June 22, 2004
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#391
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the Radar Write - - - Donate - - - Look for additional,
nearly-daily CAD commentary at our Weblog: (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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LandXML is an open, XML-based standard for exchanging data in land development. It shuttles civil engineering, land survey, and transportation-related technical data. In upFront.eZine #240, noted that Autodesk's Field Survey was the only software to support LandXML. We asked, "What other packages support LandXML? None at the moment [can you hear the sound of one hand clapping? - Ed.], but Autodesk's Land Development Desktop will soon." Three years later, Nathan Crews of www.landxml.org writes to update us: - - - "Because many standards efforts do not succeed, at least to the point one would perceive as success, your skepticism was certainly understandable. "Today, there are 44 hands clapping (software applications) supporting LandXML-1.0 import/export. Not all the software is from the US, but also includes a few international applications from Canada, UK, New Zealand, and Spain. You can get a complete listing at www.landxml.org/landxmlapps.htm . "The LandXML.org organization has grown from 22 to 284 members. Some 3-5 people from all over the world, now 21 countries, continue to join every week. LandXML.org is also now collaborating with the Open GIS Consortium to enable CAD/Engineering and GIS data interoperability - based on the non-proprietary XML-based data standards LandXML and GML." IDELIX Software is granted US Patent 6,727,910 for "Method and System for Inversion of Detail-in-Context Presentations". (IDELIX has 23 additional patents pending.) The "undisplace" invention is part of what IDEALIX calls its "Pliable Display Technology." Common work tools are used seamlessly through the PDT lens to perform tasks such as mark-up, measurement, change detection, targeting by forward observation, or feature extraction with less repetitive zooming and panning. Various host application tools can be used within the PDT lens; any changes made within the PDT lens are transformed with precision back to the original unlensed coordinates. Pliable Display Technology is being developed beyond 2D applications, to include extensions to 3D volume data and JPEG2000, which allow for progressive decompression and detail-on-demand presentation. Other research is looking at data-aware PDT lenses and the application of PDT to terrain data and video. http://www.idelix.com
Paul Dyck is the product marketing manager for design products at Alias. He spoke with us prior to Alias becoming independent of SGI (Silicon Graphics, Inc.) last week. Alias had been purchased by SGI in the mid-1990s. Last week, the Ontario [Canada] Teachers' Pension Plan, investment firm Accel-KKR, and Alias management helped fund the US$57.5 million buyout from SGI. The company plans to keep its head office in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Alias is a company whose software is on the edge of CAD -- they do software for CAID, computer-aided industrial design. In brief, CAD is used to design the insides of products, while CAID is used for their outsides. Mr Dyck prefers to use the word "styling" over "design" to differentiate Alias from Autodesk's use of the word "design." Alias' line of Studio software starts with sketching and goes to the 3D model, defining the shapes and colors -- but not doing mechanical CAD. After that, CAD products like CATIA, SolidWorks, and Pro/E take over, producing that design that gets manufactured. The range of Studio Tools consists of:
There are two ways to do styling: starting with math or with clay. In the "math lead," the designer starts with a computer model; in the "clay lead," the designer starts with clay. To convert the clay to math, you use a 3D scanner; to convert math to clay, you use a milling machine. We asked who might be a competitor. Thinkid, we noted, likes to position itself as CAID. But, responded Mr Dyck, "it's pretty difficult to displace Alias from the design world." Of course, there is the other, more famous half of Alias -- its Maya software used in the entertainment world for movies and games. Below the Radar A summary of CAD industry news you may not have read elsewhere, or that we found interesting: - - - AutoSolids releases v3.1 of its AutoSolids (US$495) and AutoSolids EXPRESS (US$295) software that improves the solids modeling in AutoCAD. Here's a switch: All AutoSolids purchases include free lifetime version upgrades with no maintenance or subscription fees. Demo versions from www.autosolids.com Proficiency announces version 3.5 of its Collaboration Gateway software. New features include support for assembly constraints, surfacing features and methodology, and enhanced support for top-down associative design techniques -- as well as exchange of CAD models between CATIA 4 and 5, Pro/E and Wildfire, and Unigraphics NX and I-deas NX Series. www.proficiency.com CADSOFT releases version 2.0 of its Envisioneer software for architects and the construction industry. It can open files created with Broderbund 3D Home Architect 6.0 and AutoCAD 2005. www.cadsoft.com Delcam's PowerSHAPE Pro combines the hybrid surface and solid modeling of PowerSHAPE with their PS-Draft drafting software and PS-Render system for photo-realistic images. www.delcam.co.uk LightWork Design has a comprehensive set of material libraries for accurately visualizing a carpets and carpet tiles. Flooring designs are freely downloadable from www.lightworks-user.com IMSI releases CAD Render Studio (US$299) -- 3D rendering and animation software for any CAD package. Includes drag-and-drop materials and textures, as well as fly-bys, walk-throughs, and Object VR and Panoramic VR animations. www.cadalog.com IMSI is also shipping DesignCAD v15 (US$49-$99). New features include image handling, integrated raster to vector converter, AutoCAD 2004 DWG/DXF support, units of measure, and new 2D and 3D drawings tools. www.imsisoft.com Informative Graphics' ModelPress Reader v4.2 (free) supports STL, CAD-exported VRML, and OpenHSF. www.infograph.com Axiom updates FileFixer v8.4 for MicroStation V8. Axiom says that "structured storage errors are one of the most serious recurring V8-specific corruptions occurring in production. This is a new phenomenon with MicroStation V8 files." The software now handles 4,294,967,296 of each type of error, up from 65,535. www.axiomint.com And, VersaCAD 2004 for Windows is due in August, while VersaCAD 2004 for the Mac is being ported to OS X. www.archwaysystems.com Seminars & Conference ViewPoint Americas (AVEVA's user group) is Jun 27-Jul 1 in Mont Tremblanc, Quebec, Canada. SIGGRAPH 2004 is Aug 10-12 in Los Angeles USA. www.siggraph.org/s2004 IntelliCAD World Meeting is Sept 16-17 in Denver CO USA. [I've been invited to speak at this event.] www.regonline.com/13406 ESI Group conferences <www.esi-group.com>:
People on the Move Avatech Solutions announces Scott Harris is its new president and COO [chief operating officer]. Mr Harris was formerly with Washington Cable Supply. Scotty Walsh continues as ceo. Autodesk promotes Carl Bass to coo. Mr Bass is the former senior executive vp of the Design Solutions Group. Carol Bartz continues as ceo, president, and chairman of the board. Ann E. Willey joins think3 as vp of worldwide corporate communications. Prior to think3, Ms Willey was vp of client service at HSR Business to Business. Delcam International appoints Sean Plunkett as North American sales manager for its ArtCAM range of artistic CADCAM software. Letters to the Editor Re: Repairing Windows 2000 "Next time try booting off a CD into
console mode. It's a lot faster than floppies." The editor replies: "I finally pulled the IDE CD drive out of my wife's computer; my computer's CD uses SCSI, which isn't reliable during the Windows 2000 failure mode."
Re: Electrical Design for MicroStation "Electrical design and documentation requirements vary significantly across industries and regions. While not fully understanding the details of the requirements listed or what industry they apply to, we believe we have several products that may satisfy many, if not all, of the requirements outlined. These are: "MicroStation Schematics - This is an extension to MicroStation which allows users to define their own schematic drawing capability, incorporating their own standards, symbology, etc. It will infer intelligence from the created drawings to perform basic data extraction and export for bills of materials, connectivity, etc. "Bentley Instrumentation & Wiring - For controls based electrical needs Instrumentation and Wiring offers users PLC Connection diagram, Wiring diagram, Motor Schematic, and Single Line diagram generation. The Layout Designer also includes a new feature, Layout Assemblies. This allows users to connect the entire control assembly together including Motors and Equipment to MCC buckets and control panels. This can then be saved as an assembly and re-applied allowing the user to visually create wiring rules for specific motor and equipment connection schemes. "EED Power - This is a MicroStation
based design solution to create protection & control schematic
diagrams including ac, dc, supervisory, and other common types of
diagrams for power distribution systems. Electrical panel
layout and wiring diagram design capabilities are also included
to create panel elevations, graphical wiring diagrams, wiring connection
lists, cable schedules, BOMs, panel legends, component schedules,
and other common deliverables. Components such as relays and
switches are automatically cross referenced in the diagrams, and
rule checks ensure design quality and consistency across the project.
ANSI/IEEE, IEC, and DIN standards are supported."
Re: What's New in MicroStation V8 2004 Edition? "I was reading your ezine about MicroStation's all-new digital signatures feature. This whole thing about re-releasing old features has gone silly, including Autodesk. " When I read about dig sigs in V8.1 as new, I wondered what we talked about 7 or 8 years ago with MS. Here is a website dated 1997 about dig sigs in SE and J: selectservices.bentley.com/technotes/faqs/6145.htm "Golly, what's next: snapping to endpoints,
or an attribute editor?"
Re: What About IronCAD? Rhino? "I was wondering if you ever heard of Rhino by McNeel & Associates? How about IronCAD? I don't recall ever reading anything about them in your e-newsletter. "I can vouch for Rhino as one of the easiest and versatile 3D surface modelers around. If I want something done fast and accurate, I use Rhino. Since the problem with 3D has always been how to put it into an AutoCAD file, so it can be passed around among associates or sent to fabricators, I stick with Rhino for creating 2D views and exporting them to dwg format. "As for IronCAD, I'm new to it, but it's
looking very promising." The editor replies: "We do report on them, from time to time. Many press releases, however, tend to be of the 'XYZ Corp Purchases 99 Licenses' nature, which we don't report."
Re: External AutoCAD Editor "For many years I have used a text editor in AutoCAD from Premiere Designs called MARED. It is a LISP-based text editor which allows picking and windowing individual non-multiline text entities and editing them in a freeform editor. "It has always been difficult to reconfigure
AutoCAD to accommodate this text editor as successive versions of
AutoCAD have been released. (I have never understood why AutoCAD
has never incorporated a good freeform text editor in their software.)
Anyway that being said, what is out there that you would recommend?" The editor asks, "Can anyone help Mr Goodwin? Thx." - - - "upFront is the best of many e-zines
I receive. Thank you for all good mental food."
"Your newsletter is excellent and useful
for those in the field." Spin Doctor of the Moment ""If [he] had been here on the ground, that's obviously a role that he could have and would have played, but the fact is that he wasn't on the ground, and I think, as you can see, that since he's been back he's been quite visible." - Royal Bank spokesman describing the company's CEO during the bank's eight-day transaction crisis. /www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory Notable Quotable "As a good postmodern who just wants to know which script I'm supposed to follow, as the news guides me toward what I should think, I'm confused. Do I conform my mind to the 'Scientists Bring Light of Rational Trust to Superstitious Religionists' template? Or am I supposed to follow the 'Matriarchal Earth-Affirming Aboriginal People, in Touch with Gentle Wisdom of Gaia, Show Rationalist Eurocentric Planet-Rapers a Better Way' grid? I just want to be told how to think!" - Mark Shea on the conflict between Canadian scientists and West Coast natives over the future of an atypical killer whale.
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