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HOOPS Platform Powers Canvas X3 to Simplify Technical Illustration Workflows for Aerospace, Defense and Manufacturing Customers

01.11.21

Canvas GFX turns to HOOPS toolkits to more quickly and seamlessly create instruction manuals, maintenance manuals, and other important documentation.

BEND, Ore., January 11, 2021 (Newswire.com) - Tech Soft 3D, the leading provider of engineering software development toolkits, today announces that Canvas GFX is using HOOPS Platform to add 3D CAD model functionality to their newest product, Canvas X3, a powerful new product with the ability to import and access data in more than 90 file formats, including files created in all leading 3D CAD packages.

Canvas GFX's mission is to advance the way its customers in the aerospace, defense, and manufacturing industries communicate complex information. While the company's core technical illustration software platform, Canvas X, has long delivered a powerful array of functionality to assist with illustration and documentation workflows, customers had an increasing interest in working with actual 3D models.

"Our software is for organizations that need to visualize complex ideas with precision and clarity, so that people don't make expensive mistakes when they are building or maintaining complex items," explained Mike Hibberd, VP of Marketing, Canvas GFX. "This could be anything from creating the wiring diagram for a satellite, to instructions on how to retrofit a decades-old airplane with new parts. When your audience depends on pinpoint accuracy and minute detail, you need illustration software that really gets the point across."

"The pain point we heard people describing was that every time they wanted a 3D view of a product to include in a piece of technical documentation, they'd have to go back to the CAD engineers to capture an image," continued Hibberd. "There would be three or four people standing around a screen giving the CAD engineer directions about the specific view they wanted. They'd take a screenshot of it, export it as a PDF, and then have to import it into Canvas. We wanted to streamline and simplify that process."

A New Offering with Powerful 3D Capabilities
To respond to what it was hearing from its customers, Canvas GFX developed Canvas X3, which represents a huge leap in functionality for the Canvas product line. Notably, it includes the ability to easily import and work with 3D CAD models.

"Canvas X3 allows customers to bring in a 3D CAD file in its raw form, with all of the part data," said Hibberd. "Users can explode the assembly, rotate it, and otherwise manipulate the parts however they want. In this way, Canvas X3 makes it easy for people to create whatever view they need for the documentation they're creating. Users can take and retake the shot as many times as they want, all without having to involve a CAD engineer. In essence, Canvas X3 democratizes access to 3D data within the organization."

HOOPS Platform - a collection of powerful software development kits (SDKs) - was instrumental in the development of Canvas X3. The platform includes HOOPS Exchange, the leading CAD translation SDK, which provides all the integration controls a development team requires to easily build robust CAD data translation into an application. Additionally, the platform contains the HOOPS Visualize SDK, a powerful 3D engine to rapidly render stunning graphics across desktop and mobile platforms, and the HOOPS Publish SDK, which enables applications to publish 3D data in a number of different ways for downstream consumption. For Canvas GFX, partnering with Tech Soft3D made sense on several different levels.

"There was such a close alignment between our company and Tech Soft 3D in terms of functionality, road map, and customer base," said Hibberd. "As the Canvas solution evolves, we know we have the right partner supporting that evolution." Hibberd added, "We often talk about technical illustration software in terms of visual communication, but really, it's about driving measurable, tangible efficiencies in key workflows - and Tech Soft 3D is helping us make that happen."

About HOOPS Platforms
The HOOPS Platforms combine market-leading 3D technologies for CAD data exchange, visualization and data publishing, along with tight connections to popular modeling kernels. With a single licensing fee, these offerings are the most cost-effective way to leverage the full spectrum of HOOPS functionality for both existing applications and future development projects. Developers interested in evaluating HOOPS Platform can sign up for a free 60-day evaluation.

About Tech Soft 3D
Tech Soft 3D is the leading global provider of development tools that help software teams deliver successful applications. Established in 1996 and headquartered in Bend, Oregon, Tech Soft 3D also has offices in California, France, England and Japan. The company's toolkit products power nearly 500 unique applications running on hundreds of millions of computers worldwide. For more information, visit www.techsoft3d.com.

HOOPS is a registered trademark of Tech Soft 3D. All other products or company references are the property of their respective holders.

Media Contact: Angela Simoes, angela@techsoft3d.com

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