CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive

18 April 2007

Product News

Google Gets New Graphic Content with Latest Alibre Release

Alibre, Inc. announced the Alibre 3D Publisher for Google SketchUp, a new add-on for the Alibre Design product line, including the free Alibre Design Xpress.

The Alibre 3D Publisher creates a "mash-up" of two popular free 3D design programs -- Google SketchUp and Alibre Design Xpress -- thereby greatly expanding the sources of visually accurate 3D mechanical models for use in Google SketchUp, Google Earth, and Google 3D Warehouse.

Google SketchUp is widely used for conceptual and architectural design while Alibre Design is primarily used for precise mechanical design.

The Alibre 3D Publisher is a free add-on that can be downloaded and installed in any of the Alibre Design 3D mechanical CAD applications, including the free Alibre Design Xpress and the commercial versions Alibre Design Workshop, Alibre Design Professional, and Alibre Design Expert.

With the new add-on, any 3D model from any CAD or modeling system can be exported in industry standard formats such as STEP, IGES and SAT, as well as models created natively in Alibre Design and can be published directly to the Google SketchUp format, then edited or enhanced in Google SketchUp and uploaded to the Google 3D Warehouse or placed on Google Earth. This means millions of visually accurate 3D designs from thousands of popular 3D design and CAD programs, including SolidWorks, Pro/ENGINEER, CATIA, Unigraphics, SolidEdge, Inventor, Rhino, Maya, and more, can be used in Google's most popular graphics programs.

Once converted to the SketchUp format as part of Alibre's publishing process, mechanical models can also be edited directly in SketchUp via its easy to use "push-pull" interface. Unlike other conversions that simply dump out a glob of unrelated facets or triangles, Alibre's 3D Publisher constructs geometrically correct models which can be directly edited in SketchUp. This provides a platform to modify or create new conceptual designs relative to existing precise mechanical models, such as mounting hardware or consumer packaging. Other examples include precise woodworking models like furniture or cabinetry that can be parametrically designed in Alibre Design and then incorporated into a SketchUp model of an entire house or building.

The Google 3D Warehouse is an increasingly popular online data repository for 3D models. With the Alibre 3D Publisher, 3D designs created in virtually any 3D CAD or modeling system can now be imported via common industry standard formats and then uploaded to the 3D Warehouse and shared and located by anyone in the world using Google's search algorithms Since models can also be incorporated in SketchUp designs, civil and related design communities working on either conceptual or precise production models, such as when placing equipment on a factory floor, can now have an ideal platform that allows them to more easily share and merge work.

Google Earth combines the power of Google Search with satellite imagery, maps, terrain, and 3D buildings to put the world's geographic information at your fingertips. Now with the Alibre 3D Publisher visually accurate and highly detailed models of mechanical products can be precisely placed on Google Earth. As a result, visual accuracy is taken to an entirely new level in which product designers can publish completely detailed mechanical models of actual physical or imagined products. For example, an automotive manufacturer could publish visually accurate and highly detailed mechanical models of its automotive components, such as engines, transmissions, interiors or any other mechanical component within the context of a factory, dealership, or service facility.

More information about the Alibre 3D Publisher for Google SketchUp can be found at the Alibre web site at http://www.alibre.com/Products/3Dpublisher.asp

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