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Issue #461 : : February 13, 2006 |
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C o n t e n t s
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. |
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To mark the launch of CoCreate's 2006 line of CAD and other software, the company blitzed through numerous editorial offices last week. See, for example, Jeffrey Rowe's report at /manufacturing.cadalyst.com/manufacturing/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=306252 - - - Some of the work CoCreate company has done to Designer Modeling 2006 allows ever larger assemblies to be loaded, using these techniques:
Another new feature is the split screen showing changes in design from rev 1 to rev 2; parts can be replaced with revisions. The split screens (multiple viewports) also display a model from different viewpoints. Snapshot files are useful for daily progress reports, ECOs [engineering change orders], and design reviews. The clash analyzer reports on interferences as well as touch points. The new camera creates animations, explodes views cylindrically and spherically, and generates part paths. The CoPilot shows quick and true previews, as well as assisting with editing; two or more parts can be modified at the same time. I was a bit puzzled by the team lugging along a 70-pound (32-kg) dual AMD CPU, 6GB, 64-bit desktop computer. The rationale was to show off that CoCreate runs 64-bit, so that 200,000-part assemblies can be loaded. But Todd and David didn't show any that huge. Oh well. I do, however, rather like CoCreate's user interface. - - - The message to be hammered home: dynamic modeling is more flexible than history modeling. But CoCreate was honest enough to describe drawbacks to dynamic modeling. You might prefer history modeling if:
But you might prefer dynamic modeling if:
All the new features are not describable here, so check out www.cocreate.com/designer_drafting.cfm
Over the last three months, I've spoken with numerous executives in the CAD industry. Technically, the conversations are interviews set up by public relations professionals to garner maximum exposure for the companies represented. But in many cases, they morph from interviews to conversations with a single theme. The men worry about their home life. - - - One is vice president of a smaller software company. Like the Olympians, he pushes himself to the limit to make his business a success. And like Olympians crashing today on the luge runs and ski hills, he found himself burning out last year, becoming distant from his wife. He resolved to work at a sensible level, so now he invites his wife along on his business trips, to get closer to her again. (Same here, although I have the luxury of working at home. I bring along my teenage children on business trips when it works out. They love it; they feel special.)
Another is the vice president of a larger company. His children are pre-teen and he worries about teenagehood: "I've heard that teenagers no longer like their parents." I encouraged him to keep communicating with them, be available when they ask about issues -- money, sex, friends who'll let them down, world events, philosophies that compete for their loyalty -- and he'll stay friends with them. Update: last week he went skiing with his children. (My 19-year-old son opens up after a half-hour of small talk. My 17-year-old daughter comes home from school and demands I explain boys to her. And my 15-year-old expresses herself only when she's tired or angry. They're different, but they look for the same thing from their parents: honesty.)
Another marketing executive has had a girlfriend for some time, and is hoping to marry her and have kids. But he's unsure of how it would go. I related to him some stories from my marriage of 21 years. (At the wedding ceremony, I repeated the vows the pastor recited, and it didn't mean much. It meant much more when my wife, after a dozen year of marriage, in the middle of one of our verbal fights, fiercely announced to me: "Ralph Grabowski, I'm not going to leave you!" That gives a man much needed confidence for life.) - - - There is a crisis in Western society. Men don't get the support they need from other men. A summary of CAD industry news you may not have read elsewhere, or that I found interesting: Batchpro is a powerful batch processing application for AutoCAD 2002-2006. It processes multiple commands on many drawings quickly. It's useful for manipulating drawings, batch plotting, batch exporting, and so on. User extensible through Batchpro Custom commands. www.skinner-web.com Insitu Simulation recently launched version 5 of ISS Foresight, their visual simulation software that creates 3D images, animations, and real-time viewing for land development projects. www.insitusimulation.com 4D GIS: GlobeXplorer's ImageAtlas lets you step back through time through aerial and satellite views. See a sample of San Diego's Petco Park at www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=5076999 Reverse PDFs: IMSI's PDF to Word v3 (US$40) converts PDF files into editable documents, complete with formatted text, columns, tables, and graphics. www.imsisoft.com/prodinfo.asp?t=1&mcid=365&cid=219208 Alibre releases Design 9.0 3D parametric solid modeling software, with new functions and expanded API. http://www.alibre.com Safe Software releases SpatialDirect 2006, its spatial data Web distribution and transformation software. www.safe.com/spatialdirect LMS has a budget-friendly version of Test.Lab Vibration Control for 4- to 8-channel systems of closed-loop vibration control testing. www.lmsintl.com - - - These news items were posted during the last week at the WorldCAD Access blog <worldcadaccess.typepad.com>:
Hardware News Stratasys latest FDM Vantage rapid prototyping systems offer three more modeling material options, higher resolution, and a lower starting price of US$99,000. www.Stratasys.com
Seminars & Conferences 6th annual National Facilities Management and Technology Conference & Exposition is March 7-9 in Baltimore USA. www.nfmt.com Automotive Summit is in Munich, Germany on March 13-14. www.microsoft.com/manufacturing ITEDO Technical Illustration Seminar is March 28 in Chicago IL USA. www.itedo.com/E/104_2554.php 12th Annual Accredited TEC Summer Institute for educators is June 26–30 in Manchester NH USA. www.TECedu.com People/Companies on the Move Avatech Solutions appoints Mark Haddad as vp of Building Solutions. Mr Haddad was formerly head of product marketing at Autodesk. VISTAGY appoints Mamoru Iguchi as general manager of the Asia Pacific region. Market News Dassault Systems reports Fy05 revenues of e934.5 million, and e304.2 million -- up 27% from a year earlier. UGS reports FY05 revenue of US$1.15 billion, and Q4 revenue of $326.7 million -- up 15% over a year earlier.
Brand New CAD Books/eBooks Sheet Metal Guy has three new SolidWorks training books at www.SheetMetalGuy.com :
"IntelliCAD: The Un-AutoCAD" Letters to the Editor Re: The Kinder, Gentler PTC "This propagation of PTC's point of view [that only Pro/E is scalable to the high-end] blurs a very important, and emerging, truth: The notion of 'high-end' and 'mid-range' is a UNIX-based vendor artifact, and has less and less to with the capabilities of various CAD packages. In the not so distant future, it will have nothing to do with the capabilities of the various CAD packages. "Both UGS and DS have confused CAD strategies that will eventually force their users to choose one application over the other (CATIA over SWX or NX over SolidEdge). "From an Autodesk perspective, it is not Inventor-or-nothing. It's Inventor -- period. Inventor already delivers what users need to do their jobs today, and the so-called 'gap' with the high-end is more a ploy for justifying the prices of products that grew up on UNIX (while apologizing for the short comings of their user interfaces and workflows). "In this respect we agree with PTC: A single CAD application
is better. We just disagree on which one is right for the market
today AND tomorrow. Our view is that Inventor is clearly the best
choice."
The editor responds: "This reflects the discussion at the WorldCAD Access blog: what defines high-end? And do SolidWorks, Inventor, et al have the capabilities to replace NX and Catia?"
Mr Anagnost replies: "I believe some of these applications do have the capabilities. In the case of Inventor, we've built a next generation application and the market is beginning to realize what's under the hood. Other vendors have just tried to duplicate Pro/E with a Windows UI. "The 'high-end' only exists in the minds of those that have something to protect -- or to lose. The rise (over the next couple of years) of 64-bit computing on the PC will be the final weight that shifts the balance. "That said, I think it's naïve to think that Dassault sees SolidWorks as their next generation. If you look at what they're doing with both the product (CATIA) and how they're pricing it, Dassault's intentions are very clear: Build a CATIA V5 world. Just look at some of the presentation materials from the IBM/Dassault sales force! "Dassault will NOT spin off SolidWorks and they will eventually create a SolidWorks to CATIA transition plan (if they don't have it already) -- perhaps using a base form of V5 that has Automobile and Airplane design options. "I don't believe you can protect and nurture your customers when you have a dual 3D mechanical CAD strategy. That's why we don't (and it would have been easy for us to have one). And that -- combined with our vision for Functional Design -- is why I contend we're the best choice." - - - "Thanks for the e-zine, wait for it and love each and every
Monday/Tuesday!"
"I read the upFront.eZine newsletter sent by you
regularly and believe it is an extremely powerful Web site."
Spin Doctor of the Moment "We had lengthy discussions with them to try to resolve
this [US government lawsuit], but were not able to, and we intend
to resist their motion vigorously."
Notable Quotable "Don't ask me how it feels to live without a reason. I don't
know."
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