3D InterOp

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3D InterOp
Developed by	Spatial Corporation
Latest release	Version R18.SP2 / March 2008
OS	Windows 2000 (and above), AIX (IBM), Solaris (Sun Microsystems), HP-UX (Hewlett-Packard), Mac OS X (Apple Computer) and Linux (Red Hat)
Genre	CAD data exchange
License	Proprietary software
Website	www.spatial.com

3D InterOp is one of the most used CAD data translation framework from Spatial Corp. It is an object-oriented software component designed for use as the data translation foundation within an end-user application. In the world on FEA, the initial model data can come from any number of MCAD sources, it’s almost inevitable that some sort of data translation is necessary. Components such as InterOp are used to import data from standards (IGES, STEP) or proprietary formats (CATIA V5, Pro/Engineer).^[1]

From the developer point of view, 3D InterOp is written in C++, and it provides an Application Programming Interface (API) called 3D InterOp Connect. This interface allows end-user applications to manage its data exchange. It works independently from the formats being handled. 3D InterOp Connect is based on an open architecture. It can be extended and adapted to support several formats.