VIZid Bridge Service (advanced)

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The VIZid Bridge relaying between a CAD session and VIZid Suite.

The VIZid Bridge normally runs inside VIZid Suite: the add-on hosts the server and the CAD plug-in connects to it directly. That works, but it ties the link to the Blender session – close or restart VIZid Suite and the CAD plug-in loses its peer, so the live sync drops and the CAD side has to reconnect.

The VIZid Bridge service (vizid-livelink) is an optional standalone relay that removes that coupling. It sits between the CAD plug-in and the add-on, holds the CAD connection open, and buffers updates while VIZid Suite is away, so a Blender restart no longer drops the live sync. The CAD plug-in stays connected throughout, and VIZid Suite catches up the moment it reconnects.

Note

The CAD plug-ins are unchanged. The relay speaks exactly the wire protocol the Creo and SOLIDWORKS plug-ins already use and forwards every message verbatim, so the plug-in connects exactly as it does to VIZid Suite today – the same address, the same port, no plug-in changes.

How It Works

With the service running, the connection is in two halves:

  • The CAD plug-in connects to the relay’s CAD listener instead of to VIZid Suite – same plain-TCP protocol and, by default, the same port (8765).

  • The add-on connects to the relay’s bridge listener as a client, rather than hosting its own server.

Because the relay keeps the CAD connection open and buffers updates while VIZid Suite is disconnected, the live sync survives a Blender restart. A full scene update collapses any older buffered scene (the latest authoritative scene wins), later changes queue in order, and on reconnect the add-on receives the buffered scene followed by the pending updates before live forwarding resumes. Replies from VIZid Suite back to the CAD tool are forwarded straight through while the CAD session is connected.

Running the Service

The relay is a single console-free executable. Run it on the machine that the CAD plug-in points at – typically the same workstation as VIZid Suite, or a small always-on host:

vizid-livelink.exe -cad-addr 127.0.0.1:8765 -bridge-addr 127.0.0.1:8766
-cad-addr

The address the CAD plug-in connects to. Plain TCP; keep it on the plug-in’s configured port (default 8765) so the plug-in needs no change. The default is 127.0.0.1:8765 (loopback only – see the security note below).

-bridge-addr

The address the add-on connects to, as a bridge client. The default is 127.0.0.1:8766 (loopback only). Bind a routable address here if VIZid Suite runs on a different machine from the relay.

The process logs a periodic status line (the CAD and bridge addresses, forwarded frame counts each way, and the buffered-frame count) and shuts down cleanly, so it can be wrapped as a Windows service to be ready before either Creo or VIZid Suite starts.

Security

The CAD VIZid Bridge protocol is unauthenticated – it is identical to the server embedded in VIZid Suite, which only ever listens on loopback. Both -cad-addr and -bridge-addr therefore default to 127.0.0.1, and anyone who can reach the CAD port can push scene data to VIZid Suite.

Warning

Bind -cad-addr to a non-loopback address (for example 0.0.0.0:8765) only when the CAD seat runs on a different host than the relay, and only on a trusted, firewalled network – ideally a VPN. The relay logs a startup security warning whenever -cad-addr is not loopback. Never expose the CAD port on an open network.

Enabling It in the Add-on

Reference

Editor:

Preferences

Panel:

Add-ons ‣ VIZid Mesh

Point VIZid Suite at the relay instead of hosting its own server:

  1. Open Edit ‣ Preferences ‣ Add-ons ‣ VIZid Mesh.

  2. Enable Use VIZid Flow VIZid Bridge service.

  3. Set the bridge host and bridge port to the relay’s -bridge-addr (127.0.0.1 and 8766 by default).

With the service enabled, the add-on connects to the relay as a client rather than opening the in-app server; the VIZid Bridge panel otherwise behaves as before. Point the Creo or SOLIDWORKS plug-in at the machine running the relay on its CAD port (8765 by default), exactly as it points at VIZid Suite today.

Leave the option off to use the built-in server (the default). The service is purely optional: it is worth running when the live sync must outlast Blender restarts or when the CAD machine and VIZid Suite are on separate hosts.