Intelligent capabilities for small CAD systems: problems and perspectives

Geometric models with parameters were traditionally considered to be a feature of the so-called "high-end" CAD systems. In particular, this was due to their demanding requirements for hardware performance. However, explosive growth of the computing power available in common PC's changed the situation significantly over the last decade. Now it appears to be reasonable and expedient to introduce parameterization in the so-called "lightweight" CAD systems, which endows them with capabilities previously seen only in high-cost systems.

There is another factor limiting the use of parameterized models in smaller CAD systems: development of the parameter support engine is labor-intensive and therefore expensive, which puts it out of reach for the developers of lightweight CAD packages. A possible solution is seen in the development of a general-purpose geometric solver with an open interface, to be used as a standard application library. The paper will examine a practical attempt to develop such a solution based on the bCAD system.

Vladimir Maliukh is the founder and leader of ProPro Group. He graduated from NSTU (Novosibirsk State Technical University) and has been involved with CAD-related problems since his college days, beginning with his work at the NSTU Industry Lab. He began to work on CAD full-time in the Kronos Research Group, where he implemented a package for preparation of technical drawings on the Kronos workstation, part of a large Soviet project related to new generation computing.

Later he developed and still supports bCAD, a popular lightweight CAD package used by more than 1,500 smaller companies both in Russia and abroad.

Vladimir teaches "Theoretical basis of CAD" at the Novosibirsk State University.