CAD Exchanger releases 3.24.0 with notable enhancements

CAD Exchanger 3.24.0 was released in late December 2023 (shortly after version 3.23.0 came out with new features). The software suite allows 3D CAD software developers and end-users to view, explore, and convert 3D CAD data on desktop, web, and mobile. This latest update brings a series of minor but still notable improvements. Among them are the Manufacturing Toolkit (MTK) and Unity enhancements, improved model parts detection within the Lab and Visualization Toolkit, and fixes in the Web Toolkit (WTK).

With this update, both tools became more adept at recognizing individual parts within a polygonal representation, making it easier for users to interact with specific elements of their models. This feature ensures a more precise and smoother selection process.

Better selection for poly in Lab and Visualization Toolkit

SDK enhancements

Renaming and rotating examples
The CAD Exchanger team introduced two new examples that showcase the functionality of SDK. The rotating example illustrates the process of rotating the model by specifying transformation matrices for instances. The renaming example demonstrates how to modify the names of model scene graph elements, shapes, and poly shapes to enhance user interactions with 3D models.

Unity improvements
One of the notable advancements in the recent updates to Unity is the improved performance of the Unity_ObjectFactory. After the model is loaded into SDK, the next step is to convert these objects into Unity objects. Previously, the process took place linearly, but now it is parallel. Thanks to that, the performance has been four times faster than before. It’s utterly important for complex models, so now users can upload them in a matter of seconds.

Unity improvements

For the convenience of new users, there is also a step-by-step guide to help create a Unity application from scratch for conversion CAD models in runtime.

Web Toolkit refinements

Customizable View Cube
The customizable View Cube offers flexibilities in the user navigation experience. This feature empowers developers to design and modify the View Cube’s appearance to align with their web applications, for example, changing fonts and languages.

Integration of multi-camera input handlers support
The feature enables developers to manage and synchronize multiple camera inputs, allowing for rotating two viewers within a single web application. This capability provides users with enhanced control.

Custom bounding box for clip planes
The new ability to set a custom bounding box for clip planes visual objects generation introduces a heightened level of precision and control in Web Toolkit visualization settings. For example, if you change the explode value, then the bounding box also changes along with it. This API extension allows for more flexibility in exploring the model.

Custom bounding box for clip planes

Manufacturing Toolkit updates

CNC Machining
The last update removes potential issues by refining the Bosses recognition on some parts. For example, imagine a cylinder that is attached to the rest of the part from the inside. Previously, in such cases, MTK determined that the boss was not the cylinder but the entire main part. Now, in this case, it is determined that there are no Bosses here at all.

Additionally, MTK now boasts enhanced algorithms for the intricate geometries of Through Pockets, ensuring more reliable detection and subsequent machining strategies.

Sheet Metal
This time, CAD Exchanger team decided to concentrate on a few particular cases. Firstly, was improved the recognition of notches that have complex shapes, for example, a T-shape. Secondly, was improved main face recognition at the start of the analysis. Previously, there was an issue that if the main face had a very big cutout in the center, then it was not considered as a main, and this led to problems in recognition. Now, these cutouts are taken into account, and MTK can process such main faces accurately.

Wall Thickness
Users can not only get the full range of computed thickness values but also extract values at specific points on a surface or within a given triangle. For a better understanding of these results, there were added a special visualization example. A gradient from red to green on the model shows users potential areas of concern and helps to make informed decisions to enhance the quality.

MTK wall thickness example

Format improvements
This time the primary focus was on MCAD file formats. This updates include some CATIA, DWG, glTF, and SOLIDWORKS fixes.

All CAD Exchanger products are available for a free evaluation. To get the evaluation and more details about the products, visit https://cadexchanger.com/evaluation

Written by

Rachael Pasini

Rachael Pasini is a Senior Editor at Design World (designworldonline.com).