CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive
18 April 2007
Product News
Lattice3D Reporter Links to Microsoft Excel; XVL Compressed 3D models now easily embedded into manufacturing reports
Lattice Technology announced its latest new product, Lattice3D Reporter, which will be available for immediate purchase. With Lattice3D Reporter, manufacturers can insert ultra-lightweight 3D XVL data into reports shared between different departments. These 3D visuals of parts and product views give immediate communicative power to documents such as product testing check sheets, design reviews, or process instructions, among others, that are often created using Microsoft Excel. 3D Geometry can be easily linked with traditional spreadsheet information enabling the best possible communication.
Since file-heavy 3D CAD has traditionally been limited to the design stage of many manufacturing companies, 2D drawings and 2D images are still used to illustrate process instruction downstream. Now with strong demands for shortening product delivery time, many manufacturers are turning towards XVL compression to provide clear 3D visuals that add accuracy and efficiency throughout the production stage.
Most manufacturers create reports with Microsoft Excel, pasting a screen-capture image whenever visual information needs to be conveyed. Typically, such screen captures must come from the CAD system, which has limited availability due to the high cost of CAD licenses. To capture such images requires long processing time on large CAD files.
Lattice3D Reporter embeds XVL data into Excel documents, automatically linking 3D source file, parts ID, and the snapshot images. Icon buttons from the Excel add-on make image generation a quick and simple operation directly from the spreadsheet application. The interconnection between Reporter and Excel allows for normal emailing of reports without limitations on the size of 3D content or worrying about multiple files as everything is contained in a single Excel file.
The retail price of Lattice3D Reporter is US$1,995. Lattice Technology plans to ship 4,000 copies for the first year.
Lattice Reporter is available for a free 30-day trial at: http://www.lattice3d.com/ .
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