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Issue #256: 3 July, 2001

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Inside this Issue

• Does CAD Degrade Drawing Quality?
• Letters from Readers
• Below the Radar, and other regular departments

Does CAD Degrade Drawing Quality?

Guest Editorial by Leo Schlosberg
Founder, Heavyware.com

I am very interested in the information flow that exists between conception and construction of commercial structures. The consensus among recipients of design drawings is that contract drawings have deteriorated in quality over the past 20 years. Virtually all specialty fabricators face the lack of qualified detailers as a core business challenge -- CAD operators are readily available, but people who understand what they draw are a different matter.

The output of designers is lines on paper that represent intent; the output of shop drawings include instructions to manufacturers and installers. The former are passed on to others in the supply chain with a warning not to trust them; the latter assume responsibility for correctness. The last decade has seen the stamps on shop drawings move from "approved" to "reviewed for conformance with general design intent [proceed at your own risk]".

As a skeptic and a former student of the sociology and history of technology, I have made the following observation: In the same period of time that CAD came to replace the pencil as the primary drawing tool, the coordination of construction drawings (which I informally measure as the coordination between the architectural drawings and the structural drawings) got worse. This is counter-intuitive. I have, however, never met anyone who argues the fact.

When I want to be provocative, I argue that we could conclude that CAD is the cause of the problem. Such a conclusion makes as much sense as believing that CAD will cause nicely integrated drawings, and has a stronger basis in empirical reality.

While CAD allows for and can facilitate tight integration between views, it does not guarantee it. The organizational or management challenges in integrated design are huge, and typically ignored by technologists.

Let me know if you have been thinking about these issues.

The editor replies: "Brad Holtz's 'CAD Rating Guide' provides much detail about many CAD packages, but does not attempt to subjectively judge them. Check out http://www.wbh.com/crgdescription.html "

"I've been using AutoCAD R14 for about 2-1/2 years; I came late to that upgrade because R12Win worked fine for me. Compatibility with clients decreased, so I made the switch. R14 has been very fast and stable for me, and I've been content.
"I'm seeing the same version incompatibilities again, so I know that AutoCAD 200x is in my future. Left to my own schedule, I'd forestall the move for another year or two.
"Autodesk, however, has made it clear that I either have to upgrade by January 15, or pay new full-price license if I want to upgrade after that. According to my dealer, my AutoCAD 2002 upgrade options look like this:
* Prepay before June 15, and it's US$895.
* Buy between June 16 and August 1, and pay US$995.
* Put it off until August, and shell out US$1,195.
"Autodesk probably calls this 'discounting,' [they did, calling it a "$100 savings" - Ed.], but it feels more like a stick than a carrot to me, especially since they manufactured the need to upgrade by promising to obsolete R14 next January. I'm unhappy about the whole situation, but I decided to do exactly what Autodesk wants me to do: prepay now, because I can use the $300 in 'savings'."
- Jim Frame
Frame Surveying & Mapping

The editor replies: "I feel your pain. The faster upgrade schedule is a pain for us book authors, too.
"Autodesk makes a version obsolete once three newer versions have been released. In the past, this represented seven years, since we could count on 22 months between upgrades. Recently, however, Autodesk has doubled the frequency of upgrades; it was just 11 months between 2000i and 2002.
"As for the higher prices, Autodesk needs them to pay for their 'cashback' promotion: buy AutoCAD 2002 with CAD Overlay 2002 or 3D Studio Viz R3i, and get back US$500.
"An alternative for R14 users is to 'sidegrade' to LT 2002. You save money, and you gain file compatibility with clients."

Re: COFES 2001
"I was grooving on Dick Morley's guidelines for investors, when his future predictions popped out at me:

"Parallel processing: What is that -- peer-to-peer? SETI@home? Distributed processing? How is it different from multi-tasking? Does he mean SMP? Queuing systems?

"Genetic algorithms: For CAD? Please. That's like having a genetic algorithm for writing email (interesting problem, wrong tool). Maybe for some niche applications. To get an idea of how fun this style of programming is, recall inventing your own creature in Conway's The Game of Life. (Mine all died.)

"Objects and agents: We're thirty years into the object paradigm and the smarties still can't agree on what an object is. Further, object-oriented programming is just one of many useful tools for solving problems. Other useful paradigms are functional programming, relational databases, event-oriented programming, constraint systems, blah, blah, blah.

"Agents have behavior? Duh. That's sort of axiomatic.

"Too bad CAD is dead. Long live CAD!"
- Jason Osgood

"As to being differentiated, how many different ways can 3D CAD packages be programmed to drill a hole in a plate? The truth is that as soon as one CAD package offers a unique feature, the others offer it in the next release, so there goes the differentiation. Is it no wonder that almost all the CAD packages now look as alike as the Olsen twins? [That's Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen, for those readers without pre-teen daughters -Ed.]"
- Randy Mees
Edwards Lifesciences

"I really enjoyed your report about COFES 2001. However, you used the word 'dessert' twice when I'm sure you wanted to use 'desert'."
- John Bisschop
VECO Pacific

"What a disappointing picture! Just a desert (single helping 's', not a second helping 's' like dessert at the end of a meal.) For the image 'One dinner was held out in the dessert.' I was hoping for CAD vendors in a gargantuan tub of Jell-O and whipped cream, or a pie fight at least."
- Steve Wells
Conceptworks

The editor replies: "Darn those spell checkers. Anyhow, a bunch of middle-aged CAD nerds frolicking in whipped cream is not a pleasant image -- in my mind."

"I wish I could have been there but, failing that, I'm glad you were. Thanks for the report."
- Michael Shook
AeroHydro

Re: Trying Linux Again

"Before you give up on Linux as a desktop environment, try one more: Linux Mandrake 8.0. I have used Red Hat, Caldera, Debian, Corel, and Suse. Mandrake is way ahead of the pack. For exampel, check out their Web site's <http://www.linuxmandrake.com> Forum, Classes, and Support -- they are tops.

"For a word processor I use Star Office 5.2 <http://www.sun.com/software/star/staroffice/get/get.html>. It reads and writes Office 2000 perfectly. I use this at home with Linux, and at work with Windows NT."
- Bill Lewis

The editor replies: "I downloaded and burned the two-CD set of Linux Mandrake, but haven't had time to install it yet. I downloaded Star Office, and was pleasantly surprised by how well it works."

"Though I'm removed from the CAD world these days (into XML related technologies) I dabble in the Open Source and Linux/Unix world. Agree with the comment you made about Redhat 7.1, as I run it also. Recently I tried SUSE. Very impressively engineered. Using it as a firewall until I have time to make it a Web server as well.

"All those keynote comments from COFES 2001: We had that opinion in 1994, stayed in the CAD market till 1997, and gave it up in 1999."
- Greg Robinson
Former vp Strategic Technology, think3

"I saw your wish for a block function in Word. Pressing Alt+shift and selecting a rectangle with the mouse gives a block."
- Rob A.M. Oud
CAD & Company

Re: DesignXML
"I wanted to provide some clarification on the DesignXML file size issue. While it is true that a fully populated DesignXML representation will be significantly larger on disk than the equivalent DWG, in terms of accessing the data, you'll almost certainly never need the whole thing. DesignXML is architected so the various 'channels' can just be referenced by the master DesignXML file. Somewhat like using xref's, the top-level DesignXML file can be very small, under 1KB. It can reference several other files -- one or more for each channel.

"For example, if someone is just interested in the 2D Vector SVG channel for use in a technical manual, they load the small top-level DesignXML file, parse the file for the reference to the 2D Vector SVG channel, and then load just that one SVG channel."
- Wayne Fisher
Autodesk

CAD & Company has developed IFilter for DWG. All text information in AutoCAD DWG and DXF files is indexed with the indexing service in Sharepoint, Site Server, Windows 2000, or IIS to make it easier to find the drawings and blocks on your intranet. Download this free filter at http://www.cad-company.nl/ifilter/default.htm

Spatial has made it possible to access their Annual OEM Partner Fees and Variable Partner Fees on-line at http://www.spatial.com/products/comp_pricing.htm -- after you fill in a registration form.

Penton Media reports that 10,177 attended this yeark's A/E/C Systems show in Chicago [that's down about 6,000 from last year -Ed.]. There were 220 exhibitors. Next year's show is planned for Anaheim CA USA, June 3-6. Penton says it "will adopt a new strategy to meet the needs of the ever-evolving AEC industry," which is code for try-to-boost-attendance. The plan is to "expand its focus beyond the planning, design and construction phases of the asset lifecycle to include owning, managing and modifying." http://www.aecsystems.com

In the meantime, there is the "A/E/C Systems Fall" show, now known as Computers for Construction 2001, is taking place November 13-15 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia PA USA. http://www.computersforconstruction.com

Cimmetry System's AutoVue 15.4 c1 supports:
* Pro/E 2000i, 2000i2, and 2001 assemblies, parts and drawings
* Unigraphics 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17 3D parts and assemblies
* Autodesk Inventor and Mechanical Desktop
* Office XP (Word, Excel, PowerPoint)
* Visio 2000 and Visio 2002
* VRML 97 / VRML 2 files.
* AutoCAD 2002.
* 3D Markups
Download an eval copy from http://www.cimmetry.com/cimweb.nsf/pages/homepage2framesenglish

Dassault Systemes last week said that Version 5 Release 7 (V5R7) of CATIA and ENOVIA will be available July 13 for Windows and UNIX platforms. http://www.dsweb.com

Nemetschek North America announced that the 9.0.1 English-language maintenance updates for VectorWorks, RenderWorks and ARCHITECT are expected to begin mailing to registered users the first week of July. http://www.nemetschek.net/updates

Tech Soft America announced that their HOOPS Net Server (HOOPS/Net) component will be made available for free personal use on the Linux platform. http://www.hoops3d.com

Spicer's Image aX 6.2 allows you to create custom document viewing, markup and editing solutions for Web, stand-alone, and integrated Windows apps. http://www.spicer.com

Cad Publisher "Free Distribution" version is available from AutoSet. The software translate CAD DXF files as PostScript, Adobe Illustrator, Acrobat PDF, EPS, WMF, EMF, BMP, PNG and TIFF files in monochrome, color and color separations. The 13MB download is available from http://www.jwgraphics.com.au

I-DEAS Freeform (formerly Imageware) from SDRC is a process-oriented free-form modeling program, and will be incorporated into I-DEAS. http://www.sdrc.com/ideas/freeform.shtml

Bentley Systems announced Version 8.2 of its InRoads products, formerly Intergraph’s Civil SelectCAD products. The software runs on AutoCAD or MicroStation [IntelliCAD support has been dropped?] and consists of these modules: Road design, survey data reduction, site design, storm and sanitary design and modeling, bridge modeling, and rail design. http://www.bentley.com/products/inroads/inroads.htm

Not to be outdone, HP WILL PAY CASH FOR YOUR OLD, LARGE-FORMAT PRINTERS! HURRY! HP DESIGNJET CASH IN & TRADE UP ENDS JULY 15! [Please stop shouting. -Ed.] Buy a Designjet large-format printer by July 15, and HP "buys" your old large-format printer or plotter, whether HP or another brand, for $1,000 to $4,000. More info from http://www.hp-designjet-citu.com

At TechX NY (the former PC Expo), Maxtor announced the "Big Drive Initiative" to extend the current ATA drive standard, which limits hard drives to 137GB. The new standard would boost drive capacity to 144 million gigabytes. - CNET

Intel/Xircom will have a wireless LAN module for the Palm m500 series in mid-July for US$299.

ViewSonics's new ViewPad 100 SuperPDA (US$1,000) supports personal information management, wireless e-mail and Web access, and server-based enterprise apps, but weighs over a kilogram: 2.5 pounds. - PC World

Revit Technolog announced its partnership with Primotiv, a CAD distributor in the Netherlands. http://www.primotic.nl

Regina Morton joined Planet CAD as Director of Marketing. Ms Morton spent 10 years at Intergraph, and did marketing for MicroStation.

Autodesk appointed Larry Diamond as its new vice president of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Division.

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