The user can Stretch, Bend, Twist and apply a Radial Bend (Bend + Twist) to the geometry. The first is the ability to deform a surface model with much more freedom compared to most surface modelling tools. This is evident in the new Advanced Modelling set of tools, which have been implemented in two forms. Whilst many may think that the 3D geometry issue has been solved, it’s clear that there’s still more work to do and VISI 18 shows this perfectly. The drag/drop and push/pull concept is pervasive throughout the user interface making geometry wrangling much more efficient. It’s been nicely implemented here, particularly when dealing with fillets that have multiple radii and other complex areas. In terms of interaction with geometry, the reliance on the dialog has been removed and instead the drag handle approach, now common in all 3D design tools, is used. Although it’s not a specialised tool like those developed by Geomagic and Cop圜AD, it will let you work with the data once it’s been processed. All of the tools needed to clean up that data are provided, such as hole filling, rationalising normals, deleting areas of data and sharpening up edges (something that reverse engineering capturing devices suck at). VISI 18 also brings on board tools for working with mesh data, which may for instance come from a reverse engineering process or a simulation. Plastic filling simulation with complete tool design and hot runner circuit So, as well as supporting interaction with mesh data, VISI will also read PLY polygon files and will output directly to Z Corporation’s own ZPR format for 3D printing. While this may seem an extensive list, work has been done on the output of data. Now the user has drag & drop access to all of the following formats – Acis, Catia V4 & V5, DXF/DWG, Iges, Parasolid, Pro Engineer, Solid Edge, Solid Works, Step, STL, Unigraphics and VDA. Specifically, this release features a consolidation of the file/open and file import commands, which were previously separate.
It looks fresh and modern with a crisp graphics display and a neatly task oriented user experience that helps to instil a certain level of confidence in the working environment. Vero has been working hard on the system’s user interface.
So, with this amount of product to look at, we’d better crack on and start with the basics.
The last few releases have seen a huge amount of work done on both the integration and extension of the new tools the company has acquired such as the mould filling simulation tools from Plastic & Computers and wire EDM tools from Camtek. Interactive bending of a solid model using the deformation tools