Chapter 6: Interoperability

Title: Implementing the interoperability between virtual reality technologies and CAD applications

Author(s): Fabio Bruno, Maurizio Muzzupappa

Address: University of Calabria – Department of Mechanical Engineering, via P.Bucci 44/c – 87030 Rende (CS) - Italy | University of Calabria – Department of Mechanical Engineering, via P.Bucci 44/c – 87030 Rende (CS) - Italy

Reference: International Conference on Product Lifecycle Management 2007 pp. 383 - 392

Abstract/Summary: Virtual Reality (VR) technologies are widely used by industries in several phases of the Product Development Process (PDP) and, in particular, in design review and CAE data analysis. Recently, other interesting VR applications are capturing the interest of the industries, but a wider diffusion of these technologies still founds an obstacle in the poor integration with other software employed in the PDP. The present paper starts with an analysis of some new VR applications in the PDP, aiming to define the main CAD-VR interoperability topics. Then the paper shows how the CAD API can be employed to resolve some of the most common interoperability problems, describing the development of three plug-ins for Unigraphics NX3 that allow the user to quickly export meta-data needed for Virtual Assembly applications and multi-body simulations and to post-process data generated in a Virtual Cabling environment.

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