Applied Search Technology Ltd. (Birmingham, UK) announced that CADFind Sketch & Search, which can find 2D and 3D engineering drawings from a sketch and 3D CAD solid modeling environments, has been released in a version that allows users to build custom applications to meet their own special business and engineering requirements. The CADFind retrieval process is so simple that a company's wealth of past designs, including those only held in 2D formats, can be checked as a normal part of the way that the designer creates or modifies parts in their 3D CAD system. In addition, companies could save thousands of pounds in part design by allowing the user to search, retrieve and use geometrically similar parts from their database, based on a customer drawing, simple sketch, and 3D models. However, the most innovative element of the new program is the facility, which allows the user to incorporate CADFind’s searching and database capabilities in their own stand-alone or web applications. This new application-programming interface (API) is unique to CADFind, says the release, and is not available in other standard commercial packages – domestically or internationally. An example of the use of this API technology can be seen in a research website developed with Aston University (Birmingham, UK) to explore the way designers use graphical search systems — it allows users to search an online database using a CAD sketch or 3D model. You can download a workable demonstration program of CADFind from Applied Search Technology Ltd. Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company's website.
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