Lattice Technology unveils lightweight 3D format

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Feb 27, 2009

Lattice Technology, a developer of digital manufacturing applications using the XVL format, has announced the imminent release of its most lightweight 3D format yet.

XVL v10 (codenamed U-XVL) is a next-generation format that is claimed to deliver twice the level of compression of 3D data than the previous XVL formats, as well as improving memory consumption and the speed of viewing.

Lattice Technology's XVL format, already the industry's most compressed format, which also retains high accuracy of 3D data, forms the basis for the easy sharing, reuse, simulation and testing of 3D assemblies, no matter the size of the data.

As 3D design data assemblies have increased in size in the last few years, the demand for much smaller - yet usable - iterations of the design data has also risen.

XVL v10 delivers more compression than the previous XVL formats, while reducing memory usage by another 25 per cent to 40 per cent.

It can be viewed, manipulated and checked more than doubly as fast as in the past.

The XVL v10 can compress 3D data up to 0.5 per cent of its original size.

It also offers further speed improvements with graphic accelerators delivering even faster viewing and usage of 3D data, particularly with NVIDIA graphics cards.

Demand for the highly compressed XVL format has increased in recent years, in line with a corresponding increase in the size of 3D data for aircraft, satellites, space stations and vehicles.

Rachael Dalton-Taggart, director of marketing at Lattice Technology, said: 'When a company starts relying on 3D, so they find that downstream users who do not have expensive CAD seats and accompanying hardware struggle to view the data.

'Networks strain to handle massive 3D assembly data files.

'And simply getting the data to other stakeholders in the manufacturing process becomes an exercise in frustration.

'Lightweight 3D formats address this problem directly, but users' focus has to be on ensuring that the accuracy of the data is maintained - and not compromised - by making the data light,' she added.

Bill Barnes, general manager at Lattice Technology, said: 'XVL is a best-of-breed format that immediately delivers productivity, efficiency and cost savings into every kind of lean manufacturing effort.

'The XVL applications ensure that 3D data in XVL remains highly reusable and can be easily integrated with existing IT infrastructures such as ERP, PLM, MES and PDM systems to enable fully automated use of product design data of all kinds throughout the manufacturing enterprise and supply chain,' he added.

Lattice Technology's applications also support the same variety of lightweight data in Microsoft Excel, HTML and PDF to ensure corporate standards are supported.

As a result of the very high compression of XVL v10, main Lattice Technology applications are being updated.

These will roll out in mid-2009 and are available at no charge to existing maintenance customers.