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Issue #416 : February 1, 2005 |
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C o n t e n t s Q&A: Five Minutes with Bluebeam
The State of 3D Graphics (part 1) |
Write the Editor. Donate to upFront.eZine with Paypal. Access nearly-daily CAD commentary at our blog: WorldCAD Access.
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Q&A: Five Minutes with Bluebeam The height of the Internet bubble coincided with a large number of companies writing software to output CAD drawings in PostScript format. As Adobe moved into the CAD market with Acrobat 6, imagine our surprise in learning that some CAD-PDF vendors are more than just surviving. One of them is Bluebeam, who, as we spoke with them last week, were close to moving into larger offices. - - - "How," we asked, "were you able to survive in this market?" We understand the CAD market, was the message CEO Richard Lee repeated several times during the interview. And primarily focused on the architect and the AEC market. Plus, customers get a lot for their US$250 spent on the software:
As he was talking, I downloaded and installed the software. When I launched AutoCAD, its menu was very broad, what with the Bluebeam and Adobe and Acrobat items added (the last two from Acrobat Pro 7). Bluebeam's print dialog is refreshingly clean, and it quickly generated the PDF, and opened the file in Acrobat Reader. "What," we wondered, "do you make of Adobe stepping into the periphery of CAD?" Not a problem, says Bluebeam. While Adobe is adding CAD-specific features, CAD is not the big market for them. To Bluebeam's benefit, Adobe was the one who spent the money legitimizing PDF for CAD. [And, we suspect, Autodesk's anti-Acrobat campaign of last year probably caused a few firms to speculate that PDF must be pretty good if Autodesk is so against it.] "When," we asked, "will you support 3D?" Bluebeam will support 3D as it develops. He is not convinced there is a demand yet for 3D in PDF. After all, architects still build from 2D drawings, as are mechanical designs. "Steak and sizzle" is the description for 3D, because it looks nice, but lacks the information found in 2D drawings. "Which," we continued, "CAD vendors are you supporting?" Right now just AutoCAD (because it has the big market) and SolidWorks (because it is the fastest growing). MicroStation uses Adobe's library to output PDF and U3D files. In future releases, Bluebeam plans to add:
"Why," we concluded, "the unusual name?" The company had hired a naming expert, but then came up with Blue (as in blueprint) and Beam (as in structures) on its own. The State of 3D Graphics, Part I Guest Editorial by Anon. With the recent press releases about the 'new' Universal 3D File format (U3D) and its use in Adobe Acrobat + PDF, there has been little independent perspective of how it relates to all-things-past and all-things-new in the 3D graphics industry. (The following comments are based on easily assessable information on the Internet, and from anyone knowing the history of 3D computer graphics. Corrections are welcome, if necessary.) The U3D format is actually not new at all, nor is it a truly CAD-centric format, as marketing and press releases have tipped the scales towards. Basically, it is the Shockwave-3D format and related Intel technologies in new clothing. In the late '90s, Intel and a number of their experienced 3D developers created IFX 3D Toolkit v2. It included a modifier-pipeline scene graph, multi-resolution technology, cell shading, and bones + skinning. Technically speaking, it was an excellent toolkit for 3D games development and for streaming Web files. Some readers may recall that components of the IFX Toolkit were sold through Digimation as the Toon RT SDK [software development kit] and MultiRes SDK. This coincided with what I call the short-lived Web Streaming Years of 3D graphics (2000-2001). That was when the entire 3D industry put all its poker chips into believing that exporting 3D data to the Web was where the money lay (coincident with the Internet bubble). These points are best summarized in a CNET article, 'Intel's 3D Divorce Rate' <http://news.com.com/Intel's+3D+divorce+rate/2100-1038_3-5238357.html?type=pt&part=inv&tag=feed&subj=news>: "...where technologists and marketers have chronically found themselves waiting for a market that stubbornly refuses to materialize." This refers to the ongoing desire of some companies to make a viable business of 3D graphics on the Web, or embedding CAD data in 2D documents. Every company in 2000 and 2001 had their own 3D Web streaming format. Entire companies were created to satisfy the demand for the forthcoming explosion of 3D-on-the-Web -- many of whom have disappeared or refocused their business strategies. The Intel-3D Link Naturally, Intel always wants to sell more of its CPUs. This could be done by making 3D pervasive on the Web, and thus indirectly requiring people to buy faster Intel CPUs. Intel teamed with Macromedia to repurpose its Intel IFX toolkit technology as the Macromedia Director Shockwave-3D file format and supporting SDK. In the summer of 2000, the major software vendors were expected to tow the line and implement SW3D in their software packages, many of whom did. For those who remember those days, Alias|Wavefront (for example) had special versions of Maya to create SW3D content for the Web. The release of Macromedia Director 8.5 in 2001 solidified the promise of 3D becoming pervasive. Truly, it appeared to be a marketing success with a great future. It brought about the new concept of '3D assets' using SW3D as its primary format. But as Web streaming quickly came to the forefront in 2001 as its glory year, it died just as quickly. This was a blow to the many 3D software companies that invested time, money, and people into the development of their SW3D support. Enter the 3D Consortiums Fortunately for marketing people, humanity has a short attention span, and is always looking for "new" file formats and technologies, without picking from the past where stable and existing solutions already exist. Things looked promising when the Web 3D Consortium went forth to define a truly open, well thought-out 3D standard in the best use and definition of the words "industry standard". This is the X3D [extensible 3d] standard. What most don't realize, however, is that there will never be a single and unified 3D file standard, because it is business, politics, company relationships, the "not invented here" syndrome, and technical differences in 3D data which will continue to fragment the 3D industry -- and thus the lack of unification of file formats. Intel split from the Web 3D Consortium, for similar reasons, and set up the 3D Industry Forum to define its own direction and 3D format. From this came the Universal 3D format, which just got ECMA [European Computer Manufacturers Association] approval as a standard in December. As the CNET article alludes, it made perfect sense for Intel to split off and create its own standard: it already had the Intel IFX Toolkit, plus all of the Shockwave-3D technology and file formats already in hand. By open-sourcing the Intel IFX toolkit to the 3DIF working group (and renaming it to U3D), Intel could plot a future for its own 3D standard and not worry about rewriting its existing 3D software for the completely different X3D standard. In other words, Intel's marriage with the Web 3D Consortium simply could not last, because Intel had completely different, existing, and opposing software technology to that of the X3D standard. We Need Fewer 3D Standards Viewing recent events in light of a decade of 3D graphics history puts them into a different perspective. First, industry veterans will tell you that we don't need another 3D file format to solve problems touted as "existing for years with no solution." VRML2 [virtual reality modeling language] is considered a dead format, leftover from the mid-90s [I confess to thinking that. -Ed.], yet it is the most universal, verbose, and well defined 3D interchange file format that exists in the 3D industry today -- outside of pure CAD formats, such as IGES, STEP, ParaSolid, ACIS, and so on. VRML2 is exported by almost all 3D applications, is fairly easy to export, and is great for archiving 3D data. The new X3D extensions to VRML2, including the consortium's CAD Distillation Format extensions, allow for CAD assemblies/parts/etc, NURBS surfaces and curves, n-sided meshes with multi-texturing, and so on. U3D, on the other hand, has its roots as a 3D gaming and Web streaming file format, so it provides native support only for triangular meshes (quads and n-sided polygons are lost), character deformations, materials, multi-texturing, limited animation channels, and so on. U3D has none of the well defined CAD extensions of X3D, nor can it handle n-sided meshes, NURBS curves, NURBS surfaces, independent animation channels or quaternion rotations, etc. Thus, X3D wins out in terms of it being an existing, technically-excellent and well-defined "universal" file format. - - - Next week in Part II:
(Anon. is a 3D developer experienced in examining file formats and their quirks.) A summary of CAD industry news you may not have read elsewhere, or that we found interesting: The Bentley file bulges with news items:
And in related news, one of Bentley Institute's founders, Mike Arroyo, joins Axiom. ATA Engineering starts shipping Attune test-analysis correlation software. www.ata-attune.com Schott Systeme's complete 2D/3D design and machining solution remains under e10,000, along with 'No Yearly Charge' for support and maintenance. And no charges for machine post processors (3 and 3+2 axis milling). www.schott-systeme.com TableBar (US$49.95) integrates all of AutoCAD's Table commands into a single toolbar. Demo download from www.cadig.com Noran Engineering ships its new NEiWorks, an embedded Nastran finite element analysis for SolidWorks. www.NENastran.com Eagle Point releases its Version 8 SMI Flex GPS System with SureNav, RTK Extend, static logging, and more. www.eaglepoint.com Partcard Technical Reference Center is software for placing all design reference material at your fingertip. www.partcard.com - - - Additional news items at our WorldCAD Access blog <worldcadaccess.typepad.com/blog/>:
Seminars & Conferences WESTEC 2005 exposition and conference is Apr 4-7 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Theme is off-shoring. www.sme.org/westec CoCreate 2005 Product Development Forum is Apr 5 near Stuttgart, Germany. www.cocreate.de Engineering Simulation - Best Practices and Visions of the Future is May 17-20 at St Julian's, Malta. www.nafems.org/congress In 2006, National Manufacturing Week moves to Chicagoland’s renovated Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont IL USA. The event is In March 20-23, 2006. www.ManufacturingWeek.com Magazine/eZine/Weblog Updates ProgeSOFT launches a Weblog dedicated to IntelliCAD at http://news.progesoft.com/intellicad/ People/Companies on the Move Pace Technologies takes over as the owner-developer of Architrion architectural CAD software for Mac OS X, Windows XP, and Linux. www.pacetechnologie.com [site is in French]. Xanadu company (former CAD Studio) acquires selected assets of Dialog MTS, and then changes its name to AAC Solutions Softelec is now led by Stefan Horvatin, Bernd Rau, and Juergen Buhr after president and founder Dr. Michael Horvatin retired last year. Redo Susan Austin of Right Hemisphere writes to correct us: "Adobe didn't license U3D from Right Hemisphere. (U3D is an open spec created by the 3D Industry Forum Consortium.) Adobe DID license and embed Right Hemisphere's 3D viewer called Deep View -- for Acrobat 7.0. "To get 3D CAD drawings into PDF files, you need to convert a CAD application file to U3D, and then place it in a PDF file using Acrobat 7.0 Professional. CAD applications can be converted into U3D using Right Hemisphere's Deep Exploration client software or the company's Deep Server enterprise software version. In addition, Bentley Systems offers U3D output from its MicroStation software." Computer News Summaries Yeahronimo Media Ventures acquires the Commodore brand names, and plans to apply it to the mPet flash-based music player and eVic hard-drive player. [Cute, but ultimately meaningless.] Market News Intergraph reports Q4 revenues of US$146.2 million and $7.3 millions in profit. [We couldn't get their Web site to replay the conference call, so no fuller report.] Moldflow Q2 revenue are up 53% to US$16 million, with a profit of $1.6 million. During the last quarter, Microsoft had its highest-ever profits by slashing its research and development spending in half. Net income doubled from US$1.5 billion to $3.5 billion, while R&D spending dropped from $3.0 billion to $1.4 billion in the same quarter. The upFront.eZine stock index is at /www.cadwire.net/to?upfrontezine/stocks Letters to the Editor Re: Adobe Licenses U3D Viewing Technology "'To get 3D CAD drawings into PDF files, though, you have to purchase...' is not completely true. The V8.5.2 update to MicroStation V8 2004 Edition (currently a release candidate) can produce 3D PDF files of 3D models. "MicroStation can create 3D PDFs from DGN or DWG files with
no additional software needed to be purchased. There is quite a
bit of conversation regarding this going on in the bentley.microstation.visualization
discussion group that we host at http://discussion.bentley.com
"
"If you have MicroStation, you can use the latest version
(8.5.2), which has support for 3D rendered images and movies (created
in MicroStation) that you can publish to PDF." The editor replies, "Immersive Design is demonstrating U3D-based 3D PDF documents created with its IPA software. The press release notes that 'Adobe has distributed more than half-a-billion copies of Adobe Reader since its 1993 introduction which makes PDF files an ideal mechanism to distribute interactive 3D documentation generated with IPA.' Problem is that most of those 500,000,000 copies don't display U3D." www.immdesign.com - - - Re: Failure of 4D "I couldn't let the comments about the 'failure to demonstrate the value of 4D' pass by without comment and gentle correction. As one of the third-party vendors providing 4D solutions (NavisWorks TimeLiner), I think our users would strongly support the value on offer. "Gone are the days when you could sell software just because it was cool technology; our end-users range from small enterprises to large multi-nationals and they all share the need to invest in products that give definable business benefits. Our 4D software is being used in a variety of areas: bid presentation, site planning, communication aid between design team, planning engineer, contractor, and, in the case of a road project, to give the public a view on lane closures and diversions, almost a side benefit to the actual value realized through planning the project in 4D. "In most cases companies are using the standard 3D design model (ok, yes, we are talking mainly about companies already using 3D) and the standard project plan, so it's relatively painless to fit 4D into an existing process -- with some forethought. "Some customers are indeed using a specially produced model (for bidding, for instance), but I suspect they wouldn't do this if they didn't see the value, perhaps in gaining a competitive edge. We don't offer associated services; our customers drive use of 4D themselves and mostly within their existing teams, though we also appreciate the efforts of third party consultants increasingly offering their 4D expertise. "And, by the way, the 3D design model is certainly being used at construction phase. For some customers, the design model is a defined part of the project documentation, used with 2D plans to ensure spatial understanding and clarity and avoid change orders. "I think we all accept that 3D and 4D needs new work processes
-- but isn't that exactly what the Construction industry needs?" - - - Re: Securing Geometric Product Data "John Callen makes an accurate and valid point for some designers, but he must also consider that for many design firms, security is rarely a concern. Therefore, the issue of security certainly needs to be addressed, but its final form should be flexible, so that it can be effectively implemented when necessary, and stay out of the way when not required. "Ultimately, security concerns should not be the critical
path toward development of standards for non-geometric product data
- we need such standards in place as soon as possible. I predict
that once such standards are established, we will look back on today
and wonder how we ever lived without them." - - - Re: AutoCAD 2006 Feature Requests "I'm glad there's solid modeling in AutoCAD; it's how I got started in 3D. But the fact remains, if you're doing mech-cad you should be looking at a parametric modeler. If you're outputting renderings or animations, you should be using Max or VIZ. And if you're doing home design, you should be using Revit. Yes, it takes a lot of time and money to become proficient with these programs, but every cardinal improvement in visual communication from charcoal to fresco to oil paint to PhotoShop has required artisans to make learning an integral part of their career plans. "AutoCAD is a highly generalized toolset with very broad applications, like a box of Lego. It's used in companies that are highly specialized in their products, not their design discipline. Its flexibility is its key attribute. I've seen AutoCAD used for desktop publishing, retail mapping, and data linking, and as a neutral format for programs that want nothing to do with each other like SolidWorks and Microsoft Word. "So, in that vain, I have a few suggestions for expanding AutoCAD's domain:
"There's a lot of places for this software to go and it's
not tired as a solution by a long shot." Spin Doctor of the Moment "Page after page of examples and expert insights show readers
how to capture everything from hats to wineglasses to MP3 players
in a way that evokes that "I must have this" feeling." Notable Quotable "Every anthropologist loves his own tribe."
Copyright 2005 by upFront.eZine Publishing, Ltd. All rights reserved worldwide All
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