ShapeSpace Ltd leverages HOOPS® from Tech Soft 3D to power unique 3D display within PartBrowser

Innovative 3D CAD search engine now includes visual front-end for 3D search.

Berkeley, CA & Edinburgh, UK – ShapeSpace and Tech Soft 3D (TS3D) announced today that PartBrowser, the simple and effective new solution for finding CAD files, was rapidly extended to include 3D part display using the HOOPS graphics framework from TS3D, the leading provider of core graphics components to the engineering software industry.

“At ShapeSpace we are always looking for ways to improve the visualization of our search results in PartBrowser. HOOPS gave us the ability to rapidly prototype new ideas and quickly test their functionality and usability. By using HOOPS we were able to get PartBrowser to market quickly, be confident in its stability over numerous graphics cards and drivers, and have impressive rendering performance,” said Dr. Andrew Sherlock, Managing Director of ShapeSpace, Ltd.

”We were impressed with how quickly ShapeSpace was able to leverage HOOPS’ functionality and get their PartBrowser product to market. HOOPS was always intended to help developers with innovative ideas quickly launch new applications that make an impact on the engineering software community. PartBrowser is an example of exactly that,” said Ron Fritz, CEO of Tech Soft 3D.

HOOPS is a high-performance graphics framework used within applications from engineering software companies such as Autodesk, SolidWorks, PTC, MSC.Software, ANSYS/Fluent, COADE, Bentley, Siemens PLM Solutions, Mitutoyo, IronCAD and 200+ others. By leveraging the robust set of HOOPS libraries, software teams are able to develop high-performance, visually rich applications and get those applications to market quickly and cost effectively.

Tech Soft 3D (TS3D) provides premier component technologies and related services that enable software developers to rapidly create world-class technical software. The company’s flagship HOOPS technology has been incorporated into nearly 200 commercial software applications.

PartBrowser is a 3D desktop search engine for CAD data. Files can be found quickly on your PC or network by browsing visually and by text search on file names or properties. PartBrowser’s unique 'browse-by-shape’ technology means files can be found even when no name or property is known.

ShapeSpace Ltd is a spin-out from The University of Edinburgh committed to the development of world-leading search technology for CAD and PLM, built on a strong background in information retrieval, geometric reasoning and visualization. The company’s search software and consultancy service helps engineering companies reduce costs by increasing design reuse and improving part management through the identification of duplicate components and the rationalization of parts libraries.