The Black Swan Story Behind BricsCAD - Part II

Issue #1,028  

 

As told by Ralph Grabowski [In part I last week, we learned about the first strand of history that involved Cyco Automation. Their breakthrough in directly reading DWG files lead to a series of black swan moments in the history of CAD.]   Second Strand: DWG Cyco had figured out how to read the DWG format to display and markup drawings without needing AutoCAD. This might not seem like a big deal today, but back then the only way we could access the geometry in AutoCAD drawings was by first translating them to DXF format, and then reading the files into another program. It worked, but not well.  The breakthrough by Cyco unleashed an entire sub-industry. I think there were something like a dozen other developers also wrote DWG viewers. By the early 1990s, some of them figured out how to write DWG files, as well. One of the many competitors to Cyco, Cimmetry Systems later was bought by Oracle, which still sells AutoVue to this day   One developer described to me what it took back then to reverse-engineer the DWG format. First, he saved an empty drawing. Then he drew a line, saved the DWG, and looked at what changed in the file. Next, he drew a circle, and on and on it went. Bentley Systems was the first to add direct DWG reading and writing to a CAD package, the Nexus add-on with AutoCAD Access to Microstation v5. I can modestly say that I helped them out a bit with that.  - - - Now let’s move ahead to Visio and its newly-acquired IntelliCAD program. Visio realized it needed a DWG read-write library for its Visio and IntelliCAD packages, and so it bought MarComp, one of the independent DWG developers. After IntelliCAD sales failed to impress, Visio spun off its MarComp code to another non-profit organization: it set up the Open DWG Alliance, which had the same structure as the ITC: members contributed their knowledge to improving the DWG read-write API, and license it for their software. The ODA was initially run by a man who also held a grudge against Autodesk. He spent most of the alliance’s initial funding on a single full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal, announcing itself and slamming Autodesk. We wondered if the ODA would go out of business after this, but it survived that initial event. A few years later, the alliance took over maintenance of Microstation’s DGN [design] format from Bentley Systems. It renamed itself the Open Design Alliance. It took a few years to get into sync, but now ODA members release their CAD software with updated DWG read and write a half-year after Autodesk does. The job today is easier as Autodesk apparently spends fewer development dollars on AutoCAD. The current president of the ODA is Neil Peterson, and he has a hard-core technical background. He is working at expanding the organization to be the maintainer of many CAD formats. They are currently in the midst of reverse-engineering the Revit file format and APIs. ODA has over one thousand member companies, of which Bricsys is a founding member. The second strand of history   This line of history doesn’t have a Black Swan event, but shows how a logical sequence of events progress to arrive at where we are today. We have  Cyco launching a revolution by directly reading DWG files Visio establishing the ODA Over 1,000 companies benefiting    Third Strand: Intergraph Now let’s go all the way back to 1960. Universities and corporations were exploring what was possible with a new technology called computers. In those days, you had one central computer, either a big mainframe or a smaller minicomputer, to which tens or hundreds of terminals were attached. Users entered their computing jobs through the terminals, most of which were text only. I did this in the early 1980s. Some terminals displayed vector graphics, and these were an offshoot of oscilloscopes, which displayed waveforms electronically. Someone saw the logical connection between vector math, vector displays, and vector geometry. The very first computer system that could draw was developed by Ivan Sutherland at MIT. Meanwhile, NASA had contracted IBM to do calculations for its rockets, because IBM had the mainframe computers. In 1969 some of the staff left IBM figuring they could make more money as consultants than as employees -- which is true.  They formed M&S Computing, short for Meadlock and Schansman, in Huntsville Alabama, which is where they were living because that’s where NASA was building its Atlas rockets. This is why to this day both Intergraph and Solid Edge are headquartered there. Meadlock was the ceo and had a background in electrical engineering. So their first CAD software did PCB [printed circuit board] design. As a pioneer in inter-active graphics, they later changed the name to Intergraph.  Their big breakthrough came in 1973 when they won a proposal to provide Nashville, Tennessee with mapping software plus the hardware on which to run it. Back then, it was normal for a CAD company to also provide the hardware with the software. This was called a “turnkey” system, because the vendor did everything, including turning the key to turn it on. It was not unusual for CAD systems in those days to cost between $100,000 and a quarter-million dollars each.  A typical Intergraph workstation with two monitors and giant digitizing table integrated into a motorized desk Here is what a typical Intergraph CAD station got you for your $100,000: Two high-resolution monitors - one usually used for an overview of the drawing, and the other for seeing detailed views or attribute data Keyboard with many, many function keys An entire table that could be raised and lowered to suit Enormous digitizing tablet that also acted as the desk A puck or stylus with the digitizer, which, unlike a mouse doing relative motion, does absolute locations  Stylus and 16-button puck used with digitizing tablets   A mini-computer ran the software. It was the size of a bar fridge. Between 10 and 20 stations could be attached to the mini-computer, the limit being the load on the CPU. BricsCAD still supports digitizing tablets through the Tablet command, and provides an overlay: At the top is space for adding customized commands The gray squares are commands; along the right edge are preset input areas such as for angles  The center area is for controlling the cursor, picking entities -- what the mouse does today The Tablet command or pressing F4 toggles between using the small square area for pointing and using the entire tablet. Tablet overlay from Bricsys   The consulting engineering firm I worked for in the early 1980s considered getting an Intergraph CAD system, but the high cost per station was off-putting. Here is a breakdown of the cost, keeping in mind inflation, and you can triple the numbers to determine the cost in today's dollars: Price list for an Intergraph CAD station As for the software, there was a break on the cost. The price was charged on a per-CPU basis, meaning ten or twenty stations could use one license simultaneously, effectively cutting the cost by 10x or 20x.   Bentley Systems Now let’s switch to how Bentley Systems got its start. Keith Bentley was working at DuPont, which had Intergraph’s turnkey system but it was so expensive that designers were limited to the amount of time they could spend at a terminal. So on his own time he wrote PseudoStation software that ran on a low-cost terminal and accessed Intergraph design files. He left DuPont with the rights to the software, and with his brothers ported it to the then-new IBM PC/AT, eventually renaming the software Microstation.  After some bumpy turns in the relationship, Intergraph eventually purchased 50% of Bentley Systems, and handled the software sales and marketing for more than a decade. I co-authored the Microstation for AutoCAD Users series of books, which Intergraph used in its marketing against Autodesk. Today, Siemens owns a portion of Bentley Systems, and there are persistent rumours that one day it will own all of it, once the brothers decide to retire.   The Jupiter Project In the early 1990s, Intergraph knew it needed to modernize its software, and get out from running its software on top of Microstation. Executives held secret meetings in the town of Jupiter Florida, where Matlock had retired to. The result was a collection of object-oriented programs, specifically SmartSketch for 2D drafting, Solid Edge for 3D mechanical design, SmartPlant for 3D plant design, and Imagineer Technical for sketching. Intergraph was never big on pushing MCAD, and so eventually it sold Solid Edge to Unigraphics a few months after Dassault Systemes purchased Solidworks. Unigraphics eventually became UGS, which then was purchased by Siemens to form Siemens PLM Solutions, since renamed Siemens PLM Software, and most recently Siemens Digital Industries Software. The back of the box of Imagineer Technical This whole time Intergraph was going like gangbusters on plant design and ship design. They still hold something like 60% of the market. In the end, they didn’t abandon Microstation, and then expanded support to other desktop CAD systems like AutoCAD and IntelliCAD. Intergraph held the prize for being the oldest CAD vendor still operating under its own name. But in 2006 it lost its independence when it was acquired by an equity group. In 2010, it was acquired by Hexagon of Sweden. In 2017, Intergraph Process Power & Marine division was renamed Hexagon PPM. Hexagon PPM didn't like the way Autodesk was forcing limited-term subscriptions on customers, and so spent a year working with Bricsys to port CADWorx to BricsCAD. And in 2018, Hexagon acquired Bricsys. The third strand of history This line of history has a logical sequence of events, one that we could not have guessed before hand would have occurred, but looking back on it, it now make perfect sense. We have  1.    NASA contracting firms, who became big industry players, like Intergraph 2.    Bentley Systems being the Internet to Intergraph 3.    Intergraph being subsumed by the tide of industry acquisitions   Undo - Redo This is a great story [about Bricsys]. The conference was in Brisbane, not Melbourne!     - Damian Harkin The TrueDwg campaign was actually called RealDwg.     - Name withheld by request Sponsor: Okino Graphics 5== Okino's PolyTrans|CAD Software for Professional 'Load & Go' 3D Conversions ==    For over three decades, mission-critical 3D conversion software from Okino of Toronto has been used effectively by tens of thousands of professionals. We develop, support, and convert between all major CAD, DCC, and VisSim formats. CTO Robert Lansdale and his team tailors each package to the specific conversion requirements or problems of each customer. Popular CAD data sources we support 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. 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 [email protected]  http://www.okino.com Letters to the Editor On a personal note - we are headed to Milan next month for an equipment show. Do you have a recommendations for sightseeing (we have never been there) or places to eat?     - K.K. The editor replies: To get into town from the airport, there is an express train that costs just 13 euros one way. The subway system is excellent, bi-lingual in English and Italian. Two euros a trip in the inner core.  Certainly visit the city center, where the Duomo cathedral is, as well as the various places around the cathedral, like the elegant covered mall. There is a fortress south of Duomo. Elsewhere, there is a building with Da Vinci's Last Supper, but it is so popular that you need to  book tickets online several days in advance. The Monumental Cemetery is very worthwhile to see. As for food, there are many places to eat, but I am super cheap, and so during my stay I bought food at a nearby grocery store. I  took a one-day bus trip to Switzerland, then the train from St Moritz thru the Alps -- fabulous! Forty-eight-hour guides like this one are helpful: lonelyplanet.com/articles/48-hours-in-milan - - - It just dawned on me: Are you saying that this guy had a perpetual license, but while he was online, Autodesk crept into his computer and shut off his perpetual license?     - Chris Cadman The editor replies: A few readers have told me that is what they think happened to them, but there is no proof that it occurred, or how. Over on Twitter, a representative from Autodesk said the company is working on a statement to address this issue. I look forward to reading it. - - - DWG-derived is where it’s at, now swallowing Revit! Looking forward to your coverage of Bricsys conference as I won’t be there this year. “Resourcefulness: a trait developed only when resources are on empty” ...and when requirements are complex and/or constraints are contradictory!     - Tom Foster     Tom Foster Architecture, England - - - I'm wondering if the use of SHX is still prevalent because of the problems with mapping SHX character locations to those found in Truetype fonts? Most TTF fonts use standard Unicode implementations, but AutoCAD still has several errors in their Unicode implementation.  Historically, there are many character locations used in SHX fonts which are not available in TTF fonts. Autodesk's mapping of SHX font to TTF fonts is fraught with errors and needs to implement character location mapping as well as simple font names.     - Dave Edwards     Dave Edwards Consulting The editor replies: This is the first time I have heard of these problems. I think SHX is still used because of inertia, but also because they are copyright-free and are included with every DWG program, making them standardized. Mr Edwards responds: That's a big reason we got out of the font business. Licensing the fonts so they could be transferred to receivers of DWG files became a real hassle. Autodesk would do well to again license (or create) TTFs which could be transferred legally. And contained all the special characters their applications require.   Thank You, Readers Thank you to readers who donate towards the operation of upFront.eZine: Archway Systems, USA Julian Miranda, Spain To support upFront.eZine through PayPal, then the suggested amounts are these: $25 for individuals > paypal.me/upfrontezine/25 $150 for small companies > paypal.me/upfrontezine/150 $750 for for large companies > paypal.me/upfrontezine/750 Should Paypal.me not operate in your country, then please use www.paypal.com and the account of [email protected]. Or mail a cheque (US$ or CDN$ only, please) to upFront.eZine Publishing, Ltd., 34486 Donlyn Avenue, Abbotsford BC, V2S 4W7, Canada. Notable Quotable "John Coltrane was a genius, but he’s also tagged with encouraging everyone who came in his wake to think a saxophone solo could last several weeks."     - Dylan Jones, GQ England       gq-magazine.co.uk/culture/article/best-jazz-albums

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Comments

[NTT DATA Romania]

Thanks for shedding some light on the topic. Things make a bit more sense now.

[Lance Maidlow]

A very interesting read. I remember packing up a young family and moving them from Toronto to Edmonton to have access to one of the first M&S systems. We had workstations in Edmonton and Regina connected by a dedicated 1200 baud line if you can imagine that.

Five years later we were one of the first AutoCAD resellers in Canada and one of the first 3rd party developers using DXF to communicate between the desktop software and AutoCAD. Those were the good old days when John Walker would turn around a development request (DXF) in a couple of days.

And now it is BricsCAD and Civil Site Design. Very nice to be working with developers who care again. It has been a long journey.