Release Notes

License Key

HOOPS Exchange only requires a new license key if you are currently using a key which was generated for a prior major version. For example, developers upgrading from 2016 to 2016 SP1 may use the same key, but those upgrading from 2016 to 2017 need to generate a new key. Please visit the HOOPS Exchange download page if you need to generate a new key. The key is delivered in the file include/A3DSDKLicenseKey.h. Once you have generated a new key, you should copy the file to <EXCHANGE_INSTALL_DIR>/include/.

The expiration date for the generated license key is tied to your contract with Tech Soft 3D. If you have signed a license agreement for HOOPS Exchange, then the license key that is generated will be a perpetual (non-expiring) license key. If you are evaluating HOOPS Exchange, then the license key will expire when your evaluation expires. Evaluation license keys will expire at the end of the evaluation period and are not suitable for production software. Any software that uses an evaluation license key will no longer work after the evaluation period.

HOOPS Exchange releases are not binary compatible with older releases. You must recompile your application when updating to a new version of HOOPS Exchange. Please see the Distributing Your Application section for an up-to-date list of binaries required for distribution.


HOOPS Exchange 2017 U1

HOOPS Exchange 2017 U1 is a bug-fix release only.

Fixed Bugs

Issue NumberDescription
26843Solidworks Config product occurrence importing in mm.
27764For SolidWorks files physical property can be given in the wrong unit.



HOOPS Exchange 2017

Format Updates

Format Updated Version
SolidWorks 2017
Solid Edge ST9
NX 11

New Export Formats

JT

  • HOOPS Exchange can now export JT 9.5 files. This new version also supports views, PMI, mesh and exact geometry.

3MF

  • The 3D Manufacturing Format (3MF) is a 3D printing format. HOOPS Exchange can now export to 3MF.

    With the exception of digital signatures and thumbails, everything defined in the core specification of this format is supported.

    Our 3MF exporter also supports textures, colors & texture groups as defined in the materials & properties extensions. (Version 1.0).

    HOOPS Exchange 2017 uses lib3mf; please see the Acknowledgments page for license and copyright information.

New Functionality

Multi-cores usage for CAD assemblies import

  • HOOPS exchange can now use multiple processes when loading Assemblies. This is a new option that significantly improves performance. More specifically, this version improves performance when reading V5, NX, ProE, SolidWorks and JT assembly files.

    To use the multiprocess loading mode, you need to define a number of processes to use in A3DRWParamsGeneralData::m_iNbMultiProcess.

    Please note that this option will not improve performance when reading parts.

Multi-cores usage for Parasolid export

Representation Item modification

  • New functionalities have been included in the product to easily edit existing representation items, including sets, pointsets, directions, coordinates systems, curves, planes, BrepModels and PolyBrepModels.

Enhancements

Creo

  • Screen-located PMI support has been improved.

ACIS Import

  • Some changes have been done to better manage color.
  • Some limitations when saving ACIS b-rep into PRC have been removed.

Inventor Import

  • Some limitations when saving b-rep in Inventors files into PRC have been removed.

SolidWorks

  • Fixed some issues related to a specific SolidWorks Education version.
  • Hierachical configuration management has been improved.

STEP

  • Different fields are now used to retrieve product name in STEP files.
  • Plane can now be written as GEOMETRICALLY_BOUNDED_SURFACE_REPRESENTATION with our exporter.
  • Several general bug fixes and improvements to our STEP reader and writer.

NX

  • Some issues have been fixed with NX files that embed JT data.

Others

  • General improvements have been done in the following functionalities:
    • Sewing
    • Copy and adapt b-rep
    • Simplify surface as analytics
    • Physical props computations
    • Parasolid Bridge

HOOPS Exchange 2016 SP2 U2

Functionality Enhancements


Fixed Bugs

Issue NumberDescription
27359Error when loading an NX file with PMI
27375Error when loading a Creo file with PMI
27388Error when loading a V5 file with PMI
27331Issue when using HLR functionality on Linux
27412Fixed issue managing persistent ID on V5 - Files failed to load



HOOPS Exchange 2016 SP2

Format Updates

Format Updated Version
Inventor 2017
CATIA V5-6 2016

File Reader Enhancements

STEP

  • New options have been added to read, compute, and compare STEP validation properties. This can be used when importing or exporting a STEP file.
  • Color is now better managed.
  • Issues related to link PMI with edges have been fixed.

Parasolid

  • Parasolid customers now have the ability to use multi-process when exporting assemblies into Parasolid.

Creo

  • Better management of screen notes.

Inventor

  • Inventor files created from tessellated formats such as STL are now supported.

Functionality Enhancements

  • The Mobile SDK is now available. Android and iOS platforms are now supported. With this initial version, only STEP, JT, PRC, IGES, Parasolid, IFC, and U3D import are supported. Export is not available. One sample for each platform, PRC2XML, is included which converts any supported CAD format to an XML file.
  • The HLR functionality has been improved to better manage models with sections. Oriented loops are now returned which allows the developer to easily create hatching.
  • Our sewing algorithm has been improved.
  • Bugs have been fixed in our CopyAndAdaptBrep function.
  • A new function, A3DRiRepresentationItemEditCoordinateSystem, has been added to modify an existing representation item.

Other

  • To ensure consistency across the API of the product, some function names have been modified in this release. If you use these APIs, then you will need to modify your source code in order to move to this release. A sample python script has been included in the tools folder to help facilitate this change.

HOOPS Exchange 2016 SP1 U3

File Reader Enhancements

3DXML

  • Fixed various issues

CATIA V5

  • Support of V5_6R2016
  • PMI improvements

NX

  • Improved file support

Solidworks

  • Fix view scale issue

Functionality Enhancements

  • Improved A3DGetFileFormat
  • Fixed problem with A3DComputePlanarSectionOnModelFile and A3DComputePlanarSectionOnRepresentationItem
  • Fixed problem in A3DFaceUVPointInside
  • Add "report callback" to sample ImportExport
  • PMI support: Dimensions, values, and tolerances are now expressed in the units defined by the A3DMDDimensionValueFormatData.m_iUnit and A3DMDDimensionValueFormatData.m_dGlobFact fields.

Special note

For Linux users: please create a symbolic link named libA3DLIBS.so pointing to libA3DLIBS.9.1.3.so.

Parasolid users: ParasolidWorkShop is now part of the package. It's used optionally when exporting data to Parasolid using A3DAsmModelFileTranslateToPkParts or A3DRepresentationItemTranslateToPkParts. ParasolidWorkShop 27.0.111 for Windows and Linux is located in the bin folder of the package.


HOOPS Exchange 2016 SP1 U2

File Reader Enhancements

CatiaV5

  • Fixed various issues regarding CGR files.

STEP

  • Fixed an issue that occurred when exporting surfaces with several loops

Functionality Enhancements

  • Fixed a problem with the A3DAsmModelFileCompare function.
  • Changed the A3DGlobalFontTextTessellationGet function to return oriented loops when tessellating glyphs.

HOOPS Exchange 2016 SP1

Format Updates

Format Updated Version
STEP export AP242
ACIS 25 & 26
Parasolid 28.1

File Reader Enhancements

CATIA V5

  • Fix for conversion issues on a CV5 R21 file
  • Fix for conversion issue ReadHiddenObjects=true
  • Improvement on the CV5 mirrored entities management
  • Improvement on a CATIA V5 file taking a long time to import
  • Fix on a CATIA V5 file that was not converted
  • Several bug fixes and improvements

Creo

  • A new option has been added to hide datum when construction entities are loaded. See A3DRWParamsProEData::m_bDisplayVisibleDatum. Please note that the default behavior has changed compared to the previous version. Set this Boolean to true to retain the previous behavior.
  • Our reader now supports notes parallel to the screen. This is managed by a new parameter m_bHandlePMIScreenLocation.
  • Several bug fixes on reader and PMI

JT

  • Fix for conversion issue on specific parts

STEP

  • Improvement related to the support of the validation properties
  • Improvement on the management of STEP AP 242 compressed files
  • Improvement on the management of the PMI cross highlight (geometry/PMI)
  • Several general bug fixes and improvements on our STEP reader and writer

SolidWorks

  • Specific files containing variable patterns are now supported
  • Several bug fixes and improvements

Solid Edge

  • Several bug fixes and improvements related to sheet metal alternate assemblies

IFC

  • Specific files containing Boolean operations are now properly converted
  • Fix for specific IFC conversion issue

All formats

  • The m_ucBehaviour parameter on product occurrences is now set as "For future use". We recommend you use the information provided on m_uiProductFlags rather than in m_ucBehaviour as in previous versions.

Functionality Enhancements

Persistent IDs

The new function A3DASMProductOccurrenceGetIdentifier has been introduced to retrieve persistent IDs on assembly nodes. This function should be used instead of using A3DRootBaseData::m_uiPersistentId on product occurrences.

Incremental load

The existing incremental load function has been enhanced and changed. A new function, A3DAsmModelFileUnloadParts, to unload parts has been introduced. This function can load or unload only leaf nodes. The function A3DProductOccurenceUnload is deprecated. Please note the incremental load is not compatible with CATIAV4 and I-deas formats.

Parasolid bridge

  • Many general improvements have been made to the quality of our Parasolid bridge
  • Some fixes and improvements in our healing algorithm
  • Healing, sewing, and merging operations can now be done after translating data to Parasolid using A3DHealPkParts
  • Additional attributes, colors, and layer information can be stored directly inside Parasolid parts. See A3DRWParamsTranslateToPkPartsData::m_bUseColour2Attribute, A3DRWParamsTranslateToPkPartsData::m_bUseUTF8ForNameAttribute, and A3DRWParamsTranslateToPkPartsData::m_bUseLayerAttribute

Density

Support of density has been improved


HOOPS Exchange 2016

New License Code

As HOOPS Exchange Publish 2016 is a major release, the license code used in previous versions will no longer work. Please generate a new licence code from the Tech Soft 3D Developer Zone.

File Reader Enhancements

Format Updates

Format Updated Version
Solid Edge ST8
SolidWorks 2016

Functionality Updates

Creo

  • The default behavior for loading a file with a family table has changed. Generic representations will no longer be loaded by default. See Creo reader file format guide for details.
  • New home view setting allows you to create a view that is equivalent to the state in which the file has been saved. See A3DRWParamsSpecificLoadData::m_sProE::m_bComputeHomeView.
  • Several bug fixes on reader and PMI
  • Several enhancements related to memory leaks and PMI

SolidWorks

  • Several enhancements related to configuration, memory, and PMI
  • Several bug fixes

Inventor

  • Several enhancements related to B-rep mode
  • Several bug fixes
  • Support added for using embedded tessellation instead of generating it from B-rep for Inventor file. See Inventor reader file format guide for details.

JT

  • Support for JT file created from Daimler NX version (JT Version 10.0 DM 8.1.3.3)
  • Enhancement density and PMI views

CATIA V5

  • Persistent IDs now supported
  • Several enhancements related to reader performance
  • Enhancement related to graphical PMI
  • Enhancement related to markup linked items
  • Several bug fixes

NX

  • Support for files created by NX Daimler version 10.0.4
  • Several bug fixes to reader and PMI

IGES

  • Enhancement to orientation computation
  • Several bug fixes

Parasolid

  • Support for persistent ID on topological entities
  • Now supports connection between PMI and Parasolid B-rep
  • Several bug fixes on both the reader and writer

STEP, Solid Edge, PDF, IFC

  • Several bug fixes to these readers

Enhancements

  • The HOOPS Exchange API will now avoid splitting parametric surfaces. You can now compute parametric curve that cross periodic surface boundaries. The result is better performance and a better overall model, as the topology of the B-rep doesn't change (previously, a split could cut a cylinder in two half cylinders).
  • There are general improvements in performance and quality with our AdaptAndReplaceAllBrepInModelFile function.
  • HOOPS Exchange is now about to detect degenerate surfaces or continuous surfaces. See API functions A3DSurfIsDegenerated and A3DSurfIsG1Continuous.
  •   New API functions
  •   New data structures added to A3DMiscMaterialPropertiesData
  •   Other data structures, fields, and types
  •   New error messages

Functional Changes

  • A3DAsmProductOccurrenceData::m_uiAssemblyMaterialAndVisualisationSetupSize removed
  • A3DAsmProductOccurrenceData::m_psAssemblyMaterialAndVisualisationSetup removed

HOOPS Exchange 2015 Service Pack 2

File Reader Enhancements

Format Updates

Format Updated Version
Inventor 2016
CATIA V5-6 R2015 (R25)

Enhancements

Creo

  • Skeleton entities are now set as hidden by default, however, there is a new import parameter to set them as visible, if needed: m_bHideSkeletons.

SOLIDWORKS

  • Several enhancements related to configuration management
  • Bug fixes

Inventor

  • Several enhancements related to B-rep
  • Bug fixes

JT

  • Enhancement related to markup linked item
  • Enhancement related to PMI cross highlighting with geometry
  • Enhancement related to PMI filtering

Solid Edge

  • Enhancement related to assembly feature support
  • Bug fixes

CATIA

  • Several performance enhancements with buffered data support
  • Enhancements on graphical PMI data
  • Enhancements on markup linked item
  • Bug fixes

NX

  • Enhancements on tree structure
  • Better support of reference sets
  • Better support for PMI
  • Bug fixes

IGES

  • Enhancements on orientation computation
  • Bug fixes

STEP

  • Enhancements on orientation computation
  • Bug fixes

Functional Changes

  • HOOPS Exchange on Windows can now be built with either Visual Studio 2012 and 2013 - you will have to provide the corresponding redistributable on the target machine. Visual Studio 2008 is no longer supported. On Linux, HOOPS Exchange is now built with gcc 4.8.2 and glib 2.5.

Enhancements

  • HOOPS Exchange now provides original file paths and located file paths using A3DAsmProductOccurrenceGetOriginalFilePathName.
  • HOOPS Exchange now provides fields representing density. The density fields A3DAsmProductOccurrenceData::m_dDensityVolumeUnit and A3DAsmProductOccurrenceData::m_dDensityMassUnit have been designed to work with the following formats: CV5, NX, Creo, JT, SOLIDWORKS, SolidEdge, Inventor.
  • HOOPS Exchange now offers a function to compute hidden lines, A3DComputeOrthoHLROnModelFile.
  • A new function, A3DMiscGetBoundingBox enables you to compute the AABB of a native CAD file. This function works with the following formats: CV5, NX, JT, SOLIDWORKS, Solid Edge, Inventor.
  • HOOPS Exchange now provides the function A3DGetFileInformation to get file information from CV5 or SOLIDWORKS files without the need to perform a full conversion.
  • HOOPS Exchange now provides the function A3DExtractFileThumbnail to extract the file thumbnail image from CV5 or SOLIDWORKS files.
  • HOOPS Exchange now provides new functions to easily access A3DTopoBrepData sub-items:
    • A3DTopoBrepDataGetFaces
    • A3DTopoBrepDataGetEdges
    • A3DTopoFaceGetShell
    • A3DTopoLoopGetFace
    • A3DTopoCoedgeGetLoop
    • A3DTopoEdgeGetCoEdges
    • A3DTopoEdgeGetSurfaces
    • A3DTopoEdgeGetOrCompute3DCurve
    • A3DCrvEvaluatePointAndNormal
  • The HOOPS Exchange Parasolid direct export has been enhanced to better manage accurate edges for better performance.
    • Face_Self_Int consistency issues have been reduced
    • A new option to better respect the assembly structure has been added - A3DRWParamsExportParasolidData::m_BStringAssemblyStructure

HOOPS Exchange 2015 Service Pack 1

Format Updates

Format Updated Version
SOLIDWORKS 2015
JT 10
Parasolid 27
NX 10

Enhancements

CATIA V5

  • Dimensioning and markup/model links have been improved.
  • Piping elements are now supported.

Creo

  • User simplified representations are now managed.
  • Dimension positioning, markup/geometry links, and management of assembly part visibility by views has been improved.
  • Family tables are now supported.

NX

  • View filtering has been improved.

IFC

  • A new Boolean field, m_bFACETED_BREPAsOneFace has been added to A3DRWParamsIFCData. If this field is true, our reader will merge all facets in a face to a single face, which boosts performance when loading IFC files.

Parasolid Connector

  • Healing can now be enabled or disabled in A3DAsmModelFileTranslateToPkParts. See field A3DRWParamsTranslateToPkPartsData::m_eHealing.
  • New enhancement to ensure Parasolid data remains unmodified when extracted from Parasolid-based formats (NX, SOLIDWORKS, and Solid Edge).
  • An option has been added to allow you to choose between loading "tolerant" or "accurate" entities. See field A3DRWParamsTranslateToPkPartsData::m_eComputeAccurateEdges.

Shattered assemblies

Our shattered assemblies function can now support:

  • NX models that contain reference sets
  • SOLIDWORKS files that contain configurations
  • Creo files that contain family tables

Point cloud projection

  • Instantiated data can now be managed using A3DProjectPointCloudManagerCreateFromRI.
  • Point clouds can now be projected onto tessellated meshes and edges.
  • A new API function is available to project point clouds - A3DProjectPointCloudOnModelFile.
  • Various bug fixes

Functional Changes

  • HOOPS Exchange now uses Visual Studio 2013. This means you need to include Visual Studio 2013 redistributables with your application.
  • Windows XP is no longer supported.

HOOPS Exchange 2015 Update 1

Format Updates

Format Updated Version
NX 9.0.2

Enhancements

CATIA V5

  • Improved performance
  • Piping is now supported
  • Several bug fixes such as conversion issues, PMI cross highlighting, hidden objects

SOLIDWORKS

  • Improved performance
  • Configuration management enhancement
  • Several bug fixes

Functional Changes

  • ProjectPointCloud function accuracy enhancement
  • Piping support for sample viewer
  • SOLIDWORKS and Inventor textures only available in tessellation reading mode (no B-rep support)
  • Several bug fixes in NX, ACIS, and JT readers
  • DLL versioning 8.0.1

HOOPS Exchange 2015

Format Updates

Format Updated Version
Autodesk Inventor 2015
Solid Edge ST7
Catia V5-6 2014
Creo Parametric 3.0

Enhancements

Parasolid

A new Parasolid bridge is available which leverages the native Parasolid binaries to provide healing as a part of the export process. The result is a higher quality model. You are also able to export directly to an open Parasolid session. See the Programming Guide section 4.2.1 for details.

SOLIDWORKS

Our SOLIDWORKS reader now supports diffuse textures and views. Improved support for PMI.

IFC reader

Our IFC reader has a new option pertaining to faceted B-rep. Previously, a single face would be generated for each triangle imported as a part of a faceted B-rep structure. Now, the reader will merge collections of faceted triangles into a single entity by default. You can control this behavior by altering the m_bFACETED_BREPAsOneFace member in the A3DRWParamsIFCData structure.

NX9

Our NX reader PMI support is improved.

Creo

Better management of markup data positioning.

JT

Our JT file reader now supports ULP (Ultra-Lightweight Precise) B-rep as well as LODs.

Autodesk Inventor

The Autodesk Inventor reader now supports diffuse textures.

Functional Changes

IFC Improvements

  • GUIDs are now included with the minimal set of attributes when loading IFC files.
  • Performance has been improved.

Parasolid export

When exporting Parasolid models, we now keep the topology as close as possible to the original topology in order to prevent topological artifacts.


HOOPS Exchange - v7.2 Changes

Enhancements

Platform updates

CentOS 6.5 is now supported.

Autodesk Inventor reader can now import B-rep

B-rep may now be imported from Autodesk Inventor files. The functionality is provided in beta status.

Please note that this feature may impact the reading of Inventor files in kA3DReadGeomAndTess mode.

Parasolid Export Improvements

By employing a variety of healing techniques, we've continued to improve the quality of our Parasolid export. In addition, if the source file was Parasolid based (i.e. NX, JT, SOLIDWORKS, or Solid Edge) then we'll make extreme efforts to provide the original Parasolid data when you export to Parasolid.

View and PMI Improvements

There has been continued improvements in our visual PMI support with the main focus being CV5, NX, and Creo.

File Reader Improvements

  • Our Rhino reader now supports external references.
  • Extensive quality improvements have been made to both the Rhino and SAT readers.

Functional changes

STEP importer

Our STEP importer now disables healing by default. Healing can be enabled using the m_bHealOrientations flag.

The STEP importer flag m_bSplitSHELL_BASED_SURFACE_MODEL flag controls whether each logical body is put into a separate B-rep entity. Please note that this flag is set to true by default, thus in order to achieve similar results to HOOPS Exchange 7.1.0, this flag should be set to false.


HOOPS Exchange - v7.1 Changes

Format Updates

Format Updated Version
Siemens PLM NX Software 9.0

Enhancements

Better File Management Handling

A new API (A3DAsmGetFilesPathFromModelFile) has been introduced which allows developers to query the file dependencies of a particular assembly. It also returns a missing file list which is the list of files referenced by the assembly that HOOPS Exchange cannot find.

Parasolid Export Improvements

By employing a variety of healing techniques we've continued to improve the quality of our Parasolid export. In addition, if the source file was Parasolid based (i.e. NX, JT, SOLIDWORKS, or Solid Edge) then we'll make extreme efforts to provide the original Parasolid data when you export to Parasolid.

View and PMI Improvements

There has been continued improvements in our visual PMI support with the main focus being CV5, NX and Creo.

STEP Import Improvements

We now use some of the healing capabilities available in HOOPS Exchange to address common problems with STEP files related to face and edge orientation problems.

JT Export now includes View and PMI Support

In this release we extended our JT exporter so that it also exports any Views or PMI that is included with the model.

IFC Improvements

We implemented some optimizations within our IFC reader which will improve loading time with many IFC files.


HOOPS Exchange - v7.0 Changes

Format Updates

Format Updated Version
Parasolid v26.0
Solid Edge ST6
SOLIDWORKS 2014
STEP AP 242

Enhancements

Physical Properties Calculation

A new set of APIs (A3DCurveLength and A3DComputeFaceArea) have been introduced which allow you to calculate the length of edges and the surface area of faces, in addition to existing features which allow to calculate the surface of parts and the volume and center of gravity of parts.

Exact Sectioning

A new set of APIs (A3DComputePlanarSectionOnModelFile and A3DComputePlanarSectionOnRepresentationItem) allow you to cross section a model. The APIs return the exact curves representing the outline of the section as well as the triangles which will represent the interior of the section.

Compare Functionality

A new set of APIs (A3DCompareFaces, A3DCompareFacesInBrepModels and A3DComputeFaceArea) have been added which allow you to check for geometrical differences between two parts. The APIs not only tell you if two parts differ geometrically but also can provide triangles representing the differences between the two models.

Optimizations to approximation of geometry as analytics

A new API (A3DSimplifyModelFileWithAnalytics) allows you to specify which analytics you want to consider approximating a geometry as. For example, excluding whether you want to approximate a surface as a torus can significantly improve the performance of this function.

Welding and Frame Support in Solid Edge

Our Solid Edge reader will now import Welding and Frame data.

View and PMI Improvements

There has been significant improvements in our visual PMI support with a particular focus on CV5, NX and Creo. In addition to bug fixes we now support exploded views for Creo.

Progress Bar Improvements

Improvements were made to the progress bar so that it will more accurately reflect the progress on an import or export operation.



HOOPS Exchange - v6.10 Changes

Format Updates

Format Updated Version
ACIS Up to v23.0
Autodesk Inventor 2014
CATIA V5 V5-6R2013

Enhancements

Ease of Use Improvements

A new set of APIs have been introduced which make it much easier for developers to initialize HOOPS Exchange, to read in a file and to also export a file. With this API a developer can turn a CATIA V5 file into a Parasolid file with just a couple of lines of code. Please refer to the new sample ImportExport for an example of how to use these APIs.

JT Export of PMI Data

Our JT export will now include any of the PMI data that is included in the model.

Tessellate Text Strings

A new function A3DGlobalFontTextTessellationGet() has been added which allows developers to turn a text string with a font definition into a series of triangles. A common use-case here is a developer using this API to turn PMI text data into triangles for use in their visualization system.

Remove BREP information in PRC/PDF export

Developers can now easily remove the BREP definition prior to export to PRC to PDF. This allows developers to potentially sensitive information independent of the import settings.

Honor NX and Creo Application Settings

Developers can now request that our provided View definition with NX files honors the default application "single click" view activation behavior. While in Creo you can now request that the default PMI coloring is the same as the default setting in the version of Creo which authored the file.



HOOPS Exchange - v6.00 Changes

New Platform Support

PlatformArchitectureOperating SystemCompiler
osx_x64 x64 Mac OS X 10.7 gcc/g++ 4.2.1

New Import Formats

Format Supported Versions
PDF All
Rhino 4, 5

Note, in the current implementation PDF is not supported via the standard read API (i.e. A3DAsmModelFileLoadFromFile()). Instead Developers must first use the function A3DGet3DPDFStreams() to extract the PRC/U3D data from the PDF document and then provide this data to appropriate Exchange or Publish API. An example of using this API is provided in the samples\publish\publishsource\DemoFunctionalities sample.

New Export Formats

Format
JT
VRML

Format Updates

Format Updated Version
Siemens PLM NX Software 8.5

Enhancements

Healing and Model Preparation for B-rep export

To address some issues for Parasolid and ACIS customers we now do significant post-processing of the data prior to exporting it to Parasolid or ACIS. This has particular impact when dealing with data which originated in IGES files.

Special handling for IGES Data

IGES data is now pre-processed to address issues which were previously impacting import success rates. This includes dealing with corrupt files as well as using advanced geometric algorithms to massage the data. These geometric algorithms include fixing B-rep orientation errors, closing open loops, adjusting tolerances, etc. This pre-processing has resulted in a slight increase in import time. Developers can also use the new Sew API (see below) to turn logical sets of surfaces into closed solids.

New Sew API

A new API A3DSewBrep() has been added which will sew a series of sheet bodies. The API will create either a Solid or Sheet body depending on the structure of the provided data. A higher-level function A3DAsmModelFileSew() has also been added which will perform a sew on all appropriate entities in a given model file.

Semantic PMI improvements

Our semantic PMI structures have been enhanced to allow developers to determine the plane that a particular plane/axes associated with a particular datum.

Ignore hidden attribute when exporting to Parasolid

Developers can now request that our Parasolid writer exports all entities regardless of the value of their hidden attribute.



HOOPS Exchange - v5.30 Changes

Format Updates

Format Updated Version
SOLIDWORKS 2013

Enhancements

New Tessellation Controls

Two new parameters have been added for controlling tessellation:

  • m_bUseHeightInsteadOfRatio
    When m_eTessellationLevelOfDetail is set to kA3DTessLODUserDefined and m_bUseHeightInsteadOfRatio is set to TRUE, the tessellation algorithm is controlled by the m_dMaxChordHeight value. m_dMaxChordHeight specifies the maximum distance between a tessellation triangle and the actual surface geometry.
    When m_bUseHeightInsteadOfRatio is set to FALSE, then the tessellation algorithm is controlled by the m_dChordHeightRatio value.
  • m_dMaximalTriangleEdgeLength
    This parameter specifies the maximum edge length of a tessellation triangle. If it is set to 0, then this parameter is not used when calculating the tessellation.

JT PMI

When reading PMI from a JT file, the link between PMI and its associated geometry is now maintained.

Automatic Healing when Exporting to X_T and SAT

Exchange now automatically heals invalid geometry and topology when exporting to the X_T (Parasolid) and SAT (ACIS) formats.



HOOPS Exchange - v5.20 Changes

Format Updates

A number of file formats were updated to support more current software versions. These format updates include:

Format Updated Version
CATIA V5 V5-62012 (R22)
CATIA V6 2013
Solid Edge ST5

B-Rep Enhancements

Global Copy and Adapt B-Rep

A new function has been added to globally adapt geometry and topology to your modelers specific needs. This function provides the capability to programmatically control the following repair behaviors:

  • Convert curves and surfaces to NURBS
  • Shrink surfaces
  • Remove UV curves that cross the bounds of periodic surfaces
  • Recompute UV curves
  • Recompute 3D curves

For more information, please see the A3DAdaptAndReplaceAllBrepInModelFile function.

Physical Properties

A new function has been added to return the physical properties of a B-Rep model. These properties include:

  • Center of Gravity
  • Surface Area
  • Volume

For more information, please see the A3DComputePhysicalProperties function.

Point in FACE classification

A function has been added to determine whether a point lies inside or outside of a given FACE. For more information, please see the A3DFaceUVPointInside function.

Geometry Simplification

A function has been added for globally simplifying spline curves and surfaces to their analytic form (such as planes, cylinders, spheres, etc.). For more information, please see the A3DSimplifyModelFileCurveAndSurfaceAsAnalytic function.

PMI Enhancements

Semantic PMI

The data structure for returning semantic P}{MI have been enhanced to return the values of the semantic PMI data. This allows applications to easily read the numeric data associated with feature control frames and other PMI. For more information, please see the A3DMDSemanticFeatureControlFrameGet function.

Associative Datum

A new structure has been added that contains direct links between Datum and other associated entities such as other Datum and model geometry. For more information, please see the A3DMDFCFDrawingRowData data structure.

Text Bounding Box

A function has been added to calculate the 2D bounding box (height and length) for a text string. For more information, please see the A3DGlobalFontTextBoxGet function.

Font File Path

A new data member for specifying the font file path has been added to the A3DFontData structure.

Import Enhancements

Reading Files from Memory

A new function has been added to allow PRC data to be read directly from a memory buffer. Please see A3DAsmModelFileLoadFromPrcStream for more details.

IFC Enhancements

An import option has been added for the IFC reader. You can now specify the code page to use when converting 3D text to Unicode. For more information, please see the A3DRSParamsIFCData structure.



HOOPS Exchange - v5.10 Changes

Format Updates

A number of file formats were updated to support more current software versions. These format updates include:

Format Updated Version
Autodesk Inventor 2013
Creo Parametric 2.0

Interface Changes

Editing Functions

Two new functions have been added to enable editing of Product Occurrences and Part Definitions. Please refer to the Programmers Guide for more information on A3DAsmProductOccurrenceEdit and A3DAsmPartDefinitionEdit.

Enhancements

IGES - Sewing Option

A new structure, A3DRWParamsIGESData, has been added to the A3DRWParamsSpecificLoadData structure to control how IGES files are read. This new structure contains a data member, m_bSewBrepModels, that controls whether Exchange will try to sew IGES surface models into a solid model. Please see the Reference Guide for more information on the A3DRWParamsIGESData data structure.

JT Reader

A number of internal improvements have been made to the JT reader. The results of these improvements are general improvements to the stability of the JT reader.



HOOPS Exchange - v5.0 Changes

Format Updates

A number of file formats were updated to support more current software versions. These format updates include:

Format Updated Version
CATIA V5 R21
Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) IFC 2x4
Siemens PLM Software NX NX 8
Solid Edge ST4
SOLIDWORKS 2012

New Formats

ACIS (SAT)

For HOOPS Exchange v5.0, we have added the capability to save PRC data to ACIS SAT files. This interface allows direct exchange of data with applications that support the SAT format (AutoCAD, Inventor, etc.). It also provides ACIS developers with an easy route to integrate HOOPS Exchange by using Exchange to convert CAD files to SAT format and using ACIS to read the generated SAT data.

In order to have maximum compatibility with other applications (including Autodesk applications like AutoCAD and Inventor), the Exchange SAT exporter writes an ACIS 5.0 format file.

Format Version
ACIS (SAT) 5.0

CATIA V5 Drawings (CATDrawing)

CATIA V5 drawing files (CATDrawing) are now supported. Please see the Drawing Model section of the Reference Manual for more information.

Interface Changes

Precise Measurement

A number of functions have been added to enable precise measurement of PRC B-Rep models. These functions include curve and surface simplification as well as high performance point project functions.

PRC Assembly File Management

Two new functions have been added to help manage subcomponents (parts, sub-assemblies) of a PRC assembly file. The first function extracts the filenames (including path) of all the parts and sub-assemblies referenced by a model file. The second function A3DAsmModelFileLoadFromMultiplePrcFile creates an assembly modelfile from multiple PRC files.