
Added the ability to fuse parts geometrically.
Added more details to the Model Contents panel.
Added the Invert Selection action.
CAD Processor CLI can now be passed a command or script at startup.
Numerous performance and stability improvements throughout the program.

Learn more details about CAD Processor on its product page.

Download Free 30-day Trial

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Open Cascade will make it possible to put 10 million 3D objects in a web-basket

Svetlana Orlova — Fri, 21 Aug 2020 08:44:03 +0000

3D Visualization

During this summer, Open Cascade takes the challenge to extend the potential of its Commercial Platform. The company is going to achieve the goal of visualizing up to 10 million objects in one instance of web-based client with sufficient level of representation. Many industrial models like nuclear power stations, oil tankers and offshore rigs or long-haul aircrafts correlate to this amount of objects. The applicable scopes of the technology can encompass information management of industrial facilities through the use of 3D digital twins, machinery equipment planning and plant reconfiguration, web-based solutions for collaborative project review, centralized storages and visualization of massive 3D data, different simulation scenarios in a virtual 3D asset, 3D inspection of facility during its construction or operation and much more.

Open Cascade develops visualization solutions for web applications that work in the most common desktop and mobile web browsers and do not require any specific browser add-ons or extensions.

Client-side rendering based on JavaScript and WebGL allows users to utilize the client’s graphics processing unit (GPU) and ensure the fastest application response to user actions. Server-side remote rendering is a reasonable choice when visualization handles big data.

Unique technology applied through an intelligent Level of Details (LOD) approach opens the new horizons of possibilities for customer’s experience. Open Cascade Commercial Platform works with a digital twin at the server side enabling the delivery of the exact amount of 3D data required by a client in the specific point of view. Limited but still sufficient data covers all needs of the visualization and can instantly be augmented according to the client’s demand for providing the necessary level of details.

LOD technology allows client to use common devices even for the huge amount of engineering driven data. Smart LOD generation preserves the links to the original 3D CAD data and engineering attributes thus enabling precise measurements, exact constraints, dynamic tolerance and online clash detection for 3D objects, making design review activities more productive.

Alongside the Open Cascade remote rendering technology that brings the power of high-end graphics processing units to regular-duty workstations and mobile devices, this new Open Cascade 3D technology advancement democratizes access to massive 3D data and allows users for saving on hardware investments.

Significant progress has already been made by Open Cascade in this area. The goal is expected to be achieved in September 2020 and then we will be glad to share more detailed description of the project with the market!

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CAD BUILDER V.1.1.0. RELEASED!

Svetlana Orlova — Wed, 29 Jul 2020 14:48:48 +0000

CAD Builder

Open Cascade released the newest version of CAD Builder - a parametric CAD modeler. The solution allows creating 3D models, modifying them and reusing in other applications. It is designed both for professionals and users with no or little CAD experience.

CAD Builder 1.1.0. is transferred to the latest version of Open CASCADE Technology - 7.4.0. New features and improvements were implemented for making the solution more performant and stable in terms of algorithms:

Newly-introduced features:

- Chamfer feature

- Export of model parts to a file and import parts

- Copy feature for results duplication

- 3D model defeaturing

- Importing operations results from other parts

Existing features improvements:

- Implemented "Through all" mode for ExtrusionFuse, ExtrusionCut, RevolutionFuse, RevolutionCut

- Building vertices, edges, wires, faces, shells for the whole sketch selected

- Keeping compounds structure in result of operation

Improvements for Sketch:

- Moving Angle dimension to any quarter

- Support of B-spline curves

GUI improvements:

- Ability to change the mouse cursor in sketch

- Sketch panel improvements in case of over-constraint

- Tooltips on sketch start were added

- Keyboard shortcut to add parameter in parameters manager panel

- Inspection panel to show parameters of a feature in read-only mode

- New mode for sketch entities drawing (by left-pressed and moved mouse)

- Ability to show/hide isolines in the viewer

Other minor improvements:

- Fuse and Union features merge

- Adding a button for continuing Point creation without closing the property panel

- Ability to set zero value for Distance constraint

Find more information about CAD Builder on its product page.

Download the installation Wizard for CAD Builder 1.1.0. standalone Windows application.

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Future-oriented software for better healthcare: Open Cascade brings its expertise in 3D to medical industry

Elena Soleeva — Wed, 10 Jun 2020 07:45:50 +0000

Volume Rendering

Since the introduction of computed tomography in the early 1970s, the medical imaging was drastically revolutionized, granting healthcare professionals with high quality visuals of human body interiors. Non-invasive, sensitive method empowered doctors to quickly detect anomalies invisible to human eye, enhance diagnostic precision what ended up in improved decision-making.

Technologies and medicine do not stand still: ever-evolving, together they go far beyond just visualization capacities, unleashing the full potential of digital imaging, and complement it by the most demanded technologies like 3D simulation, virtual and augmented reality, management of huge datasets, migration of data to cloud, artificial intelligence, etc. The time of one-function tools and applications has passed. Today software and hardware vendors, healthcare providers, medicines regulatory authorities are looking for intelligent end-to-end solutions covering the whole workflow and allowing to quickly and efficiently obtain, visualize, process, review any kind of medical imaging.

Open Cascade, a software development company with expertise in 3D, challenges healthcare segment and comes to the market fully-equipped to meet the most sophisticated medical industry demands. Blending its modern volume rendering technology, time-proven expertise in full-cycle management of 3D data and rich integration capabilities, the company establishes itself as a technological partner for medical organizations, software and hardware vendors. Starting from quick acquisition and viewing through detailed analysis and processing up to safe storage and archiving – Open Cascade can take care of every stage or even the whole process using its rich background and extensive experience in solution architecture.

Leveraging this knowledge the company can develop complex mission-critical software solutions intended to optimize and speed-up routine medical processes and to establish new intellectual assets, aggregating accumulated medical knowledges and expertise in a single data base.

Multi-vendor multimodality workstation

It appears natural, that every modality comes with built-in software to display scanned results and perform basic operations like rotation and zoom, measure distances, density, angles, etc. At the same time, it can happen in many modern clinics, especially big ones, that each department uses radiology equipment from different manufacturers. The analysis and reviewing of the imaging data in variety of different workstations is not an easy task, as every vendor- specific software has its own interface, toolset, etc. Moreover, it causes considerable inconveniences especially when it comes to situations when second opinions are critical, however doctors being in different locations need to analyze the same results.

In this case, an open unified system for handling, visualization and reviewing is the best choice. Open Cascade provides a DICOM-compliant volume rendering technology, which coupled with Visualization module (part of Open Cascade Commercial Platform) allows the company to develop customer-specific medical imaging workstation, enabling healthcare providers easily access data received from different sources on a desktop or a tablet and perform remote diagnostic. The company’s existing solutions stand out for speedy loading and processing of high volume 2D, 3D and 4D medical data and this is another benefit. Open Cascade rich expertise in advanced 3D algorithms can empower own-designed solutions or bring added value to radiology equipment manufacturers with extended measurement feature set, moreover such functionality as collaborative commenting, filtering or segmenting can be implemented. As an expert integrator and seasoned technological partner, the company has successfully accomplished many integration projects serving to establish software interoperability in automotive, shipbuilding, aerospace, energy industries, etc. Coming on cross-industry level, Open Cascade is able to connect medical workstations with other systems and equipment – PACS (Picture archiving and communication system), RIS (Radiology Information System), different modalities by implementing an Interim Processing Unit (IPU) - a proprietary technology for data integration through a universal cross-platform multi-connector based on Open Cascade Commercial Platform.

Masterfully converging visualization and integration technologies, Open Cascade is able to implement additional functional power such as algorithms, simulation, manipulation planning, transferring of doctors’ experience in silico, etc.

It is worth mentioning that such kind of vendor-independent solutions in other industries help many times reduce costs on IT, as the software can be installed on as many stations as needed, and the access can be provided throughout the whole enterprise network. In medicine they ensure much faster diagnosis what enhances patient care and converts in better decision-making.

In addition, Open Cascade’s flexible licensing approach brings considerable added-value for computed tomography manufacturers, allowing them to implement visualization software on their equipment with maximum economy.

Vendor-neutral archiving

With the vast propagation of various modalities (CT, MRI, X-ray, US, NM, etc.) and the fact that they have become more affordable, there has been a huge increment in medical data and it is continuously increasing day by day. Huge assets of medical imaging need to be stored and archived for further usage and retrieval for diagnosing process, study and research. The most common solution used by modern clinics is PACS.

However, PACS as healthcare-hosted system has exposed much vulnerability, showing that it falls short of increasing needs of today’s medical systems. Scalability and upgradeability issues, limited storage capacity, restricted accesses, data migration problems - the above is non-exhaustive list of compelling reasons for medical organizations to look for more scalable, flexible and modular solutions. The next step in PACS evolution is VNA (Vendor-neutral archiving) enriched by functional, algorithmic and analytic power. Solutions driven by Open Cascade development and integration expertise can ensure smooth switching from document-centric to automated system-centric workflows, what many modern medical organizations strive for.

In Open Cascade’s portfolio there are a number of industrial desktop, web and cloud solutions allowing working with extra-large 3D datasets with immediate stationary or remote access to huge assets. Moreover, Open Cascade knows very well how interoperability and software systems continuity matter for sound planning processes, in this regard the company always offers integration services and can seamlessly join several heterogeneous solutions from one or different vendors into customers’ eco-systems. The last but not the least, company’s deep knowledge of open international standards guarantees that the solutions delivered comply with all requirements to technologies it uses and services it provides. So, Open Cascade establishes automated digitalized workflows, where human intervention is reduced to a required minimum.

Given the above, Open Cascade’s extended integration and workflow solutions development expertise multiplied by capacity to view and process DICOM files let the company build customer-specific VNA solutions or bring added-value to existing ones and let them stand out for scalability, openness and wide set of functional units aggregated in IPU.

Granting much flexibility, Open Cascade is able to satisfy any end-users’ requirements. The data received from modalities can stay on premises or migrate to cloud. With the second model a remote enterprise-wide access can be provided to unlimited number of users via desktop, mobile or web, the system can be integrated with other records, such as the Electronic Health Record (EHR), Radiology Information System (RIS) and Hospital Information System (HIS). Cloud-based, vendor-neutral archive solution is the best value for money, as it costs less than on-premises model.

Comparing to other vendors of ready-to-use solutions, one of Open Cascade’s key advantages is its ultimate expertise in 3D and strong open source core what provides customers with maximum flexibility and independence. Upon request, solutions with open architecture can be provided, what allows further scalability and upgradeability if needed. Moreover, open source core can be an optimal model for healthcare organizations where long-term archiving and further retrieval of data is critical.

Being capable to deliver customized VNA or extend the capacities of other vendors’ solutions, the company helps medical staff eliminate IT difficulties during their work and focus on healthcare.

Computer-assisted surgery algorithmic and visualization support

With an advanced portfolio designed to meet the most challenging clinical demands, Open Cascade therefore considers one of its strong sides – the capability to serve CAS (Computer-assisted surgery) helping with effective surgery planning. Combining medical imaging (3D reconstruction of a human body part) and CAD model of the prosthesis in one scene it is possible to perform virtual placement of dental implants or artificial joint prosthesis, considering specific peculiarities of each patient.

Replacing real parts with artificial analogs is a very common practice, especially when it comes to dental implants. According to the American Academy for Implant Dentistry, over 15 million people in the U.S. undergo bridge and crown replacements for missing teeth every year. The global dental implants market size was valued at USD 4.6 billion in 2019.

Rich expertise of Open Cascade in advanced simultaneous “living” and processing of any 3D data (CAD, mesh, point cloud, volume data) allows extrapolating the same technologies into medical world. The capacity to handle CAD and volume data in one scene, easily orient them and choose right projections, make accurate measurements on it, overlay both of them, assess exact relations and detect collisions, simulate movements and placements are critical for perfect alignment achievement and the success of the operation. Being capable to distribute such solutions where the company’s strong mathematical experience and expertise in exact calculations comes on cross industry level, Open Cascade brings added-value to both surgery and dental clinics, ensuring effective patient-specific 3D planning.

With similar CAS solutions at hand, surgeons end up with reduced patient office time, surgical treatment time, and the higher degree of post-treatment recovery. All these factors directly influence the reputation of the clinic allowing attracting more clients what leads to increased business profitability.

Conclusion:

Even though there are strong players on the medical imaging market offering ready-to-use software or systems, the bulk of the demand still lays for customer-specific solutions. Indeed, every clinic or hospital has its own processes and workflows, extra-large or moderate amount of digital assets need to be aggregated on-premises or migrated to cloud, patient or disease specific information is to be classified and quickly accessed afterwards – all these tasks demand thorough customization. At this stage “solution developer + integrator” combination is win-win advantage, and right at this stage Open Cascade joins the competition, mature and fully-equipped.

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Open Cascade introduces CAD Builder - a sample of parametric CAD modeler

Svetlana Orlova — Thu, 07 May 2020 13:40:14 +0000

CAD Builder

For more than 20 years being always at the forefront of 3D, Open Cascade has gained considerable expertise in geometric modeling - from the development of Open CASCADE Technology modeling kernel and participation as a key software developer together with CEA and EDF in the development of SALOME simulation platform to dozens of successfully delivered custom software development projects for various use cases.

Open Cascade is willing to broaden this experience and to take part in more projects on the development of specific software 3D modeling tools.

In order to demonstrate software developing capabilities Open Cascade decided to come up with a sample of parametric CAD modeler – CAD Builder. It is derived from SHAPER, which is a module of SALOME platform.

SHAPER itself is the parametric modeler of SALOME platform designed for Numerical Simulation. In addition to usual CAD part modeling features, CAD Builder, as well as SHAPER, supports the creation and modification of:

Multi-dimensional models, i.e. geometries made of solids (3D), surfaces (2D) and lines (1D) topologically connected
Non-manifold topologies, like a solid partitioned by internal surfaces
Reference to geometric subsets of a model, so called Groups, used for setting the boundary conditions of calculations.

So, 3D models created in CAD Builder can represent composite objects and be the base for generating conformal Finite Element Meshes.

What makes the solutions special is that they can be utilized as frameworks for specific development of 3D modeling solutions tailored to various use cases such as design of gearboxes, modeling of building structures, preliminary design of ships, etc. due to a common parameterized geometry engine.

As all CAD Builder features are packed into plugins it is possible to remove not required ones and develop new in C++ or Python languages. User scenarios can be also automated by means of Python Scripting capabilities supported in the solution. This is how client’s own standalone end-user application can be created.

Learn more about CAD Builder features and capabilities on its product page.

Have a look at a free sample of CAD Builder for evaluation. Download an installation Wizard for a standalone Windows application.

Request a Quote for a custom modeling tool development

Open Cascade can provide you with a wide range of services based on CAD Builder, from the development of additional features to a complete custom modeling tool running on any operational system (Windows, Linux or MacOS).

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Open Cascade introduces DMU Reviewer

Elena Soleeva — Tue, 07 Apr 2020 14:20:02 +0000

Open Cascade - a software development company, which is primarily focused on the digital transformation of industries through the use of 3D technologies, reinvents the way large-scale 3D models can be reviewed with the launch of a new software product – DMU Reviewer. This is a unique viewing tool allowing both professionals (engineers, designers, architects, constructors, etc.) and users with no or little CAD experience to collaborate on massive 3D data with the ability to measure, analyze, comment and share data with other team members. Whether you design a new product, manage manufacturing processes, maintain an industrial facility, prepare technical documentation, do quality control, etc., having advanced 3D visualization software at hand is crucial.

DMU Reviewer is a lightweight and affordable, yet powerful one-stop-shop solution which provides extended functionality for quick digital mockup (DMU) review to engineering and other involved departments. This in many cases eliminates the necessity of heavy and expensive original CAD systems or software integration with PLM systems. Moreover, making design information accessible to all stakeholders improves communication between groups what results in faster decision making. The solution drastically streamlines and optimizes the production workflow, by enabling error detection at the early stages of the project, and therefore reduces the number of production defects and speeds up time to market.

The software is available on Windows desktop computers and tablets. It is worth stressing here that the ability to process, explore and analyze scenes of any scale in field using a mobile device (a Windows tablet) lets DMU Reviewer really stand out. On top of it, the intuitive interface of the solution heavily democratizes the 3D reviewing process.

A robust feature set of DMU Reviewer can be conditionally divided into three groups: design review, selection and navigation, data exchange.

Design review features

Measurements and dimensioning

Be it a model provided by a supplier or an own designed one, it is essential to verify it for the specifications compliance before the production start. In many cases even little discrepancies in measurements might cause failures during assemblies and therefore lead to production defects. Use DMU Reviewer to accurately measure b-rep geometry in advance (angles, distances, lengths and radii measurements are available) as well as to perform measurements on mesh and to review dimension indications saved with the model. All values are rapidly calculated and displayed in accordance with international standard ISO 1101:2012 right in the working area.

Measure distance

Measure length

Measure angle

Clipping planes

Very often engineers need to see the interior of complex parts or assemblies to check them for correctness and specifications compliance. Take advantage of Clipping Planes feature available in DMU Reviewer to explore the whole interior by sliding the clipping plane along different axes. Applying clipping planes does not make changes to a loaded scene or model, no parts or assemblies are removed: it only imitates the movement along the model with the possibility to observe the cross section and reveal the interior and the structure of the model’s mass.

Applying sections can remove a part of a scene or environment from consideration if they are not important for further processing and exploring, and therefore, save processing power.

Sections

The Section tool can be used to build a cross section on a model if one needs to take accurate measurements inside a model right in section’s profile, do a quality check of a part/scene interior. When it comes to working with heavy models or large-scale scenes, containing hundreds of hardly accessible components or hidden layers, it is not always easy to get reach to them. DMU Reviewer streamlines exploring assemblies, their interior parts and verification of correspondence to the specifications.

Views

Very often heavy industrial models are reviewed by a large number of specialists. Every one of them is responsible for an ad-hoc field or definite task. Smooth communication between these specialists is crucial in order to eliminate faults caused by misunderstandings. Moreover, it is not always convenient to navigate through a model every time searching for hardly accessible components or detecting errors. To overcome these issues DMU Reviewer offers its users the ability to create views – a selected orientation of a 3D model with parts of interest, including their visibility, transparency, etc., added notes and measurements. Each view can be saved for further use.

Commenting

For smooth and easy communication, add notes to a 3D model, separate parts or subassemblies and mark them by status: Info, Warning or Error. For more convenience and clarity attachments can be added. It can be handy when it comes to working with heavy and complex models, when one needs, for example, to add specifications to parts and components. By using the feature of importing notes a user can present 2D data right in 3D with reference to the linked parts.

Moreover, while working on-site, a user can quickly take live pictures and attach them to a 3D model.

Filtering

Very often large-scale scenes or complex industrial 3D models (ships, aircrafts, etc.) containing hundreds of thousands of detailed assets are reviewed by a large number of collaborators with different areas of responsibility. Every one of them may need to review, do quality control, comment specific parts or components. In this scenario DMU Reviewer offers a flexible tool allowing to prepare or simplify a scene with the help of one or multiple filters. Filters could be created according to various attributes came with model or from PLM. Once filters are applied, the rest of the scene/model can be rendered semi-transparent, which helps to maintain the effect of presence. Filter option ensures easy and rapid processing of large-scale scenes, allowing each collaborator to rapidly find and focus on the parts and components which are important for the specific task.

Color mapping

To facilitate identification of specific parts and components, a user may mark them by different colors in accordance with chosen attributes. This feature can be useful when a user needs to highlight task-relevant components which are crucial for the specific process. After applying color mapping feature the rest of the scene can be rendered ghost. For more convenience and clarity the color scale is displayed in the working area, where for each attribute a color is assigned.

Exploded view

For inspection purposes, when assemblies need to be verified for integrity or specifications compliance, apply Exploded View. It also can be of help, if some separate details which are partly hidden when assembled, are needed to be explored for integrity and correctness.

Due to the possibility to disassemble complex models, error detection can be performed before the start of the manufacturing process, which results in the low rate of production defect.

Assigning colors

When a user needs to mark up specific parts or problem areas, which are important for further processing (a user needs to add notes, take measurements, etc.) different colors can be applied.

Printing

The ubiquity of 3D has made it possible for many industries to replace paper-based drawings with more advanced software solutions, providing immediate access to 3D models with related metadata. However, sometimes a user may need to have paper-based technical documentation. By using DMU Reviewer it is possible to print the result got in the working area of the software.

Selection and navigation features

Diverse selection tools

Selecting parts and assemblies is essential when working in DMU Reviewer and a prerequisite for using many tools. There are three main ways to select parts: by click, by rectangle and by box.

View cube

ViewCube tool ensures easy 3D navigation and lets switch between standard and isometric views.

Navigate through assembly structure and searching

DMU Reviewer offers intuitive navigation through an assembly tree as well as a possibility to search by parts.

Search part by QR code

Any part of the whole assembly can be searched by scanning the QR-code of the physical prototype.

Fly mode

There are cases where it is more preferable to navigate with first-person view, especially for large-scale and complex models. In these cases orbiting around the view center is limiting. With fly mode a user can easily navigate both around and through the scene.

Data exchange

Interoperability

Reading:

- Neutral file formats: STEP, IGES, BREP,

- Native file formats: CATIA v.4/v.5/v.6, Solidworks, Solidedge, JT, NX, CreoElements (Pro-Engineer), Inventor, ACIS, Parasolid, 3DM (Rhino), IFC, Revit, CADDs,

- Mesh file formats: OBJ, STL, PLY, FBX, VTK_XML, CGR,

- Finite Element Mesh (FEM) file formats: Nastran,

- Internal file format: XBF.

Writing:

- XBF, STEP

* support of writing to native (proprietary) file formats is available as an extension to the basic functionality under additional license. Contact Open Cascade to get more information.

Supported platforms

OS Windows, both on desktop computers and tablets.

Reading PMI from STEP AP 242 format.

DMU Reviewer loads STEP AP 242 files with impressive speed and is able to read related PMI (B-REP, GD&T, annotations, views). This information is available in DMU Reviewer under the PMI tree and is displayed in the scene.

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Asset Revamping software helps people keep business continuity while being entirely remote

Elena Soleeva — Mon, 06 Apr 2020 14:49:37 +0000

Many businesses, especially enterprise-level ones, are still unprepared nowadays to switch to a work-from-home (WFH) model what carries various headaches, the most painful of which is the lack of technology infrastructure. However, these last days the trend of isolated work has been experiencing a large boost and companies are searching for new ways of establishing alternative digital environment almost on a dime to keep collaboration as if in an office. A large number of collaborative software tools help people keep in touch and interact with colleagues, be it a videoconferencing, virtual meetings, virtual event platform tools, etc. However, when it comes to something more sophisticated and secure, when employees need to have remote access to confidential business assets, the challenge is doubled.

Businesses today revolve around teamwork what leads to extensive use of shared knowledge assets and project collaboration tools. Laser-focused on converting challenges of Industry 4.0 into real business opportunities, Open Cascade, a part of the Digital Engineering and Manufacturing Services global business-line of Capgemini, helps industrial companies avoid serious disruption of their day-to-day operations by having in its portfolio a powerful solution for fully secure remote collaboration – Asset Revamping software. This is a one-of-a- kind client-server web application providing a quick access to realistic, interactive and easy-to-use 3D data from any device across worldwide locations. In other words, Asset Revamping is a one-place storage, where large amounts of 3D industrial datasets can be aggregated in a couple of days and easily accessed afterwards by unlimited number of stakeholders. While working iteratively, employees from different locations can remotely access 3D models (CAD and Point Cloud) or large assemblies representing complex industrial objects or facilities, review them, navigate through large-scale scenes, highlight critical areas, leave comments, simulate different scenarios, etc. Asset Revamping makes it possible to remotely perform such operations as design review, preparation of maintenance jobs and security team interventions, quality control, etc. Effective remote collaboration, advanced project review and analyzing capabilities of the solution eliminate the need for international business travels, and allow multiple users in isolated locations to keep on collaborating.

While most organizations are ill-prepared and have not committed enough to shift to WFH, Open Cascade offers not only the out-of-the-box software, but is ready to provide the deployment services, releasing the customer from extra burdens. Upon request, Asset Revamping can be deployed on premises or a vendor-hosted model. The latest is a really hustle-free option, requiring from the customer only to provide information about the number of users and volume of data that will be migrated on a remote server on a vendor side.

To rapidly response to digital collaboration and at the same time maintain industrial operations at optimal level, companies may search for a solution provider or an expert consultant for quite a long time. Please remember that in this case safety and security matter the most and it is better to look at seasoned experts whose solutions are customer-proven and trusted. Having more than 20 years of successful background and rich expertise in IT, Open Cascade offers its customers innovative solutions, which answer the newest trends of Industry 4.0 and meet all safety levels.

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New functionality gained: Asset Revamping is now under version 1.2

Elena Soleeva — Wed, 19 Feb 2020 08:18:36 +0000

Open Cascade released a new version of Asset Revamping – a one-of-a-kind web application providing quick access to realistic, interactive and easy-to-use 3D hybrid data from any device for unlimited number of stakeholders. Some additional functionalities were implemented and minor bug fixing was performed.

Point of interest (POI)

The most significant and useful feature Open Cascade introduced in this new version and is proud to announce today is the Point of Interest (POI) which allows choosing specific points in a 3D scene (generally these points are referred to real objects or scanning positions) and associate them with multiple attributes (e.g. text, video, file, etc.).

In the new version of Asset Revamping, a predefined “Scanning Position” type has been created, which is defined by default to match scanning positions of each point cloud files during import. In addition, a user has the possibility to create new types of POI and assign them to different points - Custom POI.”

Predefined POI

The predefined so-called “Scanning Position” POI is used to map exact scanning positions found in the Point Cloud (PC) files automatically during import of PC files. This POI allows to view 360° photographs taken by scanners’ cameras while scanning the space. It is worth mentioning, that these images can be of different resolution and different types. For example, thermal images can be quite useful for electrical maintenance to locate and pinpoint joints and parts that are at risk of overheating or for plumber issues to inspect sites of possible leaks, mainly through walls and pipes. Multiple scanning positions defined in a single point-cloud file and multiple 360° images per scanning position are supported.

360° photographs give additional viewing capabilities with a high rendering quality and ensure smooth navigation of a user in the environment. By default, this type of POI is set up for a first person navigation mode in the point cloud at its scanning position. The First person view mode is executed by pressing a dedicated icon in the toolbar.

Custom POI

Custom POI can be used as an additional commenting tool and expands opportunities for smooth collaborative work. Created points of interest are saved in a project and can be viewed by all users who have access to a project.

POI helps project collaborators to point out critical areas in a scene, or highlight objects/parts that demand special attention. For example, when doing modernization work, POI can be applied to new equipment and any kind of documentation (manuals, specifications, any documentation from suppliers) can be attached to them. In this scenario, the information is aggregated in one place and is easily accessible by all stakeholders involved in a project. As a result, everyone has the most up-to-date information and can prepare field operations more quickly with a low error rate.

Collaboration was made easier

This new release offers a complete support of Collaboration between multiples users. Now before opening a project, each user knows if the project is already opened for edition by another user.

Moreover, any changes made by a single user are propagated to all other collaborators working on the project in real time.

Region extraction

The extraction of a region of a point cloud is now possible without changing the original set of points by choosing the Copy of the extracted data option.

Region option is more often used to isolate objects, move them to other locations, simulate scenarios etc.

Dark background

White background in the working area is not always convenient especially while displaying models or scenes where white components or subassemblies are present, and as a result, they become invisible. In the new version of Asset Revamping it is possible to set up black background for a scene.

Find a Release Notes document on Asset Revamping product page.

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Open Cascade keeps on contributing to the development of remote inspection technologies within ROBINS project

Elena Soleeva — Thu, 13 Feb 2020 11:52:11 +0000

Since 2018 Open Cascade is a member of ROBINS project consortium and brings its expertise in the field of 3D technologies to establish regulatory framework for the inspection and certification of ships.

In the framework of the project Open Cascade participates in test trials having access to ships’ hulls which are being scanned, and then translates visual inputs received from drones and crawlers into consistent 3D models of the scanned spaces.

During a seminar organized by UNIGE (U niversity of Genoa) in Italy in January 2020, a video was presented demonstrating the use of the Open Cascade’s software for processing the video data collected by drones and and work with the 3D model of the scanned space.

It is worth mentioning that the data recorded by robots in cluttered spaces (video footages and images) very often lacks sharpness, can be fuzzy or contain unintended artefacts. The collected images should be processed with the use of domain-specific software to build consistent models of the scanned environment. Open Cascade comes with a solution which represents the scanned spaces in point cloud or textured mesh. It allows importing UTM data collected by a robot, and measure distances and thicknesses using these points.

While navigating through a resulted 3D model, it is possible to conduct remote inspection and defects recognition. The software offers the possibility to navigate easily in the virtual space and access all the information associated with any point of interest.

About ROBINS project:

ROBINS (ROBotics technology for INspection of Ships) is a collaborative project co-funded by the Research DG of the European Commission within the activities of the Horizon 2020 EU Research and Innovation programme.

The ROBINS project aims at filling the technology and regulatory gaps that today still represent a barrier to the adoption of Robotics and Autonomous Systems (RAS) in activities related to inspection of ships, understanding end user’s actual needs and expectations and analyzing how existing or near-future technology can meet them.

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Open Cascade’s participation in Fosdem 2020 was a success

Elena Soleeva — Wed, 12 Feb 2020 06:13:58 +0000

#FOSDEM2020

Open Cascade representatives for the first time attended FOSDEM this year and it was 100 percent worth it. Alexander Malyshev senior software developer, one of the main contributors, author of tutorials and certified trainer on Open CASCADE Technology (OCCT) presented the success story of perhaps the only open source full-scale 3D geometry library available since 1999.

Free and Open-source Software Developers' European Meeting (FOSDEM) is an annual non-commercial, volunteer-organized European event centered on free and open-source software development. Started in 2001, FOSDEM is one of the top open-source events on the planet, usually gathering more than 8,000 participants. Thousands of open source developers from all over the world are flocking to Brussels to collaborate and mutually exchange their ideas and experience.

Most of the talks are given in the so-called “developer rooms” (devrooms) - conference halls where teams can meet and showcase their projects. For the last 19 years devrooms of FOSDEM are a traditional place for teams to publicly share news and present the latest achievements, hold discussions, give lightning talks and of course, hack a code.

Alexander Malyshev, who was given a very warm intro by the moderators, presented in the Open Source Computer-Aided Modeling and Design devroom the keynotes of OCCT, within the talk he gave an overview of the technology itself, its licensing policy, evolution and also covered several interesting topics like modeling data, algorithms, visualization, and data exchange. After the speech, Alexander was asked a lot of questions by the audience, and warm communication with interested people continued even long after the end of all the speeches.

In the frames of the same devroom many other like-minded open source projects were also presented including such well-known names as FreeCAD, KiCad, CadQuery, Gmsh, which successfully utilize various Open CASCADE Technology capabilities. This room was so popular among developers that all the seats were occupied all the time, and many people just stood in the aisles, and moreover, to get into the room, they had to take a queue half an hour before the start of the desired performance. Fortunately, for those who failed to listen to speakers, all the performances were recorded by the team of organizers.

Two days at FOSDEM 2020 had gone for Open Cascade representatives with the speed of the light. Not only the tech conference, but also the exhibition of projects was very fruitful. Open Cascade made a lot of new friends and finally met in person the old ones. OCCT got a huge amount of useful feedback that has yet to be digested.

The appearance of Open CASCADE Technology at FOSDEM 2020 is not an accident, but a part of a new business strategy of the company, where open source core plays an integral role as well. FOSDEM is the second European event devoted to open source projects that Open Cascade took part in. It has been a long time the OCCT team was in the shadow, however, now people at Open Cascade believe that it is the good and right practice to attend open-source focused events, personally meet the community and stay in the loop. OCCT team is interested in attracting and involving new potential contributors, and events like FOSDEM are the best place for such agreements.

Open Cascade team would like to thank all the people they met, all the speakers and especially the organizers and the volunteers who made this event happen.

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