December
8, 2003
Issue
#366
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- - - C
O N T E N T S Autodesk
University 2003 - - - Below
the Radar - - - Donate Write - - - (ADVERTISMENT) Updated and Expanded for AutoCAD 2004! Tailoring AutoCAD 2004 is the first book for AutoCAD 2004. Download as a 204-page e-book in PDF format (US$24.95) or on CD ($29.95). Covers all areas of customization, from changing the user interface to writing toolbar macros and LISP routines. Click here to sample preview pages and place your order.
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From the editor: This is the last issue of upFront.eZine before the break for Christmas holidays. (I'd have an issue next week, but I am scheduled for emergency tooth repair next Monday.) Next issue is January 6, 2004. - - - Autodesk University 2003 AU03, again in Las Vegas, was a mix of exciting news (some of which I cannot reveal now, because of NDA -- non-disclosure agreement), and uninformation. Monday was a day set aside by Autodesk to fly in and brief members of the CAD media on its future plans. Wednesday was the keynote addresses to 3,300 attendees. In between, Tuesday, I rode five hours by bus to see the Grand Canyon, followed by five hours more for the trip back. Here's what I can tell you: - - - Revit In contrast to Architectural Desktop, Autodesk calls Revit "the future," but I don't get the feeling customers are buying in vast quantities -- otherwise Autodesk would be touting license numbers, as they do for Inventor. And maybe that's the mistake: if Revit is the Future, then it isn't for now. To make the not-DWG-based Revit more palatable to potential customers, Autodesk is bundling v5.1 with AutoCAD, a package called "AutoCAD Revit Series." Does this make sense to you? Price not announced. Revit v6 is due to ship Dec 16, with multi-element borrowing, split-level plans, enhanced stairs, detail views and repeating details, curved column grids, schedule formulae and filters, integrated spell checker, and phase-aware rooms. In the future, Revit will get IFCs (industry foundation classes for sharing drawing elements between different architectural CAD programs) and a structural design component. - - - DWF Composer Autodesk is barreling ahead making DWF (design Web format) its all-encompassing sharing-file format. In a few months, expect DWF Composer, a new piece of software. DWF Composer is not free (like Express Viewer), but allows redline markups and manipulation of pages. Of significant competition to PDF, Composer will handle any kind of document -- JPEGs, spreadsheets, and so on -- as well as drawings from non-Autodesk CAD packages, such as SolidWorks and ArchiCAD. Once Autodesk gets the merge-in feature working, it'll be interesting to check the quality of the DWF representation. Some graphical software packages already handle DWF, such as TurboCAD and Visio. Others do not, but the "universal" DWF writer allows DWF output from any software package. Indeed, Tony Peach would like to hear from users of non-Autodesk CAD packages who would like to test DWFwriter, which you can download from usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/item after registration. - - - Keynotes & Exhibition After the detail presented on Media Day, the keynote addresses felt void of data. In the exhibit hall, Matrox's Liv Stewart showed me the new HR256 graphics board that handles 9.2-megapixel LCD monitors -- a resolution of 3840x2400, about 7x the resolution of today's typical 1280x1024 monitor. She explained to me that these monitors are made of 4 LCD panels fused together. Looking closely, I couldn't see the splices. To handle such high resolution, the monitor needs to receive data from the board over multiple channels -- ie, two to four cables. The board sits in a PCI bus, and can coexist with other Matrox graphics boards in the same computer. HR256 is short for "high resolution" and "256MB RAM." www.matrox.com/mga/archive_story/sept2003/p_hr256.cfm - - - Grand Canyon I think the problem with the Grand Canyon is that it's too big. Incomprehensibly deep, wide, and long: more than a mile deep (7 miles when hiking down), 18 miles wide (at its widest point), and 277 miles long. It takes three days to hike from the South Rim to the North Rim (down one side, and up the other). And here's curiosity: the North Rim is 1,0000 feet higher in elevation than the South Rim (roughly 7,000 feet above sea level, and 5,000 feet above Las Vegas). Sitting next to me on the bus was a software engineer from St. Louis, originally from Nepal. He told me professionals leave Nepal, because there is little future for them there. This was his second attempt at reaching the Grand Canyon; a snow storm scuttled his earlier planned trip. - - - Photo Gallery Welcome to Las Vegas: www.upfrontezine.com/pix/au03-0008.jpg Feeding 3,300 attendees takes two tents this size: www.upfrontezine.com/pix/au03-0382.jpg Washing windows at the MGM Grand hotel: www.upfrontezine.com/pix/au03-0380.jpg Tourists and Hoover Dam reflected on the side of the tour bus: www.upfrontezine.com/pix/au03-0150.jpg Across the Arizona desert toward the Grand Canyon: www.upfrontezine.com/pix/au03-0210.jpg The canyon is grand, looking north from the South Rim: www.upfrontezine.com/pix/au03_0303.jpg Alco FPA4 locomotive at the Grand Canyon train station: www.upfrontezine.com/pix/au03-0279.jpg Below the Radar A summary of CAD industry news you may not have read elsewhere, or that I find interesting: @Last Software writes a plug-in to translate its SketchUp software's native 3D geometry into Autodesk's Architectural Desktop program. Free download from www.sketchup.com/ADT after registration. Alibre cuts the price of its latest release by $100: Alibre Design v7.0 parametric solid modeling is now US$595, though still $100 higher than its original price. www.alibre.com 'Business Week' magazine names PTC the third most generous in-kind giver among American corporations. The company's software donations are valued at US$9.6 million -- 1.3% of 2002 revenues. IMSI adds ACIS 10 and new STEP and IGES translators to TurboCAD Professional v9.5 (US$695; upgrade $49). www.imsisoft.com The CadCARD Slidechart for AutoCAD users is updated by Autograph Technical Services. www.cadcard.com Autodesk says that the International Alliance for Interoperability granted final certification for the G.E.M. Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) Utility 2x for Architectural Desktop v3.3. Archibus is updated to v14.2 with Condition Assessment and Environmental Sustainability Assessment. And service pack 1 for Cimmetry System's AutoVue 17.1 adds lots of new formats, like Adobe PDF 1.5, CATIA5 R12, and Unigraphics NX2. www.cimmetry.com
Seminars & Conferences 2004 A|E|C SYSTEMS is Feb 17-19 at Orange County Convention Center in Orlando FL USA. www.aecsystems.com/content/overview.asp
Newsletter/Webzine Watch 'Construction Claims Advisor' is a weekly e-newsletter that provides news, analysis, and commentary on disputes avoidance and resolution. www.constructionclaims.com
Computer News To get people interested, Intel offers a 90-day free trial of computers running its Itanium 2 CPU to Global 500 corporate customers. Microsoft will stop distributing on Dec 23 Windows 98 (but not Windows 98 Second Edition), NT 4.0 Terminal Server Edition; all Office 2000 editions; Office XP Developer edition, and SQL Server 7. "It seems to me that they would be keen to use any excuse to get customers to 'upgrade,' spend more money, and get more locked in to things like Office 2003's DRM [digital rights management]," retorted Simon Phipps, Sun's chief technology evangelist. - eWeek
Market News GiveMePower sold $300,000 in convertible notes to five private investors. 3D Systems privately placed $20,659,000 million [sic: I don't think they meant 20,659,000,000,000 dollars!] of 6% convertible subordinated debentures. The upFront.eZine stock index is at www.cadwire.net/to?upfrontezine/stocks
WorthWhile Web www.worth1000.com/cache/contest/contestcache.asp
www.museumofconceptualart.com/ible-bay.html
cheshiredave.com/mastication/2002/07/0037a-btt.html
Letters to the Editor "I want to thank you for extremely effective
dispatch on e-mail which I receive about three years. From these
on a regular basis received files I learn more about current status
CAD of systems, than from thick computer magazines. I hope, that
your editorial activity will successfully proceed and further." "I thoroughly enjoy you ezine every Tuesday,
even though I do not always agree with it. Keep up the good work!"
Spin Doctor of the Moment "People have been focused on the negative
energy of the word 'murder.'"
Notable Quotable "Television thrives by presenting an alternating stream of fact and fiction, and therefore bears a special responsibility to distinguish between the two. Yet it seems determined to do just the opposite, to blend fact and fiction into an indistinguishable froth." -
Max Frankel |
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