New Kubotek KeyCreator Bridges CAD Interoperability Gap
-- Version 5 of Leading Design Tool Addresses the
Industry’s Major Interoperability Issues, Provides Efficient Path Between OEMs
and Job Shops, Designers and Manufacturers --
Marlborough, MA – October 20, 2005 – Kubotek® USA today
announced KeyCreator™ 5, a new version of its widely used design and
manufacturing software. This new
version of the software attacks the major interoperability issues that the
company’s recent surveys (http://www.kubotekusa.com/news/press_releases/080105.asp)
have tracked, bridging the gap between designers and engineers who are
frequently stymied by incompatible file formats. The new features are particularly valuable to moldmakers and
job shops that need to be able to detect and work with specific patterns and
features within a model.
“Most engineers and designers need to reuse data and model
components from a previous model, or work on a model that someone else
created,” said Robert Bean, chief operating officer, Kubotek USA. “Hundreds of millions of dollars are
wasted every year because designers have to recreate parts that they can not
access because they were originally designed in another CAD format. Surprisingly, only a small percentage
of designers receive files in their preferred format.
Bean continued, “The issues created because of the lack of
CAD interoperability are no different than the challenges that arise around
different languages. While we like
to think of English being the accepted standard for the business world, it is
very similar to manufacturing industry standards like STEP and IGES;
standardization is limited and will only work occasionally.”
KeyCreator 5 provides substantial new functionality that
builds on the company’s use of geometry and intelligent freeform modeling
capabilities. This architecture
allows users to easily import, edit and work on non-native files. New pattern and feature discovery functionality
provides the ability to quickly highlight, prune and graft distinct model elements,
patterns, groups of features and “blends.” Kubotek has added intelligence to KeyCreator 5 to enable the
software to easily manipulate features in so-called “dumb files.”
Bean explained, “Since translated CAD files are comprised of
geometry alone, only Kubotek’s geometry-based architecture can detect and work
with them as easily as other CAD tools work with a native file. Most engineers and designers consider
translated parts almost unworkable.
It is only now that the hardware has become capable of handling feature
and pattern discovery in real time.”
“Kubotek’s enhancements in KeyCreator and their leadership
in conducting interoperability surveys demonstrates an intrinsic understanding
of end user needs and the overhead costs forced by interoperability issues in
the industry,” asserts Ken Versprille, Ph.D., PLM research director, CPD
Associates, LLC. “Numerous
approaches have been attempted to resolve the problem of CAD interoperability,
with limited success. The Kubotek
vision is of a world where CAD formats are meaningless; functionality and
ease-of-use are most important. Kubotek’s breakthrough work in intelligent
geometry within KeyCreator v5 represents a substantial step forward on
delivering that vision.”
Sharing CAD Files is Everyone’s Problem
In June, Kubotek unveiled the results of the first portion
of its 2005 CAD Interoperability Survey.
The survey of more than 1,250 CAD managers showed that that there are
still widespread issues around CAD interoperability. The company followed up this survey with a second one
focusing on job shops. The new
2005 Kubotek Job Shop Survey studied the impact of interoperability problems on
this market segment and showed that it is shouldering significant business
expenses because of interoperability issues and customer CAD requirements.
• Approximately
two-thirds (63 percent) of job shops are required by their customers to receive
CAD files in a specific format.
• Almost
one-third of all the respondents (27 percent) had to purchase a specific CAD tool
just to satisfy specific customer requirements
• A
majority of the respondents had to share files with multiple clients, each with
different CAD requirements.
Tony Creti, president of Electromoulds, a Canadian job shop
that makes plastic injection molds for the medical products industry, among
others, had this to say: “Because I work with multiple clients, I receive files
in at least four or five different CAD file formats on a daily basis. KeyCreator allows me to quickly and
easily translate and work with all of these files. KeyCreator 5 is another successful building block in Kubotek
USA’s confrontation of the interoperability problem. Specifically, the new pattern and feature discovery
capabilities will save a significant amount of time.”
Kenneth Harris is a tooling engineer who designs both
progressive stamping dies and the presses that run them. Harris has been using an early release
of KeyCreator 5 and is impressed with the new version of KeyCreator. Harris is required to use many other
CAD/CAM programs so the ability to translate data from one file format to
another is very important. “During
the quoting process, customers send many different file types, and KeyCreator
can open and work with the vast majority of them. After the work is completed,
customers need a ‘neutral’ file format in order to send the model to the CNC
program. KeyCreator exports to
nearly every file format and does so easily and accurately.
Harris continued, “Even with all of the new features --
sheet-metal bending, pruning, grafting, and patterns, just to name a few --
KeyCreator is still the easiest CAD program I have ever used. I have demonstrated to users of other
CAD programs how KeyCreator can quickly produce a design part. They tell me the same part would take them
twice the time.”
KeyCreator 5.0 Adds Direct Feature Editing Toolbox
Converting a CAD file to a different format (creating a
“dumb” file) does not usually capture all the information that an engineer
needs to do the job. The new
version of KeyCreator includes a number of tools to directly edit features in
dumb models.
• Face
selection, pattern and feature discovery: Allows the user to find, name, select
and work with any pattern or feature in a model, including blends, sheet metal
bends, holes, pockets, bosses, and countersinks. Moldmakers in particular will find this function speeds the
creation process, allowing them to quickly strip away extraneous parts to work
on a specific feature.
• Prune
and Graft: Prune can create a tool solid from selected sets of faces of an
existing solid. Graft aids in dynamic orienting and positioning, and uniting or
subtracting these “pruned” tool solids.
• Rich
graphic functionality including user-definable 3D dynamic environment map
rendering, zebra line analysis, dynamic transparent cutting plane and user
definable background image support.
• And
much more – click here to view a detailed list
(http://www.kubotekusa.com/images/pdf/KeyCreator_V5_Enhancements.pdf ).
The rapidly expanding KeyCreator product family includes
multidimensional design and drafting, NC programming and the company's unique
geometry-based foundation with localized feature editing and sophisticated
deformation techniques. KeyCreator
blends surface, solid and wireframe modeling, allowing for easy model
modification and editing functionality to support rapid manufacturing.
North American pricing for KeyCreator begins at $3495,
including one year of maintenance.
Current, maintenance-paying customers can download the new version
immediately.
About Kubotek
Kubotek USA, Inc., headquartered in Marlborough, MA, is a
wholly owned subsidiary of Kubotek Corporation. Kubotek USA develops and manufactures KeyCreator software
(formerly CADKEY) and is also responsible for sales, marketing, distribution
and support for the Americas.
Visit Kubotek at: www.kubotekusa.com
Editorial Note:
Images available
Kubotek, KeyCreator, and CADKEY are registered trademarks or
trademarks of Kubotek Corporation.
All other brand and product names are trademarks or registered
trademarks of their respective owners.
