Buy Ansys SpaceClaim Software

Ansys SpaceClaim

Version	Price & Buy
2025 R2	$75
2024 R1	$65
2023 R1	$60
2022 R1	$50

What Is Ansys SpaceClaim 2025?

Ansys SpaceClaim 2025 is direct modeling software that removes the complexity from 3D design work. Engineers use it to prepare geometries for simulation, recreate parts from scan data, and edit CAD files from any system without navigating feature trees or parametric constraints. The 2025 R1 release transitions to the Parasolid modeling kernel, delivering enhanced performance and improved compatibility across the Ansys ecosystem.

Unlike traditional CAD systems built for design engineers, SpaceClaim targets analysts and technical professionals who need quick 3D answers. Four core tools—Pull, Move, Fill, and Combine—handle most modeling tasks, making the software accessible to users without extensive CAD training. This simplicity accelerates workflows from concept exploration to simulation preparation, often reducing geometry preparation time from hours to minutes.

The software integrates bidirectionally with Ansys Workbench, allowing seamless transitions between geometry editing and simulation analysis. SpaceClaim 2025 opens files from all major CAD platforms, repairs problematic geometries automatically, and exports clean models ready for meshing and analysis.

Why Choose SpaceClaim for Geometry Preparation?

Time Savings in Simulation Workflows

Simulation analysts spend up to 70% of project time preparing geometries rather than running analyses. SpaceClaim eliminates this bottleneck by enabling rapid defeaturing, volume extraction, and model simplification without waiting for CAD specialists. Removing small holes, fillets, and unnecessary details becomes a matter of selecting faces and clicking—operations that take seconds instead of hours.

Automatic midsurface recognition converts solid parts into shell models optimally suited for structural analysis with shell elements. The software identifies thin-walled sections, generates middle surfaces automatically, and preserves critical geometric relationships. This capability alone can reduce analysis time by enabling coarser meshes that solve faster while maintaining accuracy.

Eliminating the Geometry Bottleneck

Engineering teams often face delays when analysts must request geometry changes from design departments. SpaceClaim empowers simulation specialists to make modifications directly, breaking down departmental silos. Adjusting wall thicknesses, creating fluid domains, or simplifying assemblies no longer requires CAD expertise or inter-department coordination.

The direct modeling approach means no feature history to manage or rebuild. Changes happen immediately at the geometric level—move a face, it moves; delete a feature, it's gone. This responsiveness keeps analysis projects on schedule and enables rapid iteration during design optimization cycles.

How Does SpaceClaim Handle Any CAD File Format?

Universal CAD Import Capabilities

SpaceClaim 2025 reads native files from SolidWorks, CATIA, NX, Creo, Inventor, and virtually every commercial CAD system. Import translators handle both current and legacy file formats, ensuring access to decades of design data. The software maintains geometric fidelity during import while automatically healing minor translation issues that cause failures in other tools.

Once imported, geometries become fully editable regardless of their origin. A complex assembly created in multiple CAD systems can be modified as a unified model without concern for which software created each component. This CAD-neutral environment facilitates collaboration across companies, departments, and global teams using different design platforms.

Cross-Department Collaboration Benefits

Manufacturing engineers often receive design files they can't edit without expensive CAD licenses. SpaceClaim provides an affordable alternative that opens, modifies, and exports geometry without requiring the original authoring software. Tooling designers can add fixture geometry, quality inspectors can create measurement features, and analysts can simplify models—all working from the same file.

The 2025 R1 release's Parasolid kernel adoption strengthens interoperability with Ansys Discovery and other Parasolid-based applications. Files move seamlessly between simulation preparation in SpaceClaim and conceptual analysis in Discovery, creating an integrated workflow for early-stage product development.

What Can You Create with SpaceClaim?

Simulation and Analysis Preparation

CFD analysts use SpaceClaim to extract fluid volumes from solid assemblies—the negative space where air or liquid flows. The Fill tool creates these volumes in seconds, automatically detecting boundaries and generating watertight enclosures. Subsequent defeaturing removes irrelevant geometric details that would create excessive mesh refinement without improving solution accuracy.

Structural analysts convert solid models to beam representations for frame and truss analysis. SpaceClaim recognizes cylindrical sections, extracts centerlines, and stores cross-sectional profiles that transfer to FEA packages. This transformation reduces model size dramatically while enabling appropriate analysis methods for long, slender components.

Reverse Engineering and Model Recreation

Manufacturers scan existing parts to create digital twins when original CAD data is lost or never existed. SpaceClaim imports STL mesh data directly and provides tools to fit surfaces, extract features, and convert scans into parametric-free solid models. Cleaning up scan artifacts—filling gaps, smoothing noise, and removing support structures—happens interactively without specialized mesh editing software.

Worn components present particular challenges since their current geometry differs from original design intent. SpaceClaim allows engineers to modify scan data, restoring ideal profiles while maintaining functional dimensions. The rebuilt model can then feed directly into manufacturing processes for replacement part production.

3D Printing and Manufacturing Optimization

Additive manufacturing requires watertight models with properly oriented surfaces. SpaceClaim's automatic repair tools fix open edges, reversed normals, and self-intersecting faces that cause print failures. The software also enables topology modifications that optimize parts for 3D printing—adding support structures, creating lattice infills, and hollowing sections to reduce material usage.

Fixture designers use SpaceClaim to wrap tooling geometry around existing parts. Starting with a product scan, engineers build clamps, jigs, and work-holding devices that conform exactly to component surfaces. This approach eliminates guesswork and trial-and-error fitting common with traditional fixture design methods.

How Does SpaceClaim Repair and Optimize Models?

Automatic Geometry Healing

Imported CAD files often contain gaps, overlaps, and discontinuities that prevent successful meshing. SpaceClaim detects these issues automatically and offers one-click repair for common problems. The software stitches surfaces within specified tolerances, extends edges to close gaps, and resolves ambiguous intersections without manual intervention.

Translation between CAD systems sometimes creates sliver faces—tiny surfaces that serve no functional purpose but complicate downstream operations. SpaceClaim's simplification algorithms remove these artifacts while preserving design intent. The result is clean geometry that meshes reliably and produces convergent simulation results.

Shell and Beam Model Extraction

Thin-walled structures like sheet metal enclosures analyze more efficiently as shell models than solid meshes. SpaceClaim's midsurface tool automatically identifies thin sections, extracts median planes, and caps openings. Users can batch-process entire assemblies, converting appropriate components to shells while leaving thick sections as solids.

For frame structures, the software traces beam centerlines through tubular sections and stores cross-sectional properties. These beam definitions export to FEA packages that apply appropriate element formulations. The dimensional reduction—from 3D solids to 1D beams—can decrease analysis runtime by orders of magnitude for suitable structures.

Who Benefits Most from SpaceClaim Direct Modeling?

Simulation analysts working in Ansys Mechanical, Fluent, or other FEA/CFD tools gain the most immediate value. These professionals need to modify geometries frequently but may lack time for traditional CAD training. Manufacturing engineers tasked with tooling design, quality professionals creating inspection fixtures, and reverse engineering specialists working with scan data all find SpaceClaim addresses their specific needs.

Product development teams that collaborate across CAD platforms use SpaceClaim as common ground. When design uses CATIA, analysis uses SolidWorks, and manufacturing uses NX, SpaceClaim provides a platform where all disciplines can contribute. The software's simplicity means occasional users remain productive without constant retraining.

How to Get Started with SpaceClaim 2025

The four core tools form SpaceClaim's foundation and handle most common tasks. Pull extrudes faces, creates revolved features, and sweeps profiles—operations that typically require separate commands in traditional CAD. Move repositions geometry freely in 3D space or precisely using constraints and dimensions.

Fill creates surfaces between boundaries, generates solid volumes, and caps openings with a single click. Combine performs Boolean operations—merging solids, subtracting volumes, and creating complex shapes from simple primitives. After understanding these four interactions, users can accomplish 80% of typical modeling work.

The 2025 R1 version installs separately from the main Ansys package as part of the product's transition toward Ansys Discovery. Configuration through Ansys CAD Configuration Manager enables SpaceClaim as a geometry editor within Workbench workflows. Files saved in previous versions open normally, though the kernel change may extend load times slightly for older documents.

Frequently Asked Questions

Direct Modeling vs. Parametric CAD Comparison

Key Benefits Summary

• Prepare simulation geometries in minutes instead of hours by eliminating feature tree navigation and CAD specialist dependencies
• Open and edit CAD files from any major system without requiring the original authoring software or expensive licenses
• Convert scan data and STL meshes directly into manufacturable solid models for reverse engineering and replacement part production
• Generate midsurface shell models and beam representations automatically, reducing analysis runtime while maintaining accuracy
• Integrate seamlessly with Ansys Workbench simulation tools through bidirectional geometry editing and the 2025 R1 Parasolid kernel
• Accomplish most modeling tasks with four intuitive tools that enable productivity within hours rather than weeks of training