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Issue #471 : : April 25, 2006 |
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C o n t e n t s Adobe Gets (More) Serious About
CAD Below the Radar and other regular columns.
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Write the Editor. Donate to upFront.eZine through Paypal. Access nearly-daily CAD commentary at our blog: WorldCAD Access. |
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Adobe Gets (More) Serious About CAD When Adobe first stuck a toe in the chilly waters of 3D CAD, its effort was lukewarm. A year ago, PDF could embed 3D CAD drawings, by only through a format "nobody" uses, and only after additional payment to a third-party for the CAD -> U3D translator. Ho hum. Earlier this year, Adobe added the translator to Acrobat. Was that the big breakthrough into 3D CAD? No, last week they also bought TTF [Trade and Technologies France], the well-known 3D CAD translation company from Lyons France. The price tag is being kept secret, at least until perhaps revealed in some future SEC document. No layoffs are expected among the firm's 29 employees. Adobe didn't alert the press, but that's maybe because they don't know what they'll do with the acquisition. TTF produces the following software: 1. CAD APIs for reading and writing CAD/CAM/CAE files in native
formats.
Let's see if we can help out Adobe: 1. The APIs can be added to Adobe's server software to translate
CAD drawings to PDF on the fly with a range of permissions. This
will tick off third party developers, like Taylor Software, who
have been doing this for years. 2. The history trees and features can be added to Acrobat Pro
to turn the product into more of a CAD viewer than it is now. Supported
formats include CATIA V4 and V5, SolidWorks, I-DEAS, PRO/E, UGS
NX, CADDS, Euclid, ParaSolid, DWG, DXF, and ACIS as well as industry
standards IGES, STEP, and VDA. 3. The mockup/collab software can be turned into a new Adobe product, kind of like an Acrobat "SuperPro+ Enhanced."
How Small? One concern is that Distiller creates fat PDF files, which are optimized for text, not CAD files. In contrast, a CAD viewing format like Autodesk's DWF is optimized for CAD files but not text. I ran some tests over the weekend: Large Text File with No Images (301 pages) Medium Text File with Many Images Small 2D AutoCAD 2007 Drawing Medium 3D AutoCAD 2007 Drawing The results confirm that DWF is lousy for text documents and great for representing AutoCAD files. The very small PDF file (indicated by *) is probably due to a 2D view being made from the 3D drawing. With non-CAD-company Google buying a pre-CAD SketchUp and non-CAD-company Adobe buying after-CAD TTF, is this a trend? The trend of non-CAD companies swallowing up the edges of the computer-aided design lake. Links: www.adobe.com In Related News Right Hemisphere's Deep Server 4.0 software is now 67% faster at automating 3D PDF authoring and publishing. www.righthemisphere.com DotSoft's PdfImport for AutoCAD 2000+ imports PDF files as vectors and text. Browse multipage PDF files and inspect pages in a preview window before processing. www.dotsoft.com/pdfimport.htm LinkFixerPlus manages links in PDF files: reports, validates, maintains, and repairs links. 30-day trial at www.linkfixerplus.com/acrobat/acrobat-overview.htm RDV [Rapid Design Visualization] Systems releases Google Earth support for Autodesk users, allowing them to view Autodesk models at a click of a button. Free 30-day eval from www.rdvsystems.com
Brandon Hill of Daily Tech reports on Virginia Tech's College of Engineering requiring first-year students ("freshmen," in American parlance) to purchase tablet PCs and a collection of software. Students are ticked off because: 1. They are required to purchase the tablet PC, even if they already have a computer. 2. They are required to purchase a tablet PC, which costs several hundred dollars more than a plain notebook and twice as much as a desktop computer (which some prefer, because it is harder to steal). 3. They are required to purchase a collection of software that costs them $500, which includes programs from Microsoft, Autodesk, and MatLab. Having wireless devices in seminar settings invites email checking, MSNing, and real-time blogging. So, who's the winner in this? Instructors tend to be behind the technology curve compared to at least some of their students, and I doubt the teachers will easily switch to a tablet PC-based curriculum -- even if they exists. The administration of the college like to feel they're progressive, but really, they're being taken for a ride by the tablet PC and software vendors. An associated professor sounds like he's doing marketing for the vendors: "Students get a great price break from all these vendors that we're talking about." The tablet PC and software vendors are the winners, because they have the ideal market condition: a sovereign-like monopoly where (1) _only_ their products may be purchased; and (2) all their products _must_ be purchased -- costing each student an extra $700. Link: www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=1905
A summary of CAD industry news you may not have read elsewhere, or that I found interesting:
CAD Schroer GmbH releases STHENO/PRO v2.1 drafting plug-in for Pro/ENGINEER, and offers a competitive upgrade for AutoCAD LT, AutoCAD, and AutoCAD Mechanical up to version 2005. Details at upgrade.stheno-pro.com/index.php?ziel=3 ProgeSOFT announces progeCAD 2006 Professional v6.1.8 (based on the IntelliCAD 6.1 CAD Engine) with 50+ improvements. The company plans to upgrade its progeCAD DWG Viewer within weeks. www.progesoft.us MagicTracer ships v1.5 of its raster-to-vector conversion software. The free upgrade exports vectors in WMF format and drawing units. www.magictracer.com Softcover International ships Scan2CAD v7.5 for automatic conversion of scanned drawings to CAD files. The update allows raster images to be attached to DXF files. www.softcover.com ARTVPS launches a new version of its RenderPipe AV5.0 ray tracing software that isolates rendering tasks as standalone processes. www.ARTVPS.com VX CAD/CAM's new network of ribs tool speeds up defining stiffening and support ribs on 3D models of plastic parts. www.vx.com Noran Engineering releases NEi Nastran V9 for high end engineering analysis and simulation. www.NEiNastran.com Krupa CADD Solutions updates the KCS Productivity Pack for Autodesk Architectural Desktop 2004 - 2007, as well asa AutoCAD 2007. The add-on provides Auto-Layering for annotation and dozens of additional commands. 60-day free trials from www.krupacadd.com VizUp 2.1.4 absorbs similar materials and adjoining shapes, useful for models with similar materials on shapes pressed together. Eval at www.vizup.com/load/vizup.exe With CPU speeds flat, Intel now resorts to marketing. (Reminds me of a memory card reader recently announced: major feature? It comes in three colors.) Over the weekend, its ViiV "platform" was pronounced a dud, so its PR firm has pulled another one: the vPro. Sigh. www.intel.com/vpro - - - These news items were posted during the last week at the WorldCAD Access blog <worldcadaccess.typepad.com>:
Seminars & Conferences PlantSuccess is April 27 in Clear Lake TX USA. www.plantsuccess.com Offshore Technology Conference is May 1-4 in Houston TX USA. www.otcnet.org/2006 Fiatech Technology Conference is May 8-10 in Scottsdale AZ USA. www.fiatech.org The first Autodesk User Group International (AUGI) UK CAD Camp will be hosted by the University of Surrey in Guildford on 20 June 2006. www.cadcamp.com People/Companies on the Move Cyon Research hires Richard Morley and Brian Seitz as senior analysts. Mr Morley is inventor of the programmable logic controller, and Mr Seitz is chief knowledge officer at Intellectual Arbitrage. SolidWorks dealer CADD Edge acquires Paradigm Design Associates. Over the last 12 month, Autodesk CEO Carol Bartz netted US$230.5 million from the sale of ADSK shares, according to finance.yahoo.com/q/it?s=ADSK . WorthWhile Web "I saw your note about 'The B.C.' which I had seen before, and since both my sister and girlfriend went to Boston College, I enjoyed it even more. Here are some other things I found humorous lately. The first is a clip from SNL, the others are responses done by other people. www.boreme.com/boreme/funny-2005/chronic-narnia-p1.php
The editor replies, "Here in 'The [real] B.C.' [British Columbia] we have a problem recognizing that a series about 'The [other] B.C.' is about Boston College."
"Maybe your readers would be interested in this: all Visual
Studio 2005 Express Editions (includes Visual Basic, Visual C#,
Visual J#, Visual C++, and Visual Web Developer Express) are free
permanently. Letters to the Editor Re: SketchUp for BIM "I've read three press releases of three resellers being bought by three other resellers: Avatech Solutions buys Sterling Systems; Hagerman buys Intervision; and Rand Worldwide buys Taylor Technologies. "Obviously the profitable success of Autodesk is also being realized by its resellers as well. And instead of absorbing resellers, like Bentley, Autodesk is reinforcing the strength of their reseller channel. "With the decrease in reseller channels, continuing increase of profits, and recent price increases for Autodesk products, where is a competitive BIM product going to come from? Google? "I'm sure Google revels in undercutting Microsoft with greater publicity, user passion, and Internet traffic. Could it, with the purchase of SketchUp, be looking to do the same to one of Microsoft's strategic partners, Autodesk?" "SketchUp's ease of use has already captured the hearts of architectural designers. Is it that far of a technological leap for SketchUp models to be turned into BIM worthy content? I don't know, but I hope so. "Interesting speculation none the less, but with what looks
to be nothing but foreseeable increased profits for Autodesk what
else can we users do but root for a BIM competitor to come in and
give us the needed competition that Google provides toward Microsoft.
Short of that I guess it is a good time to download that trial version
of IntelliCAD to see if we can save some money over AutoCAD." The editor replies: "I don't see Google being interested in CAD any more than Microsoft. Buying SketchUp, I am pretty sure, was just for populating Google Earth with nice looking houses."
"Those who wish SketchUp to be more BIM-like [building information
modeling] are completely missing the reason it caught on like wildfire.
There is a reason they named it SketchUp, and not ModelUp."
"So if I asked today the question I asked you at dinner
a while back, would the answer now be, 'That's interesting...well
sort of...' (regarding Google buys a CAD company)? <g> "It sure it is a lot more fun than the news of SolidWorks
and Autodesk marketing to each others customers with perhaps with
a little too much cleverness (or lack of)."
Re: Increased Autodesk Pricing "Have you seen the pricing schedule for AutoCAD 2007 and Inventor 11 yet? Talk about leaving the little guy in the dust. [Autodesk] must be on crack. "I know lots of small machine shops and AEC offices that simply cannot afford that increase. Many are considering dropping subscription because that too went up sharply. It's ridiculous. "They continue to stuff more features in that most of us
don't really need (or want). I'm really sick of monopolistic practices.
I welcome competition and hope it comes sooner, not later." The editor replies: "The increases in pricing are ironic, given that during conference calls with financial analysts, Autodesk would always say 'No' when asked if prices were going up. Autodesk is trying to get people onto (and stay with) subscriptions, so I don't see how raising the price works. They do need a way to keep increasing profits to keep the share price high."
"I was very interested in these comments found in CADzette: 'Several Autodesk reps told me that users aren't moving over to the 3D vertical apps fast enough for Autodesk.' "Since when do customers have to dance to a supplier's song? But of greater interest was this one: 'The profit margin on ADT, Revit, and Inventor is considerably more than what Autodesk makes on a basic seat of AutoCAD.' "How so? Inventor series is AutoCAD, Mechanical, MDT, and Inventor. Supposedly four pieces of software for AUS$8,000, but AutoCAD costs AUS$6,400. If my math is correct, Mechanical, MDT, and Inventor are AUS$1,600. It is difficult to see the profit margin of Inventor Series being greater than AutoCAD sold on its own? "At AUS$12,725 for Inventor Pro with AutoCAD's AUS$6,400
deducted means that Mechanical, MDT, Inventor and the additional
components make the Pro package cost AUS$6,325. It looks very much
like the margin is in AutoCAD and Autodesk is stripping AutoCAD
users to fund the others. A comparison of Subscription an up-grade
pricing reveals a similar disparity." The editor replies: "An Autodesk exec told me earlier this year that AutoCAD makes possible the development of the other software. Also, I think the 3D software is priced cheaper as a come-on to get people to upgrade to 3D. CoCreate, for example, this year offered free upgrades to 3D -- but then customers had to pay the more expensive 3D subscription cost."
Re: AutoCAD 2007's PDF "Just thought I'd throw in here that if you have the full Adobe Acrobat, you can convert your DWFs to PDFs simply by opening the DWF and printing to the Adobe printer. But the increase in file size is enormous. "I tried to convert a 69KB DWF file to PDF for a colleauge
using this method and it went up to 10MB. Curious, no?" The editor replies: "Creating PDFs from DWFs is going to be non-optimal if the drawing contains many curves." - - - "Keep writing, it's good for the soul." "Many thanks for your new news. Have a nice day." "Thanks a lot, and keep up the great work with upFront,
I really enjoy it."
Spin Doctor of the Moment "It's a PC that is virtually without limits and within five
years I predict it will be the most popular form of PC sold in America."
Notable Quotable "It's hard to cover a story if you don't care that it exists."
Copyright 2006 by upFront.eZine Publishing, Ltd. All rights reserved worldwide Article reprint fee US$250.00.
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