upFront.eZine News Archives

Vulkan 1.0 Launches

Issue #891

 

by Ralph Grabowski with Neil Trevett February 16 was the day a brand-new API launched for GPUs. Khronos is best known for OpenGL, the graphics system used by most software today. Now they have the next-gen API, called Vulkan. I interviewed Khronos president Neil Trevett to learn what it is, and what it means for CAD users. Mr Trevett is also NVIDIA's vice president of developer ecosystems. - - - Ralph Grabowski: This is the first time I've seen an angry looking teapot! Neil Trevett: Ha! The figures in the Vulkan T-shirt art are all the iconic 3D research models, with a little more aggression, appropriately, as Vulkan is named after the ancient deity of fire and forge. But it's what's underneath the logo that is most important, "Industry Forged."  This means the industry is coming together in 18 months of effort to release an open standard. Also, the launch of Vulkan 1.0 today it is a hard launch, with an open source SDK [software development kit], validator layer and tools, conformant drivers from multiple hardware vendors, and even shipping applications. In the past, we did soft launches, where we would just release the specification. With our Vulkan launch, Khronos is upping its game. For example, this is the first time there is an open source conformance test suite for a Silicon API[application programming interface]. This lets developers submit tests to fix bugs that are causing them porting issues.   Grabowski: Who is Vulkan meant for? Trevett: Vulkan is for developers who need much deeper levels of control over GPUs to craft faster, smoother, more efficient applications. Vulkan breaks open the thick driver model of OpenGL by giving more responsibility for memory and resource management to the application.  This means a Vulkan driver is much thinner, has less latency, less overhead, and fewer driver surprises. This is how we get higher performance with fewer hitches. Importantly Vulkan also enables multi-threaded CPU acceleration by separating the creation of multiple command buffers in memory, before they are submitted to the GPU. This is great for efficiently handling large CAD models, for example.  On the other hand, Vulkan can be harder to use as the application is taking on work that the driver used to do. On the other other hand, many games will simply use games engines that take immediate advantage of Vulkan, such as those from Lucasfilm, EA, Valve, and Unity. Many other application domains will probably see strong middleware ecosystems built over our new low-level API. Grabowski: OpenGL, OpenCL, OpenSL ES... there seem be a lot of these standards floating about. Trevett: Yes, Khronos has different API standards for different types of acceleration. For example, OpenCL is for parallel computation and OpenSL ES is for audio.  The traditional 3D APIs are OpenGL for desktops and OpenGL ES for embedded and mobile systems. One of the key messages we want to communicate to developers is that OpenGL and OpenGL ES are not going away; they will be actively developed for many years alongside Vulkan.  For applications that are already GPU-bound, OpenGL is as fast as Vulkan. If you don’t need the low level access of Vulkan, OpenGL is more straightforward to develop for. This is especially true for application already using OpenGL. Grabowski: This involved 18 months of development by many in the industry. Why would they want to cooperate together on a new API? Trevett: Software and hardware developers benefit from a cross-platform API standard as it enables applications and accelerators to reach more platforms with lower porting costs. The only other new-generation APIs are these two:  DirectX 12 from Microsoft, which works only with Windows 10 Metal from Apple, which works only with iOS and OS X systems So Vulkan’s big differentiator is that it is the only modern API that is a multi-vendor, open standard available to run on any platform that wants it.  For example, Google has announced that it will ship Vulkan as a native API in a future version of Android, and Vulkan is already shipping for Windows 7-10 and Linux. A new generation of low-level APls is critical for smoother real-time user experiences and tools.  Grabowski: Apple is not on your list of sponsors. Trevett: Apple is a Khronos member and is on the board of promoters, but you should speak to Apple about any plans to use Vulkan. When it comes to graphics APIs, it seems at the moment that they are trying to fence themselves off from open standards. They have Metal, which is a proprietary new-generation API that uses a lot of OpenGL ES and OpenCL technology. It is, however, is missing tessellation and geometry shaders. This makes it harder for developers. There is no barrier to Apple adopting Vulkan, should they choose to. Grabowski: What is it that makes Vulkan so portable? Trevett: The fact the Vulkan is a thinner, simpler driver makes it easier to create conformant drivers across multiple vendors. Vulkan uses our SPIR-V[Standard Portable Intermediate Representation] to enable hardware-independent language compiler front-ends, and avoids the need for a full compiler in the driver, as with OpenGL.  Vulkan defines a number of switches and dials (“features”) that enable and disable parts of the API to suit the needs of different markets and platforms. A platform vendor can define a Feature Set to define a reliable functional baseline for developers. The flexibility means we will never need a ‘Vulkan ES’ as we did with OpenGL.  Grabowski: Vulkan seems to be directed at games. In which way would CAD programs specifically benefit? Trevett: Vulkan is intended to add value to any demanding graphics application, not just games. Vulkan’s multi-threading in particular enables applications that are currently host-bound to use multi-core CPUs to generate multiple command buffers in parallel, before submitting them to the GPU. This is particularly valuable with applications dealing with large CAD models, where Vulkan should enable significantly smoother design interactivity. The low latency and stutter-free performance of Vulkan is also suited to VR [virtual reality] applications. Grabowski: Will CAD applications be forced to use Vulkan? Trevett: No, not all. Games will probably be the first commercial applications to ship using Vulkan. Each new generation of games tends to re-engineer their code base in a way that large CAD applications can’t.  The good news is that OpenGL is not going away. As it is still actively developed by Khronos, CAD application vendors can transition when they see the benefit from doing so. Some graphics vendors, like NVIDIA, can run OpenGL and Vulkan side by side to enable professional design applications to move incrementally to Vulkan. For example, they can leave their UI in OpenGL and move their performance-critical model-view pipeline to Vulkan. Grabowski: I noticed that Dassault Systemes is the only CAD member of the working group. What kind of a role are they playing? Trevett: It was great to have Dassault join the working group early on, as they helped to make sure that the needs of the CAD industry were kept in mind as Vulkan was being designed. They were our CAD conscience. Grabowski: From where does the Vulkan name come? Trevett: We could have given the new API a variation on the OpenGL name, but in the end decided not to. This new specification is not an evolution of OpenGL; it’s a complementary API that lives alongside OpenGL.  We use ancient deity names and then misspell them deliberately, such as Khronos [Chronos was the ancient Greek deification of time]. Vulcan was the god of fire and forge. We liked the image of industrial strength and power that it conveyed. The name did not come from Star Trek or the Vulcan bomber! Grabowski: Vulkan is free, so why would a developer become a member of your group? Trevett: Vulkan is entirely free for developers, who don't need to be a Khronos member to use and ship engines and application using the API.  If, however, a hardware developer wants to implement a Vulkan driver or processor and use the Vulkan name on their implementation, then they can become a Vulkan Adopter, the cost is few tens of thousands of dollars. Becoming an Adopter gives you access to the Khronos conformance process to run and upload test logs to the Vulkan working group for review. Implementations that pass conformance can use the Khronos name and logo and the Khronos Intellectual Property framework ensures that Khronos Members won't assert their patents against you for implementing the technology.  Any companies be they software or hardware developers are welcome to join Khronos; our membership is open. Membership gives them a voice and a vote in specification designs and development. As well, they get an insight into what’s in the design pipeline well before the rest of the industry.  https://www.khronos.org/vulkan And One More Thing... If you live near Warwick or happen to flying to England end of March, then you may well want to take in Develop3D Live. It is March 21 at Warwick University Arts Center, and best of all the full day of 30 speakers and 70 exhibitors is free to attend. Event organizer Martyn Day promises you'll find out "about the latest conceptual design, rendering, modelling, analysis, 3D printing, VR, AR, reverse engineering and workstation technology." Last year, Onshape gave its first public demonstration there. Register online throughhttp://develop3dlive.com/register-now Even More News There is more at our WorldCAD Access blog about the CAD industry, tips on using hardware and software, and our popular travelogues. You can keep up with the blog through its RSS feed and email alert service.  We're on Twitter at @upfrontezine with late-breaking CAD news and wry commentary throughout the day, such as.... upFront.eZine (@upFronteZine) Feb 22: Your software future summarized in a succinct dialog box: Update or Quit.  upFront.eZine (@upFronteZine) Feb 21: HTC unveils the $800 ski boot it wants hanging off the end of your face: Letters to the Editor Re: The Tao of BIM Being Data Mr. Partridge is clearly an architect. He states, "We need BIM to output directly to fabrication, with no drawings at all -- except for the foreseeable future when drawings are still required for regulatory purpose" as well as "I think anything that can communicate design and assembly (construction) intent is very useful. The primary source of legal claims against architects and engineers is a lack of communication, not the deliverables. So I find the constant issue of liability around the BIM laughable." There is often a large disconnect between designers and builders. One is accountable for concept ("intent"), and the other for actual construction. Designers can communicate all they want, but in most situations they do not have sufficient relevant knowledge to create a model that directs fabrication or installation. Nor can they as materials have complexity, and no architect or architect team can acquire that knowledge for 1,000 materials in addition to all the other things they are required to know. The liability arises when a subcontractor relies on the model (of intent), and then late in the game someone realizes there is a problem.  Given that your background is not in architecture, you would be surprised by how often architects do not understand tolerances and expect that everything fits perfectly, precisely as drawn, or as shown in the model.      - Leo Schlosberg     Cary Concrete Products, USA  - - -   In Europe, we see BIM as a process rather than software. This view has prevailed over the years. In Germany, about 40 CAD products are sold that have an IFC interface. The German government is committed to OpenBIM.  The EU BIM Task Group is to summarize the national guidelines in a single European directive in Europe. For most digitization in the construction industry topics, I have a personal opinion, which I share on my [German-language] blog ulfkrause.wordpress.com.     - Ulf-Günter Krause (via WorldCAD Access)     AvaCAD, Germany - - - Good to read you're working on CAD standards, much interested to see the result.     -Pandelis Latroudakis     Iatroudakis Consulting, Greece   Re: Notable Quotable [Mark] Zuck[erberg] building electricity grids for the poor would be wonderful, I agree, but when he feathers his own nest by building them social networks, he hastens the demise of oppressive structures. He reduces the cost of information, makes it harder for tyrants, thereby delivering perhaps a bigger win for the poor.     - Arnold Rowntree      Otway Drafting, Australia   Re: My New Tablet Became Obsolete 4 Years Ago I had the Playbook from early on, and like you, I really do like the OS. However, with Blackberry's new Android smartphone, the Priv, it looks like BB OS 10 is on life support, with no major functionality to be added. Hopefully, Android's developers will steal the good ideas from these alternate OSs.      -Tony T (via WorldCAD Access)     USA The editor replies: See the original article at  http://www.worldcadaccess.com/blog/2016/02/my-new-tablet-became-obsolete-4-years-ago.html Thank You, Readers! Thank you to readers who donate towards the operation of upFront.eZine. In return, you receive our 56-page whitepaper "MobileCAD is Reaching Maturity," free and unavailable from anywhere else. Should you wish to support upFront.eZine through PayPal, then the suggested amounts are like these: $25 for individuals > paypal.me/upfrontezine/25 $125 for small companies > paypal.me/upfrontezine/125 $500 for for large companies > paypal.me/upfrontezine/500 Or you can mail a cheque (US$ or CDN$ only, please) to upFront.eZine Publishing, Ltd., 34486 Donlyn Avenue, Abbotsford BC, V2S 4W7, Canada. Notable Quotable "Obsessing about iOS versus Android OS was a bad path (they are both important)."     - Paul Adams, "Why Mobile First Is Outdated"     https://medium.com/intercom-inside/why-mobile-first-is-outdated-f10a3dc357bd

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The Tao of BIM Being Data

Issue # 890

 

by Ralph Grabowski with Allan Partridge CanBIM calls itself "the business voice of BIM [building information modeling] in Canada." During the regional CanBIM conference held last week in Vancouver Canada, I had the opportunity to interview its president, Allan Partridge. See WorldCAD Access for a blog of the day athttp://www.worldcadaccess.com/blog/2016/02/blogging-live-from-canbim-conference-in-vancouver-canada.html. - - - Ralph Grabowski: How does CanBIM fit in with other BIM organizations in Canada?  Allan Partridge: We were the first one. Back in 2008, a group of us felt that BIM had to be a business decision; it cannot be enforced by government, or dictated to the industry. As founders of CanBIM, we came from variety of sizes of firms, wanting to raise the agenda of BIM collectively for the entire industry – regardless of size. We firmly believe BIM will gain its traction not just in an isolated sense in design, procurement, assembly, or operation, but holistically for all these aspects.  After CanBIM was formed, the Institute for BIM was formed by founding partners CCA, RIAC, ACEC, and CSI, following a similar path for making BIM a business decision. After this, buildingSmart Canada arrived as a council of IBC taking a chapter position under buildingSmart international. We are looking at certification, as well as providing tools to kick start companies with BIM. All of us are there to help one another. We are deeply concerned about making a robust design and construction community in Canada that can withstand organizations from other countries coming in and telling us what to do.  Grabowski: Who would do that, and why? Partridge: BIM(UK) is designed to be an exportable industry [from United Kingdom]. England used to export other things to other countries; this is a new export. It was a clarion call to make our own community robust. Grabowski: For the last few weeks, I’ve been researching BIM and CAD standards for the update to my book on CAD management. I could not find much in Canada for BIM standards. Partridge: The IBC has developed a practice manual that is available for purchase. CanBIM would rather develop a series of protocols to find a baseline way of working with BIM. We are proud of our current work with other international bodies to develop protocols for working with Revit. We are also exploring working on versions for ArchiCAD and Bentley.   But standards concern me. They were fine when drawings were the output; how do you define standards when data is the output? This is where the work on OpenBIM under buildingSMART international that has some gifted Canadians at the table under ISO. These hold some very exciting potential. However, we have to be careful as standards will need be more fluid as technology changes come more rapidly. I think people will find a way to work together and establish their own way of working -- creating a much different way of standardizing. Panel discussion at CanBIM Vancouver   Grabowski: Is there a place for CAD standards in a data-centric world?  Partridge: There are evolving standards in the ISO to make sure that the creators of software allows complete, coordinated and consistent data extraction, data mining, exporting to CNC, and so on.   But should I be using 2.5mm Arial Narrow? I don’t care. All that matters is the format of the data, especially getting IFCs [industry foundation classes] right. Grabowski: What do you see as the future direction of BIM? Partridge: Change is never linear. There lies the problem: we hang on to what is traditional, not really realizing what is coming down the pipe. I see a very different industry two decades from now that will have both players and outcomes that are very different to what we see today. We are truly at the cusp of a golden era for design, procurement, assembly, and operation of buildings. Grabowski: What is an example of the shortsightedness? Partridge: We are focusing BIM in a document-centric environment, and we are failing miserably. It should be information-centric; CAD was document-centric. We need to use the model to make a metadata [data about the model].     [Mr Partridge gets out his fountain pen, still a useful tool, and then begins to sketch what he means on a PostIt note.] CAD allowed us to make many more drawings, and then BIM made the number of drawings become exponential. What happens when there are so many drawings? Grabowski: The problem with too many drawings is that their value falls.  Partridge: Exactly. It is a problem today that we are using BIM to create drawings. Can I decrease my drawing output by say 50%, and increase the data output 100%? That increases value. We need to get off the heroin of drawings, and get into data. We need BIM to output directly to fabrication, with no drawings at all -- except for the foreseeable future when drawings are still required for regulatory purpose.  Even then, these should be minimized. Grabowski: Well, construction is very, very conservative. They prefer to keep putting up 2x4 studs. On another topic, why are you president of CanBIM? Partridge: It is a passion for me. I began with BIM in 2002 with Revit version 2. As to when I will step aside as president? When it is right to do so, first for CanBIM and second for myself. Grabowski: Some of the talks at this conference today involve augmented reality, mobile, Web. What are your thoughts on these future technologies? Partridge: I think anything that can communicate design and assembly (construction) intent is very useful. The primary source of legal claims against architects and engineers is a lack of communication, not the deliverables. So I find the constant issue of liability around the BIM laughable.   I don’t think we will be designing on this [he make a scribbling motion over his 4” iPhone]. But they are good for communication. Anything that improves communication reduces risk, anything to help people convey something that is being thought out. The power in mobile technology is communication, not design.   I think the days of the solo designer are going away, we are going to have nimble teams that come to together as needed. On this premise we will go back to the master builder, but a virtual one; not silos, but cylinders of excellence. In the future, I think we will deal more with something not too dissimilar to a large drawing board, around which we assemble the building as a team. Check out on YouTube the construction video of Leadenhall in London.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5RgRboBE2Y   Once we get over the notion of drawings, the industry will mature quickly. It will take the next generation to not worry about drawings. We should be able to work this so that someone at Leduc truss can make it. Perhaps 20 years from now, drawings will be gone and we will simply be better. www.canbim.com And One More Thing... It's that time of life when lots of software firms are celebrating 25th anniversaries. Heck, I celebrated my 25 years as a freelance writer in just this year in mid-January. Last week, it was the turn of form-z.  President and co-founder Dr. Chris Yessios says, “What an exciting 25 years it has been. Those of us that have been with the company since the very beginning would by no means trade the experience for anything else. So many tools, that are today taken for granted, were first included in form•Z after long hours of development and experimentation." There are three versions of the form-Z 3D modeling software, form-Z free, form-Z jr, and form-Z pro. http://www.formz.com/products/formzfree.html Even More News There is more at our WorldCAD Access blog about the CAD industry, tips on using hardware and software, and our popular travelogues. You can keep up with the blog through its RSS feed and email alert service. These are some of the articles that appeared on WorldCAD Access during the last week: Blogging Live from CanBIM Conference in Vancouver Canada My new tablet became obsolete 4 years ago (Blackberry Playbook) We're on Twitter at @upfrontezine with late-breaking CAD news and wry commentary throughout the day. Randall S. Newton ‏@RSNatWork  Feb 16: BREAKING NEWS: PTC to pay $28 million settlement to US Gov't in China investigation http://bit.ly/1R6WDRI  Letters to the Editor Re: About IronCAD Design Collaboration for 2016 I first encountered Tri-Spectives in its infancy, at (I believe) NDES in Chicago. I was working for a PTC/Computervision/Autodesk reseller at the time, and was given a copy. I believe I was somehow placed on their reseller list, as I continued to receive quite a bit of correspondence, information, and updates from the company.  But, oh, my! The ease of use! The drag and drop features! The drag and drop animations! The (what we now call) direct editing! I honestly thought I was seeing the future. Sure, there were issues with interoperability, and I encountered some with internal accuracy -- I was told it was just an ideation tool, not really valid for documentation or downstream applications, i.e., CAM -- but just the same it was a revelation. Certainly this will revolutionize the industry!  Ironic, then, that even some time into its IronCAD reincarnation, they were touting in ads that "100s of customers can't be wrong." 100s? So, yes, Ralph, thanks for following up on this very interesting product, and for the reminder that the CAD industry never plateaus and gets boring.      - Sam Hochberg      samhochberg.com - - -   Thank you for your continued coverage of IronCAD and its history. I was an early user of Tri-Spectives and found it far better than anything else available at the time. It ran well on my Windows 95 PC and gave me the ability to do 3D solid modeling, renderings and animations at a very reasonable price.  All of this is common place now, but in 1995 this was pretty amazing stuff from a Windows PC and $500 software! While others were paying 10K+ for Pro-E and another 10K+ for a Unix workstation I was making a nice living off Trispectives with 3D solid modeling, animations and renderings on a very affordable Windows PC.  Here are some examples of work I did with the software in 1995-1996: 3D form studies, color studies, 3D printed models from .stl files, renderings and 2D documentation: http://www.idesign2.com/corel/corelimages/hex1.jpg. Again, all of this is common now but it was well ahead of the pack in 1995 and at a price that could not be beat!.      - Glenn Kennedy     idesign2.com - - -   Thanx for the IronCAD update. Enjoyed reading it. Have many questions as a result. Cheers!      - Chris Cadman   Re: BYOL (Bring Your Own License): Frame We need some sort of naming convention for CAD companies, or maybe just software suppliers in general. There's a comment in a later item about "rent-seeking" that is a step in the right direction.  Maybe you are the new Linnaeus who can work out the taxonomy of software business approaches, so that we can have fast and easy way of identifying which companies are aiming to mine our bank accounts on: A monthly basis forever A yearly basis forever If their plan is to lock us into required updates with no backward compatibility To coerce us into keeping our stuff on their server Or what There are a bewildering array of scams plans out there, and bringing order to it would be a wonderful public service. So I propose the following name for a person who allows some faceless, zero-responsibility company to keep all there data on their servers: servant. Has a nice ring to it.     - Jess Davis     Davis Precision Design, Inc. The editor replies: Following the lock-in of the 1980s, the opening of CAD formats in the 1990s, now it appears the Autodesk and Dassaults of today yearn to be the Computervisions of yesteryear. Look at Dassault and Solidworks pushing their no-file initiative. Open CAD programs don't get very far, unfortunately, and so the only protection we are left with is the Open Design Alliance and its work in documenting DWG, DGN, and other formats.  - - -   Section 8.1 of AWS [Amazon Web Services terms and conditions] is even worse than he suspected: "We may disclose Your Content to provide the Service Offerings to you or any End Users or to comply with any request of a governmental or regulatory body (including subpoenas or court orders)." Let’s parse that, and simply consider the conditions before the “or”: 'We may disclose Your Content to provide the Service Offerings to you or any End Users.' I believe that means they can disclose your content to ANY end user they need to provide service offerings. This goes far beyond governments or regulatory bodies. In effect, it really says, 'We may disclose Your Content to any End Users.'     - Ken Elliott The editor replies: I suppose it covers Amazon should hackers break in and reveal data to the world. Course, part of the problem is that we don't even know where our data is being stored. Where does Autodesk put 360 data? -- and if it is Amazon today, might it be Azure tomorrow. Then whose T&Cs rule? Thank You, Readers! Thank you to readers who donate towards the operation of upFront.eZine. In return, you receive our 56-page whitepaper "MobileCAD is Reaching Maturity," free and unavailable from anywhere else. Should you wish to support upFront.eZine through PayPal, then the suggested amounts are these: $25 for individuals > paypal.me/upfrontezine/25 $125 for small companies > paypal.me/upfrontezine/125 $500 for for large companies > paypal.me/upfrontezine/500 Or you can mail a cheque (US$ or CDN$ only, please) to upFront.eZine Publishing, Ltd., 34486 Donlyn Avenue, Abbotsford BC, V2S 4W7, Canada.   Notable Quotable "I’d prefer Zuckerberg campaigned for access to electricity, rather than access to the internet, and created electricity grids for the poor, rather than social networks."     - Andrew Orlowski, The Register     http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/02/08/zero_rating_racists/

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About IronCAD Design Collaboration for 2016

Issue #889

by Ralph Grabowski with Cary O'Connor    The thing about IronCAD is that they innovated a lot of technology that other CAD vendors subsequently copied, such as interactive 3D cursors (IronCAD calls theirs the "TriBall"), dragging and dropping parts into drawings ("catalog-based design"), hybrid direct and feature history designing, and more.  The product goes back to 1998 -- or even 1995 if we consider the initial inception -- and today the IronCAD mission is to be the leader in "innovative product design." As a result much of the new stuff in IronCAD 2016 leads to greater design automation. Not the automation you might be thinking of, but in how parts interact; I'll get into details later. The company's primary users are in the fabrication and assembly markets, such as machine designers, sheet metal fabricators, and so on. Flexible Shapes IronCAD 2016 brings flexible shapes to the modeling space, shapes that are parts with features that adapt to existing parts. They are not so much new, as newly adapted to reduce the number of steps for us. When we drag these shapes into drawings, their intelligent behaviors land them right side up, sized dynamically to the surrounding parts. For instance, there are "through" shapes that automatically cut parts with round or rectangular holes, then immediately prompt us for the diameter. See figure 1.   Figure 1 Cutouts and holes applied to a plain cube using Flexible Shapes    Another for-instance: drag'n drop cam belts, sizing them from one gear to another one, and then making copies for twin belts. There are many more flexible shapes, and IronCAD plans to add more as customers request them. I can't wait to see other CAD vendors mimicking IronCAD, again. While Cary O'Connor (who's been involved with IronCAD since 1998) was showing me flexible shapes, I noticed direct editing previews when he changed from feature-history to direct modifications. Not a new feature, as it turns out; previews let us see that what might get affected or combined by direct editing. IronCAD automatically determines which features are involved in the direct edit, and then shows how they change -- before we commit to the edit. This means that when we select a face and request a change, IronCAD works out what needs to happen to make that change in the model’s feature-history .Mr O'Connor told me that this kind of automatic determination (of what features need to be combined to perform a direct edit) is simply not possible in other CAD systems.  Another cool innovation is Smart eBehaviors, which add intelligence to assemblies, parts, and features. These control the position, orientation, sizing, and user-defined behaviors in parts. One example he showed me was the construction of a pair of water tanks of different sizes. While they were built with the same catalog object, features to the smaller tank resized themselves, as did the ones in the larger tank designed at the same time.  Mr O’Connor explains that the intelligence goes down to the feature level, meaning that very precise changes to models can be controlled, instead of just overall assembly position, orientation, or global parameters. The intelligence connects between objects. Changing the diameter of a tank, for instance, all attached parts like legs and connected pipes also change. Other possibilities for Smart eBehaviors are for sales persons dynamically configuring products for clients in areas like furniture design, exhibit layout, and conveyor system layout.   Article continues following this advertisement... Sponsor: Siemens PLM Software Try Solid Edge for Free Now you can try a fully loaded version of Solid Edge with no obligation. Discover how the Solid Edge 3D design system provides the speed and simplicity of direct modeling with the flexibility and control of parametric design -- all in one easy-to-use package. Download the 45-Day trial. Or call 800-807-2200 ...article now continues. Like any other MCAD system, IronCAD imports parts from Inventor and other MCAD systems; but then we can add IronCAD’s intelligence to the imported parts and then add them to IronCAD’s drag'n drop catalog. Additional parts are available from places like TraceParts and GrabCAD.  IronCAD Mechanical IronCAD Mechanical is a new tool set that comes with standard items, like flanges, standard holes, o-rings, threaded bosses, and springs. These are more powerful than before, because they now employ Smart eBehaviorsl.  For example, after we drag a bolt onto some steel plates, we can tell the dialog box to recalculate the depth based on a plate or all of the plates in which the bolt is inserted. We can include things such things as automatically adding appropriate hole cuts and the correct thread lengths. Imagine multiple pieces, such as three steel plates, and we specify whether one plate should be counter-bored, and another have some other special treatment. See figure 2. Figure 2 Defining bolts based on the material in which they reside  In a similar manner, placing an O-ring on round stock cuts out a groove for the ring automatically. In yet another example of the Smart eBehaviors, say we cut 45 degrees off the end of a steel tube. When we place another tube next to the first one, IronCAD knows to cut 45-degrees off the new member -- as well as to use the same type and size of steel stock while automatically aligning the new member. This is especially useful for P&ID: specifying a single pipe that automatically mates and sizes the other pipes we add to the model, including couplings and reducers. Other tools in the set include automatic part numbers, export a face to DXF for a 2D mill, and place the TriBall on the center of gravity of a part. All of these new Mechanical Tools are free for 30 days, then list for $650; if we don't want to pay, they go to reduced capability mode in which things like holes, bearings, and so on continue to work.  Multi Physics IronCAD works with FEA software from a company I had never heard of, AMPS Technologies. One of the special features is that it works on multi-part bodies without having to specify contact points. This is the second year their multiphysics appears in IronCAD, whereby fluid analysis is added in addition to the fully coupled stress, thermal and electrostatic analysis. We'd use this fluid capability to determine how much heat is being added to a cooling pipe.  Like other extra-cost parts of IronCAD, multitphysics is free the first 30 days, and then still works afterwards but with limited quality, such as low-resolution meshes. Even though the extended version is node-limited, MPIC's technology using Sefea gives you extended capabilities to test your products at a lower mesh level while achieving the same accuracy as 2nd-order elements, but is more robust and requires lower computing cost. IronCAD Family IronCAD is more than a single MCAD program. It comes in a variety of levels: IronCAD is everything, with all 3D, drawings (detailing of 3D models), and CAXA Draft (their AutoCAD workalike) Inovate is the lower-cost 3D version without the 2D add-ons, sheet metal, and so on Draft is 2D with some 3D checking but no 3D feature-level modifications; for instance, it can import 3D parts but only to check clearances Compose (free) is for configuring parts and assemblies, viewing, and annotating, but not for modification or editing. It has no solid modeling and no 2D (other than viewing 2D); we'd need to purchase a translator to bring in models from other CAD systems. A comparison PDF can be viewed athttp://download.ironcad.com/download/Product/Information/ProductComparison.pdf.  More info from http://www.ironcad.com And One More Thing... There is a fair amount of software coming out of France, and the volume is not just due to the world's largest CAD vendor being located there. I've gotten a spadeful of press releases from French software companies in the last month.   Abvent SA, for instance, is beta testing its Render[in] 3 for SketchUp right now through to February 29. Based on Artlantis 6, Render[in]  (I would say it's oddly named, but look at how I spell upFront.eZine) renders in real-time inside Trimble's free SketchUp Make and the not-free SketchUp Pro (both 2015 and 2016 versions) using a physical radiosity engine. Download the beta from http://renderin.com/download-renderin3 after creating an account. Even More News There is more at our WorldCAD Access blog about the CAD industry, tips on using hardware and software, and our popular travelogues. You can keep up with the blog through its RSS feed and email alert service. These are some of the articles that appeared on WorldCAD Access during the last week: Q&A with Anna Ladilova, mathematician at C3D Labs  A bit of history of IronCAD 2016  We're on Twitter at @upfrontezine with late-breaking CAD news and wry commentary throughout the day. Elsewhere on the Twitter stream, we captured these thots: Roopinder Tara (@rtara) Feb 1: Bernard Charles very glad he gave @SOLIDWORKS to Gian Paolo Bassi, he says at #SWW16. Roopinder Tara (?@rtara) Feb 1: SOLIDWORKS on the cloud has new name -- Xdesign. Too bad http://xdesign.com is taken. Think someone should have thought of that.   Sponsor: Okino Graphics == Professional 3D File Conversion/Viewing/Rendering Software ==   For over 2 decades Okino (Toronto) has provided mission-critical 3D conversion software used extensively by tens of thousands of professionals. We develop, support and convert between all major CAD, DCC & VisSim formats. Robert Lansdale (CTO, [email protected]) tailors each package to the specific conversion requirements of each customer. Popular formats include 3ds Max, Maya, C4D, LW, ProE, SolidWorks, Inventor, SketchUp, DWF/DWG, DGN, CATIA, IGES/STEP/Parasolid, 3D PDF/U3D, JT, FBX, Collada & more. We know data translation, and provide immaculate developer-to-customer relations. http://www.okino.com Letters to the Editor Re: BYOL (Bring Your Own License) I get so tired of the continual misrepresentation regarding cloud security, such as for Amazon AWS. Their Web page https://aws.amazon.com/agreement takes you to the current legalese regarding how confident Amazon is regarding complete and total security for its customers.  Of particular interest are the following sections: Section 8.1 gives Amazon the right to turn your stuff over to any regulatory or governmental agency. It reads in part, "We may disclose Your Content to provide the Service Offerings to you or any End Users or to comply with any request of a governmental or regulatory body (including subpoenas or court orders)." I assume this means that they can do this without subpoenas and court orders, because "any" does mean "any." So if a foreign (or our own) government wants a look at your intellectual property, they can have it.   Section 10's disclaimers are fun, too: they are not responsible for anything of note or worth; you came here, too bad so sad.   Section 11 is particularly nice. The evasion from any repercussions from use of their products and the statement of their complete confidence in what they offer is particularly heart-warming. What Amazon really means is that they still will not stand behind the service they sell, because they know they are porous and also willing to share our stuff with any governmental entity who can (and probably will) use it against us in numerous ways.     - Dave Ault The editor replies: Cloud-dependent companies like Frame and Autodesk have to downplay the problems you describe, otherwise they may need to change their business plan. I am glad to see someone reading and annotating T&Cs. Mr Ault has expanded his letter on his SolidEdging and Inventor Pro HSM blog athttps://solidedging.wordpress.com/2016/02/11/amazon-aws-peril-for-all-associated-cad-cam-program-customers/ - - - Desktop has possibly given engineers a place to engineer and design by putting design thoughts in a close cubicle. After 20 years, they started considering the desktop like their own drawing board. By nature design is an innovation (sorry, the word is badly overused these days) and absolutely personal.  Now putting all in the Web will possibly make it more personal and accessible (connected -- do they like to get connected?). With all the concerns around latency, bandwidth, and security things will move, possibly others who are dying to be connected (operations, construction, etc.) will drive them to move fast. I am fan of your writing and for 15 years reading your blog.     - Pranab Sui - - - Let's face it: Subscription anything is nothing but slavery. What happened to self-initiative and industry? Isn't all security built on private property ownership? What happened to rights and corresponding responsibilities? Can we launder all liability into the social collective (like the Borg)?     - Chris Cadman The editor replies: At least with a magazine subscription, we could always cancel when the editorial became repetitive or irritating, but software is how we make our living. In economics, it is called "rent seeking" where vendors get paid by customers, even when the vendor provides little or no service in exchange. - - - On behalf of everyone here at CCE, I would just like to thank you for the mention in your e-newsletter and for the prior mention(s) you've made; it is much appreciated. Everyone here loves your perspective and we always look forward to reading your content!     - Arianna Clark, marketing coordinator     CCE Thank You, Readers! Thank you to readers who donate towards the operation of upFront.eZine. In return, you receive our 56-page whitepaper "MobileCAD is Reaching Maturity," free and unavailable from anywhere else. Should you wish to support upFront.eZine through PayPal, then the suggested amounts are like these: $25 for individuals > paypal.me/upfrontezine/25 $125 for small companies > paypal.me/upfrontezine/125 $500 for for large companies > paypal.me/upfrontezine/500 Or you can mail a cheque (US$ or CDN$ only, please) to upFront.eZine Publishing, Ltd., 34486 Donlyn Avenue, Abbotsford BC, V2S 4W7, Canada.   Notable Quotable "Here it is the Year of the Monkey, and I'm still writing Year of the Goat on my checks."     - David Burge (@iowahawkblog) on Twitter

*7329

BYOL (Bring Your Own License): Frame

Issue #888

 

by Ralph Grabowski with Jeff Brown Companies like OnShape and Autodesk have their own browser-server software (aka "cloud"), but some of it, like AutoCAD 360, is too immature for production use. That's where service providers such as Frame come in: they let ISVs [independent software vendors] like Autodesk, Dassault, and Adobe to run their desktop software on servers, which users access through a browser. See figure 1.   Figure 1 User startup page on Frame If the name is unfamiliar, you might know Frame by its original name,Mainframe2. I wonder if that first name was too close to recalling the mainframe’s glory days of old, when we accessed programs through dumb terminals whose only job was to read our typed input and then display the text-only response from the central computer.  Today, we are back to the idea is that firms can access high-end software through low-end computers, even ones as cheap as $150 Chromebooks -- news that might well make the Lenovos (maker of engineering workstations) and AMDs (dedicated graphics boards) of the world shudder.  Alibre tried CAD-streamed-over-the-Internet w-a-a-y back in 2000 but failed. What makes it possible today to run CAD software remotely are the many server sites dotting the planet, as well as modern Web browsers that support HTML5. Here's why the two innovations are important: Browser-server software needs server farms located close to end-users to minimize the latency (lag) caused by the distance data travels. Even though electrons in fiber optic cables travel at light speed (around the equator in 0.1 sec), they travel through switches and routers that slow things down. The further the distance, the greater the number of switches, the bigger the latency.   Browsers need to support HTML5 so that no plugin is required for displaying CAD graphics and handling user interactivity. Getting rid of plugins makes access easy for users (no need to download and install extra stuff) and safer (less likelihood of dangerware malware being installed). The killers of the browser-server world are latency, bandwidth, and security. Frame president Jeff Brown tells me, "Data moves between virtual machines and storage a gigabit speeds (1,000s of megabits)  making things like loading and synching applications lightning fast. Frame uses servers from AmazonAWS, Microsoft Azure, and IBM Softlayer, all of whom are opening new server farms. With the expansion of these public data centers globally, customers can be very close by, in the 20- to 30-milisecond range in nearly every continent."  As for being worried about the security of storing your firm's proprietary IP [intellectual property] on remote servers that you do not control, well don't, says Mr Brown. "Concerns about security and performance are starting to dissolve. Amazon AWS focuses on data center security, and has hundreds of people concerned about security. Contrast that to the efforts in most private datacenter, and the contrast is dramatic."   Q&A Ralph Grabowski: While using something like Solidworks on Frame, where are the model and drawing files stored? Jeff Brown: Each Frame system has local scratch storage where files can be saved while users are working on them. Users can connect Dropbox, Box, or Google Drive to save their final files, or they can check them back into a PLM/PDM system. Grabowski: Earlier you said that there is complexity around PLM and PDM management, but these are being addressed. What are these issues? Brown: For companies that want to have a PLM/PDM [product lifecyle management/product data management] system accessible to a workgroup, we recommend they add a dedicated utility server. That server can provide shared access for PLM/PDM databases and license servers for applications. Grabowski: Does the hardware at the server end consist of Intel CPUs and Nvidia GPUs? Brown: Yes. Different servers are used based on the Frame system and instance type selected. For instance, our Air 4GB and 8GB levels run on servers that only have Intel Xeon CPUs, while our Pro 16GB and 64GB levels  run on servers with Intel Xeon CPUs and one to four NVIDIA GPUs.   Frame’s New Pro 64GB  There's two ways to run software on Frame. You or your firm sets up the access through Frame Personal ($10/month) or Frame for Business ($13 to $28/user/month), which gives you a certain number of credits. As you run software on Frame, the credits are used up hourly; additional credits can be purchased at 15 cents each to get to the end of the month, if necessary. The other licensing cost is of the CAD software license itself. The Frame subscription is independent of the software. A utility server is set up as a license server, which connects between the Frame system and license server. Autodesk wants you to use their network license server for running their software, such as AutoCAD, Inventor, and Revit; other ISVs allow you to use of their standalone licenses. A second way to run software is for vendors set up their programs on the Frame Platform for internal or external use. Internal use includes things like for development, betas, trials, early access, and trying to figure out their software as a service strategy. Or you can try out various CAD systems on Frame directly, such as these: Solidworks (10-minute sessions) at http://www.fra.me/solidworks Solid Edge (maximum 20 hours) at https://siemens-solidedge.fra.me/launchpad/solidedge/login It is estimated that upwards t 40% of Solidworks trials now are streaming trials, rather than downloading the software. It's a way to run Windows-locked software on other operating systems, such as OS X and ChromeOS. Frame offers four levels of service that correspond to different configurations of hardware equivalents. The examples of speeds are for a real-time rendering of fully-illuminated physically-based scenes. Frame Air         1 CPU          4 or 8GB RAM         Consumes 10 or 20 credits/hour          Rendering performance  = 2 iterations per second Frame Pro 16         1 CPU and 1 GPU         16GB RAM         Consumes 60 credits/hr         Rendering performance  = 12 iterations/sec Frame Pro 64         2 Xeon CPUs and 4 nVidia GRID GPUs         64GB RAM and 240GB SSD         Consumes 240 credits/hr         Rendering performance  = 20 iterations/sec Users can switch between the levels in about two minutes. A monitor reports how much capacity is available (purple line) and used (red graph). See figure 2.   Figure 2 Frame Analytics displaying usage Frame recommends that you use Firefox or Chome for the Web browser, because they support hardware decoding of graphics. If you can watch video, then the browser can use Frame. The Frame interface reports the latency and bandwidth. Here's what to look for: 100msec is the threshold for latency; longer than this starts to feel slow.  3-8megabits/sec of sustained bandwidth Grabowski: The price of $1/hour and $4/hr were mentioned. Is this in addition to the $10/month and $13/user/month plans? Brown: I was quoting the overage cost,  which is the cost per hour for heavy users. Overage prices vary by plan. For the Plus plan you start with 1000 credits for $27.99 and the overage price is $0.015 per credit. Using the overage price to calculate cost per hour is easier if you use the overage pricing. •    Air 4GB: 10 cloud credits/hr x $0.015 = $0.15 per hour •    Air 8GB: 20 cloud credits/hr x $0.015 = $0.30 per hour •    Pro 16GB: 60 cloud credits/hr x $0.015 = $0.90 per hour •    Pro 64GB: 240 cloud credits/hr x $0.015 = $3.60 per hour The result, Mr Brown argues, is a lower upfront cost to run high-end software on powerful hardware. www.fra.me And One More Thing... Catia V5 is nearly 20 years old, but still going strong (probably too strong forDassault's liking) and still getting support. For example, CCE last week updated its ODX libraries for the aging V5 with better PMI and persistent ID support for tessellated entities.  The library is also updated to support the latest release of NX from Siemens PLM, NX 10. More info from http://www.cadcam-e.com/development-tools/cad-libraries.aspx Even More News Read the blog at WorldCAD Access as I write more about the CAD industry, and give tips on using hardware and software. You can also keep up with the blog through RSS feeds and email alerts. I'm also on Twitter at @upfrontezine throughout the day with late-breaking CAD news and wry commentary, such as.... upFront.eZine (@upFronteZine) Jan 26: David Land of Cambashi on CAD vendor M&A patterns ->  http://www.cambashi.com/mergers-acquisitions-engineering-software  Letters to the Editor I  have been following your blogs for a long time and really appreciate all the info you provide. Keep up all the hard work you are doing!      - Mike Buchli, USA Dear Grabowski san, I love to read your upFront.eZine at home.     - Kayoko, Japan Thanks for all the good reporting and other work you do. I'm really enjoying learning advanced CAD using BricsCAD, and designing my product ideas in parametric solid 3D.     - Nigel Protter, Canada Thank You, Readers! Thank you to readers who donate towards the operation of upFront.eZine. Jure Spiler of BASIC TAG Consulting Evolution Computing In return, you receive our 56-page whitepaper "MobileCAD is Reaching Maturity," free and unavailable from anywhere else. Should you wish to support upFront.eZine through PayPal, then the suggested amounts are like these: $25 for individuals > paypal.me/upfrontezine/25 $125 for small companies > paypal.me/upfrontezine/125 $500 for for large companies > paypal.me/upfrontezine/500 Or you can mail a cheque (US$ or CDN$ only, please) to upFront.eZine Publishing, Ltd., 34486 Donlyn Avenue, Abbotsford BC, V2S 4W7, Canada.   Spin Doctor of the Moment "With the challenges of our network transformation largely behind us, now is the right time to look at our organization to streamline so we can reinvest in growth," he said.     - David Bauer, spokeman, in "Maple Leaf Foods cutting more than 400 jobs" http://www.680news.com/2015/11/25/maple-leaf-foods-cutting-more-than-400-jobs-in-move-to-streamline/

*7351

 

Granta Does Materials

Issue #887

 

by Ralph Grabowski with Dan Williams "Ganta has everything to do with materials that are put into products, whether theoretical like new composites, or practical materials like steel," Dan Williams of Granta tells me. Ralph Grabowski: How did the company gets its start? Dan Williams: We started by teaching materials to engineers, based on the books written by co-founder Mike Ashby. Granta still has an educational branch. (Seehttp://www.grantadesign.com/education.) Then we are started to see a shift in the industry; we used to go to companies that didn't think they needed materials information management. But now they realize that they do need an approved source of information about materials and their properties to reduce the risk of choosing the wrong thing. We call it "materials intelligence." (See figure 1.)   Figure 1 Cost-weight trade-off in CES Selector to find optimal materials for water-resistant structural panels Grabowski: How much of a composite [a material made of more than one material] are you able to define? Can your software define new ones, or does it use existing ones? Williams: We have databases of existing materials, but for most customers the important thing is being able to enter their own data. Composites are a great example, because every composite is different. Our aerospace customers manage data from their composites R&D [research and development] and testing programs so that they have a traceable source of data for qualifying composites for use in their designs. Grabowski: Do you have databases on prices? Williams: We don't try to figure out exactly how much it costs, because there are too many variables. But we have an early design tool that determines theoretical pricing -- within about 10%. This lets designers trade off things, like performance, weight, and cost. Many of our customers put in their own costing data, perhaps by integrating with SAP, and pull out what they actually are paying for materials. The data guides the designers: "These are the preferred plastics we use, and the price we tend to pay." Grabowski: What is your involvement with 3D printing? Williams: So far, it tends to be bigger companies interested in the high-end additive metal manufacturing, such as laser sintering – rather than the polymer printers or consumer printers. It's an area that is hyped up, yet everyone is excited about the possibilities. If they can crack the problem of getting reliable, repeatable, high-volume production, then they can churn out parts no one ever thought of.  The result is that a huge amount of experimenting is going on to figure out the right build parameters to get the properties companies want. Our customers use our software for a template of what needs to be tracked and measured in doing 3D printing research. They may be a long way from production, but they are capturing data now so they are not left behind when the breakthrough occurs. Grabowski: Another definition of "materials" is the textures applied to 3D models before rendering. Do you do any of this? Williams: We are getting into rendering materials for industrial design, to ensure materials, colors, and surface treatments look consistent between design, prototyping, and manufacture. Grabowski: One of the arguments against widespread use of FEA [finite element analysis] is that regular CAD users are neither qualified to prep the model nor interpret the results. Is this a concern when using materials? What kind of info do you want to put in front of large numbers of people? Williams: Just a few people inside the organization are qualified to make the decision on which materials to use. The important thing is that if anyone does require materials data, they get it from a controlled source, like Granta. But many more people then need to understand the behavior of the materials that are chosen. We ensure they are using the correct information, When using CAD you are making design decisions, even if you are not choosing materials. Making a part smaller or larger in an assembly affects the mass balance and the amount of material required.    Article continues following this advertisement... Sponsor: Siemens PLM Software Try Solid Edge for Free Now you can try a fully loaded version of Solid Edge with no obligation. Discover how the Solid Edge 3D design system provides the speed and simplicity of direct modeling with the flexibility and control of parametric design -- all in one easy-to-use package. Download the 45-Day trial. Or call 800-807-2200 ...article now continues. In some cases, it might even expose the designer to a regulation in the EU. So our software provides assistance with legislation. One of our modules is MI:Restricted Substances; we track legislation to see if substances or processes or coatings are permitted. This lets designers assign specifications while ensuring compliance. The EU continually adds substances to their REACH [registration, evaluation, authorisation and restriction of chemicals] list, for example, and companies have a short window to find them, get the exemption, or use another material. Grabowski: Is your software integrated in CAD? Williams: We are in all the high-end CAD, such as NX, Catia, Pro/E and Creo, and Inventor via the GRANTA MI plugin, which accesses our materials database. (See figure 2.) We are also in CAE [computer-aided engineering] software like Abaqus/CAE, ANSYS, and HyperMesh.   Figure 2 GRANTA MI:Materials Gateway for CAD running inside NX showing materials specifications assigned to a model Then there are CAD companies that want to provide off-the-shelf materials capability to users. For example, we provided Eco Material Advisor to Inventor. It lets designers see how environmental properties (such as CO2 emissions) change with design changes; Autodesk includes it free. But the most common use by CAD is by companies trying to get a consistent view of materials in their organization. Grabowski: What about PLM? Williams: Integration with PLM becomes important so that queries can be made across all CAD models and associated data. We are in Teamcenter and Windchill. Grabowski: Who are your competitors? Williams: There are a few companies out there who provide parts of the story, such as property data or lab information management. But we are by far the biggest (150 employees) focused just on materials information management, and I don’t believe anyone else has the breadth of capability or experience that we do. Five years ago, it was people trying to do it themselves. The info tended to be in the heads of experts and spreadsheets. There are all kinds of sources of data, like Wikipedia telling you a density for steel. But that won't fly with regulatory bodies such as the FAA [US Federal Aviation Authority], because they want an audit trail on the source of any design data. Grabowski: You have standalone software, plug-ins, educational software, databases? Williams: All of those.  CES Selector is one software family, and it is available for any size of manufacturer or design firm.  GRANTA MI is our enterprise software that comes with many modules, like MI:Restricted Substances and MI:Composites.  MI can run on the cloud, but people generally don't want that, because they want their materials data secure and so run it locally. Grabowski: Do you do any stress analysis? Williams: Not in the sense of detailed finite element analysis. But our software determines tradeoffs, such as between being as light as possible and as cheap as possible. Answering questions like: which materials are good for making good radio antennae, for resisting earthquakes, for making flywheels that don't disintegrate. These tools are based on the Ashby Charts developed by our founder. Grabowski: Is it mostly MCAD you support, or do you have involvement in other areas, such as AEC? Williams: We are primarily in mechanical and industrial design. We have done a small amount in the architectural area, like choosing types of insulation to optimize U-values. There are materials challenges in many fields that we could be looking at in the coming years. https://www.grantadesign.com And One More Thing... Mike Buchli updates his book "The CAMWorks Handbook 2016" (US$140) with step-by-step instructions on creating toolpaths. 14 lessons describe best-in-class machining strategies on 2.5-axis, 3-axis, 4-axis and 5-axis milling.  More info at http://www.camworksguide.com/about.html, including a half-dozen tutorial videos. All editions of this book can be purchased in a variety of currencies throughhttp://www.lulu.com/shop/search.ep?type=&keyWords=camworks Even More News Read the blog at WorldCAD Access as I write more about the CAD industry, and give tips on using hardware and software. You can also keep up with the blog through RSS feeds and email alerts.  I'm also on Twitter at @upfrontezine  throughout the day with late-breaking CAD news and wry commentary, such as.... upFront.eZine (@upFronteZine) Jan 25: In paying $970 million (5x revenues) worth of stock for CD-adapco, Siemens gets STAR-CCM+ software, 900 employees, and 3,200 customers. Letters to the Editor Re: Inventor's Dilemma: Remarkable Life of Joseph Gerber Cadkey would never have become a product without the foresight of former Gerber employee. Steve Mastrangelo envisioned the first PC-based 3D CAD product, and saw it through to fruition in the 3D products company that had been founded by Pete Smith and Livingston Davies as Micro Control Systems. In fact, Gerber headquarters were right across the highway from MCS when Steve joined. Pete renamed the company as Cadkey once the product started to be recognized. It won PC Magazine's product of the year two years running. Cadkey's name, that Pete devised, was a variant of the term CAD-CAE.      - Jeff Hall, Cadkey employee #6   The editor replies: Thanks Jeff for the history; I never knew that! As I noted in my review, the book spends just a couple of paragraphs on CAD software, to my disappointment.  - - -   Your article on Joseph Gerber was fascinating and interesting. It made me feel like an alumnus of a school of thought that goes unnoticed most of the time, but it so important and tends to go unrecognized.  I think most of us engineering types take pride in making some kind of widget that does something and maybe in some small way is important to others. I never created anything as clever as Mr. Gerber, but I can appreciate the hard work and struggle that is encountered as one strives to invent that which never has existed before.  Joseph Gerber is an inspirational figure, not only by his work but it would seem by the circumstances he overcame to achieve them. I appreciate you taking the time to comment on this individual life and my only caveat is that you stopped the article short and have left me wanting to discover the rest of his story.          - John Walker, Grob Systems     Ohio   Re: Lenovo Brain Surgery I read about your problem with your Lenovo and OUCH for sure. I don’t often recommend computers on general principles or service contracts. However, I have been buying Dell computers and laptops lately for one reason: I buy their Pro Support, which gets me a direct number to techs that are right here in the US and they speak good English. I don’t know how it would be for Canada but maybe worth checking into?  For this computer I am replying on I purchased Pro Support for three years for about $169, which may seem high. But I ended up having the graphics card replaced, and then later the motherboard. They shipped the parts to a service company and their tech came to my house and installed them for me. All part of the Pro Support contract; no additional cost to me. For myself I now only purchase Dell computers and only if I can purchase Pro Support as part of the overall package. Service contracts are not considered a good deal, but Dell support has been great. Just having a really good smart tech to talk to when I really have a problem is worth the price alone for me! Replacing parts is just icing on the cake.      - Jack Foster, 3D Design Services     Alaska The editor replies: As you say, business PCs have their benefits of which everyday computer users are unaware. I got both my dad and my wife off-lease HP business computers, because they are better built than consumer models.   - - - Great read, the Gerber story was.      - Tom Fay, KETIV  Thank You, Readers! Thank you to readers who donate towards the operation of upFront.eZine. Vornel Walker In return, you receive our 56-page whitepaper "MobileCAD is Reaching Maturity," free and unavailable from anywhere else. Should you wish to support upFront.eZine through PayPal, then the suggested amounts are like these: $25 for individuals > paypal.me/upfrontezine/25 $125 for small companies > paypal.me/upfrontezine/125 $500 for for large companies > paypal.me/upfrontezine/500 Or you can mail a cheque (US$ or CDN$ only, please) to upFront.eZine Publishing, Ltd., 34486 Donlyn Avenue, Abbotsford BC, V2S 4W7, Canada.   Notable Quotable "It's rather as if a Soviet tractor factory requests applause for an internal reorganisation, when all the farmers want is tractors that don't break down."     - Andrew Orlowski, The Register    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/12/08/microsoft_lumia_950_review_lumia_950xl_review