Field Precision Adds Full-featured 3D Viewer

STL (stereo lithography) files are the pathway for importing complex shapes from SolidWorks, ProE and other 3D CAD programs into MetaMesh, the Field Precision conformal mesh generator. Because of the growing importance of shape import, the company has added a powerful STL viewer to Geometer (an interactive environment for solid modeling). The viewer simultaneously display up to 100 STL files, with automatic adjustment for text or binary format. The program uses OpenGL for real-time, interactive graphics. The Geometer viewer has several advantages compared to other available software:

* Clean interface with intuitive controls.

* In addition to the standard perspective view, the program features a unique orthogonal projection mode. The mode supports automatic or user-controlled fiducials and a full range of zoom and pan commands for closeups.

* Accurate coordinate measurements of features in the orthogonal mode.

* Human-engineered mouse-based view controls in the perspective mode with context-sensitive cursors.

* Individual models may be displayed in solid-surface or wireframe mode.

* Automatic calculation of STL file statistics (number of facets, limits of nodes, center-of-mass,...).

* Define cut planes for individual models to look inside complex assemblies.

* Utilities to transform STL models include 1) scale or change coordinate units, 2) change proportions of an object by scaling along one or two axes, 3) convert a text file to binary format and 4) shift and/or rotate a model in space.

The STL Viewer is the perfect utility for researchers and engineers who want to incorporate sets of 3D CAD objects into finite-element calculations. Field Precision offers a 30-day trial of the Geometer/MetaMesh package with the new STL Viewer.