CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive

17 October 2013

Product News

KeyShot Becomes First 3D Rendering App for GrabCAD Workbench

Luxion and GrabCAD are pleased to announce KeyShot as the first Workbench application for photographic rendering of 3D models. This is a result of the expanding partnership between the two companies and new integration options that bring seamless, bi-directional transfer of data between the KeyShot and GrabCAD platforms.

In June of 2013, Luxion and GrabCAD announced the first ever compatibility between GrabCAD and a 3D rendering application providing users the ability to publish KeyShot renderings of their models to their GrabCAD Workbench directly from the KeyShot environment. This filled an important part of the collaborative product design process by allowing GrabCAD members to use KeyShot to quickly create and share photorealistic 3D renderings, animations and interactive visuals in the GrabCAD community or in private projects. Now, the circle is complete with additional integration that allows GrabCAD users to open any of their 3D models in KeyShot directly from the Workbench interface inside GrabCAD.

How it works
With an active Workbench account, GrabCAD users can open a model from GrabCAD directly within KeyShot. When a model is open inside a project of the Workbench interface, the user and any collaborators will see an "Open With" menu above the model in the upper right corner. With a single click, members of the project are able to select "Open with KeyShot" to launch and open the model directly inside KeyShot. With KeyShot installed, the model will open immediately inside the KeyShot realtime rendering environment. With KeyShot's extensive import pipeline, users can import any native file format including Solid Edge, Creo, SolidWorks, Rhino as well as neutral file formats including STEP, STL and IGES.

To publish images and files back into GrabCAD, the GrabCAD plugin must be activated, allowing authorization to connect to the GrabCAD users' account. After a rendering is created, the user may select the image(s) they wish to upload from the KeyShot Library Renderings tab. The user has the option to publish the image(s) to the public Library or private Workbench. Once published, the user will be taken to the GrabCAD project in their web browser. In addition to publishing the rendering users can share the KeyShot scene (.bip or .ksp) in their workbench for collaboration.

Files currently supported for bi-directional import between KeyShot and GrabCAD include the 20+ 3D file formats and versions that can be opened in KeyShot directly or through a KeyShot plugin. These formats and other features can be viewed in the KeyShot technical specifications. A video that demonstrates the new 'Open with KeyShot' functionality in GrabCAD and an overview of publishing images from KeyShot to GrabCAD is available here.

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