D-Cubed
Encyclopedia
D-Cubed Components are a collection of geometric software component libraries developed and licensed as commercial products by Siemens PLM Software
. Since the early 1990s these components have been used to support the development of Computer-Aided Design
(CAD), Computer-Aided Manufacturing
(CAM) and Computer-Aided Engineering
(CAE) applications, including NX and Solid Edge from Siemens PLM Software.
on Sketchpad
in the 1960s. The D-Cubed 2D DCM was the first of the six D-Cubed Components to be released.
D-Cubed Limited was acquired by UGS Corp. on June 30, 2004, which in turn was acquired by Siemens AG
on May 7, 2007, becoming known as Siemens PLM Software on October 1, 2007.
John Owen and his academic collaborators have published some details about the mathematical considerations behind the D-Cubed 2D DCM and 3D DCM, which has led to work in fields beyond geometric constraint solving. References are below.
Siemens PLM Software
Siemens PLM Software is a computer software company specializing in 3D & 2D Product Lifecycle Management software. The company is a business unit of Siemens Industry Automation division, and is headquartered in Plano, Texas....
. Since the early 1990s these components have been used to support the development of Computer-Aided Design
Computer-aided design
Computer-aided design , also known as computer-aided design and drafting , is the use of computer technology for the process of design and design-documentation. Computer Aided Drafting describes the process of drafting with a computer...
(CAD), Computer-Aided Manufacturing
Computer-aided manufacturing
Computer-aided manufacturing is the use of computer software to control machine tools and related machinery in the manufacturing of workpieces. This is not the only definition for CAM, but it is the most common; CAM may also refer to the use of a computer to assist in all operations of a...
(CAM) and Computer-Aided Engineering
Computer-aided engineering
Computer-aided engineering is the broad usage of computer software to aid in engineering tasks. It includes computer-aided design , computer-aided analysis , computer-integrated manufacturing , computer-aided manufacturing , material requirements planning , and computer-aided planning .- Overview...
(CAE) applications, including NX and Solid Edge from Siemens PLM Software.
History
The D-Cubed Components were originally written by D-Cubed Limited, a privately held company founded in 1989 in Cambridge, England, by John Owen. The early development of the company was built on the licensing of the D-Cubed 2D Dimensional Constraint Manager (2D DCM) geometric constraint solving component to a number of CAD vendors for integration into their own CAD applications. The D-Cubed 2D DCM was inspired by the revolutionary work of Ivan SutherlandIvan Sutherland
Ivan Edward Sutherland is an American computer scientist and Internet pioneer. He received the Turing Award from the Association for Computing Machinery in 1988 for the invention of Sketchpad, an early predecessor to the sort of graphical user interface that has become ubiquitous in personal...
on Sketchpad
Sketchpad
Sketchpad was a revolutionary computer program written by Ivan Sutherland in 1963 in the course of his PhD thesis, for which he received the Turing Award in 1988. It helped change the way people interact with computers...
in the 1960s. The D-Cubed 2D DCM was the first of the six D-Cubed Components to be released.
D-Cubed Limited was acquired by UGS Corp. on June 30, 2004, which in turn was acquired by Siemens AG
Siemens AG
Siemens AG is a German multinational conglomerate company headquartered in Munich, Germany. It is the largest Europe-based electronics and electrical engineering company....
on May 7, 2007, becoming known as Siemens PLM Software on October 1, 2007.
John Owen and his academic collaborators have published some details about the mathematical considerations behind the D-Cubed 2D DCM and 3D DCM, which has led to work in fields beyond geometric constraint solving. References are below.
D-Cubed Components
- D-Cubed 2D Dimensional Constraint Manager (2D DCM) - 2D sketching for 2D and 3D CADComputer-aided designComputer-aided design , also known as computer-aided design and drafting , is the use of computer technology for the process of design and design-documentation. Computer Aided Drafting describes the process of drafting with a computer...
applications - D-Cubed Profile Geometry Manager (PGM) - Profile operations for 2D CADComputer-aided designComputer-aided design , also known as computer-aided design and drafting , is the use of computer technology for the process of design and design-documentation. Computer Aided Drafting describes the process of drafting with a computer...
/CAMComputer-aided manufacturingComputer-aided manufacturing is the use of computer software to control machine tools and related machinery in the manufacturing of workpieces. This is not the only definition for CAM, but it is the most common; CAM may also refer to the use of a computer to assist in all operations of a...
applications - D-Cubed Hidden Line Manager (HLM) - Hidden line removalHidden line removalHidden line removal is an extension of wireframe model rendering where lines covered by surfaces are not drawn.This is not the same as hidden face removal since this involves depth and occlusion while the other involves normals....
for drafting and visualisation - D-Cubed 3D Dimensional Constraint Manager (3D DCM) - 3D sketching, part shape modification, assembly part positioning and kinetic motion simulation
- D-Cubed Collision Detection Manager (CDM) - Collision detectionCollision detectionCollision detection typically refers to the computational problem of detecting the intersection of two or more objects. While the topic is most often associated with its use in video games and other physical simulations, it also has applications in robotics...
and clearance measurement - D-Cubed Assembly Engineering Manager (AEM) - Part positioning and motion simulation for 3D DCM based assembly environments