Product category:
File conversion software, data capture and plotting
News Release from: Z Corp | Subject: ZEdit Pro
Edited by the Engineeringtalk Editorial
Team on 17 March 2008
Software eases 3D printing preparation
Z Edit Pro enables architects, conceptual designers and game designers to reap the same benefits of easy 3D printing as mechanical engineers.
Z Corporation has released software that automatically prepares 3D data files for full-colour 3D printing ZEdit Pro lets users of 3D mechanical CAD software verify and ensure that geometric data is 3D printable
It also allows users to apply colours, texture maps and labels to their models and easily print very large prototypes in component pieces.
It also transforms files that were never originally intended for 3D printing, including those produced by 3D digital content creation software used in animation and architecture.
ZEdit Pro makes these files 3D printing-ready, often with a single click.
Z Edit Pro enables product designers to create better models faster and enables architects, conceptual designers and game designers to reap the same benefits of easy 3D printing as mechanical engineers.
"ZEdit Pro is simple to use and the intuitive four-button interface requires no training", said Nick Gaetanos, Product Engineer, Moog.
"The software will prove valuable for any user and, given its simplicity, is absolutely within the reach of the casual, once-a-month user".
"Whether you're adding geometry, colour or labels, or printing a huge model, what you see on the screen is what you get out of the 3D printer".
Optimised for Z Corporation 3D printers, ZEdit Pro provides geometry optimisation to automatically make 3D data ready for 3D printing.
it also offers painting and texture mapping for colouring and applying images to models and print preparation for cutting or hollowing parts before printing.
Although mechanical 3D CAD software typically produces 3D printing-ready data, digital content creation tools used for visualisation and rendering in architecture, animation and avatar creation often do not.
ZEdit Pro automatically "3D Print enables" data from either kind of 3D software, as well as medical scans, by incorporating printable geometric data, closing gaps, repairing meshes and adding depth that is only suggested by shading in some software.
ZEdit Pro's capabilities are especially useful for service bureaus that receive myriad file types in varying levels of refinement.
For mechanical engineers, ZEdit Pro provides an easy way to add graphical elements - including colour, texture, annotations and engineering labels - to designs for 3D printing.
Users can use applications like Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Illustrator to create the graphical elements they apply within the ZEdit Pro interface.
ZEdit Pro also gives anyone the easy ability to print CAD models that are too big for the printing envelope.
The software automatically segments oversized models, creating pins and holes for reassembly of the sections after printing.
ZEdit Pro also hollows out solids that would otherwise waste resources and helps users create bases and pedestals for models.
"A lot of people work in 3D but are slowed or even prevented from creating 3D physical models of their work for design reviews, marketing, sales, entertainment, collecting, clinical diagnosis or visualisation", said John Kawola, Z Corporation CEO.
"ZEdit Pro now enables these individuals to fully engage in 3D printing without having to toil over files or invest in costly, sophisticated file-fixing software".
"ZEdit Pro is focused on making any 3D data printable and powerful, with the fewest mouse clicks and the ease of a document printer".
• Z Corp: contact details and other news
• Email this article to a colleague
• Register for the free Engineeringtalk email newsletter
• Engineeringtalk Home Page
Search the Pro-Talk network of sites
