upFront.eZine NEWS #486

upFront.eZine T h e B u s i n e s s o f C A D
a publication from upFront.eZine Publishing
Issue #486 : : September 12, 2006
C o n t e n t s While You Were Away Software Firms Commit Suicide Exclusive: UGS Sets SolidEdge 2D Free -- UGS' Strategy - Solid Edge 2D Drafting V19 - The Demo And a few other regular columns.	Write the Editor. Donate to upFront.eZine through Paypal. Access nearly-daily CAD commentary at our blog: WorldCAD Access. < Previous Issue Next Issue >

While You Were Away Welcome back! September is the new January here in the northern hemisphere. Schools, churches, community programs, and our lives begin anew on the Tuesday following the first Monday of September. - - - This startup issue features a long list of product announcements made during upFront.eZine's annual summer break. During that time, I chronicled some significant news items at my WorldCAD Access Weblog: Intergraph to go private. netGuru plans to expire. Patented: 3D CAD images in 2D documents. Randall Newton becomes biggest editor in the CAD world. Autodesk hosts the media for Inventor press event. Revit outships Inventor; Inventor shipments decline. Judge verbally spanks Microsoft, Autodesk. Stock backdating scandal hits public CAD companies. And lots of quarterly financial results. Read them all at http://worldcadaccess.typepad.com. - - - Now available are copies of my latest books. If you'd like an autographed copy, consider a US$25 donation to upFront.eZine for each one: 1. "The Illustrated AutoCAD 2007 Quick Reference" 2. "Using AutoCAD 2007: Basics" (includes intro to 3D). Send payment by PayPal to grabowski@telus.net or by cheque to 34486 Donlyn Avenue, Abbotsford, BC, V2S 4W7 Canada. (Outside North America, please add US$15 for the added postage cost.) Software Firms Commit Suicide I was reading about a province of India going thumbs-down on Big Corporate American Software companies (Microsoft, specifically). Not that that's news; the commonwealth of MA is trying to do similar by mandating open file formats. The article about India, however, intersects two trends: (1) commercial Western software vendors increase their profits (a.k.a. cut their costs) by outsourcing programming and support to India; (2) an Indian province cuts its costs by switching away from commercial software to freeware and open source. Ironic, no? The Internet is the Great Flattener, even in areas I hadn't thought of before. Software vendors, who outsource to increase short-term profits, may in fact be committing long-term suicide. They train Indian programmers in the ways of Western software; India learns how to to produce competitive software at lower cost. CAD vendors are somewhat immune from this trend. They are less likely to be voted off the Island, because of the sticky nature of CAD data files -- users are unlikely to switch on whim. But there are signs of CAD data growing less sticky with the proliferation of neutral formats (JT Open, PDF, et al). Even Autodesk is now using "open" DWF as the translation format between some of its data-incompatible applications. Still, it would pay for CAD executives to worry about companies like Geometric Software Solutions, who last month announced a virtual design service: they'll do everything involved in designing new products, from just-past-the-concept-stage right down to the factory floor. The company is better known as the brains behind eDrawings, CAD translators, and a lot of programming code that goes into brand-name MCAD software. I don't know what CAD software GSS uses, but I could see them taking the Google-like step of moving from designing products to releasing the software that designs the products. Show a man how to fish, and he won't need to buy from your fish store anymore. It's great that technology companies of India are able to lift the country's standard of living; I don't think it's so great that Western software companies fail to pass on their India-based savings to we customers. Exclusive: UGS Sets Solid Edge 2D Free The #3 CAD company peels off the 2D drafting module from Solid Edge Design and Drafting, its 2D/3D MCAD software, and releases it free. UGS figures the software is worth US$995. When you compare it with AutoCAD LT's feature set and $895 price tag, you wonder why customers keep paying that much. (Well, we know the reason: DWG compatibility, and familiar UI.) UGS's Strategy Here are the assumptions behind UGS's strategy: Full 2D drafting has become a commodity. [It has for 3D-focussed vendors who can afford to give-away software in the hope of attracting customers.] If you stay with 2D drafting, this free 2D software helps you slash your costs. [Initial investment is low, but there are ongoing support costs.] If you use 3D, then UGS hopes Solid Edge 2D becomes a stepping stone to its pricier CAM or PLM offerings. UGS includes the variational drawing engine to help 2D users make the shift to 3D. [3D modeling is different that 2D drafting, so CAD vendors now include 3D-like capabilities to ease the transition.] And UGS hopes people have a good experience with this UGS software. (This is no IntelliCAD rebrand. UGS apparently considered IntelliCAD, but didn't want to take that route, they told me earlier this year. "That route" being the one taken by SolidWorks with its essentially-free DWG Editor.) How do you support a free product? UGS plans to set up a user-supported email group that will be monitored by employees. A socialist ideal (free software for all) spawns a capitalist reality (help yourself). Existing customers of SolidEdge and NX can add $360/yr to their maintenance fee for 2D support, upgrades, and access to the API [application programming interface]; free-loading users download free upgrades on their own. Solid Edge 2D Drafting V19 As the software was being demo'ed to me, I noticed some similarities with Intergraph's Imagineer Technical -- no coincidence. Last decade, Intergraph put some of its people on Jupiter Island, telling them to come up with next-generation CAD software. Imagineer Technical was the 2D product; Solid Edge the 3D. But neither never really took off, and so Intergraph sold SE to UGS, keeping the renamed SmartSketch for itself -- and under the radar. (See http://aecnews.com/articles/245.aspx for more about Jupiter technology plans in 1997.) For a time, Imagineer LT as given away free (even bundled with a Microsoft bonus CD), and now we've come full-circle: a decade later, Jupiter-based 2D CAD is again being given away. SE 2D contains all 2D features found in Solid Edge, with the exception of 2D documentation of 3D models. It displays 2D plans of 3D models from Solid Edge 3D, and includes D-cube's constraint solver, plus a large collection of symbols. Drawings are saved in Solid Edge's file format, and can be exported in other formats. The Demo UGS demo'ed Solid Edge 2D to me over the Internet using its own TeamCenter AppShare software. Some of the SE 2D features I took note of: as you draw lines, SE 2D creates relationships between them; horizontal and vertical lines are locked. This behavior can be toggled globally and locally. intersections are intelligently cleaned up (trimmed) just by dragging the cursor across the area; no need to pick entities. smart dimensioning knows how to dimension lines and circles differently; when dimensioning between two lines, you can toggle between the distance and the angle. Double-click to change dimension text to a formula; dimensions can be driven by formulas linked from Excel. "Block Views" allows a single symbol to display different states; creating them is _much_ simpler than AutoCAD's dynamic blocks. draw the front view; draw the top view roughly in place, and then use projection lines to align elements in the two views. You can download the 230MB file from http://www.solidedge.com/free2d using Internet Explorer only. Warning: the software runs only on Windows XP. Below the Radar A summary of CAD industry news you may not have read elsewhere, or that I found interesting: CADalytic Media delivers the SpecifiCAD plug-in for accessing product data, currently from McGraw-Hill's Construction Network. Versions are available for AutoCAD, ADT, and DWF Viewer v6.5, with future releases planned for Revit and Bentley Architecture. Download betas from cadalytic.com/index.php?dir=company&subdir=press ZiPCAD\|Pro uses Bluetooth to link PalmPilots with Leica's Disto A6 distance meter. Laser measurements are automatically recorded by the PalmOS-compatible ZiPCAD\|Pro CAD software. 30-day demo from www.zipcad.com Gibbs and Associates introduces GibbsCAM Machine Simulation for entire machine tool motion validation. Last month, GibbsCAM 2006 began shipping to customers. www.GibbsCAM.com The VirtualCAD Model Server lets suppliers host 2D and 3D CAD files at their on-line catalogs. www.VirtualCAD.com Labinal and IGE+XAO Group are together developing software for manufacturing electrical harnesses. Electrical Harness Manufacturing determines the fabrication range, and pilots the cutting and marking machine tools. www.ige-xao.com UGS last month shipped Solid Edge 19 with full motion simulation, animated and dynamic documentation, product manufacturing information, JT file sharing, support for 64-bit Windows, and more. www.ugs.com/solidedge Alibre Design 9.1 ships this week with 3D PDF publishing, dimension styles, cursor-centric zooming, and more. www.alibre.com Bentley Systems releases WaterGEMS V8 for MicroStation, ArcGIS, AutoCAD, and as a stand-alone platform. New features include critical analysis center, new modeling elements, pressure-dependent demands, centralized water demand management, and more. www.bentley.com/WaterGEMS Associated General Contractors of America invites architects, building owners, contractors, engineers, material suppliers, software developers, and subcontractors to serve as volunteer members of a Review and Validation Committee for the AGCxml Project. Contact mtardif@nibs.org [when I emailed, I got no response.] www.agc.org nCode releases ICE-flow Library 3.0 Web-enabled software for managing large amounts of test and analytical engineering data. In less happy news, nCode shut down SoMat 2100 as of 1 August, but users can trade over to SoMat eDAQ or eDAQ-Lite data acquisition systems. www.ncode.com Sheet Metal Guy opens a new section for AutoCAD users at www.SheetMetalGuy.com/autocad -- updated daily. SolidCAM expands its 3D milling with a high-speed machining module for molds, tools and dies, and complex 3D parts. www.solidcam.com Autodesk ships Revit Structure 4 for structural engineering, and updates Revit Building 9.1 (aka the original Revit) for compatibility with the new Structure. www.autodesk.com/revit Eos Systems beta-releases PhotoModeler 6 for generating 3D CAD models by reconstruction from photos, and optionally places the models in Google Earth. www.photomodeler.com/pm6 Strata has a trial version of Strata Foto 3D for modeling real world objects from photographs. Download from www.strata.com/foto3d_demo.asp S9 Design Systems releases 3D PipeFitPro, a new 3D piping plug-in software for AutoCAD 2000 - 2007 (US$99). www.s9design.com Federation Software announces Independent Platform Gateway v4.0 -- described as "the keystone in end-to-end PLM system product DNA sharing" [I kid you not]. www.Federationsoftware.com Jerand Technical Services releases *JetPro v1.0 for Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 3.0. The software exports sheet metal part models to JETCAM's Expert CNC Programming and Nesting System. jerand@jerand.com Delcam introduces a fully-integrated data repair module for its PowerMILL CAM system to correct common faults in CAD data sent for machining. www.delcam.com Seemage makes available v3.2 of the Seemage platform with new path planner module. www.seemage.com Tech Soft 3D releases v14 of their HOOPS 3D Application Framework, with cutting plane collections; anti-alias rendering of lines, edges, and text; optimizations for point cloud data; PDF export; and more. www.techsoft3d.com Right Hemisphere updates its software to support Google SketchUp and UGS 3D JT, allowing you to conversion to HTML, Word, PDF, DWF, and more. www.righthemisphere.com Scan2CAD changes its demo from limited function to a fully-working 14-day trial -- after which the software continues to work as a free CAD raster editor indefinitely. Download from www.softcover.com Vextractor (US$99) vectorizes raster charts, drawings, maps, logotypes, and other line art images into vector formats. RasterStitch puts together multiple raster images. Demos available from www.vextrasoft.com Spicer Corporation releases Imagenation 8 Service Pack 1 to support AutoCAD DWG 2007. The software accesses, scans, reviews, marks up, prints, and archives hundreds of document types. www.spicer.com/buynow.htm Autodesk releases several service packs for its 2007-line of CAD software. Check out support.autodesk.com And, UGS** has new numerical control softwre: NX CAM Express is part of UGS' Velocity Series. Machine Tool Support Kits for post processors, G-code-driven machine tool simulation, templates and examples. CAM Data Management stores NC programming, tool design, and machine tool data using UGS's Teamcenter software. Tool Design adds electrode design and one-step unforming software for die blanks. Factory Optimization uses UGS's Tecnomatix digital manufacturing capability to design factory and simulate plant. www.ugs.com WorthWhile Web http://lifehacker.com/software/ubuntu/hack-attack-top-10-ubuntu-apps-and-tweaks-195437.php lifehacker "Top 10 Ubuntu apps and tweaks" http://filext.com/ FILExt - The File Extension Source Huge reference to the meanings of file name extensions. http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,,1868642,00.html "Why Vista will mean the end of the Microsoft monolith" John Naughton, The Observer Spin Doctor of the Moment "It's not that we don't want to; we just don't have the resources to do it properly." - Google cancels SketchUp 3D Base Camp for 2006 http://aecnews.com/news/2006/08/16/1958.aspx Notable Quotable ""If you upgrade software enough times, you eventually ruin it." - David Pogue's software paradox http://software.seekingalpha.com/article/14310 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. Letters to the editor may be reproduced in an edited form for clarity and brevity. Opinions expressed in letters are not necessarily shared by upFront.eZine Publishing, Ltd.