Geolus Search - A 3D Geometry Search Engine With Real Benefits

If You Know Two Parts are Similar a World of Possibilities Opens!

Try the Geolus Search Application to access a database with 15,000 component parts and see the difference in results using a geometric search.

Geolus Search 1: Browse Screws

• Based on a database of 15,000 parts, we decide to do an alphanumeric lookup of screws by using the part description.
• We find 4 different screws, but this seems to be way too few results on a database of 15,000. We know that there should be more, but we don’t know where.
• So we just change over to geometric search by clicking the shape search button of the first screw.
• Now, the first screw is taken as a geometric reference, and found similar shapes are displayed in a new browser tab.
• Here we see screws which we would never have found by using attributes alone, e.g. their part descriptions have different standards, spellings, and even languages (you might want to pause the video to look at the detailed result part descriptions).
• Now, we return to the original results page and select another screw as reference shape.
• Again, we find many more similar screws, e.g. result number 5 looks pretty similar, but, it’s about 1.2 times bigger than the reference screw.
• And yes, we find even more interesting results.

Geolus Search 2: Browse Engine

• On the same database we now interested in engine parts (i.e. not standard parts, but design parts).
• Following the same idea as before, we search for part descriptions containing the string “engine”, which delivers quite a good collection of different parts in which we might be interested.
• So let’s decide that we’re actually looking for an exhaust manifold, so we simply walk through the result list until we find one.
• Result number 12 is about what we’re looking for, so let’s take it as a shape reference by simply clicking the geometric search button.
• Again, the 15,000 parts are searched for parts similar in shape and size to that reference part.
• And we find three pages of results, all of them having different attributes and part descriptions.
• So let’s narrow down the geometric search results by just looking at the parts with identical shape the reference part.
• And we find only one 100% duplicate, exactly the same shape and the same size. There might be a good reason for this duplicate, but we could now further investigate if this duplicate could be eliminated from our enterprise part database.
• But let’s continue our example and now extend the shape tolerance rather than to decrease it.
• This time we get many more results, the tolerance is very wide (typically this will also yield much more undesired results, but this is not the case here within the top-40 results).
• For result number 16, we seem to have access to the corresponding JT file contained in the enterprise PLM system.
• So let’s open it by just clicking on the "JT" button, and JT2Go is opened with the desired part.
• OK, but for part number 15, we also have access to the native NX file, so let’s just open that as well.
• Within NX, we could now work on that file, e.g. to develop a new design based on the existing one.

Geolus Search 3: Design Ring

• Let’s assume that we are asked to design a new ring. So we open NX and just start to design the basic dimensions and proportions according to our design task.
• Using standard functions of NX, we are able to very quickly create a rough idea of want we want to create, 50 mm in diameter, 5 mm thick, and 15 mm strong.
• Now we simply start the geometric search function of Geolus Search by using this brand new sketch as a reference shape. This shape have no part number yet, it even was not stored to any disk. It only exists in the main memory of the work station, but that’s already sufficient to use it as a reference shape for the search.
• When the results page pops up, we again walk through the result list, with the result parts becoming more and more dissimilar to the reference ring we've created.
• But, let’s assume the result 17 is about what we wanted ... so let’s check if there’s more parts like this – with a single click, we exchange the sketched reference shape with this new reference shape and see how the result list gets reordered with respect to this new part.
• Result 2 of the new result list, with the pretty generic name “cover” has almost the same shape and size, and we even have access to the corresponding NX native part.
• So let’s open it and examine if we can use it to continue our design.
• In the mean time, our initial sketch is not dead. Of course we can also continue to work on this one, and, say, reduce its size from 15 mm to 5 mm.
• Now, we simply do the query again and see, how Geolus Search reacts to that change in the query part.
• After playing a little with the result list, we decide that result 1 is the best match and open it again in NX.

Geolus Search 4: Design Bracket

• Using a different part shape, we can use Geolus once again in a manner similar to Geolus Search-3. In this example, the bracket produces more interesting results in the difference between “very similar” and “similar” search profiles.

Geolus Search 5 - Geometric Firewall - Short

• Let’s assume that we’ve just got a set of new parts from a supplier, or even just downloaded it from an online parts catalogue.
• So we open one of these parts, which have been provided to us in tessellated JT format.
• And let’s further assume that we want to include this part in our own design, but we’re not sure if this part is already contained in our part database, maybe under a name or a part number that we don't know.
• So we use Geolus Search to track down similar or maybe even identical parts in our corporate part database.
• This is done by simply clicking the search button embedded into NX, and now the 15,000 parts of the demo database used here are searched against this reference shape.
• We quickly log into the system, and immediately are given lots of parts which seem to be very similar.
• The top result part has exactly the same size, and we see the part number and description of it.
• So we just click on the corresponding NX button to download the native NX file of the enterprise part and open it right in NX.
• As a result, we have now found an existing part, which is identical to the supplier part we’ve been given, and which we have now even available as native NX file.
• If we re-use that instead of using the supplied part, we have avoided the creation of a duplicate – that’s why we also call this use case the “geometric firewall” to the enterprise PLM system.