Change Is Good—If You Can See It Coming

Because of my daily wrestle with an onslaught of fact-check replies and draft revisions, I frequently turn to Microsoft Word’s Compare feature—one that lets me compare and see the differences between documents—to figure out how my original document was modified before it was returned to me. This lets me catch the gratuitous adjectives overzealous PR folks have inserted (change from “XYZ Inc.” to “industry leader XYZ Inc.”), the misplaced commas and misspelled words a diligent editor has removed, and anything in between. I don’t particularly object to these changes when they’re justified; I just want to have a chance to review and approve them.

What I do everyday with text documents is not so different from what project managers do with engineering change orders. They review 3D models sent back by contractors, suppliers, and engineers to make sure the changes that have been made are legitimate. But with so many edges, faces, and polygons to compare in versions A and B, the reviewer is bound to miss something. That’s where computer-aided scrutiny might more reliable than the human eye.

Kubotek’s Validation Tool does with CAD files what Microsoft Word’s Compare feature does with text files. The software lets you choose two seemingly identical 3D models, specify your tolerance (the threshold of deviation you’re willing to accept), then compare them. If the differences spotted are below your threshold, Validation Tool gives you a green light, indicating the comparison has passed. If that’s not the case, you get a red light, indicating it has failed.

Drilling down, you can examine each deviation discovered from the list: differences in blend radius, hole diameter, chamfer angle, and so on. You can also isolate the one you want to study closely, then obtain its numeric values (for instance, hole radius was 0.25 inch, is now 0.24 inch). And if you need to record the changes for archival purpose, you can create a report in HTML, PDF, PowerPoint, or text.

Validation Tool is intended for mechanical and engineering application, so it doesn’t support models created in certain complex surfacing packages (like Rhino or Alias). It supports most CAD formats and neutral geometry exchange formats. For more, watch the video clip below: