Kubotek Kosmos 3D Framework 3.0 Expands File Compatibility

Kubotek3D has updated its Kubotek Kosmos 3D Framework software for 3D mechanical computer-aided design (MCAD) to version 3.0. The framework is a set of advanced, multi-platform software components which maximize a program’s performance and compatibility with complete engineering models and data from all major MCAD databases. Kubotek3D recommends it for software developers building precise 3D applications which need to interface with these engineering models and data.

The framework supports over a dozen major engineering file formats, and the 3.0 release has expanded its support of STEP files. Most notably, it now supports reading and writing STEP AP 242 Model-based Definition (MBD) data. This form of MBD better supports automation of downstream activities such as NC machining and inspection and eliminates unnecessary design translations.

The new version of Kosmos also adds support for ASCII STEP files using the “.stpZ” extension, which compresses STEP files to around 20% of their original size. This format is especially popular in the aerospace and automotive industries.

Kubotek Kosmos’ support for multi-threaded processing offers it unique performance benefits. The 3.0 release also optimized additional areas of code, improving performance regarding feature recognition, surface/surface intersection, Booleans, multi-threading in additional file readers, faceting and transforming assemblies.   

As automatic geometric feature recognition such as machined holes, fillets/rounds and chamfers is another core feature of the Kubotek Kosmos 3D framework, it also received substantial improvements in the 3.0 release. These improvements focus on feature identification in sheet bodies, ruled surface detection for chamfers and many blend features.

Kubotek3D’s framework fully supports development of applications that run on numerous platforms. The 3.0 update has added a Python wrapper to allow swift integration of Kosmos with existing Python code, compiler support for MSVC 2019 and a new Text library that improves support for displaying text objects within the 3D scene.