2023

ProXam 2D & 3D+Q

Product Visualization

Engineered for Insight - Technology That Sees More

To ensure even more efficient collaboration with KaVo, I’ve started expanding my own pipeline into a fully automated STEP-to-USD converter, along a structure rebuilder. This system breaks down entire assemblies into individual parts and products, screenshots them, adds attributes, and publishes them into generated folders with their respective product numbers. The attributes include data such as source file, date, original shader, render shader, and similar metadata to maintain traceability.

After that, the entire USD structure is automatically rebuilt using proxy references. A proxy manager system is also created, allowing near real-time switching between high and low resolution assets. Ultimately, assemblies can be loaded into any scene, with the data hierarchy generated automatically. Another tool automatically assigns predefined shaders based on assigned strings in the render attribute (from before the publish), taking into account used textures and projections.

As a result, my tool reduces a nearly one-week workflow per asset to about half an hour, automating everything — with an exceptionally low error rate.