On this page you can easily find the main features available in different Expert Series 8.1 packages as well as the different licensing schemes (please note that Design Expert 8.1 is not yet released). The table below allows you to easily compare between different products and select the product best suited for your needs.
| Notation: | Not available |
Available in the start module |
Available optionally |
| Function availability: The table box contents have the following meaning: | X | + |
Expert Series features:
| 3D viewing, rendering and communication: |
View |
Design Expert |
3Data Expert® |
Dimensions Expert |
ZEdit Pro |
| Viewing: Rotate, zoom, pan, clip, projection views. | X | X | X | X | X |
| Rendering: Colors, textures. | X | X | X | X | X |
| Rendering: Materials, reflections, background images. | X | ||||
| Real time slicing: Surface and faceted model slicing and slice saving for measuring and other purposes. | X | X | X | X | X |
| Communication: Printing, e-mail. | X | X | X | X | X |
| Photo realistic images: ExTrace ray tracing with shadows, reflections, transparency, complex textured surfaces, camera and light points, spotlights, light colors and intensities. | X | ||||
| Triangle texturing: Surface and triangle texturing for ZPR and VRML export. | X | X |
| 3D measuring and 2D dimensioning: |
View |
Design Expert |
3Data Expert® |
Dimensions Expert |
ZEdit Pro |
| 3D Measuring: 3D point value, point distance, angle, radius and annotations. | X | X | X | X | X |
| 3D Volume and area: Evaluate 3D volume and area for build time estimation, direct link to Excel. | X | X | X | X | X |
| 2D Dimensioning: Distance, angle, diameter, radius, annotations, balloons and section views | X | X | X |
| Edit and transformations: |
View |
Design Expert |
3Data Expert® |
Dimensions Expert |
ZEdit Pro |
| Copyin and pasting: Copy, cut and paste parts, multiple copy. | X | X | X | X | X |
| Grouping: Group objects to parts. | X | X | X | X | X |
| Undo and redo: For easy rollback. | X | X | X | X | X |
| Command macros: Macros for frequently used command series. | X | X | X | X | |
| Transformations: Move, scale, rotate, fix point for positioning. | X | X | X | X | |
| Transformations: Paste on surfaces for positioning. | X | X | |||
| Array copy: Copy array for 1,2 or 3 dimensional copy matrices. | X | X |
| 3D surface design: |
View |
Design Expert |
3Data Expert® |
Dimensions Expert |
ZEdit Pro |
| Curve input: Bspline and linear curve input and image templates. | X | ||||
| Surface design: Rotate, extrude, sweep, lofting, interpolate etc, TrueType text. | X | ||||
| Surface deformations: Bend, twist, taper, project to surfaces. | X | ||||
| Surface trimming: Multiple surface trimming and variable radius blends. | X | ||||
| Library models: Input/output of models in the Library. | X | ||||
| Surface triangulation: Design Expert generated surface model triangulation to generate watertight STL data. | X | ||||
| Triangle handling: Design Expert generated STL model verify, repair, split, boolean, offset, shell, refine, reduce and separate. | X | ||||
| Reverse engineering: Generate surfaces from STL slice data. | + | ||||
| Groove measuring: Measure groove depths in rhune stones, coins or other artifacts for statistical analysis. | + |
| Rapid Prototyping, 3D printing and simulation data preparation: |
View |
Design Expert |
3Data Expert® |
Dimensions Expert |
ZEdit Pro |
| Triangle verify: Automatic STL verification for errors. | X | X | X | X | X |
| Triangle repair: Automatic STL model repair to get watertight models. | + | X | X | X | |
| Triangle split and connect: Split STL models to fit into the 3D printer work area. Add pins and holes to combine the split parts accurately after the build. | + | X | X | X | |
| Triangle handling: STL model boolean, refine, reduce, reduce large file, reduce with textures and colors and separate. | + | X | |||
| Triangle hollowing: STL model offset and hollow. | + | X | X | ||
| Triangle texturing: STL Texturing and VRML or ZPR output for 3D color printers and animation. | X | X | X | ||
| Surface verify: Verify IGES and VDA models for errors. | X | + | + | + | |
| Surface triangulation: IGES, VDA, CATIA, ProE, UG and STEP surface model triangulation to generate watertight STL data. | + | + | + | ||
| Triangle editing: Manual triangle editing. | X | X | X | X | |
| Gap handling: Fill gaps with triangles, extrude surface edges to generate solids. | X | X | X | X | |
| Gap handling: Fill gaps with smooth surfaces. | X | X | |||
| Triangles from images: Generate STL files from color or grayscale images. | X | X | |||
| RP process functions: Drain holes. | X | X | RP process functions: STL slicing, support generation and Z compensation. | X | |
| Platform definition: Define different RP machine work areas and move parts automatically into workarea. | X | X |
| Input formats: |
View |
Design Expert |
3Data Expert® |
Dimensions Expert |
ZEdit Pro |
| DA Input (.3de): DeskArtes proprietary format. | X | X | X | X | X |
| DA 2D Drawing input (.dad): DeskArtes proprietary 2D drawing format. | X | X | X | ||
| STL input (.stl, .astl, .ast): Both Ascii and Binary format supported, STL binary with color information. | X | X | X | X | X |
| ZPR input (.zpr): ZPR file input with colors and textures. | X | X | X | X | X |
| VRML input (.wrl): Version 1.0 and 2.0 geometry, textures, materials and lights supported. | X | X | X | X | X |
| OBJ input (.obj): Faceted geometry supported. | X | X | X | X | |
| Nastran input (.fif): Ascii geometry data. | X | X | X | X | |
| XYZ input (.xyz): (x, y, z) points supported. | X | X | X | ||
| IGES input (.iges, .igs): Surface models supported. | X | + | + | + | |
| VDA input (.vda): Surface models supported. | X | + | + | + | |
| STEP input (.stp, .step): Surface models supported. | + | + | + | + | |
| CATIA 4 input (.model, .exp, .dlv): Surface models supported. | + | + | + | + | |
| CATIA 5 input (.CATpart): Surface models supported. | + | + | + | + | |
| ProE input (.prt, .asm): Surface models supported. | + | + | + | ||
| Unigraphics input (.prt): Surface models supported. | + | + | + | + | |
| Slice input (.cli, .sli, .slc, .ssl): CLI, SLI, SLC and SSL slice format input. | + | + | X | ||
| Image input (.jpg, .tif, .bmp, .rgb, .pic, .ras, .png): JPG, TIFF, BMP, PNG, RGB and Sun raster file input for Texturing. | X | X | X |
| Output formats: |
View |
Design Expert |
3Data Expert® |
Dimensions Expert |
ZEdit Pro |
| DA output (.3de): DeskArtes proprietary format. | X | X | X | X | X |
| DA 2D Drawing output (.dad): DeskArtes proprietary 2D drawing format. | X | X | X | ||
| STL output (.stl): Both Ascii and Binary format supported, STL binary with color information. | X | X | X | ||
| ZPR output (.zpr): ZPR output wiht colors and textures. | X | X | X | X | |
| VRML output (.wrl): Version 2.0 geometry, textures and materials supported. | X | X | X | ||
| IGES output (.igs): Surface models supported. | X | + | |||
| IGES curve output (.igs): Error curves from View Expert. | X | ||||
| VDA output (.vda): Surface models supported. | X | + | |||
| Slice output (.cli, .sli, .slc, .ssl): CLI, SLI, SLC and SSL slice format output. | + | X | |||
| Image output (.jpg, .tif, .bmp, .rgb, .rgb, .raw): TIFF, BMP, JPG and DeskArtes RGB and RAW file output. | X | ||||
| Links to 3D Printers: Through standard STL and VRML files. | X | X | X | ||
| Links to 3D Printers: Through ZPR files. | X | X | X | X |
| Licensing: |
View |
Design Expert |
3Data Expert® |
Dimensions Expert |
ZEdit Pro |
| Standalone licenses: All modules. | X | X | X | X | X |
| Network liceses: Reprise licensing for all modules (not available for CATIA, ProE, STEP and UG input functions). | X | X | X | X | X |
| Network liceses, input formats: FlexLM licensing for CATIA, ProE, STEP and UG input functions. | X | X | X | X | |
| Evaluaton licenses: 30 day evaluation license available. | X | X | X | X | |
| Evalution licenses, input formats: 7 day evaluation licenses for CATIA, ProE, STEP and UG input functions. | X | X | X | X | |
| University discount: 50% university discount to the standalone price or class room license. | X | X | X | X | |
| ZEdit Pro licensing: Licensing through ZCorporation and its distributors. | X | ||||
| Design Expert Student version: 5 year student licenses. | + | ||||
| Free View Expert: Free viewing and measuring for STL, VRML, OBJ and DXF files for unlimited time. Allows opening of proprietary DeskArtes .da files for communication purposes. | X | ||||
| Free Design Expert Demo version: Demo version allows design and image generation for unlimited time. Data can be saved in DeskArtes .dmo fromat only. | X |
| Notation: | Not available |
Available in the start module |
Available optionally |
| Function availability: The table box contents have the following meaning: | X | + |
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3Data Expert®
is a registered trademark of DeskArtes Oy in Finland.