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Don’t miss 2024’s biggest highlights - It’s been a year full of innovation, connection, and of course, fun! We’ve compiled our greatest moments in our Tech Soft 3D Wrapped to celebrate another great year!

Crucial takeaways, resources, and other information from our experience at Formnext 2024.

2025 will be a pivotal year in CAD, with plenty of crucial changes you must be aware of. Here are 5 things we think you should keep an eye out for in the next year and beyond in the CAD industry.

Boundary representation is a common term, representing a crucial component of 3D modeling. Learn more about what this term means, why it matters, and what that means for you, here.

Tech Soft 3D is proud of our experience in cloud technology - we've been here from the start, we've helped companies in nearly every 3D market you can think of, and we look forward to being here for the long term. Learn more about why we are leaders in cloud technology here.

HOOPS Communicator offers it's industry-leading 3D web visualization capabilities in a way that can be customized to your exact product vision. Check out some examples and learn more here.

Join us in Frankfurt, Germany, for Formnext 2024 - the leading additive manufacturing show. Meet with experts, learn, make connections, and even have a bit of fun with Tech Soft 3D.

In case you missed us at IMTS or the event altogether, here are the highlights. This blog covers our impressions of the tech, people, and businesses we saw at IMTS 2024.

In this post, we guide you through the process of switching SDKs - from the difficult initial decision to the process itself. We highlight what makes HOOPS Exchange unique, and give you a chance to hear from our partners.

The Siemens Innovation Summit is a unique opportunity for industry experts to gather, present, share, and learn. Discover what this event can do for you and register here.

The challenges facing AEC/BIM software developers are constantly evolving. Here are the most important trends in the industry you need to be aware of in 2024.

CEETRON SDKs can unlock your applications' potential and streamline development in the CAE space. Here, we go over the factors that influence how much a CEETRON SDK will cost you.

Digital twins offer unique opportunities across a wide array of industries. Discover the promise they offer manufacturers here.

AR/VR technology is undeniably useful but seems to be sticking in its mainstream adoption. Learn how the engineering world could provide the application that changes this

Pricing for Software Development Kits depends on a huge array of factors. In this post, we explain how our pricing model works, what influences cost, and answer FAQs to help you get an understanding of what a HOOPS SDK will cost.

HOOPS Luminate is the newest member of the HOOPS product line. In this article, we detail how it compares to two other HOOPS toolkits that also have a focus on some sort of visualization capabilities.

HOOPS Exchange and CAD Exchanger offer very different capabilities and pricing options in the CAD data translation market. Here, we provide our perspective on the two, directly comparing features, capabilities, limitations, and best use cases.

The right component technology can transform your application development experience. Development platforms can save you time, money, and create a more complete product. Learn more here.

Recently, we announced the acquisition of Theorem Solutions, a long-time partner of ours and leader in CAD translation, data publishing and AR. This comes quickly after the complimentary acquisition of the SpinFire view/mark-up product portfolio from Actify Inc.

The CEETRON Platform of SDKS offer a wide array of CAE-focused functionality that can be added to your application. Here are the top 5 things CEETRON can do for you.

Our 2024 CEETRON Digital Summit has come and gone and was a great opportunity for us to discuss Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) workflows and solutions, share updates to our SDKs, and shed the spotlight on a few of our partners. For those who missed it, or who simply prefer their information in written format, here are the most important takeaways from our CEETRON Summit.

While lots of organizations say their sales team is different, we have evidence (and this article) to back it up. We don't even have "salespeople" or a sales department. Find out more about how and why we do things differently, and how this directly benefits you.

In this post, we share the insights of our conversation with the VP of marketing of Actify on CAD visualization across the enterprise. Automotive suppliers take in hundreds of CAD files a day, all varying in format. Consuming and working with all that data is a feat on its own, but now you have finance, marketing, sales, and other departments needing information from the 3D models, customers asking for changes, engineering saying they need changes, and now you’ve lost your digital thread.

As part of International Women’s Day and our Center Stage program to highlight Tech Soft 3D employees, we want to celebrate one of our wonderful Software Engineers, Roshin Abraham!

As part of International Women’s Day and our Center Stage program to highlight Tech Soft 3D employees, we want to celebrate a Tech Soft 3D Engineering Manager, Silje Helfjord!

CEETRON Envision, VTK, and ParaView are three capable products serving very different markets. Here, we compare a CAE-focused, vendor-supported SDK, an academic-loved open-source visualization toolkit, and an end-user product built using the latter.

CEETRON Envision, HOOPS Communicator, and HOOPS Visualize are powerful tools that provide very different functionality. Here is an overview of how they compare, where they each shine, and which might be right for you.

AI is starting to have more and more of an impact on engineering, design, and simulation spaces. In this piece, we discuss what these effects are, how they might evolve, and the challenges and opportunities AI presents in these industries.

First impressions are everything, and we are no different. The right meeting prep can greatly increase what you get out of your partnership with Tech Soft 3D, or any other SDK vendor. Here are the most important things to prepare BEFORE we meet to get the most out of our time together.

Autodesk is the global leader in CAD applications for many reasons, and many developers look to this as a foundation for their own product ideas. This piece will directly compare and contrast developing a standalone product using AutoCAD OEM to developing an AutoCAD plug-in designed to be hosted on the Autodesk Exchange Store.

AutoCAD OEM is a development platform for teams looking to build their own custom applications to address a wide variety of use cases and markets. This piece covers the differences between AutoCAD OEM and the end-user version of AutoCAD.

AEC has historically been one of the slower industries to fully embrace wholesale change. What will it take to fully unleash AEC innovation that will propel the industry forward?

Digital twins can provide benefits for a multitude of different use cases across multiple industries, but are we only just getting started when it comes to fully tapping into their potential?

With more and more being asked of software vendors, we look to any and all sources of inspiration. One such source is simple, humble, and comforting: the Lego.

Two of this space's largest and most capable products in the CAD Data Translation Space are 3D InterOp by Spatial and HOOPS Exchange from Tech Soft 3D. Here, we compare and contrast the two, looking at the benefits of both.

In this piece, we want to explain what Strategic Technology Partnerships are to us and, more importantly, what they mean for you. By communicating our thoughts on the types of professional relationships we try to build, we hope to foster greater success for both your and our organizations.

Web-based 2D and 3D visualization has become more popular, and with the wealth of utility it provides, it is easy to see why. When done well, developers can enable users to share designs from a plethora of markets with clients, other devs, and anyone else in a simple, user-friendly manner.

More and more, developers are moving to web-based services for 2D and 3D visualization and interaction. These allow you to quickly show off designs to colleagues, clients, or anyone else with just a web browser. The tools in this space offer a huge array of capabilities that may or may not be well-suited to your specific development needs.

As a founder of a company whose business model is built on supporting development teams by being a strategic development partner, I’ve been up close and personal with dozens of start-ups in my 25+ years of experience. My team has had the privilege to provide technology and expertise to help them jumpstart their development.

This article explains the limitations of Tech Soft 3D's SDKs when it comes to developing applications within the medical space, particularly when it comes to DICOM support and volumetric rendering.

With over 26 years of experience developing engineering-specific SDKs, Tech Soft 3D has seen the 3D printing space grow from its infancy to its now widely adopted state. From prototyping to production, the HOOPS and Polygonica toolkits have provided independent software vendors with core functionality for additive workflows

In this post we explore the ongoing growth and adoption of additive technologies and the innovation in software applications that have made it possible.

Over a decade ago, 3D printing became mainstream. Now, 3D printing is used for everything from creating small figurines to manufacturing industrial parts. When the 3D printing craze hit years ago, the central part of the 3D printing industry was selling the hardware and printers themselves.

Metrology has long played a crucial behind-the-scenes role in the production of the manufactured objects that make up the world around us. Nearly every product contains parts and components that need to fit together and have very little room for error when it comes to tolerances.

When we decided on Battery Ventures as the right investor to help us accelerate growth, internally we named it ‘Project Energizer.’ Yes, it was a play on words, but it also captured what we were aiming for – energizing our mission of Fueling Innovation.

Building great metrology applications doesn’t happen overnight. Development teams spend countless hours perfecting measurement software products that enable manufacturers to make their product development processes as efficient as possible by getting their measurement and inspection as close as they can to the actual manufacturing of the product.

Fortune 500 technology companies like Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and IBM are beginning to turn their attention to a technology concept that has existed for quite some time.

Antonio Carvalho has been involved with metrology software development for over 22 years, working with some of the industry’s leading applications. Now the VP of Engineering here at Tech Soft 3D he offers a unique perspective on how development teams in the metrology market can leverage SDKs to build competitive applications.

There has been a substantial demand for Navisworks support within the HOOPS Platform. Several companies, including a large electronics manufacturing company, are currently sponsoring the Navisworks project. This particular company is interested in this feature because they are developing a plant design and management solution.

At one of our recent Town Hall events, one of the questions was how we plan to retain our strong company culture even while we’re doing lots of hiring, and especially as we grow through acquisitions.

Taking a closer look at mechanical engineering, simulating systems before they go into production has become a very effective way for companies to test their products without incurring the expense associated with physical testing. Although a world where no such real-life testing is still far away, the question is on the table.

Every morning, LinkedIn reminds me about The Great Resignation. Any of us who have been using the platform for a few years have seen it. The increasing number of photos of old employee badges where someone talks about their last day at company A, B or C - and their plan to start a new position elsewhere.

Whether it’s supporting automotive, aerospace, medical devices, or construction, Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solutions are quite literally the glue that holds manufacturing production systems together, providing a digital thread from start to finish and optimizing processes for the end-user.

Interactive code sandboxes are certainly not new, but it’s a concept that lends itself well to HOOPS Communicator. The idea is to provide an easy way for developers to quickly prototype without needing to jump through many of the hoops (no pun intended) involved with running a project locally. Because of this, we decided to create the HOOPS Communicator 3D Sandbox.

A company's vision, when done well, serves as a north star - providing a powerful directional guide for all levels of the organization. With a steady eye trained on a clearly articulated vision, management is better able to make consistent decisions. The 'why' behind strategic choices is clear to every team member.

Tech Soft 3D’s annual Hackathon is slowly but surely becoming a tradition within the company. The rules are simple, band together with your colleagues or participate solo and pick any project you like as long as you use one or more of Tech Soft 3D’s SDKs. We dedicate a whole day to the Hackathon, with everyone participating working across time zones, sharing their progress live on Slack, and enjoying the cliche pizza that traditionally accompanies such events.

Like most of the world, the team here at Tech Soft 3D has been shocked, horrified and deeply saddened by the attack on the people of Ukraine by the Russian government. We condemn these inhumane and unjust actions and our hearts go out to all of those directly impacted, and to all of their friends and family around the world.

Nobody gets into shipbuilding because it’s an easy business. While it involves some of the same challenges that any builder or manufacturer faces, the challenges are writ on a particularly large scale.

If you have evaluated our SDKs before, you have been mostly dependent on one of our Consulting Engineers to answer your questions along the way. This has worked very well over the years, but it's not the most efficient way to work through a proof of concept with you.

In recent years, additive manufacturing has been evolving on several fronts simultaneously, helping to propel this promising technology ever further into the mainstream.

Running a startup is a demanding undertaking in any time period, let alone during a pandemic. Recently, Ron Fritz, CEO of Tech Soft 3D, hosted a roundtable discussion with four technology executives at the helm of innovative startups to learn more about the challenges startups have faced during this uniquely challenging time.

Recently, Ron Fritz, CEO of Tech Soft 3D, hosted a roundtable discussion with four other technology executives to discuss what type of innovation is going to gain traction in the post-COVID world.

A significant focus in the second half of 2021 was on better serving our partners’ immediate needs. Given the number of partners who use various forms of the HOOPS Platforms, this was a multi-product effort across all of engineering. Better supporting our partners is a theme that will carry over into 2022.

This is part two of the two-part article describing a generalized algorithm for traversing the object hierarchy implemented in HOOPS Exchange. If you haven’t started with part 1, check it out.

3D visualization of a real-world environment with all the things, people, business processes in it is no longer found only in science fiction movies! Digital Twins is a term describing digital representations of environments, things, people and their relationship, and Azure Digital Twins (ADT) is a platform that allows creating and interacting with such digital representations.

This is the first of a two-part article, in which we will develop a generalized algorithm for traversing the object hierarchy implemented in HOOPS Exchange. Traversing the object hierarchy is an important and ubiquitous part of almost every workflow. The algorithm we’re describing here can be found inside the Exchange Toolkit.

Tech Soft 3D’s history in engineering graphics dates back to the early 90’s and from the very beginning the Building & Construction Industry has been in our DNA. Initially acquired for the technology that is now HOOPS Visualize, Tech Soft 3D was spun out of Autodesk in 1996 and our relationship continues to this day as the sole reseller of Autodesk’s construction-focused RealDWG and AutoCAD OEM. However, it is fair to say that at least in this century most of our customers have been in the mechanical CAD space and all the different types of applications and verticals surrounding it.

Last year, Tech Soft 3D’s leadership team established an annual “Day of Equity” in honor of Juneteenth. Creating a culture of inclusion and diversity has always been a priority for the company, however there has been an increased focus in this area in the past few years, and in particular, for CEO Ron Fritz. This annual day of action is just one example of how he and his team are making that happen.

As we come up on the first anniversary of our Day for Equality, I’ve been thinking about my blog related to that event which was inspired by the protests in the wake of the killing of George Floyd. A year onward, it’s clear there is still a very long way to go here in the US. and around the world to be able to say that we live in a fully just world, where all people are treated equally and where all have the same opportunities. But we must continue steadily down that long path.

"There are several important trends taking shape around visualization that will impact visualization in the engineering world in the near- and mid-term. These are developments that any engineering software vendor should have on their radar – and they promise to push graphics in interesting and innovative new directions," explains Tech Soft 3D's CTO Gavin Bridgeman.

Over the past two decades, there have been several moments when AR/VR seemed like it was ripe to explode. But while there have been some scattered pilot projects and small proofs of concept involving a handful of users, we haven’t really seen the technology become mainstream. It’s not something that most companies are using broadly, or that most individuals are even necessarily familiar with beyond “Isn’t that the Pokemon thing?”

Recently, Ron Fritz, CEO of Tech Soft 3D, hosted a roundtable discussion with four other technology executives to discuss trends circling around the AEC industry, including the ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic is forcing AEC to digitize and modernize faster than it otherwise would. How will the industry change? Which areas will be first to evolve, and which will be resistant to transformation?

Recently, Ron Fritz, CEO of Tech Soft 3D, hosted a roundtable discussion with five other industry executives to discuss the current state of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR). The core question at hand: whether AR/VR is finally poised for its breakthrough moment – and if so, what barriers might need to be removed to usher in this new era.

The COVID-19 pandemic is transforming what work looks like and how it gets done in a variety of industries, and manufacturing is no different. Looking at the products and solutions that support manufacturing and some trends that are taking shape around them helps reveal the changes that are already taking place.

Recently, Ron Fritz, CEO of Tech Soft 3D, hosted a roundtable discussion with four other industry executives to discuss the future of manufacturing. The discussion touched on many topics, ranging from the impact of COVID-19 on supply chains, to current aspects of manufacturing that will seem ridiculous five or ten years from now, to trends around collaboration.

Over the past two decades, there have been several moments when AR/VR seemed like it was ripe to explode. But while there have been some scattered pilot projects and small proofs of concept involving a handful of users, we haven’t really seen the technology become mainstream. It’s not something that most companies are using broadly, or that most individuals are even necessarily familiar with beyond “Isn’t that the Pokemon thing?”

Beyond the steady shift to cloud-based architectures, we’re seeing an explosion of 3D development related to Industry 4.0, AR/VR, Generative Design, Additive Manufacturing, Digital Twin, Manufacturing as a Service, IoT, digital construction and more.

Any discussion of what it’s like to be a woman of color in tech begins and ends with the fact that there aren’t a lot of women of color in tech.

The density of data that AEC software is now regularly dealing with and visualizing is astounding; and it is enabling the AEC space to venture into some exciting areas – starting with the ability to more effectively take a digital approach to ensuring that buildings are being built as designed.

AR/VR adoption is growing, and not just in areas like entertainment. The real growth over the next few years is going to be for industrial applications, with more than half of spend occurring there by 2021. In the automotive industry alone, half a trillion dollars is projected to be spent on AR/VR platforms in the next few years.

The COVID-19 pandemic is transforming what work looks like and how it gets done in a variety of industries, and manufacturing is no different. Looking at the products and solutions that support manufacturing and some trends that are taking shape around them helps reveal the changes that are already taking place.

In my last blog, I shared the trends I picked up from talking with several dozen of our partners, focusing on the very immediate economic impacts that companies were experiencing and expecting in the very near term. Since then, I’ve talked with several dozen industry leaders about their predictions about what a post-COVID world will look like and how that will impact our industry specifically.

Tech Soft 3D leadership established a Day of Equality on June 19th across the company, where all employees globally would be given the day off to spend time working for a cause of their choice. Tech Soft 3D has always had a strong culture of inclusion and being cause-conscious, and this day proved to be no different. Below are some examples of how employees spent their time, and how some felt about this initiative and what is happening in our world right now. It turns out there is still much to learn and we should all take the time to research issues of importance to our families and our world, so that we can be the change that makes a difference. Since then, I’ve talked with several dozen industry leaders about their predictions about what a post-COVID world will look like and how that will impact our industry specifically.

All of us here at Tech Soft 3D care deeply about justice, fairness and equity, all of which are essential to our core value of Building Positive Relationships. We feel compelled to stand up and speak out in defense of these ideals inside our company, within our local communities and around the world. We urge you to join us on our Day for Equality on June 19th.Since then, I’ve talked with several dozen industry leaders about their predictions about what a post-COVID world will look like and how that will impact our industry specifically.

To deliver relevant products to the market, they need to constantly ask themselves: where is manufacturing going? How are customers seeking to incorporate new technologies into their processes? What new use cases are emerging, and how can we support them?

Our opinion is that the best way to build a positive relationship is to approach is as a partnership – where both sides seek to support and foster the others’ success – which is quite different than a relationship being simply transactional, (“If you do X for me, I will then do Y for you”).

We talk with Ken Alger, a developer advocate at MongoDB, and he was also named one of the top 25 developer advocates for 2019! We discuss how the role of the software developer has changed, what's important to them and also trends in cloud computing.

In this episode of Beyond 3D we talk with Tommy Gaessler, one of the top 25 most influential developer advocates for 2019, and a developer advocate at Zoom. We talk about the current state of software development, opportunities and challenges, and where things are going with trends such as AR/VR.

Sharing exciting applications of Tech Soft 3D’s software development toolkits (SDKs) aims to inform, inspire and engage engineers and developers

In this episode of Beyond 3D we talk about the misconceptions of BIM and how that has hindered adoption. Mike Shilton is a qualified landscaper architect and also the Product Director at Keysoft Solutions. We have a frank discussion about how we should think and talk about implementing 3D modeling, digital construction and all the different aspects of BIM to make it less intimidating.

There’s a major shift in 3D as companies move to cloud and mobile solutions. And even though we live and breathe the complicated world of 3D, nobody has a crystal ball. Nevertheless, here are my thoughts about what I see happening with the different approaches and challenges to viewing 3D data on modern platforms.