 | | Design, repair, create |  Rapid prototyping solutions can help you design and modify complex 3-D shapes using the industry-standard simulation and test language (STL) file format. Our solutions are designed to enable the easy generation and repair of meshes to obtain machinable mock-ups. These models can help facilitate the design of products in less time with fewer errors. |
| | | | The expertise you need | Rapid prototyping solutions feature CATIA V5 STL Rapid Prototyping 2 from Dassault Systemes: - We have over 20 years of development experience with Dassault Systemes.
- CATIA helps serve the needs of more than 24,000 customers and has more than 180,000 seats in daily production.
IBM installation experts can install and customize engineering environments -- from hardware and software, to complete network management -- whether you have one or thousands of seats, in a single location or sites worldwide. |
| | | | Tools and technology | Rapid prototyping solutions can provide advanced tools to generate, repair and optimize computerized 3-D product designs for rapid prototyping machines that use STL files as input: - Accurate tessellation: tessellate CAD data with control of the sag value and the maximum length of edges
- STL import: can import existing STL files. The user can then view, check, repair and optimize the imported meshes
- Checking mesh quality: various display options allow the user to apply flat or smooth shading or visualize free or non-manifold edges
- Optimization of meshes: can enable the user to fix mesh defects by filling holes to remove or reorganize triangles in order to redesign sharp edges or fillets -- the splitting and merging of meshes is also supported
- Local and global re-mesh: improve the quality of meshes by re-meshing an existing mesh completely or partially
- Thin offset creation: STL supports the creation of a thin offset to obtain a watertight solid in order to generate machinable mock-ups from surface geometry
- STL export: STL output can be exported in standard binary format in order to feed rapid prototyping machines
The solutions: - Run on certified IBM IntelliStation® workstation
- Support a range of graphics cards, including NVIDIA, ATI, 3Dlabs, Intense3D, ELSA, Intergraph
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| | | | Rapid prototyping in action | A major manufacturer signed a strategic agreement with IBM and Dassault Systemes to establish global cooperation in 3-D PLM covering their end-to-end development processes.
The solution can help the manufacturer improve quality and reduce both costs and product development times by sharing and reusing information across their global manufacturing environment, while extending the system to a vast global supplier network.
In another implementation, a leading safety restraint products supplier took up to a month to approve a design. With every change, the design process, including building a physical prototype, had to be repeated by hand.
With CATIA, the company reduced the design cycle and is now able to create, revise, detail and release prototypes in as little as five days. |
| | | | Intuitive, scalable, portable | Rapid prototyping solutions can: - Save time and money by offering an intuitive user interface that reduces training time
- Facilitate growth and cost-effective deployment across the extended enterprise by leveraging a scalable design environment that utilizes a common data model and sharing methodology
- Reduce downtime when migrating from another CAD/CAM environment by supporting the STL format designed to enable input from other systems
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