Cadalyst - October 2008 - (Page 21)

cadalystlabsreview Deep Exploration 5.5 CAD Edition Right Hemisphere produces a variety of products targeting enterprise-wide communication and collaboration in the product-development process. Among its offerings are two versions of Deep Exploration: a Standard Edition and a CAD Edition. With Deep Exploration you can transform, author, and manage 2D, 3D, animation, video, and audio files. The CAD Edition that I evaluated for this roundup includes support for numerous industry-standard CAD file formats. Deep Exploration 5.5 supports all major CAD formats, including CATIA V4 and V5, Unigraphics, Pro/ENGINEER, SolidWorks, JT, I-deas, IGES, MicroStation, CADKEY, AutoCAD, Solid Edge, STEP, and VDA. You can download a full list of the supported file formats from the company’s Web site. Also supported are files from 3ds Max, Maya, LightWave 3D, SOFTIMAGE|XSI, Acrobat, and Photoshop. Other file formats are supported via Right Hemisphere’s Software Development Kit. All told, Right Hemisphere can import from more than 110 formats and export to nearly 50. Deep Exploration is extensible via a plug-in architecture. The interface mimics Windows Explorer, so the product is easy to understand and use. New in the version 5.5 release of Deep Exploration are enhanced CAD loaders to enable dynamic thick- and thin-line display and output, 2D drag-and-drop, userinterface enhancements of docking panels for custom layouts, detail views for detail and locator view graphics, and the creation of multiple procedures using steps. The types of procedures are assembly, disassembly, service, and maintenance. Defining a procedure as a step-by-step process, Right Hemisphere has enabled the creation of these multistep procedures. Right Hemisphere 925.460.8133 www.righthemisphere.com Starting price range: $1,995–$6,739 QuadriSpace Publisher3D Professional is an easy-to-use illustration program that publishes existing 3D data to a wide range of graphics, animation, and document formats. You can quickly and easily create 3D documentation. printed documents, Word, Excel, RTF, HTML, TIFF, BMP, PNG, JPEG, GIF, SVG, EPS, PS, AVI, Flash, XML DITA, DWF, U3D, QuadriSpace Model (QSM), and QuadriSpace Document (QSD) files. When I began my graphic conversions, I was able to convert and publish the SolidWorks SeaScooter assembly without difficulty, but both AutoCAD drawings presented challenges. QuadriSpace notes that Publisher 3D supports AutoCAD drawings, but it doesn’t support 2D drawings or 3D line art. Publisher 3D imports DWG files with faces and real 3D elements but not lines. According to the company, people using derivatives of AutoCAD, such as Architectural Desktop, typically have polygonal models that are supported either directly or through the DWF file format. QuadriSpace focuses on solids-based 3D models such as SolidWorks, Inventor, and Pro/ENGINEER files, as well as a number of solids-modeling standards such as IGES and STEP. The company also supports the general user base through useful 3D formats such as DWF and Google SketchUp. That left me with only the SolidWorks SeaScooter for testing, so I substituted the basic AutoCAD 3D HOUSE.DWG drawing for comparison purposes. The 70.3-MB SolidWorks SeaScooter Assembly converted into a 2.97-MB QSM file in less than 30 seconds. The 1.91-MB AutoCAD 3D HOUSE.DWG file produced a 2.03-MB QSM file in less than 30 seconds. These conversion times can vary, depending on the speed of the system used. The Document 3D Suite runs under Windows Vista, Windows XP, or Windows 2000. Pricing for the QuadriSpace Document 3D Suite is as follows: free for the Personal Edition, $495 for the Basic Edition, $1,495 for the Standard Edition, and $2,995 for the Professional Edition. Timelimited trial versions are available at the company’s Web site. October 2008 cadalyst www.cadalyst.com Right Hemisphere’s Deep Exploration CAD Edition lets you rapidly and easily transform, author, and publish 2D and 3D product graphics and documents. 21 http://www.righthemisphere.com http://www.cadalyst.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Cadalyst - October 2008

Cadalyst - October 2008 Contents Editor’s Window Cad Central SimCity for Real Designs Spring to Life — 3D Publishing Tools Make File Sharing as Easy as Opening a Book Xi MTower 2P64X — Dual Quad-Core Workstation ArchiCAD 12 — BIM Software Dell Precision M6300 — High-End Mobile Workstation Cad Manager Mcad Modeling Aec Insight Cad Cartoon Issue Indexes Hot Tip Harry

Cadalyst - October 2008

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