|
upFront.eZine |
|
|
a
publication from |
|
|
Issue #460 : : February 7, 2006 |
|
|
C o n t e n t s SolidWorks World, Part 2 Below
the Radar, and other
regular columns. |
Write the Editor. Donate to upFront.eZine through Paypal. Access nearly-daily CAD commentary at our blog: WorldCAD Access. |
|
|
|
|
In its early days, Parametric Technology Corp was like a wildfire in the mechanical CAD world, growing fast and stepping on toes. The aggreesive PTC hit a road bump around 2000, when it took its eyes of Pro/Engineer CAD software, thinking its WindChill collaboration software would have even better sales. 'Twasn't so. Chastised, the company reexamined its CAD software, realizing it was now outdated against its competitors -- such as SolidWorks and Solid Edge (then owned by Intergraph). "Difficult to use," was the consensus. The overhauled Pro/E emerged in 2002 as "Pro/Engineer Wildfire" in 2002, with icons instead of cascading menus, a dashboard, direct modeling, and other features we now consider normal. With WildFire 3 due out on March 17, PTC figures that they'll have implemented 95% of their modernization effort. The company takes pride in being the only vendor with salability: a single user interface and file format handles the range from mid to high. The three levels of Pro/E are: 1. Foundation Advantage is US$5,000 (most popular). PTC is pleased at the gap other vendors present between mid and high end MCAD, because this lets them tell potential customers about their single CAD strategy running on Unix/Linux and Windows 32/64. Contrast that with the competitors:
One CAD package is central to PTC, with tie-ins to all other aspects of designing products. (They plan no acquisitions of any CAD software.) Consider the lowly cell phone: it consists of a mechanical design, plus PCB (printed circuit boards), electronics, software, documentation, testing, and so on. It's PTC's aim to provide all the software needed to design every aspect of every product. At 335,250 licensed copies [as of Dec 31, excluding education], PTC figures they have the largest market share, when you leave out education seats. www.ptc.com SolidWorks World 2006, Part II Some more knowledge captured from Semour & Powell:
Design lies somewhere between these two extremes: New designs appear at different points when society (people) intersects with technology (science) and business (economics). Knowledge leads to ideas, which leads to benefits, and then to embodiment.
2D to 3D: What's It Take? What does it take to switch 2D users to 3D? I got asked that question by SolidWorks executives wondering how to grow their marketshare. I suspect the answer is "pain." It's painful switching to unfamiliar 3D CAD from familiar 2D CAD. Users won't switch until it becomes more painful to remain with 2D. What are the possible sources of pain?
A summary of CAD industry news you may not have read elsewhere, or that I found interesting:
CADMAI integrates into third-party applications as a relational 2D and 3D CAD system. Version 2.2 has new APIs for creating CADMAI windows, and to access CAD functions from applications written in C, C++, or .net. The complete 2D/3D geometric library can also be used independently. http://cadmai.com/html/home_en.html Right Hemisphere has two plug-ins for the new Acrobat 3D: PMI [product manufacturing information] Module (US$495) converts CATIA and JT files to PDF. The PDF Publishing Module (US$295) creates interactive 3D PDF files without the JaveScript routines required by Acrobat 3D; go figure. http://www.righthemisphere.com SolidWorks ships 64-bit versions of SolidWorks 2006 x64 Edition and COSMOS (design analysis) software for use with assemblies up to 8TB in size -- well, in theory -- running on a 64-bit computer running a Windows XP Professional x64 Edition operating system. http://www.solidworks.com AVEVA plans to integrate its Vantage PDMS [plant design management system] with Autodesk's Inventor and Architectural Desktop in the first half of 2006. http://www.aveva.com Dassault Systemes figures its new Business Process Content will make will make its PLM business processes available to customers of all sizes. [I'd write more, but I got lost in acronyms.] http://www.3ds.com VizUp reduces polygons in 3D models. There's VizUp 2 Standard for US$299, a Professional edition for advanced reduction ($595), and the Enterprise edition optimized for very large models ($1,495). http://www.vizup.com/store/index.html From CAD to the cutting machine: ArchiCAD has been integrated with Tekla Structures to structural design and fabrication. http://www.graphisoft.com/products/ArchiCAD/energize9/structural.html General CADD Pro has been updated to version 4.1.06. http://www.generalcadd.com/downloads.htm Geomagic Studio 8 is enhanced for data capture and digital reconstruction, plus new measurement system plug-ins. http://www.geomagic.com RDV Systems' Rapid Design Visualization 3D simulation software is updated to V2006.2 for Civil 3D, Map 3D, Architectural Desktop, and Building Systems from Autodesk. http://www.rdvsystems.com Lattice Technology upgrades its XVL format by reducing memory consumption by 70% and viewing times by 50% for data-intensive 3D assemblies. I appreciate their press release including the meaning of XVL: eXtensible Virtual world description Language. http://www.lattice3d.com - - - These news items were posted during the last week at the WorldCAD Access blog <worldcadaccess.typepad.com>:
And at the Gizmos Grabowski <worldcadaccess.typepad.com/gizmos/> Weblog:
Hardware News Stratasys's 3D printers are using Arcam's "CAD to Metal" electron-beam melting process to fuse titanium powder into solid metal parts. http://www.Stratasys.com and http://www.Arcam.com People/Companies on the Move It's been 20 years since the first copy of TurboCAD was sold. To celebrate, IMSI is selling TurboCAD Deluxe 11 at the 1986 price of US$99.95, and throwing in a set of kitchen knives [just kidding]. http://www.turbocad.com Bentley Systems appoints Rob Whitesell as vp of Bentley Plant. Dassault Systèmes appoints Patrick Romich as ceo of its ENOVIA brand. Proficiency joins the JT Open program, and supports 3D JT data in its Collaboration Gateway software. Bentley acquires the assets of Cook-Hurlbert, a company with software for electric and gas distribution networks. Redo "Tony Lockwood is editor of 'DESKTOP Engineering' magazine.
'Design Engineering' is in Canada." WorthWhile Web http://news.com.com/2102-1025_3-6034666.html?tag=st.util.print
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5954521938928173924
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1539922531377218673
Letters to the Editor Re: Outsourcing -- It's Not Just Global "I wish I could find a clear discussion somewhere of the accounting methods used to assign costs to internal labor. What I have seen is that accounting calculates an 'actual cost' to every hour of internal labor, which includes things like utility bills, real estate taxes, and then compares that cost to the contract cost of outside labor, which include none of these. "Under this method, outside labor is always cheaper. Fewer
workers carry more and more cost, which doesn't go away unless you
shut the doors and sell the land. The whole process is an incentive
to forget how to do things and go out of business." The editor replies, "Kind of like Dilbert's boss fantasizing over the company's profits if he were to fire _everyone_."
"In 1987, my company had over 100 designers and drafters. Today, we are left with 6 designers (all of them ready to retire) and 5 CAD drafters. "Three of the five have been told they are being 'transitioned'
by the end of 2006. All of their work is going to be outsourced
to a local engineering firm."
Re: SolidWorks World 2006 "When you wrote 'Did you know about the ceo banned from
Las Vegas?' you probably needn't be so circumspect about naming
him. At least one CAD company ceo I know of was interviewed on-camera
about his role in the MIT blackjack team of the early 1990s during
a Discovery Channel program. Some of the team members spoke in the
shadows with their identities hidden, but he did not." The editor replies: "I tend to be cautious about naming names, unless I have a second source -- which I didn't have at this time. There was a book written on the incident, 'Bringing Down the House', although it appears not to name the ceo."
"And talking of a distinct character, [SolidWorks co-founder]
Mike Payne's new company < http://www.spaceclaim.com > is
generally hush-hush. They recently bought Gravelsoft."
"Regarding the slide displayed by Seymour and Powell showing
the difference between men and women. 'Designers can't be politically-correct,'
they noted. The picture shows men and women as they are; but what
they want, at least when it comes to technology, is the reverse."
Re: Spinmeister of the Week "This has got to be one of the most obfuscated statements: 'Even current synthetic benchmarks designed to show off theoretical rates in 3D hardware can have a hard time exploiting the tripling in fragment processing ability. That's not to say the performance increases at the same clocks as R520 are invisible. Clearly they're not without increases, especially at the higher resolutions, of up to 30% in the games we tested, clock-for-clock.' "From http://hardware.slashdot.org/hardware/06/01/24/136208.shtml
" - - - "I do enjoy reading your ezine." Spin Doctor of the Moment "Participatory dictatorship." Notable Quotable "A Western Digital spokesman gushed this week that the [new
transparent hard] drive had 'radically progressive style' and 'plenty
of flair'. It's good to see a man enjoying his job. Now all he needs
is a life."
Copyright 2006 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. |
|
|
|
|