Use CAD Models in Unity with the PiXYZ Plugin

1. Why PiXYZ?

Engineers use CAD data to maintain accuracy and quality of their BIM models. As such, importing this data into a 3D engine becomes an essential step in the 3D rendering workflow, in order to maintain data accuracy.

However, using CAD data in real-time 3D engines has traditionally been a very difficult process. Not only do certain issues arise around importing (broken UV maps, unconnected CAD patches, and readable file formats) CAD files tend to be very data-dense as well. As such, we’re forced to simplify the model in order to render it in realtime.

PiXYZ streamlines this process, by providing the tools for Unity to import, optimize, visualize and publish CAD projects.

PiXYZ delivers a solution that makes creating real-time interactive and virtual experiences based on CAD data faster and easier than ever before.

An example of a .CAT CAD car model that you will be importing into Unity.

Before the use of the PiXYZ Plugin this is a NURBS based model, and afterwards you’ll find that it is polygonal and meshed as seen above.

PiXYZ Plugin adds a menu option in the Unity editor that allows you to directly import CAD models into your project. The Plugin provides a set of dialog controls to scale, orient, repair (stitch), and tessellate your CAD model, and includes options to map UVs, control how design hierarchy is imported, and generate LODs.

In addition, the Plugin has a secret superpower – the ability to directly import CAD data into a Windows at runtime! Using the Plugin, you can publish a runtime executable from your project, and the end user can trigger the import of new CAD data.

This is especially valuable when working with constantly-changing CAD data, providing immediate update without the need to rebuild a project or create asset bundles.

2. Overview

In this tutorial we’ll introduce the PiXYZ Plugin for Unity, a tool used for importing CAD models into your Unity projects.

3. What You Will Learn

In this tutorial, you’ll manage the import of a .CATIA model using the PiXYZ Plugin.

Before:

After:

In this tutorial, you’ll import a CAD brake model into Unity, the above showcases the before optimization and the after where the brake has been added to Unity with a tessellation.

The Engine Piston Assembly you will import in the challenge tutorial.

You will learn the essentials needed to unlock your CAD data with Unity and PiXYZ. Use the PiXYZ tools to simplify and import CAD models into your Unity project.

In this tutorial, you’ll manipulate this CAD brake using PiXYZ Plugin. ​​​​​

4. How Is It Relevant To Industry?

In short, PiXYZ Studio and the PiXYZ Unity Plugin, allow the use of complicated engineering model formats in Unity, previously almost impossible to do.In the case of Architecture Pre-Visualization that means full environment house model or specific objects like furniture straight from CAD software.