Ann Arbor (MI), May 14th, 2008. The US office of Materialise NV, world leader in software development for the Rapid Prototyping and Manufacturing (RP&M) industry, will exhibit at SME’s ‘Rapid Prototyping and Manufacturing 2008’ from May 20th to 22nd, booth 501. At the show Materialise will be presenting a range of software solutions that have been specifically developed to get the most out of a wide array of RP&M applications. One of Materialise’ latest innovations is e-Stage, of which Express Pattern recently became the first US customer.

Materialise has been exhibiting at the Rapid show since its inception in 2000. For the second consecutive year Materialise will also be holding the Annual Magics User Group the day before Rapid at the same hotel. (The Coronado Springs in Lake Buena Vista, FL on May 19th.) As an exhibitor at Rapid and with over 15 years’ experience in software development for the RP&M industry, Materialise will be showing its latest developments and innovations to the public.

One of these innovations is e-Stage, Materialise’ fully automated and revolutionary technology for support generation. e-Stage automates the work preparation process when supporting SLA parts by eliminating manual editing. The software also optimizes the build process and significantly cuts finishing time by generating its unique support structure. With e-Stage, Materialise takes a major leap forward in realizing its ambition to automate the entire RP&M process.

Express Pattern, a leading supplier of rapid prototyping and manufacturing service based in the USA, was part of the beta test of the software and recently became the first US company to buy e-Stage. “This is a more robust and faster process than we have been using all along” says David Flynn, President of Express Pattern.

More than just offering separate products for RP&M professionals, Materialise wants to offer integrated and total solutions as an answer to prevailing needs in the industry. As such, Materialise provides the RP&M industry with free software for fast .STL inspection and compression: MiniMagics. This tool gives RP&M professionals a means of easy and efficient communication with sales people, customers and people on the shop floor. Apart from viewing, measuring and analyzing parts, MiniMagics also allows users to compress .STL files up to factor 20, add annotations and make print-outs.

At Rapid 2008 Materialise will also be presenting its innovative Magics e-RP software for digital RP planning. Magics e-RP streamlines and automates the entire RP&M process, from order follow-up and data preparation, through platform scheduling and machine monitoring, to production planning and part tracking.

Join Materialise at Rapid 2008 from May 20th to 22nd at booth 501.

About Materialise

With its headquarters in Leuven, Belgium and branches all over the world, the Materialise Group is best known for its activities in the field of rapid industrial and medical prototyping. Apart from having the largest capacity of rapid prototyping equipment in Europe, Materialise enjoys a worldwide reputation as provider of innovative software solutions. As such, Materialise has acquired the position of market leader for 3D printing and Digital CAD software in addition to being a major player in medical and dental image processing and surgery simulation. Its medical and dental products are used worldwide by famous hospitals, research institutes and clinicians. The group has several subsidiaries in Europe, Asia and the USA, and employs over 600 people in its 4 divisions.

Materialise 6111 Jackson Rd., Suite 200 - Ann Arbor, MI 48103 - United States www.materialise.com - steve.griffiths@materialise.com