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Design Rule
Kisters' 3DViewStation
Design Rule, a leading supplier of Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) services, has highlighted Kisters 3DViewStation as an effective tool for visualisation and Digital MockUp (DMU).
Accepting that major challenges remain with CAD technology, despite significant development over the last decade and more, Design Rule believes progressive companies will look towards alternative solutions. Specifically, many manufacturers require a high performing 2D and 3D viewer that does not need a high-end CAD workstation.
The challenges of CAD comprise of general affordability, ease-of-use, and the potential for training to be required for someone within the firm to become an ‘expert’.
Per Design Rule’s technical director, Adam Bannaghan, Kisters' CAD viewer is a reliable, efficient and economic tool for visualisation and DMU. Typically used for sales, engineering, project reviews, change management, technical documentation and collaboration, Design Rule believe the 3DViewStation has the range to go beyond these functions. It can be used as a standalone app or integrated into a wide range of systems, from PLM and enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, to product configuration as well as service lifecycle management solutions. This enables manufacturing firms to employ the software’s product design capabilities in wider company operations.
Design Rule Kisters 3DViewStation
Design Rule stresses the importance of a CAD expert engaging with the software in a company’s set-up in order to get exactly what they need from the program. Yet, since it is not uncommon for people with varying degrees of CAD knowledge to be responsible for using software, Kisters has taken a different approach. Working closely with end users, product designers, documentation experts, marketing and sales personnel, and board level staff, Kisters understands their requirements and can model the software to address them respectively. This ensures companies get a bespoke software tool that is fast and easy to use, rather than an expensive and over-specified package.
While 3DViewStation’s customisation proficiencies has impressed Design Rule, the PLM expert believes its performance really sets it apart from its competitors. Allowing quick file viewing, measurement, sectioning and mark-up, the software boasts a range of useful capabilities. It also works seamlessly with extremely large assemblies, able to select 5,000 parts of a specific colour in a 100,000-part assembly in a single second, for example. This represents a particularly helpful attribute for the automotive, aerospace and machinery manufacturing environments, where speed and accuracy is vital.
Design Rule Kisters 3DViewStation
3DViewStation supports a wide range of formats, including CATIA, CreoElements/Pro-Engineer, SolidWorks, Inventor, SolidEdge, Parasolid and neutral formats, such as STEP, 3D-PDF and JT. Also a 2D viewer for two-dimensional drawings, the 3D viewer is also compatible with DWG, DXF, DWF, HPGL and PDF, as well as Office documents and other image file formats.
Stripping away some of the more unnecessary functions associated with CAD software and 3D viewers, as well as designing an interface that resembles typical Microsoft Office programmes, Kisters has produced a user-friendly solution. Enhancing its user-friendliness, the same application programme interface (APIs) runs on the desktop app and web version.
3DViewStation is designed to be used with a PLM, ERP, or other management systems, and is distributed in the UK exclusively by Design Rule.
