A coming generation of applications that take advantage of a new
standard in computer-aided design and manufacturing (CAD/CAM)
will soon take the Windows NT and Windows 95 market by storm.
The standard, Object Linking and Embedding for Design & Modeling
(OLE for D&M), extends OLE to handle 3D objects. Intergraph
authored this new technology, and Microsoft and a number of CAD
vendors have endorsed it as a Microsoft OLE industry solution.
This new technology, which resulted from Intergraph's Jupiter
R&D project is expected to lead to a new breed of OLE-aware
CAD/CAM applications for the 32-bit Windows NT and Windows 95
operating systems.
OLE for D&M applications can create documents that contain
overlapping, precision-placed 3D or 2D OLE objects, as well as
conventional non-overlapping OLE objects such as standard tea
spreadsheets, art and images. These documents are commonly called
compound documents because they can hold multiple OLE objects,
and because users can view their 3D OLE objects from different
orientations instead of just from the top.
The commands available in OLE for D&M applications from both
the main application (e.g., Microsoft Word) and from the OLE server
(e.g., Paintbrush, an OLE server for .BMP files) will allow precision
editing of OLE objects. For example, an OLE server for an AutoCAD
file that's linked to a Word document can share the menu bar on
the main application's frame to provide precision-editing commands
such as extend Line. Similarly, the main application can
provide precision placement or orientation commands such as move
object, scale object, and rotate object that act on the
OLE server.
2D vs. 3D
In a 2D world, you use only two coordinates, x and y, to describe
a location. When you move off a flat surface into the 3D world,
you add a third coordinate, z, to describe the spatial component.
Currently, OLE objects are bounded, non-overlapping shapes. OLE
for D&M eliminates these boundaries by allowing you to precisely
place 3D OLE objects into a document You can look at these objects,
which may overlap, from various viewpoints. Because the objects
are placed precisely in relation to each other in space, you can
build a model or assembly with multiple OLE objects. In the same
compound document you can also combine 3D OLE objects with standard
OLE objects such as a Word document or an Excel spreadsheet.
The ability to view and incorporate 3D objects into office-automation
applications brings the benefits of CAD to desktops across an
entire enterprise. You can have access to accurate product models,
facility plans, and area maps, and you don't even have to know
how to use the technical application itself.
Because of their cost and complexity, CAD applications have been
limited to engineering, design, and scientific departments; sharing
data with other departments has often been cumbersome. With Windows,
OLE, and OLE for D&M technology, all users can take advantage
of objects, drawings, and 3D and 2D models without using traditional
and often monolithic CAD/CAM applications.
Combining Objects
OLE for D&M applications also allow you to move beyond mere
compound documents: You can make compound geometric models that
combine OLE objects of various formats. OLE for D&M applications
can place these objects correctly in space relative to each other
when they are assembled. Each OLE object displays with a position,
scale, and orientation specified by its attachment (transformation)
matrix. You can also display more than one overlapping OLE object
in the same space or view, just as you can in traditional CAD/CAM
applications.
Objects do most of the work in OLE. The OLE objects "know"
their own formats and how to display and manipulate themselves.
This capability takes the burden off the main application
because its not required to know how to use different data formats
to combine objects with native data into a CAD model. You can
construct a seamless model in the main application with objects
from various CAD/CAM formats without converting them. The objects
retain their native format and you can use OLE for D&M applications
to combine them with OLE objects of other data formats to create
CAD models.
Just as you can insert a bitmap into a Microsoft Word document
OLE for D&M applications allow you to insert multiple, spatially
overlapping objects into their documents. For example, you can
create a compound document of a bicycle assembly by connecting
a bicycle frame to a front wheel. Let's say, for instance, that
the bicycle frame is a MicroStation file and the front
wheel an AutoCAD file. The two objects can be placed precisely,
relative to each other, to provide a seamless, realistic model
in a compound document You can then insert other objects into
this compound file. As you can see in the
example in screen 1, a Word document and an Excel spreadsheet
have been inserted to add notes and a title block into a Me.
To produce this bicycle assembly with current CAD/CAM technology,
you would have to convert either the MicroStation file, the AutoCAD
file, or both into the native format of the final document.
Choose Your Views
Typically, current CAD/CAM technology allows you to show multiple
simultaneous windows with different views of the same object or
model. This means you can see top, right and front views at the
same time. Some of the views can even be shaded, or they can
contain offset and scale notations. Until now, there has not
been an "OLE way" to maintain different views of 3D
OLE objects in space. Because they allow you to create 3D OLE
objects in a compound document OLE for D&M applications provide
the familiar View commands that you see in traditional CAD/CAM
applications.
Multiple views make it easier for you to edit objects. With 3D
OLE, you can select an object in one view and then select points
from multiple views so that you can perform any editing you need.
You no longer need to stop and change your view orientation in
the middle of an editing command. Lefs say, for example, that
you have three windows displayed: an isometric perspective view
zoomed out to show the entire model, a front view zoomed in on
the object you want to modify, and a top view centered on another
object that you want to use to edit the original. You select
the object in the second window for editing by using an extend
Line command. You are prompted to select a point or element to
extend the line, and then you move to the third window to select
the object centered in that view. The line is then extended to
the object in the third window, and you can see the overall result
from all three views. This simple extend Line operation might
not have been possible without multiple views. They can enhance
the ease, precision, and speed of this editing operation. Screen
2 shows an example of multiple simultaneous views.