Press Release
Elysium announces a major upgrade, CADdoctor EX6 with reinforced reverse engineering tool
Mar. 12, 2014
Press Release
Elysium announces a major upgrade, CADdoctor EX6 with reinforced reverse engineering tool
Mar. 12, 2014
Hamamatsu, JAPAN — March 10, 2014 — Elysium, a leading provider of 3D translation and geometry optimization technology, announces that a new release of CADdoctor, EX6, will be available March 12, 2014. CADdoctor is a superior-performing 3D data translation and utilization tool that is highly regarded in the CAD/CAE industry and well-known for its robust results and excellent quality.
Though many, perhaps the most significant enhancement of this version up is the fully-renewed reverse engineering tool, which automatically generates high-quality CAD data from 3D scanned point cloud or polygon data. Another featured enhancement is the release of the Mid-surfacing function, which creates high-quality mid-surfaces from a solid model for CAE analysis. Additional enhancements include improved detail in the Geometry Verification Tool, faster processing and translation performance (see 3. for statistics), added support for additional CAD versions and enhancements made within the core technology of Elysium’s CADdoctor engine.
“Reverse engineering” is a process that takes 3D scanned data, usually point cloud data, and translates it to polygons and eventually — ideally — a CAD model. The key behind Elysium’s new and improved reverse engineering tool is the advanced capability to automatically recognize fillets and base faces, and then section the polygons based on the recognized information. The tool enables a high-quality B-rep model, or boundary representation of solid geometry, which compares to the quality of a B-rep model that has been modeled directly in the CAD system. One advantage of this powerful technology is the ability to conduct evaluations and CAE analysis on actual products from prototypes or mass production that were 3D-scanned. More and more companies have invested in CAE analysis processes to improve products, streamline workflows, and stay innovative as a means to an ever-demanding market for faster, higher-quality and newer-concept products. At the same time, 3D scanner technology has improved in capability and affordability. Elysium’s reverse engineering tool connects these processes well by consuming point-cloud data with remarkable results and being able to process data between multiple formats seamlessly.
The mid-surface module is another standout technology as it can create mid-surfaces without failures, such as missing faces or isolated faces, even from detailed models with complex bosses and ribs. Its editing tool is ideal to modify created mid-surfaces to the user’s intent with ease. This tool impacts a time-reduction for mid-surface creation, which results in smooth circulation of designing and analysis, and ultimately a faster time to market (see 2. below for details on pilot customer statistics). The mid-surface tool is another solution that well-accommodates the growing use of CAE tools, and with Elysium’s well-known capability to translate data among multiple formats, one of the common hurdles associated with various data flows — interoperability — is addressed in parallel. This ensures a simplified process for the user and maintains data integrity.
Elysium has fully renewed the engine and technology behind its reverse engineering tool. It automatically recognizes fillets and base faces by the curvature of polygons, and generates high-quality B-rep from polygon data obtained from 3D scanning. (Refer to Fig 1.) It will also recognize the planar or cylindrical geometries from polygons with the power to generate analytic planes and cylinders automatically. (Refer to Fig 3.) The quality of a generated B-rep with this tool is now as high as that which is manually modeled in CAD systems — the key being that it has tangent continuity between faces.
Automatic geometry recognition allows users to check the areas recognized as fillets prior to the B-rep generation. Regarding areas where several fillets intersect and generating a single face is more complex, users have the ability to divide sections appropriately based on fillet lines or geometry of polygons to create smooth blended surfaces. (Refer to Fig 2.) Users can also edit generated B-rep data by editing the boundaries of sections or creating faces. (Refer to Fig 4.)
The “Mid-surface” option has been added to CADdoctor EX6. This is a function to create high-quality mid-surfaces from a solid model for CAE analysis. It is essential in mid-surface generation to recognize the pairs of faces and generate mid-surfaces nicely adjusting the areas where the thickness changes or is complex with bosses and ribs. Elysium achieves a high success rate when automatically generating mid-surfaces thanks to its geometry handling technology accumulated over a 30-plus-year history.
In the event a mid-surface is not automatically generated, users can check such areas one by one and correct with editing tools provided. This is also useful when the original model is complex and the result from the automatic generation does not match the users’ intent.
The mid-surfacing function has been tested and approved by pilot customers, who were able to verify a 50 percent reduction in lead-time for the entire process from mid-surface generation to CAE analysis, compared to previous methods with other solutions providers.
The core part of Elysium’s technology, the data translation has been improved in its performance. As well as the support for parallel processing, a new translation option, “Minimal Healing” has been added, which prioritizes translation speed and limits the healing criteria to just enough to translate as solid models. Users can also choose to skip displaying graphical views (viewing data in CADdoctor before and after the translation) and PDQ checks to further expedite results. These enhancements allow 60 percent faster translation with Minimal Healing, and still 50 percent with “Powerful Healing” which prioritizes the accuracy and data quality. This shows a remarkable improvement in performance, especially on large assemblies in which a savings of 70 percent or greater has been recognized with some models.
A results list of comparison differences is now available in further detail. This increases job efficiency and eliminates the chance of oversights as users can check the differences with associated values such as fillet radius, chamfer length and hole diameter.