Roadmap ODA MCAD: Open Infrastructure for Mechanical CAD Interoperability
Mechanical CAD data is everywhere — SolidWorks assemblies, CATIA parts, Inventor drawings, JT files, STEP and IGES archives. And for most organizations, working with this data means one thing: complexity. Proprietary formats, vendor dependencies, conversion losses, and tools that stop working the moment a software vendor changes its licensing model.
ODA MCAD is open infrastructure that changes this. A vendor-neutral layer that gives you direct access to engineering data across all major MCAD formats — B-Rep geometry, assembly structure, PMI, and metadata — through a single API, without conversion steps or proprietary dependencies.
The roadmap: what's been built and what's coming
ODA MCAD has been expanding rapidly, with a clear goal: comprehensive coverage of the MCAD landscape through a single, consistent API.
Released in 2025:
SolidWorks — June 2025. Native access including B-Rep geometry, assembly structure, and PMI.
InvInterop (Autodesk Inventor) — November 2025. Full support for IPT, IAM, and IDW files from versions 2022–2026, including ACIS 3D data and document properties.
QIF and IGES — full releases December 2025, covering neutral format exchange and legacy data access.
Coming in 2026:
JT — May. The ISO-standardized lightweight format widely used in automotive and aerospace for visualization and data exchange.
Creo — June. PTC's flagship MCAD system, widely used in manufacturing and defense.
CATIA — beta July. One of the most technically complex formats in the industry — CATIA uses Dassault's proprietary CGM kernel with no external SDK. ODA built its own binary stream reader from the ground up.
Rhino — July. Expanding coverage into industrial design and architecture workflows.
ACIS, Parasolid, NX — December. The geometric kernels that power most of the MCAD industry. Direct kernel access means deeper geometry fidelity across all formats built on these engines.
On the roadmap for 2027:
SolidEdge and Pro/E — December. Completing coverage of the major MCAD platforms.
Each format addition follows the same principle: native access, consistent data model, one API. No additional conversion required.
See it in practice
On March 19, Sergei Vishnevetsky, Director of Development at ODA, is hosting a free live session on MCAD interoperability as part of ODA DevConnect'26. He'll walk through how the infrastructure works, what's new, and answer your questions directly.
Free. Live. https://www.opendesign.com/support
