“We have studied the NURBS surface creation software market for quite a while, in response to many users unsatisfied with the products available on the market” said Marc Soucy, President of InnovMetric Software. “The experience and creativity of our development team has resulted in a new approach to rapid-surfacing generation, based on the unrivaled quality of our polygonal mesh creation technology. This addition to the PolyWorks/Modeler suite will allow users to benefit from the most complete reverse-engineering software solution on the market for their stringent manufacturing applications”, he continued. 

PolyWorks’ rapid-surfacing methodology overcomes major limitations found in existing products by offering: 

An A-to-Z Systematic Approach to Surfacing 

A majority of rapid-surfacing users spend a fair amount of time editing poor results produced by automatic fitting algorithms. The PolyWorks approach is more straightforward and systematic. Users can now: 

1. Automatically extract curves describing edges, fillets, corners, and boundaries. 
2. Interactively lay down additional tolerance-based curves on the mesh. When a new curve is created, it is automatically snapped to existing curves. The curve network is thus built automatically. 
3. Automatically fit NURBS surfaces directly over a curve network. If the quality of fitting needs to be improved locally, users can easily subdivide selected patches to get more accuracy in a given area. 

Users can perform the first, second, and third phases without having to go back to modify the results of an earlier phase. 

T-Junctions in Curve Networks 

T-junctions occur when two or more 4-boundary patches are connected to one boundary of a 4-boundary patch. PolyWorks fully supports T-junctions and fits G1-continuous NURBS surfaces through these junctions. With T-junction capabilities in their hands, users are able to create the same curve network topology that they would create in their CAD system, preventing the creation of unnecessary curve segments that are produced by systems that only support networks of 4-boundary patches. With full T-junction support, users benefit from creating curve networks that are much closer to their ‘final stage’ requirements, with drastic savings in curve network editing time. 

The Fastest Reverse-Engineering Process on the Market 

The time needed to reverse engineer a digitized part includes the time spent in rapid- surfacing software as well as the time spent finalizing the model in CAD software. PolyWorks’ new surfacing module leads to a much faster reverse-engineering process. Users directly create their CAD-ready curve networks in PolyWorks, using quick and efficient tools specifically designed for accurate curve creation over polygonal meshes built from digitized point clouds. CAD software is then used to perform complementary work on the reverse-engineered model, such as ensuring higher-order continuity between adjacent surfaces, trimming, or adding CAD features. The combined time spent in PolyWorks and CAD software is reduced to a minimum by avoiding a major reworking of the curve network in the CAD system.