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Issue #442 : : September 13, 2005 |
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C o n t e n t s
Hurricane Katrina Relief & Response
Below
the Radar, and a few of the other
regular columns. |
Write the Editor. Donate to upFront.eZine with Paypal. Access nearly-daily CAD commentary at our blog: WorldCAD Access.
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upFront.eZine is back from its summer break. During the time, the WorldCAD Access weblog kept humming and a couple of new e-books were released. (We fit in a roadtrip to Hyder, Alaska, and spent a few days volunteering at The Gleaners in Oliver BC Canada.) While upFront.eZine was asleep, the WorldCAD Access weblog posted these news items at worldcadaccess.typepad.com :
Our newly-released PDF e-books are:
Note that all the content of 'TDB' is found in 'TA6', so don't order both! Look for announcements of additional AutoCAD and IntelliCAD e-books over the few two weeks. More info at www.upfrontezine.com/ebooks Hurricane Katrina Relief & Response I visited the Web sites of 14 CAD vendors to survey their response to the recent disaster. Those providing some form of assistance include: Autodesk - offering software to government agencies; employee donations are being matched; provides links to several relief organizations; provides toll-free support for using its software towards recovery. Bentley Systems - free 60-day versions of its software for those affected and those helping with rebuilding; supports American Red Cross. Graphisoft USA - links to American Red Cross. Intergraph - working with customers, partners, and government officials affected by and responding to the destruction. Provides an email address for more info. SolidWorks - links to the Red Cross. UGS - matching employee donations towards American Red Cross, The Salvation Army, and United Way. Employees are volunteering towards the relief effort. - - - If you wish to provide funds towards Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, upFront.eZine recommends the Mennonite Disaster Service arm of MCC (Mennonite Central Committee). The focus of this agency is on clean up, repairs, and the rebuilding of homes. www.mds.mennonite.net/Home Color Stereolithography When I think stereolithography, ghostly-looking plastic parts come to mind, created layer-upon-thin-layer in large contraptions costing tens of thousands of dollars. 3D plotting isn't going to hit the mainstream any time soon. My friend Don Beaton first alerted me to this, and now the press release arrives from Z. They've figured out how to create colored output from stereolithography machines. By adding color, writes pr rep Christine Major, you can:
... hold it! Aren't these all the same? Continuing with the list:
More info at www.zcorp.com
A summary of CAD industry news you may not have read elsewhere, or that I found interesting: Dassault Systemes and IBM continue to part ways discretely. In late July, they announced that Dassault is taking over the sales channel in some European countries and the US, while IBM retains the global sales in the PLM market. Expect more changes to come, as the press release predicts: "This is the first of a series of agreements aimed at strengthening and transforming the IBM-Dassault Systèmes partnership to maximize the value of their PLM offerings" -- the word to note is "transforming." Ashlar-Vellum releases v7 of their Cobalt, Xenon, and Argon hybrid 3D solid- and surface-modeling software for Macintosh and Windows. Improvements include: updated ACIS 12, Lightworks 7.4 rendering, and improved translators for IGES, STEP, CATIA and Rhino.www.ashlar-vellum.com I'm not saying it's the start of a price war, but Bentley Systems is engaging in PTC-like marketing tactics by offering to "Double Your Productivity": buy a select AutoPLANT product and get the second one free. AutoPLANT products work with MicroStation and AutoCAD. www.bentley.com/autoplant The same cannot be said of Autodesk. After acquiring Solid Dynamics, the company said that the stand-alone, CATIA, and SolidWorks versions will be deadheaded once customer's support contracts run out: "Since this is a technology acquisition, Solid Dynamics products will not be maintained or sold in the future. Instead, the technology will be integrated into future releases of Inventor Professional. At the same time, we will support those customers that have support requirements according to all existing obligations." Bluebeam, a survivor in the tough world of CAD-PDF conversion, launches a Web site for uploading PDF-DWF-TIFF files, and then ordering prints online from US Reprographics -- kind of like a r-e-a-l-l-y large-format version of Wal-Mart's online Photo Center. The name of the new service is... wait for it... "Blue-print." Well, it's better than "Prints Charming." Cost is US$0.12/sq ft. http://www.blue-print.com Cadig announces AutoTable 3.2, which imports Excel spreadsheets into AutoCAD LT and keeps them updated. They note, "As we know, there is seldom Excel to AutoCAD LT import tool." Seldom indeed. www.cadig.com Dr. DWG, the cutest name in CAD, launches Sift, an "ifilter" for DWG files. It extracts text and attributes from drawings, and then creates an index of th data. www.drdwg.com Cool, I guess, except doesn't Google already do that, sort of? And what is the "ifilter"? ESI Group releases PAM-VA, which is, and here I have to quote them, "a fully integrated environment for simulating the response of vibro-acoustic systems across the entire frequency spectrum." What I find more interesting as an editor, is that the press release comes from the French Technology Press Office, and not from ESI. www.esi-group.com Formation Design Systems updates its Maxsurf suite of naval architecture software. Download a trial of v11 from www.formsys.com/marinelog Synergis Software lets future customers test drive their Adept software for EDM [engineering document management]. Specialists guide you, the future customer, through work sessions scheduled at your convenience. But this is one test drive that's not free. The cost for the full Adept Pilot Program is US$3,995, including 1 concurrent license, 2 days of remote support, and 30 days of technical support for 30 days. www.synergis-adept.com The IntelliCAD Technology Consortium announces IntelliCAD 6.1 with a new rendering interface (and engine?). "IntelliCAD 6.1 also includes the unique ability to record sound clips and attach them to entities for playback at any time." I dunno -- are sound clips in CAD drawings that useful? The consortium doesn't sell IntelliCAD; instead, you need to get the software from the likes of CADopia and Bricscad. www.intellicad.org VariCAD released a new version of its 3D/2D mechanical CAD system, VariCAD 2005 1.11. New tools for surface development (sheet metal unbending) and crash tests (interferences), a new option for 3D view rotation, etc. 30-day trial from www.varicad.com
Seminars & Conferences ICEM European Users Group Conference takes place Sept 26-27 in Barcelona, Spain. www.icem.com PLM Road Map 2005 conference is Sept 28-29 in Dearborn MI. https://cpd-associates.com/pdfs/agenda/include_confagenda_0905.cfm VSMM2005 Conference on Virtual Systems and Multimedia is Oct 3-7 in Ghent, Belgium. belgium.vsmm.org ASAM User Days is October 24-25 at General Motors Tom Davis Conference Center. www.asam.net Ecobuild Federal and AEC Science & Technology is Dec 13-16 in Washington DC. www.ecobuildfederal.com TMCE 2006 International symposium is Apr 18-22 in Ljubljana, Slovenia. www.tmce-symposium.org
People/Companies on the Move GeoPraxis changes its name Green Building Studio, Inc. http://www.GreenBuildingStudio.com Randall Newton goes solo, taking over the AEC News weblog/site from Cyon Research. http://www.aecnews.com/ Sarah Zajas is the new executive secretary of ASAM North America -- the Association for Standardization of Automation and Measuring Systems. sarah.zajas@asam.net Andrea Ryan takes over from Jim Calabrese for media and public relations at the Océ WFPS division. Right Hemisphere appoints Tom Meredith as vp of worldwide sales. Mr Meredith is the former senior vp at i2. JETCAM International moves to Terrasses du Port, 2 Avenue des Ligures, Monaco. I wonder if the move is a gamble.
Market News Dassault Systemes acquires Virtools SA, expert in 3D interactive Web applications for 3D content. Price was e12 million.
WorthWhile Web www.michaelbach.de/ot/index.html
Letters to the Editor "Sometime in the near future I will no longer have access to AutoCAD at work, and must face up to buying my own copy. If I only had a need for 2D architectural drafting, the choice would be easy, but from time to time I need to create 3D models. This might be to express the outside form of a building design or to design furniture that includes cast components, like a unique garden seat. "Acquiring AutoCAD with a 3D capability is four times the
price of LT and I get a 3D package that was created in the 20th
century. Is there any danger that Autodesk will upgrade the 3D component
embedded in standard AutoCAD in the near future and bring it into
the 21st century? Or is it a much more sensible proposition and
cheaper in the long run, to buy LT and get something like SketchUp
for 3D solid modeling? The editor replies: "There is no danger of AutoCAD improving its 3D, because Autodesk wants you to pay extra for 3D, such as in Inventor or ADT. There are plans, however, add a set of NURBS-like predesign tools to AutoCAD, as well as to beef up the 10-year-old rendering engine. "As for LT, it makes sense if you are familiar with AutoCAD. As for 3D, most CAD vendors have trial versions you can download to see if they meet your needs. In addition to SketchUp, try TurboCAD Pro and Alibre."
"We made the work of reading 3DXML data, which is not really
open (because it includes two binary formats that are not open at
all)."
"I've been reading your e-zine for a long time (don't remember how long, but it must be around 8 years or so). I'm resigning from my job of 12 years, selling my home, and heading out on a year-plus round-the-world trip with my wife and 8-year-old daughter. We'll eventually settle down somewhere (Vancouver BC is very tempting if I could get a work visa, but Asia, Oceana and Europe are also appealing), and I may go back to FEA [finite element analysis] and such. "But, partially inspired by your travelogues, we're writing
a blog to document our travels for our friends and colleagues. Thanks
for the years of good reporting, interesting articles, and humorous
quotations!"
"Some electronic paper makers may have product by as early as 2006/7. Electronic paper, whichever one we see arrive in the market at first, will most likely be backlit with something like Organic Light-Emitting Diodes. These will also be able to double as bright displays. See http://www.lighting.philips.com/gl_en/news/philips_novaled_oled.php?main=global&parent=4390&id=gl_en_news&lang=en Xerox has OLED in development too, to name a few. E-Ink from Fujitsu - http://www.fujitsu.com/global/news/pr/archives/month/2005/20050713-01.html A close up of the technology - http://www.media.mit.edu/micromedia/elecpaper.html Eink web site - http://www.eink.com/news/index.html - Robert McCartney
"I'm looking for a book or some resource that describes
the history of CAD. Something recent enough to include the move
to BIM or VDC or whatever you want to call the 3D/4D object-based
parametric CAD programs (e.g., Revit). Do you know of any sources?" The editor replies: "If you can help out Mr Taylor, contact me. Thx."
"I was wondering what you've heard about 'smart components'
in CAD systems. To me, these smart components seem to be models
that are aware of other models when put together. SolidWorks 2006
will have some smart component features. I was wondering if the
other CAD vendors will have their own versions."
"Reading your comments regarding the many bugs in AutoCAD 2006 and particularly your comment "I have found that 2006 has many minor bugs, which gives me the feeling the software was rushed out" make me feel real good about my response to you a few months back about the fact that most of the real world waits at least 3+ months before rushing out and purchasing the latest upgrade for exactly the point you just made. "I feel for those who have sacrificed their time and efforts
for the rest of us who wait and benefit by their R&D but unfortunately
my many years of experience have taught me this is the only sound
business practice to follow."
"Your news is half a decade old. As I pointed out in 'Cadalyst'
Bug Watch in February 2000, PSIN was removed part-way through the
AutoCAD 2000 cycle. The current Bug Watch (July 2005) has a good
look at which existing bugs were fixed by 2006, and which were not."
Spin Doctor of the Moment "Deferred success." - Liz Beattie, retired teacher, calls on The Professional Association of Teachers to replace the word 'fail.' news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/4697461.stm
Notable Quotable "Who every thought that Google would ban CNET because CNET
used Google to do research on Google execs?"
Copyright 2005 by upFront.eZine Publishing, Ltd. All rights reserved worldwide Article reprint fee US$250.00.
All trademarks belong to their respective holders. "upFront.eZine,"
"Talking About CAD," and "On your desktop every Tuesday morning"
are trademarks of upFront.eZinePublishing, Ltd. |
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