HOOPS Visualize HPS Public Roadmap

Last update: 08 Jul 2021

This page provides you with some insights about the HOOPS Visualize roadmap. If you are interested in providing input or collaborating on any of the projects below, please contact HOOPS Visualize's Product Manager or Tech Soft 3D support.

Release Plan

HOOPS Visualize release schedule consists in a major release and two service packs per year.

Minor updates might be released in between according to needs:

• Fix regressions or high priority issues

• Deliver updated formats to reduce availability delays

Release Schedule

Provisional dates – Subject to change

Format Updates Plan

Provisional plan – Subject to change

Short-term projects

Projects planned to be delivered in next release (next 4 months)

• IFC Improvements (through Exchange Sprocket)

  • Support of additional classes and information that will help model analysis and querying. This will include both the semantic information and being able to display the relationships graphically.

    • Spatial relationships: Project, Site, Building, Story, Spaces, Walls.

    • New classes: Openings.

    • Optimizations for Pipes and Beams

• Support and display of Mates (through Exchange Sprocket)

  • This project will focus on delivering support of the CATIA V5 mates to help applications in Manufacturing simulation, Robotic, Kinematics Analysis and more generate a kinematics model of the assembly.

  • Mates will be supported both semantically and graphically.

  • Note that the support of Mates for other formats might be considered in future release cycles.

• Improved performance of text

  • Models which include many text geometries(such as seen in PP&M models) can see a negative performance hit. This project is designed to allow Visualize to use hardware acceleration on text entities.

• New platform: Support of Apple Silicon platform

  • HOOPS Visualize will be ported to Apple's new ARM64 architecture. This is critical for partners using HOOPS Visualize with toolkits such as Electron, delivering a more native application experience (rather than web based).

  • Beta support was already provided with HOOPS Visualize 2021.

• Android AR Sandbox Improvements

  • The Android sandbox will have its AR Core version updated, and include the ability to approximate the Visualize model lighting to the real world environment.

• Parasolid Sprocket for Android

  • As Siemens has now released Parasolid for Android, Visualize will port the existing Parasolid sprocket to Android.

Mid-term projects

Planned or on-going projects that might be delivered mid-term (in one or two releases) – After 4 months / before 12 months

• Metal driver for MacOS and iOS

  • We are developing a new native Metal driver for use on MacOS and iOS. This is to protect our partners shipping on these platforms in case Apple removes OpenGL support.

• Improved performance for large models

  • This project will focus on improving frames per second performance when working with large models, or data sets comprised of many files. Examples include BIM federation workflows and Digital Factory simulations.

• PBR output through Exchange sprocket

  • The Exchange Sprocket will be updated to offer the ability to take a HOOPS Visualize model and export it to GLTF through HOOPS Exchange.

• PBR improvements

  • Several improvements are planned for PBR in Visualize. This includes better support for environment mapping, image based lighting, and rendering which more closely matches what is coming in HOOPS Communicator. Finally we will add a mechanism to allow non-PBR models (such as CAD models) to be displayed in a PBR mode, providing higher quality renderings without having to re-author all data in a PBR application.

• HoloLens 2 support

  • Support for HoloLens 2 will be added. This will include being able to render models to the HL2's view, but also provide a small set of example operators for the new user interface.

Long-term projects

Longer term projects we are considering

• Client-side Collision Detection

  • While HOOPS Exchange licensees can use an integration between Visualize and Exchange to check for collisions, this is not designed for interactivity. This project would aim to have collision detection performed on the client-side without reliance on Exchange.

• Add support for implicit modeling

  • The generative design market is pushing the boundaries of what can be manufactured. However since they do not typically use standard BRep / single body mesh forms HOOPS Visualize cannot display these models efficiently. This project will be to investigate what changes would be required to make it easier for generative design applications to use HOOPS Visualize.

• Investigate adding custom shader support to HOOPS Visualize

  • Currently, Visualize does not support custom shaders. This project would aim to expose the ability to insert your own shaders into Visualize's web viewer.

• Investigate integration with Ceetron Desktop Components and Visualize

  • As part of the acquisition of Ceetron, we will investigate migrating their native CAE system to HOOPS Visualize.