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issue #552 : : march 25, 2008 |
VectorWorks
2008
Write the editor. Make him smile!
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Frank Brault took an hour last week to show me what's new in VectorWorks 2008. As director of training, he knows how the software works better than some demo jocks who just run videos -- or worse, show only PowerPoints -- of the software. He does it live. The company behind VectorWorks is now known by the awkward name of Nemetschek North America, and is step brother to Allplan of Germany, and to ArchiCAD, originally by Graphisoft of Hungary. (At one time Graphisoft sued Vectorworks' owner for using the tradename Graphsoft; the missing "i" wasn't different enough, and so the company went back to its legal name, Diehl Graphsoft -- until it was bought by Nemetschek, at which point it was renamed Nemetschek North America, or NNA for short.) (All do architecture, but AllPlan is at the high end, Graphisoft in the mid-range, while VectorWorks is targeted at multi-discipline sites, for it has modules that handle landscaping, lighting design, and so on.) "So do technology exchanges go on between the three?" I asked. Right now, they are in talks. "What about interoperability?" I wondered. Anything is possible, came the cheery yet vague answer. More formally, NNA is a major supporter of IFC, a standard for interoperability, and last year standardized on PDF for 2D document transfer. Like ArchiCAD, Vectorworks works identically on Mac as on Windows. Roughly 50/50 of programmers are Mac/Windows; if a Mac programmer develops a feature, s/he has to make sure it also works on Windows. The 50/50 split is also reflected in market share: approximately half of sales go to each OS camp.
The VectorWorks Difference Drafting is hybrid 2D/3D. When in plan view, drawings are 2D; in any other view, 3D. You can draw and edit in rendered 3D views, even with artistic rendering modes, such as simulated pencil sketches. You tend not to draft with lines, but with surfaces as simple as circles or as complex as irregular roof shapes. Surfaces are filled, and you can adjust the fill's percentage of translucency -- unique in the CAD industry, as far as Mr Brault knows. The color palettes include samples from paint manufacturers, like Benjamin Moore and Sherwin Williams, as well as standards from PanTone and others. Even better is the custom palette, where you collect together the colors you work with the most often. VectorWorks uses the word "layers" to describe a concept more akin to levels or multiple floors in a building. (What we consider layers VectorWorks calls "classes.") Everything on the first floor is on one layer; all of the roof is on another. Layers are toggled on, off, or grayed out. VectorWorks doesn't work like AutoCAD, but then, Mr Brault noted, Revit doesn't either. Other changes in VectorWorks 2008 include higher quality and faster rendering modes, adjusted user interfaces, and Custom Modifications (the ability to select a common group of objects, and then apply a single editing command, such as changing all single-pane windows to triple pane.) A significant differentiator is VectorWorks ability to work with freeform models. Mr Brault several minutes showing how quick it was to design a tower with twisted flutes.
BIM I despise the term "bim" but it is important to architectural CAD companies. "BIM is a storm, a wave taking on the entire industry," Mr Brault told me. Not to worry, VectorWorks does BIM your way: either ignore it, or employ it. VectorWorks has BIM, if by BIM you mean a single file referencing all information about the building, as well as multiple files referencing a single project. In the case of VectorWorks, this means all 2D drawings, all 3D models, all 2D presentations, and all associated data. New in 2008 is the two-way hotlink between drawing elements and a built-in spreadsheet. Output drawing data to the spreadsheet; right-click a row in the spreadsheet, and the related item highlights in the drawing. Spreadsheet data can be exported, printed, or linked back to a table in the drawing. VectorWorks' built-in database exports data on objects (stairs, walls) as well as custom objects, such as area rugs. A file reference feature allows workgroups to work simultaneously on a project.
Tech Companies Affected by Sub-primes? I don't know if CAD vendors are affected by the sub-prime loan problem, but it is plausible. It is not uncommon for CAD vendors to be sitting on half-a-billion dollars cash. "How are you investing your pile of cash?" is a question that doesn't get asked by financial analysts during quarterly conference calls. Instead, they tend to ask why that pile'o cash isn't being spent. The typical CAD vendor sits on two piles of cash: (1) one pile comes from profits, which the vendor can spend any way it pleases; (2) the other comes from subscriptions / maintenance. It must hang on to the subscription income, until it can account for it -- typically quarterly. For instance, when subscriber pays $200 for a one-year subscription, the vendor can move $50 every three months from the subscription pile to the profit pile. While it cannot spend the subscription pile until accounted for, the CAD vendor can earn an income from it -- as well as from the profit pile. And the amount is not insignificant. A 5% return on $500 million gives a billion-dollar-a-year company a 25% boost on $100 million-a-year in profits. Under pressure to raise margins and profits, they may have been tempted to earn extra points by investing in financial investment packages that include sub-prime loans -- just as "everyone" else was doing, even European banks. It certainly would help meet their Street-assigned whisper numbers. (Locally, our government-run medical services organization, university, and auto insurance agency have admitted to millions in losses. They were tempted by the somewhat-higher rates they could get last year from investing that included subprime loans; this year, the higher rate turned into a loss. As government agencies, loosing $30 million is not a problem; they are "not terribly concerned at this time," as one spokeswoman was quoted.) To this point, no CAD vendor has revealed whether they have invested in vehicles that included sub-prime loans. They aren't Bear Sterns, but they do have as much as 50% of their annual revenue in investments. Perhaps we'll hear more in future quarters. Neighborhood CAD: The Spatial InSites software from Whelans InSites of Australia predicts how developments affect adjacent properties. It photomontages 3D design models with real world photographs. It also does shadow analyses, 'natch. www.insites.com.au Okino Computer Graphics supports version 4 of the NGRAIN file format with an updated exporter plug-in module for its line of software -- export to 3D knowledge objects from any application that supports the Okino PolyTrans converter interface and API. www.okino.com AutoLine from Autodsys does everything for AutoCAD linetypes that Autodesk keeps forgetting to include: create them through a dialog box, use blocks instead of shapes, assign width, have any number of parallel lines, and force right-side-up text. www.autodsys.com/indexh.html Visual Integrity's pdf2cad v7 adds batch mode and HPGL->PDF conversion. www.pdf2cad.com Z Corporation has a new version of its ZEdit Pro software that sets up 3D data files for 3D printing: apply colors, texture maps, and labels, as well as break up large prototypes into components. www.zcorp.com Datakit launches two new stand-alone CAD conversion modules: JT -> VRML, and JT -> STL. Both support faceted data, NURBS, and Parasolid entities in JT files. ["Qui d'autre que vos clients parle mieux de vous?" is their tag line.] www.datakit.com NYacad's Weld Symbols Visual Weld add-on for AutoCAD is a VBA app that generates welding symbols in drawings. www.nyacad.com/Weld%20Symbols/Weld%20Symbols.html Intergraph will have a version of its SmartPlant software for construction firms: dynamic construction planning, heavy equipment lift planning, scaffold planning, commissioning, and an open API. Software won't be released until sometime in 2009, though. This preemptive announcement is brought to you by /www.intergraph.com VISTAGY's Airframe Development Environments 2.0 lets 3D CAD software design complex airframes. Due to ship by June, this year. www.vistagy.com RayCAD is now available for Inventor. The software models optical components. www.raycad.com Bentley releases RAM Advanse v9 for structural design. [Are they dropping "Systems" from their name? Recent press releases refer primarily to Bentley, and only in the boilerplate does Bentley Systems appear.] www.bentley.com Microspot announces Leopard-compatible versions of MacDraft Professional and MacDraft Personal Edition v5.6.4, with support for QuickLook and Spotlight viewing and searching on Mac computers. www.microspot.com - - - These news items were posted during the last week at the WorldCAD Access blog < worldcadaccess.typepad.com>:
Hardware News HP's new Inkjet Web Press printer prints up to 2,600 A4-sized color pages per minute, on paper up to 30 inches wide. Great for college students running late handing in their assignments.
Seminars & Conferences VisMasters Design, Modeling & Visualization Conference 2008 is May 12–13 in Boston MA USA. [Get $5 off for clicking the Web page's DIGG link.] dmvc.vismasters.com
People/Companies on the Move Bentley Systems appoints Edward Mueller to the position of chief marketing officer. [I had to learn this through Randall Newton's "Let's Play 'Who Wants to Be Top Marketeer at Bentley!'" column at 3dcadnews.blog.com/2879591 .] Mr Mueller is the former CMO for Everdream, recently acquired by Dell Computer. First Trace appoints Albert Whipple as vp of Sales. "Whipple has progressed his career and the business units he lead with a 'no excuses' sales philosophy grounded in understanding customer needs and the best ROI case possible to meet those needs."
Redo The list price for TurboCAD 15 is US$1,295; $350 is one of the upgrade prices. www.turbocad.com The correct URL for MecSoft and its new VisualMILL 6.0 Professional software is www.mecsoft.com
Market News Illinois Tool Works acquires hsbCAD of Belgium. hsbCAD creates CAD/CAM software for prefabricated building components. IGE+XAO Q2 revenue increases by 7.7% to e6 million [about a billion in US$ these days].
WorthWhile Web http://blogoscoped.com/archive/2008-03-13-n25.html
http://gigaom.com/2008/03/08/mix08-how-microsoft-is-fighting-a-war-on-three-fronts/
http://xcerion.com/screenshots/
Letters to the Editor "Do you wonder, seeing that Autodesk have such a huge market capitalization, isn't all this litigation on DWG format simply about branding? "If you're already at number 1 and have been for some time, why bother paying solicitors [lawyers] when having an open format does the work for you? "Isn't another company using your format a kind of flattery,
really?" The editor responds, "It is, and I don't understand why Autodesk is going for DWG as a registered trademark, 25 years after the fact. Perhaps this is just a way to shut down the OpenDWG Alliance through lawyer costs?"
Mr McCartney replies: "I think it only hurts them in the end. And the only way they seem to be getting out of it is again by buying the competition out of the market. "Do you think Bentley Systems are big in the market place? I'm not really sure of their market cap."
The editor responds: "Hard to know. The last figure I read was around $300 million a year in revenue. They have become very private; perhaps their new CMO will make more noise." - - - "I do machine design consulting, much of it proprietary. I have never allowed my CAD and scientific computers on-line. Now, my main CAD system provider, Bentley Systems, has had shift in security policy that requires an online connection. "This has the potential to expose my data to open access,
to what I am not sure! I feel that in the computer software industry's
intense desire to protect their products they have forgotten the
one group that has made them what they are today - the customer
and his security needs! This now forces me to look for CAD programs
that allow me -- the customer - to have the security that I need."
"I agree with Mr. Ault about the potentially huge liability due to Autodesk being able to poll any computer connected to the Web that has its software installed on it for information. I have long-since disconnected from the Internet, and use a cheap little computer for communications over the Web. "I did it, so what's the big deal? We're designers and engineers,
so how hard is it to come up with a simple and lasting solution
to all? Let's just 'say no to businessmen', and demand –- through
our actions of not buying upgrades -- an end to them telling us
what to do. Then only thing they have left to do in that event is
to carel all the CAD companies, uniformize policy, and thereby forces
us to return to legacy CAD software." The editor responds: "A program like ZoneAlarm is good for blocking outgoing communications from software." - - - "Re: 'Delmia isn't selling well, because customers are unaccustomed to factory automation software: "The Delmia business has been a challenging business for us, not really related to the competitive landscape, but related to the market maturity or readiness to adapt the solution.' "Isn't that a bit of spin? Perhaps the market doesn't have
a problem worth solving." The editor responds: "Of course it is. This is the CEO putting on his best face for financial analysts, promising them future revenues from a slow-selling product." - - - "Re: 'AutoCAD LT continues to outsell everything else, with sales up 33%.' "Perhaps that should tell them something: that full version is too expensive? That the features in LT are sufficient for most users? That the development of the full version is in the wrong direction? "As an Inventor user, I'd be interested in seeing constraints
in a 2D drawing package to relate different elements together." The editor responds: "I believe TurboCAD provides constraints in an LT-priced product."
Spin Doctor of the Moment "In the end, we lowered the [Vista sticker] requirements
to help Intel make their quarterly earnings so they could continue
to sell motherboards with the 915 graphics embedded."
Notable Quotable "get big, get niche, or get out"
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