DriveWorks Pro 22

3D Viewer

3D Viewer

The DriveWorks 3D Viewer lets you view DriveWorks 3D files (.drive3d) and other 3D file formats in 3D. These file formats can be opened and viewed inside the 3D Viewer and saved out as a DriveWorks 3D file (.drive3d).

There are also tools in the DriveWorks 3D Viewer that can be used to diagnose 3D model performance and improve their general appearance. These tools work on the open model which can then be saved as a DriveWorks 3D file (.drive3d).

DriveWorks 3D files can be further enhanced, modified and configured inside DriveWorks using the DriveWorks 3D File document.

DriveWorks 21 Performance Improvement

DriveWorks 21 changes how the underlying data of a DriveWorks 3D document is stored.

This has resulted in a significant reduction in file size of .drive3d files.

Loading times for DriveWorks 3D Scenes on both desktop and web have been reduced.

DriveWorks 3D Scenes are less resource intensive and are more performant.

Existing DriveWorks 3D files, produced with earlier versions of DriveWorks, can benefit from this using the Upgrade utility.

From the menu bar, select from the following:

• File
• Utility
• Camera

File

Open

Will open a DriveWorks 3D (.drive3d) or another supported format.

The supported formats are:

• DriveWorks 3D Files (.drive3d)
• Stereo Lithography Files (.stl)
• Object Files (.obj)

  - Supports importing Diffuse textures.

• GL Transmission Format Files (.gltf)

  - Supports importing Diffuse, Specular, Normal and Emissive textures.

• GL Transmission Format Files (Binary) (.glb)

  - Supports importing Diffuse, Specular, Normal and Emissive textures.

• Inventor Assembly Files (.iam)
• Inventor Part Files (.ipt)
• SolidEdge Part Files (.par)
• SolidEdge Sheet Metal Files (.psm)
• SolidEdge Assembly Files (.asm)

Save

Click to Save the modified DriveWorks 3D file (.drive3d)

Save As

Click Save As to save the current 3D model as a new DriveWorks 3D file.

Utility

Zoom To Fit

This will zoom to fit the model view in the available model view window.

Smooth Model

Some 3D models can look faceted when opened in the DriveWorks 3D Viewer. This is usually caused by how they have been made or saved from the 3D application. Smooth Model lets you improve the look of a 3D model by smoothing the normals on each triangle that makes up the model.

Non Smooth Model
Smooth Model

Clicking Smooth Model will open up the following dialog window.

In this dialog you can enter a threshold angle for the smoothing operation. This is the angle between adjacent faces to smooth the models normals. So if a value of 70 is used, DriveWorks will look for adjacent faces up to the angle of 70 degrees.

Entering a value of 0 with result in the model being flat shaded. The surfaces will not be smoothed.

Show 3D Diagnostic Information

This setting shows the 3D Diagnostic Information inside the 3D viewer. This will display information about the currently opened 3D model. This information can be used to determine the performance of a 3D model.

3D Diagnostic Information

• Instanced Vertex Count

  This is the number of instanced vertices in the 3D scene. This number is important because this is the number of vertices that will be rendered by the graphics card.

• Instanced Triangle Count

  This is the number of instanced triangles in the 3D scene. This is the number of triangles that will be rendered by the graphics card.

• Source Vertex Count

  This is the number of vertices stored in the 3D source file. This is not the number rendered by the graphics card.

• Source Triangle Count

  This is the number of triangles stored in the 3D source file. These triangles are made up of the vertices above.

• Draw Calls

  This is the number of Draw Calls made by the CPU and GPU of the computer or device. Rendering performance is improved when this number is as low as possible.

  What is a Draw Call?

  A draw call is defined as the number of materials on an object being drawn to screen. For example if you have 1 object with 1 appearance then that equals 1 draw call. However if you have 1 object with 4 appearances then that would be 4 draw calls. The number of draw calls determines how quickly the 3D scene renders.

• Geometry Count

  This is the number of model geometries within the 3D scene. In the case above 5 geometries are used to make up the scene.

• Texture Count

  Texture count is the number of texture images being used in the 3D scene. This will include all Diffuse, Specular, Normal and Emissive textures used in the scene.

Upgrade Drive3Ds

DriveWorks 3D files (.drive3d) produced in versions prior to DriveWorks 21 can benefit from the file size reduction improvements made in the latest version by using the Upgrade utility.

Upgrade Files

1. From the DriveWorks 3D Viewer menu bar, select Upgrade Drive3Ds > Upgrade Files.
2. Browse to the location of the file or files to be upgraded.
3. Select the file or files and click Open.

   Please note, upgraded Files may become incompatible with older versions.

   We recommend taking a backup of the files that will be converted.

4. Click OK on the message box.

Upgrade Folders

To upgrade the contents of a folder(s):

1. From the DriveWorks 3D Viewer menu bar, select Upgrade Drive3Ds > Upgrade Folders.
2. Browse to the location of the folder and click Select Folder.

   Note, any sub-folders of this location, that contain drive3D files will also be included.

3. Click OK on the message box.

Include configuration names in 3D exports

This setting enables the use of configuration names in exported DriveWorks 3D files from SOLIDWORKS when exported from the DriveWorks 3D Export Add-In.

Checking this setting will use the active Configuration name in the saved DriveWorks 3D file. The Configuration name will be used in Geometry names to ensure that they are unique. This means that the same SOLIDWORKS file can be saved in two separate Configurations and each DriveWorks 3D file will be unique. Each drive3d file will need to have a unique name.

The DriveWorks 3D Geometry name will be saved as SOLIDWORKSFileName-ConfigurationName.

Camera

Isometric

Click to display an isometric view of the model.

Front

Click to display a front view of the model.

Right

Click to display a right side view of the model.

Back

Click to display the back view of the model.

Left

Click to display a left side view of the model.

Top

Click to display the top view of the model.

Bottom

Click to display the bottom view of the model.