3MF Consortium Welcomes Altair as New Steering Member « Fabbaloo

The 3MF Consortium announced they’ve added a new Steering Member: Altair.

The consortium is a non-profit industry organization that promotes the use of 3MF file format standards among companies. 3MF is a vastly superior format than the aging STL standard, but it has not quite yet taken over general use by the industry.

The 3MF Consortium offers two levels of membership: Steering and Associate.

The Steering Members get a seat at the table and are deeply involved in 3MF, while the associate members gain early access to specification changes and other benefits. There are currently over twenty associate members, including Mimaki, Oqton, Authentic, XYZ Printing, Hypersonic, Additive Industries and many more.

The list of Steering Members is an impressive group of key players in the 3D print industry:

• Microsoft
• HP
• Materialise
• Autodesk
• Hexagon
• EOS
• 3D Systms
• Dassault Systèmes
• nTopology
• PTC
• Siemens
• Nikon SLM Solutions
• Stratasys
• UltiMaker
• Viacccess.orca

And now, Altair.

The consortium explained the company and their importance as a member:

“In the ever-evolving landscape of additive manufacturing and data-driven design, the 3MF Consortium is proud to welcome Altair as its newest Steering Member. Altair’s rich history, dating back to its founding, has consistently positioned them at the forefront of innovation in engineering, with a strong emphasis on simulation-driven design and topology optimization. This strategic alliance marks a significant milestone in the ongoing journey to enhance how 3MF is utilized to communicate critical additive manufacturing data.

Altair’s journey began in 1985, at a time when the engineering industry was just beginning to grasp the potential of simulation-driven design. From its inception, Altair recognized the power of leveraging data to inform engineering decisions. They became pioneers in introducing simulation as a core element of the design process, setting the stage for an industry-wide paradigm shift.

Altair’s relentless commitment to pushing the boundaries of engineering was further exemplified through their pioneering work in topology optimization. Long before the term became a buzzword, Altair was applying cutting-edge algorithms to optimize designs for weight, strength, and material usage. Their innovations laid the foundation for a new era of efficient, data-driven design.

With Altair’s extensive background in data-driven design and simulation, their partnership with the 3MF Consortium couldn’t be more fitting.”

My hope is two-fold.

First, more companies should join the consortium to demonstrate their support for 3MF, and secondly those that do not join the consortium should adopt 3MF anyway.

My spies tell me there are more notable companies working with the consortium on membership that may be announced in coming weeks.

Via 3MF Consortium