Issue # 1080 | The Business of CAD | 25 January 2021
by Ralph Grabowski
IFC file opened in ARES Commander 2022 beta
For its new ARES Commander 2022 software, Graebert GmbH held/will hold two events: a 30-minute overview took place in early December, and then a detailed event will come in April.
In his keynote, founder Wilfried Graebert noted that his company has been around for 40 years, is not owned by investors, and that people can talk directly with him (as CEO) and Robert Graebert (as CTO). As he is an entrepreneur, he invests his company’s profits in R&D [research and development], and last year hired 30% more employees. “We create value for our customers, not for the stock exchange!” he exclaimed.
Graebert skipped a version number in ARES, calling the next release of its desktop CAD software “ARES Commander 2022.” Here’s what is new:
Better BIM
After establishing its independently-developed DWG editor (named “Commander”), Graebert next staked its future on mobile CAD software (called “Touch”), followed by its browser-based CAD system (named “Kudo”). Then last year, the company went on a new vector: functions that work adjacent to BIM [building information modeling] programs and the “oceans of information” that BIM generates.
Graebert sees that much BIM work is also done in DWG — 3D modeling in BIM, 2D drawings in DWG. Drawings are useful in organizing the complexity of BIM models, and for focusing on the details that are needed to carry out building projects — never mind the legal weight that signed drawings carry.
But, says marketing director Cedric Desbordes, the BIM-DWG workflow is broken. So the company’s mission is to make ARES Commander the best at creating DWG drawings from BIM projects, Graebert is targeting these areas:
Access all data (not just geometry) in Revit and IFC files, formats old and new
Generate plans, sections, elevations, and layouts quickly with high levels of detail
Automate tedious tasks by storing BIM data in DWG files
Minimize the effort needed to update drawings when BIM models are modified
The demo BIM file we saw was a 3D model created with Catia, Rhino, and Grasshopper, exported to a 41MB IFC file, and then read into ARES Commander. “Because,” said Robert Graebert, “this is what open BIM is about. Of course, we could have used a Revit file just as well.” The point is to significantly reduce the effort to make drawings, as customer SLIK Architecten of Switzerland put it.
Robert Graebert with BIM drawing in ARES Commander 2022 (all images source Graebert)
One automation task we saw tagged all doors in a floor plan. Using the link back to the original BIM file, annotations were updated automatically as the model changed. The IFC import speed is apparently 10x faster this year than last.
Improvements to ARES 2022
Here is a summary of some of the new functions due to be released with ARES 2022. For fuller details, consult the PDF at https://www.graebert.com/whatsnew.
Revision Control. The new version history panel in ARES Commander and Kudo uses compare to highlight differences between revisions of the same drawing and eventually revert them back. Version history requires the files to be in a cloud storage. There still is the Drawing Compare panel for comparing different drawings or local files.
Feature Parity. With 2022, everything on Windows will be also available on Mac (both Intel and ARM CPU with a single install) and Linux; Autodesk does not offer all three. This includes sheet sets, BIM functions, and PDF-DWG conversion, but not ones specific to Windows, such as OLE.
Changes in Collaboration
Commenting. The Comments palette previously required a cloud account; in 2020, it operates locally (offline). Voice notes added to drawings, like on a smartphone, are transcribed to text with AWS. The BCF [BIM collaboration format] format will be supported. https://technical.buildingsmart.org/standards/bcf.
WFH. ARES offers people working remotely drawing synchronization (instant sharing of changes to drawings), session handling (locking of files being edited), and collaboration. The three ensure that outdated files cannot be accessed.
Cloud Services. Graebert already supports more cloud services than any other CAD vendor, including WebDAV, which allows you to connect to any not supported directly. (I use WebDAV to connect to pCloud.) In December, Graebert added Hancom Space and support for Microsoft Sharepoint is being released this month, totaling 12 services.
Cloud services supported by ARES
The company announced their own ARES Kudo Drive (based on AWS S3) that will allow you to experiment with cloud access, even if you do not have an account with another one (Kudo subscription or trial account required).
For larger-scale Enterprise customers the company now allows also its browser-based CAD program Kudo to run on local servers (private cloud).
CTO Robert Graebert said that users of CAD programs like AutoCAD have to download DWG files for editing, and then upload them. “With ARES, each user can access and modify drawings in synch with [for example] Trimble Connect, while managing access to avoid conflicting updates.”
Trimble Connect in the ARES workflow
About APIs
All functions in ARES Commander are available to third-party developers, including the BIM ones. Robert Graebert hinted at expanded vertical functions in mechanical and electrical. To help customers move their applications from AutoCAD to ARES, the FxARX API allows them to port C++, LISP, and .Net code with no modification.
The APIs for mobile Touch and Web Kudo are being expanded. Two customers in Japan run Touch on four thousand iPads, each. PTC's Onshape continues using Kudo as built-in viewer and editor for DWG files stored on Onshape. "For instance," said Robert Graebert, "a company transitioning from Autodesk to Onshape could use Onshape for product design and ARES Commander as a replacement for AutoCAD."
Q&A
Q: You support Revit files directly. Will you be supporting other BIM systems directly, like Vectorworks and ArchiCAD?
A: IFC is a good intermediate format, although there is a difference in quality in what BIM systems output. We will look at other formats that make sense and are accessible.
Q: Is BIM drawing data saved in the DWG file, or does it stay in the IFC/Revit file?
A: When we import BIM files, all the information, properties, and geometry is copied to our DWG file. We don't need to maintain a connection with IFC or Revit files, as we have all the information. We maintain a link, so if you reload the model, then the data in the DWG is updated.
Q: In your new version history function, how many versions do you go back?
A: Versions are stored on the cloud, and so it depends on the cloud provider you are connected to. The common rule is 30 days or 100 versions in, say, Google Drive.
Q: Can you tell us more about the collaboration with CADian in Korea?
A: We started to work with them a year ago. They were selling a competitive product [based on IntelliCAD], but wanted capabilities in the direction of cloud and mobile.
Q: Are only subscriptions available from you?
A: Permanent licenses are available (both standalone and network) and you can keep using them without renewing the subscription, but you need a subscription to access some online services, like the Kudo Web-based DWG editor.
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Congrats on your 30th! Thanx again for another interesting read!
I just did some Rhino work last week and forgot how much fun surface modeling is! I did that surfacing so it can be converted to a parametric solids model. You can’t beat Rhino for the price. They even incorporated quad-meshing in R7, per my (and others’) suggestions. Can’t beat that, can ya?
It’s amazing how SLOW the industry has been to incorporate both types of modeling into their software (except the very high-end kinds like Catia). I’ll probably be a distant memory in the mind of mankind by the time these corporate ctypes get around to eeking out that kind of software.
- Chris Cadman
The editor replies: There could be issues in stepping on the toes of patents, or some difficulty in implementing new tech inside of old software.
Mr Cadman responds: But with all the tech these days, one would think someone could invent a new version of the same thing without breaching those boundaries.
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Keep up the great work Ralph! - Scott Shuppert Cad / Cam Services
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Firstly, congratulations on your 30th anniversary as a freelance technical writer.
I note your interview with Paul Cotton, and his suggestion that he’d wish someone would get a good BIM [building information modeling] alternative to Revit, as he detests it and Autodesk. It’s quite an odd statement in my eyes, given there are quite a few reasonable products on the market since Revit was purchased by Autodesk many years ago.
The bigger players, such as Graphisoft ArchiCAD, Vectorworks, and AllPlan, get a lot of air time indeed; however, smaller companies put up a reasonable challenge, these being ArchLine-XP, BricsCAD, and Edificius to name a few. There’s quite a comprehensive list of CAD products and video links on the novedge.com Web site to explore in that regard. Some free CAD BIM program are on this website: all3dp.com/1/best-3d-architecture-software.
Perhaps more air time and reviews by people such as you, Ralph, would assist people’s mindset better for these smaller companies for consideration? - Clayton Taylor Trotman Taylor Architectural Consultants, England
The editor replies: I have not heard of Edificius before, so thank you for the head's-up. I have given ArchiLine-XP some coverage and BricsCAD a lot in upFront.eZine and WorldCAD Access!
Mr Taylor responds: I think it’s fair to say my initial email was really from a micro business perspective, such as me, a self-employed architectural consultant residing in the UK. My main bread and butter work revolves around the domestic market, from everyday home extensions/alteration works to new-build one-off design dwellings. I don’t need to do much collaboration with other professionals as far as a CAD-BIM based product is understood, but I do get involved with structural engineers and land surveyors for my projects.
That said, for many years I’ve been quite satisfied with a good quick-to-use 2D CAD product (DataCAD) with SketchUp Pro working alongside. Although DataCAD has a 3D side to it, SketchUp Pro is quicker to use and quite addictive. The recent changes at SketchUp HQ [Trimble] has meant my perpetual classic license will cease soon and be subscription-only.
As I’m not too keen on this direction, I decided to review the market and purchased ArchLine-XP Pro with a view to replace DataCAD and SketchUp Pro. The transition will take time, but I think it will be worth it in the end, as ArchLine-XP Pro is quite a deep product with many 3D/2D tools. The light version is also very comprehensive and very competitively priced for architectural users.
I’d like to also have a basic 3D CAD program similar to SketchUp, as I think it’s good to have something simple-to-use as well. I recently downloaded BricsCAD Shape, as it seemed to me quite feature-rich with more parametric architectural tools than SketchUp Pro, and being free, it’s worth exploring to see how it works in comparison.
I would pay for BricsCAD Shape if it had a good drawing sheet presentation module, such as in SketchUp Pro Layout. This, I feel, is the missing piece of the jigsaw, so to speak. The little research I did on BricsCAD Shape was a surprise, in that the uptake by architectural users was quite low. I’m not too sure why, but if one can’t present one’s work or extract 2D plans from a 3D model to drawing sheets, I guess many may not even take it for a test drive.
I was seriously considering Edificius many years ago, as it is very similar in use to ArchLine-XP and perhaps more advanced, but unfortunately their pricing module changed to subscription-only, which doesn’t sit well with me.
The lower end of the market is very interesting, as well, if BIM CAD isn’t required. After all, a good parametric 3D CAD program where you can extract 2D plans from your model is equally important. I note some below with Youtube links for your interest.
The editor replies: Bricsys intends that free Shape feed its models into its paid line of BricsCAD software, which are available with pay-once, permanent license fees.
Notable Quotable
"Software you don’t own in your infrastructure is a risk." - Amazon vp for global infrastructure leadership Peter DeSantis
Thank You, Readers
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Issue #1078 | The Business of CAD | 18 January 2021
by Ralph Grabowski
Even as interest in virtual reality continues to not enthuse consumers, companies invested in the technology continue to release updates. I get the feeling that sales are just high enough for some firms, like Facebook and Sony, to continue updating their devices. There is, as well, a desire to perhaps keep a toe in the water, should VR ever catch on in a big way.
To simulate reality inside a virtual reality headset, the headset has to mimic what our brain expects from our senses. Here is some of what vision entails:
stereo vision for depth perception
high resolution images for clarity
wide field of view (FOV) of 124 degrees
foveated field of view of 10 to 60 degrees
accurate color (with age most eyes have poor color accuracy)
stereo sound to assist in identifying and locating items
packaged in a product as unobtrusive as contact lenses
Most VR headsets have two fields of view: a smaller UHR [ultra high resolution] area that mimics the areas on which eyes concentrate our vision. This is called the foveate area. Then surrounding it is a a second, larger area displayed at lower resolution that's equivalent to our peripheral vision. (For a really useful tutorial on acronyms and terms used in virtual reality optics, see smartglasseshub.com/vr-headset-display-comparison/.)
VR3 and XR3 Specs
In November, Varjo called up the tech media to introduce its third generation headsets with higher specs and lower prices. The new VR3 and XR3 have "twice the performance for half the price" is how they put it. (There was no XR2.)
The VR headset is for seeing virtual reality scenes, such as of 3D CAD models, while the XR3 is for augmented reality: it overlays 3D models on top of a real-time image of the real world displayed inside the head set through a set of cameras mounted at the front of the goggles. See figure below.
XR3 with AR cameras and sensors at left, VR3 at right (all images source Varjo)
(The industry has, in recent times, replaced the acronym "AR" [augmented reality] with "XR," short for "mixed reality.")
At launch two years ago, Varjo used the marketing slogan of "human-eye resolution" to introduce the superiority of its goggles, and showed comparison shots of its better resolution against that of a popular brand of VR goggle. Its new models offer 2.3x higher foveate resolution, making the old slogan problematic.
Let us press on. The foveate resolution in the old VR1 and VR2 models was 1612x992 pixels covering an area of 26x16 degrees. For the new third generation headsets, Varjo increased the foveate resolution to 1920 pixels square over 27 degrees. See the figure below.
A 155-degree field of view with 27-degree foveate region
Outside the foveate area, the resolution is 2880 pixels wide, with a field of view of 115 degrees, double from the 1440 pixels and 87 degrees in the original model. For natural eyesight, the field of view is 124 degrees horizontally; our eyes’ resolution is difficult to measure as it does not work with pixels.
VR manufactures speak of “Pixels per degree” [PPD], instead of resolution, as we tend to do. PPD = horizontal pixel count / horizontal field of view angle. In the case of the new VR-3 model, PPD ranges from the highest of 35+ at the lens' center to a lower 30 at the edges. See figure below.
A camera inside the headset tracks your eye movement 200 times a second to keep the foveate area centered on your gaze. The headsets also support Steam Index tracking as it is a standard in the industry.
The big change to the XR3 headset is LIDAR distance measuring, a first for the industry, says Varja. See figure below. LIDAR lasers have been popularized by self-driving cars, measuring the distance, which is recorded as a colorized array of dots in 3D space. LIDAR is used in the XR3 headset to determine occlusion -- in which real-world objects in the foreground partially (or fully) cover up VR objects -- up to 5m (16 ft) away.
View of LIDAR distance measurements in XR3
The Varjo Business Plan
Varjo wants to "democratize this technology so that immersive computing can be used by design firms." One part of the tactic is to have the highest-quality imaging; the other is to bring the price down from iMac levels to PC levels. The VR-1 began life at an even $6,000 plus $1,000/yr mandatory subscription; the first XR-1 was $10,000. Here is this year's price list, which use the same numbers in US$ and Euros:
VR-3 = 3,195 plus the 795 subscription
XR-3 = 5,495 plus mandatory 1,495/yr subscription
I don't know where the first models were manufactured, but the third-gen ones are made in China. Here are other tactics Varjo applied to make products more acceptable over competitors:
Single-dot eye tracking calibration: look at a dot, calibration is complete. For more accurate calibration, look at five dots.
Naturalness come not just from res and field of view, but also range of colors, so now 99% of sRGB. "We are the only ones doing this." Headsets like Valve Index are useless for designing and flight simulator training.
Headsets have a three-point fit and are 40% lighter than the heavier XR1, as users wear them for hours at a time. See figure below.
Headset with harness
The new design allows users to wear any kind of headphone.
When coronavirus arrived, the headsets were redesigned with new materials so that they can be cleaned with alcohol wipes and UV [ultraviolet] light.
These are, however, not stand-alone units. The back of the headset plugs into a cable that plugs into a computer. The computers recommended by Varjo run i7 or i9 CPUs, 32-64GB RAM, and a nVidia RTX graphics boards (2080Ti and up). I priced the cheapest computer recommended by Varjo at $2,700.
The computer needs to run Varjo Base (free), software that controls and communicates with the headset, and SteamVR (free) for tracking, along with at least two Steam tracking base stations ($185 each) in the room. The start-up bill seems to be around $7000 for VR3 and $10,000 for XR3. See https://varjo.com/use-center/getting-started/system-requirements/ for details.
Varjo now has regional dealers in several countries, whose job is to collect for you all the needed gear. For instance, some workstation components recommended by Varjo are no longer available from Lenovo, and so substitutions are made by someone who knows which substitutions are acceptable.
Who Uses Varjo
The Varjo Web site suggests their headsets are suitable for training, simulation, design, research, and medicine. But where are they really used?
The folks at Varjo got an early break while working with Autodesk. The CAD vendor recommended that Varjo work with automotive designers, as they are the most demanding ones on the planet, typically using Catia for designing cars, Teamcenter for collaborating on the designs, and V-Red software for viewing them.
Designers at Kia and Volvo use the headsets to collaborate on the design of the car, down to the stitching on leather seats, with accurate colors. Volvo does more virtual designing today by driving on virtual roads with a digital interior. Kia has a design office in Frankfurt, and an in-person design review took four days, traveling back and forth from the head office in Korea; now the design review takes a half-day.
The largest installation at a customer is "hundreds of units."
What Ralph Grabowski Thinks
Virtual reality has been technically feasible for 25 years, yet in the consumer space suffers the same fate as 3D TV and Linux. During the heyday of 3D TV hype, I predicted it would not catch on due to the lack of a compelling reason to wear those special glasses: 3D doesn’t tell a better story than 2D; regular eyeglasses are a personal expression, which the 3D ones do not respect; and mandatory glasses isolate people socially from one another. Headsets put VR in a worse dilemma, as the bulky goggles isolate viewers even more.
There is no mass market for virtual/mixed reality. Google, for instance, last month killed off Poly, its online 3D modeler for VR worlds. Its VR/AR API no longer works in Android 11. As Techcrunch put it, "Google is almost running out of AR/VR projects to kill off."
That leaves the commercial world that Varjo inhabits. The company reveals it has had hundreds of customer companies (not just headsets sold) — this in a world where the global workforce is around three billion. But if you are going to get VR goggles, get ones with high-resolution, and that's what Varjo offers.
Despite hurrahs from techno-optimists, it must be realized that VR and XR are useful primarily in specialized situations, kind of like torque wrenches in automotive repair. Useful in their place, but not at all used all the time.
Remograph releases Remo 3D v2.10 for Windows and Linux controls model scene graphs so that you can modify degree-of-freedom nodes, level-of-detail nodes, switch nodes, and so on. See figure below. This release adds more keyboard shortcuts, better macros, and relative xref paths. Try out the demo version from remograph.com/download.php
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Siemens updates Parasolid to v33, emphasizing enhancements to convergent modeling, its term for mixed modeling, where we can work on facets (meshes) and solids (b-reps) at the same time. This is the current holy grail for kernels. Version 33 adds intersections, fillets, and chamfers, and improves on direct editing, rendering, and repairing mixed models. blogs.sw.siemens.com/plm-components/parasolid-v33-0-release-highlights/
Siemens terms the kernel "open," as it is available for licensing to competitors. So I asked them about the term, as competitors cannot access the synchronous technology part of Parasolid. I was told that ST was built on top of Parasolid and so is not part of it.
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Here are some of the posts that appeared recently on my WorldCAD Access blog:
Just adding to your Generic CADD6.2.2 stuff. I originally bought [Generic CADD-based] LogiCADD 5 with a Logitech mouse. Registered it, upgraded to Generic 5, Generic 6, Generic 6.22, AutoCAD LT.
Never really learned AutoCAD. Too much to remember and not as easy as Generic. Took a class in AutoCAD. Still not interested.
It is now Aug. 2020, I am retired, and in my own little machine shop in my garage, I still use Generic CADD. I don't bother printing, just use a Dell C600 Laptop and keep it beside the lathe/mill. Always looking for drivers so I can use on PCIe video cards, but no luck so far. At my age, my short term memory is not too good, so Generic Till I Die.
- James (via WorldCAD Access)
Re: Programming Dynamic Blocks
I just read that you have a book on dynamic blocks for AutoCAD. I have done a lot of them and it is pretty cool what you can do with them. I am now 78 and AutoCAD is like a hobby? (Sigh) Can I buy the book in paper or PDF format? I do not want a Kindle e-reader at all. Thank you very much.
- Jack Foster
The editor replies: You are in luck. I only sell PDF versions of my ebooks! Here is the link for making the purchase (scroll down halfway through the Web page): worldcadaccess.com/ebooksonline/2015/07/tdb.html
I find it fascinating that you create dynamic blocks as a hobby. It would be a great way to keep the brain working.
Mr Foster responds: I have a friend of sorts who is an architect and he places panels on the sides of building with lots of screw holes and sizes. I started to work part-time for him a few years ago and when I saw he was simply drawing rectangles and adding them up I was blown away. I proceeded to tell him about using blocks etc.
Now he has blocks with the holes in them that he can move as required. He can change the length and height of the panels, and with some of them the holes autocenter. When ready to detail each block, he changes the visibility state to show dimensions and he is done.
I also wrote some programs that get the length and height of the panels and then places the values on a layer that is the combined values. From there another program walks through the layer table and changes the layers to P-01; P-02 etc. which is better than manually doing so.
[Some time later...]
Mr Foster continues: I have looked at your book on dynamic blocks and there is a ton of information in there. The one I need to go back and look at is the one that combines X & Y. In the past I have had zero luck making that work like I think it should.
Regardless of that I have an AutoLISP programming problem in getting data out of a dynamic block. On page 56 you show the “distance” for a linear parameter that shows in the Properties palette. I need to be able to get that value and assign it to a variable in AutoLISP. Do you have a book that would show me how to do something like this?
I have written hundreds of programs and I am still terrible. If not, thank you just the same and do not waste your time replying. I appreciate all of the help you have given over the years. One of these days I am actually going to retire and stop the fun aggravation.
Mr Foster responds: thanks a whole bunch for taking the time to search for me. I looked at that program last night and it works for attributes but not for parameters. I am still digging and I have found a vla-getdynamicblockproperties function that I am going to search for and investigate. When I searched for that, I found several places online that I had previously visited with no luck.
I really do need to retire but my only hobby is AutoCAD, so I am kind of out of luck there.
Thanks again for trying and your weekly newsletter which I really do read every week. I have passed it on to several people suggesting they sign-up and make the small donation as it is worth it, especially if you are actively employed and making money.
Notable Quotable
“I'm pretty good at that. At least my Linked-in bio says that.”
- Byron (@KeyOrgSys on Twitter)
Thank You, Readers
Thank you to readers who donate towards the operation of upFront.eZine. To support upFront.eZine through PayPal.me, then I suggest the following amounts:
This week marks the 30th anniversary of me leaving my post as senior editor at CADalyst magazine (the very first publication for CAD users) to strike out in 1991 on my own as a freelance technical writer.
It seems to have worked out. Thank you to all who over the years supported and encouraged me!
…were they asking him to sacrifice his culture, his unique Canadian identity, for mere financial rewards in the glittering towers of a foreign publishing company? …’I could live with that,’ thought Ralph! (cartoon credit: Dennis Pritchard)
We start of the new year with two CAD guys talking about which kinds of 3D design software lets us get 2D plans from 3D models. Paul Cotton is a software engineer from England who sometimes wishes he were a CAD draughtsman: “I like computational geometry and secretly wish all CAD was still done through coding.”
Ralph Grabowski is a ex-civil engineer from Canada who sometimes wishes he still were a manual drafter: “But I like writing better.”
Does nanoCAD wrap much of the C3D toolkit? I come from a Rhino background and I wanted to use it to replace AutoCAD completely, because my workflow starts in 3D with Rhino anyway. However, I don't think Rhino has a very good underlying 3D engine, because I want to take cross-sections of the 3D geometry to produce 2D elevations and cross-sections accurate enough for engineers to fabricate the metal substructure required for forms.
I researched further, found the C3D toolkit, and thought it would easily be powerful enough to import the geometry from Rhino so that I then could set to work on a detailed model. Of course it's very low level, but I'm a software engineer so I'm used to C++, but even so, that's not gonna be a quick job.
Anyway, up pops nanoCAD! I saw video where the Russian head developer said they swapped out the kernel for C3D and so everything looks very exciting indeed! Please enlighten me further.
Ralph Grabowski: The issue at play is that there are two types of 3D modeling, surface and solid.
Rhino is a surface modeler, making it suitable for fast, conceptual modeling in 3D. With it, you concentrate on how things look. So, it cannot do sections, because there is no "inside" to surface models.
(Within surface modeling, there are two approaches: the older one based on polyfaces, and a newer one based on meshes.)
nanoCAD is a solid modeler, which is why it can cut sections, handle constraints, determine physical properties, generate 2D drawings from 3D models, and so on. With solids, you concentrate on how things work, how they will be built, and so on.
(Within solid modeling, there also are two approaches: older history-based modeling, and a newer direct modeling.)
Typically, architects do their conceptual design in Rhino, then move the model to a solid modeler to do the detailed design, analyze the building structurally, and generate 2D plans.
Some CAD programs, like AutoCAD, handle both types of surface modeling and both kinds of solid modeling.
You are right: NanoSoft switched its solid modeling kernel and constraint system to the one from C3D Labs. So in nanoCAD Pro V20 you get:
The older polyface surface modeling, but not modern mesh (surface) modeling
History-based solid modeling
A start to direct modeling (not yet fully developed)
Whether nanoCAD does more kinds of 3D modeling depends on (i) the functions C3D Labs adds, and (ii) the functions Nanosoft chooses to expose. This is the same for any 3D CAD program, no matter which kernel it uses.
Solid 3D model in nanoCAD Pro 20
nanoCAD uses DWG as its file format, so it can read drawings and models from other DWG editors like AutoCAD, but things are a bit different when it comes to 3D models.
It might or might not read 3D models from other DWG systems, depending on which kernel they employ. In some cases, you might get only a "proxy," a visual representation of of the 3D model. (This can be the same for any DWG editor importing a 3D DWG file from another system.)
Best thing is to download the 30-day demo of nanoCAD Pro 20 to see if it does what you need. Now, it is a bit peculiar, in that it is very powerful in some areas that other CAD programs don't handle, and lacking in others. It depends on your needs; see if it is suitable for you. Certainly, the price is attractive.
Paul Cotton: I knew of the distinction between surface and solid modeling, hence I wanted to get geometries out of Rhino and into a solid modeler ASAP.
When it comes to history vs. direct I am far less clued-up. When you say history, I am guessing you mean parametric like Solidworks and I love that sort of thing. But direct is alien to me.
I downloaded nanoCAD but it doesn't seem to work. I raised a ticket with support and they responded, so I sent a screenshot. Heard nothing since. Will have to wait and see. It looks a bit 2D-centric for my tastes, even the 3D version, but again, I will have to see.
I like modeling in code. I hope direct modeling doesn't take that away altogether.
I wish someone would get a good BIM [building information modeling] alternative to Revit. I detest it, and Autodesk. But that's another story.
Ralph Grabowski: Direct editing is what it means: you directly interact with the 3D model. For instance, draw a circle on the face of a cube, pull the circle out to make a cylinder, or push it in to make a hole.
No one is going to make a replacement for Revit, such as the 30+ replacements that exist for AutoCAD; it’s just too complex. But there are BIM alternatives to Revit from Vectorworks, Bricsys, Graphisoft, and so on.
Paul Cotton: Oh I see, direct editing is push-pull and direct placement. I think the thing I'm interested in is called “geometric dimensioning and tolerances”.
I still don't entirely understand how a 3D surface modeled geometry gets to 2D engineering drawings without a solid modeler. I guess this is covered in the world of CAM [computer-aided modeling] instead of CAD.
Well maybe it isn't CAM, because that's more about machining, but either way, the leap from Rhino to a set of accurate 2D engineering drawings is still fuzzy. At least it is for the facade industry where I work and I know for a fact nothing like Solidworks is used there.
Ralph Grabowski: Tolerancing is available in 2D drawings as GD&T, although in my time as an engineer I never used it. In 3D, there also is PMI (product manufacturing information).
I think what you want is parametric modeling: here you use formulas to determine the size and positions of objects in drawings through 2D dimensional and geometric constraints. Some CAD programs, like nanoCAD Pro, even do 3D geometric constraints, although these tend to be used mainly for positioning parts to make assemblies.
But solids are preferred, as intelligent cross-sections can be generated in 2D from 3D solids, complete with hatching, interior details, and associativity — make a change to the 3D model, and the 2D plans update automatically.
Paul Cotton: In the end, nanoCAD didn't work on my PC, because I had the QT libraries installed. I contacted support and they were keen to help, but couldn't get their heads round the fact that it's OK for me to have QT on my PC if I want to.
And in Other News
Wikifactory is working with $4.5 million in funding to offer an online MCAD collaboration site that handles assemblies, real-time exploded views, and commenting. After opening in beta last year, the site hosts three thousand projects with 70 thousand members.
The "Wiki" half of the name means that you can invite people to help you work on designs, although it appears that at this point you can only view and comment on designs, not edit them. The "factory" half involves manufacturing the designs, although it is not clear to me whether that function is up and running yet. wikifactory.com
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In a first, Graphisoft releases a mid-release update to ArchiCAD 24 to add to its new emphasis on integrated design. With parent Nemetschek Group hosting so much disparate technology, the pieces are starting to be put together without the need for IFC translation; instead, data flows directly with other programs like Solibri issue tracking and MEP modeler.
Also in this release is new support for Revit 2021 and an improved IFC importer/exporter. The model compare function handles structural analysis, modified openings, and custom-defined tags. graphisoft.com/downloads/archicad/updates/archicad-24-update
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PTC paid a remarkable 14.3x multiple for Arena and its cloud-based PLM [project lifecycle management] software: $715 million for a company that made $50 million last year. (A normal multiple is 3x.) The overpriced acquisition came as the result of an optimistic survey indicating that PTC customers have “a 25% increase in readiness for SaaS PLM since the pandemic started.” schnitgercorp.com/2020/12/14/super-quick-ptc-to-acquire-arena-for-saas-plm/
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Here are some of the posts that appeared recently on my WorldCAD Access blog:
In upFront.eZine #1,076 you wrote, "I had found my number somewhere on the Internet." Hello, Ralph! News flash! Just because someone finds something on the Internet doesn't automatically mean that it’s true or accurate! <g> Be careful, stay healthy...
Duff Kurkand wrote in the Release 12 AutoCAD Customization Manual, "Don't overuse icons attempting to encode abstract concepts into cryptic symbols. It doesn't work; ask any archaeologist" (page 98).
When I met Duff (a founder of Autodesk, for those who don't know), he told me he had pretty much single-handedly written all the AutoCAD manuals through at least Release 10. Unlike Bill Fane, I like icons -- well, some of them -- especially when I create them myself so I know what they mean. But, I have found Mail Chimp to be a cryptic experience at best during the many times I've had to use it.
- Steve Wells
The editor replies: Mr Kurkand set the standard for technical publications, and I appreciate him for that. Disappointing, then, that Autodesk subsequently forced only icons on the status bar.
Notable Quotable
“Status is irrelevant. It’s the freedom to make the thing that matters.”
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