Paraform

1. Platform, Price, and Company

          Platform

• Windows NT -

  Pentium II/III with 300 MHz or higher processor, For minimum software installation, 45MB of free disk space, For maximum software installation, 190MB of free disk space, 256MB RAM (512MB is recommended), CD-ROM drive, OpenGL 1.1 certified graphics card with 24-bit True Color support. The more memory on the card, the greater the screen resolution you will be able to use in 24-bit mode, Three-button mouse, Ethernet card (required for software licensing), Windows NT 4.0 plus Service Pack 4 or higher, Internet Explorer version 4 or higher or Netscape Communicator version 4 or higher, to view online documentation

   

• SGI IRIX -

            R5000 or faster processor, For minimum software installation, 100MB of free disk space, For maximum software installation, 120MB of free disk space, 256MB RAM (512MB is recommended)            CD-ROM drive (if installing from a CD and to access the Tutorial data files, Graphics with double-buffer, 24-bit True Color support. CIP Engineer is currently supported on O2, Octane                  MXI/MXE, R10000 Indigo2 Max Impact, and Onyx 2 workstations., Three-button mouse, IRIX 6.5.5 or higher (with Netscape to view online documentation)

          Price

• $19,000

  Company

   

• Paraform, a privately held corporation:    http://www.paraform.com/index.html

   

2. Applications

• Conceptual Design, Tooling Modification and Repair, Vendor Verification and Inspection, Manufacturability Analysis, Legacy Data Processing, Rapid Surfacing, Reverse Engineering, Digital Content Creation & Animation. This product is used by companies such as Ford, Mattel, Disney, Ericsson, Boeing, and Adidas to design products such as cars, toys, shoes, etc.

   

   

3. Examples/Samples

• Paraforms list of Applications, click a link to see a series of examples: http://www.paraform.com/template.asp?pageid=2.1
• Manufacturability Analysis - http://www.metris.be/html/products/paraform/paraform_workflow5.htm
• Workflow Example - http://www.metris.be/html/products/paraform/paraform_workflow.htm
• Defense and Aerospace - http://www.metris.be/html/products/paraform/paraform_workflow2.htm
• Legacy Data Processing - http://www.metris.be/html/products/paraform/paraform_workflow3.htm
• Toys - http://www.metris.be/html/products/paraform/paraform_workflow4.htm
• Tooling Modification and Repair - http://www.metris.be/html/products/paraform/paraform_workflow6.htm
• Digital Content Creation - http://www.metris.be/html/products/paraform/paraform_workflow8.htm
• Consumer Products - http://www.metris.be/html/products/paraform/paraform_workflow10.htm
• Automotive - http://www.metris.be/html/products/paraform/paraform_workflow11.htm

4. Functions/File Formats

         Functions

• Design for Manufacturability – identify, create, and modify parting lines; detect and remove undercuts, hard and soft-offset shelling operations
• Inspection – compare “as designed” CAD data with “as built” inspection data
• Dynamic Templates – reuse previous projects (curves, patches, etc.) on similar future projects to save time and cost
• Feature Extraction – identify, reconstruct and refine critical feature curves from raw acquired data
• Polygon sculpting – quickly and precisely manipulate structured polygon representations within the constraint of downstream uses
• Solids creation and export – convert final surface models into solid entities for import to major CAD/CAM/CAE packages
• Polygon workflow translators – convert “point clouds” or CAD files into structured, manipulable polygon representations  

        Now, with V3.0, Paraform further expands its offerings to include:   

• Automatic surfacing – automates the surface creation process
• Automatic sectioning – one step creation of geometry-defining curve networks for export to CAD systems
• Global shape deformers – precise shape modification tools
• Color Support – full support for the use of color data throughout the workflow
• Solids & Inspection enhancements – wide range of enhancements to performance and workflow
• Interoperability – wide range of enhancements to support smoother interoperability with other CAD/CAM/CAE applications  

        File Formats

• Geometry Import - IGES, OBJ, PLY, SAT, STL, XYZ
• Geometry Export - IGES, OBJ, PLY, SAT, STL
• Map Export - TIFF (8 bit, 16 bit, float)
• Color & Texture Export - TIFF, JPEG
• Paraform 3.0 can read in scan data in ASCII and IGES formats for point clouds and STL, OBJ, and PLY formats for polygonal models (meshes).
• Paraform 3.0 can read curves, surfaces, and solids from files in IGES, STEP, OBJ, or SAT formats.
• Paraform 3.0 supports IGES, STEP, VDA, OBJ, and SAT file formats for exporting data.

5. Web Resources

• A BusinessWire news article: http://www.businesswire.com/webbox/bw.021699/1102109.htm
• http://www.inhousesolutions.com/pdf/addons/Paraform_3.0.pdf
• http://www.metris.be/html/products/paraform/paraform_descr.htm