Dealing with extensive and detailed CAD assemblies is often very time consuming. With the innovative "balloon" function of the latest software version of the 3D_Evolution Simplifier, the selection of interior or exterior parts can now be fully automated.
Scope of Data as a Challenge
For VR and DMU requirements in practice often only the external or internal parts of a very large vehicle assembly are needed. Especially with extremely large assemblies such as trains, aircraft and automobiles, the selection of the desired components or sub-assemblies is often very difficult and takes a large amount of manual work and time. Even modern 3D systems quickly reach their limits a complete and detailed car assembly needs to be displayed to manually select the desired scope.
Balloon selects the Interior
CoreTechnologie's innovation team has taken up the challenge by developing a new voxel-based function for the 3D_Evolution Simplifier software tool. The new software tool selects the desired items through a so-called balloon stretching out from a user defined starting point. There is practically no limit to the size of the data. The selection prcess takes place within the shortest space of time by using multiprocessor calculation. The automatically selected models, which represent either the interior or exterior, can be converted to all common 3D formats.
The software has the well known interfaces for major systems such as Catia V5 and V6, NX, Solidworks, Creo, Inventor as well as standard formats such as STEP, JT, FBX, DWG and DGN and many more. A clever side effect of the balloon calculation is that the contact body consisting of voxels is representing the interior volume minus all bodies contained therein and thus represents the volume of air or liquid inside. Thus, the automatically created model is a closed volume that can also be used for further simulation purposes.
Envelop geometry improves CAD Performance
From detailed engine, gearbox or machine and plant assemblies, the Simplifier generates exact enveloping bodies as solid geometry, with significantly smaller file sizes and thereby guarantees CAD and VR performance with up to 95 percent reduction in element count. The simplified models represent an exact representation of the outer shell whose inner geometry has been completely removed.
In addition, the simplifies shell provides the advantage of sending 3D data, effectively protecting valuable know-how. When collaborating with suppliers, customers or partners, as well as in downstream processes, automatic selection and envelope geometry generation of complex components is an integral part of the PLM process chain, both for the protection of know-how and for the automated creation of lightweight 3D models used for VR and DMU process or for further operations in the CAD system.