Merry Christmas everyone! Let’s unpack Santa’s Christmas gifts and see what he’s got for you, dear SDK users.
IFC export
After continuous private testing of IFC 2x3 interface we are finally ready to announce that with CAD Exchanger 3.7.1. this feature is publicly available.
PMI export in STEP and JT
Graphical PMI is what helps user make of the dimensional attributes of the model, necessary for product manufacturing. PMI may include geometric dimensions and tolerances, 3D annotation, surface finish, and material specifications. In CAD Exchanger it is visualized associated to B-Rep edges and faces.
Now with CAD Exchanger it’s possible to export graphical PMI into JT and STEP . In addition, STEP export also supports so-called associations (relationships between PMI and B-Rep entities). Graphical PMI export is also available for JT. The following table summarizes PMI support.
| STEP | JT | |||
| import | export | import | export | |
| Graphical PMI |
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| Semantic PMI |
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| PMI associations |
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3D View Manipulator
We continue to extend the visualization component of CAD Exchanger SDK exposing features which are available in CAD Exchanger Lab, so that SDK customers could build more feature-rich apps with great user experience. In this release we have added a new visualization tool - manipulator. It enables users to rotate and move objects along the XYZ axes and to change angles in different planes.
Gradle building system for Java examples
In the past, to build Java examples SDK users had to take the source code and insert it into their IDEs (Integrated Development Environment). To help users reduce time from SDK download to first application we have now added integration into the popular Java IDE named Gradle. Build your Java example using Gradle literary in two clicks (ok, maybe five at the most, cross my heart).
Each example is now an individual Gradle project that can be run standalone. Only two buttons to click at: build and run. Voilà!
Learn more about building with Gradle.
C# and Java APIs to explore PMI
This feature is applicable when viewed files refer to some external files, which are at the particular moment missing. Now they are highlighted in the product structure tree for you to miss not a single part in your model. Besides, while hovering over such references, you’ll see the missing file path. Up to now PMI-related API has been only available in C++. With version 3.7.1 the API has been extended to support C# and Java to enable our SDK users to work with PMI attached to the product structure and traverse its different elements.
Detailed examples allow evaluating users to jump start prototyping with CAD Exchanger SDK and serve good reference implementations which can be customized for each particular customer case.
New examples
The set of available SDK examples has been extended to include ones related to semantic PMI, graphical PMI and 3D view manipulator to demonstrate APIs’ functionality.
Miscellaneous
As always, for the new version CAD Exchanger engineers enhanced performance of SolidWorks, VRML, STEP, IFC and other formats. Find more on CAD Exchanger 3.7.1. enhancements at CHANGES.txt.