Canvas GFX has launched Canvas Envision in a drive to bridge the gap between technical and commercial documentation.
Envision is said to provide a simple means of visualising 3D CAD data, cutting out the time consuming, repetitive, and expensive process of document creators requiring CAD operators to capture and supply screenshots.
The platform combines a lightweight graphics application with cloud-based document storage, access, and collaboration.
The Envision Creator element is an intuitive, lightweight graphics app that allows users to import and manipulate a wide range of 3D CAD models, and work with vector graphics, photo-editing tools, text layout and more. Simple to learn and easy to use, Envision Creator requires no prior CAD training.
Envision Cloud allows downstream colleagues and audiences to view documents through any browser, with the ability to interact with the models in the document, as well as collaborate using intuitive mark-up and commenting features.
Files are exported as a versatile .Ev file that allows users to open the 3D model in any web browser, rotate it, isolate parts, hide/ghost parts, change render mode, view metadata, and more. the .Ev file can handle text, photographs, vector graphics and 2D drawings, as well as 3D CAD models, keeping everything in one place.
Additional interactive viewing features for Envision will be released later in Q3, while integration with leading VR/AR platforms is a roadmap item that will be prioritised according to demand.
“With documents reliant on CAD screen-grabs, bottlenecks in document production, varied skillsets and software access, and sub-optimal feedback and collaboration processes can all lead to costly inefficiencies across the organisation,” said a Canvas GFX spokesperson. They added that with Envision one customer is using it to provide interactive spec documents to improve their specification rates, while another has been using it to create instructions for third party manufacturing; others for marketing material and patent drawings.
“Envision is giving document audiences the ability to truly interact with embedded models. If you are a contracted manufacturer, or a maintainer, or a prospective customer, you can learn a lot more about the product by interacting with the model (all scrubbed for IP where required) than by looking at a flat image or a mock-up.”
Collaboration within the document between creator and viewer should ensure that all discussion related to the document is captured and recorded, with each document effectively becoming its own comms channel.
Canvas GFX CEO Patricia Hume, commented on Envision: “We aim to provide innovation which supports other innovators, and we have already begun to realise that ambition. Envision is enabling people to communicate more information, faster and more accurately than they have ever been able to before.”
