Enhancements cater to the aerospace industry.
The big news with KeyCreator 2023 is not in the product itself but that Kubotek3D is now called Kubotek Kosmos. The name is in part meant to reflect the role that the aerospace industry has played in the company’s development.
Detailing, MBD and PMI
If you read the table of contents of What’s New in KeyCreator, you see immediately that a large percentage of the 2023 release is devoted to detailing, model-based design (MBD) and product manufacturing information (PMI), which is in the form of dimensions and notes applied to the 3D model. Kubotek states that the reason it is leaning so heavily on a single area of enhancements is that users have reported that the aerospace industry is making more use of MBD and PMI technology. This combines the type of information typically conveyed on a 2D drawing but allows the better visual communication of a 3D model.
Improved display resolution for TrueType fonts in KeyCreator 2023 also adds to enhanced performance for text-based information and display.
Interoperability
Another important area of development listed in the contents is interoperability. This is hardly a surprise given the recent enhancements in Kubotek’s 3D Framework kernel, which is used in all of Kubotek’s products. The rest of the Kubotek Kosmos product line centers heavily on interoperability tools, comprising translation validation tools, change comparison tools, viewers and converters.
The updated formats for imports include ACIS (up to 2022), Dassault Systèmes CATIA V5 (2022), Dassault Systèmes CATIA V6 (R2021x), PTC Creo (v9.0), Autodesk Inventor to 2023, Siemens NX 2007 for geometry (version, not year) and NX 2019 and 2027 for drawings, Parasolid read and write to 34.0, SOLIDWORKS 2022, and Solid Edge to 2022.
KeyCreator 2023 can also now read CATIA V6 3dxml, JT mesh files and Rhino format.
Besides CAD tools, Kubotek is known for developing interoperability, validation and CAD viewing tools. As a minor player in the CAD market and essentially considered a third party for CAD data translations, Kubotek a perfect organization to take on interoperability. The main CAD developers are more interested in locking customers into their proprietary formats, but Kubotek can be more objective. Having developed the independent 3D Framework geometry kernel helps the company offer validated translations between proprietary or neutral formats.
Units and Precision
Along with the improvements in the 3D Framework kernel comes the adaptability to deal with scaling units and precision. KeyCreator can now work with units from miles to microns and scale the precision up or down to match the base size of units. If you have ever been frozen out after creating entities that were too large for the units you selected, you will appreciate this enhancement.
Sketching Improvements
New capabilities in sketching include added arc snap angles and set arc radius values from the context menu. This will help you to draw as you intended more easily the first time.
In addition, you will be able to snap to the axes of other parts in an assembly.
3Dfindit.com Catalog
KeyCreator 2023 has also integrated 3Dfindit.com from CADENAS. This is a components catalog that helps you find hardware using a shape search. You can use 3D geometry, sketches or photos as input for the search.
Together with the new parts catalog comes improved placement for washers. Washers now use the same bottom base point as other fasteners, which helps speed and simplify placement and stacking.
