Editor’s Pick: Reverse Engineering Tool Integrates into SolidWorks

By Anthony J. Lockwood

Dear Desktop Engineering Reader:

The folks at ReverseEngineering.com have been busy lately,  and their latest product is called ReSpect. Out of r.e.s.p.e.c.t to them an Aretha Franklin, I’ll skip a song and dance filled with puns, and get cracking on it.

ReSpect is a plug-in reverse engineering toolset for SolidWorks that’s all about respecting your time as a designer tasked with getting a physical object scanned and prepped for the next step. “Next step”  can be MRO (maintenance, repair, and overhaul), first or periodic part inspection, prototype to CAD comparison, alignment checking, or legacy part reconstruction. Doesn’t matter. ReSpect honors your time by enabling you to scan an object into SolidWorks directly where you can begin working on it at the same time.

And by “working on it” I mean that you can measure features,  inspect points of interest, and compare CAD-to-parts—in real time. ReSpect aligns the scan data to your model as you scan it. You do your checking and update your SolidWorks design simultaneously. Since ReSpect integrates with SolidWorks and with your portable CMM natively, you recoup additional time by skipping the scan data translation step and the seek-and-repair data translation noise processes. It uses pull down menus and toolbar integration that complement SolidWorks, rather than fitting in like Skyjacker shocks on a moped. The whole effect that ReverseEngineering.com strives for is to make scanning, mousing, and futzing with the scan data in SolidWorks a fluid process designed to meet your goals rather than separate processes that you trudge through one-by-one toward your goal.

ReSpect supports GD&T and has features like create lock plane and radial profiles, user-defined plane tolerancing, and an on-demand,  modifiable scan data database. One cool feature is a simple Go/No-Go measurement capability that lets you do feature measurements quickly. Again on the efficiency side of things, it leverages the CAD Feature Tree Management to help you organize measured and nominal data.

If you are familiar with ReverseEngineering.com’s offerings,  which you should be if scanning is your line, I should note that ReSpect is an independent plug-in for SolidWorks. You do not need another application from the company for it to ride on top of. All you need is SolidWorks, a workstation and a compatible scanner. ReSpect pretty much supports all the major portable CMMs, by the way.

I asked about versions of ReSpect for the some of the other major MCAD applications that ReverseEngineering.com’s software supports. For the time being, ReSpect is available only for SolidWorks, I was told. But that shouldn’t stop you from checking out today’s Pick of the Week write-up,  especially since the company offers ReSpect bundled with SolidWorks for $7,995 as well as separately if you’re already set with it. We’ve linked a quick video off the write-up for you–no sign-up required. This is a good one, particularly if you want to or have to get a little r.e.s.p.e.c.t for your time.

Thanks, pal.—Lockwood

Anthony J. Lockwood
Editor at Large, Desktop Engineering  Magazine

Read today’s Pick of the Week