Issue #1,125 | Inside the Business of CAD | 28 February 2022
Liminal: The state of being in-between
At Autodesk University 2021, Autodesk executives put the emphasis on digital transformation: it is inevitable, and it is urgent that it happen now.
“Digital collaboration is now a necessity; cloud workflows are the norm; and time-saving is a must,” said vice president of cross-industry strategy Mimi Hoang. Never mind that Autodesk has been talking about collaboration since Carol Bartz was ceo in the mid-1990s; that the cloud already is the norm for everyday people; and that every CAD vendor promises to save designers’ time.
A survey by consulting firm Accenture found that 90% of 700 construction firms are already digitizing their processes, but that two-thirds of them admitted they weren’t seeing benefits. The survey was presented during AU, and so it comes as little surprise that Accenture recommended that these firms (1) reorient themselves by implementing Forge, Autodesk’s cross-platform programming interface, (2) become data-centric, and then (3) use the data to make decisions earlier.
(Forge first was the name of Autodesk’s now-discontinued 3D printing API.)
All is Forge, and Forge is All
Forge is key to understanding Autodesk today, and tomorrow. The software rental firm dreams of the day when all of its programs are rewritten in Forge and intercommunicate data incrementally through Forge APIs [application programming interfaces]. Competitor CAD vendors, like Siemens and Graphisoft, also offer cross-platform programming (Mendix) and incremental data transfer (BIMcloud).
The Forge-ian dream is, however, not fully realized. “We’re investing heavily in connections across Autodesk products, improving interoperability,” said vp of AutoCAD family of products Rob Maguire, speaking in the present-continuous tense. “We’re excited about the potential this has... With Forge, we’re making strides towards fluent workflow capabilities.”
Fusion is crucial, but it is not yet pervasive. Until it is, Autodesk Docs (formerly BIM 360 Docs) is the placeholder. A Web site, it lets users view, markup, and manage files in many formats, but so far is integrated only into AutoCAD and Revit (as of November 2021).
What’s New in AutoCAD
Autodesk is scrambling to interconnect AutoCAD with its other incompatible software, because competitors are already there. Graebert (ARES), Hexagon (BricsCAD), and Nanosoft (nanoCAD) took the faster route by unifying general, mechanical, civil, GIS, P&ID, and architectural designs within a single program and storing all models in Autodesk’s DWG format, albeit with proprietary extensions. They do not suffer the internal incompatibility problems Autodesk does.
For AutoCAD, the AU keynote was brief. It described some features added to last year’s release, such as Trace (for marking up drawings collaboratively) and Count, another way to count entities in drawings.
For the future, Autodesk promises AutoCAD will get some automated drafting workflows, such as these ones:
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Connected Paper recognizes markups that are hand-sketched or added to PDF files, and then converts them to AutoCAD geometry.
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AutoCAD Automation suggests combining repetitive command sequences into macros.
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My Insights shows users how they employ AutoCAD, and then suggests alternative commands that might be more efficient.
In the 1980s, Autodesk separated itself from bigger competitors by allowing users to customize the CAD program on their own — unique at a time when other systems like Intergraph and Computervision charged customers big bucks for customization.
Customization of the next generation of AutoCAD, the AutoCAD Web app, is, however, a distant dream. Autodesk says users will “perhaps someday in the future” be allowed to embed their in-house applications in the browser version of AutoCAD.
What’s New in Fusion 360 and Inventor
The AU keynote for mechanical CAD treated us to a liturgy of gloom: “The cost of doing nothing is too high,” said vp of design and manufacturing industry strategy Srinath Jonnalagadda. “Continued reliance on home-grown data management systems perpetuates the ongoing struggles in the supply chain... Not dealing with complexity can lead to lost profits and opportunities.”
The solution, of course, is to employ Autodesk to “empower innovators everywhere.” But even so, Mr Jonnalagadda noted that the complete solution — a single cloud platform unifying all tools, from concept to manufacturing — lies in the future: “And that is what we’re working towards with Autodesk Forge Platform.”
Happily, there is a significant exception. Fusion 360 shows off today what Forge is capable of tomorrow. This partly-cloud-based 3D mechanical CAD program handles sketches, direct modeling, sheet metal, PCB designs, generative design, and so on.
Fusion 360, however, isn’t like PTC Onshape or Graebert Kudo. Users access these CAD apps by simply logging in from any browser on any hardware. Fusion 360 instead requires a 1.9GB download and then runs only on Windows or MacOS. That there is a free version for anyone’s personal use suggests to me it might not be selling well.
New in Fusion 360 is the ability to add parametrics to imported meshes, and converting them to solids. Sub-division modeling is also parametric now. Other new features include these ones:
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Variable patterns (non-uniform arrays)
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Library-based electrical schematic designs inside mechanical models
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Electromagnetic simulation from ANSYS
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Plastic simulation from MoldFlow
What I found particularly interesting is a new form of generative design that changes models according to the results of simulations. See figure above. Many CAD vendors also offer generative design, but I don’t see algorithm-based design being particularly popular among designers.
A unified cloud-native PDM/PLM [product data management/product lifecycle management] system was missing from Forge 360, so last year Autodesk acquired Canada’s Upchain cloud-based PDM/PLM software to combine design, manufacturing, data, and process management in Fusion 360.
Autodesk really wants to customers to stop using desktop Inventor, and switch to Fusion 360 for all their design work. Here is a reason: as we use the program, Autodesk runs parts of Fusion 360 on cloud servers, through which Autodesk collects the data we feed to it.
Autodesk has a lot plans for our data. It’s thinking of using A.I. to generate design concepts; to detect repetitive design work; and to report underused production machines. After hearing how Facebook and Google misuse our data, users may become hesitant in being open-books to Autodesk.
These sorts of data-use things are not possible with desktop-only CAD. But, as other CAD vendors have found, desktop MCAD is what customer prefer, and so Inventor managed to get a mention during a keynote speech.
New in Inventor is its ability to use multiple CPU cores to open, edit, and update models more quickly. To embed behaviors in assemblies, like hospital flows and supply chain logistics, Autodesk acquired ProModel.
Also new this year is selective import from Revit files, so that machines models are associated with building models. “This is an approach we’ll be developing across the rest of our entire portfolio in the coming months,” explained vp of design and manufacturing Stephen Hooper speaking of the future, “bringing Fusion, Inventor, AutoCAD, and even Revit data to the Forge Platform.”
What Ralph Grabowski Thinks
Forge is so important that executives at AU called it “the Autodesk platform.” Moving data between Autodesk’s myriad data-incompatible programs is a long-haul project, with the initial effort starting back in about 2008 (getting Inventor and AutoCAD to talk to each other). Autodesk subsequently released the “universal” Navisworks viewer, but that didn’t quite make the grade. A decade later, Autodesk turned to Forge to solve its interoperability problem.
While Autodesk pins its future on Forge, progress in Forge-ifying its software appears to me to be progressing remarkably slowly. Each year, we hear how it’s going to be great, making me wonder in which year of AU the company announces that its programs are islands and isthmuses no longer.
Autodesk is using the meantime to emphasize how Fusion 360 puts data at the center of customer-corporations involved in manufacturing. As the Forge API connects the program with more third-party software, Autodesk aspires to make Fusion 360 the umbrella for all industry.
So far, the brightest point is Fusion 360, and it does well showing what Forge can do. I expect that the long-promised cloud version of AutoCAD is being rewritten in Forge. Or, maybe just maybe, they’ll shift to a new underlying paradigm and start over.
[This article first appeared in Design Engineering magazine and is reprinted with permission.]
And in Other News
Cerulean Labs updates its conceptual design software Spaces to v1.3.1 with
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Cladding tool to assign cladding to building faces for curtain walls and shading systems
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Design options to hold multiple versions of a project in a single file
Spaces runs on iPads and is a free download from apps.apple.com/app/apple-store/id1530458770.
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CAD vendors who are shutting down their businesses in Russia (so far):
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Autodesk
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PTC
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Siemens
(Source: schnitgercorp.com/2022/03/04/the-plmish-world-steps-up-to-support-ukraine)
As well, these 3D manufacturing firms and publications: 3dprintingindustry.com/news/the-additive-manufacturing-industry-supports-the-security-and-foreign-policy-course-of-the-german-federal-government-european-union-and-nato-205472.
Which leads to questions:
Q: Why did these vendors pivot away from Russia but not, say, China?
A: Some estimates I have read suggest that Western firms make only 1%-2% of their revenues from Russia.
Q. Will western CAD software shut down when Russian users cannot renew their subscriptions?
A. Perhaps. It depends on how the subscription confirmation and payment systems are implemented. Permanent licenses are unaffected.
Q. Will these CAD vendors be allowed back into Russia after, um, peace breaks out?
A. Perhaps not. Russia has local versions of many kinds of software, which it has being trying to promote. Lowered foreign competition gives domestic firms greater opportunities for regional growth.
Russian replacements for western CAD software include nanoCAD (for AutoCAD), Renga (Revit), KOMPAS-3D (Inventor/Fusion, Creo, Solid Edge/NX), Neolant (P&ID, plant design), and C3D Labs (Parasolid).
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Minimalist BIM format Dotbim handles geometry and data exchange in a way to reduce the problem of translators missing parts of the now-complex IFC format.
By design, the spec is limited to one page, and so .bim does not cover everything. Links to github and other resources at osarch.org/2022/02/26/dotbim-minimalist-file-format-for-bim.
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With the Open Design Alliance’s release of .Net software development kit for BimRV, the following kinds of Revit data can be handled by any dot.net application:
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All Revit elements and properties read
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Model viewing
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Revit data to IFC format conversion
The SDK [software development kit] so far is limited in creating Revit elements and is available only to ODA member companies. More info at opendesign.com/products/bimrv.
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Nemetschek Allplan becomes exclusive supplier of BIM software to the newly formed Autobahn GmbH that now builds and maintains Germany’s 13,000km freeways and trunk roads: 2,850 licenses for 52 offices. allplan.com/us_en
In other Nemetschek news, the company appoints Yves Padrines as ceo. He is the former ceo of video software company Synamedia.
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Sometimes manufacturers release CAD files for their products, and here are two sets that came out in the last few weeks:
Steam Deck case on GitLab: gitlab.steamos.cloud/SteamDeck/hardware in 2D PDF, 3D STL, and 3D STP formats.
A set of 3D-printable attachments to Ford’s Maverick pickup: ford.com/support/how-tos/owner-resources/vehicle-documents/how-do-i-use-3d-printing-to-customize-my-ford-maverick-pickup in CADPart, IGES [really?], and STP formats.
Letters to the Editor
Re: Qonic Kicks Off
So that’s why there was sudden silence from Steve Johnson, Don Strimbu, and other “old timers.” Problem is, as a CAD customer, I switched to BricsCAD based on that group of people’s advice and the clear vision of Mr. de Keyser. I feel doomed now.
-Fa3ien (via Twitter)
The editor replies: I see no negative trends with BricsCAD under Hexagon. Future versions seem to be tracking in the same direction as previous ones. BricsCAD has, so far, not been Visio’ed.
Steve Johnson wrote extensively about BricsCAD, but was never an employee; Don Strimbu is still with Hexagon Bricsys.
Steve Johnson replies (thru Twitter): My silence is hardly sudden, and has nothing to do with this new enterprise. I’ll check it out, though. Meanwhile, BricsCAD is still a great product that is improving at a rate that outstrips the competition.
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I hope Qonic reads the cover story in the new issue of Martyn Day’s AEC Magazine, “BIM is dead” at aecmag.com/collaboration/bim-is-bust-how-should-aec-data-work-hok.
- Randall Newton
The editor replies: Well, not so much dead as unable to present complexity in a way that humans and computers can handle, so that the dream of ‘one BIM to rule them all’ is becoming tarnished.
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Wow! Dimitry Ushakov gone? Presumably, LEDAS is still helping Hexagon develop BricsCAD?
- Dominic Seah
The editor replies: It is normal for executives of an acquired company to leave after a year or so. LEDAS stopped working on BricsCAD in 2011, after it sold part of its company to Bricsys.
Re: Old Timers on New Technology
Holy cow! Half-way into reading Leo’s letter, I was thinking “Did I write this and forgot that I did?” Very true! I’m not as close to the design industry world as I used to be, but from what I gather (talking with old friends still in the business) the biggest challenge has been QA [quality assurance]. Mostly due to pressure to reduce costs.
- David Stein
The editor replies: When I see new and astounding freeway interchanges in our area, which were presumably designed with CAD — astounding, as in “astoundingly bad” — it makes me think that the designs were made with CAD-command experience, not road-design experience.
Mr Stein responds: I also worry about the jump to A.I. in design and engineering. The methods and preferences A.I. will use will be entirely dependent on the humans after which they are patterned.
I don’t have a lot of faith in shareholders and suits choosing the best minds over the most affordable minds.
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Notable Quotable in upFront.eZine #1,121 quotes Elsergio Volador, but when I Google this name he doesn’t seem to exist. There are a lot of close matches, but not an exact one.
- Bill Fane
The editor replies: When, however, I entered the quote into Bing, it found my source for you. Elsergio Volador appears to be the screen name for a commenter on The Register: forums.theregister.com/forum/all/2021/10/15/clientside_side_scanning/
When I entered the quote into Bing, Microsoft expressed its concern for my mental well-being:
Notable Quotable
“Sometimes I think $GOOG purposefully does slightly illegal things in its ad tech unit, which is worth like $14, in order to distract everyone from its core business, which makes all the money.”
- Willis Cap
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