Content Creation, Delivery, and Collaboration Enhanced

By DE Editors

Dassault Systèmes (DS; Paris, France) recently announced the availability of 3DVIA Composer V6R2010x, its product suite for turning concepts into 3D images suitable product documentation and collaboration. Enhancements in this release are said to further enable on-line 3D collaboration within an enterprise. Features that improve the user experience and enhance the software’s technical illustration capabilities are also reported to have been introduced.

Based on a lightweight, open, XML-based architecture, 3DVIA Composer allows technical and non-technical users to create associative 2D and 3D product deliverables directly from digital product data without time-consuming,  manual adjustments, and revisions. While the software’s content-creation system leverages CAD data so that organizations can automate the creation of assembly and disassembly procedures, technical illustrations, interactive 3D animations,  training materials, marketing materials, and sales tools, it does not require CAD knowledge or training. Created views can be annotated and labeled in any way and format the user wishes. Additionally, styles standards can be applied to content to ensure visual consistency.

“Companies everywhere are trying to do more with less, and 3DVIA Composer is an innovative product that helps manufacturers of all sizes create efficiencies that are clear and tangible,” said Lynne Wilson, CEO of 3DVIA, Dassault Systèmes, in a press statement. “New functionalities in this release enhance the creation and distribution of lifelike product experiences across an organization, putting power in the hands of non-CAD users and extending the promise of PLM 2.0 on the V6 platform.”

A new “Paper Space” feature in 3DVIA Composer V6R2010x is said to enhanced technical illustration functionality by providing a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) capability, which transforms the 3DVIA Composer display into a preview of the final document layout. This enables organizations to ensure a consistent layout and delivery of content regardless of user display resolutions for 3D documentation or specified paper sizes for 2D published illustrations.

The user interface in 3DVIA Composer has been enhanced for a simplified user experience, according to the company. The software’s ribbon interface provides the option of organizing commonly used and advanced functions in a logical way. Products, parts, geometries, and internal nodes are now displayed with different icons to increase ease of use.

Support for CATIA FT&A (Feature, Tolerancing and Annotation) cross-highlighting of surfaces for an operation has been introduced with the V6R2010x release. For companies using 3D as the master source of information, this enhanced support for interactive CATIA V5 FT&A data means that organizations using 3DVIA Composer and 3DVIA Composer Player Pro can now better ensure that the engineering intent is communicated and understood by downstream users.

Online creation and collaboration has been extended in V6R2010x. 3DVIA Composer content can be published to 3DVIA.com directly as standard 3D content or fully interactive 3D documents, where it can be shared with the larger community of 3DVIA.com users. 3DVIA Composer also offers functionality to help prepare models for sharing on the 3DVIA Mobile app for iPhone and iPod Touch.

Miscellaneous new features include an interoperability plug-in. This provides the ability to expand the number of 3D formats supported by 3DVIA Composer through a new framework that enables high-quality, externally developed importer products to be plugged directly into 3DVIA Composer and 3DVIA Sync. This enhancement automatically adds new native 3D import options directly into the user interface, which is said to provide a seamless and intuitive end-user experience. Additionally, meta properties defined in CATIA V5 Piping Design:piping are now supported. This enhancement allows vital information, such as nominal size, to be associatively displayed into 3DVIA Composer labels and BOM (bill of materials) tables.

“We are delighted to contribute new interoperability capabilities to this latest release of 3DVIA Composer,” said Trevor Leeson,  Product Manager at Theorem Solutions. “The integration of Theorem’s JT CADverter technology makes the benefits of 3DVIA Composer V6R2010x available to a whole new community of users.”

The 3D Composer product line also includes 3DVIA Composer Player Pro, 3DVIA Sync and 3DVIA Enterprise Sync, and 3DVIA Check and 3DVIA Path Planning. Additionally, a number of free applications, such as the 3DVIA Player for viewing and manipulating 3DVIA models, are available as downloads.

3DVIA Composer Player Pro provides an API (Applications Programming Interface) and the ability to query, manipulate, interact, and display in real time3DVIA Composer content integrated with data originating from external sources. 3DVIA Sync and 3DVIA Enterprise Sync deliver XML-based associativity between 3DVIA Composer and any number of enterprise systems. 3DVIA Enterprise Sync offers all of the capabilities of 3DVIA Sync plus the ability to control the processes. 3DVIA Check and 3DVIA Path Planning validate product deliverables by ensuring that the procedures can actually be performed in the real world.

For more information on the new features and functionality of 3DVIA Composer V6R2010x, visit the 3DVIA Composer web page.

Watch a video on the new Paper Space feature in 3DVIA Composer V6R2010x.

Go to the 3DVIA Composer website.

Download the 3DVIA Composer brochure.

Sign-up for a free trial of 3DVIA Composer.

Learn about the complete 3DVIA product line.

Download the free 3DVIA Player and access 3DVIA models to play.

Check out the podcasts and discussions on the 3DVIA blog.

Watch additional 3DVIA videos on YouTube.

See why DE’s Editors select 3DVIA Composer V6R2010x as their Pick of the Week.