Power Translators
Interactive Geometry Translator Plug-ins for MODO 901 & 801
The Power Translators for MODO are ideal for designers, engineers, product visualization specialists and 3D generalists who need to bring specific industry-standard CAD data formats into MODO for visualization or design.
The Power Translators for MODO are ideal for designers, engineers, product visualization specialists and 3D generalists who need to bring specific industry-standard CAD data formats into MODO for visualization or design. As you import these formats, the Power Translators give you interactive control in MODO over how geometry is tessellated and provides efficient methods for accommodating incoming CAD files with many repetitive elements.
Import these CAD formats into MODO:
- Paraasolid (.x_t and .x_b)
- IGES (.igs and .iges)
- STEP (.stp and .step)
- SAT (ACIS)
- Rhino (.3dm)
How does the Power Translators for MODO Plug-in fit in the CAD workflow pipeline?
The chart below shows how Power Translators for MODO allows you to import NURBS surfaces saved in file formats directly into MODO.
Key Features and Benefits
The Power Translators for MODO, in addition to loading the specified CAD formats, also provides control over how geometry is imported and gives you options for handling large files with repetitive elements:
Interactive surface tessellation
You can opt to load in a lighter Open GL representation of your incoming CAD data, which can can then be tessellated interactively by adjusting settings on a per-item or group basis after loading them into the scene. Once the desired tessellation parameters are determined you can save the item to a mesh. This ability to apply different tessellation during a session is possible because the incoming surfaces are maintained as parametric surfaces by the IntegrityWare kernel during import.
Optimized mesh results
For your resulting mesh, you can choose between Convex (mixed quads and triangles) and Quad NGon (mixed quads and ngons). Since not all CAD files are alike, you can set parameters like Distance Tolerance, Angle, Minimum and Maximum Edge length to optimally tessellate the data coming into MODO. This lets you import files that might have been unreadable/unusable before, and lets you quickly arrive at the best settings for the particular dataset and use you have in mind.
Instance handling
Many CAD models have repetitive geometry elements. If your imported file contains instances, they can be loaded as copies, instances or replicators in MODO. This can greatly reduce memory use and boost interactivity.
Static mesh option
Normally, you will use the Power Translators to save to a mesh representation but an additional option is to save it as a static mesh. Static meshes in MODO are specially constructed lightweight representations of polygonal data which cannot be edited but can be rendered.
Translate NURBS Not Polygons
Power Translators are built from the ground up to solve today’s difficult problems of importing quality CAD data into MODO. The Plug-in has been battle hardened in the most demanding productions at some of the best 3D visualization rendering facilities in the world. The professionals spoke and we listened and together we developed the most advanced, best integrated, highest quality MODO CAD translator on the market today.
Purchasing information
The plug-in will include the following:
Imports Parasolid (.x_t and .x_b), IGES (.igs and .iges), STEP (.stp and .step), SAT (ACIS) and Rhino (.3dm) into MODO.
Tutorials:
Power Translators ‘How To’ Tutorial (run time 00:25:10)
Demo Tutorial (run time 00:19:17)
Demo Files:
2 MODO files
5 CAD files
Who can purchase?
The Power Translators is a MODO plug-in and therefore only available for purchase by MODO 801 owners. If you own an earlier version of MODO, you will need to upgrade to MODO 801 to purchase the Power Translators. Please contact our sales team if you require further assistance.
Experience Level:
All levels.
Software Compatibility:
MODO 901 & 801
Product Format:
All files delivered via electronic download.