Chris Williams, president of Seemage, visited Cadalyst editors recently to discuss his company's approach to 3D publishing. Williams explained that the typical Seemage customer is someone who needs to describe some function relative to a product -- for example, how the product works or how to use it. He cited an example of one company that uses the product on the factory floor to illustrate assembly problems for engineers.p>

Williams referenced a study by Aberdeen Group that found that 62% of manufacturers reuse design data in downstream publishing. The Seemage Publisher application collects data (both geometry and metadata) from various sources, including all CAD applications -- it can even handle large assemblies. It supports document publishing in a number of formats, including PDF and HTML.

Williams noted that PLM software from any vendor includes a publishing component. In traditional manufacturing workflows, publication takes place at the end of the design process. "CAD/CAM shortens the design process," Williams said, "but publishing still takes the same amount of time." Seemage's goal with its Publisher product is to make the publication work concurrent with the design. The publications remain fully associative with the CAD model, so any changes to the design are reflected automatically. Seemage Publisher also has the advantage of being a desktop tool, so users don't need to change work processes to use it.  Read more >>