Products & Services
Changing the way we think about Circuits
PREVIEW is a premium software package designed to reduce PCB costs and development time. As a physics-based modeling-and-simulation platform, the value of such a tool ultimately lies in its ability to complete analysis and test iterations virtually, thus reducing time expended and money spent.

PREVIEW enables printed circuit board designers to assess design shortcomings based on virtual analysis prior to production. This toolkit includes a platform for coordinating 1) system visualization, 2) system and component data as well as external analysis results, and 3) physics-based analysis capabilities.
PREVIEW will be useful not just to highly technical analysts, but more importantly to program managers and hardware engineers. This versatility stems from the focus on ease of use, visualization, and system integration, with the following specific capabilities:
Visualization:
- Intuitive 3D environment
- Import from STEP: AP203, AP210, AP214, connectivity, text, shapes, copper, and more
- Visualize integrated form fit
- Visualize PCBs, including Layers, Traces, Pads, Vias
- Visualize PCAs, including components, connectors, etc.
- Display boards in an expanded layer view
- Visualize connections by tracing through networks
Platform for Data Coordination:
- Automatically search and display parts
- Visualize component data with graphical feedback
- Replace/exchange parts based on specs and criteria
Platform for Physics-Based Testing:
- Virtual multi-meter
- Upstream package-analysis studies
- Integrate with thermal and EMI/EMF software
- Component- and system-reliability analysis
Preview Viewer
The foundation of PREVIEW’s capabilities is PREVIEW Viewer, VSE’s simple and easy-to-use product for visualizing and manipulating STEP files.
A key novelty of PREVIEW is not only in providing a variety of new capabilities, but also in a generalized approach to communication between a central interface and external software systems or databases that house information regarding geometry, component specifications, and board specifications. In order to provide an open solution, PREVIEW leverages the STEP protocol, which is a common and extensive protocol for archiving and visualizing a variety of types of data, including all elements of PCBs and PCAs.
- Standard for the exchange of product model data
- Integral part of model-based engineering
- The primary neutral file format for distributing and reusing models
- Inherently help solve the problem of data incompatibility
Read, visualize, and manipulate piece part and assembly STEP files:
- AP 203 (mechanical)
- AP 210 (electrical)
- AP 210 packages
- AP 210 seating planes
- AP 210 connectors
- AP 214 (mechanical)
- AP 242
- Connectivity (for single- and multi-board systems)
- Assembly mating
- Text
- All shapes
- All copper components
and more…
Custom Software Development
Despite the value of VSE’s current software products, we recognize that our customer’s success depends on our willingness to address their unique challenges. Thus, by leveraging our team’s flexibility and our software’s modular software structure, we are able to develop and integrate novel capabilities that respond directly to ever-changing customer needs as technology evolves.