CAD Tech News (#57)

▶ Polyga Aims for Affordable Reverse Engineering with SOLIDWORKS Add-In

The newly released XTract3D toolbar helps SOLIDWORKS users create parametric CAD models from 3D scan data — for less than $3,000 a seat.

By Cyrena Respini-Irwin

Polyga, a Canadian developer of 3D mesh processing tools, launched its first product this week: the XTract3D add-in for SOLIDWORKS. The toolbar works natively inside SOLIDWORKS, providing users with slicing, fitting, and analysis tools for 3D scan data.

The Polyga XTract3D toolbar works natively inside SOLIDWORKS. Image courtesy of Polyga.

Polyga's goal is to make it easier to reverse-engineer parts from 3D scan data, with a scan-to-CAD solution that is more affordable and less time consuming than existing options. "The use of scan data in SOLIDWORKS has traditionally been a really painful process," said Polyga President Thomas Tong.

The Point of the Price Point

SOLIDWORKS has had its own scan data add-in, ScanTo3D, for a decade (it's included in SOLIDWORKS Premium and SOLIDWORKS Professional). According to Tong, however, it's an imperfect solution. "ScanTo3D doesn't work particularly well," he commented. "It's one of those plugins that came out and then never got updated [sufficiently]."

The alternative was to use one or more third-party plugins or standalone packages. Tong maintains that this option was challenging, because it could cost users $10,000 or $20,000 — or more. "As of today, there's really no cost-effective way to do reverse engineering in SOLIDWORKS," he said.

In comparison, XTract3D is available for purchase as a lifetime single-user license at $2,999, or for rent at $499 for 30 days. (The company also offers a 3-day free trial.) These options are tailored to the two types of customers that Polyga sees in its market: Those that will use the product on a frequent basis, such as 3D scanning bureaus, can purchase XTract3D outright, while the companies that only perform reverse engineering a couple of times per year can rent it on an as-needed basis. Read more »

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Cyrena Respini-Irwin is Cadalyst's editor in chief.

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