45 years is a good age for a company. For its anniversary, Aveva is launching a new version of its PDMS plant design solution, combining innovation and continuity for a community of users who are not inclined to technological breakthroughs.

A company of engineers serving engineers

Everything3D (E3D) is the new face of PDMS, the plant design software developed by Aveva. The editor's flagship tool needed a serious facelift to bring it up to market standards. But it was a gentle facelift, as CTO Dave Wheeldon explains, "It's about innovation without technological disruption. Our customers need to maintain full data compatibility from one version to the next. They also need to be able to customise their solutions, integrate their own developments or off-the-shelf software, without calling in IT specialists. This is why the software is always based on the same proprietary database and design mechanisms. This is a must in an industry where projects are constantly growing in size and where the development time can be several years.

This is an obligation in an industry where projects are constantly growing in size and where the development time can be several years.

So, how does this change in continuity translate? During the presentation of its new software to the press, the editor remained particularly vague about the new features introduced in "E3D". It was the concept of "Lean" that was emphasised, with the corollary of the need for work teams to be able to communicate information on the progress of projects with each other, and this from anywhere in the world. Dave Wheeldon says, "It's about responding to three major trends that we're seeing with our customers, plant designers and operators, ship designers: the widespread use of cheap 3D acquisition systems, mobile computing and cloud computing. Techniques that allow operators on construction sites to send crucial information back to the design teams in real time via updates and laser-scanned data, allowing corrective action to be taken without running out of time. "We can add a sociological trend: the new expectations of young engineers with regard to the IT tools of their daily lives, more fun, ease of use and responsiveness," continues Dave Wheeldon.

Cloud, mobility and point cloud

On a practical level, we were able to glean some information. First and foremost, the software retains its relational database architecture, a provision that allows it to handle large projects with multiple stakeholders. To facilitate the use of point clouds used for maintenance or revamping operations, E3D has new as-design/as-built comparison tools. For example, Bubble View allows you to position yourself at a precise point in the model to visualise the point cloud with a high degree of precision, without necessarily using a specific point cloud processing tool. The point cloud can also be used for clash detection.

To facilitate collaborative work, the network aspect, check-in/check-out, caching of data on workstations, etc. have been optimised. Engineers can thus work simultaneously on the same project from different locations, with a gain in performance, but lower bandwidth. A system of tokens allows the company to use its licences as if it were an internal SaaS and therefore to distribute them dynamically according to its needs.

In terms of drawing, a major phase of development, Everything3D benefits from the integration of an AutoCAD clone and, in passing, a modern interface based on Windows 7 standards. Finally, with E3D, PDMS moves from an OpenGL graphics base to DirectX, which is more powerful.

On the cloud side, things are not set in stone. At the press conference, Aveva's technical director presented a 3D digital model of a factory on a Windows touchscreen tablet, with the possibility of moving around within it, but this was a prototype. Data hosting in the cloud? On the customer's server? Only downloaded to the tablet? Use of 4G? These are elements that will not be defined before the end of 2013 within a commercial solution. For the moment, E3D runs on the client's servers, but allows for the integration of a Cloud architecture.