SpaceClaim Professional - SketchUp on Steroids
I just got off a GoToMeeting with SpaceClaim. They gave me a short and sweet presentation and then a demo of the product. And now I cannot wait to get my hands on that piece of software.
If you are reading this I guess you have already used SketchUp. To put it simply, SpaceClaim is SketchUp on steroids - very powerful steroids. Powerful because in SketchUp you pushed and pulled planar surfaces (basically polygons) to create your objects. Here you push and pull actual NURBS surfaces to get solid B-rep models, all in real time. It's truly amazing.
In an earlier article, I had wondered whether SpaceClaim's strategy of targeting the "extended development team" was actually a back door entry plan to get to the "product designers". I am now totally convinced that this is the case. There is little chance that a designer will want to go back to his strictly parametric solid modeler after he has tried SpaceClaim Professional.
Once in a while comes along a product that changes the way people do things. SpaceClaim Professional is one such product. I just wished they had a trial that I could download.
If you are reading this I guess you have already used SketchUp. To put it simply, SpaceClaim is SketchUp on steroids - very powerful steroids. Powerful because in SketchUp you pushed and pulled planar surfaces (basically polygons) to create your objects. Here you push and pull actual NURBS surfaces to get solid B-rep models, all in real time. It's truly amazing.
In an earlier article, I had wondered whether SpaceClaim's strategy of targeting the "extended development team" was actually a back door entry plan to get to the "product designers". I am now totally convinced that this is the case. There is little chance that a designer will want to go back to his strictly parametric solid modeler after he has tried SpaceClaim Professional.
Once in a while comes along a product that changes the way people do things. SpaceClaim Professional is one such product. I just wished they had a trial that I could download.
posted by Deelip Menezes at
6:31 PM
2 Comments:
I'm glad someone else sees the parallels with Sketchup. I noted this in my blog earlier http://designsmarter.typepad.com/mattlombard/2007/03/new_3d_modeler_.html
I think the product has its place, but it isn't going to take over as a primary design tool. Other non-parametric tools (HP Solid Designer / OneSpace) have tried this route without very widespread acceptance.
I will be interested to see what SpaceClaim can do with non-prismatic geometry.
By
Anonymous, At
1:13 AM, April 05, 2007
There are parallels with Sketch-up in some of the basic operations. As Deelip pointed out the user is manipulating real geometry. This makes it ideal for manufacturing environments.
SpaceClaim is intended to co-exist with the primary design tool in the development process. We believe that one tool cannot meet everyone's 3D needs.
You can sign-up on our web-site to see a live demo and how we handle non-prismatic geometry.
By
Anonymous, At
11:29 PM, April 05, 2007
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