Baghera View

A new generation of STEP based models viewer and synthesizer based on virtual reality and open source technologies

PDE 2005 The 7th NASA-ESA Workshop on Product Data Exchange

April 19-22, 2005 Atlanta, Georgia USA

Eric Lebègue - HANOP

Jean-Luc Le Gal & Thierry Warrot - CNES

Hans-Peter De Koning – ESA/ESTEC

Souheil Soubra & Florent Coudret - CSTB

Baghera ViewPDE 2005, Atlanta2

Context : STEP standards available

• STEP standards are now available and becoming stable for exchange and archiving of technical data for space engineering domain

– AP203/214 : for general CAD • Available with CATIA and most of standard general CAD

tools

– STEP-TAS : radiative thermal analysis• Industrial level available within main European radiative

thermal tools, thanks to TAS-Verter:– ESARAD, THERMICA, CORATHERM

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Intermediate checking tool required

• Now, in data exchange phase, between engineers using different tools, it is important to propose a « common reference » checking viewer :

– To be used by sender and receiver of the data, for :

• Checking 3D geometry

• Checking assemblies and properties

• Reporting the exchanged data

• This is the goal of BAGHERA View

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Demonstration

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Current functions

• Loading / superposing several STEP models into one 3D session

• Browsing hierarchy, searching for elements

• 3 rendering modes : wire frame, solid, transparency

• Elements properties display

• Generating reports

Baghera ViewPDE 2005, Atlanta6

Technologies

• STEP-TAS loading with PyEXPRESS/C++ library

• Direct translation of STEP-TAS objects into OpenSG representation

• AP203/214 loading with OpenCascade 5

• Report generation in Word/RTF format

• Portable GUI with QT (Windows, UNIX, Linux, Mac)

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Characteristics

• Installation (STEP-TAS) :– ZIP < 20 MB

– no particular graphic cards required

– => easy to distribute

• Intuitive GUI => no training

• Performance :– Loading STEP-TAS METOP model (>17000 instances) in few

seconds

– Loading AP203 model little bit faster than Open Cascade standard viewer

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Current status

• Current version : 3.2.beta– Compliant with TASverter r2004-02-11

• See : http://www.estec.esa.int/thermal/tools/tasverter.html

– Beta testing in progress with CNES, ESA, Astrium and Alcatel Space

• First OP version– Planned : Autumn 2005– Based on “frozen” STEP-TAS– CNES is willing a free distribution, at least in Europe

• Contact : Thierry Warrot : thierry.warrot@cnes.fr

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AP203 / 214 to STEP-TAS converter prototype

• OpenCascade 5 for loading AP203/214

• PyEXPRESS/C++ for writing STEP-TAS

• Compliant with TAS Verter

• Generates triangles and hierarchy

• Can be loaded into Baghera View 3.2

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Summary : A new Architecture

BibliothèquesOpen Cascade 5.2

STEP-TAS(EXPRESS)

PyEXPRESSGenerator

STEP-TASFiles

AP203/214Files

THERMICA

STEP-TAS PythonLibrary

CATIATAS-VerterTHERMICA

AP203/214-> STEP-TAS

Converter(Prototype)

CORATHERM

STEP-TAS PythonLibrary

TAS-VerterCORATHERM

ESARAD

STEP-TAS PythonLibrary

TAS-VerterESARAD

STEP-TAS C++Library

STEP-TAS C++Library

Baghera View V3

…

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Development context : CSTB EVE PlatformCSTB, European Leader for Research in the Construction domain

Space earth observation Data acquisition and processing

Standard Bus (STEP, IFC, OpenGIS, HDF/NetCDF…)

Building and civil engineering

design

EVE PlatformEnriched Virtual Environments

Immersion Space

Mechanical design

SimulationModules

SimulationModules

SimulationModulesLight weight clients

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Proposed extensions (1/2)

• Comparison of models– For checking incremental exchanges– For collision detection– Using PyJex (University of Manchester)

• Filtering of report generation– For getting more compact documents

• Detailed STEP files analysis (rules checking…)– Required for files not generated by TAS Verter

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Proposed extensions (2/2)

• Upgrade to be compliant with future TAS Verters– Orbitography, kinematic, missions related data…

• Extension and industrialisation of AP203/214 to STEP-TAS converter prototype– Semi-Automatic filtering– Shapes recognition

• New loadings :– STEP-NRF (results of analysis, ESATAN…)– STEP-SPE (ESABASE…)– AP209 (sponsors are welcome)

• Other ideas ?

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Thank you for your attention

• Contacts– HANOP

• Eric.lebegue : eric.lebegue@hanop.net

– CNES• Jean-Luc Le Gal : jean-luc.legal@cnes.fr• Thierry Warrot : Thierry.Warrot@cnes.fr

– ESA/ESTEC• Hans-Peter De Koning : hans-peter.de.koning@esa.int

– CSTB• Souheil Soubra : souheil.soubra@cstb.fr• Florent Coudret : florent.coudret@cstb.fr