Valencia, CA - August 19, 1998—Solid Concepts Inc. announced today that they will introduce the latest release of their award-winning SolidView software at AUTOFACT ’98. Introduced in 1995 and with over 2500 seats installed, SolidView has quickly become the standard for the communication and high-performance visualization of 3D mechanical designs on low-cost Windows computers. Since SolidView uses industry-standard STL and VRML files, which are easily generated from all popular CAD systems, SolidView makes it possible to view 3D designs on a Windows PC, regardless of their source. SolidView’s exclusive publishing feature enables users to send a free viewer along with their designs, making it possible to communicate designs with organizations that have not purchased SolidView.
Sponsored by the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME), the AUTOFACT ’98 Conference and Exposition takes place September 29 – October 1 at Cobo Conference and Exposition Center in Detroit, Michigan.
The new 3.2 release of SolidView includes many new features and enhancements, including the ability to support OpenGL graphics. OpenGL is the premier environment for developing portable, interactive 2D and 3D graphics applications. Since its introduction in 1992, OpenGL has become the industry’s most widely used and supported 2D and 3D graphics application programming interface (API). With OpenGL graphics, SolidView users can now use more colors and advanced rendering features, such as transparency, to display complex parts and assemblies on their Windows PCs. Existing SolidView 3.0 customers will receive the 3.2 upgrade for free.
"With our implementation of OpenGL, SolidView users are not limited in their hardware or operating system choice", said Ray Bradford, Solid Concepts’ vice-president of Software. "If you are running SolidView on a PC with Windows 95 or NT, you can take advantage of OpenGL, even if you do not have OpenGL accelerated hardware. In many cases however, users without OpenGL hardware may elect to use the native SolidView display routines as they are usually faster than OpenGL. The bottom line is that with SolidView, users and system administrators have complete flexibility in choosing their environment. Windows NT users with advanced graphics hardware can still communicate and exchange design information with Windows 3.1 users", said Bradford.
In addition to developing SolidView software, Solid Concepts also provides a wide array of manufacturing services that are used by many leading manufacturers to accelerate their product development processes. Solid Concepts’ manufacturing services have had a direct and measurable positive effect on many manufacturers product development programs by enabling them to produce higher quality products, in less time, and with lower development costs. Services offered by Solid Concepts include:
Rapid Prototyping
Solid Concepts’ expertise in creating stereolithography rapid prototypes enables them to provide high-quality, accurate models at very competitive prices. Models and patterns produced through this technology are suitable for design review, form and fit studies, and as master patterns for a variety of molding techniques.
Urethane Castings
For sales and marketing prototypes for trade shows, samples, or presales opportunities, urethane castings from inexpensive silicone molds are an ideal way to closely simulate final injection molded plastic parts. Today’s urethanes offer properties similar to thermoplastics, and can be finished to match the final part color and texture. A variety of filled materials are also available. With Solid Concepts’ multicavity silicone mold expertise, hundreds of prototypes can be produced in as little as two weeks.
CNC Tooling and Injection Molding Services
Using state-of-the-art CAD/CAM software and a wide array of advanced CNC equipment, Solid Concepts can produce high-quality aluminum or steel tooling from CAD data in as little as ten working days. Solid Concepts' rapid CNC aluminum tooling is ideal for low to medium volume production applications.
Examples of parts produced by Solid Concepts will be on display in booth # 635, from 10AM to 6PM on Tuesday and Wednesday, and from 10AM to 4PM on Thursday.
Attendees who visit Solid Concepts during Autofact ’98 will be able to enter a drawing to receive a free copy of SolidView, and anyone can obtain a free 15 day trial license.
Solid Concepts Inc. is the world’s leading supplier of third-party software for the rapid prototyping industry and is a recognized leader in rapid prototyping and manufacturing. Founded in 1991, the Company has enjoyed tremendous growth, fueled by a commitment to service and constant technical innovation. Solid Concepts Inc. is a privately held corporation headquarted in Valencia, California.