Free software from CCE allows viewing 3D CAD

Explore 3D allows users to view 3D CAD data and all file properties/metadata directly inside of Windows Explorer, simply by enabling the preview pane. Users are not only able to view 3D data but also model information like file type, version, units, and have access to material information, configurations, and engineering approvals – all within Windows Explorer.

Explore 3D uses CCE’s proprietary Oceans SDK technology at its core that is licensed by enterprise application providers for enabling CAD data access in their software. Explore 3D is completely independent of CAD and does not need a license of the CAD format it displays. Latest versions of all major CAD formats are supported including CATIA V5, CATIA V6 (3DXML), SOLIDWORKS, NX, Creo, Inventor, Solid Edge among others.

“Providing access to 3D CAD and meta data directly inside of Windows Explorer is very useful for small and medium businesses particularly, since a lot of them leverage online data storage platforms like Dropbox and OneDrive to manage their engineering data and documentation,” said CCE’s Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Vinay Wagle.

Most online storage platforms allow organisations to perform activities like infrastructure-free file versioning, access control, audit logs, file back-up and recovery, seamless and secure file sharing, and collaboration, among other things, from the familiar confines of Windows explorer; there is also support for documents, images, presentations, etc. The missing link is its ability to handle engineering/CAD data.

“Explore 3D CAD-enables these cloud storage platforms so that businesses can use a combination of Explore 3D and the cloud storage platforms to manage product data across the organisation,” said Wagle.