Spatial, a subdivision of Dassault Systèmes, has released v2022 1.0 of its geometry kernel, and the main improvement seems to be the enhanced handling of mesh surfaces.
With solid modeling a fairly mature technology that is robust enough for most purposes, the development effort in geometric modeling kernels, such as Parasolid and ACIS, has shifted toward the handling and editing nonsolid geometry. This includes point and faceted surfaces (which can be created from point clouds or imported whole). Spatial, the second most popular licensable kernel, has introduced a raft of enhancements pertaining to faceted surfaces and appears to be trying to catch up to no. 1 in the arena, Parasolid.
Being competitive, Spatial calls itself the “leading 3D software development toolkit provider for design, manufacturing, and engineering solutions” in the news of ACIS version 2023 1.0.
The single main enhancement to v2023 1.0 is the introduction to ACIS Polyhedra, which will read and write geometric and product manufacturing information from a variety of file formats for the first time, such as the ability to create supports for parts in additive manufacturing workflows and provide support for the Mac ARM platform.
Apple committed to the ARM platform two years ago, transitioning from the previous Intel-based CPUs to the M1 microprocessors, chips of Apple’s own design, which use the ARM64 architecture. The new MacBooks with the ARM64 architecture are both blazingly fast and cool running, thanks to a chip design that is more energy efficient than Intel chips.
Connecting the Dots
The addition of ACIS Polyhedra to the 3D ACIS Modeler provides functions for importing, healing, querying and manipulating faceted geometry. Faceted geometry—either solid or surface models—are called polyhedral bodies by Spatial and are in contrast to the smooth B-rep (boundary representation) shapes that are historically associated with solid modeling engines.
Meshes and faceted solids often model organic and natural shapes, with applications in the medical and dental fields as most everything human defies neat and orderly geometric description. Meshes of triangles also represent much of what is built as well as the Earth it is built on. LiDAR scans of as-builts, process plants, manufacturing facilities, green fields, and so on, generate billions, even trillions, of points and point clouds so thick that they are visually impenetrable and undecipherable. In theory, the points in point clouds can be connected, forming triangular faces, but the sheer number of points in an overly ambitious laser scanning project would strain available computer resources and project schedules.
Reverse engineering and metrology applications that are built on laser scanning are being introduced at a rapid pace, in keeping with the fashion of making all processes digital. A machined part that once passed inspection by being measured manually is now subject to a laser scanning that will reveal out-of-tolerance features in 3D color coded by level of severity.
ACIS Polyhedra intends to read stereolithography (STL) files, the most common format for 3D printing, visualized as a faceted surface.
Allowing a geometric kernel to also be able to manage faceted geometry means that CAD users will be able to perform Boolean operations (union, subtraction, addition) with faceted shapes. Previously, only solid model shapes could be Booleaned.
Other ACIS 2023 1.0, CGM and 3D InterOp Enhancements
Enhancements to this geometry kernel include:
- Provides automated face pair detection for midsurface generation for use with the recently released midsurface function.
- Delivers ray-firing performance that’s “drastically improved” up to “100 times” with the use of multi-threading and multiple ray firing (useful for optical design and robotic painting).
- Automatically creates supports for 3D printing with CGM Modeler (CGM) and CGM Polyhedra.
- CGM automatically determines support zones and adds hollow supports between the part and print tray in these zones.
- 3D InterOp can read weld geometry from Creo parts.
- Reads part-level PMI in STEP AP242 assemblies.
- Reads features such as views, notes, dimensions, GD&T and associativity to the underlying geometry from STEP AP242.
- 3D InterOp imports Revit base points and survey points.
- Writes glTF data for web visualization.
The Bizarre Business of Geometry Kernels
The geometric kernel market, of which Spatial is part, is dominated by Dassault Systèmes’ archrival, Siemens, if the popularity of the solid modelers that license kernels is any indication. Siemens owns Parasolid, the kernel used by SOLIDWORKS, the industry leading MCAD program.
Of the remaining major CAD companies, Autodesk and PTC have developed and use their own kernels. From the beginning, Autodesk licensed ACIS, but in a gutsy move to take control of the very engine of its programs (AutoCAD and Inventor) and not be dependent on the kindness of the competition, the company bought the ACIS source code and used it as a springboard for the development of its own geometric kernel.
It makes sense that Siemens’ CAD programs, Solid Edge and NX, use Parasolid, because the CAD programs and the kernel are all owned by the same company. Much harder to understand is why Siemens chooses to support its competitors by letting them license its proprietary kernel. Denying Parasolid to the competition would effectively pull the plug on SOLIDWORKS and Onshape, eliminating most of the competition in one move.
Through the years, the explanation offered for the puzzling relationship that Siemens has with its competition is that the company benefits from all the sales of all CAD applications that license Parasolid, not just its own. But it’s hard to believe that licensing a kernel would provide a more lucrative opportunity than selling a whole CAD program in a market where the competition has vanished.
Spatial was acquired by Dassault Systèmes in 2000 and for what other purpose than to be adopted by its own CAD software? But the company has been unable to convince its SOLIDWORKS division to use ACIS. SOLIDWORKS has clung to the Parasolid kernel as if its life depended on it. How embarrassing for Spatial to be rejected by its own sibling. Given that, how will it convince any outside the house to adopt something that those inside will not?