Lookup — Product Data Search Utility
Role: Design & Development · Technologies: Python, PySide6, REST/HTTP APIs · Platform: Standalone desktop application
Summary
Lookup is a lightweight utility that centralizes product data lookup across multiple enterprise systems, presents only the metadata relevant to 3D workflows, and enforces consistent internal asset naming. The UI is built in PySide (PySide2/PySide6) and designed to embed in DCC hosts (Maya, Houdini, etc.) or run standalone.
Context
Product data required for 3D visualization lives across multiple systems, including a product lifecycle management (PLM) database and a separate CAD repository used for rendering. Prior to Lookup, artists and technical artists manually searched each system, copied values by hand, and relied on tribal knowledge to assemble correct asset identifiers.
Problem
- Finding the correct part required jumping between multiple internal tools and search interfaces.
- Metadata was presented in formats optimized for engineering, not visualization workflows.
- Asset naming was inconsistent, leading to duplication and downstream automation issues.
- New team members struggled to learn which fields mattered and how they should be combined.
Solution
Lookup consolidates the most common lookup and validation tasks into a single, focused interface. Rather than exposing entire enterprise schemas, the tool surfaces only the fields required for visualization and pipeline automation.
- Unified search across PLM using part number, type, brand code, or description.
- Condensed metadata view tailored to visualization and asset ingestion needs.
- Automated check against the CAD repository to confirm render-ready data availability.
- Deterministic generation of standardized internal asset names with one-click copy.
Implementation Notes
- Built as a standalone PySide6 application so artists can use it without a DCC session running, and it can also run inside supported DCCs.
- UI, data access, and formatting logic are explicitly separated to keep the tool maintainable.
- Uses small, focused service classes to communicate with PLM and CAD systems via HTTP APIs.
- Explicit data contracts isolate upstream schema changes from the UI.
- Designed to degrade gracefully when individual systems are temporarily unavailable.
Impact
- Reduced the time required to locate correct part data before starting 3D work.
- Improved consistency of internal asset names, simplifying downstream automation.
- Lowered onboarding friction by providing a single source of truth for part lookups.
- Established a foundation for reuse across other internal pipeline tools.