Balloon 2D

Balloon 2D helps quality and manufacturing teams quickly turn 2D engineering drawings into digital, inspection-ready data. It automatically extracts dimensions, tolerances, and annotations, creates ballooned characteristics, and generates inspection reports in minutes.

By eliminating manual ballooning and data entry, Balloon 2D reduces errors, saves time, and streamlines FAI, PPAP, and quality inspection processes.

Setting up the Drawing Grid

Take full control of your drawings with flexible grid mapping. MBDVidia automatically detects and applies grid locations, ensuring every characteristic is accurately referenced throughout the Bill of Characteristics (BoC) and inspection reports. For unique drawing requirements, the grid can be easily adjusted to match your workflow, delivering precise traceability, clearer communication, and greater confidence in every inspection.

Additional information about the setting up the drawing grid can be found in our article📄Setting up the Drawing Grid

Setting Up the External Area

Maximize accuracy with intelligent External Area settings. MBDVidia automatically identifies regions that might not be of interest on the drawing, helping OCR stay focused on critical engineering data instead of elements such as grid markers or other reference areas.

Easily modify detected regions or create new External Areas to match your drawing requirements. The result is cleaner data capture, fewer unwanted characteristics, and more reliable inspection-ready results.

Additional information about the setting up external area can be found in our article📄Setting up the External Area

Setting Up Drawing Views

Unlock more advanced ballooning and reporting capabilities with Drawing Views. MBDVidia automatically detects individual drawing views, making it easy to apply view-specific ballooning schemes and generate clearer, more organized inspection documentation.

You can also export drawing view screenshots directly into Excel reports, providing visual context that enhances communication and simplifies review. Drawing Views can be easily edited to match your exact requirements.

Additional information about the setting up drawing views can be found in our article📄Setting up Drawing Views

Auto-Balloon the Title Block

Automatically extract information from the title block and gather valuable drawing metadata such as the drawing type, current tolerancing standard, and much more. This information is organized into a structured, table-like format, making it easier to review, manage, and use throughout your quality and inspection processes.

Additional information about auto-ballooning the title block can be found in our article📄Auto-Balloon the Title block

Ballooning Schema

MBDVidia gives you complete control over how balloon numbers are organized. Choose from multiple ballooning schemas, automatically manage sub-requirements, and apply custom prefixes to match your company standards and reporting needs.

Whether you're following internal procedures or customer-specific requirements, MBDVidia helps you create clear, consistent, and easy-to-navigate ballooning structures.

Additional information about Ballooning options can be found in our article 📄 Ballooning Schema

Auto-Balloon the Drawing

Bring your drawings to life with MBDVidia's powerful Auto-Ballooning capability. Automatically transform static engineering drawings into inspection-ready documents with speed and accuracy.

Whether you need to balloon a single page, an entire drawing package, or a selected page range, MBDVidia gives you the flexibility to work your way. You can even target specific areas such as the title block, family table, bill of materials (BOM), and general notes, ensuring the right information is captured exactly where you need it.

Additional information about Auto-ballooning can be found in our article📄 Auto-Ballooning the Drawing

Edit and Approve Captured Annotations

After capturing your drawing annotations, MBDVidia guides you through a simple review process where each detected annotation can be verified and approved. If OCR has misinterpreted any information, you can quickly make corrections using the OCR and Edit panel.

This validation step helps ensure your data is accurate, complete, and ready for downstream quality and inspection processes.

Additional information about Editing and approving can be found in our article📄 Edit and Approve Captured Annotations

Add New Annotations to the BOC

MBDVidia makes it simple to add, edit, and manage annotations digitally, keeping all your inspection and quality information organized in one place. Stay flexible, maintain traceability, and ensure your drawing always reflects the latest requirements without manual markups or paper-based updates.

Additional information about Editing and approving can be found in our article📄 Add New Annotations to the BOC

External Specifications

Not all requirements live on the drawing. With MBDVidia, you can easily import specifications from external documents and customer requirements then balloon and manage them just like drawing annotations. By linking external requirements directly to your FAIR package, you ensure all critical characteristics are captured, tracked, and documented in one complete inspection record.

Additional information about External specification can be found in our article📄 External Specification

Publish Ballooned PDF

Once your ballooning is complete, MBDVidia makes it easy to publish and share your results. Save your drawing as a PDF with all balloons preserved exactly as you've positioned them, ensuring a clear, professional, and inspection-ready document.

This allows teams, customers, and suppliers to review the final ballooned drawing with complete clarity and consistency.

Additional information about exporting ballooned PDF can be found in our article📄 Publish Ballooned PDF

Publish Excel Reports

With your ballooned drawing complete, MBDVidia makes it easy to create inspection reports in just a few clicks. Choose from industry-standard formats such as ISIR and AS9102 or use your organization's custom report template to meet specific customer and quality requirements.

You can include measurement results directly in the report and seamlessly import updated results back into MBDVidia, helping keep your inspection data accurate, connected, and easy to manage throughout the quality process.

Additional information about Exporting excel report can be found in our article📄 Publish Excel Reports

Publish to Net Inspect

MBDVidia makes collaboration effortless with one-click publishing of your ballooned drawings and FAIR packages directly to Net-Inspect. You can also import inspection data and results back into MBDVidia, keeping your quality information connected, synchronized, and easy to manage throughout the inspection process.

Additional information about Net Inspect options can be found in our article📄 Publish to Net-Inspect

Update by Revision

Engineering changes happen, but that doesn't mean you have to start your inspection process from scratch. With Update by Revision, MBDVidia intelligently carries existing balloon numbers from a previous drawing revision to the updated version, automatically matching corresponding annotations where possible.

This helps you maintain consistency between revisions, reduce rework, and generate updated FAIR packages faster, saving valuable time while preserving traceability throughout the revision process.

Additional information about Net Inspect options can be found in our article📄 Update by Revision

Drawing Comparison

MBDVidia's drawing comparison capability automatically analyzes two PDF drawings and generates a detailed report highlighting all detected differences.

Instead of manually reviewing every page, you can instantly identify revisions, verify changes, and focus on the updates that matter most, helping you save time, reduce risk, and streamline the revision review process.

Additional information about drawing comparison can be found in our article📄 Drawing Comparison

Statistics, Charts, and SPC

Turn inspection data into actionable insights with built-in Statistics, Charts, and SPC (Statistical Process Control) capabilities. Once measurement results have been collected in the Bill of Characteristics (BoC), MBDVidia helps you analyze trends, monitor process performance, and identify potential quality issues before they become problems.

Visualize your data through clear charts and reports, gain deeper insight into process stability, and make more informed quality decisions with confidence.

Additional information about charts can be found in our article📄 Statistics, Charts, and SPC

Bill of Materials

Automatically capture parts, materials, and processes directly from engineering drawings. Review and edit recognized data as needed, then seamlessly export your BoM to AS9102 reports or Net-Inspect for streamlined reporting and compliance management.

Additional information about Bill of Materials can be found in our article📄 Bill of Materials

Measurement import

Bringing in measurement data from sources like CMM software or CSV files is an essential part of keeping your quality control workflow smooth and efficient. Whether the data comes from automated inspections or manual entries, knowing how to import it correctly helps ensure consistency, minimize errors, and make reporting much easier.

Additional information about Measurement import can be found in our article📄 Measurement import

Dual units

MBDVidia is capable of visualizing Dual Units. This allows units such as inches and millimeters to be displayed simultaneously, which is advantageous for companies operating with international customers and suppliers. The practice is particularly beneficial when manufacturing components intended for use across multiple countries that employ different measurement systems.

Additional information about dual units can be found in our article📄 Dual units in MBDVidia Balloon2D