The Leader in Shape-Search
CADseek was the first and is still the only shape-search technology that utilizes a design's entire geometry, including surfacing and all form features, for search and analysis.
Being able to capture a design's entire shape in a manner that is comprehensive, concise and comparable gives CADseek a tremendous advantage in accuracy compared to using a parametric value such as surface area.
"Yet most engineering departments are still limited to out-of-date parametric search tools that produce either thousands of hits, or no hits at all.
A typical part search would turn up as many as 2,000 hits, forcing frustrated engineers to simply design new parts from scratch."
Accelerating Innovation with New Data Strategies, tdwi.org
Tackling a Difficult Problem
To be robust, a shape-search technology has be able to do two things:
1.
Capture every element of a design's shape at the resolution of CAD using a method that isn't fooled by orientation or translation, and
2.
Store the shape information (the signature) in a format that:
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when compared to another signature, provides an instantaneous computation of a geometric similarity score.
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enables fast and scalable search results in multi-million item databases.
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allows new or imported designs to be searched across the database in real-time without delay for a lengthy comparison process.
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allows portability across systems so that a signature produced in one division or enterprise can be readily compared to signatures produced in other divisions or enterprises.
CADSEEK is the only shape-search technology that can accurately claim these capabilities.
What is CADSEEK
CADSEEK is an algorithm that transforms a design’s entire geometry into a fully numeric signature, which precisely describes its shape. The numerical value is referred to either as a CADseek shape-signature or CADseek geometric fingerprint.
Because a CADSEEK search is a comparison of numbers, a search can be completed at tremendous speed even across databases with millions of designs.
CADSEEK Technology Benefits
The use of a model's full geometry provides CADseek with tremendously more information than a simple parametric value like surface area. This allows CADseek to produce precise search results that are simultaneously comprehensive and clutter-free.
INTELLIGENCE for SIMILARITY
All other shape-search applications provide clues that two items might be similar, e.g., these two items have similar surface area so you might want to check them out to see if they are actually similar.
In contrast ... CADSEEK provides an accurate similarity score that encompasses every element of the CAD design, and has such a high degree of sensitivity that it can even detect variances in the level of tessellation in two otherwise identical designs.
REAL-TIME
Every CADSEEK search is performed in real-time rather than being a recalled result from a previously performed database comparison which may have taken many days or weeks to perform. This means every CADSEEK search provides immediate and up-to-date results that reflect any recent changes in the CAD database.
A common use case for shape-search is using a new model, such as a design received from a customer or supplier, as a search target which requires this kind of instantaneous and real-time search capability.
SCALEABLE
CADseek has demonstrated its ability to maintain sub 2 second response in multi-million item CAD databases.
UNIVERSAL
CADseek is not a learning algorithm that has to be trained on thousands of similar items, but instead works on any 3-dimensional geometry including small standard parts, large mechanical assemblies, tiny protein models and animation characters, all without any customization being required.
CADseek also can encode all types of native CAD (both models and assemblies), neutral and derivative formats such as STEP, IGES or STL, and even 3D laser scans.
COMPREHENSIVE
CADSEEK searches are not reliant on attributes, so even when items lack the expected descriptors, those designs can still be found based on the similarity of the overall geometric shape.
CONCISE
Each CADSEEK fingerprint is a very small fraction of the size of the original model or assembly the fingerprint represents, providing massive scalability for a CADSEEK search index.
AUTOMATED
The process of encoding a CAD library to create the shape-search index is fully automated with no human requirement for sorting, tagging, classifying or building categories. This automation and the speed of the encoding process allow deployments to be performed in days rather than months.
FLEXIBLE
The first step in performing a shape search is selecting a search target ... a design that is used as a 'seed' to find all others like it. CADSEEK applications enable nearly a dozen different ways to select a target including: attribute, file import, visual browsing, import from CAD, import from PLM, search embedded in PLM and photographs.
SECURE
All CADseek software and processes occur within an enterprise's firewall. However, it has been proven that a CADseek signature cannot be reverted to shape, making the signatures themselves highly secure and an efficient means of communicating shape to partners, such as customers or suppliers if desired.
PORTABLE
CADseek fingerprints are identical regardless of the environment or CAD database they are created in. This means that a supplier or customer can create a fingerprint locally and send it to a partner, and the search results will be the same as if the partner had created the CADseek fingerprint themselves.
An Example of Accuracy
A prospective customer created a cube, and then modified the cube by rounding two edges, changing the size and tessellating the model into several variants. The search results shown below were created in a database of roughly forty thousand designs.
The comprehensive and clutter-free search results shown above are the kind of results you can expect from every CADseek search. In a demonstration we will be able to provide numerous examples of the accuracy and flexibility that CADseek applications provides even on very large and complex assemblies. Please contact us to schedule a demonstration or to ask any questions you may have.