:orphan:

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Quickstart
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.. _get_hoops_exchange:


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Support, Consultancy, and Training
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Licensees of HOOPS Exchange enjoy a high-level of responsive support both from the core team located in Lyon, France, and from the local teams based in each major territory worldwide.
If you require help getting started, in the first instance please contact your Consulting Engineer or Account Manager, who will direct you to the appropriate support channels.

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Where to Find the Documentation?
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The HOOPS Exchange help files are available:

* Online, at the `HOOPS Developer Zone <https://developer.techsoft3d.com/>`_.
  Note that this area is password protected - please contact your Consulting Engineer or Account Manager if you do not have a password.
* In the HOOPS Exchange installation in the `documentation` directory.

The online documents provide a free-form text search.
To search the documentation in the download package we recommend using a standard free-form text search such as grep, Windows Search, or Visual Studio's "Find in Files".

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Using HOOPS Exchange With HOOPS Visualize
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`HOOPS Visualize <https://www.techsoft3d.com/products/hoops/visualize/>`_ is a 2D and 3D development platform for creating or enhancing professional-grade engineering applications.
HOOPS Visualize’s rich set of APIs enable developers to work from a very high level, dramatically jump-starting application development.
Programming teams using HOOPS Visualize are able to produce more competitive applications and accelerate product delivery while reducing total research and development costs.

If you are an HOOPS Visualize user, you can use HOOPS Exchange to :ref:`import CAD models <supported_readers>` directly into HOOPS Visualize using the MVO HIO Module `hio_publish` (for Visualize 3DF), or the `HPS::Exchange` classes (for Visualize HPS).
The models may then be viewed, manipulated and exported using any of our :ref:`supported exporters <supported_writers>`.

For more information, please see the `HOOPS Visualize documentation <https://docs.techsoft3d.com/hps/latest/build/general/main-landing.html>`_.

.. warning::

   Care must be taken when using HOOPS Exchange along with HOOPS Visualize.
   The API functions related to edition are not meant to be directly used with Exchange to avoid inconsistency between HOOPS Exchange and HOOPS Visualize.
   These functions are:

   * :func:`A3DAsmModelFileDelete`
   * :func:`A3DEntityDelete`
   * :func:`A3DAsmPartDefinitionAddView`
   * :func:`A3DAsmPartDefinitionEdit`
   * :func:`A3DProductOccurenceEdit`

*Note that when a license for one product stops, that license will also stop for the other product*.
Therefore care must be taken if you are a licensed user of one product and are evaluating the other, or if you have concurrent evaluations running that end on different dates.
Once an evaluation license has expired you may need to revert to the original license for the licensed product.
*We advise you to always keep a secure copy of any licenses you generate along with the included products and termination dates*.

