CAD extends its reach

The tools are expansions of www.3dvia.com and a new initiative, called Design Studio, both of which are completely free at the present time. Vice president research and development Dominique Florack told us at the just held European Catia Forum in Paris that, “In a few months, I will have one million models on 3diva.com and you will be able to drive a car with an Xbox controller or a Sony Playstation 3”. He then went onto explain that, “One of my biggest customers is Electronic Arts, who use Virtools and will probably soon use 3dvia Shape”. Ann Assencio, vice president of Design Experience described her new department as an “Entity of people” rather than a product. Even though it is built around users of the company’s Imagine and Shape product, she told us that it is not restricted to Dassault product users, and that, “Even non CAD users can take part”, with the intention of creating new ways of designing products and also games and entertainment.