Developer of integrated CAD/CAM solutions for engineers has announced a powerful function that lets product designers import and use digital images for defining 3D models.

Convert digital images into 3D models Developer of integrated CAD/CAM solutions for engineers has announced a powerful function that lets product designers import and use digital images for defining 3D models. VX Corporation, the pioneering developer of advanced, integrated CAD/CAM solutions for engineers and industrial designers, announces a powerful new function that lets product designers import and use digital images for defining 3D models. * Freedom to design - VX CAD/CAM, known for its powerful and fast import of external geometry, has now extended that capability to the import of digital images.

Digital images, which can be any of the popular bitmap image file types (jpg, bmp, gif, png, etc), are converted instantly upon import into editable CAD geometry.

Digital images are 'raster' data, that is to say it only describes a picture in terms of pixels (dots of color).

A CAD system on the other hand requires 'vector' data (lines and arcs, etc).

VX can import an image and translate it into a 2D vector drawing in one operation.

It is fast and done in seconds.

The imported geometry goes into a VX sketch and from there can be expanded into 3D by extruding, revolving or sweeping.

What is extremely impressive is that the sketch is not required to be parametised in any way.

Users do not have to add any dimensions or geometric constraints.

Also, the data does not have to be separated into multiple sketches.

Users can produce multiple 3D shapes using just the one sketch object - it could not be easier.

* Open the door to new creativity - add your company logo as an embossing to a model with the minimum of effort.

Swiftly create complete, manufacturable 3D shapes from images for merchandising of toys and cool accessories associated with movies and games.

Having produced the 3D model, the original image can be applied onto the faces of the model to visualize the finished result.

This is special in VX for many applications too - users do not have to 'cut to size' images for each face - they can apply the whole image to the required faces and leave VX to do the hard work of resizing.

Bob Fischer, VX vice president, sales and marketing said: 'This further increases the rich array of highly productive tools VX has for product and industrial designers'.

'With VX, designers can do much more in less time making VX a truly 'fun-to-drive' CAD/CAM system.' * About VX Corporation - VX Corporation is a pioneering developer of advanced, integrated CAD/CAM solutions for engineers and industrial designers.

Using VX's design-through-manufacturing solutions, companies can speed time-to-market, increase profitability and gain a sustainable competitive advantage - made possible by new breakthroughs in technology, price and performance.

Unlike conventional CAD/CAM systems, VX technology is built on an exclusive, high-performance VX engine that delivers sophisticated 3D hybrid modeling capabilities and provides interoperability with emerging process management and engineering tools.

Some of the world's leading manufacturers rely on VX software to power the design, engineering and manufacturing of innovative products.