Editor’s Pick: Improving interoperability between CAD products

Datakit debuts a new version of its technical data conversion SDK (software development kit) for CAD interoperability. 

Datakit facilitates exchange of 2D and 3D data for users and developers of many CAD, CAD/CAM, 3D visualization, simulation, metrology and modeling applications as used by engineers and product designers.  

This release (version 2022.1) offers updates to CrossManager (software for file-to-file conversion) and CrossCadWare (read/write libraries for 2D and 3D software editors). The company says both products improve interoperability between standard and native formats. 

The company says software editors using their libraries can now read predefined views and also flash development toolkit product manufacturing information (PMI) from Autodesk Inventor 3D assembly files. There is new support for alpha colors channels (transparency) from OBJ 3D and Rhino 3D. There is new writing functionality for user-named Views in Dassault Systemès Catia V5. 

Other updates in Datakit SDK V2022.1 include: 

• Read JT files up to version 10.7.
• Read older Autodesk Revit versions (2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014) in complement with Revit versions 2015 through 2022. 
• Extract data from Siemens Solid Edge 2022.
• Read the 2022 SP0 version of Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks and its ancestors from 2006 to 2008. 
• Read Siemens NX 1992, 1996 and 2000. 

Datakit says the technical data exchange API in the SDK has been reworked to improve the quality, reliability, speed and security of reading/writing 2D and 3D format functionalities. 

For more information on this update to Datakit, click here.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.