Shape Data Limited

Shape Data Limited is a computer software company in Cambridge, England that specializes in developing programs for engineering and manufacturing professionals.

Established in 1974 by several doctoral students of the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory, the company was a pioneer in computer graphics with early industry advances in solid modeling design and boundary representation. The company revolutionized the computer aided design (CAD) industry in the 1970s and 1980s, by creating and commercializing the solid modeling software market in 1978. The use of solid modeling techniques allows for the automation of several difficult engineering calculations that are carried out as a part of Shape Data's software programs, including simulation, planning, and verification of design processes of three dimensional objects. Shape Data released a series of products that helped create the foundations of computer aided design programming, namely Romulus, Romulus-D, Parasolid, and the Unigraphics Solids programs. The Parasolid program remains an industry standard for engineering departments and companies, in the design of manufacturing products from small scale tools and equipment to automobiles and airplanes.

Shape Data was sold several times to large multinational companies in the information technology industry. As of 2016-03 the company was a subsidiary of Siemens AG.

Shape Data was founded in 1974 by Doctors Charles Lang, Ian Braid, Alan Grayer, and Peter Veenman. Veenman became the sole employee of the company at the time of its founding, while Lang, Braid, and Grayer initially continued work at the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory. All four founders were doctoral students at the University of Cambridge. In 1965, Professor Maurice Wilkes and his graduate student Lang established the Computer Aided Design Group at the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory. The initial purpose of the research group was to develop tools for building mechanical CAD/CAM systems. In particular, the group worked to engineer early forms of computational geometry, computer graphics, and software system components.

Early revenue for Shape Data came from business-to-business consultancies. In 1975, the company was contracted by the General Electric Company to develop a solid modeler based on the computational geometric work of Ian Braid's Ph.D thesis. In 1978, after three years of development, Shape Data released Romulus, the world's first commercialized solid geometric modeler software program.