Computer aided design (CAD) is Parasolid’s original market and is used extensively to create the complex geometry required by today’s consumer and industrial products. Parasolid is used by a variety of design applications that require modeling the complex geometry of a part in the first instance and then allows subsequent modification through numerous design iterations and reuses. Architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) requirements have largely converged with CAD requirements. The major difference is that AEC designs tend to have simpler geometry but must be able to handle designs with thousands of repeat features at an acceptable speed.

The fastest way to create a new CAD design is to take an existing one that is fairly similar and modify it. This style of modeling makes efficient use of existing intellectual property and appears intuitive to a CAD user. Through meticulous software engineering, Parasolid’s ability to quickly modify complex design models (also known as tweaking) without frequent failures or user intervention is an excellent benchmark for the robustness and performance of a solid modeler.

After a part is designed, most CAD systems have assembly modeling functionality for building parts into a product assembly and use Parasolid to perform closest approach calculations to check mating conditions and clash conditions as the assembly is stepped through its full range of movement.

When the part design is finished it can be used as the geometric basis for designing the tooling parts needed to manufacture it (such as jigs, molds and presses). Typically, each product part requires about ten tooling parts.

Parasolid’s rigorous data strategy guarantees upward data compatibility for all Parasolid files dating back to the first release.

Parasolid CAD Customers

Parasolid CAD customers include: