LEDAS releases Rhino Assembly 1.0 plug-in for Rhinoceros software

Adds Assemblies and Kinematics to Rhino.

LEDAS moves McNeel & Associates’ Rhinoceros NURBS modeler closer to mainstream MCAD with $395 Rhino Assembly 1.0 plug-in for assembling complex mechanisms and simulating kinematics

Novosibirsk, Russia – LEDAS Ltd., an independent provider of variational design tools and software development services for CAD/CAM/CAE/PLM market, today announced the availability of the first commercial version of the Rhino Assembly 1.0 plug-in for McNeel & Associates Rhinoceros software. The plug-in is a part of the Driving Dimensions product line from LEDAS aimed at making advanced MCAD technology available at an affordable price to all users of popular 3D software.

After installing LEDAS plug-in and starting Rhino, users see the Assembly toolbar that was specially designed to look like Rhino’s other built-in tools. The Assembly Manager allows users to easily navigate geometric constraints and driving dimensions, which for large assemblies can number in the thousands. The Driving dimension editor with its spin buttons easily modifies values of driving dimension parameters. The Animation panel and its slider are familiar to anyone who uses video or audio players. During kinematic animation, Rhino users can pan, rotate and zoom the model.

Since the release of the previous public beta version 0.2, the latest changes in version 1.0 include an automatic update option, a new constraints status signal, a new flip side button, the option to group parts into rigid sets, new 3D planar angles, multi-parameter animation. These and many other improvements were suggested by the more than 3,000 beta testers who downloaded Driving Dimensions plug-in for Rhino since its first beta release in June 2009.

“Rhino Assembly plug-in is the second product of the Driving Dimensions line that already includes the plug-in for Google SketchUp, the popular 3D modeling software,” explains Dmitry Ushakov, Director of Product Management, LEDAS Ltd. “We are now working on a second Rhino plug-in for history-free 3D geometry editing, while preserving design intent. We expect to deliver the first public beta before the end of 2009.”

The Rhino Assembly Plug-In

A whitepaper How to Express Your Design Intent in Rhino. Part I: Assembly Design and Kinematic Simulation is available at www.ledas.com/group/white_papers, and is recommended reading for anyone wishing to efficiently model design changes in Rhino using the LEDAS Driving Dimensions product line.

The Driving Dimensions Rhino Assembly plug-in 1.0 is compatible with Rhino 4.0 SR5B and above, and has been tested with the 32-bit versions Windows XP and Vista.

A 30-day evaluation version of the Rhino Assembly plug-in can be downloaded at no charge from www.DrivingDimensions.com/Rhino, where visitors will also find detailed on-line help, text and video tutorials, and a set of sample drawings.

Commercial licenses of Rhino Assembly 1.0 may be purchased for US$395 from the Share-it! online store.

In partnership with McNeel Europe, LEDAS will present its Driving Dimensions product line for Rhino at the forthcoming EuroMold-2009 event on December 2 - 5, 2009 in Frankfurt Main, Germany.