Valencia, CA - June 19, 1998—Solid Concepts Inc., a leading supplier of software for communicating 2D and 3D design data, announced today that they have joined the OpenDWG Alliance as a sustaining member. The OpenDWG Alliance™ is an association of CAD customers and vendors committed to Autodesk AutoCAD's DWG drawing file format as an open, industry standard format for the exchange of CAD drawings. SolidView software from Solid Concepts uses industry standard formats, such as STL, VRML, IGES, DXF, and now DWG to enable non-CAD users to view, measure, mark-up, and communicate mechanical design information.
"The ability to communicate legacy 2D data, along with real 3D data that can be viewed and measured, is an important feature for our customers", said Ray Bradford, Solid Concepts’ vice-president of Software Development. "Leading manufacturers around the world have been using SolidView as a tool for communicating complex 3D designs. The ability to view their legacy data along with their new 3D designs means that they can standardize on one solution for collaborative engineering."
The new DWG support is included in the SolidView 3.02 update and can be downloaded from the Company’s ftp and web sites. Existing SolidView 3.0 customers can upgrade to 3.02 free of charge. Existing SolidView 2.1 customers can upgrade any single-user license for only $198 and Network licenses may be upgraded for $398 per user. SolidView 3.0, announced in April 1998, provides full 2D view and markup capability and support for a number of 2D vector formats, such as DWG, CGM, HPGL, HPGL2, and 2D DXF , as well as popular raster formats such as BMP, TIFF, PCT, and JPG. Text files may also be imported, making it easy to add existing textual and report information to SolidView files.
SolidView is the only integrated 2D and 3D view and markup system that lets users create and distribute free SolidPlayer software that allows anyone with a Windows PC to view 2D and 3D data and, if authorized, measure the 3D data. This unique ability has enabled SolidView customers to save thousands of dollars and countless weeks in development time by reducing or eliminating the need to use 2D drawings to communicate design changes to partners, customers, and suppliers.
In related news, Solid Concepts also announced a new SolidView SixPack option that provides 6 single-user SolidView licenses for only $2500, a 15% discount off the list price of $495 for each single user license.
Introduced in 1995, and with thousands of users, SolidView has quickly become the standard for the communication and high-performance visualization of 3D mechanical designs on low-cost Windows computers.
SolidView 3.02 runs on any 486 or Pentium PC with 8Mb or more RAM and Windows 3.1, Windows 95 or Windows NT. SolidView software for viewing, measuring and publishing 3D information is available in North America for $495. IGES and VDA-FS input options are an additional $495 each.
Prospective users can download a trial version of SolidView 3.0 from the Solid Concepts web site at http://www.solidconcepts.com. Numerous sample files are also available from the Solid Concepts web site. A free demonstration CD-ROM can be obtained by calling Solid Concepts toll-free at 1-888-SOLIDVU (1-888-765-4388).
