upFront.eZine News Archives

Modeling Scaffolding Systems with Avontus

Issue #1,017

 

by Ralph Grabowski, with Brian Webb

Where there is construction, there is scaffolding.   Figure 1: Scaffolding at a building site (All images sourced from Avontus) Scaffolding is one of the most complicated parts of construction. (See figure 1.) Take, for instance, an LNG [liquefied natural gas] plant. The LNG plant usually comes as individual units that are assembled on-site. For most trades, completing the work (piping and insulation) is not that complex, but scaffolding is needed almost everywhere to access difficult-to-reach areas. Scaffolding is not always recognized as a specific trade, and it is often the last thing a building owner thinks of. Worse, it is a very competitive industry, so some contractors go for the lowest price, and others for the fastest installation. Labor is typically 80-90% of the cost of putting up (and taking down) scaffolding. The design can be complex, because there are so many ways of putting scaffolding together. A tall building could have 10,000 pieces delivered by eight to ten trucks – scaffolding verticals, horizontals, varieties of clamps, and decks -- making the logistics and  coordinating the erection complex. Lifting the material gets harder the higher it goes. It usually is done manually as cranes are expensive and used only for the highest levels.  Different parts of the world tend to have similar systems. Regular scaffolding parts are made of steel, but bamboo is still used in the Far East. The plant grows very quickly and is a strong, stiff material. Aluminum tends to be used in Scandinavian countries, where expensive labor justifies the more expensive systems; being lighter than steel, they install faster. See avontus.com/blog/major-types-of-scaffolding-in-construction/ for all the types of scaffolding in use today. One of the most difficult scaffolding installations is inside of coal-fired power plant boilers: everything must go through the ash hopper, which has a sloped floor. Scaffolding parts are lifted in place by hand, using a tedious manual process of passing equipment up person to person. See scaffmag.com/2015/10/guest-post-scaffolding-in-power-plant-boilers/ for the details of this convoluted work.   Software for Scaffolding Design "Our challenge was to have a software architecture that could handle any system, says Brian Webb. He is the founder and CEO of Avontus. "Our target market is not AutoCAD. Designers who use software such as AutoCAD need to trim entities and specify welds. We don't do that. Our goal is to create an easy enough to use product that the 50 people a designer serves can draw scaffolding themselves." As a result, the company uses Visio diagramming software, along with custom-written code. (See figure 2.) The screen is split in half. On one half, users drag and click scaffolding SmartShapes into the 2D Visio page; the other half shows the 3D view rendered in real-time as the user draws the scaffolding. The core of Scaffold Designer is an object-oriented middle layer that understands scaffolding, knows the bill of materials, and generates the 3D model in many environments. Figure 2: Visio coexisting with custom-written 3D module in Scaffold designer Ralph Grabowski: I guess the problem is that scaffolding is like viewing a wirefame model: too much detail? Brian Webb: We overcame that by using a simplified model, because the details of the connectors are not important; it is the placement of the horizontal and verticals. The problem we are solving is easier; we are only drawing scaffolding. I think it’s the nirvana of the CAD industry to be able to open up any drawing in VR [virtual reality]. Grabowski: Is this why you got into VR? Webb: Our end-users need to show their customer or foreman what is intended to be built. This is hard to do with a 2D drawing of scaffolding, even when it’s complimented with 3D views on the page. So VR was the solution, and now we are generating the same models in AR [augmented reality]. (See figure 3.) Figure 3: Viewing scaffolding on an Android phone Grabowski: Tell me a little bit about how it works. Webb: We push the 3D model from the desktop to the cloud, and then to the VR app to navigate around the design. You can put your phone in a cheap Google Cardboard viewer or our Scaffold Viewer Lens to walk around the design. With AR, you place a target on the ground, as well as in the drawing (as a SmartShape). The phone knows where to display the design in the field. For more on VR and AR, see scaffmag.com/2019/05/the-evolution-of-scaffold-design/. Grabowski: What is the line of software that you offer customers? Webb: We have three: Scaffold Designer designs the scaffolding; it does not matter who the manufacturer of the scaffolding system is, as we support nearly all the systems scaffold types available worldwide.   Scaffold Viewer works on PCs and mobile phones and communicates with a cloud service so that designs can be shared. You can view the 3D designs on PCs using a gamer view (and W-A-S-D keys to navigate) or else with a headset. (See figure 4.) Figure 4: Scaffold Viewer on a PC   Quantify is for inventory (or asset) management and tracks the inventory on big job sites or all the way down to individual scaffolds at an industrial facility. (See figure 5.) This is very important, as scaffolding is commonly rented per piece per day. Some pieces rent for as little as 30 cents/day. It gets tricky as some pieces arrive on different days and don’t leave at the same time, so different deliveries to and returns from sites makes things very complicated. Quantify also has a .NET API [application programming interface]. Figure 5: Quantify showing the scaffolding bill of materials   One example of a unique feature in Quantify is that it allows rental firms to carry a negative balance, such as when deliveries to a site are done in the morning, before arrivals from the night before are processed. The big ERP software packages don't allow that, yet it’s very common in our industry. Our software also manages damaged and re-rented equipment (where one scaffolding rental service rents from a competitor to provide enough parts).  Grabowski: What would your customers build on the API? Webb: Just about anything. Our user interface layer is built upon the same API that our customers use, so it’s really an open platform. It’s common for our industry to write custom estimating programs, or to integrate our software with the big ERP systems. www.avontus.com

And In Other News

Here are some of the most recent posts made to the WorldCAD Access blog: Why Google Music is a disaster and how to hack around it Archive: Q&A from CIMdata's Webinar on PLM Status & Trends - - - Verdi Ogewell in Engineering.com reports that Ericsson has, after three years, halted its Dassault Systemes 3dExperience (V6) PLM installation designed for 25,000 users due to data corruption: "Not once has it been possible to migrate old data." Details at engineering.com/PLMERP/ArticleID/19119/Telecom-Giant-Ericsson-Halts-Its-PLM-Project-with-Dassaults-3DEXPERIENCE.  Jaguar Land Rover suffered the same problem, halting a Dassault PLM implementation after nearly ten years of effort. - - - Anthony Frausto at Archintosh is looking forward to learning more about ArchiCAD 23's new Rhino-Grasshopper technology that pushes algorithmic BIM design further. "But we are not sure there is 'RhinoInside', per se."   architosh.com/2019/05/graphisoft-announces-release-of-archicad-23   - - - Hewlett Packard Enterprise announced that it acquired supercomputing legend Cray for $1.3 billion. Randall Newton comments on it: consiliavektor.com/2019/05/17/hpe-prepares-for-exascale-by-acquiring-cray/ - - - Nvidia's Q1 revenue of $2.22 billion was down 31% from a year ago. The net income of $543M was down from $1.29 billion YoY [year over year]. - - - British chip maker ARM, whose CPU design powers all smartphones, announced that its latest Mali display GPU, the D77, is designed for VR [virtual reality] headsets, with 40% reduced system bandwidth and 12%power savings.

Letters to the Editor

Re: DEX Expo It is not often that I take exception to your articles, but your recent comment, "In Canada specifically, colleges are stuck in providing two- and four-year programs, teaching in a way that doesn't allow the graduate to begin working immediately," merits a strong reply. I have a very strong academic bent and may be a bit of a dinosaur when it comes to universities. A university's function is to provide fundamental tools for students to advance the fields of study; they are not there to provide a "pool" of employees for industry. Technical schools and trade schools are there for that purpose. A university should not be providing "trained monkeys" for industry. The scope of the work undertaken by graduates is so broad that it would not be possible to address all areas. It is best that the tools required to address this be developed. Industry has the financial obligation and burden to provide the training, not universities. Co-op type programs are great and it could be implemented as part of the curriculum. These positions should be paid position, and not intern-type of free employment.     - Dik Coates The editor replies: I quoted the panel members' view of colleges and universities, and I believe that they all were strongly oriented towards the trades.  - - -   Which of the four speakers at the DEX EXPO mentioned the "work ethic system." I have spent some time googling this morning and this system seems to be a new concept, even for the four people on that panel.     - Lee Teschler, executive editor     WTWH Media LLC The editor replies: I did not know any of them, and was tweeting the panel discussion live. From the exhibition Web site, I got the list of names. I believe it was the first two who spoke about the system: Marcus Ewert-Johns, president of the BC Alliance for Manufacturing Brian Haugen, director of education and engagement at the International Union of Operating Engineers  Rich Gibbs, president of Neutron Factory Works   Brian Holmes, vice president and gm of Columbia Plastics.    Re: TwinMotion Free from Unity [From the editor: I had downloaded the free TwinMotion software from Unity, to find that it did not work on my laptop. Unity tech support replied to me through Twitter Direct.] "I see that this pc have a graphic card that not meet the requirements to running twinmotion. Keep in mind that the software is based on the unreal engine and provide a real time environment. At a cost of a gaming card or high end professional card."     - Unity tech support   Re: Computers in Design When I was teaching mechanical engineering, I would tell my students that the Boeing 747 and the moon rocket were designed using paper and pencil. I don't think they believed me. I have heard it claimed that the the British Admiralty couldn't launch a battleship until the weight of paper equaled the weight of the ship. And a further comment on the note about the "spiral designs displayed by galaxies." Nova did an interesting episode that touched on this topic. It seems that the spiral arms of galaxies, the curve of a snail shell, and the pattern of sunflower seeds can all be seen to fit the same basic curve defined by the Fibonacci series.      - Bill Fane The editor replies: Gosh, mister Fane, did they even have paper back then? - - -   Useful and interesting updates; thanks. I still have my drafting tools, even use them occasionally, some from (my) age 13 efforts. Conceptually, we grizzled veterans can draw anything manually, need arising. Needed in 21st century? Notwithstanding digitized 3D modeling, there are still multiple forms that are fussy and time-consuming to crank out of applications... BTW: Blame technology? Cars drive drunks, spoons make one fat, keyboards derive illogical conclusions, produce illogical assertions.      - Michael David Rubin, architect The editor replies: I loved the intimacy of working with manual drafting tools on the vellum -- even the erase dust was real! Mr Rubin responds: Ha! Yes, eraser dust building up on our ears & noses by 11 pm; wife/girlfriend complaining about shaking it out of our clothes later? I always preferred a generous scattering on drawings, to take up worse crud; then, insisted on the print shop to "bring up the background," simply to darken the linework back up to clarity in the prints. Yes, enforced intimacy, of sorts, in hot weather (who had A/C?), when one removes shirt, places old towel on edge of drafting board to to intercept sweat from stomach onto vellum/mylar. Seriously, Ralph, I've always found that the best design professionals have at least basic manual skill. Something about the hand-eye-brain loop. Or, so it has seemed -- taking nothing away from the digital-only design generations. Maybe just an architect's view of the work. Although the design intelligence of mechanical/civil/structural guys I've known often enough has come out in their having hands-on skill w/ tools, repairs, maintenance, diagnostics of equipment & systems, etc. Keep up your fine & informative work.   Re: Scaffolding  Did you mention scaffolding in [last week's] newsletter? I have some customers that uses Pon Cad for  that.  See meccad.net/software-cad-3d-scaffolding     - Ragnar Thor Mikkelsen     www.designdata.no, Norway The editor replies: The newsletter had the incorrect header, unhappily; scaffolding is this week's topic.

Thank You, Readers

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Notable Quotable

"Entrepreneurship is devoted to creation of new goods and services. Creativity is always surprising. That is why it cannot be planned or demanded by governments or even by customers."       - 'Knowledge and Power' by George Gilder.   *5340

DEX Expo Abbotsford 2019

Issue #1,016

 

by Ralph Grabowski   At last week's DEX Expo Abbotsford 2019 exhibition, the keynote panel's topic was training. "Oh, no!" I thought. Boring! And I'm sitting right up front. It'll be hard to slip out of this one. The topic turned out to be fascinating, as the four panelists knew their subject and were unafraid to speak up. (Some panel discussions can be, shall we say, painful to hear.) They knew what the problems are, they have solutions, and they know the barriers to the solutions. One panelist was the head of a manufacturing industry group, another the head of a trade union, the other two from manufacturing companies. The #1 statistic we heard was that 80,000 jobs will need to be filled in manufacturing in three years in British Columbia (which is about 10% of Canada). What I did not expect to hear is about a radical new approach to employment, called the Work Ethic system. "A work ethic outperforms any resume," explained one panelist. "You get to keep the job if your team accepts you." The work ethic approach eliminates seniority, so when the economy slows, the best are retained. As the representative from the union explained, there is more to just mowing a lawn; to apply the work ethic to lawn mowing, you are responsible enough to also do the edging and sweeping.  But employees won't stay with a bad boss. The #1 reason employees want to stay with a firm is when they are working on something that makes a difference in the world, or gives them personal satisfaction at a job well-done. So bosses also have to take on the work-ethic attitude. The panel also said things along the lines of what I tell my kids and other young people: "Define your own job" and "don't just automatically go to college."   Where's the Bottleneck? The panel identified two barriers to meeting the 60,000-need: colleges and governments. Colleges are still working on a century-old model, which fails to give students the core knowledge needed for work. The #1 ability for new employees coming into manufacturing, the panel said, is to know project management: know how to work within a budget, keep to a time line, know math, run Excel.  In Canada specifically, colleges are stuck in providing two- and four-year programs, teaching in a way that doesn't allow the graduate to begin working immediately.. In the USA, some colleges have moved to a three-month program: study for three months, then go to work. As for government, well here in Canada the primary complaint from the panel was with regards to immigration. The Canadian government favors professional immigrants, but once they arrive, they are told they can no longer be a doctor or an engineer unless they go through the university system all over again. The adjacent province of Alberta has reversed that approach: if a non-Canadian has a job offer from a company in Alberta, then they are in. It doesn't matter if it is machine operator or forklift driver. (Related to this, one panelist bemoaned the use of the term "low- and medium-skilled jobs." There is no business, he said, if, after all the robots are finished their part of the work, there is no forklift driver to load the boxes on the delivery truck.)  There is a surprising amount of ignorance by city mayors and citizen representatives (legislators, in BC) about the amount of manufacturing in BC. "Not all manufacturing has moved to China." I think this is because most manufacturing is small and clean; no billowing smoke stacks or piles of coal out back. The DEX trade show had 125 booths, all of them local companies that manufactured things, or made things that manufacturers used to manufacture things. The industry needs to do a better job explaining what manufacturing is today. The movie industry was cited as being well-known in BC, and so was good at getting tax breaks.   Social Media in Manufacturing One panelist noted that there is a culture clash going on between generations. His generation grew up with the Cold War, when it was important to keep things secret. The new generation is open about everything on social media. The new openness also means breaking down the silos between trades, and telling kids they don't have to stay in a silo.  An attendee noted that social media is very important to young people, but that Instagram tends to be about fashion and cosmetics. Her company had tried to maintain a social media presence, without much success. "How do you make electrical switches and terminal blocks exciting on social media?" she asked. One panelist suggested she explain how their products do important things in security or to enable fun activities. In the case of the panelist, he showcased the company's line of water pumps on Instagram as crucial in the running of the local children's hospital.  The attendee also wondered about women in manufacturing. Even ten years ago, a panelist said, a women in plumbing was considered an oddity. But no longer. Women get into the trades when they see other women there, and so can relate to them.   Robots Replacing People The issue of robotics in manufacturing came up, and the panelists were upbeat about it. People are wary about working with robots, because they are new. But robots tend to take the 'crap' jobs, and the dangerous ones. Safety is paramount, because even one worker being injured affects a lot of other people. In some cases, robots create more jobs. One panelist related the anecdote that five people had to be hired to shepherd a new robot. Another panelist posed the rhetorical question, 'How is HR [human resources] going to work with such things, like robotics?" It is construction (not manufacturing) that is leaping forward to Industry 4.0, with companies like Caterpillar automating their machines. But then later in the exhibit hall, a representative for Bosch told me the company's CEO wants IoT [Internet of things] in all its products within five years; that's an Internet address attached to each and every item. In summary, the systems are the people, and growth comes from people working well in good systems. The weakness in any system is thinking some jobs are of low value, when they are all crucial to the business.   Sponsor: Okino Graphics 1== Converting 3D CAD & DCC to Virtual/ Augmented Reality ==   With the explosive growth of VR/AR, the ultra-massive 3D datasets produced by CAD and DCC programs need efficient conversion to the popular Unity and Unreal development platforms. Okino of Toronto is the long-time provider of the PolyTrans|CAD translator, which easily handles the interactive datasets required by VR and AR for Microsoft HoloLens, HTC VIVE, Oculus Rift, Meta, and other VR headsets.   PolyTrans provides you with Massive dataset handling Node compression Adaptive CAD tessellation Intelligent polygon reduction  Popular CAD data sources include SolidWorks, ProE/Creo, Inventor, AutoCAD, Revit, Navisworks, DGN, IGES, STEP, Parasolid, and JT. DCC data sources are Cinema-4D, 3ds Max, Maya, FBX/Collada, and many more. Perfected over three decades, we know 3D data translation intimately, providing you with highly personalized solutions, education, and communication. Contact CTO Robert Lansdale at lansd@okino.com  http://www.okino.com And In Other News Just weeks before its Key Customer Conference takes place, Graphisoft releases ArchiCAD 24 with... Faster software startup, file opening, multi-project environments, and view switching New commands for creating openings, columns, and beams, and new Grasshopper Deconstruct Component tool https://www.graphisoft.com/archicad/ - - - Kubotek3D updates its K-Display visualization and K-Compare file validation software to v1.2, adding updates to Catia and NX file formats.  K-Display adds IFC as a supported file format. kubotek3d.com/news/kubotek3d-announces-update-to-k-display-and-k-compare-products - - -   Canon USA announces the new Océ Colorado 1650 printer with FLXfinish LED curing for outputting matte or gloss on individual prints, stretchable inks for bendable media, two-sided printing up to 64" wide, and more types of porous media. It is due to ship this summer. csa.canon.com/online/portal/csa/csa/products/largeformat/ - - -   I did not know that HP was still in the 3D printing biz. But here they are with a new, high-end unit -- HP Jet Fusion 5200 Series -- that they say outputs 200 parts a week. www8.hp.com/us/en/printers/3d-printers/products/multi-jet-fusion-5200.html  - - -   Here is a site that lets you measure distances on Google Maps: Zoom into the area you want to measure. Click a starting point Click at the ending point Use the round grips to adjust the path of the route freemaptools.com/measure-distance.htm - - -   CIMdata will host a free Webinar on generative design June 13, saying "Topology optimization was developed in the 1980s but did not fully take root until the development of additive manufacturing." Register through register.gotowebinar.com/register/9115168391512578817 - - -   SCIA releases SCIA Engineer 19 structural analysis and design software with Automated design of reinforced concrete beams Camber in steel members New parametric design New OpenAPI scia.net/en/software/scia-engineer - - -   I got quoted! It's a discussion over whether AI for CAD user interfaces makes sense. advancedmanufacturing.org/artificial-intelligence-comes-to-cad/ - - -   New from CADline is ARCHLine.XP Live, its Archviz animation software for turning 3D designs into immersive models -- images, videos, and walkthroughs  simulating natural light, lamps, vegetation, and water. Learn more from archlinexp.com/archline-xp/live - - -   Epic Games acquires Twinmotion AEC rendering and animation software from Abvent. You can download Twinmotion free until November 2019, but the process is complex and takes a long time. (I know, I tried it.) unrealengine.com/en-US/twinmotion - - -   If you love manual drafting (like me), visit Museum of Obsolete Drafting Technology. Tom Hardy collects "gadgets and gizmos that simplify designs without calculations." https://www.moodt.org/exhibis    Letters to the Editor Here's another downside of software subscriptions: you may be forced to upgrade from the stable old version that suits your needs to a new, possibly unsuitable version. Adobe: "Customers using those versions have been notified that they are no longer licensed to use them." tech.slashdot.org/story/19/05/14/1353209/adobe-warns-creative-cloud-users-with-older-apps-of-legal-problems      - Don Beaton  The editor replies: I wonder if software firms are using security updates to force unwanted changes onto customers.       Re: "3D Thinking in Design and Architecture" Great timing on your article. I just returned from a trip touring Normandy and Brittany where I visited amazing medieval churches and cathedrals (some over 1,000 years old) where these remarkable 3D designs in architecture are on display.     - Bob Mayer, ceo     IMSI/Design The editor replies: What's interesting is not just the manual architecture abilities, but also the religious significance of the positioning, shape, and internal arrangement of these churches. - - - You wrote, "Nearly no handheld calculator handles matrices, because they take up too much room in the limited memory." There have been some advances. My TI Nspire CX CAS (about five years old) has 100MB of memory and 64MB of RAM. It's a programmable, graphing calculator. Programming allows very complex formulae, but is somewhat limited. For example, it's not able to call a function from a function (as often done by programmers) and programming using graphics is very limited. You cannot plot a line from P1(x, y, z) to P2(x, y, z).  Other than that, it's a great calculator. It does matrix arithmetic, etc. You wrote, "Those of us who practiced drafting became proficient in geometry without math." I can still construct a parabola using straight line segments; Arnold Crosier showed me the technique fifty years ago. This curve is common to many loading diagrams in engineering. You wrote, "...recorded 7% organic growth, excluding the exchange rate benefit." I've always been concerned about "adjusted" values obfuscating things. I'm not sure what the current 'volume' adjusted price per millilitre is for snake oil. It's like the weather being seasonally adjusted.     - Dik Coates The editor replies: After the TI-81, I got the HP 41CV and even the card reader ($1,000 or so), and wrote quite a few programs with it. As for financial results, corporations regularly use several ways to report results, emphasizing the one that produces the best number -- GAAP, non-GAAP, foreign exchange adjusted, year over year, quarter over quarter. And now there are new accounting methods to further muddy the results. - - - I especially enjoyed your discussion of geometry without math, and thought you might enjoy a poke through the [virtual] Museum of Obsolete Drafting Technology, where I've been collecting gadgets and gizmos that can help and simplify design without calculations. (Devices like the equal space-, and proportional dividers). See https://www.moodt.org/     - Thomas Rex Hardy The editor replies: I still have my dad's leather-bound compass sets and trinagles, on top of my own drafting tools from my pre-CAD engineering days. I'm glad I never had to use a compass with the ink adapter! Mr Hardy responds: You could make beautiful thick, sharp lines with a ruling pen. And you could also make an unholy smear!  I've spent many hours inking notes on mylar with a Leroy lettering set. That is one aspect of hand drafting that I do NOT miss! Nor do I miss the hours spent with an electric eraser scrubbing vellum sheets to "undo" hours of careful drawing when the client wants to change something. But I sure do wish I had a couple of these tools when I was drawing by hand. I'm especially fond of "section liners" which were used for perfect and consistent cross hatching. It's amazing what a 19th- and even an 18th-century architect could calculate with a sector! One thing that strikes me about these tools sets is that they are often pretty complete, and usually in excellent condition for their age and usage. The users respected and protected their tools. And no subscription fees! - - - Man oh man, what a challenge! First I had to have Google tell me all about what a "vector" is.     - Herbert Grabowski - - - As your figure shows, you need 3x3 transformation matrices to do 2D transformations. For 3D transformations you need 4x4 matrices.     - Dietmar Rudolph       Germany   Re: Notable Quotable Bruce Schneier wrote, “We aren't responsible for every single use, but we are responsible for the world we create with our technologies."    It’s not that Tim Berners-Lees should feel “responsible” for the profitable perversion that Google, Facebook etc have made of his idealistic Internet. It’s that we should all hold accountable the “wrong hands” who do “bad things” with our technologies; and honour the good hands who choose to do good things. Where we are all “responsible for the world we create” is by failing in clarity to defend the good uses and prevent the bad. Instead we blame “our technologies” themselves. Classic diversionary tactic -- why do we continually fall for it?      - Tom Foster        Tom Foster Architecture, England The editor replies: So true. It applies to books (enlightening and terrifying), television (documentaries and sitcoms), and even automobiles (ambulances and car bombs). Some have said that technology is morally neutral and it is only how we apply it in good and bad ways, but humans create technology, and so it cannot be neutral. The design of Facebook is not neutral. It doesn't help that there are groups of people who promote the bad as a good.    Re: MX Performance 2S is Logitech's expensive mouse mistake Buy a few more backups. The last time Logitech stopped making my favorite mouse I could only find used models for $400+. People knew the new model was awful and knew what they had. I also hate the MX 2S. Luckily I also wear the IT guy hat and have hoarded three spares since I go through them so fast. Lastly, that shiny metal band is actually some kind of plating on plastic. My "metal" is partially worn off showing some translucent white plastic.       - Eric Allen  (via WorldCAD Access)     Thank You, Readers Thank you to readers who donate towards the operation of upFront.eZine: Key Glass Anon: "Thank you for following and writing about our industry for so many years now." Should you wish to support upFront.eZine through PayPal, then the suggested amounts are like these: $25 for individuals > paypal.me/upfrontezine/25 $150 for small companies > paypal.me/upfrontezine/150 $750 for for large companies > paypal.me/upfrontezine/750 Should Paypal.me not operate in your country, then please use www.paypal.com and the account of grabowski@telus.net. Or mail a cheque (US$ or CDN$ only, please) to upFront.eZine Publishing, Ltd., 34486 Donlyn Avenue, Abbotsford BC, V2S 4W7, Canada.   Notable Quotable "The Jewish-style delicatessen I am well familiar with but I’d somehow never had a bagel before, a dense version of a baozi [Chinese steamed bun] that’s boiled, then baked. And that hole in the middle? Apparently, it’s supposed to be there."     - Lucas Kwan Peterson, food columnist, Los Angeles Times     https://www.latimes.com/food/la-fo-nyc-restaurant-scene-april-fools-2019-story.html

*5350

Book review: "3D Thinking in Design and Architecture"

Issue #1,015 

 

Book written by Roger Burrows; reviewed by Ralph Grabowski   We are saturated in CAD, and so the close link between geometry and design is obvious to us. You can't have one without the other. Computer-aided designing is based on vectors, and vector math is unabashedly geometric -- even when we do not see vectors at work.  Vectors are mathematical constructs that define the distance and direction at the same time. Think of an arrow: its length specifies a value like a distance (two feet long); its direction specifies the angle (15 degrees, say). In CAD, all lines are vectors that start at A and point to B. A and B are each 3D coordinates, and doing the appropriate math on the coordinates will generate the length and angle of the line -- information you typically see displayed by the CAD program's Properties palette. But math involving vectors is hard. It involves manipulating 3x3 or 4x4 or even larger matrices. (See figure 1.) While matrices are handy for dealing with 3D entities, they are something we humans struggle to calculate by hand, primarily because it is tedious -- I know: I just managed to pass vector math in first year of university. If you're wondering what it's like, think back to doing long division in elementary school.  Figure 1: A set of standard of 3x3 transformation matrices; 3D transformations need 4x4 matrices (image source alanzucconi.com) Nearly no handheld calculator handles matrices, because they take up too much room in the limited memory (although I did at one time own a TI-58 that boasted it).  Computers, on the other hand, excel at matrix manipulations, because they are perfect at any task that is repetitive. Furthermore, matrices provide a trivial solution in dealing with 3D environments, and even ones with more than three dimensions. When we rotate an entire 3D model or change the surface topology, an unimaginable number of matrix transformation calculations take place in the time of an eye-blink, as detailed by Nikolay Golovanov (see figure 2). Figure 2: Matrices used to define surfaces for a CAD geometric kernel (Nikolay Golovanov's Geometric Modeling contains everything you need to write your own geometric modeler: amazon.com/Geometric-Modeling-mathematics-Nikolay-Golovanov/dp/1497473195)   Starting Somewhere Before we arrived at the math of matrices, we needed to start somewhere else. The earliest geometric shapes involved no math, because math had not yet been discovered. Spiral shapes were carved into a rock in Ireland, perhaps in 3,200BC. In South Africa, intersecting lines that delineated diamond shapes are thought to have been carved in 70,000BC. We don't know why someone carved them, but anthropologists are always standing by with a "the lines marked the changing seasons, or were some form of commerce" explanation. I figure they are the result of a bored kid who in today's would have become an industrial designer.  Math did not automatically involve geometry. The cumbersome Roman number system of I, V, X, L, C, and M (but no 0) could barely do arithmetic, never mind trigonometry. Try, for example subtracting today's year from another year:   MMXIX - MCMLVI --------   LXIII The reason it's hard is because the Romans never figured out placeholders; their math is strung together like words. Placeholders are what indicate ones (at the right end), tens, hundreds, and so on in neat columns.   2019 - 1956 -------     63   Geometry without Math Those of us who practiced drafting -- before computers -- became proficient in geometry without math. We practiced what I imagine the Greeks did in ancient times, using compasses, T-squares, and triangles (see figure 3). Ships hulls and aircraft skins sculpted by hand on massive sheets of paper using ducks to hold lofting curves in place. Figure 3: Manual drafting techniques (image source 'Technical Drawing') It is remarkable what is possible to design without computations. Even critical structures like bolts holding together aircraft frames were designed without calculations: structural engineers looked up strength tables. Sure, someone had calculated (by hand) all those strength parameters, but once calculated they never needed to be calculated ever again. I still have my engineering texts for pavement design, hydraulics, and structural steel.  Figure 4: Strength tables (image source 'Limit State Design') And so we go back to ancient Celtic times when the bored teenage scratched spirals into a flat rock, or an architect from the middle ages who spent decades on making a neo-gothic church look just right -- all without computers   3D Thinking in Design and Architecture Roger Burrows records millennia of designs in his book from last year, 3D Thinking in Architecture: From Antiquity to the Future. This is not a book you sit down to read. It is a reference book, even one suitable for the coffee table. Figure 5: Spread from the book   His meticulous sketches (very impressive!) and photography records designs since 70,000BC, with a tip of the hat to the spiral designs displayed by galaxies. (See figure 5.) Although there is "3D" in the title, the subject does not come up until half way through, in Chapter 8, The Renaissance. Most of the book concerns itself with how patterns were developed -- by hand, without computers. And not just in Western lands, but also of the Inca, Arabs, and Egyptians. By the last chapter, "The Future of Geometry," we start to see ugly designs made possible by algorithms, as well as impossible ones.  I feel that the best use of this book is for inspiration.   3D Thinking in Architecture: From Antiquity to the Future by Roger Burrows $60 328 pages; hardcover Published by Thames & Hudson, 2018 ISBN-13 978-0500519547   And In Other News Techcrunch reported last week that Google all but gave up on VR [virtual reality]. Its new phones no longer support VR, and it hasn't updated its Daydream VR platform since 2017. techcrunch.com/2019/05/07/googles-big-vr-news-is-that-there-is-no-vr-news/ - - - Bricsys 24/7 Common Data Environment (CDE) and @BricsCAD BIM has been accepted for use by the Hong Kong Development Bureau. - - - Nemetschek Group's Solibri division launches a new product family -- Anywhere, Site, Office and Enterprise -- for viewing, checking, classification, quantity take off, procurement, project management. "A complete workflow solution to ensures that you build correctly first time, every time." - - - Learn about how to deploy the Open Design Alliance's BIMRv SDK, "Geometry in Elements." opendesign.com/blog/2019/may/bimrv-sdk-geometry-elements - - - Siemens Q2 revenues are up 2% to $23.4 billion YoY [year over year]. but their net profit was down 5%. Last year, Siemens spun off its medical technology business, Healthineers, and the next spin-off will be the Gas & Power division, representing 1/3 of its revenues. The company has 380,000 employees. - - - Hexagon is benefiting from exchange rates, as its net sales increased 10% to e916.5 (US$1 billion) in Q1 from  a year ago. (Without the exchange rate boost, sales would  have gone up 4%.)  The Hexagon PPM division, which includes Intergraph and Bricsys, recorded 7% organic growth, excluding the exchange rate benefit. ("Organic growth" means a revenue increase excluding acquisitions.) The Safety & Infrastructure division dragged down results, with sales falling 17%. investors.hexagon.com/en/financial-information/reports-and-presentations?page=/en/interim-report-q1-2019 - - - MachineWorks expands Polygonica's 3D polygon modeling with a new Anisotropic Offsetting function: offset solids in different directions. See how it works at youtube.com/watch?v=MQi7UJVl63A  - - - Fun fact: 1 in 5 orders received in 3D printing bureaus have to be canceled due to incorrect wall thickness. materialise.com/system/files/resources/10_Basic_3D_Model_Repair_Functions.pdf   Letters to the Editor Re: ITC vs Gstarsoft The ITC was awarded the money judgment it asked for by a United States Federal Court. The audit still needs to be conducted, so the legal dispute remains active.      - Shawn Lindsay      Harris Berne Christensen LLP   Re: Today we are talking about the same computer stuff as in 1985 Ah, yes, to receive my monthly copy of Computer Graphics World and flip to my favorite column, "Ask Mr. Protocol." I also remember moving offices back around Y2K and taking the pleasure of sifting through the decade-long accumulation of CAD related journals.  I especially liked the crystal ball prognostications...one in particular was the coming obsolescence of monitors on our computers. Instead, we were to have 3D holograms of our CAD models floating above our desktops, as if malleable by hand. That was to happen five years from the date of publication. Sadly, the article is now ten years old.  I'll not even share what I spent to piece together my first PC, let alone continuously update or replace it. This thought always amuses me: For years people would remark that they haven't used one for years, but to this day, the Floppy Disk icon is a universal "Save" symbol even now to a generation who has never even seen one. How does that work?  Thanks for the memories.      - Sam Hochberg (via WorldCAD Access) The editor replies:    Re: Readers Respond: Dassault vs Solidworks So, what are the odds that you will get invited back to Solidworks World next year?     - Bill Fane The editor replies: Solidworks hasn't invited me there since 2011. I wonder it was something that I said? - - -   There seems to be a lot of confusion about what Dassault Systèmes has planned for SOLIDWORKS. Let’s try and clear things up a little. 3DEXPERIENCE and the renaming of SOLIDWORKS World to 3DEXPERIENCE World has nothing to do with trying to replace SOLIDWORKS with CATIA or other 3DEPERIENCE products. Dassault Systems is looking for ways to offer SOLIDWORKS users additional tools and technology that compliment SOLIDWORKS, not replace it. The new 3DEXPERIENCE products are an attempt to bridge the gap between powerful Dassault Systèmes products like CATIA and SIMULIA, which run on the CGM kernel, and the more mainstream SOLIDWORKS products running on the Parasolid kernel. Dassault Systèmes is attempting to find a way to take these powerful 3DEXPERIENCE technologies and provide the same ease-of-use that SOLIDWORKS is well known for. This is perhaps best exemplified by the new SIMULIA Structural Simulation Engineer software. This cloud-based FEA software was created to extend the capabilities of SOLIDWORKS Simulation, not replace SOLIDWORKS Simulation.      -  Sam Scholes, senior account manager SOLIDWORKS solutions        GoEngineer  - - - If AutoCAD costs $2,500 (in Canada) per year to rent and money is worth 2.5%, then this represents a perpetuity value of $2500/0.025 = $100,000. Is the software really worth this? And, that's AutoCAD without training, too.     - Dik Coates The editor replies: It's a lot of money for not much in return each year from Autodesk. I am glad I do not depend on AutoCAD for my livelihood; if I did, I would be finding an alternative. - - - You wrote, "I also wonder about subscription churn, where gains from new subscribers are offset by losses from unsubscribers." Perhaps the more accurate question is how low must architect/developer/coder costs be so that subscription-churn concerns are minimal? In 1914, if you could fix a horseless carriage, you were a god! By 1948, you were a grease-monkey.      - Greg Hruby The editor replies: And now, back to god. My male neighbours watch in amazement as I do basic repairs on cars that I and my kids own; it ain't that hard! - - - Just noted that you've reached 1,000 ezine issues. Congratulations! I never missed your emails since 2016 when I initially subscribed. I consider your resource as one of the main sources of CAD related news. Thank you for your work and have a nice day!     - Ramil Gasanov, senior technical marketing engineer     cadexchanger.com, Russia - - - Just so you know, yours is probably the only newsletter I would ever pay for, even though half the time it just makes me angry the way the MCAD software companies treat the end users.  I used a couple of your books back in the old days to learn MicroStation and AutoCAD. This is way back in the old days, like the 80s. Keep that great information coming.     - Christopher R. Emerson, senior standards specialist     NiSource, USA   Thank You, Readers Thank you to readers who donate towards the operation of upFront.eZine: Uwe Redmer  Jon Peddie (small company donation) Should you wish to support upFront.eZine through PayPal, then the suggested amounts are like these: $25 for individuals > paypal.me/upfrontezine/25 $150 for small companies > paypal.me/upfrontezine/150 $750 for for large companies > paypal.me/upfrontezine/750 Should Paypal.me not operate in your country, then please use www.paypal.com and the account of grabowski@telus.net. Or mail a cheque (US$ or CDN$ only, please) to upFront.eZine Publishing, Ltd., 34486 Donlyn Avenue, Abbotsford BC, V2S 4W7, Canada.   Notable Quotable "Everything we do has a moral dimension, and we need to accept and engage with it. It's hard in security, because every tool we build has a dual use, and can do bad things in the wrong hands. We aren't responsible for every single use, but we are responsible for the world we create with our technologies."     - Bruce Schneier     theregister.co.uk/2019/03/07/policy_technology_schneier/

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Readers Respond: Dassault and Solidworks

Issue #1,014 

 

That article filled in some gaps for me regarding the awkward relationship between Dassault and Solidworks. My company got out of Solidworks 18 months ago when we had to replace Workgroup PDM and realized that the Solidworks brand was slowly distancing itself from the Solidworks/Parasolid core CAD product. Solidworks has the most fiercely loyal user-base of the CAD tools that I have been exposed to, despite tighter commercial policies and (arguable) product neglect over the last several years. But turning Solidworks World into an overt PLM/CGM [product lifecycle management] platform marketing event should get some attention. The irony of the whole situation is palpable. Regarding the move to cloud-based products: this is something Dassault and the others have to do for long-term economics. The same factors that are driving other business software to Web-based are just as true for CAD (agile software development, single-version maintenance, elimination of expensive VAR model, easier system integration, data management and sharing, computer processors topping out, nimbler customer support model, etc.). CAD is only lagging because of the unique technical hurdles. The dirty little secret in the industry is that 3D CAD is a commodity at this point and differentiating by features in 2019 is hard, if not impossible. The end game for the software companies is data management and system integration.  I think Dassault's big miscalculation was pursuing xDesign as a CGM-based product (and taking too long to release it). Had they just resolved themselves to develop with Parasolid (despite having to license from a competitor) and developed something similar to Onshape, they could have avoided the current, awkward situation.      - Doug Jones  The editor replies: Only the ceo of PTC admits to this, saying the only new customers are ones they steal from competitors. - - - Interesting the disconnect upper management has from what MCAD users want. I saw the alphabet soup of 3dExperience programs that you need to add to Solidworks for the full "storybook" experience and just busted out laughing.  You are so right about local CAD-to-cutting operations, and no cloud is ever in the picture. Furthermore, we don't need additional programs requiring gobs of money (and huge outlays in time to learn initially) and then more money each following year, as they use people as guinea pigs. Not needed nor wanted. I expect they hope to pull an "anagnost" on their loyal Solidworks users. As for me, since I am in-house, I let all program [maintenance] go last year. With a permanent license, I expect to work just fine for the next ten years or so. I never go online. I don't have to worry about the next Windows version and whether it is compatible. There are a bunch of us that used to buy maintenance each year, but with this cloud stuff, and the removal of features, and changing featuerse to add-ons, and the obvious direction of catering only to investors, and screw you, Mr. Customer -- it is not lost on us. I will say that out of all the mid-range MCAD programs that Solid Edge has been my program of choice ever since Solid Edge ST1; I just don't need the other stuff they are adding. It is obvious they are doing away with Insight [product data management software] and are trying to convince Solid Edge users how much they need the added complexity of NX PLM, or whatever they are calling it now. More $$$, and then you need consultants to help you get it going and to keep it going -- from the grumbles I hear. But in general, I have to say the Solid Edge program I bought initially still costs the same, with more worthwhile features -- although maintenance rose this year for the first time in ten years from $1,500 to $1,650 for the Classic version. At least Solid Edge has no plans to end perpetual or subs. You choose, and they sell a variety of levels so you can get in at a pretty reasonable price. Just like Autodesk screwed up and gave BricsCAD a chance that Autodesk will regret, I figure something will rise up for Solidworks users, too.     - Dave Ault - - -   That was an excellent piece of writing, in both content and presentation. You should get some kind of award (maybe invent your own award, like mainstream journalists do).     - Owen Wengerd (@owenwengerd via Twitter)   - - -   It looks like with Dassault Systems putting the brakes on Solidworks that BricsCAD has some work to do.     -Dik Coates     Canada - - - I am sure Dassault wants everybody to move from Solidworks to Catia -- oops, 3dExperience. What they don’t talk much about is cost. We got a quote for Catia 3dExperience with the Electrical Workbench: cost is $85,000. That is just for software, no training, etc.  Mind you, Catia is great software and there are some designs that cannot be done, except for Catia.  But $85k just for the software?       - Scott Shuppert     CAD/CAM Services, Inc. The editor replies: I had heard it was expensive, but that level of pricing goes back to the 1980s when Intergraph used to be $100,000 a seat. - - -   This ["Solidworks works well for the lone designer who spends his time completing relatively uncomplicated parts"] is an exact description of how things work in my world. Dassault is completely out of touch with that, and unable to reconcile the fact that they produce a mere tool for the engineer, not an "experience".  The reason that they have to charge so much for Solidworks is that it's the only good tool that they have to sell, but it has to bring in that $650,000,000 per year to spend on R&D [research and development] on non-Solidworks projects, which mostly exist to satisfy the top tier of executives' desire to be known as something other than the bosses of a company that makes a tool. As usual, a great analysis of the bizarre state of Solidworks.     - Jess Davies The editor replies: Dassault is the biggest CAD vendor by revenues, nearly double that of Autodesk. Mr Davies responds: They are successful, no doubt, but their successful product, Solidworks, doesn't seem to be the result of their current strategy. It's a testament to the quality of the product that its sales can support the level of non-related spending that they seem to be doing. Going to Solidworks was one of the best business decisions I've made. It's a vastly superior tool for design and documentation than what we used before (Microstation and AutoCAD). It's also very nearly identical right now to the version we started with over 10 years ago.   - - -   Listen: If I was at that conference, I would have stood up in the midst of the silence and BOOED. (I guess your article achieved the audience reaction.) Great reporting as usual!     - Cadman The editor replies: When you watch the videos of the keynotes, you see that the silence is as effective as any booing. Mr Cadman responds: There you have it: Polite booing vs. vulgar booing. LOL! - - -   Thanks for this issue of upFront, very interesting to read. The following part got me thinking: "With its CGM solid and surface modeler, Dassault has arguably the most powerful CAD code out there" Could you elaborate some more on why you consider CGM is the the most powerful modeler? Is there some objective way to compare the features and capabilities of CGM, Parasolid, ACIS, C3D, etc? Or is it more a ranking based on experience?     - Gustav Naslund      GN Tech, Sweden The editor replies: It was just a guess by me, given the tasks it has to perform in car and plane designs. As for objectively comparing the features and capabilities of CGM, Parasolid, ACIS, C3D, and the others, it pays to remember that there are two aspects to a modeler: (a) the functions it has built in, and (b) the functions a CAD vendor decides to implement, and how.  Another ranking could be by sales, by which Parasolid leads. - - -   Interesting reading, interesting writing.     - Herb Grabowski - - -   I thought your Dassault screed was killer -- make sure your doors are locked and guns loaded.     -  Jon Peddie [More responses from readers to last week's issue in the Letters to the Editor section, below.] And In Other News In June, I'll be reporting from Graphisoft's 8th Key Customer Conference, this year taking place in Las Vegas during the same week as the AIA Conference on Architecture 2019.  Also in June, I'll be at Hexagon's annual HxGN Live 2019 conference, also in Las Vegas, with an emphasis on the PPM division, which includes Intergraph and Bricsys. More info from hxgnlive.com/2019 - - - If you don't use a workstation (and even if you do), Dr. Jon Peddie is wondering what people really think about what makes up a "workstation." Take the five-minute survey, and then optionally get a copy of the results later on. surveymonkey.com/r/G2QW37HupFRONT - - - Nanosoft's DWG-based nanoCAD Mechanica software had been a 2D-only mechanism design program. Then for the new Mechanica 9.0 release, they added the C3D Modeler geometric kernel from C3D Labs to turn it into a 3D solid modeler; Nanosoft also added the C3D Converter for data exchange. nanocad.com/products/mechanica/ - - - Anthony Frausto-Robledo at Archintosh lands the first interview with the new head of Nemetschek Group, following its realignment into groups: architosh.com/2019/04/toward-a-billion-euro-company-patrik-heider-discusses-nemetscheks-new-formulation/   In related new, Nemetschek Group reports its strongest quarterly growth in several years: Q1 revenues were up 27.1% to EUR 129.9 million (about US$143 million). Letters to the Editor Re: pCloud Many thanks for the info on pCloud. I was happy to find that it has block-level sync, which is important for keeping within the 150GB limit on my internet plan.     - Dairobi Paul     CAD Networks, Australia The editor replies: pCoud seems to have seen all the good and bad points in Dropbox and Box.   Re: Revit Launch Can you locate the original texts of Revit's promotional/sales comments that appeared on its original website (pre-Autodesk takeover)? Their pointed comparisons of Revit with AutoCAD were witty and, at the time, compelling. In fact, their outright (jolly, not cruel) mockery of the sheer clunkiness of AutoCAD seemed to vindicate the frustrations of many of us, who have had to deal with Auto CAD's endless tips-&-tricks, workarounds, etc., to do the most straightforward architectural work. We assume that Autodesk suppressed the verbiage? As a non-mech. eng., your own comments on our industry are always interesting, amplifying an architect's awareness of design tools. Also, not that it matters: is the locus of the 2000 launch in Widener Library, a spruced-up Freshman Union, or other venue? Just curious.     - Michael Rubin, architect  The editor replies: I don't have any promotional material from the event, but here is part of my write-up from upFront.eZine #196:    Four o'clock and time for the Revit event at the Aurthur M Sackler lecture hall. There are 125 invited attendees, but very few media. From what I and others could see, there is no one from CADalyst, Cadence, or Penton Publishing.  Revit ceo Dale Lemont hosts the two-hour event, calling this "an important moment in the history of CAD." The parametric architectural software will be sold by monthly subscription. In stark contrast to SolidWorks, Revit will have no resellers -- everything by the Web. Nobody says it for sure, but I finally decide that Revit is short for "revise it." Dale refreshingly admits much is missing from Revit, and that the following functions will be added over the next 24 months: massing studies, stacking, canted walls, sloping structures, turn on more AccuRender functions, multi-user enhancements, estimation at all stages, product catalogs, schedules, architectural detailing, Web collaboration, ASP capabilities, landscape, HVAC, plumbing, and electrical. The product will be available in early May; delivery has slipped by two weeks. A new release is promised every 90 days in the first year -- "Tough on us book authors," I note wryly to the Revit employee sitting near me. The product launch is followed by dinner in the courtyard of the Fogg Art Museum, located across the street. The museum features a small but broad collection of art: religious, African, modern, and classical. My wife would have enjoyed viewing the paintings by van Gough, Monet, and Renoir.  Each of our name tags have a color. I find out that -- ironically enough -- green indicates you had ordered beef, while red indicates vegetarian; my color was yellow, for salmon. On one side of me sits a representative from Atlas Ventures, who asks me what I thought of Revit and the launch. How do you answer a man who has sunk millions of dollars into this? On the other side of me sits Brad Holtz (of CAD Rating Guide fame) and next to him, Geoffrey Langdon (of architectural CAD shootout fame). The thought underlying this whole event is "Solidworks or Numera?" Would Revit rocket into orbit, or burn out at the launch pad? We reminisce over CAD ventures that have burned through their money over the years. Brad declared himself the winner in remembering the worst CAD launch ever: TriumphCAD spent all its money on ads -- no product ever shipped.  We muse over Revit's business model. "How long does Revit have before investors would want their money back?" The problem with a monthly subscription model is that money trickles in more slowly. Take 60 Revit employees earning an average of US$100,000/yr each. Assume Revit nets $100/mo per subscription. That means they need 5,000 subscriptions just to break even. "The question is," summarizes Brad, "How long will it take to ramp up to 5,000 subscriptions?" As I write this, I also wonder about "subscription churn" where gains from new subscribers are offset by losses from unsubscribers.  Just as we complete our analysis, an earnest young Revit employee comes by our table to introduce himself. "I'm in charge of developing the business model in conjunction with Harvard Business School," he explains. The three of us roar with laughter: "Funny you should mention that..." We give him our analysis -- at no charge. Mr Rubin responds: Revit's business model asked for $200/mo [back then]. I negotiated them down to $100/mo. At the Autodesk takeover, I was allowed an annual renewal subscription that began at about $700, without the separate purchase price (or whatever it was called) of about $4.000. BTW: Revit is short for "revise Instantly" Clearly, Dassault and Autodesk market to the large corporations and design firms, caring little for independent professionals. Many of us are grateful that Autodesk at least marketed and continued to develop Revit Architecture, rather than burying the patent/copyright altogether, since it instantly made their flagship AutoCAD obsolete [for the architecture market]. And it is astonishing that they have also managed to persuade customers to keep paying for said AutoCAD. Baffling -- and successful -- business model?   Re: DraftSight No Longer free With Draftsight becoming 'unfree', how long before Autodesk sticks it to the low end users of Fusion 360? The worried brows at San Rafael might be licking their lips now.     - Brian McKenzie The editor replies: The only reason for a corporation to have something free is to gain more customers, to whom more can be sold. Or out of competition. So, yah. - - -   IIRC [if I recall correctly], the last time I re-registered Draftsight (the forgotten other leg of the stool from Dassault Systemes) it said that the free version of Draftsight would go away in a year.      - Scott Taylor The editor replies: I haven't had a need to touch DraftSight in a couple of years, so I would not have seen that. Thanks for the IIRC! Thank You, Readers Thank you to readers who donate towards the operation of upFront.eZine: Arnold van der Weide Michael D Rubin Should you wish to support upFront.eZine through PayPal, then the suggested amounts are like these: $25 for individuals > paypal.me/upfrontezine/25 $150 for small companies > paypal.me/upfrontezine/150 $750 for for large companies > paypal.me/upfrontezine/750 Should Paypal.me not operate in your country, then please use www.paypal.com and the account of grabowski@telus.net. Or mail a cheque (US$ or CDN$ only, please) to upFront.eZine Publishing, Ltd., 34486 Donlyn Avenue, Abbotsford BC, V2S 4W7, Canada.   Notable Quotable "Two 21st century employment categories, which are tantalizingly trendy, are 'aspiring rapper' and 'social media influencer'."     - David Burge (@iowahawkblog on Twitter)

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