DATAKIT
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Here are some questions to answer before choosing a way to match your cad data exchanges. Let’s invest 2 minutes to make sure you’re on the right way!
Datakit offers 4 ranges of products & conversion services
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1. CrossCAD/STA
Datakit’s complete range of stand-alone converters has had a complete facelift at the beginning of 2007. The end result comes with a modern, user-friendly appearance and a far more attractive price list. Second, third & so on stand alones are less expensive than the first one.
The stand alone converters are packaged in a specific conversion engine and users consequently have direct access to all the interfaces. They can select the product they want to test and submit a license request, using a far more intuitive approach.
Two operating modes are available: Classic and Wizard.
The Wizard mode is designed for users who want to fine-tune their choices based on selected files, the characteristics of the data they want to convert or the files they want to generate. Depending on the information provided by the user and the file extension read by CrossCad, a list of relevant converters is suggested. With a few clicks, the user is then free to select one or more products and submit a license request. The user’s host ID, necessary for license generation, is automatically retrieved. No more need to fill in the host ID field in the form unless the user wants to implement the products on another PC.
The Classic mode corresponds to the GUI that usual Datakit customers are familiar with. However the new ergonomics make it a far more pleasant tool to use especially for test license requests.
Whichever mode is chosen, the result is displayed for products that offer a preview. A report is also automatically generated with the results of the conversion.
In addition, at product start, the user is notified when a new version is available a simple mouse click on the “Upgrade button” is enough to live-update the product.
When purchasing a stand alone, users benefit from 3 months guarantee including updates and upgrades (except optional ones). Then, a yearly maintenance contract is proposed for a 15% of the stand alone public price.
Get the list – If you don’t find the stand alones you are looking for, please feel free to ask and receive more information about our way to meet your need.
2. CrossCAD/PLG
By essence a plug-in is linked to the software for which it was designed. It is not sufficient on its own. Consequently to use CROSSCAD/PLG users must run a license for the software on the same workstation. Plug-ins require the same environment and resources than the software.
The current demand in native interfaces is clearly rising.
DATAKIT solutions, 100% compatible with the software they are designed for, are capable of reading all native CAD files produced by the major CAD software solutions. They regularly benefit from updates to match all the latest versions integrated within the software.
Among the different plug-ins, Rhino and SolidWorks plug-ins are very popular among their user communities. Plug-ins dedicated to Alibre, Inventor, Mastercam, Opencascade, ThinkDesign are also available.
Rhino plug-ins are based on Datakit’s topological model and fully support the new functions in Rhino 4.0 for creating and editing solids with deformation capabilities. Users enjoy all the advantages of tools that transfer native geometric data and also manage the links between these geometries, while enabling users to work from exact solids similar to those supplied by the source software.
All the converters have the same menu from which users simply open and import files and also access advanced options defining how the file will be processed: “write a solid, or a wireframe or b-rep representation of the solid”. The b-rep option will generate a closed solid.
This current generation of plug-ins brings another new feature: the processing of assemblies with a specific focus on Parasolid and Catia V4*. The ‘see assembly tree’ option immediately displays the assembly structure and facilitates selection of the file(s) for translation.
For Catia V4*, the whole of the assembly in the session.session file and all the external links available in the part file (.session) are displayed. This enables users to access the file and the ditto.
Special attention has also been given to improving control of entity positioning in different coordinate systems, processing visible and masked entities, and the choice of filters.
To optimize automatic file transfer, a batch mode is now active with all licenses purchased after the trial period. Time is saved by directly selecting a whole directory to be processed along with its sub-directories. This leaves users free to choose the directory in which they want to save their conversions.
The Rhino dealer network will be progressively shipping these plug-ins to give their user communities the opportunity to discover the exciting new functions.
Datakit’s SW plug-ins, with their unique depth of capability, have become favourite of the SolidWorks community. These tools enable users to transfer a wealth of native data: 2D, 3D, geometric, topological, attributes, construction history, FD&T and Features with a wide choice of control parameters addressing specific user needs (choice of coordinate system, entity filtering, etc.) Users have all the assembly tree preview functions to help and choose the level at which they want to open the elements they are interested in. Different filters are also still available.
Users generally appreciate tools that are easy to implement and use. Datakit’s plug-ins data avoid any complications. They enable sub-contractors to communicate directly with their clients and deeply enrich their product’s interoperability. They are affordable and very popular within design and engineering departments.
When purchasing a plug-in, users benefit from 3 months guarantee including updates and upgrades (except optional ones). Then, a yearly maintenance contract is proposed for a 15% of the plug-in public price.
· List of plug-ins translators
· Datakit converters Flyer PDF
3. CrossCAD/WARE
Historically Datakit moved from offering standalone application targeting end-users to components embedded inside CAD systems. This tendency, started in 2000, was clearly confirmed these past years. Supplying components accounts for 70% of Datakit revenues.
Data exchange impacts an increasing range of disciplines. This makes it natural and imperative to work with vendors to enable as many end-users as possible to exchange their CAD data. Datakit collaborates as an OEM with some fifty vendors. The company is now starting to operate on a market where customers are upgrading existing solutions. Its independence, the skills it has on board, and its ability to listen to customers and propose solutions definitively explain the company’s success. On the technical level it is able to support metadata, in addition to purely geometric information. Actually, it is increasingly dealing with issues such as the management of assemblies, annotations and tolerancing data. Basically all the data that comes under the headings FD&T and PDM. New customers work in the fields of design, reverse engineering, creation of interactive documentation, viewing, rendering and QC.
Its success in making a software module compared to developing an independent application relies on:
Þ Its ability to focus on breaking down the entities into the finest grained detail possible.
Þ Its building structures that enable data to be stored thoroughly and then used as needed by different applications.
Datakit proposes 2 different ways to cooperate with software companies
Þ File-to-file transfers using intermediary files – an easy solution to test the robustness and the capabilities of the components. Then, if software companies need functionalities that are specific to their software, they realise the full advantage of using the second solution.
Þ Fully integrated transfers into the vendor’s software solution: conversion of all entities one by one including data attributes processing. This gives a powerful grasp on the transferred data. This solution meets the needs of most of Datakit customers (Software companies) that seek to go beyond mere file-to-file transfer with sophisticated capability for processing data attributes.
Satisfaction requires deep and close relationship between supplier and customers. Datakit has the ability to listen and propose solution and will make sure its solutions will meet your needs now as well as tomorrow.
4. CrossCAD/PRO
Big industrial groups, mould makers and sub-contractors may wish to get their own tools for 3D conversion and data correction. Most of them are very familiar with the problem of restoring data with different Cad Software and the related need to correct and simplify models. They appreciate to get one unique conversion and healing solution that enable all users to have models that have been checked and repaired according to the same criteria. They are very sensitive to the time-saving issue and ways to avoid rework. In fact, anyone who has spent hours troubleshooting a model can imagine the sense of security that a solution like this can deliver and will quickly adopt a system that improve productivity as well as relationships between companies, customers and sub-contractors and all the other people who are involved in a project.
On the technical point of view, it is often indispensable to correct inaccurate points, gaps, hanging edges and reversed topologies. Deleting unseen singularities, adjusting the number of poles, detecting and correcting discontinuities are often indispensable steps in producing a reliable model. Not to forget anomalies like tears, holes or slivers that cause problems at the machining stage.
According to your needs, Datakit will propose one of these 2 ranges of solutions.
· CADFIX, CADIQ, DEXCENTER
· CROSSXPERT
CADfix is a suite of translation and repair tools for engineering product data. The result of two decades of ongoing research and development, CADfix offers true interoperability between a comprehensive selection of CAD, CAM and CAE systems through an unrivalled series of automatic and manual geometry manipulation tools.
Who should use CADfix?
CADfix is the ideal solution for anyone who needs to:
· Share product data between departments or with customers and suppliers.
· Reuse solid model geometry in different classes of CAD/CAM/CAE applications.
· Recover legacy data that would otherwise need to be remodelled from scratch.
What are the key features and benefits?
By enabling effective engineering data interoperability, CADfix removes significant barriers that can hamper the reuse of solid models. Without CADfix, users of downstream applications have little alternative but to rework models from scratch. Research suggests that remodelling can consume as much as 80 percent of the length of a typical engineering project, time that can only be considered wasted. With CADfix, little or no rework is necessary and engineers are free to spend their time doing what they’re being paid for. Experience has shown that CADfix pays for itself in productivity gains within the first few months.
What CAD systems are supported?
CATIA V4 & V5, CADDS5, Pro/E, UG, SolidWorks, SolidEdge, AutoCAD and others via ACIS, Parasolid, IGES (flavored & standard), STEP, STL and VDAFS.
Data Exchange for CAE
With ever shortening product design cycles the emphasis on simulation tools to provide timely results to drive the design is greater then ever. This pressure dictates FEA, CFD and EM analysis being driven off the master model CAD data. CAD provides the geometry but a great deal of analysis time is still spent working with the geometry.
The model is not a stitched solid, invalid geometry representation, surface normals are inconsistent, there are too many complex un-needed features, sliver faces, tiny edges, small diameter holes - all of these are possible reasons for a huge delay in getting a mesh, applying boundary conditions and getting results.
Cadfix is uniquely positioned in the CAD to CAE data flow with it’s ability to read and write multiple CAD and CAE formats, repair and heal poor quality geometry and de-feature and simplify complex geometric definition.
CADIQ analyzes, identifies, and highlights potential shape and fit (geometry and topology) problems within CAD models that may affect downstream applications, such as analysis, simulation, rapid prototyping, NC manufacturing and data exchange.
Who should use CADIQ?
Any organization that designs and/or manufactures complex discrete mechanical parts especially if the CAD design data needs to be exchanged/translated to a different analysis or manufacturing system.
What are the key benefits?
The key benefits associated with implementing a CAD model quality program based on the use of CADIQ are that designers and manufacturers can:
· Reduce the amount of CAD model rework in downstream applications.
· Reduce the amount of manufacturing scrap due to CAD model quality problems.
· Improve your overall product development productivity via more seamless CAD interoperability.
What are the major features?
Native CAD integration
CADIQ works directly with the native CAD model (CATIA, I-DEAS, Pro/ENGINEER, and Parasolid). There is no data translation required. In addition, CADIQ uses the native CAD system algorithms when analyzing the geometry and topology.
Comprehensive analysis and diagnostics
CADIQ supports a wide variety of diagnostics that encompass edge and vertex gaps, sharp edge and face angles, non-tangent edges and faces, short edges, small faces, free vertices, over-used edges and verticles, reversed edges and faces, etc.
Embedded vs. independent architecture
CADIQ is configured to operate either as an embedded solution within the actual CAD system, or as an independent utility. The embedded architecture supports an in-process usage model that utilizes the CAD system for graphic display. The independent architecture works directly with the native CAD data, but utilizes an independent viewer for graphic display. The independent architecture readily supports the integration of CAD model quality with PDM and/or automated data exchange processes.
Analysis reports
Analysis reports can be output in either text or graph formats. The reports can provide various levels of detail, from a green/good, yellow/warning, red/problem approach to a detailed listing for each problem found.
Six Sigma support
CADIQ can be implemented to support a six-sigma program for your repository of CAD models.
Our solutions are designed to help customers who:
· Regularly transfer data to a customer or suppler who uses a different CAD, CAM, CAE or PLM systems.
· Share engineering product data internally between different departments using different engineering software.
· Manage the secure flow of engineering data throughout the engineering supply chain.
The Process behind our Results
Many manufacturers are exchanging hundreds, if not thousands, of models per month. Quite often, engineer pass data back and forth using outdated processes and/or homegrown technologies that create more processes instead of reducing them. For a successful partnership, it is imperative that we immerse ourselves in your processes and getting answers to questions. For example:
· Are the designers and analysts in your organization getting the right data?
· Are designers and analysts receiving the right versions of the data?
· How long do engineers wait to receive data and under what time constraints?
· Is the data set in the right format and if not, how much rework or quality analysis is required?
· Should designers and analysts compare or verify the received data to ensure data integrity?
· How usable is the data and what percentage of the data is re-mastered for downstream use?
· Should recipients cross-check received data for unauthorized changes?
The Technology behind Our Results
The CAD, CAM, CAE and PLM industry simply lacks standardization. Your protection against additional hardware and software costs is our solution. Our technology interfaces directly with major CAD applications (Pro/E, Unigraphics, I-DEAS, CATIA, AutoCAD) as well as neutral formats, such as IGES, STEP and DXF. A variety of third-party tools integrates into our solution: translators, healers, repair tools, model checkers, feature-based translators, comparison and qualification tools and quality-based applications are all supported within our automated, data exchange solution. The end result is a solution that allows organizations to easily and reliably manage, centralize and automate the flow of product data among internal users, customers and suppliers.
Beyond FTP
Increase Productivity
Many organizations still exchange CAD, CAM and CAE-related data over FTP (file transfer protocol) site. Such transmission methods pose inherent risks to any manufacturer:
Þ Multiple divisions, multiplied by hundreds of thousands of exchanges, creates resources constraints on hardware and increased costs for bandwidth.
Þ If supplier re-work an improperly prepared or translated CAD model, such unauthorized changes introduce costly problems downstream, in terms of rework, re-mastering, re-tooling, scrapped product and even recalls.
Þ In organizations where designers spend more time dealing with data exchange processes, rather than designing products, a significant increase in time to market is inevitable.
Increase Quality and Security
If FTP is the only transmission medium used, the typical data exchange method is reliant on transmission processes that lack security, tracking and consistency. If this is the case: CAD model preparation, translation and verification is complicated and time consuming. Each recipient may have unique requirements for CAD data format and content. Increased collaboration with global engineering supply chains (and increased emphasis on lean manufacturing) increases the volume of data exchange, thereby increasing costs.
How We Move an Organization Beyond FTP
It is common for an organization to use our solutions as an overlay or replacement for their current systems. Many adopt our data exchange solutions because they can achieve significant results and return on investment.
We achieve these results through mixture of features that encompass our solution:
· Engineers can automate, track and manage the data translation and distribution process.
· The simple, GUI interface for our tools takes advantage of Internet-based collaboration.
· We support all the major CAD systems and their respective translators.
· We can incorporate most 3rd party translators and quality verification tools.
· Our solutions offer secure data transmission, transaction log tracking and flexible reporting.
· We provide integration paths for most, major PLM systems.
Customer / Supplier Data Integration
Organizations today are working with a growing list of customers and suppliers. But widening interoperability gaps between software tools make sharing data across applications, systems, and platforms nearly impossible at times. The result is an explosion of product data being created and recreated at unparalleled levels.
Companies are centralizing, organizing, and managing the files they generate and receive while becoming more tightly integrated with customers/suppliers through ITI DEX Centersä (Data Exchange Center). The DEX Center is a server-based system providing convenient and reliable exchange of data via the Internet/Intranet. Exchanged data is chronicled, stored, and managed. At any time, you can tell what data was sent to or received from any customer/supplier.
Internet/Intranet Based
· Web-based Browsers make DEX Centers Easy to Use & Maintain.
· Secure Transmission.
· Easily Accessed by All Users (Internal & External).
· Customers/Suppliers Access Only the Data You Authorize.
Customizable for Easy Expansion
· Manage Customer/Supplier Profiles & Exchange Requirements.
· Custom Flavoring to Meet Specific Requirements.
· Add Additional Translation Paths or Direct Translators as Needed.
· Integrate with PDM System.
· Add/Integrate with other transmission capabilities (ftp, private networks, etc.).
· Deliver files in the recipient’s native CAD format or in a flavored IGES or STEP.
Automated Data Exchange
· Automated Translation/Transmission Ensures Translation Quality
· Automate Typical Multi-Step Translation Processes for Speed & Accuracy
· Look-up Supplier/Customer Translation Requirements Automatically
· Reduce Translation (Including Appropriate Flavoring) to the Push of a Button
Save Time & Money
· Save Time & Money by eliminating unproductive data exchange efforts.
· Reduce Product Development Cycles.
· Eliminate Delays Associated with Data Exchange & Transmission Problems.
DEX Center Functionality Includes:
· Web browser form for file selection & specification of translation/transmission options.
· Automatic look-up of supplier/customer translation requirements.
· Automated translation, including appropriate flavoring.
· Delivery of translated files in either the recipient’s native CAD format or in a flavored IGES or STEP format.
· Data management capability for accessing & storing original & translated data files.
· Automatic E-Mail notification when translated files are available.
· Encrypted file transmission.
· Log-in authorization to restrict access.
· Collaboration tools to assist data exchangers in reviewing and discussing data.
DEX Center Tools
· CAD/IQ - CAD Model Quality and Interoperability Testing Software.
· CADfix - Geometry / Topology Healing & Repair.
· IGES/Works - View, Analyze, & Edit IGES Files. Convert STEP Files to IGES.
Architecture
The most robust and complete CAD Data Exchange Solution
CrossXpert imports, analyses, repairs and exports your CAD models
CrossXpert is the perfect tool for all users of CAD software who need an efficient way to exchange their data, without sacrificing any of the integrity or completeness of their original geometry and topology.
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Original CATIA V5 model |
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The corrected solid model is VALID in SolidWorks |
CrossXpert offers users powerful tools for analyzing and repairing models and guaranteeing efficient, fluid workflow. Its approach, based on solid model representations for analysis and viewing, comes with an easy learning curve.
Purchase or service on demand?
Depending on how often you need to use conversions and the difficulties you encounter in making corrections, our specialists will advise you on the best way to solve your problems:
· purchase one or more user licenses;
· send us your models to convert, either as individual files or complete CAD databases.
Interoperability issues?
CrossXpert detects an invalid surface and … fixes it.
All too often, incompatible geometry or topology issues spoil the working relationships between design offices in the extended corporate environment.
CrossXpert solves these problems that typically appear during data transfer processes by:
· adapting model tolerances to the precision level used by the target modeler;
· carrying out the necessary repairs to rebuild a VALID solid in the target application.
Moreover, the integrity of the original models remains absolutely intact: the geometry cannot be distorted in automatic conversion mode.
Do you need to repair and slim down your complex models?
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Simplifying models in CrossXpert |
CAD models are increasingly part of the day-to-day business processes in which design offices are involved. Manufacturing, QC and even the marketing and sales departments are looking for ways to access their models to estimate costs and prices, or get their customers to approve a mock-up for a new project. In general, making information available to a broader audience means using simpler models.
With CrossXpert you significantly simplify and slim down your parts and assemblies.
According to needs, users eliminate features on a case-by-case basis ? fillets, holes, bosses to:
· make data processing more efficient in FEM mesh generation;
· make big assemblies easier to view …
What CAD files do you use?
The quality of data exchange is a key factor in any successful, active B2B collaboration or joint development program.
CrossXpert directly supports models designed with all the leading CAD software.
· Datakit converters Flyer PDF
According to the solutions or services you’re looking for and your localisation, Datakit will find and propose the best possible contact among its worldwide network of resellers or will directly get in touch with you.
