AI company Altair acquires U.K. developer of additive manufacturing design software

Altair, a global company based in Troy, Mich., that provides businesses with software, artificial-intelligence, and cloud solutions, has acquired Gen3D, a U.K. startup that develops software for designing lattice structures and other highly complex additive geometries.

Gen3D’s technology uses next-generation implicit-modeling techniques to rapidly create complex geometries not practical with traditional BREP (boundary representation) solid approaches. According to Altair, the software allows components to be designed simply by specifying the functional requirements for the part, such as loads, holes for fastening, keep-out zones, and ducts for fluid flow. Plus, the software automatically filters out component geometries that are likely to cause downstream manufacturing issues.

The Gen3D technology will be integrated into Altair Inspire, an intuitive family of software products that enables simulation-driven design throughout the entire product development lifecycle.