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Issue #505 : : February 10, 2007 |
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C o n t e n t s Vendors Respond: Vista Runs CAD (up to) 50x Slower
Certeon Application Accelerator
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Vendors
Respond: Was it just 2.5 months ago when CAD vendors joined Microsoft in kind of Halleluia Chorus praising Vista as the coming saviour for all mankind. Today, CAD vendors are generally silent on Vista, and even more so on the problems their software has running on the updated operating system. (In brief, 3D CAD software became the victim of Microsoft's decision to abandon OpenGL, because Microsoft wants to expand its monopoly through its home-brewed Direct3D graphics system. Because most CAD software uses OpenGL -- the open graphics language that normally displays rendered graphics at near-instant speed -- the software runs like molasses in Vista.) SolidWorks has the only Vista-approved CAD program to date. Even they are flummoxed by the slowdown. The CTO told me they are still working on pinpointing the reason(s) for the slowness. It turns out that OpenGL is just one reason; another is that Vista's file system checking takes up resources. CAD software is dependent on the hard drive and makes many file accesses. Another reason is the 30-times-per-second that Vista checks all of the computer's hardware to ensure that its DRM [digital rights management] hasn't been compromised. As vendors delve into the new OS's messy innards, we'll learn more details. The troubles remind of the transition from DOS to Windows all over again.
The Silence of Jan 30 January 30 was the day Vista became available in retail stores. But CAD vendors didn't have Vista versions or updates ready that day (other than SolidWorks). An industry insider explained it to me this way: "It's just very hard to get it out at the same time as the moving Vista launch date. We can only build on RTM [ready to manufacture] version, and it was only a month between RC2 [release candidate #2] and RTM was locked down." Rumors have it that Vista patches won't generally be ready for CAD customers until the third quarter of this year (July-October). Another reason for the lack of Jan-30 announcements, I believe, is that CAD vendors knew that there was no pent-up demand. Their customers are in no hurry to engage in expensive Vista deployments (TCO = OS + software + hardware + training), and so CAD vendors are unhurried in spending programming dollars on a low-priority feature. nVidia and ATi are slow in delivering Vista drivers for the same set of reasons, plus they have to implement the Microsoft-mandated DRM in their drivers. One vendor wonders, "ATI and nVidia had to build a complete OpenGL layer in Vista, with Microsoft's help, do you think?" Vista-compatible OpenGL drivers for graphics boards might be ready in March.
Official Statements In response to upFront.eZine's coverage last week, UGS issued this official statement: "The results of the [Tom's Hardware] benchmarks you referenced for NX and Teamcenter are misleading, because they are using uncertified versions of our software running on Vista with a generic driver. That driver has no hardware acceleration, and the configuration is untested and unsupported. "While UGS has announced its intention to support Vista (Nov. 30, 2006), the company has not completed the testing and certification process, which involves new graphics drivers. When testing is complete later this year, NX and Teamcenter (as well as Tecnomatix and Solid Edge) will be available and certified for Vista, and we do not expect performance to be an issue on Vista-capable hardware." - - - Not all CAD vendors are gloomy. Alibre is joyous at the problem, as CEO Greg Milliken wrote me: "I enjoyed your coverage of Vista and its implications on CAD applications using OpenGL. Alibre has based our graphics pipeline on DirectX/Direct3D from the beginning. At the time we made that choice (and actually up until the present), OpenGL was perceived as the only way to go for a sophisticated 3D graphics application like CAD. I think I can safely say now that this was the old way of thinking. "Alibre Design runs just as fast on Vista, and graphics performance will continue to improve given Microsoft's and our own ongoing investment in DirectX. Granted, we have not yet shipped our Vista-certified release but we are in the final stages of testing and it is imminent." - - -
VariCAD 2007 1.07 appears to be #2 out of the gate, running on Windows 2000, XP, Vista, or Linux. A 30-day eval version is available from www.varicad.com/3dcaddownload.phtml In contrast, Google says 'Nope': "SketchUp Pro will NOT work on Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, and Vista -- do NOT install SketchUp on these operating systems." - - - Robert Jamieson of AMD (nee ATi) describes his experience installing several CAD packages on Vista at 'MCAD Online'. www.mcadonline.com//index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=352&Itemid=1 'Digit' reports on Adobe products being largely unready for Vista: www.digitmag.co.uk/news/index.cfm?NewsID=7153 - - - Last week's issue of upFront.eZine exposed the problem, but was blocked by Microsoft's mail servers from delivering the newsletter to subscribers at Microsoft. The e-newsletter was deemed to have "inappropriate content." - - - Here's my prediction: in the future, Vista will be seen as Windows ME, Release 2.
Held in New Orleans to help boost the post-Hurricane Katrina economy, last week’s SolidWorks World 2008 has been declared the largest MCAD-specific conference, with some 3,500 users plus hundreds of others, such as staff, analysts, media, and a hundred exhibitors. The show gave me the feeling of A/E/C Systems of a decade ago. It had enthusiastic exhibitors in the big hall, and large numbers of international media milling about the press room. For me, there were two highlights: hearing Steve Wozniak speak and seeing SolidWorks 2008 demo'ed. It's not that I'm partial to SolidWorks, but it's always exciting to see advances in the technology upon which we rely for our income. On the show floor was some US2-million worth of products designed by SolidWorks software. Among them, the City of Oakland's hulking urban assault vehicle "paid for by drug interception money," as blazoned on the side in bright yellow letters. At the other end, there was the vehicle that manages to be half the size of a SmartCar: the Tango is a two-passenger commuter vehicle, where the passengers sit one behind the other, motorcycle-style. www.commutercars.com SolidWorks execs say their company is soon to be a $300-million company, with 125,000 new users in the last year -- totaling 600,000 now -- of which 30% crossed over from other CAD packages. The other SolidWorks product, Cosmic Blobs, is now being marketed to schools, Wal-Mart, and Target through Scholastic and The Learning Company. Also announced was SolidWorks Labs, where the company selectively makes available new software for you to try out at labs.solidworks.com
Steve Wozniak It was fascinating to hear the co-founder of Apple Computer, and how he took advantage of his surroundings to overcome his shyness. His recounting of his pre- and early Apple years were peppered with encouragements to make your work a piece of art, and to excel at what you're good at. In a separate session later, the inventor of the personal computer took questions from the media, and then provided signed copies of his book, "iWoz." His ideal: "Software should bend for humans; humans should not have to bend for software."
SolidWorks 2008 We were shown the next release of SolidWorks; no doubt there will be additional features at shipping time. For example, one SolidWorks executive told me that they couldn't wait for the ITC to add needed improvments to IntelliCAD, and so went ahead with their own DWGEditor enhancements -- which were not shown at SolidWorks World. The software is due to ship this summer on DVDs only. Some new features are catch-up with competitors; others leapfrog ahead. Here's the ones I thought were hot:
You can read about the features in greater detail at Ricky Jordan's Blog: www.rickyjordan.net/2007/02/solidworks_worl_5.html
Booth Visits I didn't have time to visit every vendor in exhibit hall, but here are those I did speak with: SolidMap You may recall KollabNet from of a few years ago, whose software captures design intent from a variety of sources. The company is back with SolidMap 2007 (US$694), an add-on to SolidWorks that visually displays the relationships between parts in SolidWorks models: parent-child part dependencies, file dependencies, mate relationships, and relationships between sketches and features. www.solidmap.com
SmarTeam I spent a half-hour with Oleg Shilovitsk, CTO of Isreal's SmarTeam, along with Alex Zeltcer, the company's general manager. More accurately: the SmarTeam division of the Enovia division of Dassault Systemes. (This was a personal first: other than SolidWorks, this is the first time I've managed to make contact with some part of Dassault.) Mr Zeltcer described for me how SmarTeam works with SolidWorks to define workflows and manage changes to the engineering drawings. His company is working on answering two questions: Q1. What's inhibiting SMBs [small and medium size businesses] from using PLM [product lifecycle management]? Q2. What can we learn from our ten years of experience? The answers, Mr Zeltcer feels, are that success will come from phased and focused projects. That's because these smallish businesses don't want to be disrupted from SAP-like interruptions (hence, 'phased'), and versions of SmarTeam specific to industries (hence, 'focused'). New to V5R17 (there's that Catia-influence version numbering) are out-of-the-box Express editions, which signal SmarTeam's return to its SMB [small and medium size business] roots. www.smarteam.com
Seemage Chris Williams enthusiastically showed me his company's Seemage collection of software that publishes CAD models in 3D and 2D. His business card may be the first to include a blog address. Among the features you'd probably appreciate are 3D callout balloons (they always face you) and the ease with which animated movies can be made (indicate keyframes, and the choose viewpoints and effects, such as growing more transparent). Among the features I liked, there was the Digger that interactively tosses aside details to clear the view, and the Tab key that interactively removes parts to see underneath. www.seemage.com
SolidProfessor Here's a company with employees obsessed with the green apples. "Have a pack of gum?" Josh Winn asks me. 'Extra' brand, cool green apple flavor is the official gum of SolidProfessor, he tells me. This is a training company that relies exclusively on selling into the SolidWorks market. Their software runs inside or outside SolidWorks, and features mini-tutorials specific to tasks, one to three minutes in length -- none of those 1000-page long monster tutorials. www.solidprofessor.com
Spatial Freedom John Hilton heads up the "other" 3D mouse company. He recounted to me the long story of the Australian Spaceball company developing the first useful spatial controller, being bought by LabTec and then Logitech, where it was renamed 3dconnexion. He had his differences with how the controller should interface with 3D CAD software, and so left to form Spatial Freedom and its Asteroid device. For US$149, it has the familiar ball with six degrees of freedom (up and down in x, y, and z), along with eight customizable buttons and an IBM-like scroll nub. Currently, it works best with SolidWorks and Solid Edge. www.astroid.com
[Is there no end to company names that begin with 'S'? Yes, one more, and then the Rs.]
SolidWorks For lunch on Tuesday, SolidWorks founder John Hirschtik said, "Let's get out of here." 'Here' was the conference center with its lunchtime lineups and canned air. Sitting at the bar of one of several self-proclaimed "world's original Cajun restaurants" (for there was no room at the tables), we each got the blackened fish, my first catfish -- spicy but fabulous tasting. And... the rest of our meeting is off the record.
Roland 'Fortune' magazine has been going on recently about the coming future of custom manufacturing. The thesis is thusly: "soon" every home will have a 3D printer to build any furnishing item you need; buying cutlery and chairs from Amazon.com will become so-o-o industrial-age. The problem, of course, is that 3D printers (rapid prototypers) are large and expensive, but produce small parts slowly. There were several rapid prototyper companies at this show, the cheapest I think was $9,995 -- not including the cost of the sintering material. Is this problem going to be solved by time, waiting for prices to come down and capabilities to increase -- as with the mainframe computer devolving down to the home computer? I asked the rep (sorry, didn't get his name!) at the Roland booth about the Future by Fortune. He told me that it is already happening in several sectors, specifically sectors that can afford it and have smaller-size demands. He listed custom jewelry, medical parts, and custom-fit jet fighter helmets as examples. www.rolandasd.com
RuleStream Here is software that customizes SolidWorks from the Purchasing Department's point of view. Salesman calls on the customer, fills out the order form for kitchen cabinets or conveyor systems, and then -- on the spot -- generates the accurately-priced quote, purchase order paperwork, assembly drawings, and so on. In the background, the software is reconfiguring the SolidWorks model, which then generates drawings and parts lists upon which the quote is based. Pretty nifty. As Amy Kenly ran through the demo, suddenly Visio appeared on the screen. Flash back to 1998 or so, when SolidWorks announced a partnership with the then-independent Visio. Remember that? The two were somehow linked so that Visio would do the 2D diagrammatic work that SolidWorks couldn't -- or was it that SolidWorks would do the 3D modeling that Visio couldn't? Anyhow, Rulestream's got 2D diagrams in Visio driving 3D models in SolidWorks. "There's a lot of demand for Visio," says Ms Kenly. www.rulestream.com
Bunkspeed Last but not least is the curiously named Bunkspeed and its hyperShot radiosity software. ("What's that mean?" people ask when I show them the t-shirt.) Thomas Teger showed me how fast it is: complex drawings rendered in under a minute. What's special about radiosity is that once the model is rendered, no re-rendering is needed when changes are made. Stick in a different background image, and the model immediately reflects the new image. The same instant change occurs when new materials are applied. It gets better. The software determines where to place lights, based on an analysis of the background image. For processing, hyperShot doesn't depend on the graphics board's processor (GPU), but uses 100% of the CPU. Mr Teger claimed that his company's software scales linearly with multi-core, multi-CPU systems, and thus runs 4x faster on a four-core computer. Heady stuff indeed. Runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux. Pricing is determined by the output resolution: US$495 for 1280x780, $995 for 1920x1080, and $9,995 for 16000x16000. These are the "consumer" editions; companies like Ford pay $55,000 for high-end licenses. www.bunkspeed.com
Photos The jazz-themed welcome at the mostly empty Lewis Armstrong International Airport in New Orleans: www.upfrontezine.com/pix/ssw07-airport.JPG A history-based street sign in the desolate French Quarter of New Orleans: www.upfrontezine.com/pix/sww07-fquart.JPG A jazz band sets up on the street: www.upfrontezine.com/pix/sww07-jazz.JPG Colonel Lewis Setliff, commander of the US Army Corps of Engineers, was the guest speaker during the first keynote address: www.upfrontezine.com/pix/ssw07-usace.JPG The self-described shy Steve Wozniak was the guest speaker during the second keynote. Here he awaits introduction at the start of the press conference: www.upfrontezine.com/pix/ssw07-woz.JPG Some of the 127 media during the press conference with Steve "The Woz" Wozniak: www.upfrontezine.com/pix/sww07-press.JPG Spock vs Spock. Two Spocks on one stage. Or, fake Spock meets real Spock. Leonard Nemoy was the guest speaker during the third keynote address: www.upfrontezine.com/pix/sww07-spocks.JPG Musee Conti Wax Museum was the site of the press dinner: www.upfrontezine.com/pix/sww07-dinner.JPG SolidWorks likes loud cars and fast bikes. They sponsored the starting of this nitro-fueled four-cylinder dragster outside the convention center. It blew two cylinder bolts. www.upfrontezine.com/pix/sww07-nitro.JPG - - - For daily coverage that occurred during of SolidWorks World 2008, consult the following blogs:
Next year, this event takes place in San Jose CA USA. [Disclosure: SolidWorks provided air travel, hotel, meals, ground transportation, and corporate gifts to reporters attending this event.] Certeon Application Accelerator Certeon is a new hardware company that makes an "appliance," the newish term for hardware that you attach to your corporate network and don't need to think about much anymore. In this case, Certron has been selling its Application Acceleration appliance for a year now. Their appliance speeds up access to data over the intranet. Typical scenario: head office in New York stores all data on its server. Branch office in Timbuktu needs to access the files. Not a big deal, unless the files are big and the number of transfers are bigger. The appliance looks at what's being requested, and transfers only that data which isn't already on the branch office's server. What's new is that they now teamed up with a CAD company, and you probably can see the application immediately: only changes to CAD drawings are transmitted. Initially, Certeon is supporting only Solid Edge from UGS, because of its ability to store drawings on the SharePoint database. Other CAD products may be supported in the future. The company gives this example from Ideal Aerosmith. The company has three US engineering and manufacturing sites sharing 3D Solid Edge files that average 150MB. Transfer time over the WAN [wide area network] file: 30 minutes on average; after installation of Certeon's appliance: six minutes. This lets companies delay buying more bandwidth, but the Certeon appliance is not cheap: US$35,000 for the one that sits in the home office, plus $6,000 (and up) for one in each branch office. Nevertheless, Certeon has numerous clients who move massive amounts of data, such as Microsoft and Energizer. www.certeon.com
No Below the Radar or other columns this week, due to the length of the three feature articles.
Notable Quotable "Face it, the line between analysts (who blog) and journalists
(who also blog) and even tech execs (who also blog) is getting finer
by the day."
Copyright 2007 by upFront.eZine Publishing, Ltd. All rights reserved worldwide Article reprint fee US$250.0 and up.
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