XirusCAD:provides a new, intuitive CAD solution for organic and freeform modeling

 

XirusCAD

 

Subdivision, bridges, Y-branches, smooth surface patches, starpoint creation with G2 or higher continuity and much more!

XirusCAD provides a new, intuitive CAD solution for organic and freeform modeling.

 

 

Instant Modeling

XirusCAD allows direct controlling-contact with shapes during the modeling process. Experience immediate responsiveness of the CAD object by simply pushing and pulling the surface, points, edges, isocurves and faces.

 

Wishful Design

XirusCAD offers unseen freedom for adding details to a 3D digital object, simulating the impression of drawing with a pencil on real paper. Only your imagination defines where your limits are.

 

Few Parameters, Exact Precision

Explore design representations with exact precision but fewer parameters: XirusCAD enables you to create with fewer design iterations to accelerate speed to market.

 

Full BRep Integration

You can apply all Rhino-NURBS commands to XirusCAD: e.g., trim, offset, filet, chamfer, sweep, object snap, and much more!

 

Hardware and software requirements

 

XirusCAD® is currently available for Windows 7, 8, 8.1 and 10.

 

Rhino 6.12 or Rhino 5 (64-bit): XirusCAD® is currently developed for Rhino 6 and Rhino 5. Note that for Rhino 6 compatibility, version 6.12 or higher needs to be installed (6.11 and previous are not compatible with XirusCAD). If you have Rhino 6 already installed and it says it’s up to date, you can manually install the update.

 

Installation

• Upon download, the installer package of XirusCAD® will be downloaded to your computer.
• Close Rhino. Double-click on the file XirusCADInstaller and it will automatically install XirusCAD® as a Rhino-plugin.
• Restart Rhino. When launching XirusCAD®, you will be asked to activate your license. Both online and offline activation is possible. Follow the instructions of the License Wizard.

 

Uninstallation

To uninstall XirusCAD®, close all Rhino applications. Then, go to Control Panel>Uninstall a program and then find the XirusCAD uninstaller on the list.

 

Technical Requirements

 

Hardware

Note: Apple hardware is supported via Bootcamp or virtualization.

• 8 GB of RAM memory (16 GB recommended).
• 100 MB of disk space
• OpenGL 4.1 capable videocard is recommended
• No more than 63 CPU cores
• Multiple-button mouse with scroll wheel is recommended

 

Operating Systems

• Windows 10 (recommended)
• Windows 8, 8.1, Windows 7

 

Internet Connection

For installation, activation and updates, internet connection is recommended but not required. All those steps can be performed offline.

 

XirusCAD Highlights

 

Subdivision

Local refinement whenever you want and wherever you need it. Add flexibility and local detail to the surface only where it is necessary in order to keep a low surface complexity. Subdivide faces, curves or edges and introduce new control points without disrupting smoothness, geometry or shape properties. XirusCAD provides a seamless integration of subdivision into the XirusCAD modeling toolset to enhance the design experience.

 

100% NURBS Compatibility

Convert your XirusCAD designs to NURBS at any moment during the modeling process. The lossless geometry conversion guarantees downstream workflow compatibility through the XirusCAD-to-NURBS conversion. Similarly, existing NURBS surfaces can be represented as XirusCAD objects.

 

Y-Branches

CAD users can be grouped into 2 categories: either they belong to the experts who know how to painfully create a smooth y-branch surface or they don’t care because they never need them. With XirusCAD you create a flexible, organic and modifiable y-branch within 30 seconds!
 

Bridges

Create smooth surface bridges between faces or quads regardless of the surface shape or topology with only a few mouse-clicks. Forget the headache about connecting cylindrical to rectangular topology: just click ‘n’ join the faces and speed up your design process!

 

Smooth Surface Patches

The powerful XirusCAD Patch command enables you to overcome topological limitations of traditional NURBS and surface modeling. It is limitless in the number of input curves or edges that it accepts and will always output the desired missing smooth surface patch. The patch command makes high-end surfacing look easy!

 

Direct Surface Control

The control points of XirusCAD objects directly lie on the surface. With XirusCAD, you can easily modify the surface exactly the way you want. You no longer need to worry about adjusting obscure NURBS weights or control points floating around in space.

 

Tangent, Curvature and Smoothness Control

XirusCAD offers decoupled and direct smoothness control: Directly manipulate tangents, tangent planes and curvatures! Enjoy the unique organic modeling freedom provided by the XirusCAD kernel. A carefully designed UX experience ensures an unmatched smoothness control.

 

Watertight Junctions (G0, G1, G2)

Easily create watertight junctions between surface patches with high smoothness. Simply select boundaries or edge segments to be joined and choose between G0, G1 or G2 junctions. Instantly, create high-end blendings and product designs that exhibit highest quality surface properties.

 

Grasshopper Compatibility

Thanks to the XirusCAD Brep compatibility you can easily input your XirusCAD designs into a Grasshopper workflow. Create complex topology and spectacular shapes with XirusCAD and use Grasshopper to build structures using XirusCAD designs as building blocks.

 

Technical Details

XirusCAD® simulates immediate responsiveness to tangents, curvature, derivatives, junctions, boundaries and smoothness and provides direct control to adjust the quality of the surface anywhere on the object. Xirus® allows the user to exactly convert the geometry to NURBS or polygons at any moment during the CAD process.

 

Mirrakoi®’s 3D geometric kernel offers unsurpassed interaction functionality with 3D digital objects during the shape modeling process. Mirrakoi®’s technology enables a superior modeling experience that results in reduced labor, time, and challenges that are encountered in today’s CAD and CAE processes.

 

Mirrakoi®’s technology is the outcome of fundamental mathematical research. It is distinguished by four key attributes:

• unprecedented interaction functionality enabled by augmented CAD
• superior geometry representation
• increased efficiency and speed when modeling digital high-quality industrial surfaces
• guaranteed interoperability with industrial standards (100% NURBS and polygon compatible).

 

Feature	XirusCAD®	NURBS	Subdivision	Polygons
Augmented access to geometry	V	X	X	X
Decoupled control of tangents, curvature & surface points	V	X	X	X
Watertight junctions	V	X	V	V
Watertight junctions with direct smoothness control	V	X	X	X
G0, G1 or G2 junctions between arbitrary parameter lines	V	X	X	X
Smooth junctions between different topologies	V	X	X	X
Watertight junctions between different number of control points	V	X	X	X
Subdivision and local refinement	V	X	V	V
Select and manipulate entire or partial parameter line	V	X	X	V
Select and manipulate faces	V	X	V	V
Maximally localized surface control (2×2 neighborhood)	V	X	X	V
Interpolating control points	V	X	X	V
Organic smooth modeling	V	V	V	X
Direct control of ‘kinkness’, ‘sharpness’, & smoothness of corners	V	X	X	X
Exact conic sections, spherers, circles, torus, ellipsoids, arcs	V	V	X	X
Exact transcendental curves (helix, cycloid, etc)	V	X	X	X
Non-rational	V	X	V	V
No weight parameters required	V	X	V	V
Surface extrusion	V	X	V	V
Surfaces of revolution, lofting, sweeping	V	V	V	V
Convert to polygons (quads & triangles)	V	V	V	V
Exact conversion to NURBS	V	V	V	X
Arbitrary topology	V	X	V	V

 

Frequently Asked Questions

 

What are the advantages of XirusCAD® compared to standard CAD?

NURBS: Standard CAD that is based on NURBS has several drawbacks which make the modeling process tedious and time-consuming. The consequences of the limitations of NURBS are non-interpolating control points, non-local refinement, non-intuitive and challenging handling of smoothness, junctions or curvature. The reason for these limitations are the underlying mathematics. XirusCAD® implements a superior digital geometry representation that has been developed specifically to overcome today’s limitations in 3D CAD.

 

Subdivision and polygons: Classical subdivision has the drawback that the control-net does not interpolate the limit surface and uv-mapping or solid modeling is more difficult than with NURBS, whereas polygon meshes do interpolate a surface but do not allow for smooth modeling.

 

Mirrakoi®’s newly developed digital geometry representation provides new powerful means for 3D CAD which simplify the task of complex 3D modeling, reduce training and learning costs, improve efficiency and accuracy during the modeling process and also allow for a superior design experience.

 

Is XirusCAD® compatible with NURBS?

Yes. XirusCAD® is 100% compatible with NURBS. A CAD object that is modeled with XirusCAD® can be converted to NURBS at any moment during the modeling process. A “NURBS-to-augmented CAD command” is also available in order to convert a NURBS object into the native XirusCAD® geometry.

 

Is XirusCAD® compatible with meshes?

Yes. XirusCAD® is 100% compatible with meshes. A CAD object that is modeled with XirusCAD® can be converted to a mesh at any moment during the modeling process.

A mesh to XirusCAD® command will be released in the near future.

 

For which Rhino versions is XirusCAD® available?

XirusCAD® is currently developed for Rhino 6 and Rhino 5. Note that for Rhino 6 compatibility, version 6.10 or higher needs to be installed (6.9 and previous are not compatible with XirusCAD). If you have Rhino 6 already installed and it says it’s up to date, you can manually install the update by downloading the installer from McNeel’s website.