Feb 9, 2017 | By Tess
Polish 3D printer and software company Verashape has announced it has licensed Siemens’ Parasolid Communicator, part of the company’s product lifecycle management (PLM) Software. The licensing agreement will help Verashape’s R&D department to further its support and development of Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) 3D printing technology through a new software program. More specifically, Siemens’ Parasolid Communicator software will help Verashape users to import and prepare 3D models for printing.
Verashape, supported by The National Centre for Research and Development, has become recognized in the 3D printing world for its VSHAPER range of 3D printers, which includes the VSHAPER Go, VSHAPER One Pro, VSHAPER Custom, and more. By licensing Siemens’ software, Verashape has become one of the first 3D printer manufacturers to develop a software actually based on Parasolid Communicator. According to the Polish company, its FFF 3D printing software will support a wide variety of 3D printer models.
Currently, roughly four million customers use Parasolid software across a wide range of industries, including computer aided design (CAD), computer aided engineering (CAE), computer aided manufacturing (CAM), and architecture, engineering and construction (AEC). Originally developed by Shape Data Limited, Parasolid software is now owned and licensed out by Siemens PLM Software. Parasolid XT, the 3D file format associated with the software, is one of the most widespread formats for representing accurate 3D model data.
VSHAPER 3D printers
John Whetstone, Director, CTO Product Management and Marketing, Siemens PLM Software, said: “Demand for 3D Printers is growing and given the widespread availability of Parasolid models, it’s exciting to see Verashape develop 3D Printing software that leverages the Parasolid data format.”
Tomasz Szymański, founder and CEO of Verashape, also commented on the licensing agreement, saying: “When conducting programming work we strive to make the software we create a universal solution aiding the print preparation process regardless of the type of 3D Printer used for printing.”
According to Verashape, its new software interface will offer users the ability to regulate many different things in the 3D printing process, such as print cooling, pausing or stopping the print at any height, choosing support structures, and more. The user can also decide how and when to generate paths, a feature which has the potential to significantly enhance the application’s efficiency.
As Verashape’s R&D software manager Ryszard Leniowski points out, users will also be able to decide whether they want to print with one or two extruders (on dual extrusion printers), and will be able to easily configure temperature, print speed, layer height, and wall thickness settings with the new Parasolid-supported FFF 3D printing software.
In addition to Verashape, Parasolid Communicator is also licensed to roughly 130 independent software vendors (ISVs). Though, as mentioned, Verashape will be the first 3D printer manufacturer to develop a 3D printing software based on Parasolid Communicator. Verashape says it will launch beta tests for its new software this year.
Notable features of Siemens’ Parasolid Communicator platform are import and export capabilities, geometry creation, interrogation and computation, and visualization and drafting. Siemens’ describes its software in the following way: “Parasolid Communicator comprises versatile base functionality that includes interoperability, visualization and data interrogation capabilities that provide a platform for applications that need to consume 3D models.”
Posted in 3D Software
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