3DView gets communication capabilities

Today's product development teams take "gee-whiz" CAD model visualization software for granted, but under growing pressure to collaborate long-distance rather than travel, they should welcome new communication features in Actify Inc.'s 3DView release 4.0. Led by a free download of Actify's SpinFire viewer, the new release lets team members view e-mailed designs with notes, measurements, and cross-sections.

Version 4.0 aims for unlimited sharing of lightweight design files that the company describes as "complete, accurate, and secure design information in a highly compressed file." The new version adds direct measurements such as distances and angles. According to Cristiano Sacchi, Actify's vice president of engineering, the new release makes design feedback communications more effective, and makes it easier to involve non-engineers.

A long-time user of 3DView, Sean Halpin, design manager for automotive supplier Eifel Mold & Engineering (Fraser, MI), says, "3DView 4.0 makes sharing designs and collecting feedback easier. It brings non-CAD users into the process via rapid dissemination of designs and collection of everyone's input."

3DView gives non-designers view-only files meant to assist manufacturing with CAD-independent visualizations of geometry and associated measurements. The program supports most CAD formats, including CATIA, Unigraphics, I-DEAS, Pro/E, SolidWorks, Solid Edge, Mechanical Desktop and Autodesk Inventor. Users can annotate the files and publish them to a website, where SpinFire lets them rotate, pan and zoom the design, as well as see detailed cross-sections. To see how it works, check out www.actify.com/v2/products/3dview/index.htm.

Additional Details...Actify Inc., One Kearny St., 3rd Floor, San Francisco, CA 94108; Tel: (415) 421-1840; www.actify.com ; or Enter 507.