Switching To HOOPS Exchange: When To Do it, How to Do it, and What to Expect

HOOPS Exchange is the industry-leading SDK for providing developers with CAD data translation for their applications. The toolkit supports over 30 CAD formats and is backed by decades of industry experience, making it a fantastic choice for those with a wide array of development needs.

Despite this, there are other capable SDKs out there, and you may have started your application development with one of them. Switching SDKs can be a daunting experience, and teams may worry it will be too difficult, too expensive, or simply not worth the trouble.

In this piece, you will learn:

• When to switch SDKs

• Why you should consider HOOPS Exchange

• What switching to HOOPS Exchange looks like

• What our partners have to say

Should Your Organization Switch SDKs?

One of the hardest parts of the process of moving from one SDK to another is the decision to do so in the first place. Licensing a toolkit is costly, time-consuming, and can be technically difficult. For CAD data translation toolkits, there are some unique factors to consider.

Data translation is never perfect. In an ideal world, there would be perfect interoperability, with one master format, but that is not going to happen soon. A good data translation SDK should be as error-free as possible, support a wide array of formats relevant to your industry, and have a responsive, capable support team to meet your needs when problems arise.

Most CAD data translation toolkits do a reasonable job covering most formats to varying degrees. In our experience, the most common reasons developers consider switching are poor performance, critical translation errors, and insufficient support.

These failings stand out to your users and serve as a reflection on the application you are developing.

Developers experiencing issues with their CAD data translation SDK should:

• Examine common translation errors and how they impact their product

• Evaluate their data translation speed needs for different formats, sizes

• Consider how these failures affect their product and customers

• Determine how effective and responsive their SDK vendor’s support is

No matter what stage of your application’s development process, switching earlier is easier, but switching later can be better than never switching at all. SDKs are supposed to provide you with a reliable, cost-effective means of providing functionality to your application. If your SDK provider is not doing this, it is time to consider other options.

Bottom Line:

If your SDK is going to cost you customers and/or negatively impact existing ones, it is never too late to consider switching.

Why HOOPS Exchange May Be Right for You

HOOPS Exchange is Tech Soft 3D’s CAD data access toolkit, offering import support for 30+ popular formats. The toolkit supports rapid, fail-free read support for CATIA, SOLIDWORKS, Inventor, Revit, Creo, NX, Solid Edge, and many others. Check out our video overview below.

There are many other reasons to consider HOOPS Exchange – we offer powerful integrations with other HOOPS toolkits, Siemens Parasolid, and more.

For this conversation, however, we will discuss how HOOPS Exchange is different from other SDKs to help you decide if this is the right swap for you. Those who have a CAD translation SDK and are looking to switch will be concerned with how HOOPS Exchange handles your translation needs, the price, and how our support works.

Can HOOPS Exchange Handle Your Translation Needs?

The best way to evaluate the capabilities of our toolkit in handling your data is to do just that – test it. In our evaluation process (which we will cover next), we offer a 60-day evaluation license for you to see exactly how the SDK works with your needs. We encourage you to compare us to your existing vendor in both speed and translation accuracy to see which is the best fit for you.

In the meantime, check out our documentation, supported formats, and programming guide.

HOOPS Exchange Pricing

Pricing for SDKs is complicated, as there are so many factors that influence cost. As a result, many vendors simply hide their prices from prospective customers. At Tech Soft 3D, we try to be as transparent as possible, so we have created this guide on how our HOOPS pricing works. This is unlikely to give you an exact final cost but will give you a framework for both your internal discussions and those with us to help you make the best decision for you.

SDK Support and The Difference It Makes

In our experience, one of the biggest differences between SDK providers is the support network that you have access to when you license their products.

At Tech Soft 3D, we want to do more than simply give you a toolkit and wish you luck – we want to create a Strategic Technology Partnership with you. This means supporting your application through its entire lifecycle, from initial development to shipping and beyond.

When we speak with partners who switched from a competitor to Tech Soft 3D, support is one of the major standouts that sets our organization apart.

Bottom Line:

HOOPS Exchange is a powerful toolkit with decades of experience and a great support team. It is also not a perfect fit for everyone. We encourage you to compare your existing toolkit with ours to find what best supports your needs. Below, you will find honest breakdowns of how HOOPS Exchange compares to two popular alternatives.

What Evaluating & Switching Would Look Like for You

While the process of switching SDKs is not always easy, we want you to know what to expect. Your evaluation process will be similar to that of a prospective partner that does not have preexisting SDK, except you have more detailed information on your needs – this is good. Our evaluation process is built around helping us help you, and a clear understanding of what you are looking for is best for everyone involved.

The Evaluation and Switching Process

Some good news - CAD data translation toolkits are easier for many developers to switch between than other SDKs. The type of functionality these toolkits provide tends to sit next to or “on top of” your application rather than be deeply integrated into the core features you are providing your customers.

Our sales process looks a little different from many organizations. When you start evaluating a Tech Soft 3D product, you'll be set up with two important people – A Partner Development Manager (PDM) and a Consulting Engineer (CE). These individuals will guide you through the process and stick with you should you choose to partner with us.

When starting an evaluation with us, some things to consider and bring to your conversation with us are:

• In what areas is your current SDK failing you?

  • What would improvement look like to you?

• What options are you considering?

  • Are you going to evaluate every tool available, or just a subset?

• What is your time frame?

  • Have you already shipped or is this a new development effort?

  • Do you have a release date, planned update, or customer-provided target?

• Who are the key decision makers for your switching process?

  • This may include developers, team leaders, executives, etc.

  • What would it take to convince them to switch SDKs, one way or another?

After contacting us, you will decide if you want a self-guided or dedicated resource evaluation process. From here, you'll have access to our demos, sample projects, and the ability to integrate the toolkit into your product. The documentation, forums, labs, and your CE are all here to support you through his process.

From here, you will explore your licensing options. You will chat with your PDM regarding your distribution plans, scale, usage, and more, helping us understand exactly how we can best support you.

Now, you’ll make your final decision, and potentially become a partner of Tech Soft 3D, like hundreds of successful organizations before you! We want to create a genuine, collaborative relationship with our organizations where everyone benefits, what we call a Strategic Technology Partnership.

As you go through the process of switching to HOOPS Exchange, our team is there to support you every step of the way. You know your product best, and our CE’s and support team will work to respond to your unique challenges as quickly as possible.

Hear From our Partners

We encourage you to do your own careful evaluation based on your unique circumstances. With that said, it can be helpful to hear some of the experiences our partners have had while working with us. Check out our written partner success stories to learn more. You can also watch our recent interviews with Maya HTT and Xometry about their perspectives.

If you’re ready to get started with the switching process, want to learn more about HOOPS Exchange, or simply need to ask our experts a question, contact us below.