Data format and browser of lightweight CAD files for dimensional verification over the internet

Abstract

The demand for the use of 3D CAD data over the Internet environment has been increasing. However, CAD data size has deteriorated the communication effectiveness of 3D CAD files. Good design methodology of a lightweight CAD file is required for rapid transmission on the distributed network environment. In this paper, a file translation system is constructed to produce lightweight CAD files from commercial CAD systems by using InterOp and APIs of the ACIS kernel. Using B-rep models and mesh data extracted from the CAD native files, the lightweight CAD files with topological information are constructed as binary files. As the lightweight CAD files retain topological and geometric information, they are applicable to dimensional verification, digital mock-ups, and visualization of CAD files through a CAD viewer. The effectiveness of the proposed lightweight CAD files is confirmed through various case studies on the CAD viewer.