Editor's Pick: Solid Doctor Repairs CAD Data

By Anthony J. Lockwood

Dear Desktop Engineering Reader:  

Converting a model from one CAD package and then dragging it into your MCAD system can, well, become a drag when you start digging around to find, fix, and repair translation problems. While auto-repair tools take care of most of the inconsistencies in your file, the manual tools at your disposal are not always as user friendly or powerful as they could be. Delcam has taken a big step toward fixing both problems and all those common interoperability hassles youve come to know so well with its new Solid Doctor functionality in PowerSHAPE 2010 and CopyCAD Pro.  

The quick lowdown on PowerSHAPE is that it is a concept-to-reality CAD environment offering integrated solid, assembly and surface modeling, reverse engineering, embossing, drafting, morphing, and rendering functionality. PowerSHAPE is designed to be easy to use and now, with the introduction of Solid Doctor, PowerSHAPE also makes coping with the unpleasant realities of today's multi-CAD environments much easier.  

CopyCAD, for its part, is a full-featured, intensely flexible point data manipulation and transformation tool that lets you take charge of your point cloud data. Its 3D modeling tools even let you interactively smooth and sculpt triangle models in real time.  

Now, where does Solid Doctor come in? Well, while PowerSHAPE gives you total control over your modeling process and CopyCAD gives you mastery of your reverse engineering operations, Solid Doctor empowers you with efficient, easy-to-use data translation to tame your multi-CAD environment.  

That sounds anticlimactic until you remember that the headaches associated with data translation are a multimillion-dollar sinkhole for manufacturers who send CAD data up and down the design-through-manufacture chain. Delcams Solid Doctor provides a powerful and user-friendly solution. This in turn allows faster, more efficient, and more cost-effective new product development.  

You can learn more about how Solid Doctor lets you repair even crummy data quickly and efficiently from today's Pick of the Week write-up. Check out the five-minute video (no registration) to really see it shine, and download the PDF for some excellent insights into the hidden expenses of poor data translation. This is good stuff.  

Thanks, Pal, and happy new year to you and yours. -- Lockwood  

Anthony J. Lockwood
Editor at Large, Desktop Engineering

Read today's Pick of the Week.