LEDAS Ships Driving Dimensions Plug-in v1.2 for SketchUp

LEDAS Ltd., an independent provider of variational design tools, technology components and software development services for CAD/CAM/CAE/PLM market, today announced the availability of version 1.2 of its Driving Dimensions plug-in for Google SketchUp software. The Driving Dimensions product line from LEDAS is aimed at making advanced MCAD technology available at an affordable price to all users of popular 3D software.

Version 1.2 contains significant improvements in quality, stability, and performance. This was made possible because it is based on the next generation of LGS 3D geometric constraint solving software component recently released by LEDAS. The new version generates solutions that users would expect to see as outcomes. When users now modify the parameters of driving dimensions, most edges and faces remain unchanged; the only ones to change are those needed to satisfy the new parameter values. In addition, the time to solve constraints has been significantly reduced, with the Driving Dimensions plug-in now up to ten times faster than the previous version on large models.

A new feature in Driving Dimensions version 1.2 is multi-language support. Now all tooltips and system messages can be translated to other languages. Version 1.2 comes with English and Japanese built-in.

Google has pursued this strategy with services like Knol, SearchWiki, and various contests. And its latest gambit along these lines is Building Maker, which Google hopes to see used to add a third dimension to the mostly flat world of Google Earth.

LEDAS invites uses of the free version of Driving Dimensions to help translate the plug-in to different languages. As compensation, LEDAS will provide all collaborators with Pro licenses of the Driving Dimensions plug-in for SketchUp at no charge.

"The Driving Dimensions plug-in for SketchUp is our most popular software," said Dmitry Ushakov, Director of Product Management, LEDAS Ltd. "The free version of our plug-in has been downloaded by more than 15,000 SketchUp users worldwide since the first public beta was released a year ago. Significant feedback from users of both the free and Pro versions is allowing us to improve the quality of our software, and is giving us fresh ideas on new functions."

About Driving Dimensions Plug-In for SketchUp

LEDAS Driving Dimensions for SketchUp is a plug-in that performs parametric modifications of 3D geometric models in very simple and intuitive way. With Driving Dimensions, users can modify any dimension (length, distance, radius, or angle) in any SketchUp model with just one click. All driving dimensions set in one model are satisfied simultaneously. The simplicity of the user interface of Driving Dimensions plug-in hides a very strong set of mathematical algorithms in the field of geometric constraint solving. Parametric design has never been so easy -- even for beginners.

Version 1.2 of the Driving Dimensions plug-in is compatible with Google SketchUp 6.* and 7.1, both the free and Pro versions running on 32-bit versions Windows 2000/XP/Vista as well as on Intel-based Mac OS X 10.4 and above.