Architosh Staff (info@architosh.com)

20 Feb 01

MacCAD/3D: SMLib in VectorWorks 9

Architosh has written in the past about Solid Modeling Solutions' SMLib technology, a modeling kernel competitive with Spatial Technologies' ACIS (now owned by France's Dassault) and Parasolid by Unigraphics.

A reader informed us that SMS's latest newsletter delved into the 3D modeling abilities built into SMLib in VectorWorks 9 (the latest version is currently in beta). As discussed in our indepth interviews with Richard Diehl and Sean Flaherty of Nemetschek North America, SMLib provides a new cross-platform, open and fully independent modeling kernel (engine) to VectorWorks' future versions (version 9 appears to be fully based on SMLib).

Nemetscheck NA and SMS Working Together

Apparently Solid Modeling Solutions and Nemetschek NA have been working very closely on SMLib's implementation.

"An example of the collaboration between SMS and Nemetschek NA came about as a result of the most recent update to maintenance release 3.1. VectorWorks 9 Beta users identified a urgent performance problem with legacy polygon data. Nemetschek NA provided the SMS testing team with a benchmark. Working together they identified optimizations in both the creation and Boolean operation."

"SMS developers were able to achieve a 5-to-1 performance improvement to satisfy the benchmark requirements within a two week time frame." -- Newsletter SMS

This is good news for VectorWorks users, especially those with 3D modeling needs which are forward oriented.

New Modeling Powers in VectorWorks 9?

While not knowing the details, it should be obvious that some new modeling features—if not many new advanced modeling features—will be coming to VectorWorks in version 9. What Nemetscheck may include or not include is not known at this time (by us).

Abilities of SMLib include many advanced NURBS curve and surface constructions and manipulations. New in version 3.0 include topology-based tessellation (also known as POPLib - Polygon OPtimization Library). POPLib produces crack-free polygonal meshes for connected sets of trimmed surfaces or solids at all tessellation tolerances (see drawings here).

SMLib supports a Merge Operator which allows for the creation of complex solid forms within a fully integrated non-manifold topology environment. An example shows the powerful abilities SMLib has in constructing a curved surface computer mouse form using surfaces and curved surfaces to build a volume. As explained, under a non-manifold modeler it is not required that intermediate stages in its construction be closed solids (as with a manifold solid modeler). The NMT representation is necessary in order to merge a surface into a model. The computer GIF example is instructive.

SMLib also supports Sweeping, Shelling and Offsetting. Additionally support for N-Sided fillet creation and trimmiing, variable radius, large radius and self-intersecting rails are part of its fillet operations.

Again, what model construction support will be present in the next version of VectorWorks (version 9) is unknown to all but beta testers and Nemetscheck. VectorWorks users definitely have something interesting to look forward to.

For more info visit Solid Modeling Solutions on the Web.

Thanks to reader Oliver S. Smith.