Released May 2009
Siemens PLM Software announces the latest release of the D-Cubed Collision Detection Manager (CDM), a software component that accurately and rapidly detects collisions and computes clearances. New enhancements specific to version 40.0 are listed below. A full product description can be found here.
Version 34 of the CDM introduced the capability for an application to specify a part, or a collection of parts, and a direction and have the CDM compute whether a collision would occur if the parts moved in that direction. The benefits are performance and accuracy enhancements, as the CDM no longer has to perform a collision calculation at each of multiple steps along the path to determine the same result, risking stepping over a relevant collision in the process. However, the ability to test for collisions along a path did not previously support faceted parts. This functionality has been added in version 40.
As well as computing collisions, the CDM can also compute clearance, sometimes known as the closest approach. On parts containing accurate geometry, the CDM can also determine whether the clearance occurs over a region that is a point, a curve or a surface. For example, the clearance between two non-intersecting cylinders with parallel axes would occur along a curve that is a line. However, the ability to return the type of region over which the clearance occurs did not previously support faceted parts. This functionality has been added in version 40.
An optional thread-safe version of the CDM was made available with version 39 to enable multiple instances of the CDM to run on parallel processors. However, each thread-safe instance of the CDM had slightly worse performance compared with the non-thread-safe version. In this release, the necessary changes have been made to eliminate this performance disadvantage, enabling the thread-safe version to be the standard version.
Furthermore, version 39 only supported thread-safety on PCs running Windows®. This new release is thread-safe on our full range of supported operating systems, including Unix, Linux and Apple platforms.
First released in 1999, the CDM enables end-users to interact with their models with much improved realism and solidity, greatly reducing errors caused by interpenetrating parts. Operating in assembly, mechanism, machining and measuring simulation environments, it offers a range of novel algorithms to interactively detect collisions and compute clearances, even on large, complex assemblies. Performance is particularly excellent for repeated computations on models that are in motion. The CDM is compatible with any application as it is independent of any particular modeler or model format, operating on exact, faceted, solid or surface representations.
PLM Components are software tools that support innovation and promote interoperability in CAD, CAM, CAE and PLM applications. Siemens PLM Software develops these components, uses them throughout its own applications and licenses them to independent software vendors and end-user organizations. PLM Components include the Parasolid and D-Cubed products, widely used technologies that provide 3D part and assembly modeling, editing and interoperability, 2D/3D parametric sketching, motion simulation, collision detection, clearance measurement and visualization functionality. Applications include mechanical CAD, CAM, CAE, mold design, sheet metal, AEC, GIS, structural, plant and ship design, CMM, reverse engineering and sales configuration. For more information, please visit For more information, please visit www.siemens.com/plm/open/
Neil Howarth
Siemens PLM Software (D-Cubed Components)
Tel: +44-1223-722618
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