Editor’s Pick: Unearth CAD Interoperability Updates

CADEX makes available CAD Exchanger 3.10.1, a toolkit for 3D CAD developers and end users.

With this release, CADEX adds support for Autodesk Inventor. Both its file types (.ipt and .iam) are supported, covering Inventor releases between 2015 and 2021. CADEX says the utility preserves B-Rep geometry, colors, names and assembly structures. This enables mechanical engineers working in multi-CAD environments to seamlessly exchange data with team members and partners who don’t have access to Inventor.

This update adds the ability to read SolidWorks metadata, which the company says can be used to simplify product identification or for further processing. There are also new validation utilities to text values of volume, area, center of gravity and bounding box.

3D CAD users who deal with the construction industry will appreciate new support for IFC Global Import ID. IFC is a data interchange standard, which all AEC 3D CAD tools support. IFC Global IDs are a unique identifier of a building element (slab, beam, wall, door, window, etc.). CAD Exchanger now supports importing Global ID attributes and storing them in a neutral data model when reading IFC files. CADEX says this makes it possible for client applications to identify building elements, map them to external databases and run BIM-specific workflows.

The CAD Exchanger Visualization Toolkit helps software developers add high-quality CAD visualization into Qt, WPF or Windows Forms applications. CADEX says in this new version, the CAD Exchanger Visualization Toolkit offers the following new features or updates:

●   The Scene Node Factory API now allows the creation of sub-graphics and single scene nodes.

●   Scene updates can now report progress.

●   Manipulator, a tool for moving and rotating objects in a scene, can now be used to programmatically do only rotations or translations.

More information and access to free evaluation of CAD Exchanger is available directly from CADEX. 

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