During the Prague conference held by the Open Design Alliance, I met with several CAD vendors.
Nanosoft: nanoCAD 10 and 3DScan
Nanosoft began in Moscow a decade ago with this proposition: write an AutoCAD workalike to give away free, and then charge for vertical add-ons, of which they planned many. Today, the software has one million installations. You still can get nanoCAD free, but the free version is four releases old; most of the many add-ons are in Russian, with some in English.
In the intervening years, the programmers created remarkable functions in their AutoCAD workalike. The Table command, for instance, doesn't just calculate a few spreadsheet-like functions but is a full database and BOM system. When raster images are placed in drawings, you can snap to their elements and erase portions. nanoCAD displays point clouds and IFC models.
In Prague, NanoSoft director of research and development Kirill Melnikovshowed me the new nanoCAD Pro 10 release and 3DScan add-on. (See figure 1.) Release 10, which comes after 8.5, is named in honor of their 10th anniversary. It adopts the now-common customizable ribbon, but a single button switches between it and the more useful toolbar/menubar interface. The UI gets the on-screen viewpoint and visual style buttons we first saw in AutoCAD. Automatic-saves save just the changes, making saves much faster. And catch-up functions like standards checking, multi-line leaders, 3D polylines, layer transparency, and regions are added.
 Figure 1: nanoCAD Pro 10 showing its new UI and a point-cloud object
NanoCAD 3DScan handles 2.5 billion points, which they say is what you'd get from laser-scanning an area of 20-30km. It clips, dynamically sections, and offers semi-automatic classification, such as the ground. It traces geometric objects, such as pipes, profiles, and planes, and it performs collision detection. http://www.nanosoft.com
C3D Labs: C3D Toolkit
On day 2 of the Prague conference, C3D Labs held an independent seminar about its kernel toolkit. The C3D Toolkit consists of a geometric kernel, a parametric constraints module, visualization module, and a data exchange module. Each can be licensed individually or as a group.
The highlight was a presentation from NanoSoft (see figure 2), whose nanoCAD Pro software had been running 3D modeling using the Spatial ACIS kernel from Dassault Systemes. For release 10, the Russian-language version will add the C3D kernel, but it won't be dual-kernel software like IronCAD. Instead, you switch between the ACIS and C3D kernels in the Settings dialog box.
 Figure 2: NanoSoft director of R&D Kirill Melnikov presenting at the C3D Labs seminar
When NanoSoft considered a new kernel, it looked into the following issues:
- Interactions between nanoCAD and the new 3D kernel
- Reading and writing the different format of the C3D structure
- Handling associative links to b-reps
- Converting the 3D model and its links between ACIS and C3D
- Geometric changes to complex faces like fillets, chamfers, and lofts
- Differences in b-rep structures
On this last item, NanoSoft programmers found that ACIS and C3D define certain 3D models differently, and so these differences had to be taken into account. (See figure 3.)
 Figure 3: Differences in how two different kernels define a cylinder
NanoSoft initially found a significant cost to converting the data generated by the C3D kernel to the SAT data used by nanoCAD. But by working with C3D Labs, the delay was reduced to NanoSoft's satisfaction.
NanoSoft summarized the benefits it found in each of the kernels.
ACIS
- Advanced API with many complex-model construction methods
- Fast and simple implementation of user-defined attributes
- Simple rollbacks of changes
- Faster than C3D by 15-30%
C3D
- Quicker development
- All-in-one toolkit with 2D/3D solver, import/export, and so on
- Faster technical support with direct contact with developers
- Lower cost than ACIS
After C3D Toolkit is embedded into the Russian version of nanoCAD Pro, it will next year be rolled out to the English version of the CAD program. http://www.c3dlabs.com
Tailor Made Software: Custom Implementations
A third company I met with in Prague is one of the oldest in CAD that is still independent. Tailor Made Software doesn't make software that you buy. Instead, corporations approach them to solve complex problems, such as the bank with several hundred thousand employees that wanted to see all the rooms in which their employees work, or could be working.
"There is a lot of data, and so the problem is how to view it," company head Scott Taylor told me. "We are building a solution for that: extract information that a user requires, and then display it visually by whatever criteria, such as by color, location, and so on."
Taylor Made's solution is a tool that gets information from databases visually, which you then use in any way you want. AutoXChange is used by document management systems for viewing CAD files, and then outputs to SVG, PDF, and raster formats. (See figure 4.)
Figure 4: Output generated using AutoXChange and CadViewerJS
"We provide the front-end to these systems, such as for an international airport (uses DGN), a large US bank (uses DWG), and a large casino in Asia (also DWG). Some firms use PDF files as the drawing base, such as from scanned drawings, but it is harder to delineate rooms on PDFs," said Casper Harnung, vp of sales and implementation. The old system used by the airport took 10-15 minutes to return a result from the database; now it locates them nearly instantly, for example locating the owner of a keycard.
AutoXChange automatically detects links and sets them up, such as areas in rooms, xdata, and names of blocks. "We create a link from there to their database. Click on a room and you get information about it. It doesn’t in fact have to be a room; it could be any area of a drawing, but our software is mostly used for rooms. Same for blocks in drawings," Mr Harnung said.
The visual frontend is JavaScript viewer named CadViewerJS. It lets you use it like a CAD system to get information, clip views, and so on. The viewer is completely API-driven, so the UI is completely customizable by the customer.
CadViewerJS displays CAD drawings in SVG format. Mr Taylor told me that SVG [scaled vector graphics] has matured, is an open format, and works uniformly on all browsers, on all platforms. "We added stuff to SVG but that does not break it. It lets us retain a significant amount of CAD data, such as selecting by blocks or selecting by layers -- which normally is not in an SVG file. You can convert DWG to SVG to view drawings everywhere."
(It replaces their earlier Java-based DWF viewer. The problems with Java are that it needs installation on the desktop, does not run on iOS, and fewer people are using it. A reminder that JavaScript has nothing to do with Java; it was just a name fashion at the time.) http://tailormade.com
What Ralph Grabowski Thinks
These three firms represent the many small firms that are successful, even as they operate out of sight of the bulk of the CAD industry. That they found a niche and are exploiting it successfully is truly delightful for me to observe.
[Disclosure: I've produced tutorial videos for NanoSoft and C3D Labs.] |
|
ARES KUDO: MODERN DWG EDITING IN THE CLOUD ARES Kudo is the only online CAD solutionoffering a full set of 2D features to read, create, modify, andshare DWG and DXF drawings.Nothing to install. It runs in your Web browser and your files follow you on any device. ARES Kudo is integrated with cloud storage services like Google Drive, Dropbox, Box, OneDrive, OneDrive for Business -- and industry-specific solutions such as Onshape and Trimble Connect. Visit www.graebert.com/areskudo to learn moreand activate your own free trial at kudo.graebert.com
|
|
Open Design Alliance has begun developing a toolkit for IFC, the Industry Foundation Classes data model used by BIM software to exchange data. (IFC was developed by Autodesk for custom objects added to DWG Release 13.) buildingSMART has in charge of expanding the IFC specification. www.opendesign.com/
- - -
CAD Exchanger announced that CAD Exchanger Cloud is out of beta now. cloud.cadexchanger.com
- - -
After launching two new wide-format printers earlier this month, Epson has two more in their SureColor line:
- 24-inch SureColor T3470 $2295
- 36-inch SureColor T5470 $2995
These two are faster and cost more than the earlier ones; print from inserted USB drives. epson.com/surecolor-t-series-plotters
- - -
Canon Solutions offers PrinterLogic's serverless printing for universal printing without the need for print servers, through a centrally-managed. direct-IP printing platform on Linux, MacOS, and Windows. www.printerlogic.com/
- - -
Nearly all CAD software is available as 30-day demos and some for 60 days. Siemens PLM Software offers a 7-day demo of NX for Design. The catch is this one runs on the cloud, so no download or install, but also no chance to see how well it runs on your computer. www.plm.automation.siemens.com/global/en/products/nx-trial.html
In other Siemens PLM news, the company finally has an OEM Development Toolkit version of Solid Edge to develop custom solutions for customers. Details here: sie.ag/2MYJyMR
- - -
BetaCAE Systems releases v18.1.3 of its KOMVOS/ANSA/EPILYSIS/META suite:
- Updated translators for NX12, CATIA R28, Inventor 2019, Creo 5.0, Acis R27
- Supports v1.6 THOR-50 and v3.2.x H3-95 dummies
- 32-bit OSes discontinued
- Bug fixes
Details at beta-cae.com/news/20180924_announcement_suite_v18.1.3.htm
- - -
The OPPO Find X 6.4" smartphone (that's the one with the pop-up camera) will be the first with 10GB of operating RAM -- more than most laptops. I wonder how big a CAD drawing can be displayed by it. It'll have 256GB storage RAM - more than some laptops.
- - -
Natasha Lomas has an extensive essay on how Facebook is deliberately conflating security with privacy in order to keep siphoning data we want kept private, without the irritation of government oversight. techcrunch.com/2018/09/29/facebook-is-weaponizing-security-to-erode-privacy/
Why Google presents you with free news articles: By tracking which articles you click on, it gets a better idea of your interests, to be sold to advertisers. This gets around the wishes of those of us who tell Google to not personalize ads by tracking us through other means.
- - -
Here's the list of all the CAD Report articles I've written over the years for Design Engineering magazine: design-engineering.com/?s=grabowski
- - -
For late-breaking CAD news, follow upFront.eZine on Twitter at @upfrontezine. |
|
Thank you to readers who donate towards the operation of upFront.eZine:
- Direct Dimensions Inc: "Read your newsletter every single week. Thank you for keeping us informed."
- Tom Lazear of Archway Systems: "Your research and insights continue to amaze me. Keep on keepin' on."
Should you wish to support upFront.eZine through PayPal, then the suggested amounts are like these:
Should Paypal.me not operate in your country, then please use www.paypal.com and the account of grabowski@telus.net.
Or mail a cheque (US$ or CDN$ only, please) to upFront.eZine Publishing, Ltd., 34486 Donlyn Avenue, Abbotsford BC, V2S 4W7, Canada. |
|
"In terms of [social media's] impact on what we’re doing, or their impact on the writers’ room, I try to put a firewall up and just go, 'You know what, it ain’t a democracy; we’re not taking a vote on this'." - Ron D. Moore, writer, StarTrek series trekmovie.com/2018/08/10/stlv18-ron-d-moore-talks-star-trek-franchise-fatigue-writing-process-and-more/ |
|
|
|
Recent Comments