Intergraph Offers VR-Like Ship Software For Windows NT

Intergraph announced that its Product Model Review (PMR) software is now available for Microsoft's Windows NT operating system.

PMR is built on Intergraph's DesignReview software, supporting simultaneous, remote, 3-D walk-through sessions. Users at separate locations can conduct concurrent design walk-throughs of 3-D models of ships, aircraft or industrial environments in a virtual environment, across a network. PMR's unique architecture requires nominal network bandwidth (several hundred bytes), so performance is limited only by the local personal workstation. Driver control can be passed from one site to another during the session, and convenient access to model data is provided through a point-and-click interface. For shipbuilders, PMR is a powerful design tool for reviewing 3-D ship models created using Intergraph's Integrated Ship Design and Production suite of software. Since it is built on DesignReview, PMR also serves as an effective concurrent visualization tool for plant design and architecture, and engineering and construction (AEC) applications. Intergraph can tailor the interface to the specific needs of each site, providing access to external databases and electronic documents such as ASCII or raster files. When the user selects an object for which an attribute-data linkage has been defined, external data can be retrieved. In addition, PMR supports redlining for raster documents that are retrieved during the review session.

George M. Heeschen, Intergraph's executive manager for Integrated Ship Design and Production, commented, "PMR has generated substantial interest in the plant design community, and should become even more popular now that it's available for Windows NT systems. One of the most practical benefits of the concurrent review process is that users at each location have direct graphical access to the model and associated data, enabling them to retrieve information or redline raster files. These redlines can be stored in a central database for later review." I/Loft Intergraph is also offering new technology for shipbuilders to prepare plates and stiff- M I S LEFT: Intergraph's PMR software, now available for the Windows NT operating system, allows simultaneous remote 3-D walk-throughs of vessel or industrial computer-generated models.

eners for fabrication, the Intergraph Vehicle Lofting System (I/Loft).

I/Loft is part of Intergraph's Integrated Ship Design and Production (ISDP) suite of software designed to support the entire ship life cycle — from design and construction through maintenance, overhaul, alteration, repair, refurbishment, and even decommissioning. Emphasizing shipbuilding production processes, I/Loft incorporates powerful lofting functions that automatically create production information for the cutting and forming of shell plates and associated stiffeners. Using I/Loft, shipbuilders can design and modify shell structural elements and send the results to nesting and cutting systems. The ISDP system includes software for designing jigs, preparing manufacturing documents, and extracting accurate material quantities from 3-D ship models. In addition, I/Loft is integrated with thirdparty tools for nesting and burning applications.

Mr. Heeschen said of the program, "I/Loft enables shipbuilders to move closer to the efficiency and accuracy of a paperless shop environment. With ISDP software, ship- builders can develop an intelligent 3-D ship model that supports all engineering and manufacturing activities. Once a ship's structure has been designed in the 3-D model, I/Loft automatically creates a manufacturing plan that includes profile cards representing the sections of the ship that need to be bent or cut.

Previously, the three to four thousand profile cards that make up a typical shipbuilding project each required approximately three hours of manual work. With I/Loft, each card requires an average of one minute to produce, dramatically reducing the time needed for the entire lofting process." Intergraph, which claims to be the world's largest company dedicated to supplying interactive computer graphics systems, offers products ranging from point-topoint solutions and meeting individual and departmental needs for integrated, enterprise-wide systems. Intergraph bases its products on Windows, Windows NT, and UNIX operating systems.

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