Legacy data can be an asset or a liability, and managing it properly is important. For the U.S. Navy, the backlog of manual drawings was becoming a serious problem with respect to logistic support, as most engineering projects involved incremental changes to, or the re-use of, components in existing designs. Without technology to convert raster drawings to 3D product data models, this situation persisted for some time as over 50% of the new drawings were still being produced on paper. In an effort to find a solution to this dilemma, the Navy sought the help of KBSI. The result was the KBSI project entitled Raster 2D to 3D Drawing (R2 3D).

The R2 3D prototype was developed to demonstrate the feasibility of delivering inexpensive 3D equipment models. This demonstration prototype was built using a COTS raster editor, COTS raster to vector conversion, COTS CAD software components, and R2 3D developed 3D model generation technology integrated into a session manager.

The overall concept of the R2 3D project was to deliver an inexpensive solution for creating 3D solid models from raster drawings. The complete R2 3D technology can be characterized into five major functional components: (1) Data Retrieval/Storage, (2) Image Processing, (3) Vectorization, (4) Semantic Interpretation, (5) Projection Construction, and (6) 3D Solid Recovery.

R2 3D technology solved the problem of how to reuse the huge archives of existing legacy engineering drawings by providing a standard source of 3D product models to various applications such as virtual prototyping, simulation-based design, virtual reality training/maintenance, automated technical orders, etc.

The primary benefit of R2 3D technology is the cost effective conversion of engineering drawings to computer processable 3D product data descriptions. The availability of 3D product data drives down procurement and maintenance costs by enabling reverse engineering, re-engineering, competitive reprocurement, re-design of manufacturing processes, and 3D virtual simulation of operation and maintenance.