upFront.eZine News Archives

Now With Even More V6 Compatibility, and HP's Z1 Hype

Issue #732 

 

 

Dassault Systemes last week updated its V5 line of software so that Catia users can edit "key" features of V6 models in V5. So, not everything can be edited, but more so than with previous updates to V5. Dassault provides this example:

V6 models opened in V5 retain features created in, for example, V6's Part Design, Sketcher and Generative Surface Design workbenches and knowledgeware.

Then comes the *koff, koff* quote: "No other company in the CAD/PLM industry offers this level of downward compatibility between versions." Lessee: AutoCAD, yes; SolidWorks, no. How embarassing is that?

Also, Dassault added a "-6" to the V5 naming system, with this release being known as "V5-6R2012." The -6 emphasizes the compatibility with V6, while the R2012 indicates the year of the sub-version (aka "release"). Logical, yes; snappy, no.

When Dassault implements a new version, it is incompatible with the previous one. Dassault calls this a "major V6-to-V5 compatibility update." This has several meanings for the industry watcher:

• It is an acknowledgement that the 4V -> V5 transition was a disaster.
• It is another step by Dassault to make it easier for V5 customers to switch to V6...
• ...and for V6 customers to work with V5 clients.
• It may be a sign that V6 uptake is not as fast as Dassault would like.

It is a point of pride with Dassault that its software is employed by the largest and most important manufacturing corporations in the world. The pride-point becomes its stumbling block as long-term projects are antithetical to changes in file formats.

Dassault will support V5 eight more years.

http://www.3ds.com

 

---

HP Z1 Hype
This newsletter is running an ad from HP that reads, "The world's first all-in-one 27" workstation." Reader Steve Huffman, however, reminds us...

"Either HP's marketing folks have forgotten their workstation history, or those execs are now too young to remember when Sun Microsystems debuted the first all-in-one workstation, called the SPARCstation SLC, way back in 1990.

"The SLC is the same concept as the HP Z1: the motherboard was built into the monitor casing, removing the bulky tower unit from the desktop. All you appeared to have on your desktop was a keyboard and monitor. Granted, the SLC predated today's thin LED monitors, but Sun did a good job of combining the motherboard into the back plane of a traditional CRT as compactly as possible.

"The SLC was Sun's lowest cost, entry level workstation. I recall shelling out $4995 back in 1990 just to have a Unix workstation at home for developing SunView apps without traveling to my office."

The editor replies: "Time for some research, and... Oops: The Apple iMac all-in-one comes in a 27" size. http://www.apple.com/imac . At the HP Web site, the full description includes the following qualifiers, 'Introducing the HP Z1, the world's first:

• all-in-one workstation
• with a 27" (diagonal) display
• that snaps open to let you swap out parts and make upgrades*.'

* (The Power Supply, Graphics Card, Hard Drives, Optical Drive, System Cooling Blower and Memory can all be accessed, and removed without tools. Tools may be required for all other components.)

"By contrast, the iMac is locked down, so no user-upgrades internally (have to plug stuff in externally through connectors)."

Mr Huffman responds: "Well, I think HP really should be more careful with these Z1 advertising campaigns, and make sure they have their facts straight. I'm not sure the claims in their latest Z1 ads can be backed up with facts (i.e. being the first 'whatever').

"All I know is $4995 was a bundle of cash for me back in 1990, just to have Unix at home to toy around with. The 'all-in-one' SPARC SLC was the newest and cheapest thing Sun offered at the time. I don't think the SLC had enough frame buffering to support CAD, but AutoCAD, Personal Designer, CADDS 5, and Pro/E were running on the Sun's other Unix-based 'pizza boxes' by that time.

"I've still got my old SPARC SLC somewhere in a closet. I also have a few (circa 1985) Kurta tablets that must weigh 20 pounds! Maybe they have vacuum tubes in them! But I don't quite have enough old junk to open a CAD museum (yet)."

 

---

 Out of the Inbox

Oh, the woes of currency exchange. Geometric reports revenues up by 30.2% to [Indian rupees] Rs 8.1 million, but in terms of US dollars, the increase is only 22.7% (to $167.5 million). Well, not "only." Even 22% bests pretty much any other CAD vendor.

     The press release lists "key wins" and includes intriguing phrases like "A multi-million dollar deal to develop a next generation design and analysis application for a ship classification services company in North America." http://www.geometricglobal.com

Oh, the woes of web site upgrades. Autodesk is telling 123D account holders that they need to recreate their online accounts as the part of the company "getting ready for the launch of new 123D apps." http://www.123dapp.com

Dell last week showed an international collection of computer journalists their new desktop workstation line up. The T-series computers feature a very handsome-looking design (a relief from prior, ugly cases) and the latest Xeon CPUs from Intel (latest Ivy Bridge CPU for the bottom of the line model). The top of the line T7600 model lets you plug in 512GB of RAM and three graphics boards from nVidia. This model starts at $2149, but it sure ain't going to cost that much once it's fully outfitted. The new Reliable Memory Technology keeps track of RAM errors, so that those spots are no longer used; after seven errors, software suggests you replace the ECC memory card. [Disclosure: Dell provided me with air fare, hotel accomodation, some meals, and ground transportation.] http://content.dell.com/us/en/corp/d/secure/2012-04-23-dell-precision-workstations.aspx

CIMdata figures the worldwide NC [numerically controlled] software and services market grew 14.4% in to $1.5 billion in 2011. They figure in 2012 the market'll grow 12.4%. http://www.CIMdata.com

KnowledgeSmart says their testing engine will power the Club Revit Knowledge Challenge at the Revit Technology Conference "Top Cat" competitions coming up in Australia and North America. http://www.clubrevit.com

Adobe today announced its new CS6 line of software, but it looks like there isn't much of interest to make it worthwhile paying for upgrades (fortunately!) -- at least from reading the new features highlighted by Adobe. http://techcrunch.com/2012/04/22/adobe-officially-unveils-cs6-and-its-49month-all-inclusive-creative-cloud-subscription-service

Another reason to dislike the cloud: Google's make over of GMail's UI was forced on us over the weekend. Here's how to reverse some of the ultrabland look: http://jasoncrawford.org/2012/04/how-to-cope-with-the-gmail-redesign

 

---

Letter to the Editor

"Today I was given the task of taking a 2-inch tall stack of drawings and sorting them manually! The reason was so my boss could find them in the list of drawing names that they had on a 6-page list. I asked if they would need the CAD files anyway, and I could just download the drawing files from the 6-page list? The reply was, Yes, I will need them, but I am not ready for them yet."
      - J. F.

Re: How much free cloud storage is enough?

"You wrote, 'With my free accounts with Autodesk, Box, Dropbox, and SugarSync, who's going to synchronize all the files stored on all of these file synchronization services?'. Have you seen http://www.gladinet.com? By the way, Microsoft SkyDrive is offering 25GB free."
      - Jimmy Bergmark
        JTB World

The editor replies: "Just today Microsoft dropped free storage space to 7GB."

 

"We love DropBox. In combination with digital pics, video, music, and a work files, it is very easy to get past the 2GB-free level; we bump close to the 50GB cutoff all the time. Inside Jotne and with customers we have a simple, consistent folder structure that everyone uses such as C:\My_Dropbox\XXXX\YYYY etc

"EVERYTHING goes in there, no second thoughts. When sharing with a new customer, we simply need to add a folder at the root DropBox-level to make sure that they alone see what we are sharing. When we drop something in a folder, it syncs, and we send a note where to find it -- no attachments.

"How to sync across all the other offerings for this type of storage is a challenge but possible if you plan it out with a consistent root folder naming system. But, I'm not 100% sure if they would conflict.

"I do a weekly dump of my Outlook .pst file (or mail system of choice) to a folder in DropBox and all your mail, contacts, and more are covered by a 30-second task as you get your next coffee.

"Every few months, I copy this single root folder to the cheap monster external drive as super paranoid backup. I will never lose a file, ever! Total manual work to do all this each month is about 5 mins."
      - Jim Martin, president
        Jotne North America

"I know you are a big fan of the cloud to so you may enjoy today's post at my blog, 'Cloud Fraud for you, BIG Shopping Cart for Chinese' at http://solidedging.wordpress.com/2012/04/19/cloud-fraud-for-you-big-shopping-cart-for-chinese."
- Dave Ault

The editor replies: "The discussion over the cloud is fascinating, because I think this is one of the first times in CAD where a new technology is being shunned. We didn't see that when CAD vendors were stomping the word 'object oriented' into our brains back in the mid-1990s."

Mr Ault responds: "I just don't understand how this cloud stuff gets such a free ride all the time. All I can see is Dot.Com fraud everywhere. I think it will fail."

The editor replies: "I argue for limited use of the cllud. It is handy in some cases (like Dopbox or Gmail), but should not be relied on. I only store stuff there I can afford to lose."

Mr Ault responds: "Yes, very limited."

Re: The Big Picture at Siemens PLM Software
"I attempted to implement EEDMS way back in the mid 90s, and it was labor- and cost-prohibitive. Besides, the control involved with implementing such a system became the bottleneck of the entire operation.

"Want things to get done quickly? Rely on people, policies or systems. Policies/systems are designed to control, not flow. What Bill Lewis is proposing is the same thing I was doing back in the mid-90s, and we decided to shut it down due to the bottleneck involved. Bill's just managed to put a pretty new dress on it with some modernized cosmetics.

"In order to accomplish what Bill proposes, all competition would need to end and be replaced by a StarTrek era/age/world of 'cooperation'. Fat chance of that every happening. In order to accomplish what Bill proposes, all standards need to be centralized. Until people quit wanting to do things their way, that ain't gunna happen. Besides, history repeatedly proves that centralization of management always ends in political corruption and oppression of the weaker.

"Don't you get tired of the dreamy propaganda?"

     - Chris

The editor replies: "upFront.eZine presents iconoclastic ideas and new products; you decide whether they are worth your while."

 

"Thanks for keeping me informed all these years."
      - Christine Bennet

---

Notable Quotable

"The new Metro interface displays nonstop, trivial updates from Facebook, Twitter, news sites and stock tickers. Streams of raw noise distract users from the moment they login. In an already loud world, all Windows 8 does is increase the decibels."
      - Max Zografos, former Microsoft employee
        http://techcrunch.com/2012/04/22/frustration-disappointment-and-apathy-my-years-at-microsoft/

 

 

* 11236

The Big Picture at Siemens PLM Software, and How much free cloud storage is enough?

Issue #731

 

 

Bill Lewis is the product managing manager at Siemens PLM Software who provided me with an understanding of the vision Siemens PLM has for our industry.

HD PLM Vision
"It is a vision," he began, "it is not a product. HD PLM [high definition product lifecycle development] is how we view PLM solving the problem of complexity so that customers can make better decisions.

"We see this across our entire customer base," he explained. "There is a huge increase of complexity in products, in the business environment (due to mergers and acquisition). Complexity makes it harder to make decisions -- not to mention the decreased timeline in which to make them. I'm not talking just about cars and planes, but today even household goods, like washing machines that now have software running in them.

"Engineering processes are a series of decisions. HD PLM is enabling decision making."

The Three Pillars
So HD PLM is the vision, and this vision is the foundation for three pillars that Siemens PLM established. The pillars guide the company in developing all of its software, not just PLM.

I. Intelligently Integrated Information: "Integrated" means the information works together; "intelligently" means understanding how information is integrated. For instance, in NX the mass model is validated automatically to determine it still meets design needs.

II. Future-proof Technology: Siemens PLM recognizes that customers have a mixed bag of technology, and not necessarily from Siemens, and so it makes sure its technology works with third party tools, older standards, and is able to upgrade (upgrades tend to break old file formats).

III. HD User Experience: All data and functions from PLM are presented to users has if it was designed just for each one of them.

Active Workspace

As an example of the three-legged stool on which HD PLM vision is seated, Mr Lewis described Active Workspace. This software is a high-speed search engine that slices and dices data from many sources. For instance, you want to change a part in a design, and AW tells you all the ways the part impacts the model. The best way to understand AW is to watch the video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n73qOWzFm9I

As an example of I, AW tells you what happens if a part is replaced: how will this impact all other parts (example of intelligent info integrated)? As an example of II, it doesn't just search for Siemens data, but searches all customer databases (example of open). and as an example of III, AW looks different from anything else Siemens PLM has done before: at first all you see is the search field (example of UX)

Q&A

upFront.eZine: Active Workspace seems to be using a really fast search engine; where was it developed?
Bill Lewis: It uses open source search, SOLR technology.

 

upFront.eZine: It's showing a huge amount of data. Where does it get all that data?
Mr Lewis: An initial setup required; has its own data model that defines how the data is stored; must map other data to AW's database. Indices data from other system; it is a cache for high speed searching, not a database warehouse. AW is not an authoring tool.

 

upFront.eZine: Who are your competitors in this area. For instance, would you consider the EU-funded Exelead search engine acquired by Dassault Systemes a compeitor?
Mr Lewis: Exelead could evolve into a competitor to Active Workspace, but at this point it is a platform, and not a direct competitor. We think AW is pretty unique. We hear things about data aggregation from some competitors, but there is no 1:1 compeitor.

 

upFront.eZine: What is the pricing on Active Workspace? And how is it licensed?
Mr Lewis: It is consistent with the pricing of data consumers connected with Teamcenter, and itt includes all translators [for accessing data from files]. It is licensed on its own. While it is a standalone product, it requires Teaacenter, but does not need to be used on NX sites.

 

upFront.eZine: Active Workspace has a fairly unique user interface. Can we expect to see elements of its UX [user experience] in other software from Siemens PLM?
Mr Lewis: Its UX shows some things that are possible with user interface design, and so some of it might migrate.

http://www.plm.automation.siemens.com/en_us/products/teamcenter/active-workspace/

 

---

How Much Free Cloud Storage is Enough?
Disk space is cheap, roughly 10 cents a GB. So it's interesting to watch how much free storage cloud companies like SugarSync and Autodesk give out. (Cloud storage is just a user friendly version of FTP, the Internet's file transport protocol.)

The initial amounts were modest. Thought-leader Dropbox gave a modest 2GB, with 500KB increments if you got friends to sign up. CAD-cloud leader Autodesk halves the initial amount to 1GB, but then triples it to 3GB after you pay an annual subscription of several hundred dollars a year.

HP offers 5GB free along with their free ePrint service (catch: you have to buy one of their printers).

Peanuts!

These miserly limits could only go up. As far as potential customers are concerned, the free 1GB and 2GB offerings are mere opening bids. All-out war would be launched as vendors joust for market supremacy -- or just to get noticed, as the case may be.

Box.net (no relation to Dropbox) was the first, giving away 50GB free if you (1) installed their Android app and (2) uploaded a certain number and type of files. I got my account, got my 50GB, and haven't really used it since.

Cloud storage vendors gave another 5GB or 7.5GB free once you had snared sufficient customers on their behalf. I noticed last week that SugarSync seems to have upped its limits, for I now have 21.25GB free storage with them. Oh, and I just noticed I have 19.25GB with Dropbox. (They had a promotion of 50GB free for every picture uploaded from a mobile device.)

After uploading all the files I ever figure I need on the cloud, I've used up 1.33GB on SugarSync and 0.8GB on Dropbox. When I asked HP why 5GB instead of another number, they said 5GB was sufficient for most customers. It would appear they were correct in their estimation.

The Catch

Cloud storage vendors don't want you having storage free. They want you to pay. The original business plan was simple: as customers need more space, they start paying. (A commercial account starts at 100GB disk space and $200/year.) But with the sign-up wars making so much space free, vendors can only snag paying customers now through optional services.

Problem is, most customers don't need any optional service. And competitors are bound to offer certain optional services free to capture customers. Meanwhile, the electrical bills mount up. Maybe Steve Jobs was right and Drew Houston wrong: maybe cloud storage is just a feature, maybe it's not a viable business.

Another catch: With my free accounts with Autodesk, Box, Dropbox, and SugarSync, who's going to synchronize all the files stored on all of these file synchronization services?

 

---

 Out of the Inbox

Stuff we wonder about: why the CAM [computer aided manufacturing software] industry is so fragmented, and why digital-prototyper and maker enthusiast Autodesk isn't embracing CAM with the enthusiasm it shows for simulation software.

From today's Randall Newton's GraphicSpeak e-newsletter: Statasys of USA and Objet of Israel are merging. The 3D printing technology of each company is different, so this make a good match. Current Stratasys ceo Scott Crump becomes chairman of the board, while current Objet ceo David Reis becomes Stratasys CEO. http://gfxspeak.com/2012/04/16/3d-printer-makers-stratasys-and-objet-to-merge/

Jimmy Bergmark updates his JTB FlexReport license usage software to v7 by adding automatic chart creation. http://blog.jtbworld.com/2012/04/jtb-flexreport-70-introduces-automatic.html

Percentages are meaningless without base numbers, but we'll report this one anyhow: Vuuch, had "more than 400 percent growth in bookings for the first quarter of 2012, in a year over year comparison" after landing reseller agreements with PTC reseller TriStar and others. http://www.vuuch.com

From huge increase to huge decrease: QuadriSpace says that this year's Share3D PDF 2012 generates PDF files that are "up to 95% smaller," larger files benefiting the most. http://http://www.quadrispace.com/s/2012/index.php

From creating PDFs to deconstructing PDFS: Gstarsoft incorporates Visual Integrity's pdf2cad into its GstarCAD 2012 software for converting vector-based PDF files DXF drawings. Experience the CAD software and the converter for 30 day, no charge, from http://www.gstarcad.net/download.php

From the clear to the unclear: PDF to DXF, I understand; what I don't understand is 3DSwYm Social Innovation platform with features like "Create the Company Dynamic Referential." From Dassault Systemes. http://www.3ds.com/products/3dswym/

From the unclear to the clearly legal: EOS holds 50+ patents on laser sintering manufacturing, and last week they filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Phenix Systems after warning the allegedly guilty party over USA patent 5,753,274 and 6,042,774. http://www.eos.info

They showed it to us at last month's Autodesk Media Summit, and now the company is shipping ForceEffect Motion simulation app for iOS devices. It builds and test mechanical systems with scissor lifts, windshield wipers, automobile engines, robotics, and so on -- just by lifting a finger. No-charge from http://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/autodesk-forceeffect-motion/id512045820

Some weeks ago we broke the story on Vectorworks' cloud offering; now they're adding CadFaster|Collaborate for distributing and collaborating on compressed 3D CAD model files. $99, introductory price. https://secure.vectorworks.net/third_party_store/

 

---

Letter to the Editor

"In your article about ClearEdge3D, you mention that, 'With beams and columns are obscuring pipes, could ClearEdge 3D extract them?' I ran across this earlier today, which could be a part of that (probably distant) future, MIT Scientists Use Lasers to See Around Corners:
http://www.tomsguide.com/us/MIT-Lasers-Vision-Corners-science,news-14577.html . Thanks as always for your great e-zine."
      - Peter Lawton

 

---

Notable Quotable

"Who is less evil, Amazon or book publishers?"
      - Mathew Ingram, GigaOM
      http://gigaom.com/2012/04/11/the-e-book-wars-who-is-less-evil-amazon-or-book-publishers/

 

 

---

* 11228

ClearEdge 3D,and TurboCAD Pro 19

Issue #730 

 

 

 

Since the mid-1970s, we've had OCR, which recognizes text from scanned pages, and since the mid-1980s in CAD we've had raster-to-vector conversion for turning scanned drawings into 2D vector entities. Now a number of firms are tackling the problem of getting software to recognize 3D objects from 3D laser scans.

Last week, I had a chance to talk with ceo Chris Scotton about the advances his company, ClearEdge 3D, is making in recognizing pipes. It is a measured process, where research (aided by a grant from the US government) adds to the abilities of the extraction engine.

Last year, Edgewise Plant v2 could extract about 50% of a scan pipes down to two inches in diameter. This year, v3 handles up to 80-90% of a scene, including pipes as small as 1/2". The improvement due to two new functions. See figure 1.

 

Figure 1: EdgeWise Plant automatically finds and sizes pipes and tanks from point cloud data.
(Click image for high-resolution version.)

 

One is the ability to work with as few as 80 points to determine a pipe; the other is handling occluded areas, where there are no point data, such as behind columns and beams: a new algorithm makes its best guess at completing pipe runs.

Version 3 also fits 1:1.5-bend elbows automatically; the bends can then be adjusted manually. In the next release, version 4, will identify valves and flanges between the pipes, and then link to a library of standard parts.

With beams and columns are obscuring pipes, could ClearEdge 3D extract them, I asked Mr Scotton. Structural steel is really difficult, and his company hasn't cracked the code yet. But he wants to do it at some time in the future; in the mean time, he recommends doing the structural in CAD packages.

What about walls, like some competitors are already doing? Walls done by his company's other software, EdgeWise Building. It extracts walls and other features from point clouds; customers then bring them into SketchUp, which is good at snapping planes to the imported walls, and a PushPull tool to make features 3D.

This summer, his company will release a plug-in to bring EdgeWise building planes into SketchUp, and into Revit.

I asked Mr Scotton which CAD vendor would buy up his company? ClearEdge 3D is funded by investors, and he figured they would first want a larger number of algorithms and customers before cashing in. I mused that either Hexagon/Intergraph or Autodesk would be most interested in being able to automate the conversion of point clouds to 3D objects.

EdgeWise Plant 3.0

In addition to the functions described above, version 3 of Edgewise Plant now runs in 64-bit memory space and takes advantage of multi-core CPUs. This makes it up to 12x faster in processing point cloud data.

Pipe data is extract to an internal spreadsheet, one row per pipe. When you make changes in the spreadsheet, the associated pipes are also changed; for isntance, changing diameters to standard ASME sizes. The spreadsheet allows you to groups of similar pipes on to layers or levels, such as all 2" pipes; the layer/level data is used by CAD programs that read DWG or DGN files. In addition, you can add columns to the spreadsheet for notes, which are attached to pipes in CAD as attributes/tags.

The pricing starts at $995, which lets you import 25 scan files; this is like a pre-paid phone plan: pay another $995 for 26th scan. There are a number of other price/scan levels, topping out at $7,995/yr for an unlimited number of scans.

http://www.clearedge3d.com

 

---

TurboCAD Pro 19
While we sleeping, IMSI/Design created two new editions of TurboCAD. "TurboCAD LTE" and "TurboCAD LTE Pro" have the user interface and function set of DoubleCAD XT, but use the TurboCAD brand to accommodate retail sales; stores that carry the software didn't care for a new name on their shelving. (DoubleCAD XT is free and mimics AutoCAD LT; DoubleCAD XT Pro is $695 and does semi-automated drafting, unlike LT.)

To be clear, then, the other Turbo brands are (listed by decreasing price): TurboCAD Pro Platinum (supports verticals), TurboCAD Pro, TurboCAD Delux (no solids modeling), TurboCAD Designer (2D only), and several editions of TurboViewer (some view only, some also translate) for mobile devices. "Our work in mobile has seemed to legitimize the 'Turbo' name in the enterprise," summed up IMSI/Design ceo Royal Farros.

Product manager Dave Taylor went on to highlight what's new in TurboCAD Pro 19. On 64-bit computers, it works with 50x more RAM, which means larger drawings can be loaded, and that rendering and printing is faster. He showed the 38MB drawing with 40MB of attached images.

 

Figure 2: TurboCAD Pro 19 has a dark gray UI and handles very large drawings.

 

Why the dark-gray user interface, I asked, because I find it hard on my eyes, such as found in AutoCAD for Mac. (See figure 2.) To give it a modern look, but you can switch back to the V18 UI. The new UI also has transparencies, such as in pull-down menus.

The new release gets a second rendering engine, RedSDK from France. Since TurboCAD Pro already has Lightworks, the natural question was, "Why two?" RedSDK runs on CPUs and most GPUs by default, specifically many graphics boards from nVidia, AMD, and some from Intel. Mr Taylor explained that TurboCAD still has both, because RedSDK not fully implemented. To go along with both rendering engines, there is also a new materials editor that handles materials, environments, and luminesces.

To match recent advances in AutoCAD, TurboCAD Pro 19 now has a layout wizard for generating 2D layouts from 3D models. The process is different from AutoCAD's model documentation (in TurboCAD you drag view representations in a dialog box, which are then applied to paper space), but the result is similar. One benefit to IMSI/Design's approach is that it saves layouts as PLX template files for later reuse. Layouts can be created for architectural and mechanical dwgs, each having a slightly different feature set; for instance MCAD has custom section views.

Also new are smooth surface meshes, on which you merge faces, extrude faces, refine (subdivide), and so on to create smooth flowing 3D models. Mr Taylor admitted it was a work in progress, and so customers can expect more improvements in release 20. You can switch between surfaces, solids, and "smeshes" just by changing a setting in the Selection Info palette -- but the result after switching back to solids can be unexpected, as in AutoCAD.

And finally, a few of the other new functions: "ePack" for packaging DWG and support files in a folder or ZIP file. "Draw by Layer Plus" that forces drawing tools to keep the current layer and remember property overrides. "Geographic marker" that adds an optional in-canvas compass to drawings, as shown in figure 2. In the area of APIs, there are no great changes, other than updating them for the new functions.

TurboCAD Pro 19 is now available for $1,295, while the Platinum edition is $1,495.

http://www.turbocad.com

   

---

 Out of the Inbox

It's a launch: Creo 2.0 (on the CAD side) is out from PTC, as is Windchill 10.0 (on the PLM side). This second release of Creo adds Option Modeler for generating 3D assemblies based on product specs, and Creo Layout for moving 2D drawings to 3D. Creo Sketch 2.0 now runs on OS X computers. http://creo.ptc.com

      PLM is not something we cover, but noteworthy for PTC is the iOS version of WindChill Mobile that views and marks up 3D models stored on WindChill servers. You can try it out at no charge with a sample data set from http://itunes.apple.com/ca/artist/ptc/id501201404

It's an update: IronCAD releases Product Update 1 for its IronCAD Design Collaboration Suite 2012. Long title, but subscription customers get commands by mouse gestures, more UI customization, a list of recent commands, and 250 other improvements. http://www.ironcad.com

It's intriguing: We had heard about this earlier, but now there is a press release on the rather interesting news of Russia developing its own solid modeling kernel. Moscow State Technological University got the contract from the Russian Federation's Ministry of Industry and Trade for "an original, Russia-licensable software kernel for 3D modeling." The idea is for Russian firms to more speedily output design software globally. 

       Friend-of-upFront.eZine LEDAS got one of the sub contracts, though it's not clear exactly for what. One piece seems to be for finding the intersections of arbitrary curves and surfaces. http://www.ledas.com

It's big: Siemens PLM Software adds Active Workspace to its Teamcenter collection for visualizing millions of items of data from sources such as text, network diagrams, and 3D product designs. We're lining up an interview to learn more. http://www.plm.automation.siemens.com/en_us/products/teamcenter/active-workspace

And finally, it's renewed: For its tenth anniversary, Creaform updates its logo. The more I look at it, the more I like it. You can see it here: http://www.creaform3d.com/en/company/brand-revitalization.aspx

 

---

CAD Tips

"What are the control codes for dimension mtext in AutoCAD. For example, editing the text part of a dimension and inserting /P pushes the following text down onto the next line, and /X pushes following text below the dimension line. Do you have or know of a full list of these items?"
      - D.W.

 The editor replies: "The codes in dimension text are the same ones used by AutoCAD to format mtext. I documented them in my 'Using AutoCAD' book, after figuring them out on my own the hard way. Here is a link to the page on Google Books: http://books.google.ca/books . Go one page earlier to see how they work. Generally, uppercase starts a format, and lower case ends it. Numbers modify a format, and require a semicolon to signal the end of the code."

---

Letters to the Editor

"I am looking forward to it [AutoCAD 20130, although not to making sure that a couple of hundred LISP routines continue to work as before."
      - William Gilliss

 

 "I love this video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTTzwJsHpU8. However, I actually like IE9, and use it occasionally. I use Opera most of the time, but it freezes when you try to load a huge web page ('huge' meaning more than 20,000 lines of html)."

      - Don Beaton

 

 "At one place in 'What the Cloud Really Means' you mention that 'about the only part that can be left as-is is the proprietary core code, and perhaps even that needs to be rewritten in some cases'. Can you throw some light on when and what aspects of proprietary code needs to be changed?"

      - Sanjay Kulkarni

 The editor replies: "At the time I wrote this last December, I was thinking of AutoCAD WS, which is a rewrite of AutoCAD for the cloud. Even today, WS cannot display 3D drawings in 3D in desktop browsers."

 

"I have recently retired and am no longer covering the CAD industry. I wish you all the best as you continue your excellent work in this field."
      - B. J. Novitski

 

---

Notable Quotable

"When you're in a conference room, you might think, 'This is great.' But then you get out in the field and realize it doesn't work in a driving snowstorm."
      - Maya Leibman, cio, American Airlines on chosing tablet models for employees
      http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203986604577253162552946038.html

 

---

* 11221

Sales Matter More than Design, and Spaceclaim Stakes its Claim in the 3D MCAD Market

Issue #729 

 

During media events, CAD vendors like to promote to writers and analysts exciting designs made by firms using their software. Most times, these are successful firms, like Dyson or Industrial Light and Magic. Once in a while, though, we are introduced to a firm with exciting designs and nearly no sales.

A couple of years ago, DS SolidWorks bussed us to Barrett Technologies, who build a unique robot arms that use cables and tiny motors. We were shown how the first fridge-size controller was shrunk to the size of a hockey puck, thanks to SolidWorks software. This is a firm that DS SolidWorks has promoted in its advertising, especially because Barret bought SolidWorks license #1. We asked how many of the robotic hands the company is selling. About four a month, the low number blamed partly on the US Government's refusal to certify cable-controlled robots.

Last week, Autodesk bussed us to the waterfront office of Hawkes Ocean Technologies, who design unique winged submersibles. They are designed to be highly maneuverable, and simply float to the surface, should power be lost -- thanks to Inventor software. This is a firm that Autodesk has promoted for several years. We asked how many of the 1- and 2-seat explorers have sold. One of each.

Many firms co-promoted by CAD vendors are doing well. You might expect a sales bump from a CAD vendor promoting your product. In the end, however, more important than design is sales.

- - -

 More about last week's Autodesk Media Summit 2012 on WorldCAD Access:

     - Live blogging the Autodesk Media Summit 2012
     - Live blogging industry breakouts at AMS12

---

Spaceclaim Stakes its Claim in the 3D MCAD Market
During their virtual tour for CAD writers a few weeks back, Spaceclaim produced a startling statistic: despite 25 million engineers working in manufacturing, there are only 1.1 million seats of 3D CAD on maintenance. (I take it that these numbers are world-wide; the Spaceclaim slide deck doesn't provide references.)

The company interprets the 23:1 disparity as the fault of "the complexity of feature-based CAD," and so sees a huge market for its own direct modeling CAD software. The company ignores competitive direct modeling software packages.

The problem, however, with the statistics is that Spaceclaim is comparing peaches to nectarines, total MCAD engineers versus MCAD seats on maintenance, rather than all MCAD seats. I know, they would argue that a seat on maintenance is proof of it in use and not shelfware.

AndI wonder about the number of engineers, for the National Society of Professional Engineers reported in 2004 on the difficulty in counting who is an engineer and who isn't <http://www.nspe.org/resources/pdfs/blog/Abt-Report-on-Engineering-Profession2.pdf>:

Of the 2.8 million people in the United States in 1999 who earned
an engineering degree at the baccalaureate level or above, 2.3 million
were working and 1.3 million were practicing engineers.
In addition, 407,000 workers held engineering jobs without having earned
an engineering degree.

(The net 1999 number of 2.1 million working is for engineers of all types, even those in computer science. )

Never mind arguing over the validity of hand-picked statistics. They are mere warm-up for what is Spaceclaim's master plan. The company is (finally!) moving away from from nibbling at the edges of the CAD industry; this is the year Spaceclaim starts displacing mainstream CAD.

They put it bluntly: "SpaceClaim is a better choice for many design and manufacturing challenges." The accompanying graphic shows Spaceclaim spreading out to assist the CAD-lacking 25 million, as well as pushing feature-based CAD right out of the picture. Competitors, you are warned by Spaceclaim's summary statements:

- We can meet the users' entire CAD needs
- We displace feature-based CAD
- We are committed to straightforward direct modeling for all users
- Enabling all engineers, designers, and machinists to work in 3D

Should competitors have employees pick straws to see which one is designated to turn out the last light? Of course not. But it is a warning that Spaceclaim is no longer content to serve the periphery, away from the center of the CAD industry. Maybe this was Michael Payne's plan all along.

http://www.spaceclaim.com

 

---

Out of the Inbox

As we noted earlier, Spaceclaim is aiming to take over the entire 3D MCAD industry, but a mysterious upstart is gunning for better. Jim Foster (ex-PDMworks and ex-SolidWorks) and friends have formed To 3D Now and hope to turn napkin designs into 3D models effortlessly. http://www.to3dnow.com

We have a winner! Over on WorldCAD Access last week, I wondered which CAD vendor would be the first to announce compatibility with the Metro interface of Windows 8. Missler Software says they've validated TopSolid 7.7 on Windows 8 and Windows Server 8. http://www.topsolidblog.com/?p=3712 {h.t. Jon Banquer}

TurboCAD Pro 19 does 64-bit computing, adds smooth surface meshes to its 3D modeling capabilities, and its new geolocation function features an in-canvas compass. Regular Pro is $1,295, while Pro Platinum is $1,495, both shipping now from http://www.TurboCAD.com

QuorumLabs' Hybrid Cloud Disaster Recovery solution is "the only disaster recovery solution that provides both onsite high availability of key applications and data, plus instant recovery of applications and data from a SAS-70 Type II certified data center maintained by QuorumLabs." This system works both on local servers and on the cloud. http://www.quorumlabs.com

Ironic. Now the cloud even virtualizes executive positions: vCIO provides firms with the expertise of ePlus' consulting CIOs -- without the cost or difficulty of finding and retaining an in-house CIO [chief information officer]. http://www.eplus.com/vcio.htm

As a former transportation engineer who designed signalized intersections, I can appreciate this technological innovation: TRANSYT Online sends optimized signal timings directly to on-street controllers to allow retiming, without the inconvenience of driving out there. 'Course, the advantage to driving out to the intersection means getting extra pay through milage expenses! http://www.trlsoftware.co.uk

CADopia 12 is shipping for OS X and Windows. The Graebert-based CAD package is updated with smart dimension, print configurations, 3D Connexion support, 3D fillets, and more. 30-day demo from http://www.cadopia.com

Are you a blogger? Who'd like to get paid (some) for writing? Over on CADdigest, Roopinder Tara and I are looking especially for CAM users who like to write, but others, too. You make $100 - $200 (depending on the length of the article), and you retain the copyright. This means you can publish the article on your blog (or elsewhere) after it appears on CADdigest.com. The first step is to fill out the form at http://rtara.wufoo.com/forms/z7x3k1. More info in the Author's FAQ at http://www.caddigest.com/about/articles/faqs.htm

 

---

CAD Tips

"I found the solution you posted about print jobs being stuck in the print queue <http://worldcadaccess.typepad.com/gizmos/2006/09/tip_plugged_up_.html>, but my problem is that my printer just sends out a blank sheet of paper. I'm using XP."
      - L.S.

The editor replies: "Here are a few things you can check: Are you printing a blank page from your word processor? Some word processors print only the text that is currently selected. Is the correct printer driver being used for the printer? Install a second printer driver for the printer (Start > Devices and Printers > Add a Printer) and then see if this solves the problem."

 

 

---

Letters to the Editor

"To answer the reader: Laser scanners can't detect the temp of a pipe. They only detect its location in 3D space."

     - Chris Scotton, ceo

       Clearedge 3D

 

Re: Vectorworks Cloud Services
"I can't recall ever getting an answer from anybody: How can one do graphic design work on a 4" Android screen?

"I remember when I was just a small boy, back in the olden days of 2009, when everyone was gratified to get bigger screens on their desks, and now we are finally very comfortable operating design software on dual 23" LCD screens. What exactly is the new plan, that we all work from our cars parked on the job site, mouse-less-ly using our fingers to type in coordinates to draw lines on a calculator?

"Who thinks this is a good plan, really? Break it down for me: how many people currently sit in offices, using desktops to design AEC projects, versus how many people would prefer to sit in the rain on a jobsite, using the porta-potties, wearing hardhats, and eating at the roach-coach, designing these 200,000 square foot hospitals on their cell phones?

"Just how big is this market that these 'cloudies' are pursuing? I'm just not getting it. Maybe I'm a Luddite or an ostrich. This 'cloud' to which you so often refer seems to be the tail (whose original purpose is obviously software anti-piracy control), and it's wagging the whole dog, to the point where folks are seriously asked to consider radically changing their AEC design workflow to accommodate this new paradigm, whose beneficiaries are solely the software companies.

"I'm really not understanding how this is supposed to play out. There must be someone who can use the cloud idea for design, but what exactly happens? My expectation is that in actual practice it has very limited utility for AEC design: primarily just some drawing mark-up which has been -- and can easily continue to be -– readily (and cheaply) done with a red pen on paper."

"Help me to understand the greater good that these folks are trying to peddle, if any actually exists for us in the AEC design trenches."
      - Peter Lawton

The editor replies: "I think the idea is to see drawings on job sites, not draw them. I met a guy last week who is building a new mall in our town, the largest new mall in 20 years in the province of BC. He was showing a few guys how he could view drawings onsite using AutoCAD WS on his iPhone.

"As for drafting with fingers, Samsung has a new line of Touch tablets that come with a pressure sensitive stylus. The first one was 5" but now they are coming out with larger ones.

"As for degrading our work environment from 23" to 4" monitors, that's why I found the ceo of Vectorworks musing insightful: some are willing to give up power for portability."

 

"Gary Harding's letter to the Editor should be a Notable Quotable."
     - Craig Hunt

The editor replies: Gary Harding wrote he that he has switched from CAD sales to selling air compressors."

 

"Very funny!: 'HP finally decides the future of the PC: It's a printer accessory; suddenly it all makes sense!' Nothing like putting the cart before the horse when the bureaucracy fails its investors."

      - Chris

"Thanks, Ralph, for the many years of great content."
      - Paul Jakab

---

Notable Quotable

"A publicist for my book Here Be Dragons boasted she'd got me in every section of the newspaper. I said 'No, you haven't. It's not in the auto section.' She asked why it should have been in that section, and I said: 'Because it's an autobiography'."
     - Peter C Newman, Canadian author
       http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2011/11/25/john-ivison-peter-c-newman-believes-liberal-ship-is-sinking/

 

---

* 11212