Well, this snuck right past us. In mid-March, a Monday no less, IntegrityWare/nPower Software published a press release announcing the release of something new. You might be familiar with their ‘Power Surfacing for SolidWorks’ or ‘Power SubD-NURBS for modo’ plugins. Well, this announcement wasn’t about a new plugin, or an updated plugin. It was about an entirely new, standalone 3D modeling software. Yet, not only software, but a platform that combines all the best of their plugins across three new products.

From Integrityware:
“For many years, IntegrityWare Inc. / nPower Software has helped 3D engineers and designers improve productivity through its popular, award winning plugins (Power Surfacing for SolidWorks, Power Translators for 3ds Max / Maya / MODO, Power SubD-NURBS for 3ds Max / MODO, Power NURBS for 3ds Max, etc.) for 3ds Max, Maya, MODO, and SolidWorks. With its new standalone architecture, Cyborg3D brings these popular plugins, with their advanced features, to virtually the entire CAD / 3D modeling / 3D printing community.”

Cyborg3D. Yes, standalone architecture. As in, standalone software. IntegrityWare goes on to say the new 3D modeling software “uniquely combines organic surface modeling (subdivision surfaces) with precise, parametric CAD (NURBS solids & surfaces) modeling.”

Mmm-hmmmm. Let that soak in. How many years have we been waiting for a CAD software developer to do this? And it drifts by like a spring rain. Well, here’s what it has. Altogether, Cyborg3D is three new products.

Cyborg3D SubD2CAD
Cyborg3D SubD2CAD ($995), based on Power Surfacing for SolidWorks (and Power SubD-NURBS plugins)ss will convert typical Subdivision surface (SubD) models into standard CAD formats–convert 3ds Max, MODO, ZBrush into STEP, IGES, SAT. It also provides free-sform, organic modeling using subdivision surface modeling tools.

Cyborg3D CAD2Print
Cyborg3D CAD2Print ($495) can import standard CAD formats (IGES, STEP, SAT) and format them for 3D printing producing high quality, water tight STL meshes.

Cyborg3D CAD2Poly
Cyborg3D CAD2Poly ($495) tessellates NURBS (CAD) geometry into water tight, high quality polygonal models (including quad meshes) in STL or OBJ format applicable for game engines, rendering, interference detection, 3D printing, and capable of handling large assemblies through as multi-threaded architecture.

Cyborg 3D is built on Integrityware’s own modeling kernel, the SOLIDS++ geometric modeling kernel, a kernel that runs the gamut of 3D modeling capabilities, from curves and surfaces to solids and polygons. It’s breadth of applications is enough for IntegrityWare to secure licensing agreements with Autodesk, PTC, McNeel, MoI and others.

When IntegrityWare first announced Power Surfacing for SolidWorks in January 2013, I was sure it was destined to be gobbled up by Autodesk, as with what happened with T-Splines and who previously acquired the nPower SAT translator, or Dassault, or any of the players who could use that tech, from 3D Systems and Ansys to PTC or Bentley, heck, even Ford who also licenses their kernel.

But do the CAD companies need it now? Last I checked, surfacing still leaves much to be desired in the mid-range 3D modeling space. Outside Autodesk’s implementation of T-Splines into Fusion 360, what is there that gives you solid and sculpting together? Yet, nPower still offers the plugins for SolidWorks, modo and others. And now they’re making a stand in the space with their own standalone software that brings it all together.

If you’ve given Cyborg3D a spin, let me know what you think.

Cyborg3D SubD2CAD Workflow

Cyborg3D SubD2CAD
Cybor3dSubD2CAD

Cyborg3D 3DCAD2Poly
cyborg3dCAD2Poly

Cyborg3D 3DCAD2Print
cyborg3dCAD2Print

Author

Josh is founder and editor at SolidSmack.com, founder at Aimsift Inc., and co-founder of EvD Media. He is involved in engineering, design, visualization, the technology making it happen, and the content developed around it. He is a SolidWorks Certified Professional and excels at falling awkwardly.