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Issue #516 : : April 28, 2007
In this issue:
Out of the Inbox, and other regular columns.
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We're trendy. We have a Weblog. WorldCAD Access.
What do you do when CAD software has a thousand features, when they overshoot the market? In MCAD, you might come up with PLM; for land development, you might come up with Pinnacle Series, as did Eagle Point.
Mike Lyons and Brad Heil showed me the result of Eagle Point writing new code for 18 months. Pinnacle runs on a server (US$3,995) and provides users ($250 each) access to three programs:
- Process Mapper - for managers (and others); used to create task lists for projects. For example, how to process survey data, who gets the data, and so on. Links can be set up to external files and apps (Web sites, spreadsheets); command macros can be written to control CAD applications, such as import data or change the viewpoint.
- Task Navigator - for end users; a sidebar like program that informs them which step is next, which department gets the result of their work, and so on. Links access external programs and run commands directly so that users don't need to hunt through menus and wizards.
- Workflow Monitor - keeps track of project progress and time budgets. Summarizes data from all projects to help make more accurate bids for future work.
Added to the above are consulting services (to help companies implement it faster) and tribal knowledge (stuff users know but isn't documented for all). You might be able to relate to "process maturity," the stages that Eagle Point finds many of its customers go through:
Stage 1: processes are ad hoc; standards are unknown; technology is used inconsistently
Stage 2: key processes defined; standards followed; technology used in tasks.
Stage 3: processes are tracked; some best practices are followed; high adoption of technology.
Stage 4: processes are optimized; best practices used by all; innovative use of technology.
Eagle Point's software aims to document a firm's best practices and access the power available in the software already owned by the firm. Lyons and Heil feel that firms today want to get better ROI [return on investment] from existing software.
www.eaglepoint.com/solutions/workflow/process.asp
The current version number for Dassault Systemes's software is "V5" (version 5), of which the best known is CATIA, the company's 3D CAD package. During the Dassault's Q1 conference call with financial analysts earlier in the week, ceo Bernard Charles provided more information about "V6." This is Dassault's next generation of 3D software that is meant to compliment V5. The software that has been announced and shown before, and will be "announced" again at its user conference being held the week of April 30.
3D Live is a suite of software for searching, navigating, and collaborating with 3D in real-time over the Internet. It is the first set of software from Dassault to come with the label "Version 6." It is linked to CATIA and other V5 software through V5's SOA interface [service-oriented architecture]. SOA is currently trendy in computer programming, and is where the application is independent of any specific underlaying architecture, such as programming language, operating system, or Web service standard. Web 2.0 and mashups are popular forms of SOA.
At this point, the 3D Live suite consists of:
- 3D Imagine -- the viewer, which I think is meant
to run on "any" hardware platform. Dassault has demonstrated
that sort of capability in the past. The name comes from being
able to "imagine" the 3D end product.
- 3D Search & 3D Navigate -- the search
engine that lets users access V5 models and part trees, product
data, and so on. As a press release puts it, "instantly
search and navigate any PLM information, regardless of location,
source or format."
A four-way navigation aid directs users to different kinds of data: collaborate with others (3D Chat), access parts data (3D Search), display conceptual data (3D Imagine), and put together all product knowledge (3D Decide). According to a demo seen by MCAD magazine, navigation is "unbelievably fast" when dealing with very large datasets, such as an aircraft design.
- 3D Chat -- the communicator that interacts in an
adhoc fashion through instant messaging, buddy lists, sharing
info with "everybody, everywhere online."
- 3D Decide -- the linkage between all sources of dat;
meant to enable decision making.
- Plug-ins -- the ability to work with CAD drawings generated by competitors. The plug-ins are being developed by Dassault, although the list of names is not yet public; is there one for SolidWorks?
3D Live is part of Dassault's ENOVIA brand of PDM software. When first announced last June, the three programs were named 3DSearch, 3DNavigation and 3DCollaboration. The underlaying file format is 3DXML, and the viewing technology appears to be based on VirTools.
According to a report by Chris Chiappinelli of 'Managing Automation,' Dassault doesn't see 3D Live as a competitor to Acrobat 3D, because "3D Live will bundle all of a product's data in its files." During the conference call, Mr Charles added, "I don’t see this as a competing solution. With 3D Live, you get access immediately to everything that has been created with all the technology information -- not just the 3D views. For [mechanical] customers, it's essential to see tolerances for parts."
From the demo telecast last year, some of the software is developed in-house and some relies on Microsoft APIs. The "full experience" requires the unloved Vista operating system. There is also the linguistic connection: Microsoft markets its Web-oriented products as "Live."
If V6 relies too much on one OS and one OS vendor's interface, then I am puzzled as just how "everywhere" V6 can be. Mr Charles perhaps recognizes this when he predicts that "I think it will be slow [to deploy]. It will take time to deploy in large scale."
Originally, 3D Live was ship by the end of last year, but as of last week, the shipping date is "soon."
References:
3D Live beta announcement: www.3ds.com/news-events/press-room/release/1215/1/
Chris Chiappinelli's report: www.managingautomation.com/maonline/news/read/PLM_Providers_Ride_Revenue_Surges_28606
Microsoft linkage: download.microsoft.com/download/4/1/9/ 4194AD1B-113C-4F32-8E22-F695BB311076/Dassault_system_PR.PDF
Dassault's Q1 conference call: seekingalpha.com/article/33813
3D Live description by MCAD magazine: www.mcadonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=355&Itemid=1
[Announcements of new and updated products.]
- - -
Nemetschek ships a Vista-capable version of Allplan 2006.2. www.nemetschek.de
3Dconnexion's 3D navigation devices now work with Inventor 2008 and both 32- and 64-bit versions of AutoCAD 2008. Download from www.3Dconnexion.com/support
DraftView (US$525) reads CADDS 4X and 5 design files directly without the CAD system, then views, prints, and exports the drawings in DXF, PDF, TIFF, JPEG, and HPGL formats. www.draftware.com/dvcaddshome.htm
Etrage offers application development using Pro/E 3.0's advanced Pro/TOOLKIT for 3D drawings. The toolkit has APIs for annotation features, 3D notes, driven and reference dimensions, surface finishes, and datum tags. www.etrage.com
- - -
These news items were posted during the last week at the WorldCAD Access blog <worldcadaccess.typepad.com>:
- SW or CATIA? DS Sez Both!
- DS + ICEM
- Siemens Execs: Down, Down...
And at the Gizmos Grabowski <worldcadaccess.typepad.com/gizmos/> Weblog:
- Mio C310 GPS
- More V-Mate Tips
Seminars & Conferences
COE (CATIA Operators Exchange) 2007 Annual PLM Conference & TechniFair is Apr 29 - May 2 in Las Vegas NV USA. (I'll be attending this event.) www.coe.org/EventsEducation/AnnualConferenceTechniFair/tabid/211/Default.aspx
DIME Rhino 4.0 is June 1-2 in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. (I'll be attending this event.) www2.mcneel.com/tradeshows/tradeshows.asp
RAPID 2007 Conference & Exposition is May 1-3 in Detroit MI USA. www.sme.org/rapid/
UGS reports that 2,200+ attended its UGS Connection Americas conference from 25 countries. www.ugs.com/ugsconnection
People/Companies on the Move
Paul Lypaczewski joins View22 as president and coo. He is the former vp and gm of enterprise and multimedia businesses at AMD and ATI Technologies,
ARTVPS of England has opened its first office in the USA (Los Angeles) and plans to add offices in New York and Chicago.
ISD Software and Systems opens a new subsidiary in Italy.
AVEVA celebrates its 40th anniversary.
Market News
Parametric Technology Corp reports Q2 profits up 62% to US$17.4 million. Revenues were up 14% to $228.1 million.
Dassault Systemes reprots Q1 net income up 5% to US$44.8 million. Total sales increased 15% to $396 million.
Dassault is acquiring ICEM for US$70 million cash.
Brand New CAD Books/eBooks
"Parametric Modeling Using Autodesk Inventor"
by
James P. LoFaso
Published by Goodheart/Wilcox
320 pages; paper
$53.28
www.g-w.com/products/detail.asp?id=344
"Customizing SolidWorks For Greater Productivity"
by
Neil Bucalo and Joe Bucalo
Published by Sheet Metal Guy
158
pages; paper $39.95
www.sheetmetalguy.com/customizing_solidworks.htm
"What's Inside? AutoCAD 2008"
by Ralph
Grabowski
Published by upFront.eZine Publishing
110 pages;
PDF US$16.50
www.upfrontezine.com/wia8
Letters to the Editor
[Sometimes readers unsubscribe because...]
"Retiring. Got a great deal of useful info from you."
-
S. F.
[Once in a while, there is a different reason...]
"Please remove my email from your list. The reason is: it
was for my husband, and we are not together anymore."
-
M. C.
- - -
Re: Dennis Jeffrey's comment: "CAD managers who probably know far less than the drafting people on training wheels"
"Let's back it up to the real root cause: relentless pursuit of profit. Upper management typically frowns on the idea of mentoring within environments where they view the labor as a cheap commodity (drafters).
"They are sold the same hype that the software is the linchpin of productivity and economic gain. Sure, the software matters, about the same as the tools matter to the house builder. However, like CAD, having the best tools on Earth doesn't make a better house, or house builder. Knowledge and experience do.
"How do you get those? Mentoring. How do you leverage mentoring? Convincing upper management that it's a smart investment (not a bottomless expense). 'Investment' is the buzz word.
"Long term gain is a dying breed in today's economy. Short term gain and disposable tools (and labor) are the ideals of modern MBA thinking. Cheaper, faster, than the competition. No time to train CAD managers to train the drafters.
"If you hang around MBA business managers long enough, you'll eventually hear them moan about the perfect business as having no employees and zero cost. Translation: No risk, all gain. Utopia. It's understandable, but then again so is the appeal of living forever.
"Quality that involves people takes too much time, and time is money. It's a deadly spiral. Few enter it with enough vision and persistence to see it through successfully.
"Now, if you don't mind, I have to go train another crop
of high school dropouts how to use the PLINE command (during lunch
of course, not on the clock)."
-
David Stein
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"I read the Hawass item with interest as I have followed
reactions to a recent peer-reviewed paper claiming that parts of
the pyramids are made of a geopolymer. There is good, but not definitive,
science backing this up, but Hawass has stonewalled it rather than
providing samples and seeking a collaborative study. He does not
welcome theories with which he does not agree."
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Leo Schlosberg
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"Best regards from NZ, keep up the good work."
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Neil
Spin Doctor of the Moment
"CTIA = International Association for Wireless Telecommunications"|
-
noted by John C. Dvorak
news.yahoo.com/s/zd/20070417/tc_zd/205256
Notable Quotable
"Is it fully buzzword compliant?"
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Spun on slash.dot
hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/03/21/2015245&from=rss
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