At the beginning of October, Tech Soft 3D stated that they would roll out updates to a suite of products to help engineering software developers build cloud and mobile compatibility into their applications. Although it took until November to announce the last of the product updates, Tech Soft 3D has made good on their plans with the updates to HOOPS Exchange and HOOPS Publish.
HOOPS Exchange provides the libraries and tools necessary to import 22 CAD file formats into your application and export 9 different formats. If interoperability is a key feature, then HOOPS Exchange is a key component.
New features and updates in HOOPS Exchange 7.0 include:
- Deep Model Interrogation: Developers will benefit from new APIs that build on the ability to query the length, surface and volume of geometries. These APIs can also perform an exact section of a model and a geometry compare between two revisions of the same model. In many application types, this ability to deeply interrogate geometry removes the need for an extra translation step into a modeling kernel.
- Comprehensive File Conversion: Users can access data from even the most recent releases of the leading CAD systems including the latest versions of SolidWorks, Solid Edge, Parasolid and the AP242 edition of STEP.
New features and updates in HOOPS Publish 7.0 include:
- New MBE Workflows: Enhancements specific to MBE workflows, including support for semantic (machine readable/searchable) PMI, as well as the ability to easily create a series of specific model views.
- Animation Updates: Models can now be brought to life with new animation APIs, allowing for assembly instructions and simulations to be added directly within the 3D PDF file.
Personal Opinion
As a user, the announcements from Tech Soft 3D don't apply directly to me since I'm not able to go rush out and buy the latest release of these software. But, the announcements are still something worth getting excited over. The better libraries and tools that developers can license, the more likely users are to achieve the holy grail of complete interoperability. In the meantime, getting software developers to implement tools that met current industry standards and specifications means that I can meet contractual requirements that much easier using my existing design software. Great job Tech Soft 3D! Keep it up. Next stop, paperless workflows.