Digital Geometric Kernel (Former KernelCAD), is a

software development Software development is the process of conceiving, specifying, designing, programming, documenting, testing, and bug fixing involved in creating and maintaining applications, frameworks, or other software components. Software development invol ...

framework A framework is a generic term commonly referring to an essential supporting structure which other things are built on top of. Framework may refer to: Computing * Application framework, used to implement the structure of an application for an op ...

and a set of components for enabling 3D/

CAD Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of computers (or ) to aid in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design. This software is used to increase the productivity of the designer, improve the quality of design, improve co ...

functionality in Windows applications, developed by DInsight. DInsight promotes KernelCAD as a quick way for adding 3D/CAD functionality without significant knowledge about the subject. It targets engineers and software developers.

Architecture

At the top level DG Kernel is a user interface control. As such, it can be added to forms or dialogs using development environments such as

Microsoft Visual Studio Visual Studio is an integrated development environment (IDE) from Microsoft. It is used to develop computer programs including websites, web apps, web services and mobile apps. Visual Studio uses Microsoft software development platforms such a ...

or Embarcadero Delphi. Pure geometric functionality can be used in background without creating a window. Samples include C#, Visual Basic .NET, WPF, C++ and Pascal (Delphi) versions. The API is based on an interface (abstract class) hierarchy. DG Kernel relies on three major third party components: *

Open Cascade Technology Open Cascade Technology (OCCT), formerly called ''CAS.CADE'', is an open-source software development platform for 3D CAD, CAM, CAE, etc. that is developed and supported by Open Cascade SAS. OCCT is a full-scale B-Rep (Boundary representation ...

engine (OCCT). Parametric

B-spline In the mathematical subfield of numerical analysis, a B-spline or basis spline is a spline function that has minimal support with respect to a given degree, smoothness, and domain partition. Any spline function of given degree can be expresse ...

B-rep modelling,

STEP format STEP-File is a widely used data exchange form of STEP. ISO 10303 can represent 3D objects in Computer-aided design (CAD) and related information. Due to its ASCII structure, a STEP-file is easy to read, with typically one instance per line. The ...

implementation and related functionality. * Object-Oriented Graphics Rendering Engine ( OGRE). High-level adaptor and extension of

DirectX Microsoft DirectX is a collection of application programming interfaces (APIs) for handling tasks related to multimedia, especially game programming and video, on Microsoft platforms. Originally, the names of these APIs all began with "Direct", ...

technology. * Open Design Alliance SDK. Support for DWG and other AutoCAD formats.

Market niche

DG Kernel automates and simplifies the extensive solid modeling functionality available in OCCT particularly. It also bridges the gap between complexity of OCCT and the prohibitive for small businesses costs of commercial kernels like Parasolid or ACIS

Milestones

The product was first released by DInsight in 2001 under Kernel CAD name. In version 6.0, released in December 2018, the main product was renamed to DG Kernel. The most significant change in version 6 was an alternative high-level interface for OCCT technology, which solves a number of issues with using OCCT directly. Version 7.0, released in December 2021, includes a pure .NET version of the control. In version 7.1, released in March 2023, Data Exchange (Import/Export) via STEP format has been reimplemented based on Extended Data Exchange (XDE) engine of OCCT. This includes support of STEP assemblies and their hierarchies, per face colors, entity and assembly names. Version 7.1 also marks significant change in licensing: DG Kernel is free to use for individuals, small businesses and non-commercial organizations.

Digital Geometry versus CAD

By Digital Geometry DInsight means computer–generated geometry. In other words, Digital Geometry is programmable CAD. Historically the CAD term has been used for any 3D model representations. In many situations Computer Aided Design term becomes misleading. In traditional CAD 3D model is the objective. In Digital Geometry 3D objects are an intermediate step for calculations or simulations. Traditional CAD means computer-assisted, but mostly manual work, which significantly depends on the human (designer). However, in many situations, like tool-making by CNC machining, the final surface is not known in advance because of the complicated movement. Objects created this way, are not designable in principle. Another example is a geometry obtained with complicated algorithms simulating and/or optimizing technological processes.

Supported Formats

* MDG (native) * GLM (native) * DWG *

DXF AutoCAD DXF (Drawing Interchange Format, or Drawing Exchange Format) is a CAD data file format developed by Autodesk for enabling data interoperability between AutoCAD and other programs. DXF was introduced in December 1982 as part of AutoCAD ...

STEP Step(s) or STEP may refer to: Common meanings * Stairs#Step, Steps, making a staircase * Walking * Dance move * Military step, or march ** Marching Arts Films and television * Steps (TV series), ''Steps'' (TV series), Hong Kong * Step (film), ' ...

* IGES * SAT * OBJ * VRML *

STL STL may refer to: Communications * Standard telegraph level *Studio/transmitter link International law *Special Tribunal for Lebanon The Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), also referred to as the Lebanon Tribunal or the Hariri Tribunal, is a ...

* CSFDB * BREP * CSV * XYZ

External links

* * {{CAD software

References

CAD file formats Computer-aided design software