Placing text, company logos, or complex patterns onto 3D surfaces can be a daunting task. Especially if you need to preserve size and scale of the details from the 2D shape to the 3D surface.

The new Wrap tool introduced in V12 maps text or planar surfaces onto a 3D solid model. The results are perfect for imprinting, embossing, or engraving 2D shapes onto 3D surfaces.

Highlights of the wrap implementation:

Imprint:
The imprint option takes the 2D wrapping surface and creates new regions on the resulting 3D surface. These new regions are used to apply color or textures, typically for visualization purposes.

For example, if you are designing a car and need to place a sponsor logo, the imprint may be just the tool you are looking for.

Emboss
The emboss option takes the 2D wrapping surface, imprints regions onto a 3D surface, and then adds offset faces to the part.

Engrave:
The emboss option takes the 2D wrapping surfaces, imprints regions onto the 3D surfaces, and then subtracts offsets to the part.

For example, if you are designing a ring and want to place an inscription on the inside the ring, you would use the engrave option along with text.


Products : ViaCAD Pro, SharkCAD Pro

Video : click to watch wrapping video

Example File : download ring to explore tool

The default PhotoRendering method uses a distant light offset from the viewing direction that creates an image suitable for most conditions.

The new “Use Spot Light as Default” option calculates a spot light with a cone angle directly above the rendered objects. Combined with a floor, soft shadows are created below the objects providing an alternative to the default.

The new option is accessed from the PhotoRender tool palette Settings option.


Products : ViaCAViaCAD Pro, SharkCAD Pro

Video :

The Split Mesh tool will divide a mesh into two portions based on a cutting plane. Split Mesh is an ideal tool for those working with facetted data along with 3D printing manufacturing processes.


Highlights of the Split Mesh implementation:

Split Closed Mesh:
Splitting a closed mesh will create two closed meshes. This is ideal for taking a large model and dividing into smaller models that fit onto a smaller print bed. The individual splits can be later reassembled into the large model that did not originally fit on the print bed.

Split Open Mesh:
Splitting an open mesh will automatically close the mesh along the splitting plane. Used discretionary, this tool will allow you to quickly close large open holes in your model.

Mesh Booleans:
After using the Split tool, use the new boolean add, subtract, or intersect tools to create alignment holes to reassemble your split model.


Products : ViaCAD 2D3D, ViaCAD Pro, SharkCAD Pro

Video : click to watch split video

Whether you’re designing an aircraft, automobile, or picnic table, weight is key control parameter in a design. V12 introduces a new Bill of Material(BOM) attribute specific for creating a summed weight table. Creating a weight table is based on the designer assigning a material using the Verify : Properties dialog box followed up by applying a weight attribute. With just these two steps, designers can create an accurate Weight table used to explore impacts of material types on design weights.


Highlights of the Weight BOM tool:

Volume:
Precisely calculates the volume of any NURB or analytic based part .

Weight:
Apply a material from a large selection of predefined materials for woods, plastics, and metals. Or add your new material to the list. Provides a total weight value for the objects in the table.

Associative Parts and Tables:

Changing a part size(volume) or applying a different material will automatically update the table for quick design exploration that impact weight calculations.

Video : click to watch weight video



Products : ViaCAD 2D3D, ViaCAD Pro, SharkCAD Pro

The Show/Hide Face tool will hide faces within a part enabling access and visibility into the internal representations of complex models.


Highlights of the Show/Hide Face tool:

Hide Face:
Right clicking over a face displays a menu of options including the Hide Face. Selecting Hide face will turn off the display list of that particular face.

Show Face:
Right clicking over a face displays a menu including the Show Face. Selecting Show Face will turn off the display list of that particular face.

Regenerating a part will reshow hidden faces. Likewise the show/hide status is not preserved on saving a file. This is a temporary status.

Video : click to watch show/hide video



Products : ViaCAD 2D3D, ViaCAD Pro, SharkCAD Pro

The Save Layers with View tool tool now includes an option to save layers associated with view orientations.


Highlights of the Save Layers with View option:

Save View:
Use the View : New View tool to create a view with the option to save layers.

Restore View:
To restore a view, select the View : User View : .

Video : click to watch video


Products : ViaCAD 2D, ViaCAD 2D3D, ViaCAD Pro, SharkCAD Pro

The Best Fit Line and Circle tools are perfect for tracing precise curves over rough images. Both tools allow the designer to over sample a collection of points to account for fuzzy data.


Highlights of the Best Fit Line and Circle Tool:

Best Fit Line:
Enter an arbitrary number of points to create a best fit line terminating with right click.

Best Fit Circle:
Enter an arbitrary number of points to create a best fit circle terminating with a right click.

You may also select a polyline or curve where the tool will best fit the object into a circle.


Video : click to watch video


Products : ViaCAD 2D, ViaCAD 2D3D, ViaCAD Pro, SharkCAD Pro

Importing PDF and Adobe Illustrator files is now possible using the File : Import tools.

Highlights of the Importing PDF and Adobe IllustratorTool:
—Support for lines, arcs, circles, splines, and polygons
—Support for text
—Dimensions supported as exploded text, polygons, and lines

PDF:
Support for reading any native .PDF file.

Adobe Illustrator:
Support for reading native .AI files that are based on PDF. This are AI versions 9 and greater.

Video : click to watch video


Products : ViaCAD 2D, ViaCAD 2D3D, ViaCAD Pro, SharkCAD Pro

The Angular Tolerance user interface was updated to dynamically provide input from the Inspector dialog box.

Highlights of theAngular Tolerance Tool:

—Select an angular dimension
—Change tolerances
—Entity updates in real time for selected tolerance

Video : click to watch video


Products : ViaCAD 2D, ViaCAD 2D3D, ViaCAD Pro, SharkCAD Pro

The Repeat Previous Command maintains a list of the last used commands which are accessed by right clicking in the drawing area. Select an item within the list to change the current tool.


Video :



Products : ViaCAD 2D, ViaCAD 2D3D, ViaCAD Pro, SharkCAD Pro

The Mesh Boolean tool provides a means to add or remove material from a mesh body. Previous versions only allowed boolean operations on ACIS based solids. Now with the introduction of mesh booleans, you can add/remove material imported from STL, OBJ, 3DS, and SketchUp.


Highlights of the Mesh Boolean Command:
—Add Material
—Subtract Material
—Intersect Material

Video :



Products : ViaCAD 2D3D, ViaCAD Pro, SharkCAD Pro

THE Collada file format was added .


Products : ViaCAD 2D, ViaCAD 2D3D, ViaCAD Pro

SketchUp(TM) has introduced a new file format starting with their 2019 products. V12 has been updated to support the new format as well as supporting textures.

Products : ViaCAD 2D, ViaCAD 2D3D, ViaCAD Pro,SharkCAD Pro

V12 continues to update compatibility with the popular AutoCAD DWG file format.



Products : ViaCAD 2D, ViaCAD 2D3D, ViaCAD Pro , SharkCAD Pro

SharkCAD Pro integrates Dassault’s translator kit that allows importing of native data. Translators updated include:

* SolidWorks
* SolidEdge
* NX
* CATIA v4, v5, v6
* ProE/Creo
* Inventor


Products : SharkCAD Pro Windows