Building Blox is Spatial Technologies' first effort at exposing ACIS technology as an ActiveX component, providing a subset of ACIS features focused on model query and viewing: analytic primitives and simple Boolean operations; there is no blending, sweeping, spline surface creation, etc. Introductory price is US$249 per developer seat; price will increase to US$750 - US$1,000 "soon."
In the future, Spatial plans to expand its functionality. However, it will be some time before the functionality of Building Blox and related products 'closes the gap' with full-blown ACIS. As the gap closes, the price increases. In the meantime, Building Blox provides a perfect compliment for ACIS, by providing developers with a low-cost way to strengthen the acceptance of ACIS-enabled models and modeling applications in the market. Spatial says it is committed to preserving customers' investment in ACIS. At the same time, it plans to make ACIS technology easier to use and partially accessible to a much broader audience, thereby strengthening its position as a reliable standard for 3D software development. More info from Arlene Moskowitz.
Microsoft's Internet Information Server v3.0 contains a new feature called "Active Server Pages," previously code-named Denali, which 'Windows NT' magazine (Jan'97) warns you should avoid because it generates temporary URLs. The magazine gives an example:
While surfing the Microsoft Web site, you come across a printer driver that you know a friend has been looking for. You copy the URL and email it to your friend. When the friend uses the URL to download the driver, he gets an error message. That's because Active Server Pages use HTML, scripts, and components to generate Web pages on-the-fly: the URL displayed by your browser was only in effect for you when the Microsoft Web site generated that page. More info at http://www.winntmag.com
The 5th annual Autodesk University conference and exhibition will be held October 5-9, 1997, at the Los Angeles Convention Center. If you are interested in presenting, please submit:
Deadline for proposals is February 15, 1997. Email to Greg Robinson .
Apple: Through Apple's new MPEG extension to QuickTime, you now get VHS-quality, full-screen video, and CD-quality as a synchronized data type in the QuickTime architecture. Available immediately for use with QuickTime 2.5 from http://quicktime.apple.com
Frantic Software: SATViewerGL v1.1 is an OpenGL-based viewer for ACIS SAT files and VRML files. New versions provides real-time spinning of smooth-shaded views using OpenGL technology. SATViewerGL provides a set of operations to query the geometry of the models and to perform consistency checking. Introductory price is US$299. More info at http://id.wing.net/~frantic/
GPS/GIS 1997 Conference: 7th Annual Conference focuses on the re-engineering processes that organizations are undertaking to create and maintain accurate spatial databases. May 13-16, 1997, Annapolis Marriott Conference Center. Friday features a day-long Boat Mapping Expedition on the Chesapeake Bay led by Dr. Stephen Leatherman, director of the University of Maryland Laboratory for Coastal Research. More info from http://www.georesearch.com/confer.html.
Informatica: Convert drawings directly between HP ME10 CAD files and AutoCAD R12/R13 DWG with CAME (convert AutoCAD to ME10) and CMEA (convert ME10 to AutoCAD). More info from qsinf@connet.it, fax Italy 0039-521-959399 or phone 0039- 521-959363.
ParaGraph International: 1996 sales of more than 150,000 units of its Virtual Home Space Builder software for creating 3D Internet Web sites, so Paragraph is calling VHSB a best seller. US$49.95 from +1 (800) 810-0055 or http://www.paragraph.com
SoftSource: Vdraft Internet Tools v1.3 lets Netscape Navigator display DWG, DXF, and SVF (simple vector format) files on the Web. Free copies available at http://www.softsource.com/
3Dlabs: Silicon Graphics' Cosmo Player software will be bundled with 3Dlabs' PERMEDIA and GLINT 3D graphics processors. More info at http://www.3dlabs.com
While some programmers are busy fretting over the Year 2000 Problem, others are busy misunderstanding it. We know of a distant relative who thinks everyone in the world will have to buy a new computer in the year 2000 :<
Mac users will have to give up their machines 43 years from this week. More specifically, February 6, 2040, at 6:28 a.m. That's because the Mac OS uses a long word to store the number of seconds from January 1, 1904. The US Robotics Pilot starts its calendar the same date in 1904 but users are limited to planning ahead to December 31, 2031.
PPTP -- "point to point tunneling protocol"
L2TP -- "layer 2 tunneling protocol"
VPN -- virtual private network
Tunneling -- a method for securely sending private data across the public Internet, in effect creating a VPN.
Q: Can we define the center of the dialog box in AutoCAD? Else, can it be located? If yes, how? Please suggest any other method you might have to do the same. -- Sachin <svc@geocities.com>
A: By default, the dialog box always comes up in the center of the current AutoCAD window (unless specified otherwise). The size (in pixels) of the current AutoCAD Graphics window is reported by the SCREENSIZE system variable, as follows:
Command: screensize SCREENSIZE = 712.0000,244.0000 (read only)
As an alternative, try these ADS functions:
"Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is
right."
-- Isaac Asimov in the 'Foundation" series.