STRIM's Motif-compliant user interface offers all commands in a two-level-deep button layout along the bottom of the screen. STRIM also has an IGES editing utility that allows editing of the entire IGES file. This is the only product I have seen that allows the user to get right in to the IGES file for editing.

Creating Geometry. Though its focus is advanced surfaces, STRIM supports typical exact or faceted B-Rep solid modeling tools such as sweeping and parallel. All surface/curve geometry can be imported/exported from solids. Geometry is contained in a file as polynomials, and every surface type is provided.

STRIM also offers several special surface types that are automatically created. Model evaluation functions such as distances and surface areas are provided. Additionally, a complete geometry checker module is available to "globally' check the model for continuity conditions.

Surface Manipulation. STRIM's real power is in its surface manipulation tools. Typical surface modifications and editing are supported. Of great importance is STRIM's ability to blend surfaces tangent to adjacent curves, edges, or surfaces. The blending allows for blending continuity to a point, blending continuity in tangency, and blending with a continuity of curvature to adjacent surfaces.

When dealing with point cloud files, STRIM provides several tools for quickly cleaning up the surface. Surface smoothing is semi-automatically performed within a desired tolerance range. Once the surface is created, it may be edited as any other surface with control point data still intact to be reused or modified. Rendered images of the point data may also be performed without generating a surface.

A dynamic editing function allows surface profiles to be reshaped in real time. Tangencies and curvatures can be modified graphically. Another option for shaping curves is to dynamically edit the evolution of curvature with either free input using the mouse, or by entering specific values in the dialogue menus.

Surfaces can be displayed with individual control polygons of curves or a complete polyhedron of the surface patch. The radii of curvature of a curve or surface is an alternate display that may be toggled on or off.

Image Display and Manipulation. Controls for rotating, zooming, and panning are available via the mouse, support of dials, and a 3-D Spaceball. Numerous multiple viewport controls for alignment and resizing of images in multiple views give the operator flexibility in controlling the screen layout.

A multiple viewport layout allows quick alignment and scaling of multiple views using either a "view cube' or special function keys on the keyboard. Dynamic part rotation in either hidden line, wireframe, or shaded mode makes design viewing very powerful.

For rendering tools, STRIM has basic dynamic Gourand shading with up to eight light sources, and basic rendering functions such as transparency and hidden line display. A second level of rendering, called QuickRender, offers multiple dynamic light sources with full color editing for special handling, and additional zooming and panning controls. It also provides user-specified material simulation or pre-defined colors.

2-D Documentation From 3-D Models. 2-D links are offered for final documentation and extraction of surface models. Special functions provide for clean and exact geometry extraction in multiple views into a view layout window. While being created, these views are dynamically updated with the surface data. When documentation is ready, this view layout is extracted to a static 2-D file.

Other products:

Software from Alias Research Inc., 110 Richmond St. E., Toronto, Canada M5C-1P1: ph. (416) 362-9181; fax: (416) 362-0630. * Alias software does not offer any of the manufacturing capabilities included in STRIM.