Okino Computer Graphics is pleased to have comments from its CEO, Robert Lansdale, featured in the two part article on 3D PLM and Data Interoperability, coinciding with the 20th anniversary of Okino data translation software development, and Okino's continuous 11th year of being associated with CGW magazine.

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Celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, Okino Computer Graphics is truly one of the early pioneers of CAD collaboration, visualization, data translation, and downstream data pipelining solutions. Notes Okino's CEO and CTO, Robert Lansdale, "CAD, DCC, and viz-sim interoperability is not something new to the 3D market, as has often been perceived. There have been solutions like our PolyTrans around since the late 1980s," he says.

Whereas CAD interoperability was once expensive and fragmented, Okino's PolyTrans|CAD and PolyTrans|Animation products have always provided cost-effective solutions for a wide variety of professional applications. One person who has been using PolyTrans|CAD for a number of years is Jim Orcherton, animation and graphics supervisor at Tesco Corporation, a global company providing design and manufacturing expertise to oil-well drilling and the energy industry. "Okino has helped with our CAD conversion software for many years now," he says. "Over time, our development process has included everything from mainstream graphics to animations and, most recently, to e-learning training with the new NGRAIN export conversion software."

Orcherton admits that when he was just starting out with the NGRAIN development he had some trouble converting his models from SolidWorks to NGRAIN. He then approached Robert Lansdale at Okino, who was able to create a new version of PolyTrans|CAD that works with all types of models, including NGRAIN.

"I am very outspoken when it comes to the proper use of data translation software and its related human perceptual issues in a PLM workflow pipeline," notes Lansdale. "I often find that people initially set up their PLM pipeline incorrectly due to common misconceptions. Most combinations of source and destination programs require a different choice of 3D file format. Data-set complexity requires an explicit understanding that downsizing or reduction will be required, or that today's non-CAD programs simply can't import and render an entire CAD car model. I want my customers to succeed, and I work with them to choose the correct file format, gain a proper perspective on the issue of data complexity, and understand how the end-to-end process works. This is critical to the proper and efficient use of a PLM pipeline."

Educating customers about the proper use of data translation in PLM pipelines is critical. "There are several questions someone looking at data translation needs to ask themselves," continues Lansdale. "What do you want to achieve in your data pipeline, how large are your data sets, and between which two programs are you trying to create a pipeline?"

For example, someone will try to convert a 2GB Honda car model into NewTek's LightWave or Autodesk's 3ds Max or Maya, or take it into DirectX, XAML, and so forth, Lansdale points out. And users sometimes choose the wrong file format. "It's all about which file format to use, how much data they are allowed to convert, and how they must approach the workflow pipeline," he says. "I just can't emphasize this enough."

According to Lansdale, discussions about PLM often focus on the process or the availability of specific applications, yet few of these center on the real-world experiences encountered by end users of such PLM pipelines. "What many of these users overlook is the data-complexity factor and the proper way to structure the PLM pipeline," he adds.