September 15, 2021 – Nextech AR Solutions Corp, a provider of augmented reality (AR) experience technologies and services, has announced that it has launched its new CAD to POLY conversion solution for automatically turning 3D CAD designs into CGI-ready optimized 3D meshes that are suitable for 3D and AR applications.
Commenting on the technology, Nextech’s CEO, Evan Gappelberg, said: “Most modern products that have ever been built have been manufactured from reference CAD models. Think of it, that’s billions of products worldwide, and Nextech has invented an easy way to turn them into 3D models. Instead of using 2D images to create 3D models, we now have the ability to go straight to the source, where the products are actually designed by engineers (CAD files) and render these into perfect 3D models, at scale. Our new CAD to POLY solution is backed by technology that will prove to be the holy grail of scaling 3D content.”
Currently, CAD (short for ‘computer aided design’) is a function of product engineering. Industrial designers, working for product manufacturers, use CAD software (e.g., AutoCAD, SolidWorks, etc.) to design many of the products in the modern world. To use these CAD files for commerce purposes, it requires the CAD file to be converted into a 3D model that is a digital replica of the physical product.
POLY on the other hand, refers to a file format (PLY) used to store three-dimensional data from polygonal modeling, which is an approach for modeling objects by representing or approximating their surfaces using polygon meshes.
To learn more about CAD to POLY conversion, you can view Nextech’s blog post on the subject.
Commenting on some of the issues associated with exporting meshes natively from CAD data, Nima Sarshar, CTO of Nextech AR, said: “Nextech has solved all these problems by rethinking the process of converting CAD files into 3D meshes from the ground up. Rather than relying on native CAD conversion, we have created a CAD conversion technology from scratch, creating new techniques rooted in computational geometry, computer vision and physics. When given a CAD file, we can now create fully textured, lightweight 3D models at scale. which can be used for real-time AR and 3D viewing.”
As a result, the company has also filed a provisional patent covering the conversion of CAD files into 3D models, which it states will provide capabilities such as improved scalability associated with 3D models for e-commerce, plus the creation of photo realistic, fully textured 3D models from raw CAD models and reference images.
Nextech stated that it is now incorporating the technology into its services and that the managed solution is readily offered and available, with some of Nextech’s customers already using the service. Furthermore, Nextech believes the technology will provide the company with a first mover advantage in the CAD market, which will ultimately help to expand its augmented reality business beyond e-commerce. Nextech added that it believes SaaS as a critical component to the advancement of all its augmented reality solutions. The company’s CAD to POLY solution will therefore be offered as SaaS in 2022.
For more information on Nextech AR and its augmented reality solutions, please visit the company’s website.
Image credit: Nextech AR Solutions
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Sam is the Founder and Managing Editor of Auganix. With a background in research and report writing, he has been covering XR industry news for the past seven years.