OpenHSF

The OpenHSF Initiative was launched in February 2002 with the aim of establishing a common, open format for sharing 2D and 3D data between CAE systems. Details on the OpenHSF Initiative may be found at www.openhsf.org

Click the above thumbnail images to download the free OpenHSF viewer and view two sample OpenHSF files containing 3D models generated by one of our systems. The viewer install file is 1.6Mbytes but these two sample OpenHSF files are less than 50 Kbytes each. Therefore, while it may take sometime to view the first OpenHSF file, other files can then be downloaded and viewed in less time than many simple Web pages.

Engineering industry needs a ubiquitous medium for communicating 2D and 3D data. It is commonly thought that for every part designed, there are upwards of 10 people who need to visualize the part as it makes its way through concept, design, analysis, manufacturing, marketing, e-commerce, maintenance and end-of-life stages of the product life-cycle. For example, engineers, managers, partners, suppliers, purchasing agents, sub-contractors, governmental organizations, technical publications writers, sales forces and customers. These people may use such systems as CAD, Digital Mock-up, PDM, Simulation, CAM, CAE, View & Mark-up, etc.

Participants in the OpenHSF Initiative believe the most viable solution is an open 2D/3D visualization format focused specifically on the needs of engineering. They also believe the developer should not be tied to a specific CAD company to allow the format to garner support from a wider range of end users, software vendors and industry analysts. The HOOPS Stream File (HSF) format is:

Freely available for anyone to use. The Specification has been openly published and the OpenHSF Advisory Council has been formed to advise on extensions to the specification.
A customisable format. Application developers can create customized files containing 2D and 3D geometry as well as application-specific information such as assembly structure and attribute data associated with individual parts in the model.
A highly compressed 2D/3D visualization format specifically tailored to the needs of displaying engineering data. HSF is lightweight enough for the Web but powerful enough to fully represent complex engineering models.

A wide range of CAD/CAM/CAE application developers as well as end users have already aligned in support of the OpenHSF Initiative, including:

A number of HSF reference applications can be downloaded fromwww.hoops3d.com These include 3D part viewers for HSF, ParaSolids, ACIS and PTC Granite One format files.

HSF uses the 'zlib' general purpose compression library by Jean-loup Gailly and Mark Adler. Visit www.zlib.org for the official zlib web page.