CAD Interop: The Best CAD Data Visualization solutions
Aerospace engineering office, Toulouse, 9 AM. Marc, a design engineer, is trying to open a complex assembly sent by a subcontractor using a different CAD system. His team is waiting for a critical review while he watches the progress bar. A recent technical study reveals that an engineer spends an average of 37 hours per year - equivalent to one work week - waiting for technical data to load. This productivity loss is amplified in international teams using different design systems.
CAD visualization provides a concrete response to the challenges that limit the efficiency of technical teams. The main issues include loading times for large 3D models, incompatibility between formats from different software, restricted access to models for non-technical departments, and the preservation of digital archives such as Personal Designer or CADDS drawings.
Modern solutions require extensive compatibility with common industrial formats. The viewers we distribute at CAD Interop support over 60 CAD formats, including standards like STEP, IGES, JT, 3D PDF, as well as proprietary formats such as CATIA, SolidWorks, NX, Creo, Inventor, and TIFF drawing formats. This compatibility facilitates exchanges in heterogeneous industrial environments.
Our catalog addresses various visualization needs. 3DViewStation Desktop enables detailed analysis of large models on workstations with loading times reduced by up to 90%, while also supporting TIFF formats and other 2D technical drawings. 3DViewStation WebViewer offers access to technical data from any connected device, facilitating remote work. For the preservation of your historical technical archives, DraftView provides a specialized solution for viewing 2D drawings from CADDS and Personal Designer systems.
These solutions deliver measurable benefits for industrial companies. Customer data indicates a reduction in development time of 30% to 50% thanks to accelerated visual validation processes. The reduction in costs for full CAD licenses for occasional users generates documented savings. Easier access to technical data for all departments improves interdisciplinary coordination and reduces communication errors.
Our detailed articles present how these CAD visualization solutions can integrate into your existing processes. Whether optimizing technical collaboration, ensuring long-term access to digital archives, or simplifying the consultation of complex models, the approaches presented meet the technical and organizational requirements of modern industrial environments.
Imagine a design office on a Monday morning. Engineer Thomas waits, coffee in hand, for the seven long minutes it takes to open the TIFF drawing of a critical part. Meanwhile, the client meeting begins without him. This scene, repeated daily in thousands of companies, perfectly illustrates why the battle against lost seconds has become as strategic as the battle for product innovation itself.
According to a recent study, a technician spends an average of 37 hours per year—nearly a full workweek—simply waiting for technical drawings to appear. This "invisible tax" on industrial productivity isn't just frustrating for teams: it results in delayed decisions, costly misinterpretations, and collaboration hampered by fragmented visualization tools.
During a project meeting, a quality manager shouts to everyone: "Who can open this Catia file for me... without waiting ten minutes?" Embarrassed laughter, shifty glances: everyone has experienced that moment when viewing a CAD model becomes a hindrance rather than an asset. Yet, in industry, every minute counts, and rapid access to technical information can make the difference between a project delivered on time and a costly delay.
This is where the 3DViewStation range is a game-changer. Whether you're an engineer, sales representative, or documentation manager, it only takes one click to open, analyze, annotate, or extract views from a model, even a large one, regardless of the original format. No more need for complex CAD licenses or oversized hardware configurations: visualization becomes fluid, intuitive, and accessible to all professions, on a PC or directly in the browser. The result? Accelerated collaboration, better-informed decisions, and the ability to transform every CAD data item into a tangible operational advantage.
In an industrial world where the sustainability of technical data represents a major strategic issue, companies face a significant challenge: how to access valuable design archives created with Personal Designer, a flagship software from the 80s-90s, now obsolete? These DRW files often contain decades of industrial know-how and intellectual property. According to a recent study, more than 67% of industrial companies still possess critical archives in obsolete formats, inaccessible with modern tools.
The gradual disappearance of technical skills and compatible infrastructure jeopardizes this invaluable technical heritage. However, a solution exists to effectively visualize and migrate these archives without data loss.
Companies that have used the CADDS (Computer Aided Design and Drafting) system have accumulated a considerable digital heritage over the years. With the planned obsolescence of this pioneering software developed by Computer Vision and later acquired by PTC, accessing these CADDS archives has become a major technical challenge. The gradual disappearance of internal expertise and compatible system environments makes it urgent to implement a strategy for visualizing and migrating this valuable data.
The problem is critical for the aerospace, defense, and automotive sectors, where thousands of CADDS models remain essential for the maintenance and evolution of products with long life cycles. Without access to this data, companies risk losing decades of technical expertise documented in these models.
