modelinsight

Setting the Scene

Ticodi ModelInsight is an Intergraph® PDS / Bentley® Microstation V7 DGN 3D viewer, with a difference. A question I asked myself is "Do we need another 3D viewer?" well after using ModelInsight for a couple of days now my answer to that is "Yes" as long as it is ModelInsight, and let me explain why. I believe there are a couple of issues in todays market when it comes to 3D viewers:

1) A lot of todays projects seem to have grown in size, and with this growth comes a larger number of models. And with the increase in the number of models comes the fundamental problem of opening a complete project within a single 3D viewer session.



2) The majority of 3D viewers where written a good few years back, when 3D graphics and computers did not pack the punch that they do today. Advances in Graphics processing units (GPU) and rendering techniques have meant that you are able to create faster and better rendering software than there was years ago. The best example of this is computer games today, compare what they where like some years back with what they are today. I admit rendering clarity is not everything and we want a product that has the whole package, easy of use, speed, ability to load huge models. However clarity of rendering does play a big part, the better and clearer the rendering the easier it is to locate items within the model from a distance, and lets be honest elements should not have jagged lines considering the price tag some of these tools carry.



3) Speed of navigation and ability to load huge models is a must. This is in my view probably the most important aspect of a viewer. Designers, engineers and especially clients expect to be able to view there complete project and I do not think this is an unreasonable request.



My feeling is that all of these issues exist because the current tools on the market have probably not be looked at, with regards to improving things for a number of years. Yes new functionality is added, but improvement at the heart of the product is probably never considered, due to cost, time and if it is not broke why fix it attitude. ModelInsight is a new offering to the market place, that I believe could be the tool of choice or at least will make some waves in the industry with customers demanding more from their current tool.

Installing ModelInsight

As with all our reviews on PDExperts, we will start right from the beginning. Well not much really to report here as the installer for ModelInsight was a breeze, the usual next, next, next and the application was installed. ModelInsight comes with a sample model which is in the "Sample" sub-directory under your application installation path, we will be using this model for testing purposes and all screen shots within this review.

Interface

1 ModelInsight has a refreshingly clean look to the interface, giving the impression from the start that ModelInsight is a simple tool to use, this is a trait within all Ticodi products. ModelInsight has adopted the Microsoft® Office 2007 look, this combined with the clean toolbar layout and easy to identify icons gives ModelInsight a very inviting and simple to use interface.


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