A visual search engine which allows engineers, purchasers and architects to can find millions of 3D CAD and BIM models from hundreds of manufacturer catalogues available worldwide has been developed by a German software developer.
Popular search engines are not focused on the technical sector so when used to search for a desired component can produce results which are too general.
CADENAS has developed a visual search engine called 3Dfind.it, which allows design professionals to make a more specific search for architecture, engineering, electrical engineering and electronic products, then download and use them for their design. The search results consist of the digital product data of components that are made available by the manufacturers for engineering, design and planning.
Many catalogues offer more than 150 different native and neutral CAD formats such as Autodesk Revit, Nemetschek ALLPLAN, ArchiCAD, Autodesk Inventor, NX, Solid Edge, PTC Creo Parametric, AutoCAD, CATIA or SOLIDWORKS.
CADENAS says engineers and architects spend 27% of their time searching for information. 3Dfind.it was developed to significantly reduce search times and to increase efficiency in engineering and building planning.
The following search functions are available to users of the system:
- Parametric Text Search – High-performance full-text searches that offer proposals and corrections and logical operators (e.g.: allowing D < 12)
- 3D Shape Search – Finding geometrically similar parts based on a reference component
- 2D Sketch Search – Receiving suitable results by sketching a simple 2D drawing
- 2D Photo Search – Finding similar components by uploading a component photo
- Color Search – Filtering components within the parts library based on the color
- Feature/Topology Search (coming soon) – Finding components that have the same properties and dimensions
- Search by Category such as DIN/ISO/eClass (coming soon) – Filtering components according to certain categories
- Class 2.0 Search/Reverse Search (coming soon) – Find a match to an existing component in the components library
The visual search machine for digital component data 3Dfind.it is available at: www.3Dfind.it
