Smart3D Episode #12 — Data Creation on Steroids
Service-based Creation of 3D Data!? Go on to see if this is closer to either Rocket Science or Science Fiction…
In Episode #8 (It takes Two to Tango), we spoke about our Virtual CPQ/ERP Bridge, a secret thing, to us on the same level as the Coca-Cola recipe, google’s search algorithm, the firing order of the Ford Model T, etc.… In the pic above, you can see the bridge sub services playing all-together nicely.
On the left side, there’s the Catalog service presenting the configurable products available on the commercial system. Clicking one, creates an instance in the upper right side — the Basket. Clicking again, sets up the Configurator (lower right side) for this instance and allows you to configure the instance. There’s also some bi-directional sync between 3D selection and basket selection.
This is not just real-time preview Configuration but even real-time preview Planning, powered by whatever ERP is connected to the bridge, operating live on the database(s)!
Why is it useful to be able to add multiple configurable products side-by-side?
- You are able to trouble-shoot the inter-product rules! (see also Episodes #5 and #9).
- You may compare different products and/or configurations easily.
- You may create a little assembly and export it immediately to Blender/SketchUp, for instance (the green button on the lower left side).
So this adds real value compared to single configuration previewing… which already allows for seeing all the intra-product rules, mappings live in action, playing with the interactions and animations, etc.
BTW, isn’t it funny to see how the big fat mighty ERP system is encapsulated by those three little [technical!, not end-consumer] dialogs + one external Settings dialog? Worse than Borg-style assimilation, isn’t? You will be assimilated… hahaha… But don’t worry this is only a data-creation tool!
From the data creator’s/maintainer’s/tester’s perspective this is probably the Gold Standard for creating 3D data as add-on to existing commercial data, and the people really do love the speed and efficiency! And, by the way, this can be done without any conversion, redundancy and asynchronism, on the data side.
You have a CPQ system/service and can’t wait to get assimilated oops I mean 3D-extended? Give us a call… it’s not that much effort to do an initial integration.
