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Issue #580 : : November 11, 2008 |
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In this issue:
IntelliCAD World Conference 2008 Report:
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Marketing loves building information modeling. Architects resent it, for BIM requires them to spend time and $$$ instituting processes that benefit clients, not architects. Anyway, that's what they tell me. One architectural consultant figures BIM won't reach its tipping point until 2012-2015. But now architects may have a reason to implement BIM, even if ever so reluctantly. In the "storm" of this "global macroeconomic environment" (the words of MSC.Software ceo Bill Weyand), architects may well face canceled projects, lowered earnings, and a tougher bidding process. This is where BIM has the potential to save the architect. In exchange for getting any work at all, architectural firms may decided to offer builders and owners a no-cost-the-them bonus: drawings delivered as building information models, along with the downstream benefits that derive from BIM-based drawings (facilities management, etc). It was a press release from Vico that makes the case, although this firm targets general contractors, not architects: "BIM is exactly the tool needed in this rough economic climate [there's that weather analogy again]. It provides owners the savings they need and gives GCs [general contractors] the competitive advantage they need. Highlighting BIM capabilities and constructability transparency will help GCs win the deal." www.vicosoftware.com/0/win-the-deal-with-vico/tabid/84630/Default.aspx IntelliCAD World Conference 2008 Report Neil Peterson is the CTO of the Open Design Alliance. He's at the IntelliCAD conference to summarize all the components available from his organization. As you peruse his list, notice that there is more to the ODA than just DWG:
Q&A I asked about the ODA's relationship with Bentley. At this point, Mr Peterson replied, it is unchanged; the maker of MicroStation continues to cooperate with the ODA. He said there is the ability to edit a DGN file within IntelliCAD, which the ODA won't do, but an ITC licensee could implement it. He showed the HOOPS 3D Part Viewer rotating a 3D house in realtime -- a DGN file. Then he showed a DWG file converted to DGN. In AutoCAD, the 3D model was very slow to rotate in 3D; over in the alpha HOOPS viewer, the pan and zoom performance was noticeably better. Facet modeler uses breps. Can be turned into a mesh for rendering, etc. Designed to be very lightweight, and so does not have all features that ACIS would have. No NURBS, for example. [Disclosure: The ITC provided me with airfare, hotel accommodation, and some meals.] ZweigWhite says offshoring is up: 42% of companies outsourced some of their services, up from 19% in 2006. Good news, though: some 12% of firms are not interest in offshoring at all. www.zweigwhite.com ASCON offers its function-reduced KOMPAS-3D V10 LT for free, complete with parametric 3D modeling and 2D drafting. No assemblies. ascon.net/download.php Sescoi launches (in the USA) WorkXPlore 3D, their new high-speed collaborative 3D Viewer. www.sescoi.com/us Eagle Point Software announces its LandSketch sketching software for develop residential conceptual plans. www.eaglepoint.com/about/news.asp?id=395 COADE's CADWorx fieldPipe CloudWorx software imports laser-captured point cloud data. www.coade.com Chinese developer ZwCAD now has the Russian-language version of its IntelliCAD-based ZwCAD in beta. www.zwcad.org DotSoft ports its XL2CAD and Word2CAD add-ons to Bricscad Pro for linked Office documents using CAD fonts. www.dotsoft.com/bricscad Datakit has a Rhino v4 plug-in that they say is "all CAD converters in one." It reads ACIS, Catia V4/5, Inventor, JT, NX, Parasolid, Pro/E, and SolidEdge; exports to Catia V4/5. www.datakit.com And Bentley Systems releases MicroStation V8i, where the 'i' is short for infrastructure -- not Internet. The company boasts the software took $1 billion and 15 years to create, but doesn't include the new DWG translators provided by Autodesk. www.bentley.com/v8i - - - These news items were posted during the last week at the WorldCAD Access blog <worldcadaccess.typepad.com>:
Seminars & Conferences 2009 Collaboration & Interoperability Conference is May 17-20 in Estes Park CO USA. www.3Dinterop.com
People/Companies on the Move Sescoi appoints Tim Bell as sales director of Inc., the company's North American subsidiary. Kubotek USA forms KeyMachinist business unit in Seattle WA USA. www.kubotekusa.com
WorthWhile Web http://www.mongolianrealestate.com/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/11/07/long_tail_debunked/print.html
Letters to the Editor Re: IntelliCAD World Conference 2008 Report "Okay, so you were in Greece. Big deal; I was in Calgary this week. Okay, you win. "Two comments by/about Arnold van der Weide in your IntelliCAD report caught my eye: The editor replies: "True, but there is a difference between AutoCAD quadrupling in price (from its original $1,000 to its current $4,000) and IntelliCAD crashing from its original $349 down to $50 or less -- as sold by some ITC members. "The difference is between charging too much and charging not enough. As one third party developer complained to me, 'How can I sell my add-on for $195 when the CAD software is $50?'" - - - "I really admire the effort and perseverance on the part of the IntelliCAD folks and ODA [Open Design Alliance]. But chasing Autodesk down the same, narrow path is not going to gain much interest, as far as I can see. "One of the most often heard requests from Autodesk customers is to provide versions that work natively on OSX and Linux. It's risky and no doubt expensive to target multiple platforms, but it's the only obvious flanking move [by ITC] I can see offering a hope for gaining interest. "I know lots of OSX users that use Boot Camp to run XP to run AutoCAD, because CAD apps typically suck horribly when running inside of virtual machines. A native (and compatible) CAD app would surely get their attention. Autodesk has consistently ignored those folks, so maybe it's an avenue for the ITC." The editor replies: "IntelliCAD vendors who tried a Linux version said sales were too low to bother continuing the expense. It required WINE [Windows emulation] and missed a number of features found in the Windows version. "Linux is not being ignored. Some vendors are now writing portable code, such as StreamSpace, that requires a simple recompile for Mac, Linux, and Windows versions. Expect several announcements in 2009 -- not necessarily from ITC members."
Mr Stein responds: "That makes sense. I had a few back-n-forths with one of the WINE developers last year about the poor performance of CAD apps. He swore it was my settings and I swore it was the added layer of emulation and the choked graphics pipeline. In the end, he agreed. "The basis of that discussion: the only viable option for Linux users is VMware but that it also adds a layer to the performance hit (not to mention it negates the argument of using Linux in the first place). Oh well, I digress. "Back to the original issue: I think at least an OSX 'mainstream' CAD product would gain some interest. I know how fanatical OSX fans are and they'd love to rub that in the faces of PC users that they had something to counter AutoCAD on the PC." - - - "Well, well written, so interesting to read."
Notable Quotable "Playschools [preschools in Ireland] have been given an unexpected lesson on copyright law after a company representing Hollywood studios demanded that each child pay a fee of €3 plus 17.5% VAT [tax] per year [approx. $5.25] to watch DVDs in their playgroup."
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