This latest release represents a huge leap in product functionality withsignificant feature enhancements, and focuses on expanded uses forSpaceClaim: rapid product design, multi-CAD model re-use and design in 2D.Users who are challenged by the limitations of existing CAD tools can nowdesign the way they think, faster than ever before, using SpaceClaim'spowerful and intuitive user interface.

Rapid Product Design

For many parts and assemblies that designers create, existing CADproduction systems can get in the way. It can be difficult to collaborateon other people's designs because of the mix of accidental and seeminglydesired but inevitably complex, inter-relationships of the model. The verystrengths that allow design variations to be planned can become hindrancesto design explorations and conceptualizing within these systems.

With SpaceClaim Professional 2008, users interact directly with the modeljust as they like, making even dramatic design edits naturally, independentof how they or anyone else got the model to its current state.

Multi-CAD Model Re-use

When data is passed among multiple CAD sources and destinations(departments, systems, partners, and applications), problems working withother groups' designs are inevitable. This is because traditional CAD toolsare not designed to work with each other's data. Users are faced withreceiving data from other systems that they cannot edit directly, and thenwaste their time recreating native geometry, so that they can be sure itchanges correctly.

With SpaceClaim Professional 2008, designs from every major CAD system can be edited directly andused as if they had originated in SpaceClaim. This complements existing CADproduction environments and is critical to most product developmentworkflows. This rings true whether the user is analyzing the models,communicating design changes across the environment, making changesimmediately and without repercussions, and all without worrying about howthe model was built.

Design in 2D

While for some, building parts and products in 2D views is sufficient, manyusers recognize the benefits of having a 3D model, namely for massproperties, interference-checking and visualization. However current 3Dtools (parametric and explicit) require a huge investment in learning tomodel, and as a result even simple tasks can become hopelessly complex.

With SpaceClaim Professional 2008's conceptual simplicity, 2D users cancontinue to work in an environment comfortable to them, while getting thebenefits of a 3D modeling tool without having to become geometry experts.The software enables the creation of and editing in "live" cross sections(both in a solid model and in the drawing space), taking advantage ofSpaceClaim's major modeling tools, notably pull, move, fill, and combine.

"Natural" Evolution Driven by the User

Learning how to navigate the user interface in CAD systems (where thecomplexity is visually obvious) is not the only daunting challenge forusers; the procedures that must be followed are absolute since designersmust adhere to a rigid set of rules or beware the result -- an unchangeablemodel.

"Natural 3D design is the 'natural' evolution from the parametricfeature-based programming paradigm I helped create in the 1980s," saidDanny Dean, SpaceClaim Vice President of Research and Development. "Thereis no question that these parametric systems are extremely powerful;however, when applied to workflows that are essentially non-parametric, orwhere the original design intent does not include an unforeseenmodification, their limitations become evident. The capabilities inSpaceClaim Professional 2008, including live cross sections, working inconcert with our simple, powerful tools -- pull, move, fill, and combine --have been purposely designed to overcome these parametric pitfalls."

Geoff Wheeler, Founder of Oak Design Services, Ltd, a beta tester forSpaceClaim Professional 2008, remarked on existing CAD systems versus hisexperience using SpaceClaim, "I'm tired of having my CAD system get in theway of what I'm trying to accomplish in my design tasks. With SpaceClaim Iedit the model directly, as I choose, experimenting freely and gettingbetter designs much more rapidly than ever before. SpaceClaim is the wayI'll be designing the majority of my parts in the future."

Product Availability, Demos and Functionality

SpaceClaim Professional 2008 is available immediately and offered as alease or perpetual license.

Product demonstration webinars willbe held on April 16 and 17 at 9 am and 2 pm EDT.

View videosof SpaceClaim Professional 2008's new functionality.

About SpaceClaim Corporation

SpaceClaim is the world's first Natural 3D Design(TM) system -- empoweringusers to create and edit models faster than ever before. Unlikefeature-based parametric CAD systems, SpaceClaim lets you design the wayyou think(TM); interacting directly with the model in the way you intend,making even dramatic design edits naturally, independent of how the partwas created. SpaceClaim's team of executives and developers -- theinventors of feature-based modeling -- have now created the next quantumleap in engineering productivity, a Natural 3D Design system that'saccessible to everyone from power users to part-time users. For moreinformation, visit www.SpaceClaim.com.

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