2D to 3D

Applied Search Technology’s CADFind, the first commercial design retrieval system that can find 2D engineering drawings from a sketch, has now been extended to work with 3D CAD solid modelling environments.

The new system is integrated with SolidWorks so that a designer can draw or model the part they want within their own 3D CAD system and then search for matching 3D models or 2D legacy drawings at the click of a button. The process is said to be so simple that a company's past designs, including those only held in 2D formats, can be checked as a normal part of the way that the designer creates or modifies parts in their 3D CAD system.

Current retrieval systems, like those used by Product Data Management systems, work by using text descriptions. However, this causes difficulties when there are multiple types of part or parts which are the same but have multiple descriptions. CADFind works the way designers do - the user sketches what they want and CADFind locates it. If the part found is a 3D model it can be loaded back into SolidWorks for viewing or modification. If it is a 2D drawing it can be examined in CADFind’s own 2D/3D viewer.