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eDrawings extends support to all major CAD software

Geometric Software Solutions has just introduced eDrawings™ plug-ins for Unigraphics® 17, 18 and NX and the Autodesk Inventor® series, bringing to seven the number of major platforms that eDrawings supports. eDrawings plug-ins, or publishers, are also available for AutoCAD®, CATIA® v5, Pro/ENGINEER®, Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire™, and SolidWorks®. SolidWorks opened its eDrawings technology to Geometric in 2003, and all eDrawings publishers, except for eDrawings for SolidWorks, are developed and marketed by Geometric.

Since its introduction in 1999, eDrawings has steadily been working its way to becoming the universal exchange format for the CAD world. The compressed format allows users of most major CAD systems to communicate in a nonnative format. The plug-ins allow you to publish a CAD file to the lightweight eDrawings file format from within the supported program. Anyone with the free viewer can view an eDrawings file.

A unique feature in eDrawings allows you to select and rotate a single view of this drawing of an oil cover.

Traditionally, the most popular way to send CAD information was as 2D formats such as PDF, BMP, or DWG. But these flat files contain little real CAD information. And 3D intermediate formats such as IGES and STEP are difficult to measure and too large to send over the Internet.

The crosssections feature in eDrawings allows the user to view and measure the inner workings of this SpaceTraveler, a computer mouse for CAD users designed by 3dconnexion in Los Gatos, CA.

In contrast, you can interrogate an eDrawings file with pan and zoom features. You can cut sections and measure them, pull parts out of assemblies to get a closer look, and even include notes or mark up an eDrawings file the way you would a fax. This makes eDrawings a useful tool for getting manufacturing quotes from suppliers or even showing designs to customers who are unfamiliar with CAD.

What’s more, lightweight eDrawings are easy to send over the Internet. You don’t have to worry about Internet service providers kicking back files that are too large or about posting proprietary data on FTP sites, where anybody can access them.

Have eDrawings, will travel
The ability to publish Inventor files as eDrawings files appeals to Nicolas Hermegnies, President of Amenco, an engineering consulting firm in Quebec, Canada. As a consultant, Hermegnies and his coworkers spend little time in the office. And although they use Inventor, not all of their clients do.

“We work with companies all around the province of Quebec, and it’s important for us to be able to send our work over the Internet. So a program that allows us to send large assemblies is welcome,” says Hermegnies.

eDrawings allows the viewer to mark up a drawing in freehand using a computer mouse or the pen and ink feature in Microsoft® Tablet PC.

One of the biggest benefits of eDrawings is that it allows the sender to email an encapsulated file with the viewer intact. The receiver does not have to download any software, but simply clicks on the attached file to open the CAD model.

“It gives us a medium to communicate with other CAD communities,” says Hermegnies. “I think it’s a good approach for SolidWorks to allow the Inventor community to share models and I think that the future is in streamlining models over the Internet.”

A common denominator
One company that is finding especially good value in eDrawings is MFG Quote (www.mfgquote.com), an online service that matches suppliers and buyers over the web. MFG Quote offers eDrawings as an intermediary format to its customers.

When buyers submit requests for quotes (RFQs) on the MFG Quote site, they generally include a CAD model of the part they want manufactured. They have the option of submitting their files in their native formats. And if they want to submit an eDrawings file, MFG Quote converts the file to eDrawings on the fly using 3D PartStream.NET® tools and services from SolidWorks Corporation.

“Some of them feel uncomfortable about uploading proprietary data and eDrawings is a great way to get quotes from suppliers without having to give up that native CAD file,” says Philip Thomas, Product Manager for MFG Quote.

“Before eDrawings, we had to resort to the lowest common denominators, PDF and BMP formats, which were of little value because they are not real engineering data. You can’t review the files, you can’t measure them, and they have no collaboration tools,” says Thomas. “eDrawings offers a ubiquitous data type that anyone can view with a free viewer. It gives the suppliers the ability to examine the data and collaborate with the buyers. And in exchange, suppliers can provide timely quotes.”

Where can I get one?
eDrawings Viewer and Publisher software are available for free download at www.edrawingsviewer.com. You can also download a free eDrawings API (Application Programming Interface) Software Development Kit for customizing eDrawings software to meet the specific requirements of your organization.

Also available at the eDrawings website is a 15-day trial of eDrawings Professional which supports additional collaboration features for markup, revision, measuring, and the ability to view cross-sections.