Solid Edge® Insight™ Connect software is an easy to use visualization and managed collaboration solution for use with Solid Edge CAD software; it is included with Solid Edge Classic and is also available as a separate client license. Insight Connect provides view, markup and revision control capabilities for those users who do not have access to a full Solid Edge license, such as design office clerical staff or managers. For customers who have implemented Solid Edge Insight to manage their design data, Insight Connect also serves as a comprehensive client for adding new documents, performing design reviews and releasing design data.

Viewing and interrogating designs

Insight Connect can be utilized as a standalone viewer, allowing non-Solid Edge users to view Solid Edge and other documents.Viewing options are automatically displayed, depending on the document type. For example, 3D viewing commands allow you to rotate, zoom and fit to take a closer look at the model. Assembly models can be simplified by selecting parts to turn on or off. You can also switch between any display configurations that have been defined in the Solid Edge assembly. For an even closer look, you can dynamically create a section through 3D assemblies and interrogate internal components.

Measurements and other design information

Insight Connect’s 2D and 3D dimensioning tools help you better understand the size of components and features. For assembly files, individual part names can be displayed, along with the hierarchy of subassemblies that they belong to.You can also extract physical properties from the model, such as volume, surface areas or centroids.

Markup

Insight Connect includes comprehensive markup capabilities so members of the extended design team can easily provide feedback and communicate changes. Focus points clearly highlight a specific area on the model or drawing, and you can also choose whether to automatically include part and subassembly information in any notes that are anchored to specific parts.

Revision management

As designs develop, Solid Edge’s Insight technology simplifies the control of design versions and revisions on the latest documents. As 3D models move through the release process, Insight Connect users can assign new version and revision numbers and update related files to reflect the changes. Packaged collaboration files Insight Connect supports the creation of packaged collaboration files (PCFs) that enable Solid Edge's collaboration capabilities and elegantly solve the problem of how to share multiple documents in a collaborative environment, while ensuring that users are never working with information that is out of date. This innovative concept allows multiple documents from different sources to be packaged into a single file. A combination of CAD and non- CAD documents (for example, MS Office, pdf) can be accessed, using Insight Connect, or sent via email to anyone needing to review the information. The PCF file retains original links to CAD documents and contains all the information required to not only view the data, but also execute and manage any changes resulting from the collaborative process.

Design management and administration

Insight Connect can be used as a design data management client for organizations that have implemented Solid Edge Insight. With Insight Connect, anyone can complete Solid Edge document management and administration tasks without the need for a full Solid Edge license, including:

Where-used searches. Insight Connect helps evaluate the impact of design decisions by quickly finding all documents that will be affected by a change, including all related 2D drawings.

Design release management. Insight Connect includes the Life Cycle Assistant, which helps designers and design office clerks manage the release process for Solid Edge documents ensuring coordinated release of parts, assemblies and drawings.

Administration tools. Insight Connect provides a number of different support tools that can be used outside of the Solid Edge design environment. Documents can be checked in to the Insight library, and assemblies can be checked for broken file links and fixed if any are found. Duplicate file names can be checked and updated before they cause downstream problems, and full reporting capabilities allow detailed parts lists to be generated without having to open the Solid Edge assembly.

Viewing for 2D and 3D files

A growing number of different file types can be viewed, including:

• All Solid Edge documents (.asm, .dft, .par, .psm, .pwd)
• Packaged collaboration files (.pcf)
• NX™ software documents (.prt)
• Parasolid® software documents (.x_b, .x_t)
• DirectModel documents (.jt)
• XML documents (,plmxml)
• MicroStation documents (.dgn)
• AutoCAD documents (.dwg, .dxf)
• CGM Metafile documents (.cgm)
• HP CoCreate ME 10 documents (.mi)
• STL documents (.stl)

Essential workflow capabilities

If you have implemented Solid Edge Insight, saving a PCF to a managed folder will automatically send alerts to the appropriate people and can initiate a workflow process to manage the engineering change. This is part of the powerful workflow capabilities enabled by Insight, helping to streamline the review and release process for design projects.

The power of managed collaboration

Industry analysis has shown that for each person who creates a design there are many others who use the information associated with that design. Collaboration is essential to easing the growing complexity of product designs. Effective managed collaboration help to directly reduce ECOs and achieve your organization’s time-to-market, quality and cost objectives. Solid Edge Insight Connect not only gives you an easy-to-use design management and collaboration tool; it ensures that collaboration takes place in a fully managed environment, so your projects stay on time and below budget.

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