kubotek3d

Kubotek3D, a leading supply chain software provider, today announced the availability of a new major release of KeyCreator 3D CAD software. The 2021 release provides improvements to Model-based Definition capabilities, productivity enhancements to various functions, and updates to CAD translators.

Model-Based Definition (MBD): Face colors supporting the digital thread
KeyCreator MfgCAD software has been designed to maximize productive re-use of CAD data. In the 2021 release the materials system has been enhanced in numerous ways to better support definition of what each face color means and quickly apply or copy those colors to appropriate faces.

For complex tooling design, face color attributes on the 3D model are commonly used as a form of MBD to signify manufacturing information such as surface tolerance and hole type. These colors are later converted to cycle parameters in the NC program. When this process can be automated, it follows the strategy called preserving the digital thread. This increasing popular concept saves time and errors over a human reading a drawing and re-typing the details into manufacturing software.

“The color tools available in the 2021 release of KeyCreator are a game changer.” said Bill Bechard, Designer, Superior Tool and Mold in Windsor, Ontario. “I have used premium CAD software that can’t deliver this automated face color manipulation. Our CNC cutting automation is reliant on face colors, so these tools will save many hours on every job we process. I am eager to start using the software.”

Since specific colors have different meaning for different shops, KeyCreator 2021 now stores material definitions in design and template files and allows loading and saving sets of materials from configuration files. An update to the selection filtering system allows quick access to faces with a specific material from any function. To extend support for design data from any source, KeyCreator 2021 recognizes unique face colors on imported models and automatically creates matching material definitions. This feature speeds up the process of defining a standard set of colors to be used on future jobs headed to a specific shop.

STEP AP 242
Kubotek proprietary readers for STEP (ISO 10303) files have been expanded to cover AP 242 to support customers using a full, standard-based MBD approach. STEP AP 242 defines critical manufacturing annotations including Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing (GD&T) and their relationship to the faces of the 3D model. These annotations and the nominal size and position of the precise geometric model provide an unambiguous part definition. This form of MBD can provide process efficiency by eliminating the need to translate the design into detail drawings and better support automation of downstream activities such as NC machining and inspection.

A second STEP enhancement has added to the 2021 release to open and export compressed ASCII STEP files which use the extension “.stpZ”. Compressed STEP files are around 20% of the size of uncompressed STEP files. The stpZ format has been gaining in popularity since originally released in 2013, especially in the aerospace and automotive industries.

Productivity improvements
KeyCreator 2021 also provides several other user-driven time-saving enhancements.
• Auxiliary drawing views defined perpendicular to a line/edge
• Significant speed improvement re-opening the Detail Style Editor
• Axis indicators selectable for vector direction or position
• Create 2D section slice geometry from part reference geometry

Updated CAD translators
Interoperability with other CAD software has been updated with the latest versions of two major CAD file formats:
• Autodesk Inventor 2021
• PTC Creo 7.0
Select this Data Exchange link for a complete list of translation features in KeyCreator 2021.

Kubotek3D
www.kubotek3d.com

Kubotek3D, a leading supply chain software provider, announced the 3.0 release of the Kubotek K-Compare and K-Display software products. This release provides updates to STEP and CAD file readers, user interface improvements, and several new functions for each product. The new releases are available for customers to download immediately.

STEP file enhancements
Kubotek proprietary readers for STEP (ISO 10303) files have been expanded in two important ways. The first major STEP enhancement covers complete reading of AP 242 Product Manufacturing Information (PMI) to support customers practicing Model-based Definition (MBD). STEP AP 242 defines critical manufacturing annotations including Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing (GD&T) and their unambiguous relationship to the faces of the 3D model. MBD can provide process efficiency by eliminating the need to translate the design into detail drawings and better support automation of downstream activities such as NC machining and inspection.

The second STEP enhancement is added support for opening compressed ASCII STEP files which use the extension “.stpZ”. Compressing STEP files into the stpZ format improves transfer of large data sets and has been gaining in popularity since originally released in 2013, especially in the aerospace and automotive industries. This new feature is included in all K-Display and K-Compare product levels. For engineers receiving compressed stpZ files, K-Display Convert can uncompress stpZ files to standard stp files which can be read by most CAD programs.

Updated CAD readers
Reading of 3D CAD files across all 3.0 Kubotek software programs has been updated to support new versions of four major CAD file formats:
• Siemens NX 1919, 1915, and 1911 (1899 Series)
• Dassault CATIA V6/3DExperience R2020x
• PTC Creo 7.0
• Autodesk Inventor 2021

K-Compare enhancements
Improvements in K-Compare have focused on further increasing user productivity. Comparison of two sets of hierarchical assembly CAD files has been enhanced to support quick side-by-side 3D graphical viewing of the entire assembly or just a set of paired parts. In the graphical view users can immediately browse the difference results tree details and see face highlighting on the impacted parts.

The new automatic Locator View option in the report creation mode of K-Compare Revision saves users the time of creating and annotating extra explanatory views. The Locator View provides the reader a quick frame of reference for views that are zoomed up on a part detail. The Locator View appears in the corner of the view, always stays at full scale (Zoom Fit), and maintains the same 3D orientation as the view. A dynamically linked rectangle over the locator view indicates where on the part the main view window is displaying.

K-Display enhancements
The 3.0 release introduces basic feature recognition capabilities to help users quickly evaluate part details based on geometry from any supported CAD format. During file read K-Display scans the face geometry and topology to builds lists of all machined holes, constant radius fillets, and general chamfers and includes a folder for each in the part tree. Data under each feature folder list relevant sizes such as diameter and depth for a blind hole. Hovering the cursor over the faces of these geometric features also provides a ToolTip which displays size information. This information aids in process planning and selection of tools for NC programming.

A new user option has been added to K-Display programs to support reading all non-primary variants of the 3D data in the CAD file. For a SolidWorks file, variants might be additional part configurations, or for a CATIA 5 file it may be scenes saved in the file. Having an option to decide to read variants or not is important because for many user applications this data is unnecessary, slows down file read, and may even lead to confusion. In other cases, having access to this variant data can be crucial to fully understanding the design.

Free trials of Kubotek software are available. Kubotek3D is also seeking referral partners and qualified resellers for these products. For more information, visit kubotek3d.com.

Kubotek3D
www.kubotek3d.com

Kubotek3D, developer of 3D mechanical Computer-aided design (CAD) software,  announced a major release of KeyCreator CAD/ CAM software. KeyCreator 2019 will provide significant improvements in graphics performance with large models, several productivity improvements, updates to translators, and the availability of new CAD translators.

“KeyCreator 2019 was built to enhance overall performance and speed of graphics displays,” said Ram Eswaran, CTO of Kubotek3D. “We took an already strong product, and pushed the boundaries of technology to enable users to get their jobs done better and faster.”

Accelerated graphics
KeyCreator 2019 includes a significant restructuring of the internal data architecture used in combination with the HOOPS engine component from Techsoft3D to render everything seen in the graphical viewport. The result is a dramatic 300% to 600% improvement in frame rate speeds for models with large numbers of faces, especially those using partial transparency.

Productivity improvements
Quick re-use of model geometry has been improved by providing DynaHandles in the commonly used file import and cut/copy/paste functions. This allows intuitive in-process adjustment to the positioning, rotation, and scale using visual feedback without a multi-step process or needing to execute a separate edit function.

The Bounding Box function which is used to create a block to surround selected objects, typically for modeling solid metal block, has been upgraded with automatic associative length, width, height dimension entities and also to support offset values to add material around the selected objects.

Support has also been enhanced in surface modeling for dynamically extending a surface and deforming a curve using multiple control point simultaneously.

Updated CAD translators
New CAD file import translators for the latest versions of JT and Solid Edge files have been added to the Pro and Max levels in KeyCreator 2019. These translators are based on InterOp components from Spatial Corporation.

Additionally, interoperability with other software has been updated with the latest versions of 4 major CAD file formats:

• Autodesk Inventor 2019

• Dassault CATIA V5 R28 (R2018)

• PTC Creo 5.0 (drawings)

• Siemens NX 12 (PMI)

“With many CAD products, large files have to be broken down with assemblies and layers to combat graphics speed issues. KeyCreator 2019 changes that,” said Greg Tiessen, President of Synergetic Group, a 20+ year user of KeyCreator and beta tester of KeyCreator 2019. “Files that would otherwise jerk and struggle through dynamic rotation movement attempts are now completely seamless, and have smooth movement navigating designs. We can quickly and effortlessly view an entire project at once—something we once feared because of the struggles we’d have with graphics, and now fly through our projects effortlessly. This product is the best we have seen in the industry for all file sizes, a real game changer.”

Kubotek3D
www.kubotek3d.com/products/keycreator