Evaluating HOOPS Exchange

Overview

Evaluators of HOOPS Exchange are usually interested in two main areas:

  • Suitability of the product for CAD data exchange - import, translation and export. This includes coverage of file formats, coverage of data types within each file format (e.g., attributes, PMI, configurations), quality of data import, performance and memory usage.

  • Suitability of the API interface for integration within the host application or product suite. This includes both ease of integration and functional coverage.

Both areas can be investigated via the HOOPS Exchange API. However, some evaluators may find it quicker and easier to start their evaluation by testing performance, memory usage and quality of translation through the two end-user demonstration products Tech Soft 3D provides for this purpose.

Using the API

For simplicity, we recommend that evaluators write conversion code from HOOPS Exchange in the following step-by-step manner:

  • Parse and convert tessellated data

  • Parse and convert markup and PMI data

  • Parse and convert B-rep topology and geometry

The basic structure for parsing the in-memory PRC data is roughly the same in each case. This approach is designed with the intention that an evaluator can get started quickly by converting and viewing the tessellated data. This will then provide a solid framework for the more complex tasks that follow.

The HOOPS Exchange installation provides several examples that are useful in aiding a quick understanding of the HOOPS Exchange API. Please see Sample Code for more information.

Using the HOOPS Demo Viewer

The HOOPS Demonstration Viewer (HDV) is a desktop application which demonstrates how HOOPS Visualize, HOOPS Exchange, and HOOPS Publish work together to provide a complete 3D CAD presentation. HDV is able to load any model file that is supported by HOOPS Exchange. You can then view and interact with the model using HOOPS Visualize, our 3D visualization toolkit. Finally, you can use HDV to export the model to a different CAD format using HOOPS Exchange or HOOPS Publish. Contact Tech Soft 3D to obtain a license for HOOPS Demo Viewer.

For those interested in evaluating a Parasolid-Exchange integration, the HOOPS Parasolid Demo Viewer can be used for benchmarking. Please see Programming Guide for more information, or contact Tech Soft 3D to obtain a license for the HOOPS Parasolid Demo Viewer.

Modeling

Tech Soft 3D can help with integrating HOOPS Exchange with the commonly used solid modeling kernels, Parasolid from Siemens and ACIS from Dassault Systemes, and can provide consulting services for this purpose.

If you are interested in integrating HOOPS Exchange with one of these kernels, please contact your Tech Soft 3D account manager. In addition, Parasolid users can review the Programming Guide for integration options.

In order to use Exchange with your application, you will need to convert the PRC data into your native modeler format. This is generally a straightforward process that involves the following:

  • Read the CAD data into the PRC format

  • Parse the PRC format to retrieve the CAD data

  • For each PRC entity, create a corresponding kernel entity. Topology and geometry data structures are reasonably straightforward, since most modelers use similar topology and geometry definitions. Metadata, PMI and visualization generally require that your application define specific modeler data structures for converting this data. For ACIS and Parasolid developers it is recommended that they export SAT/XT data for each body in their model and then simply load each body successively using the standard SAT/XT read capabilities of ACIS and Parasolid respectively.

Tech Soft 3D provides consulting services to help with connecting Exchange to popular kernel models such as Parasolid and ACIS.