# Overview

HOOPS Communicator is designed from the ground up to be more than just a generic web-based graphics engine. Through its tight integration with HOOPS Exchange and the PRC format, HOOPS Communicator supports most of the more advanced concepts found in engineering data and makes it easy to integrate your own business logic with the potentially complex structure of a CAD model.

In the Data Model section of the Programming Guide we will discuss:

- The types of metadata and product structure information that can be accessed via the HOOPS Web Viewer component

- The underlying streaming-optimized data format and structures

- How to aggregate models

- Several other topics that go beyond pure visualization

For topics related specifically to MCAD and BIM, please see the Programming Guide Chapters below:

- HOOPS for MCAD

- HOOPS for BIM