HOOPS SDKs for Building Leading PLM Applications

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.

At Tech Soft 3D, we’re not experts in building PLM applications, but we do know a thing or two about the component technology that leading applications are built upon and how SDKs can provide necessary core functionality that allows development teams to focus on their expertise and bring their solutions to market faster. Over the years we’ve been fortunate enough to work with companies like Aras, Oracle, Contact Software, Eurostep, and Proplanner, helping us finetune our toolkits for PLM workflows.

ACCESS TO CRITICAL ENGINEERING DATA
Accessing reliable 3D CAD data from a variety of formats is no easy task, yet it greatly simplifies workflows for your end-users by removing the need for the complex integrations often used to import CAD data. The HOOPS Exchange SDK solves this issue for development teams by providing a CAD data import and export library, delivering access to over 30 CAD file formats through a single interface. Whether it’s CATIA, SOLIDWORKS, Inventor, Solid Edge, NX, STEP, or STL, HOOPS Exchange delivers dependable access to essential 3D CAD data including BREP, metadata, PMI, and GD&T, supporting a variety of PLM and PDM workflows like assembly management, revision control, configuration management, and BOM generation.

3D VISUALIZATION FOR PARTS AND LARGE ASSEMBLIES
We’re seeing 3D data playing an increasingly important role in end-user workflows and the ability to visualize and interact with 3D CAD data has become an expectation in leading PLM solutions, allowing users to visually collaborate and validate processes. Magnus Färneland, the Manufacturing Industry Director at our partner Eurostep, put it simply “If 3D data is playing an important role in their workflows, we should support that and give them the tools to more easily communicate with their extended network.” Cue the engineering-specific HOOPS graphics SDKs, HOOPS Visualize and HOOPS Communicator, which allow users to display and interact with 3D CAD data in all major web browsers, mobile devices, and desktops. HOOPS Visualize provides high-quality rendering on desktop or mobile applications while HOOPS Communicator is a fully customizable SDK for high-performance, web-based visualization of 3D graphics. With support for navigating complex assemblies, interrogating data with built-in explode and cutting plane tools, as well as markup and redlining, HOOPS graphics libraries empower development teams to quickly add powerful 3D viewing to their PLM applications.

SHARING 3D DATA DOWNSTREAM
Often, the need arises to share engineering data with other stakeholders and interested parties. Generating interactive 3D PDFs and smart reports allows for this kind of information to be easily shared and distributed as needed. The HOOPS Publish SDK provides the tools to quickly generate interactive reports, including 3D models and dynamic parts lists and tables for further interrogation and collaboration. Furthermore, HOOPS Publish enables CAD data to be published to standards like JT or STEP AP 242 for increased interoperability. Need to share files in the browser? HOOPS Publish also allows users to create standalone HTML files with embedded 3D data.

In summary, Tech Soft 3D exists to make it intuitive and frictionless for our partners in the PLM space to build the applications they need by utilizing the highest quality development tools. You can learn more about the HOOPS toolkits and our partners in the PLM space by visiting our Product Lifecycle Management page.