Draft and undercuts
The program finds the die opening direction. Moving half, fixed half, insufficient draft and undercuts coloured on the part, with the list of faces.
3D CAD viewer · Foundry Module
From STEP file to casting quote, no CAD needed.
A request for quotation arrives with a 3D model. Formavista opens it in seconds and, with the Foundry Module, tells you how much the casting weighs, where slides are needed, where shrinkage porosity will form, which press it takes and what the part costs.
Your files stay on your PC or your company server: no cloud services.
STEP, IGES, BREPand the main mesh formats, with no CAD licences
Every coremulti-threaded native engine and the graphics card: heavy assemblies in seconds
In-housedesktop app, company server from the browser, or web page: no file leaves
Viewer · free
The file nobody can open, open in an instant
Engineering, quality, purchasing, production: anyone in the company can look at the customer's model without a CAD workstation.
- Assembly tree with the attributes and product data read from the file
- Exact measurements of distances, radii, angles and centre distances on the original model
- Solid cross-sections, exploded view, saved views, hidden lines
- Bill of materials with quantities, exportable to Excel
- Print and PDF with view and bill of materials
Foundry Module
The estimator's questions, answered from the STEP file
Built for high-pressure die casting, gravity casting and moulding: the analyses that are usually the engineering department's job, ready while you read the request for quotation.
Slides and die complexity
Undercuts grouped by release direction: how many slides are needed, in which direction, and which areas call for cores or inserts.
Wall thickness and hot spots
Wall thickness at every point with the inscribed-sphere method. Walls that are too thin and heavy sections, where shrinkage porosity forms.
Press, cavities and part cost
Projected area and clamping force; the possible number of cavities on each press; part cost item by item with your company's price lists.
Tolerances from the file and machining allowance
Dimensions and geometric tolerances read from STEP AP242 identify the faces to machine: rough casting weight, machining and alloy shrinkage.
Exact weight in the chosen alloy
Volume from the solid model, not the mesh: die casting and gravity casting alloys, cast irons, steels, brasses, plastics. Weight per part and in total in the bill of materials.
One page for the quote
View of the part, bill of materials, summary of draft, wall thickness, slides and cost in a PDF to attach.
For the whole company
Three forms, the same interface
Desktop app
Windows 10 and 11. Double-click the STEP file and it opens, with the native engine using every core.
Company server
One server, every colleague from the browser. The server converts heavy models, once only.
Web page
Works without installing anything, converting files in the browser: for viewing and measuring.
Editions
Free to view, Pro to convert, Foundry to quote
| Viewer | Pro | Foundry Module | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Opens STEP, IGES, BREP and mesh formats | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Measurements, sections, exploded view, views, bill of materials, printing | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Multi-threaded native engine | ✓ | with Pro | |
| Conversion to STEP, IGES, BREP, STL, OBJ, GLB | ✓ | with Pro | |
| Native CAD formats through a converter | ✓ | with Pro | |
| Weight by alloy | ✓ | ||
| Draft, undercuts, slides | ✓ | ||
| Wall thickness and hot spots | ✓ | ||
| Clamping force, press, cavities, part cost | ✓ | ||
| Tolerances from the file, machining allowance, shrinkage | ✓ | ||
| Free | Annual subscription or perpetual licence, per PC or per server: prices on request | ||
Every installation starts with a 30-day trial with all features; after that, the free Viewer remains.
Confidentiality and IT
Your customers' drawings never leave the company
If you work under NDA or TISAX, you cannot upload models to cloud services. Formavista converts and analyses everything on the PC or the company server.
- Installs on Windows; the server runs as a Windows service, also behind IIS over HTTPS
- Licence tied to the PC or the server, installed from the app
- Guidance for antivirus, EDR and proxies in the installation guide
- Built on Open CASCADE Technology and declared open-source components, with their sources archived for every release
Frequently asked questions
Before you try it
Do I need a CAD system installed?
No. Formavista reads STEP, IGES and BREP directly with its own geometry engine, plus the main mesh formats (STL, OBJ, PLY, glTF, 3MF). Native CAD formats (Creo, CATIA, NX, SolidWorks…) open through a configured commercial converter, or by asking for the STEP file.
How reliable are weight, wall thickness and cost?
Weight is calculated from the exact volume of the solid model. Wall thickness, slides, press and cost are estimates for quoting, consistent with the price lists and parameters you enter: they show where to look and what the part is worth, and do not replace die design or casting simulation.
Are my files uploaded anywhere?
No. In the desktop app everything stays on the PC; in the server edition, on your company's server. Formavista does not use third-party cloud services.
What happens after the 30-day trial?
The program keeps working as the free Viewer: open, measure, section, print. Pro and Foundry Module features come back with a licence.
Are the drawing tolerances read?
Yes, if the STEP file is AP242 exported with semantic PMI: Formavista lists dimensions and geometric tolerances, links them to the faces and uses them to recognise the surfaces to machine.
Try Formavista on your own parts
Write to us: we will send you the installer with the 30-day trial and, if you like, show you the Foundry Module on one of your models in a video call.
info@mmsoft.it
Please include your company name and whether you are interested in the desktop app or the server edition.