Monday, August 22, 2022

Surviving the Recession, Should One Come

Issue #1,137  |  Inside the Business of CAD  |  22 August 2022

 

 
Subscriptions are the most popular expense to eliminate

Netflix earlier this year stated that the greatest upcoming danger to its business is inflation, as it lost a million subscribers in the last quarter. In England, 590,000 dropped Amazon Prime subscriptions. A survey by Statista that shows every-day Americans’ #1 area in which to cut back spending is subscriptions.

With inflation happening now, followed by a possible recession next year, CAD-using firms may well be looking where to cut costs. You should be thinking about putting a strategy into place to counter the sometimes assertive sales tactics of CAD vendors, who might be fighting to prevent you from reducing their lovely, lovely subscription income, as occurred during the previous recession.

During the 2009 quarterly conference call with financial analysts for Q1, PTC described what it was doing to prevent customers from reducing maintenance payments, a precursor to today’s subscriptions (ref: upFront.eZine #590):

“A customer can’t cancel maintenance now and start it up again two quarters down the road. We don’t allow that. If you stop maintenance, you’re off the train. The only way to get back on the train is to re-buy the software.

“So then they’re [the customers of PTC] in a situation of having to pay essentially five times the price to re-buy the software, and then get back on maintenance again, so this problem doesn’t re-occur.”

PTC was asked about customers wanting lower maintenance fees to cut costs during the recession. The response by the company back then was, “They’re asking, and we’re resisting.”

Back then, this put CAD-using firms into a bind, where a consideration might have been to cut costs like laying off employees to afford the full maintenance cost, or keep valuable employees and face a 5x software bill later. Today, with subscriptions, the conditions for off- and on-ramping are different, but still merit investigation.

 

On a Leash

 
Benefits of paying for software over and over again

The primary point of subscription payments is not to benefit customers, but to benefit shareholder-owned CAD vendors, who desperately need to show Wall Street predictable, smoothly upward trending profits. Privately-owned CAD vendors do not suffer from this flaw.

(The benefit of subscriptions to customers is that fees can be written off corporate income taxes 100% each year, unlike permanent licenses. As well, a level of support and automatic upgrades are typically included in the price. The drawback is that quicker support can cost more, and that upgrades can be lackluster, as CAD vendors no longer need to justify to customers the cost of upgrades, as in prior times.)

Here’s why smoothly-increasing revenues are important: During the recession of 2009, the share price of PTC fell 25% after it warned that revenues would be flat. The company was punished by Wall Street for managing to maintain revenues during the biggest recession since 1945.

Following the recession, some CAD vendors looked at how to lock in customers financially so they could impose price hikes, irregardless of economic conditions. Annual subscription [aka SaaS] payments became the bedrock, and as a bonus included the threat of remotely shutting down CAD programs when customers failed to renew. Autodesk was the first to go hardcore into subs, followed by PTC. As well, new CAD vendors tend to be subscription-only.

Some CAD vendors offer large customers “enterprise subscription plans” of a three-year duration. The benefit to design firms is the predictable cost over the longer timeframe. The drawback is the unwelcome, possibly huge increase that follows in year four, as uncovered by Martyn Day.

 

Considering the Counter-tactics

 
Most CAD firms still offer permanent licenses, such as this one for Archline.XP

Software systems are so embedded into corporate practices that ripping them out is nearly infeasible. Pay the money, or lose the soul of your business. There are, however, some counter-tactics that design firms can consider:

  • Recognize the maneuvers that might be used by CAD vendors to stop you from paying less, and be prepared to counter their arguments

  • Negotiate a lower subscription fee for the duration of the recession, in exchange for not cutting out licences

  • Form alliances with other design firms to support each other through ideas, purchasing groups, and social interactions; you are not alone

  • Examine alternative CAD vendors for permanent-license and no-license options; see below

  • Determine which seats at your design firm don’t need high-end CAD, and then substitute them with lower-cost, permanently-licenced packages; one of my clients, for instance, changed 40 AutoCAD seats to 10% AutoCAD and 90% BricsCAD

You need to to stay in business, no matter the economic climate.

 

Sources of Permanently-license CAD Software

Of the many CAD programs that don’t require annual payments, here are a few to consider:

In the field of mechanical CAD, there is Siemens with its mid-range Solid Edge and high-end NX; it also offers several simulation and data management products.

Amongst architectural CAD programs, consider the range of software from Nemetschek — ArchiCAD, Vectorworks, and Allplan, along with supporting simulation and data management programs.

General CAD users could examine BricsCAD (from Hexagon), ARES (Graebert), and a long list of variations of IntelliCAD.

There are many more, such as ArchLine.XP (Cadline) and TurboCAD (IMS/Design); I cannot list them all. In addition, free CAD-related programs are available through https://osarch.org.

 

What Ralph Grabowski Thinks

If you fail to pay, you fail to play. The only subscription I hold is with Netflix. The entirety of my business runs on software with permanent licenses; even my cloud storage service provider (pCloud) runs on a permanent license. It’s the only way to survive.

 

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And In Other News

 

Solidspac3 releases Spac3 2022 for getting interactive QA/QC variance reports within 12 hours (down from 24 in earlier releases), and to visualize discrepancies between reality capture (made with point clouds) and design intent in Web browsers.

For each variance, you can click between 2D, 3D, or BIM drawings and point clouds, simultaneously comparing plans to reality in 3D, and then sorting variances by severity. Learn more from www.solidspac3.com.

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Lattice Technology offers its XVL format as a lightweight (100x smaller) universal file for viewing all data in major CAD formats for downstream use, such as in bills of materials, servicing instructions, and interactive part catalogs. www.lattice3d.com

- - -

Zoltán Tóth moves from international channel partner at Cadline (ArchLine.XP) to channel development expert at “next-door” Graphisoft.

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Here are some of the posts that appeared recently on my WorldCAD Access blog:

You can subscribe to the WorldCAD Access blog’s RSS feed through Feed Burner at feeds.feedburner.com/WorldcadAccess.

 

Letters to the Editor

Re: Peeking Behind Iron Curtain II

I’ve been wondering when you would explore this topic of peeking behind the iron curtain. Of all the writers covering engineering technology, you are in a class by yourself in your wealth of foreign contacts and breadth of experience working with these companies. It was an excellent analysis.
            - Randall Newton

- - -

Your column about Russian software developers was interesting, and is the sort of thing one would never find in mainstream media.

The move to focus on the development of totally domestic programs in Russia carries a danger of its own: the current “Tsar” will not be around forever and what happens after he is gone? If Russia then re-embraces international cooperation and trade, does all that domestic software then die on the vine, because the problems you mention about selling to the West?

Although moving to Linux is possible (I’ve used that myself for over 15 years and, as a result, BricsCAD), I wonder what happens to Linux when Torvalds is no longer at the helm? He’s only in his mid-50s, so he probably has a good run left, but can a committee-run Linux succeed the same as Torvalds-run Linux?

As always, thank you for the writing!
            - Steve Schuller

The editor replies: A headline today reads, “Russia imposes measures against TikTok, Telegram, Zoom, Discord, Pinterest…in response to the companies’ failure to remove content that it had flagged as illegal.” The headline could just as easily read “USA imposes measures against…”.

- - -

Great talk about the weight of Russia in CAD . You have forgotten BricsCAD, a big name in Europe, of whom 50% of its development center is in Russia, too.
            - Oli

The editor replies: I wrote only of home-grown Russian firms, and made generic reference to the Western firms who have programmers in Russia.

- - -

I make my living using software that is owned by a French company (Dassault). Can you picture a scenario where the US government and the French government might get into a pissing contest? Not necessarily a military conflict — just a squabble over tariffs, or emissions regulations, or using the word ‘Champagne’ for a California wine. Anything that causes the French government to say to a French company, “Stop doing business with the US.”

If that were to happen, and I fell for went with the subscription model for my CAD software, I would be out of business, several of my customers would be severely crippled, and we would be unable to develop new products. 

So when the salesmen are frantically pitching SaaS [software as a service], I just keep on saying no, because they can never come up with a scenario where it benefits me.

Keep up the wonderful work of reporting on our very peculiar industry.
            - Jess Davis

The editor replies: The only SaaS I pay for is Netflix; all other software runs on permanent licenses. A business is foolish to do otherwise.

 

Re: Running Generic CADD in 2013

I got my first introduction to Generic CADD when it was bundled with a three-button Logitech mouse. I first ran it on a Tandy 1000TX with an Intel 286 CPU and added the 80287 coprocessor — no hard drive, just dual 3-1/2" and 5-1/4" floppies with a CGA color monitor and dot matrix printer. At that time I booted straight into it from DOS.

I later ran it up through Windows XP on a Pentium 4 with up to four monitors thanks to Simon Hradecky’s VgaFix, which allowed the use of VESA graphics on nVidia cards.

I recently found a need for Generic 3D for some 3D CAD work, as I found the interface extremely friendly and am now figuring out how to best run it without resorting to firing up one of my old XP computers. Glad to have found this thread at worldcadaccess.com/blog/2013/01/running-generic-cadd-in-2013.html! Will give the DOSBox-SVN-Daum a try, along with saving to DXF, and then printing with AutoCAD.
            - Art C (via WorldCAD Access)

 

Re: Twitteratti dunk on Zukerberg's interpretation of France

Takes me back to walking the Vegas strip, outside Caesars, and an older couple in front of me pointed at the ‘Eiffel Tower’ and said unironically ‘Everything is here, you don't need to travel’.
     - Robin Capper (via WorldCAD Access)

 

Re: Retirement

I started working as a mechanical draftsman after I graduated from Ryerson Polytechnical Institute in 1978 (now Toronto Metropolitan University). I progressed to machine designer, and now tool and die designer and purchaser at EL-MET-Parts in Ontario.

After the drafting board became obsolete, I learned AutoCAD, then Inventor, and currently back to AutoCAD 2019.

It’s been a wonderful career. I was blessed. I, too, am now looking to retire, maybe at the end of this year. It’s time to do other things. I have really enjoyed your articles about the CAD world. Best of luck!!!
     - Harold Genz

The editor replies: Those of us who started with manual drafting and watched the transition to computer-assisted drafting lived through fascinating times.

 

Notable Quotable

“Three stages of career development are: I want to be in the meetings, I want to run the meetings, I want to avoid meetings.”
     - @Katiohead

 

Thank You, Readers

Thank you to readers who donate towards the operation of upFront.eZine:

  • Jure Spiler of BASIC (small business donation)

  • Barry Dietz

  • Dan Wiseman

  • CAD Bloke

  • G. W. Sloof of Talenting Investments (small business donation)

To support upFront.eZine through PayPal.me, then I suggest the following amounts:

Should Paypal.me not operate in your country, then use www.paypal.com to send funds to the account of [email protected].

Or ask [email protected] about making a direct bank transfer through Wise (Transferwise).

Or mail a cheque (US$ or CDN$ only, please) to upFront.eZine Publishing, Ltd., 34486 Donlyn Avenue, Abbotsford BC, V2S 4W7, Canada.

*4649

 

 

Posted at 03:59 AM in Software, Special Occasions | | Comments (0)

Monday, August 08, 2022

Peeking Behind Iron Curtain II: How Russian CAD firms abide with sanctions following the Ukraine invasion

Issue # 1,136  |  Inside the Business of CAD  |  8 August 2022

Limited number of customer-countries for Russian nuclear plant design software firm Neolant

There is profound irony that programmers in Russia are responsible for much of the CAD software we in the West use every day, yet Russian CAD firms have made little headway exporting their own end products to us.

Software with names like nanoCAD (an AutoCAD workalike), T-Flex (MCAD), and Kompas-3D (also MCAD) have at some point been marketed in the West; doubtless they are obscure to you.

Firms that write foundational code that helps Western firms develop CAD software have, however, found success. Firms like C3D Labs (kernel components) and LEDAS Group (contract programming) receive more than half their income from outside Russia.

When David Levin arranged for me to tour Russia in 2009, the number-one question CAD vendors asked me was how to sell their products in the West. I told them they faced the daunting task in converting their user interface and documentation from Russian cyrillic to English and other languages; from Russian design standards to Western ones; and, toughest of all, thinking in the way that Western marketing thinks.

(I wrote about the firms I visited in The Russian CAD Market, available from ebooksonline/2015/07/rcm.html for $126.)

Thirteen years ago, Russian firms still dominated their home CAD industry. Western software mostly was bootlegged. Autodesk Russia then found success in making AutoCAD users legit by offering an older version (with its lower hardware requirements) for $1,000 initially — a quarter the US price. With time and with the urgency of being compatible with globalization, Western firms like Dassault Systemes, Siemens, Autodesk, and PTC came to dominate CAD in Russia.

We were surprised when Putin made the ill-fated decision to invade the sovereign country of Ukraine, and then he was surprised at the speed of the backlash from Western countries — given that Russia is the world’s largest exporter of oil and wheat.

For Western CAD firms, it turned out that pulling out of Russia was an easy decision: it made them look good, while losing only 0.5%-2% of their global income. They could just about pencil that in as a marketing expense. For instance, last quarter PTC lost $4 million from ending its operations in Russia, a pittance compared to the $81 million PTC says it lost in the same quarter due to the stronger US$.

 

Coping Strategies

Cover of isicad magazine showing Siemens being substituted by Russian CAD firms in a soccer metaphor

So, what is happening behind the new iron curtain depends on who you are.

Russian Users of Western CAD Software: The “lucky” ones are the ones with permanent licenses; they can keep right on working. Those with subscriptions might be blocked when the next payment is due — depending on where payments are handled. (Not all Western tech firms have cut off existing customers.) Those who depend on cloud-based software are at greatest risk.

Russian CAD Firms Selling Largely in Russia: With Western firms leaving, local firms face a bonanza now that they have a market less encumbered by competition. Here are some of the Russian CAD programs that could be substituted for Western ones:

Western CAD Software       Discipline          Russian Substitute
-----------------------------------------------------------------
AutoCAD                    General CAD         nanoCAD
Revit                      Architectural CAD   Renga 
Inventor,Creo,Solid Edge   Mechanical CAD      KOMPAS-3D,T-Flex
SmartPlant                 P&ID,plant design   Hydrosystem
Parasolid,Spatial          Components          C3D Toolkit 
TeamCenter                 PLM                 -none-

 

Russian CAD Firms That Found Success In the West: They set up bank accounts and cloud servers in other countries, and continue working with non-Russian customers.

Russian and Ukrainian Programmers Working for Western Firms: From news reports, some have left the country. Nemetschek Group said, “Our brands have taken immediate actions to protect our local people [in Russia or Ukraine?], from organizing visas to providing refugee housing to financial support.”

Russian Government: It launched a program to encourage Russia-developed technology. Here is a list of some of the support mechanisms that the government proposed early on, although I do not know how many came into effect:

  • Subsidies to develop software

  • Jobs offered to foreign workers with no need to approve work visas

  • 0% tax rate for critical tech companies

  • Loans at 3% interest for firms that do not lay off staff

  • Preferential mortgage rates and exemption from military service for techies

  • Discounts on insurance

  • Free TLS certificates for entities whose certs are revoked

 

More recently, the Russian government allocated 37 billion rubles over two years for “software import substitution” — to develop new, local software that can substitute for non-Russian programs. Thirty-seven billion sounds like a lot, but amounts to only 600 million in US dollars; we recall that it took a hundred million to develop Onshape. On the other hand, software development costs are much, much lower in Russia than in USA.

As David Levin reports in the August, 2022 issue of isicad (Google translation to English), there are restrictions on the use of the funds:

  • Only the two best proposals in each field will be funded

  • There must be no conflicts of interest with government departments or existing customers

  • Existing firms are not eligible for support

  • The software must be exportable, so that 2/3 of its income comes from outside Russia

  • Winners decided in September and development to begin in October

 

Independent software vendors have found success in Russia, but government-funded initiatives have not, historically. A decade ago, for instance, the government funded a made-in-Russia RGK geometric kernel for CAD that nobody uses; its Web page was last updated in 2014.

What Ralph Grabowski Thinks

Photo credit: Dmitry Neymyrok, Reuters

The Russian developers I spoke with want to be at peace with Ukraine, but would not go on record in saying so. They are, unfortunately, affected by the historical delusions of a single man.

It is nevertheless fascinating to see the impact of technology developed by Western countries. PLM, in particular, is a key program that Russian firms have found difficult to write their own and that matches Western capabilities, and so Siemens Teamcenter is deeply entrenched in much of Russian industry.

To end, I’ll leave you with an article in which Russian CAD developers agonize over the next steps to take in developing substitute-local software: “We Can Do Without Siemens.” In it, developers ask themselves, by how much can we untangle ourselves after one-two decades of incorporating technology from Western firms?

For instance, domestic developers all use Windows as their OS platform, and switching to Linux would give them independence — but at what point should they divert resources to rewriting all of their their CAD code for Linux?

Programs of disentanglement and independence (by Russia as well as China) will be successful in neither the short nor the medium term.

 

PS: If you would like to help the people of Ukraine in a practical manner, Missions without Borders is a charity that was already working in Ukraine before war broke out and so is well-placed to assist, and is one that upFront.eZine has supported for many years: worldcadaccess.com/blog/2022/03/practical-help-for-ukraine.html.

Open Design Alliance has some of its programmers in Ukraine, and so it has set up a fund to assist them with relocation and temporary housing. To date, $104,375 has been raised. opendesign.com/blog/2022/april/oda-organizes-support-ukraine-developers

 

And in Other News

Business Advantage released its annual survey of CAD trends, in which 557 respondents took part, rating their use of 19 aspects of CAD by way of three parameters: awareness; perceived importance; and current and future usage. The result is a 97-page report, from which I reproduce a figure above.

The most important statistic is that 2D drafting is still very, very, very important — while there is little use in CAD of sexy, marketing-driven tools. You can get a copy of the report (after registration) from business-advantage.com/landing_page_CAD_Trends_2022_MFG.php.

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IntelliCAD Technology Consortium releases a robust-looking IntelliCAD 11.0 to its members:

  • Increased ways of working with Revit and Microstation files

  • Pre-release of the new IcARX API compatible with ObjectARX

  • Updated SDKs in ODA 2022.12, Windows 11, and Spatial ACIS 2022

  • Connect map data to PostgreSQL, MySQL, and WFS servers

  • New UI elements, like 3D positioner, view cube, visual style controls, model flythroughs, and section planes

Members adapt the core code with their labeling and verticals, and then sell to the public. www.intellicad.org

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Spatial division of Dassault is no longer providing code for older operating systems after release 2023 1.0: 32-bit Windows will supported for two more years, and Red Hat 7 is dropped. On the good news front, Spatial will start to support Linux for ARM with release 2024 1.0. www.spatial.com

- - -

Here are some of the posts that appeared recently on my WorldCAD Access blog:

You can subscribe to the WorldCAD Access blog’s RSS feed through Feed Burner at feeds.feedburner.com/WorldcadAccess.

 

Letters to the Editor

I started on Generic CADD back in the ’80s. When Autodesk shut it down, I went to Visual CADD at www.TriTools.com. It’s basically the same thing as Generic. You would adapt right away.
            - Warren (via WorldCAD Access)

The editor replies: Visual CADD development seems to have stopped with v9 beta in 2018, but I am willing to be corrected on that.

- - -

I used Generic CADD for years. I loved it, and could create anything with that software and my Calcomp 8-pen plotter. I resisted the move to AutoCAD so much that I changed my role at the firm I was working for so I would not have to use CAD anymore! LOL

One of my favorite memories is from when I was working late into the night and calling a very responsive tech support team in Bothell, WA [Generic CADD’s head office]. They were awesome, laid back, and really knowledgeable. I actually enjoyed being put on hold: it seemed I would always get to hear the song Wicked Games by Chris Isaak long before that song was a hit in Nebraska. Those were the days!
     - Jeff Ahl

 

Re: BIM

The three basic Rules of Plumbing:

  1. Cold on the right

  2. Hot on the left

  3. Stuff flows downhill

It is useless stuff like BIM that is ruining CAD software companies. They are concentrating their resources on useless stuff rather than the basic drafting software.

Name the number of CAD software packages that can produce a proper 3D isometric perspective view from their 3D model. I can count them on one hand, and have five digits left over.
            - Lewis Balentine

The editor replies: There certainly is a disconnect between what is possible (cloud, VR, BIM, PLM) and what is required, although some CAD firms have been working semi-automating repetitive drafting tasks, which drafter will find useful.

 

Spin Doctor of the Moment

“We are seeing more usage intensity and higher quality than previous versions of our operating system.”
     - Satya Nadella, ceo, Microsoft, speaking of Windows 11

 

Thank You, Readers

Thank you to readers who donated towards the operation of upFront.eZine:

  • Kevin Kaurin: “Thanks for keeping us informed and entertained! Pax et Bonum 1 in your retirement.”

  • Neil Peterson, Open Design Alliance (small business donation)

  • Jeremy Powell, Vectorworks (large business donation)

  • Philip Erickson

  • Michael Shook

 

To support upFront.eZine through PayPal.me, then I suggest the following amounts:

 

Should Paypal.me not operate in your country, then use www.paypal.com to send funds to the account of [email protected].

Or ask [email protected] about making a direct bank transfer through Wise (Transferwise).

Or mail a cheque (US$ or CDN$ only, please) to upFront.eZine Publishing, Ltd., 34486 Donlyn Avenue, Abbotsford BC, V2S 4W7, Canada.

 

*4672

1  Peace and goodwill

Posted at 05:48 AM in Software, Special Occasions | | Comments (0)

Monday, August 01, 2022

Graphisoft Goes Desktop-Cloud Hybrid

Issue #1,135  |  Inside the Business of CAD  |  1 August 2022

 

Zsolt Kerecsen (at left) and Shesh Gorur talk about the future framework
for Graphisoft’s CAD software

The Graphisoft division of Nemetschek Group last month revealed plans for the future of its design software, based on technology that’s happening today.

Here, I paraphrase a talk given by vp of product development Zsolt Kerecsen with vp of product success Shesh Gorur at events.graphisoft.com/event/graphisoft-launch-event (registration required).

I found it interesting that ArchiCAD was never mentioned by name, but perhaps that was not intentional. On the other hand, a name change would make sense, as “Archi” is too specific to architecture and I’ve always found “ArchiCAD” an awkward name to pronounce — is it “ar-[k]-icad”, “ar-[sh]-icad,” or “ar-[guttural ‘ch’ in the throat]-icad?”

 

Graphisoft’s Framework For the Future

The company has been developing a new CAD framework that has a desktop part and a cloud part — calling it “adaptive hybrid.”

Graphisoft’s model for its hybrid framework

The “microkernel” (dark gray in the figure above) runs on the desktop and contains services common to all programs, such as licensing and file loading. On top of it runs code for general BIM [building information modeling] functions (medium gray), along with modules with code specific to each discipline (in blue), such as structural steel design. As Graphisoft supports more disciplines, they are added here.

The area (in pink) encircled by the dashed outline can become an OEM [original equipment manufacturer] platform for customers who want to build their own BIM system.

The design cloud hub (in light gray) provides public access to the BIM stack. It appears to skip general BIM authoring, i.e. design.

By making its software modular, Graphisoft will find it easier to make changes to the system. New features are either tightly or loosely integrated, on the desktop or in the cloud, depending on where they fit best. “This is how we set up Graphisoft for the future,” said Mr Kerecsen.

At the same event, Graphisoft laid out its roadmap to 2025:

Graphisoft’s roadmap for its architectural software

Roadmaps give customers reassurance that better things are coming in the future. On the other hand, customers might think, “What? I have to wait until 2025 for automation!” and look for a nimbler competitor.

Or Graphisoft might find that future features, like “smooth extensibility,” aren’t actually possible, or that over time different technologies becomes priorities in programming — or another Black Swan event occurs, such as the covid lockdown or Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, to disrupts plans.

 

What ‘Adaptive Hybrid’ Means

The new framework is called “adaptive hybrid,” because it is designed to adapt to the design mode the customer is in — desktop or cloud — and switch. Customers with powerful hardware probably prefer to run in desktop mode; with lightweight machines, in cloud mode to access remote server computing.

Other firms moving desktop CAD wholesale to the cloud have floundered, and so Graphisoft is placing a foot in each camp, staying with the desktop as its firm foundation. Some of its technology is already server-based (like centralized file sharing), and so could be cloud-ified easily.

 

Adding In Today’s Buzzword Technologies

When Mr Gorur asked about “buzzword technologies,” Mr Kerecsen seemed to hedge. I understand his hesitation, because what seems exciting last year can prove to be a dud next year.

He listed the following technologies as “disruptive” and that might find a place in the framework:

Graphisoft layering optional technology onto its new framework

  • Augmented reality — potentially helpful for viewing models in-situ

  • Artificial intelligence — perhaps helpful with repetitive tasks, such as for robotic processes

  • Machine learning linked to A.I. — might be helpful with generative design and algorithmic design, such as finding the best floor plans

  • Blockchain — could be helpful in handling distributed licenses

 

AR. Some of these disruptive technologies are already available to ArchiCAD users, such as viewing 3D models with BIM/X, and algorithmic design through a link to Grasshopper. They have been available for some years now.

A.I. We have seen Bricsys use A.I. to assist with dull, repetitive work, and now we see Graphisoft looking at A.I. in the same way. Quite a let-down from the excitement of beating humans at Go.

Generative Design. The current ceo of Graphisoft, Huw Roberts, was for a time in charge of generative design studies at Bentley Systems. That there has been no big push in that direction with his move to Graphisoft is enlightening; I find that generative design tends to be more popular with marketing departments than with designers.

The hype over apparently-disruptive technology is inescapable, as the technology world, which is a growth market no longer, looks for the Next Big Thing. At some point, you gotta realize that you’re 60, and you just can’t do the things you used to be able to do. (The first CAD program is now approximately 60 years old.) Quite fitting for a 60-year-old industry that the last Next Big Thing was a medical condition, covid.

Going further, I would argue that none of those technologies are disruptive, which I define as “tech that replaces.” Rather, they are options that some users will find useful, and so will add them to their toolboxes.

 

When Hybrid Framework Becomes Available

When will the future be realized? Again, Mr Kerecsen hedged, giving no date. We know that grand predictions of moving CAD to the cloud tend to fail, such as Solidworks 6 never shipping and all Autodesk software not being available only on the cloud by 2018. 

He noted that Graphisoft began working on the framework a few years ago, and then two years ago added plug-ins. Through continuous development, the company plans to add more over time. “I cannot say it will be finished at some point,” he concluded.

 

What Ralph Grabowski Thinks

Three decades ago, the future of computing was going to be all-in-one software (remember Lotus Symphony?). That flopped. Two decades ago, the future was collaboration, and that kind of happened with many CAD programs. A decade ago, the future clearly was moving all CAD software from the desktop to the cloud, and that didn’t happen.

In all cases, these initiatives were driven by vendors’ desire to lock users into their platforms. Symphony flopped because it demanded hardware excessive for the times. Machine-to-machine collaboration is okay, but talking in person is better. The cloud is superior at a few CAD functions, but worse at many others.

Today, software vendors like Graphisoft and ZwSoft (I wrote about Project Wukong in upFront.eZine #1,101) are roadmapping a future that combines all-in-one software with collaboration, the desktop, and the cloud. It’s what makes sense today; it might not tomorrow.

www.graphisoft.com

 

== 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.

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

 

And in Other News

FreeCAD 0.2 is released for Windows, MacOS, and Linux on Github. The latest version improves tree views, multiple-edit modes, section cuts, BIM to 2D, and more. For the full what’s-new list, see wiki.freecadweb.org/Release_notes_0.20.

- - -

“The cost of paying staff to watch their computers churn through opening large Revit files or processing large volumes of data can be significant,” Ideate Software tells us, so they have a solution: Ideate Automation 2.0 scripting software that runs these kinds of tasks in the background (some require additional software):

  • Export designs to PDF, spreadsheet, health data, and quantity take-off files

  • Issue documents, COBie data drops

  • Search for elements that Revit’s built-in browser can’t find

  • Analyze non-standard styles and annotation clashes

…and so on. Get a free trial from www.ideatesoftware.com.

- - -

Beta Cae Systems releases v23 of its simulation software suite with these new functions:

  • Geometry and mesh combined in one toolset

  • Automatic hexa-block generation for tube shapes

  • 50% faster batch CFD meshing

…and a lot more. Read all the details at beta-cae.com/news/20220719_announcement_suite_23.0.0.htm

- - -

Dassault Systemes reports Q2 revenues up 11% (in constant currencies) to $1.38 billion, with Solidworks growing ‘only’ 8%, because of China’s Covid-19 lockdowns, even though total revenues from Asia (which includes China) were up 13%.

The company predicts total revenues of $5.5 billion for fiscal year 2022. It plans to avoid the upcoming recession with a mature pipeline and no large deals collapsing. More reporting from Monica Schnitger at schnitgercorp.com/2022/07/26/earnings-recaps-cadence-dassault-systemes-report-solid-results-and-talk-acquisitions.

- - -

Here are some of the posts that appeared recently on my WorldCAD Access blog:

You can subscribe to the WorldCAD Access blog’s RSS feed through Feed Burner at feeds.feedburner.com/WorldcadAccess.

 

Letters to the Editor

This project was done with all BIM: fastcompany.com/90761934/the-2000-foot-bridge-was-constructed-without-a-single-drawing.

Congratulations on your pending retirement.
     - Henry Sommer

The editor replies: Interesting read. I am gonna bet that when the concrete subs got the 3D models, they generated 2D drawings, away from the public relations department!

- - -

Happy retirement (I don’t quite believe that) and thanks very much — really, for a major part of my enjoyment and understanding of computing in ‘my hobby is my business’ Architecture.

In particular, after years struggling at great initial and annual cost with Microstation Triforma, while happily using an old-version no-annual-cost AutoCAD for 2D, I came across upFront eZine just as you were describing BricsCAD, including its newly re-engineered BIM, which I immediately bought at low cost and got 3D + 2D integrated in familiar, efficient AutoCAD workstyle. That transformed my work, I’d even say my life.

And more. I rewrote my understanding of your descriptions of BricsBIM in my own words on the BricsCAD forum, which got an email of appreciation from [then-]ceo Erik de Keyser. Then an invitation to speak at BricsCAD Conference 2015 in Munich, where I delivered an illustrated talk: my journey in architecture, artistic, cultural and practical; an appeal for the off-angle, freeform, as opposed to the rectilinear assumption, which only BricsBIM’s approach had a hope of fulfilling. It was a lot of fun and went down very well, although it wasn’t what Erik was expecting!

And I’ve enjoyed meeting you at subsequent BricsCAD Conferences, exchanging emails, and seeing them in upFront eZine.

I hope I get to hear if you find yourself doing anything else interesting in the computing world. I’ve said same to Dave Edwards.
     - Tom Foster

The editor replies: I am glad to hear that I was able to be of some help to your career. I will continue to write on my blog, WorldCAD Access at worldcadaccess.com/blog.

 

Notable Quotable

“Given that infectious viruses are outside the wheelhouse of virtually everyone who talks about politics for a living, the correct disposition for public commentators in this pandemic has always been humility, a tone that does not come easily to many of us know-it-alls.

“[The] most important truths will not be revealed by sloppily using transient data we barely understand to reinforce ideological priors.”
     - J. J. McCullough

 

Thank You, Readers

Thank you to readers who donate towards the operation of upFront.eZine:

  • Steve Hunter

  • Malcolm Davies: “Happy Retirement Ralph. Thank you for the many years of wisdom and information.”

  • Stanley Przybylinski: “The PLM Economy (a phrase I coined while at Dassault to refer to the companies that make money off of industrial PLM strategies) will be the worse for your silence. That said, retirement is not far off for me and I am looking forward to (my) silence.”

  • Stephen Schuller: “Thank you for the writing!”

 

To support upFront.eZine through PayPal.me, then I suggest the following amounts:

 

Should Paypal.me not operate in your country, then use www.paypal.com to send funds to the account of [email protected].

Or ask [email protected] about making a direct bank transfer through Wise (Transferwise).

Or mail a cheque (US$ or CDN$ only, please) to upFront.eZine Publishing, Ltd., 34486 Donlyn Avenue, Abbotsford BC, V2S 4W7, Canada.

 

*4673

 

Posted at 07:05 AM in Software | | Comments (0)

Monday, July 25, 2022

The Man Behind WikiIfc: Interview with a firm in stealth mode

Issue #1,134  |  Inside the Business of CAD  |  25 July 2022

WikiIfc displaying an IFC model

Executives of new firms from time to time quietly tell me about their projects that are in stealth mode. The most (in)famous perhaps was Visio’s stealth purchase and redevelopment of Project Phoenix (IntelliCAD). Sometimes, a new company declares itself to be in “stealth mode” for the marketing mystique. Sometimes, employees acccidently splash details on sites like Linked-In.

Today, we have the reverse: the product is public, but the ceo wishes to remain under wraps for now: “Products above personalities,” is how he put it. I know him, his company, and location, and can vouch for him; we have been exchanging emails since 2016. Last year he told me, “I am waiting for something to fructify — if that happens, it will make a good story.”

Then last month he updated me: “You can try to guess the product by googling (or binging) ‘free online IFC viewer’. After I tracked down WikiIfc.com, he explained, “We already have regular users, uploads of 10-15 real life IFC files per day. And no, I don’t intend it to remain a viewer.” (Files you upload are used to improve the viewer, and are not sent outside the company.)

“WikiIfc will focus on collaboration, analysis, and correction. Machine learning [ML] is going to be used heavily. The advantage of it being an online viewer is that the ML analysis program grows smarter with each upload. We have a wealth of AI [artificial intelligence] engineers here.”

 

Q&A

WikiIfc displaying a complex piping model

Grabowski: How did WikiIfc came about?

Anonymous: I have been developing CAD applications for different disciplines for a couple decades now. Of them, BIM interested me the most as it was an interesting problem to solve, with a limitless scope.

Then when covid hit, there was an existential crisis, “What can we do?” This time I wanted something large, something I could work on for, say, the next 20 years. This IFC project is open-ended.

In the area where I live, there was an RFQ [request for quotation] to write BIM-checking software. The idea was to upload IFC files, and then have software crunch the files to report parts that didn’t conform to the building code. We didn’t win it, but we got inspiration from it, given that the bids came in the range of $20 to $50 million.

That told me that there is a market, that there is a need. Some architectural councils specify 3,700 rules. So our idea is to check BIM models for conformity using automation, instead of humans.

Grabowski: How do you plan to differentiate yourself?

Anon: A typical conversation at an architectural office goes like this:

“Do you use BIM?”
“Yes.”

“What software do you use?”
“We use BIM.”

I realize that they mean Revit, and that they are talking about just the authoring part, the 20% of the entire lifecycle of a building. And everyone [BIM software vendors] is going after this one slice.

Well, we are going to look at a tiny part of authoring, such as correcting metadata. When designing, you have no time to make sure the right BIM information is getting in there. So, we want to do everything, except modeling.

Grabowski: What are some of your ideas for expanding your online IFC viewer?

Anon: What is my vision? Our product, WikiIFC, is not stealth, because I believe it should not be hidden. People should be using it, and we learn from what they are doing with it. I’m putting features out there to see which ones stick and which don’t, to see what people are doing, and then enhance the features.

WikiIfc is going to be model-oriented. (For other firms, the model is an afterthought, and so their products are document-oriented.) The types of things we want it to do are check that all the pieces are spatially in the correct place.

Another part is standards. You don’t reinvent the wheel; authorities want everything to follow standards, which makes it faster to build. So WikiIfc will attach standards. I plan to start with the low-hanging fruit with a 80/20 strategy of which rules are used the most. While there are other programs attempting to do it, they are very document-oriented.

You’ll be able to place views, sections, place notes, link views of the live model, such as ‘click on note 5’ to see a specific viewpoint, and then edit it collaboratively.

I want it to run on iPads to use it on-site. Click on views to quickly get to the area in question, which is faster than viewing the entire model.

I’d like it to split the model to disciplines, called ‘federated views’.

It needs change management, which supports maintenance after the building is completed. Upload a file, we calculate the delta, and update the main model.

Grabowski: Who funds you?

Anon: We are self-funded. I am open to  innovative funding ideas.

Grabowski: Are you solo or do you have a programming team?

Anon: I have a team. WikiIFC was conceived in August, 2020, and went online January, 2021.

Grabowski: Where did the name come from?

Anon: Wiki is Hawaiian for “quick” but due to Wikipedia, wiki has come to mean “information.” I want WikiIFC to be quick (it now loads large models in 90 seconds) but also to provide information.

To make it quick, we compile C++ to the browser, which is super fast and hides the code, unlike JavaScript. We run it on a multi-core CPU.

https://wikiifc.com

 

And in Other News

Canadian portable 3D measurement firm Creaform, now a business unit of Ametek, celebrated its 20th anniversary in June. 20.creaform3d.com/milestones

- - -

MachineWorks offers source code to show how to transfer 3MF files with Polygonica to and from STL and PGS formats, which avoids the need to employ API [application programming interface] calls.

MachineWorks provides software for CNC [computer numerical control] simulation and verification, with its Polygonica software handling polygon mesh modeling. www.polygonica.com

- - -

progeSoft releases the M1-compatible version of iCADMac 202, an AutoCAD-workalike that’s able to handle 5K monitors. New functions include constraints, sheetsets, and improved PDF printing.

Permanent licenses ensure this software can’t ever be locked out remotely. See the full what’s-new list at icadmac.com/product.

- - -

Members of VDMA (German Association for Mechanical and Plant Engineering) are demo’ing use-cases in storing these kinds of CAD-related data in blockchains:

  • Forgery-proof exchange of 3D printing and process data

  • Unequivocal identification of printed components

  • Storing history of CAD model creation by multiple users in the blockchain

  • Full proof of the authorship of data (useful in court cases)

Just a little bit more information at prostep.us/category/vdma.

- - -

President Bob Mayer of IMSI/Design retired at the end of June after nearly 40 years in the PC CAD business, most notably selling TurboCAD.

- - -

Dave Edwards ends his PragArchDesignTech newsletter, in which he explained and critiqued architectural design software. Here is his final issue: pragarchdesigntech.substack.com/p/im-done.

- - -

COO Paolo Guglielmini will be replacing Ola Rollen as president and ceo of Hexagon AB at the end of 2022. Mr Rollen continues as chairman of the board.

- - -

Siemens Digital Industries (the latest name for UGS) adds electronic design collaboration from Mentor Graphics to the new release of NX, which no longer suffers the indignity of being assigned a number at its release. Also added are codeless feature templates, algorithmic modeling, and a new topology optimizer.

Or, as the German headline to the press release put it, “NX von Siemens ermöglicht eine bessere disziplinübergreifende Zusammenarbeit und Wissenserfassung.” To celebrate, the company posted a launch video to YouTube:

- - -

Here are some of the posts that appeared recently on my WorldCAD Access blog:

You can subscribe to the WorldCAD Access blog’s RSS feed through Feed Burner at feeds.feedburner.com/WorldcadAccess.

 

Letters to the Editor

Here’s my take on why a lot of BIM applications will fail: engineering support.

Engineers want to be able to take the architect’s BIM and create their drawings and be able to run their calculations. It’s this last part that throws a lot of applications under the bus. Do walls show up as walls? Do rooms and windows allow for HVAC calculations? Are materials transferred for structural calculations?

All very important to their work, and some don’t want to recreate the BIM in their preferred application.
            - Dave Edwards

- - -

Re: Retirement

I’ve been somewhat out of the CAD world for the last year and only popped in every so often since then, but I was surprised to read today that you are retiring. I’ve been a reader since sometime in the ’90s, maybe around about ’96 when we first got Internet in the office!

I just wanted to wish you a happy retirement and to thank you for the incredible work you have done over the years.
            - M. J. Smyth

- - -

We met years ago at a Solidworks press shindig.

Three years ago, after about 35 years gainful self-employment writing about factory automation tech and management strategies for trade journals and corporate clients, including several years of semi-retirement (not that I told my clients that), I too decided to end the ‘every 30 days’ deadline and retire.
     - Lary Gould

 

Notable Quotable

“How to connect with an ethernet cable:

  1. Connect cable to device and then to a switch or router.

  2. Enjoy.

How to connect with WiFi:

  1. Find wireless access point or router.

  2. Make sure signal is strong enough.

  3. Walk to access point and push WPS button.

  4. Walk back to device.

  5. Enter password anyway, because the WPS button didn't work for some reason.

  6. Re-enter password because your fat fingers messed up.

  7. Enjoy.

WiFi has a useful purpose, but replacing ethernet ain't one of them.
     - Wade Burchette

 

Thank You, Readers

Thank you to readers who donate towards the operation of upFront.eZine:

  • Michael Starr: “I have enjoyed your column only over the last three years, having discovered it by accident.”

  • Larry Gould

  • william doran

  • Ross Goulter

 

To support upFront.eZine through PayPal.me, then I suggest the following amounts:

 

Should Paypal.me not operate in your country, then use www.paypal.com to send funds to the account of [email protected].

Or ask [email protected] about making a direct bank transfer through Wise (Transferwise).

Or mail a cheque (US$ or CDN$ only, please) to upFront.eZine Publishing, Ltd., 34486 Donlyn Avenue, Abbotsford BC, V2S 4W7, Canada.

*4672

 

Posted at 07:00 AM in Interviews, Q&A, Software | | Comments (0)

Monday, June 13, 2022

Scoping Infurnia: Interview with Lovepreet Mann

Issue #1,133  |  Inside the Business of CAD  |  13 June 2022

Infurnia running in a Web browser and producing a kitchen design

Infurnia is doing it backwards. First, they developed a interior design package that runs in Web browsers, and now they are porting it the desktop.

The aim of Infurnia is to build an design platform for architecture, interior design, and construction at a “disruptive” price. After I mentioned the company in an earlier issue of upFront.eZine, Lovepreet Mann contacted me to explain the company plan in greater detail. He is a co-founder of the firm and its chief marketing officer.

The eight-year-old Infurnia spent the last two years re-architecting their Web-based software to make it multi-platform. “Multi-platform” does not mean it runs in a Web browser on any kind of device, as some other CAD vendors have described it; for Infurnia, multi-platform means running the code native, locally, on desktop computers with Windows and MacOS, as well as in browsers.

The company took the reverse route after it determined that browser-based software, which tends to be written in JavaScript, is not powerful enough to compete with the best design software out there. So, they rewrote most of the code in C++, with a thin UI layer on top. This was such a big job that they stopped taking new customers during the rewrite.

As of today, they have a proof-of-concept program running native on Windows, with the full version planned for next year, along with a MacOS version. Infurnia will also run in VR [virtual reality] environments, for which they have a viewing app working. All the versions run the same code, and access a single database.

Mr Mann showed me simultaneous editing on multiple platforms. He added a wall in the Windows desktop version, which showed up in the browser version.

“Being Web-based Web-first, helps us,” Mr Mann said. “We do not have a file format, per se. We store data in a database, which can be accessed by API [application programming interface] calls. Any properly authorized app can access it; a design license from Infurnia is not needed.”

“Design data is decoupled from the software,” he said. “Data belongs to the user; Infurnia simply defines it.” There is no longer a need to rely on a specific software program, should it be able to access an Infurnia database.

The core of the software can be embedded through an SDK [software development kit] in other apps, which gives, say, structural software its own UI and access to the data only it needs, such as for procurement, from the Infurnia database.

 

Q&A

Infurnia specifying wall layers

Ralph Grabowski: Who would prefer Infurnia?

Lovepreet Mann: We have several large clients, like Livspace and Spacewood.

We began writing software for modular furniture in 2016, then added a floor planner, then a detailed parts modeler, while working towards the long-term goal of architecture. Our code base is done, so we can really develop fast now.

We want to be self-reliant. We use funding from the interiors division to fund our development on the architecture side. It is currently free to users, so that we can get feedback from them.

Grabowski: What is the goal for your architecture software?

Mann: It should handle every kind of architecture construction in the industry, from small homes to big buildings. If something can be built, then it should be able to be designed in Infurnia.

We plan to have programming by scripting, like Grasshopper.

Grabowski: Were you following Onshape’s approach to the CAD market?

Mann: It is somewhat similar to Onshape, but more like Figma [a collaborative interface design tool]. Onshape is not truly multi-platform.

The problem with Onshape is that it places all the computation on the back end [on remote servers]. We don’t see Infurnia going in this direction [because it runs code locally on the desktop].

Grabowski: Is India your target market?

Mann: India is a good launch base, but we plan to sell it throughout the world.

Grabowski: The drawback to expanding architectural software internationally is that every country, every state might have its own design standards.

Mann: We have been so far focusing on the tech challenges. If we don’t have strong tech, we cannot penetrate the industry. But we recognize we have to deal with standards in different countries.

Grabowski: Do you have a plan to take on the established players in our industry?

Mann: There is a sense that there is no way the incumbents can be removed. But there always is one company that makes a breakthrough [such as when Solidworks on Windows disrupted Pro/Engineer on Unix]. It is when platforms shift that new entrants have an opportunity.

There is a shift to being able to do design on multiple platforms — on the Web, on VR. Autodesk, for instance, has not been able to shift AutoCAD to other platforms [fully].

Grabowski: Do you have a pricing model for the architecture software?

Mann: We plan modest monthly and annual subscriptions, like $50/month and $500/year.

Grabowski: How did you come up with the Infurnia name?

Mann: When we first thought about it in 2014, a flatmate suggested Infurnia — it is short for “interior furniture.” We thought the name would be temporary, but then it grew on us.

- - -

Infurnia plans to place an IPO [initial public offering] in July on the Indian stock market to raise the equivalent of US$5 million at a nominal valuation of $20 million. The plan is to grow the company to a billion-dollar unicorn over the next half decade.

Infurnia toggles between 3D viewing (above) and 2D floor plans (below)

 

What Ralph Grabowski Thinks

Having seen many firms fail in my 37 years in this biz (remember when all display-list processing vendors disappeared overnight?), I worry about new firms. I love their drive to make a difference, their enthusiasm in bringing better products to market, and their aim to displace existing firms — or at least exist alongside them. Some make it, most don’t.

My suggestion of a business plan to upstarts is develop your wow!-software, sell the firm to an incumbent too sclerotic to do it itself, and pocket the millions.

What Infurnia is doing is a huge job. Others attempting a similar path are walking it in reverse, such as PTC and Zwsoft rewriting their Windows-based CAD programs to run in browsers. Infurnia has an advantage in beginning with a smaller code base and working with more modern programming methods. I will be fascinated to see what happens to all three firms in the long-term.

infurnia.com

 

== 3D Conversion of Ultra-Massive 3D Models
via DWF-3D & Okino's PolyTrans|CAD ==

One of the most refined aspects of Okino's PolyTrans|CAD software is in transforming ultra-massive MCAD models of oil and gas rigs, LNG processing plants, 3D factories, and other unwieldy datasets into Cinema-4D, 3ds Max, Maya, and Unity (among others).

What often takes days using blindly incorrect methods takes minutes or an hour with Okino's well-defined optimization and compression methods using its DWF-3D conversion system.

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].

www.okino.com

 

And in Other News

AGACAD introduces what it says is the first software, called Smart Documentation, for automating the entire process of generating documents and drawings from Revit 2020-2023 models. Makes me wonder why Autodesk hadn’t done it yet. The software ships June 16. Lots and lots of details on how it works at agacad.com/products/bim-solutions/smart-documentation/overview.

- - -

LTS is computer jargon for “long-term support,” and now the Open Design Alliance offers it with all its SDKs as of v22.12. This means, for example, you can work with release 22.12 for two years, during which ODA ships out security patches and critical fixes, with little or no change to the code otherwise. More info at opendesign.com/releases.

- - -

Some of us have become tired of watching many conferences online, even though they are free. Hexagon is charging $149 to watch their conference taking place next week from your home computer, whether in real-time or on-demand later on.

In related news, Hexagon’s PPM (process, power, marine) division, based largely on their 2010 Intergraph acquisition, last week renamed itself “Asset Lifecycle Intelligence,” although the URL remains hexagonppm.com.

 

Letters to the Editor

Re: Another Way of Doing MCAD

I understand the need for brevity but the following statement is a little too brash for my taste: “Autodesk’s AutoCAD did 3D modeling from day 1.”

I have used AutoCAD from its earliest days, the first versions were definitely not 3D and only later was 3D functionality was bolted on — I don’t know which version. I have always found AutoCAD a rather clunky 3D modeler.

I was a Computervision Personal Designer reseller. The fact that Personal Designer could 3D models properly was the reason for its niche success. AutoCAD at that time was almost freeware due to the amount of illegal copies floating around.

(There was a specific architectural version called Personal Architect, which was very short lived. One of its features was that it supported the workflow of architects from conceptual to detail design.)

Most early 3D packages like Unigraphics, CADDS, and Personal Designer were direct modellers. Initially they were only surface modellers not solids. I now use Rhino for 3D surface modelling, but sometimes still miss some of the features Personal Designer had like associative geometry. Steve Ford did a wonderful job of porting CADDS to the PC.
     - Rene Dalmeijer

The editor replies: The word ‘direct’ is missing from the sentence. My apologies. It should have read that '“AutoCAD had direct modeling in its 3D from day 1 of solids modeling.” I was dimly aware of Computervision at the time.

I agree with the opinion that the 3D modeling in AutoCAD was dreadful for the most part: first none, then 2.5D, then wireframe, then solids modeling limited so as to not compete with Mechanical Desktop and Inventor.

Little known fact: AutoCAD did have 3D modeling from the very start but the programmers didn’t know how to implement it. Mike Riddle had written MicroCAD, which he contributed to the original Autodesk guys, who renamed it AutoCAD. He eventually settled financially with Autodesk and wrote FastCAD in assembly language. fastcad.com

Mr Dalmeijer responds: Do you know of a book about the history of CAD?

The editor replies: Dave Weisberg in 2008 wrote an exhaustive one, The Engineering Design Revolution, but even it gets some details wrong and misses out some chunks — as all histories do.

He made it available for free, but the official Web site no longer works. I hunted it down and found a safe copy online, which I am making available through my site: pcloud.link/publink/show?code=XZOgHRVZm5EzgTXagkuDCOFFUJ5tyYidNBgy (10MB ZIP file of 24 PDF chapters).

- - -

With regard to “One day, I envision we might employ a clay-like modeling environment, poking and pulling a shape with our fingers through augmented reality, along with some kind of permission assistance,” you might take a look at 3dsystems.com/software/geomagic-freeform.

No augmented reality, but a haptic device to “feel” the “clay” model. It uses voxels.
     - Henry Lamousin

 

Re: Locating the Dystopia in Meta’s Utopia

Your Meta Dystopia Utopia reminded me of this conversation that I transcribed from a video well over a decade ago from a World Economic Forum discussion on Web 2.0 in 2007:

Bill Gates: “We need 3D. You’re seeing it on things like Xbox, where you have Xbox Live for 3D”

Off Camera: “Why 3D?’

Gates: “Well 3D: it turns out the world is in 3D. We used to have only UPPERCASE THEN WE GOT lowercase, and that was fun, then we went from black and white and got this colour thing, that was fun, but in fact 3D, you see glimpses of it, it’s gonna happen.”

And this, slightly edited to remove a country reference, from Douglas Adams:

"Virtually everything we were told turned out not to be true, sometimes almost immediately. The only exception to this was when we were told that something would happen immediately, in which case it turned out not to be true over an extended period of time."

     - Robin Capper, New Zealand

The editor replies: In CAD, some talk of 3D being “just one more dimension” than 2D, when in fact it moves in complexity from just one plane to six planes, many of which are hidden from our view.

 

Re: Retirement

I will miss your reports, analysis and valuable opinion. Unfortunately I started reading upFront.eZine only a few years ago. What a waste. I could have been much better informed decades earlier.

My short paper (1,400 words) on TNG rigs will be printed this summer in the conference magazine for BIM Coordinators Summit 2022 in Dublin. I try to make TGN clearer than I have before: icloud.com/pages/0f782WpnVTEk2vfrS4ameFG_g#The_Form_of_Engagement.

I look forward to any writing you may do in your retirement.
     - Rob Snyder

The editor replies: upFront.eZine reported on Mr Snyder’s concept of TGN rigs in issue #1,115, which place focus on specific portions of the 3D model through a UI and an API, partially solving the six-plane problem.

- - -

To be truthful, I am upset that you will be ending producing upFront. I’m upset that I and the many others who read upFront will no longer have access to your thoughts which have a very wide range beyond simply CAD.

Unlike your neighbour who used to drive a concrete truck, there actually is no one to replace you. No one who has your depth of experience. No one who has your understanding. No one who will give their opinion free of commercial bias. No one who provides nuggets of technical information (you turned me on to wireless backlit keyboards). No one who shares their thoughts on so many things not directly related to CAD. No one who can provide others a forum to present their knowledge, thoughts and opinions. I will miss Notable Quotable and the emails you receive which helps us realize that we are not alone with our CAD frustrations.

Not receiving upFront each week will be a very big loss.

I wish you the very best post-UpFront, but honestly hope that you will reconsider.
     - Dairobi Paul

The editor replies: I plan to continue to write for other publications (their editors are relieved to hear this!) but will wind down this newsletter in mid-September. I hope to also continue writing for my WorldCAD Access blog.

 

Notable Quotable

“Since any criticism of Apple can result in excommunication, I feel unable to trust Websites that can get access to Apple’s stuff.”
     - Caps Lock

 

Thank You, Readers

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Posted at 07:14 AM in Interviews, Q&A, Software | | Comments (0)

Monday, June 06, 2022

Another Way of Doing MCAD

Issue #1,132  |  Inside the Business of CAD  |  6 June 2022

 

BricsCAD Mechanical exploding an assembly


With 1988’s release of Pro/Engineer, Parametric Technology Corp (PTC) standardized an approach to 3D modeling that holds sway to this day. Its two Russian mathematician founders came up with a way to draw 2D sketches that were parametric, and then extrude/revolve them into linked 3D solid models that also were parametric.

“Parametric” means the mechanical design software uses formulas to control the sizes and positions of sketches and parts in models. The two are linked so that changing a sketch changes the model — hence the ‘parametric’ in the PTC company name.

Each step a designer takes along the way is recorded in a history of actions; editing an element in the history tree also changes related sketches and parts, allowing quick iterations of design ideas, like moving a hole or changing the size of a chamfer, without redrawing the model from scratch.

Nearly every MCAD program subsequently copied Pro/Engineer: Solidworks (the first parametric CAD software on Windows), Solid Edge, Inventor, you name it! Parametric modeling migrated to other disciplines, such as architecture and piping.

I should add that parametric design was not invented by PTC; a CAD system that linked 3D models was first developed in the late 1970s in England as 2.5D RUCAPS (Really Universal Computer-Aided Production System) for architectural design, later replaced by 3D Sonata, resurrected as Reflex, and finally purchased by PTC. Although Pro/Reflex failed in the architectural market, PTC found great success with its first-to-market parametric-based mechanical CAD, albeit on the Unix operating system.

The sketch/parametric/history approach, however, has drawbacks. Making changes to the history could take “forever” with complex models and, in some cases, regenerating new versions of the model unhappily crashed the system.

There is another approach. It skips 2D sketching and history trees entirely: designers draw 3D solid primitives directly, like boxes and cones, and then use Boolean and other operations to mold the parts into the final shape desired. This is how HP’s Co/Create (bought by, who else, PTC) and Autodesk’s AutoCAD did 3D modeling from day 1.

Today we call the second approach “direct modeling,” and despite it having a long history, it was resurrected by newer MCAD programs like SpaceClaim (ANSYS), Creo (PTC), and Fusion (Autodesk). The history tree is in danger of becoming history.

So, is a third approach to 3D MCAD possible? One day, I envision we might employ a clay-like modeling environment, poking and pulling a shape with our fingers through augmented reality, along with some kind of precision assistance.

 

BricsCAD Mechanical from Hexagon

BricsCAD Mechanical 2022 showing its user interface


Until that kind AR-based modeling becomes normal, if ever, let’s take a look at the different approach to MCAD taken by BricsCAD. It combines parametrics with direct modeling, leaves out the history tree, and makes sketches optional.

BricsCAD’s history is older even than Pro/Engineer’s, starting in 1986 as the Bricsworks company working on Architecturals, a 3D design program eventually sold to Bentley Systems as MicroStation TriForma. In 2002, the company now known as Bricsys came out with an AutoCAD-workalike based on IntelliCAD, yet a few years later rewrote all the code so that it could develop its BricsCAD at a faster pace.

There was, at the time, speculation Bricsys might adopt the old Architecturals code to the new BricsCAD. The company demurred, developing instead its own 3D modeling system based on the ACIS modeling kernel from Dassault Systemes’ Spatial and a 3D design system developed by programmers at LEDAS in Russia.

The LEDAS system combined parametrics with feature recognition and direct modeling/editing, to which Bricsys recently added a form of artificial intelligence. The system was good enough that Bricsys bought the intellectual property from LEDAS, as well as hired some of its staff. In a twist, however, BricsCAD employed LEDAS’ 2D and 3D parametric system, not Spatial’s, making it incompatible in that area with other design systems.

The workflow looks like this:

  1. You import a 3D model into BricsCAD Mechanical from another MCAD program with a separate, extra-cost option called “Communicator,” which is the InterOp translator licensed from Spatial.
  2. The imported model is dumb, so you apply BricsCAD’s features recognition to add smarts to the model.
  3. You change the model with BricsCAD’s direct editing functions.

If this doesn’t seem new to you, that’s because MCAD competitors mimicked the workflow; others are scrambling to catch up in the area of automatic feature recognition.

 

Semi-automated Drafting Assistance

Adding 42 bolts at once with BricsCAD’s smart search and replace function


BricsCAD subsequently added semi-automated search-and-replace, in which you specify a feature (say a hole) and the block with which to replace it (like a drill tap), and BricsCAD finds all occurrences.

BricsCAD has a number of automation techniques that it calls A.I. One is “propagation.” It searches drawings for likely elements like joints, and then adds connections. Another is “blockification,” which looks for identical instances of groups of entities and then converts them to blocks. A third is “optimization” for finding lines at slight angles and gaps, and fixing them up.

There are a couple benefits to applying these techniques to drawings. Replacing repeated details (like gussets) with blocks greatly reduces a file’s size. The other, more important benefit, is hyper-fast detailing: Think of specifying details of joints (typically made of several bolts, cutouts, and stiffeners) between dozens of columns and beams in structures.

BricsCAD BIM uses the same import/recognize/edit system to turn dumb IFC files into smart BIM ones. “Bimify,” for instance, defines vertical and horizontal slabs as walls and floors automatically.

 

Staying With DWG

BricsCAD Shapes worksing with 3D solids natively


In another divergence from mainstream MCAD, BricsCAD stores its design data in DWG files, the same format used by AutoCAD. The DWG format is flexible enough to store all kinds of data not defined by Autodesk. This makes drawings made with BricsCAD Mechanical compatible with BricsCAD BIM, something Autodesk cannot offer its mechanical and architectural customers, ironically enough.

Nevertheless, Bricsys had to come up with some workarounds. For instance, DWG does not support assemblies, and so BricsCAD stores parts in xrefs and then connects them with 3D constraints. Other data is stored in other formats for optimization reasons, such as point clouds in BPT (Bricsys Point Tree) files.

Depending on the vertical edition, BricsCAD has built-in sheet metal design, civil terrain and roadway design, MEP (mechanical, engineering, plumbing), BIM (building information modeling), and kinematic analysis — all stored in DWG files.

A few years ago, the company released a free 3D modeling program, Shape, positioning it as a pre-design program, like SketchUp. Unlike SketchUp, it works with 3D solid.

 

What Ralph Grabowski Thinks

Sweden’s Hexagon bought Belgium’s Bricsys a few years ago, after being impressed by how well BricsCAD replaced AutoCAD in its CADWorx plant design software. The good news is that so far Hexagon seems to have left BricsCAD development alone, meaning updates continue at their usual frenetic pace. As happens with acquisitions, some Bricsys executives eventually left Hexagon to form a new company, promising to create a new way of working with very large IFC and BIM files.

Despite Bricsys doing a lot of deep thinking on how CAD ought to operate, it continues to be a small company, with only 300,000 users, a number that hasn’t seemed to have changed over the years.

It can never replace Pro/Engineer or Solidworks, so it places the emphasis on being different: a direct editor for MCAD systems incapable of direct editing at a third the cost, along with a dash of A.I. and everything stored in DWG files.

www.bricsys.com

[This article is reprinted with permission from Design Engineering magazine.]

 

And in Other News

Open source Web development library BabylonJS is updated to v5.0 to fully support WebGPU, gITF 3D scenes, node-based materials, WebXR lighting, and to build cross-platform applications. It is backed by Microsoft, and can be used as an online BIM viewer, digital twinning, and common data environments. Details at osarch.org/2022/05/28/babylonjs-5-0-release-makes-3d-web-apps-easier-than-ever/

- - -

Solidspac3 does 12-hour turnarounds for QA/QC [quality assurance and control] variance reports so that construction firms can compare design models with reality-captured laser scans. Construction variances are reported the same day as they occur. The software generates accurate as-built digital twins of building models for other applications. It is built on Autodesk Forge. solidspac3.com

- - -

IronCAD updates IronCAD 2022 in PU1, product update #1, with automatic TriBall positioning on the default orientation plane, Ctrl+E to progress through Show Hidden Edges, Hide All Edges, and Show Visible Edges, and ' to select the lowest visible assembly. For full details on what's new, check out ironcad.com/blog/whats-new-in-2022-product-update-1.

- - -

Cerulean Labs releases v2 Spaces sketch-based conceptual design app for iPad. adding space planning, sun studies, new digital sketchbook, and IFC and OBJ export. Starter version is free, other versions are $348 or $900 annually. Compare features sets at spacesapp.io/pricing.

 

Letters to the Editor

Re: Careful How You Do New BIM

In general, architects are only liable for egregious errors and code compliance. Please do not think I lack sympathy. They have a Herculean task, and firms are not paid enough to actually have the knowledge to design everything.

Early in my career, a junior architect (with a Master's degree + passing the license test) approached me about coming to work for us. We discussed salary and I was amazed to learn that they were making less than my clerical people.

Ask founders [of BIM software firms] if they are concerned about the liability their company may incur from their product.  Any contractor or architect with brains is concerned with liability as they know stories of firms that disappeared because of the liability from one small error.
            - Leo Schlosberg

- - -

Regarding BIM, in 1987 I was involved in making a link between a CAD system (initially Prime Medusa and Oracle) specifically for the design and maintenance of HVAC systems. Eventually the CAD went to AutoCAD. We experienced serious problems with AutoCAD giving inconsistent entity handles.

Another project I was involved with around 1995 was for electrical schematics. Again AutoCAD and Oracle had the same problems. Some CAD packages are just not good in managing relationships between entities.

I once worked with a 2D CAD system called VisoinAEL that had an excellent link between graphic entities and whatever data you wanted to add. You could flip between a graphic view and a spreadsheet view. Even though it was just 2D, this proved to be very power full tool.

Why BIM fails:

  • The parties that have the most to gain do not make the BIM

  • Architects are not paid to create and manage consistent BIM

Anyone who has ever looked at the consistency of an architectural model, specifically in AutoCAD, will know what a mess they generally create after some revisions. To do BIM properly requires a lot of management to maintain a consistent data model. Most parties are not prepared to pay for this effort.
            - Rene Dalmeijer

The editor replies: I had never heard of VisionAEL, so thank you for letting me know about it! I wonder if this is where the developers of Visio got their idea: a graphics packages based on a spreadsheet.

The visionael.com Web site 404s me. But looking at cached Web pages, it looks they might have gone the way of Visio, concentrating on network diagramming.

Mr Dalmeijer responds: VisionAEL was a Swiss company, an offshoot of Aerni-Leuch. As far as I know, they were an important paper manufacturer amongst others for drafting. They spent quite a bit of money to create the product, including marketing budgets. What I knew about the source code is that it was based on Easydraft. Initially it only worked on HP workstations.

I suppose they saw the signs on the horizon. Just before they stopped, it was ported to [Unix-based] Silicon Graphics workstations, although I don’t think it was ever sold on this platform.

I also dabbled with Visio for the same reason.

 

Re: Retirement

You may remember that you reviewed a book I wrote on CAD in 2007. AutoCAD: Secrets Every User Should Know meant to be a best-practices book for my CAD management class at college. It was, to say the least, a very gratifying review, vindicating my assurance to the publisher that, despite you publishing books with one of their competitors, you would be fair and thorough — should you decide to review it. My pitch to them was that you might be a curmudgeon, but you would never trash or even down-play a competitor without good reason.

I can’t thank you enough for that. The book is still in print, despite the normal tiny shelf life of CAD books, and we still use it in our classes, demonstrating to our students that, fundamentally, the process of using a computer to aid in efficient and accurate design doesn’t change just because software developers release a new product every year. 

The primary tools that they learn in developing their design skills. Employers routinely complement our graduates on how easily they adapt to new situations, even if they don’t find themselves using AutoCAD, Revit, Civil 3D, or SolidWorks.

At 71, I am of your general vintage, but I have not yet reached the point where I am ready to stop teaching. Even with Zoom classes becoming the norm it continues to be a gratifying career – for me.  My answer to the increasingly frequent question “When will you be retiring?” is still, “I haven’t really thought about it.” That feels like a blessing to me.

Good luck in your retirement, and thanks for your critical eye and commentary. Hard to believe a newsletter on the business of CAD would have such a long life.
            - Dan Abbott

The editor replies: I still have your book on my shelf. I am glad to hear that the Secrets book worked out so well for you.

I did enjoy teaching CAD at the local technical college. Then the government made all colleges “universities,” meaning my bachelor’s degree was no longer sufficient to teach. Oh well, the commute was a killer!

- - -

I wish you a well deserved retirement, and am very pleased for you to reach this milestone!  I’ve been following you since 1993-ish, prior to that was getting my information from the old CAD Report‌ newsletter.

Your journalism and ability to ask the hard questions provided us with the real scoop in our CAD industry, but was especially valued because you were always non-biased. I hope retirement gives you the opportunity to explore other areas, and please look back on your contribution of insight, discovery, and all your work related travel as a wonderful way to call it a career. You will be missed by us!
            - Randy Mees

The editor replies: I am appreciative of all that I was able to experience in CAD, especially the worldwide travel, as that was the only free benefit I received as a self-employed person.

I will still do some writing, but my wife and I have grandchildren and parents to help look after, as well as being involved in volunteer work.

 

Notable Quotable

“If your business model requires hiding your business model from your own customers, maybe your business model sucks.”
     - Stephen Green

 

Thank You, Readers

Thank you to readers who donate towards the operation of upFront.eZine:

  • S Bumbalo

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Posted at 07:13 AM in Software | | Comments (0)

Monday, May 30, 2022

Locating the Dystopia in Meta's Utopia

Issue # 1,131  |  Inside the Business of CAD  |  30 May 2022

 

Opinion by Ralph Grabowski

 

Nick Clegg’s 8,014-word manifesto “Making the metaverse: What it is, how it will be built, and why it matters” is confident that the metaverse will bend the arc of history towards a single future. It is, of course, what ought to be expected, when, from a plurality of outcomes, the final outcome — a metaverse of metaverses — is the sole destination under consideration.

That it took 8,014 words to say something that could have been said in 1,814 smacks, I think, of writing by committee. It seems to me that every committee member’s idea was to be included, and, as a result, similar ideas appear more than once in the manifesto — sometimes two and three times.

Here, in 1,814 words, is my response.

- - -

The VR people are frustrated. VR [virtual reality] has been around almost as long as desktop computers. While fat desktop PCs have progressed to thin laptops, all-day tablets, awe-inducing smartphones, and the ultimate in miniaturized communication devices, smartwatches, VR has remained clunky. Here, for instance, is what a VR headset looked like in 1989, as illustrated by a portion of the cover of that year’s December CADalyst magazine (at left).

VR headset of 1989 (left) looking very similar to AR headsets thirty years younger

I admit the monster computer and thick bundle of cables feeding the low-count-polygon scenes to the late-80s headset have given way to wireless connections and hi-res graphics, but the chunky part that rests in front of the eyes still rests boot-like in front of our eyes (at right, above).

- - -

I feel sorry for the manifesto’s author, Nick Clegg, the former head of England’s left-of-center Liberal Democratic party. As president of global affairs at Meta Platforms, it’s his job to justify the decision made by his boss, ceo and controlling shareholder Mark Zuckerberg, for Facebook to go all-in with XR (VR + AR = mixed reality) to the point of changing the corporate name to Meta.

Meta is Greek for “beyond/beside/with/after,” and in English it has come to refer to transcendence, such as metaphysics (beyond what physics can study) and metacharacter (outside literal  programming code). I suppose someone at Facebook thought that if VR comes after R [reality], then “after” would be a good name for the company; even better, to Greek-ify it for greater gravitas.

Here is how all-in Zuckerberg put Facebook: there are nearly ten thousand employees in the division responsible for making the metaverse real, Reality Labs. Ten thousand is one-fifth of Facebook’s workforce, working on recreating the world in the image of Man.

As well as feeling sorry for Mr Clegg, I also feel bad for The Zuck. With Facebook faltering, what could he do for an encore, when 38 is too too young for someone to rest on laurels? He’d have gone looking for something that’s (1) next-gen, (2) as addictive as facebooking, and (3) able to generate far greater revenues than today. 

- - -

Text-based Gopher “browser” reporting a server room’s temperature history; the gopher protocol, from 1991, predates the Mosaic hypertext browser by two years

But, getting back to the feeling-sorry-for-Nick-Clegg part. He has to justify the metaverse to a skeptical world that already rejected 3D TV. How skeptical? Second Life was the forerunner in proving there is little life in a second world. Meta’s Reality Labs lost $10 billion in 2021, after losing $6 billion the year before. (By comparison, investors gave barely more, $12 billion last year, to the more important topic of automated cars.)

On that day in early February, 2022 when Facebook announced its name change and the pivot to VR, the FB share price fell by 26%. The price of a share is what investors feel is the future value of the company; investors were saying Facebook had little future in VR. The share price has continued to fall since then, down 49% from its all-time high as I write this.

As someone once said, “This dog don’t hunt.”

- - -

In his manifesto, Mr Clegg patiently explains that just as we stepped from text-based Internet to pictures to streaming videos, the next step we take, naturally, ought to be into interactive environments; from 2D to 3D. (The step following this, I think trans-humanists would argue, is Ray Kurzweil’s beloved The Singularity.)

What he didn’t note is that as we stepped from text to pictures to video, the form factor remained unchanged. The Netscape Web browser I used in 1994 is as familiar as the Opera one I use today; the UX [user experience] of the Palm Pilot I bought in 1996 is mimicked by my Android phone today.

Palm Pilot 1994 UX (left) looking little changed in an Android device of 2022

The step he wants us to take — from streaming videos to interactive environments (VR) — is, in fact, blocked. He requires people to don bulky, expensive headsets, wrenching the familiar — Web browsers and smartphone interfaces — from our daily lives. It is, by far, a step too far.

He emphasizes the benefit of immediacy, where remote employees and clients are in the same virtual room. He misses the disappearance of immediacy when people physically in the same room wear headsets that deprive us of the subtleties with which we sense others in the room. As Epic ceo Tim Sweeney describes it, “It’s not very fun to sit around in 3D and just talk to people. It gets really awkward really fast.”

Mr Clegg mentions how Zoom made remote meetings normal, but didn’t take the next step in noting that people have come to despise Zoom. We CAD editors have written about how tired we are of remote conferences, and the pleasure we feel reacquainting ourselves with in-person events, even if they require ten-hour plane rides through nine time zones.

- - -

The human experiment is continuously undone by our lust for power, and power is effective only when concentrated in the very few. To counter the worry that Meta wants to make its metaverse as much a walled garden as it attempted with Facebook and Instagram, Mr Clegg promises his company will cooperate with all competitors to create a metaverse of metaverses — the multiverse. The problem, of course, is that competitors will want their gardens walled, well and tight.

He admits not all functions would necessarily be exposed by APIs (my wording), and not all competitors will want to cooperate with Meta; as well, users can create ’verses exclusive to themselves. The meta of metas becomes an unfulfillable dream well before eight thousand words are up.

We see this in our industry, as CAD vendors desire to silo their customers. Some isolate them from the larger CAD community through pay-to-play subscription billing and software kill switches; some make putative threats against dealers and customer who gaze elsewhere; many lack a serious interest in unified file formats; and some even force their customers’ files into central design databases designed to be inaccessible by outsiders.

- - -

The negatives Mr Clegg primarily sees in VR are the kinds a politician would see: Equitable metaverses for the (historically) disadvantaged! Subsidized headsets for the poor! $40 billion added to the African economy! Banning of undesirable behavior!

Mr Clegg does not consider the cultural barriers faced by a multiverse. Being from the western world, he probably favors some kind of secular liberal-democratic approach to ethics in VR Land. The manifesto does not take into account a Pentecostal Africa, a Catholic Latin America, an Islamic Middle East and Southeast Asia, a Hindu India, a Maori New Zealand. Their concepts of undesirable behaviors don’t necessarily coincide with his ideas regarding undesirable behaviors. They will be bemused at the white man’s attempt to enforce his secularism on their communities.

Meta’s metaverse avatars lacking gonads

To reduce undesirable behavior between avatars, Meta recently added four-foot exclusion zones to keep others from bumping into you, deliberately or otherwise. In some parts of the world, distancing is considered safe, while in other parts, such as where males hold hands as a sign of good friendship, it is seen as exclusionary. In Meta’s VR Land, it appears we are going to be guilty until proven innocent.

Avatar being siloed for protection

- - -

Whereas Mr Clegg writes that the metaverse will be like real life through three key factors — ephemerality [short-lived], embodiment [tangible], and immersion [absorbed] —, Peter Franklin counters that “Clegg has missed the bigger picture, which is that the Internet has allowed us to move away from ephemerality, embodiment, and immersion.” In short, we want our privacy.

The manifesto does not broach a distinction between synchronous and asynchronous communications:

  • Synchronous. Phone calls and VR sessions require all parties to be present all the time. This is one thing making Zoom calls exhausting. The advantage, however, is immediate feedback: we know the other parties got the message; we can work our way to decisions interactively.

  • Asynchronous (not synchronized). Leaving messages on answering machines and sending emails make us independent of others, enhancing privacy and efficiency, but we wonder, Did the other person get the message;how many back-and-forths (a.k.a. telephone tag)?

In CAD, sending around markups is asynch communications; real-time simultaneous editing needs synch’ed comms.

Sometimes we phone, sometimes we email. Neither replaces the other.

- - -

Earlier in this piece, I wrote that Facebook thinks that VR comes after R, but in reality, VR is adjacent to R, being just one of many un-R options. I think about my son-in-law who loves bouldering: going up fake cliffs inside air conditioned gyms. My daughter converting the reality of pretty-good wedding photos into stunning ones with photo editing filters. And perhaps the ultimate in augmented reality, my son hiring and helping people who have a hard time figuring out the reality of life.

Great photo by Katrina Grabowski being made better with filters

I suppose the most insidious part of the Zuckerman-inspired Clegg future is how VR ought to replace R: “The metaverse is coming, one way or another,” he warns. Novels like Neuromancer, which four decades ago predicted metaverses, described dystopias, not utopias; their authors understood the human condition.

In addition to solving the what-comes-after-facebooking problem, there is a second Meta motive. I haven’t mentioned autism yet, which is much more common in Silicon Valley than in, say, middle America. It leads programmers, who benefit from the concentration given to them by spectrums like Asperger's syndrome, to think about worlds they can control, without having to interact with unpredictable humans made of flesh. As Christina Buttons, who has Asperger’s syndrome, explains, “The prospect of making an impact through arms-length electronic methods held considerable appeal” for her.

As a result, we have 0.5% of the population telling the 99.5% how, in the future, we ought to live.

- - -

There’s a reason sales of ebooks fell below those of paper books, and why LPs have resurged: people prefer the real over the virtual, particularly after the hideous lack of human-to-human interaction forced upon us by that invisible virus.

Take lesson from the failure of 3D TV. It failed because (1) it required people to wear glasses in a glasses-averse society (not wearing them meant being ostracized from the social event); (2) it required people to replace their recently-purchased big and expensive flat-screen TVs with TVs that looked identical but cost much more. That particular dog also didn’t hunt.

Mr Clegg should instead look at which Meta products are the uber-popular ones, the growing ones: WhatsApp and Messenger. From my neighbors, I hear that Facebook Market is popular; it’s for selling stuff. What people want is to communicate with one another conveniently, effortlessly, cheaply; the metaverse is far removed from all three.

Mr Zuckerman ought be proud of what he has accomplished, and be content with what he has. More is unnecessary.

tech.fb.com/ar-vr

 

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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].

www.okino.com

 

And in Other News

“As I listened to the Autodesk Accelerate speakers, it became clear that ‘digital transformation’ as a buzzword is almost meaningless. It’s marketing-speak from vendors trying to sell the latest and greatest and, like many things marketed at us, both aspirational and demotivating.” More commentary from Monica Schnitger at schnitgercorp.com/2022/05/20/digital-transformation-lets-talk.

- - -

Matt Lombard reports on attending Realize Live 2022 at dezignstuff.com/realize-live-2022-report. I have always wondered how it came to be that Solidworks is the star in the Dassault firmament, while Solid Edge remains in the shadow of Siemens NX. Maybe it’s due to this: Solidworks benefits from being so different from Catia (and V6), but Solid Edge is too similar to NX.

- - -

Could mythic “Putin Tax” be starting to have an impact on CAD software prices? Dassault Systemes announces 5% price increases as of July 1, 2022 on all software license formats (including perpetual, maintenance, yearly and quarterly subscriptions) on all its software, such as Catia, Simulia, Enovia, and Delmia. Dassault had earlier said that Russia represents fewer than 0.5% of non-IFRS revenues in 2021.

 

Letters to the Editor

Re: Careful How You Do New BIM

I think that BricsCAD BIM is a kind of fresh breath in this area. You can model or import dumb 3D solids, and then run the pretty smart Bimify command.

It’s interesting that BricsCAD seems to be faster than Revit to open IFC files, and of course better than Archicad at making useful DWGs.
     - Ragnar Thor Mikkelsen, Norway

- - -

A major issue underlying Dave Edwards’ editorial is, “Who/what has to get the design details right,” a.k.a. “Who is liable for errors?” Not architects, not software companies or software engineers, but definitely subcontractors and structural engineers.

We are not close to cramming all the knowledge of the diffuse players who end up taking responsibility for getting a building done right into software or other repository. Construction offers oh-so-many opportunities for errors based on minor details and arcane, highly specialized knowledge.
     - Leo Schlosberg, USA

 

Notable Quotable

“Why does every bit of the [Facebook] metaverse look like the worst thing anyone has ever produced in all of human history and even within the realms of fiction and imagination itself.”
    - Brendel (@Brendelbored)

 

Thank You, Readers

Thank you to readers who donate towards the operation of upFront.eZine:

  • Colin Larkin

  • R L Capper: “Enjoy your full-time retirement when the time comes!”

  • Uwe Redmer: “Good luck for the future and enjoy the complete retirement. Was always a pleasure to read your articles.”

  • Kenneth Knevel

 

To support upFront.eZine through PayPal.me, then I suggest the following amounts:

 

Should Paypal.me not operate in your country, then use www.paypal.com to send funds to the account of [email protected].

Or ask [email protected] about making a direct bank transfer through Wise (Transferwise).

Or mail a cheque (US$ or CDN$ only, please) to upFront.eZine Publishing, Ltd., 34486 Donlyn Avenue, Abbotsford BC, V2S 4W7, Canada.

*4670

 

 

 

Posted at 07:24 AM in Software | | Comments (0)

Monday, May 23, 2022

Careful How You Do New BIM

Issue #1,130  |  Inside the Business of CAD  |  23 May 2022

 

Guest editorial by Dave Edwards

From the Editor

The era of CAD-Is-Amazing is over.

Today’s CAD/MCAD/BIM programs are based on concepts from the 1980s. Change is necessary, as today’s hardware and software capabilities allow for better approaches. CAD is, unfortunately, so integrated into our workflows that change isn’t possible.

Attempts to create new CAD paradigms typically fail, either during development (the aim is too high, the funding too low), or due to lack of interest from the market, which finds itself comfortable with the status quo.

We see snippets of modernity like drawings auto-generated from models, despite the forward-thinkers insisting 2D is dead. The dream of digital twins of horrifically complex projects like skyscrapers is perhaps unattainable.

Let us attend what Dave Edwards has to say to the new crop of BIM vendors described in upFront.eZine #1,128, The Second Wave of BrowserCADs.

 

For quite a while I’ve been wondering why there aren’t more BIM applications competing in the market. BIM is just 3D graphics combined with the ability to import and export data. Couldn’t any 3D graphics program have data added to its objects, and have the facility to export it out, and call it “BIM”? There may be much more to it than that, and perhaps that’s why some of the other players seem to not be making a dent.

You could add constraints or groupings to any 3D graphics program to form “architectural objects.” Walls could be created from flat planes; they could be moved as one; trimmed, deleted, and all the other functions needed to create floor plans. Door objects could be designed that cut into walls and walls that would heal when doors are moved or deleted. But is it enough?

It has been always interesting to me that Autodesk bought Revit when they already had a long-standing 3D architectural application in AutoCAD Architecture. After years of thinking about it, it occurs to me that the freeform nature of general CAD systems is not well-suited as BIM applications. There is an inherent coordination of objects that BIM applications take into account.

Is the latest crop of new BIM applications going to miss this and just stop too soon?

 

“There’s a Hole on the Bottom of the Sea*”

There are a lot of 3D applications with which you could create 3D models, cut floor plans, create sections, do renderings, and even create fantastic piles of data. Is there something that makes the Big Names different? And why are developers, who are taking old technology and trying to turn them into BIM, not succeeding? Relationships!

Relationships come in several very different fronts. These are not just 3D objects, but ones that will someday, hopefully, be built into breathing buildings. I’ve advocated this before: there must be a coordinated effort for 3D objects, and the materials they’re composed of, to have relationships to real-world parameters.

Is this wall brick? Great! What type of brick? How much does it weigh? How strong is it? What’s its thermal gain? Where to find this information — from the manufacturer? Or should there be a central organization dedicated to providing building material parameters? Just asking!

This is broken-record territory. For this to succeed, there must be open-source file formats for building data exchange. ’Nuf said!

- - -

Why can’t we just slap data on a CAD(D) application and called it “BIM”? Here’s a better question to ask yourself: Why is Revit building a relational database? Unlike just putting lines on a layer and a sheet, building data has many relationships:

  • Grid lines on levels

  • Walls on grids lines

  • Rooms defined by walls

  • Doors and windows embedded into walls

  • Components attached to walls

If I move a level, everything on that level moves. If I move a wall, the doors and windows move.

These relationships can cause BIM to be overly complicated and error-prone, but is that the fault of the concept, or the application and/or UX [user experience] developer?

 

I Hope, I Hope, I Hope

I hope they don’t miss this. To understand most software, you have to understand it at a conceptual and not just a functional level. The young BIM guns may get the sizzle, but will they get the steak? This is really not hard once you understand some of the core designs that must be put into place. I fear if they miss this, they’ll fail. We shall see!

I hope these musings will help users understand the decisions they need to make, and that developers take a hard look before just jumping in.

 

[Dave Edwards has been a manager, developer, consultant, speaker, and author for almost 40 years in the CAD/BIM industry.]

[Reprinted with permission from PragArchDesignTech at pragarchdesigntech.substack.com/p/padt-1005-short-and-sweet.]

And in Other News

Here are some of the posts that appeared recently on my WorldCAD Access blog:

You can subscribe to the WorldCAD Access blog’s RSS feed through Feed Burner at feeds.feedburner.com/WorldcadAccess.

 

Letters to the Editor

Re: The Second Wave of BrowserCADs

I’m surprised at such little mention of Rhino in your article. We are fabricators of architectural products and for the last few years, 19 out of 20 projects have been sent to us as Rhino files, and half of the ones that weren’t were originally Rhino and imported into Revit.

Rhino seems to us to have become the default standard for 3D modeling in architecture.
- B. K.

The editor replies: The article was specific to new CAD programs that run in Web browsers, introducing them to readers, especially to CAD industry executives who subscribe to upFront.eZine. As you stated, programs like Rhino, Grasshopper, SketchUp, and so on are very popular among architects.

 

Re: upFront.eZine’s Last Donation Drive

I am of similar vintage, only about three years ahead of you. I know how you feel. I want to thank you for your years of providing a quality newsletter.
     - Phillip Rutledge

The editor replies: It is interesting how it just happens one day. Same for my neighbour, who used to drive a concrete truck: He woke up one morning and said, ‘I don’t want to do this anymore.’

For those who may have missed it, I wrote in the donation-drive email:

May 1 is the 27th anniversary of upFront.eZine, and at over one thousand issues, it the longest running newsletter in the history of CAD [written by a single editor]. This fall, it comes to a close.

There is a time, I have found among people of my gray-haired age, when you realize, “I just don’t want to do this anymore.” I’ve been semi-retired for a year now, and so decided to end the newsletter on the 37th anniversary of me getting into the CAD writing biz — mid-September, 1985.

- - -

#justdontwanttodothisanymore. Sir! I totally feel what you have just expressed. I too hit this road block many years ago with CAD and stopped draughting, but I have stayed informed and still dabble a bit using trial software and keep up in the BIM space.

Thank you for your years of credible information.
     - Robert D

- - -

Even though i am no longer directly active in the cad/bim business as you know, i still read eZine with great pleasure. Compliment how you are able to stay up-to-date with new developments, that is hard work. You are very welcome to retire.
     - Gijs Willem Sloof

 

Notable Quotable

“It is not your soul which makes you human, but your ability to choose a square containing a traffic light.”
     - Management Speak @managerspeak

 

Thank You, Readers

Thank you to readers who donate towards the operation of upFront.eZine:

  • David Wheeler Short: “Congratulations on your upcoming retirement and a great long run! Thanks!”

  • Plessey Mathews: “Thank you Ralph for all issues of upFront.eZine that you created and shared, and I enjoyed for these 18 of the 27 years. May your retirement be filled with unexpected newness in all things.”

  • Robert Shingler: “Just read your latest email and sorry to hear you’re stopping. Good luck in your retirement, I have enjoyed your newsletters and blogs over the years and wish you well for the future.”

  • Stephen Warrick: “Thanks for ‘How to make Eudora 7 work with Gmail servers’.”

To support upFront.eZine through PayPal.me, then I suggest the following amounts:

Should Paypal.me not operate in your country, then use www.paypal.com to send funds to the account of [email protected].

Or ask [email protected] about making a direct bank transfer through Wise (Transferwise).

Or mail a cheque (US$ or CDN$ only, please) to upFront.eZine Publishing, Ltd., 34486 Donlyn Avenue, Abbotsford BC, V2S 4W7, Canada.

*4650

Posted at 07:25 AM in Guest Editorials, Software | | Comments (0)

Monday, April 25, 2022

The Second Wave of BrowserCADs: Arcol, Infurnia, Snaptrude, Qonic

Issue #1,128  |  Inside the Business of CAD  |  25 April 2022

 

User interface of Arcol, which is not yet shipping

Arcol is certain it will change the way AEC is done, advancing the discipline from “20-year-old Autodesk” to a modern architectural modeler: edit a sketch in a Web browser to change the 3D model. The software is not yet in alpha, but it hopes to ship by year’s end. More info at https://arcol.io.

The problem for Arcol is that other similar browser-based AEC design programs are already available, such as Infurnia and Snaptrude, which also are meant for collaborative BIM, interior design, and kitchen work. Pricing of them is in the range of $50-$120/user/month. A limited-function free version of each is available:

These three join Qonic (also in pre-alpha mode) being developed by former Bricsys employees like Erik de Keyser, Dmitry Ushakov, and Sander Scheiris. Qonic hopes to automate the conversion of design intent into construction models — to fill in missing parts and data using, I suspect, an intelligent search and replace system not too dissimilar from that found in BricsCAD BIM.

 

There Was A First Wave

Kitchen design by Infurnia linked to parts catalog

This splurge in Web-based CAD is a second wave, coming a decade or so after an initial wave of independent browser-based CAD programs with names like sunglass.io, TinkerCAD, To3D, and Onshape. (In addition, desktop CAD vendors like Graebert and Autodesk developed their own browserCAD programs.)

The first wave was made possible by the then-new technology in Web browsers, which made it easier to run CAD on remote servers and interact with drawings and models locally.

While doing CAD on the cloud is fabulous in theory, it’s not so much in practice. We saw what it took for Onshape to produce a Web-based MCAD program: $100 million or so. Eventually, all four first wavers were acquired, some at the brink of death.

The second wave, for now, largely operates on funding to cover the cost of free plans.

Infurnia is looking to go public (getting funding through shareholders), while Arcol is running on $5 million from investors; one of the firm’s investors is former Autodesk co-ceo Amar Hanspal. Snaptrude has taken in at least $600 thousand. Qonic, I believe, is self-funded.

 

Catching Up, Frantically

Sun study by Snaptrude

AEC CAD is a much tougher problem to solve than MCAD. As Martyn Day points out, these new companies not only have to catch up function-wise with the ArchiCADs and Vectorworks of the world, but also attempt to displace existing seats. A tough moat to leap.

We see the dire need to catch-up feature-wise in Snaptude’s what’s-next list for 2022, most of which we take for granted in “20-year-old Autodesk”:

  • 2D drawings

  • Parametric objects

  • NURBSs and splines

  • Advanced booleans

  • Live link to Revit

  • Quick costing and quantity bills

  • Switch between massing and BIM

  • Sustainability analysis and climate studies

Onshape in its early years issued updates every six weeks to catch up to Solidworks, even as Solidworks continued to stride ahead. The pace for these four needs to be just as frenetic.

Still, browserCAD has functions that for the most part escape desktop CAD, such as these ones offered by Infurnia, some of which was pioneered by Onshape:

  • Models and changes saved to the cloud; no drawing files

  • Access to design data through APIs; models shared through links

  • Browse change history; revert to earlier versions of models; branch designs

The thing these newcomers have easy is that the road forward has been surveyed and graded by the earlier firms. The end game is known: all of desktop CAD + all of browserCAD.

 

What Ralph Grabowski Thinks

MOCKUP
Qonic is still in stealth mode

Like the first wave of browserCAD companies, these four will, in the end, most likely survive through acquisitions. That, perhaps, is the game plan(s) of them and their investors anyhow. One suitor, I expect, will be Autodesk; my pick for it is Snaptrude.

So, why the new flurry of browserCADs? The last several years have seen central banks flood too much money into the economies of the world, and so investors are floundering, looking for something, anything in which to invest and make moar $$$ (c.f. NFTs — non-fungible transactions).

Each founder of these new CAD systems speaks of his passion, which enabled him to land funding. In turn, investors have something in which to invest, and then hope to profit from later, after someone else pays big bucks to acquire the firms.

 

What Others Think

Two industry insiders have opinions contrary to mine.

Robert Graebert, chief technical officer, Graebert GmbH:

“I get the skepticism with respect to the viability of these new market entrants. I think Onshape is a great example when industry veterans + tons of cash were not enough to stay independent. In our market, a great product still needs a [dealer] channel to realize its full potential.

“But I have to say, I am excited about the new batch of market entrants. Even if that just means that some of the market leaders change their posture to meet this challenge. I think there is real frustration in AEC about the lack of evolution.”

The editor replies: We saw changes in MCAD posture in the past decade with new entrants like SpaceClaim (direct editing is possible) and Onshape (serious MCAD on remote servers is possible).

Architect (name withheld):

“I doubt that [these firms] will eat the dinosaurs in the AEC industry. But the one thing I do know, is that the leaders in AEC have grown content and are ripe for disruption. Some more than others.

“I see the TestFits of the world, and tools like Arcol, having great promise to address the redistribution of scarce resources so that architects can afford the new demands on them.”

The editor replies: Someone could become pretty rich figuring out how to disrupt legacy BIM packages. In the meantime, the second wave could find its place alongside bigCAD in Rhino-like fashion.

 

== 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 [email protected].

www.okino.com

 

And in Other News

ManneQuin/HumanCAD was the first software to simulate human bodies in CAD programs, going back to 1990. I still have a copy of the original software package. Now NEXGEN ERGONOMICS updates the software to v6 with new body types, such as Japan, elderly, and more child options, as well as new clothing styles. The Task Analysis wizard handles hand strength and arm force.

HumanCAD-MQSW is the version that runs inside Solidworks. More info from nexgenergo.com.

- - -

Navisworks was designed by Autodesk to display models from multiple sources simultaneously. Now “any” CAD program can export Navisworks-formatted files — all geometry, model hierarchy, object properties, and materials — without needing Navisworks.

Open Design Alliance’s BimNv SDK v23.1 works with C++ and .Net code on Windows, MacOS, and Linux. Get more details from opendesign.com/blog/2022/march/oda-releases-navisworks-export

 

Letters to the Editor

Re: Graphics Boards from the 1980s

Yes, I still have manuals for Matrox’s Space Machine/640 for the IBM XT/AT from April 1987 :=)). It was the “smartest” graphics card at the time, incorporated solid modeling and shading  in hardware.
            - Jure Spiler
            Basic CAD/CAM, Slovenia

The editor replies: Desktop computers from that era were not powerful enough to handle solids modeling, so workarounds like this one were needed. The “640” refers to the horizontal resolution, so it displayed CAD drawings at 640x480 -- considered “high resolution” at the time.

 

Re: Driver-less taxis isn't a problem needing solving

From a real-world trial, it seems driverless cars will not address many of the problems their promoters claim they will solve. See Zombie Miles And Napa Weekends: How A Week With Chauffeurs Showed The Major Flaw In Our Self-Driving Car Future from alopnik.com/zombie-miles-and-napa-weekends-how-a-week-with-chauffe-1839648416.
            - Robin Capper (via WorldCAD Access)
            New Zealand

- - -

I really enjoy your articles, by the way. Thank you, Ralph!
            - Ben Beaumont​

- - -

I heard an interesting comment (I won’t say where) that “the complexity of Revit has been increasing with the purpose of driving small architectural firms out of business.”
            - Dave Edwards

The editor replies: From what I hear, it is the large architectural firms that are most vocal about the inability of programs like Revit to handle today’s challenges. This is why there are many competitors already on the stage, or at least putting on makeup.

- - -

A friend of mine worked for a tech firm back in the ’80s. He said they couldn’t get a decision from corporate on which CAD software to implement, even though a team had been created for that and been working tirelessly for years. Every engineer in the place used AutoCAD and every single one was bootlegged. 

Someone finally ratted them out to Autodesk. A rep came into their office with the sheriff and made them shut down. When the dust settled, and the lawyers and salesmen and management were finished talking, they paid Autodesk for every seat that they were using, and AutoCAD became their official CAD software. Management formally disbanded the CAD Selection Committee.

I think about that story every time I get in the “"How can a little company ever hope to compete with a big company?” conversation.
            - Jess Davis

The editor replies: I can understand the CAD selection committee’s hesitation. There were so many CAD software upstarts in the mid-1980s, just as there were many PC hardware upstarts -- each one partially incompatible with the next. Not knowing how the market would shake out, picking the wrong software and hardware would be an expensive mistake.

My first PC, a Victor 9000 in 1983, would cost $16,000 in today’s dollars; a word processor and spreadsheet cost $1,300 each in today’s inflated bucks. We were so excited, dreaming of having the power of computers at our fingertips, but oh so frightened by the cost.

 

Notable Quotable

“Inflation so bad, PI is currently at 5.74.”
     - Matt’s Idea Shop (on Twitter)

“PI Day is just a holiday invented by math companies to sell more irrationality.”
     - Author unknown

 

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:

Should Paypal.me not operate in your country, then use www.paypal.com to send funds to the account of [email protected].

Or ask [email protected] about making a direct bank transfer through Wise (Transferwise).

Or mail a cheque (US$ or CDN$ only, please) to upFront.eZine Publishing, Ltd., 34486 Donlyn Avenue, Abbotsford BC, V2S 4W7, Canada.

*4660

 

 

Posted at 07:29 AM in Software | | Comments (0)

Monday, March 14, 2022

About Actify: Interview with CEO David Opsahl

Issue #1,126  |  Inside the Business of CAD  |  14 March 2022

SpinFire displaying models from CAD files


Actify released SpinFire in 1997 as a 3D file viewer in a field crowded with 3D file viewers. It, however, survived.

Within five years, the viewer was downloaded a million times. In 2005, Actify made Actify Publisher a mature program by adding batch publishing, rules-based jobs, automated email notifications, and centralized archiving of native CAD files. The company today has 2,000 customers with 10,000 licenses, many of which are site-wide licenses — so lots and lots of users.

More recently, Actify hired David Opsahl as CEO to help define a specific market for the company. He found that three-quarters of SpinFire customers were automotive suppliers, and so today you see the company’s Web site targeting automobile manufacturing. He concentrated the company’s goal to 3Cs: Communicate, Collaborate, Comprehend.

Actify’s primary software is the Actify APM Suite [automotive program management] that consists of the following packages:

  • Centro is the cloud-based platform for the APM Suite that uses graph database technology

  • Program Development

  • Program Analysis

  • Program Management

[A “graph” database handles records as nodes, and links relationships between nodes as edges.]

Actify continues to offer SpinFire Enterprise for CAD viewing in all areas of a manufacturing organization, to view, interrogate, and translate CAD files, as well as CAD Publisher, which automatically processes and publishes CAD files according to rules.

 

Q&A

Centro, foundation of Actify Automotive Program Management, managing automotive components

Ralph Grabowski: Centro is new to me. What is its role?

David Opsahl: Historically, Centro was a parts catalog that customers adapted to meet their program needs. We found that there were many iterative loops between suppliers and automotive manufacturers, reassuring each other that this is what will be built. Also, they frequently collaborate on data.

We were getting requests from suppliers for extensions to Centro, found that many of them were similar requests, and so we added a set of applications on top of Centro.  This is what lead us to look deeper at the problems our customers were trying to solve in managing their programs, giving more visibility to all program data across multiple teams throughout the enterprise to improve collaboration. Today it is the platform supporting the Actify APM suite, which enables suppliers to win and launch automotive programs.

 

Grabowski: Actify’s Web site says that your SpinFire Reader views only .act3d files. What does this format consist of?

Opsahl: We use the HOOPS toolkit from Tech Soft 3D to translate CAD files to PRC, but we needed more, so we added a way for it to better handle assemblies, to store legacy data or prior data, and so on.

[HOOPS is “hierarchical object oriented picture system,” a hardware-software graphics interface developed in the 1980s at Cornell University, and then commercialized by Ithaca Software. Some of the original developers went on to work at Autodesk, so it was little surprise when Autodesk acquired Ithaca, but it was a surprise when just three years later it handed HOOPS over to Tech Soft 3D.]

[PRC is “product representation compact,” a format invented two decades ago by the French translation firm TTF. We often read of Adobe inventing PRC, but Adobe acquired TTF, and then embedded PRC in PDF so that the file format could display 3D models interactively. Four years later, Adobe lost interest in 3D CAD, and it sold PRC to Tetra 3D. Adobe buying and abandoning 3D CAD translation in so few years shook our industry at that time.]

SpinFire can import and work with more than 30 different CAD file formats, and our customers are often working with multiple file formats from different sources on a daily basis.

 

Grabowski: Most automotive companies use CAD software from either Dassault Systemes or Siemens. Why should a supplier buy your viewing solution, when they might already have it from these other two?

Opsahl: We are focused on companies that want to standardize on one visualization product across the entire company. SpinFire Enterprise offers a normalized way to use data to see what changes took place, no matter the source, with one site license that has no use-limits.

Individual viewers from CAD vendors don’t necessarily handle other formats, and sometimes you have to buy other software just to use the viewer from the CAD vendor. In any case, the viewer from a CAD vendor would not have a collaboration thread that goes through the files from different CAD vendors and that is a key requirement for our customers who are managing incredibly complex designs that get shared back and forth multiple times

Once you get past tier-1 suppliers, smaller suppliers do not necessarily have a sophisticated IT stack, so SpinFire Enterprise is an affordable solution for them.

 

Grabowski: So, suppliers don’t necessarily use the same CAD software as automobile manufacturers?

Opsahl: Auto manufacturers all use different CAD software, and suppliers who support multiple OEMs have to support multiple CAD file formats. GM once tried to force all suppliers to use the same CAD system, but financially it was something suppliers couldn’t deal with. [High-end MCAD systems cost $15,000 to $100,000 per license.]

Automotive is the biggest manufacturing industry (outside of consumer electronics), so a different way to solve the different-CAD-systems problem was through viewers. SpinFire Enterprise is much more than just a viewer; it gives suppliers a common platform with which to communicate and collaborate with customers, from the start of the design process to final production. This lets downstream interpretation of CAD files be consistent.

 

Grabowski: One of the concerns of aircraft manufacturers is that they be able to read and process CAD files fifty years from now. Does your software handle old data?

Opsahl: Product lifecycles are getting longer with automotive. Cars have a regulatory framework like aircraft, such as for lawsuits and recalls.

We can account for old data in our file format. But if libraries from Tech Soft 3D do not support that old data, then we are stuck. We have not had a complaint about access to legacy data in the 2.5 years I’ve worked here.

 

Grabowski: I suppose it helps that software vendors are no longer changing file formats as quickly, and in some cases even making them ISO standards. DOCX, PDF, DWG are pretty stable these days.

Opsahl: Formats have evolved to the point where they can be stable, but again, since SpinFire is able to support nearly every file format. Customers can be confident that they’ll be able to work with whatever is sent their way.

 

https://actify.com

== 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.

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

And in Other News

CADline is close to releasing ARCHLine.XP 2022, and so last week revealed the new functions we can expect:

  • Physically-based rendering materials; artificial light temperatures

  • Enhanced Revit import; OneDrive support; PDF 3D export

  • Sliding doors wizard; adjustable stair landing thicknesses; variable slabs

  • Phases for wall layers; profiles for road materials

  • Align in 2D/3D; set equal distances; make multiple copies

  • Clean up project files

For the full list of major and minor changes, check out help.archlinexp.com/hc/en-us/articles/4412202495889-Overview

- - -

April 7 is the day Graebert launches the next release of its ARES series of desktop, Web, and mobile CAD programs. The neXt event features guest speakers Niknaz Aftahi (aec+tech), Anthony Frausto-Robledo (Architosh), and Randall Newton (Consilia Vektor). Register to watch live or to watch the replay at next.graebert.com.

Other CAD events happening on April 7:

  • Siemens media and analyst day in Detroit

  • Spatial new software launch day in Munich — I’ll be attending this one.

- - -

If you would like to donate to an agency that has already been helping people in Ukraine, Moldova, and Romania for decades now (“boots on the ground”), and which upFront.eZine supports annually, then I would like to suggest Mission Without Borders at mwbca.org/ukraine. We did.

Donations are used to provide emergency aid and food packages for people in eastern Ukraine. (Tax receipts available for Canadian donors only.)

Letters to the Editor

It strikes me as weird that Manish Kumar is now ceo of Solidworks, without dropping any of his old job. Maybe a smaller future for Solidworks, since everything is going to 3DExperience? Still seems risky to me, given what a cash cow that product is.

Thanks for the recent coverage of Solid Edge. I always tell everyone it’s the best CAD-for-CAM system ever. Synchronous Technology is extremely good at model changes, and CNC programmers need that kind of capability.
            - Name withheld by request

The editor replies: Making the cto the ceo tells me that Dassault had a change of heart, and has gotten serious about keeping Solidworks a solid competitor against the likes of Solid Edge and Inventor. Perhaps the change-of-heart is at its core financial, as Solidworks now brings in a billion dollars a year for the French company.

- - -

Re: Meta, Meet Reality

Thank you for this valuable summary and its insights, Ralph. We all certainly need to speak out and do everything we can in this moment, and in the understandings that follow that can prevent such a nightmare conflict from happening again.
            - Miles Parker
            Parker Group

- - -

Re: Running Generic CADD in 2013

Fascinating reminiscences in this thread. Here are some from my long association with Generic CADD:

I obtained an early version of GCADD for the equities analytical research group at Morgan Stanley in the 1980s, where it was used to create graphically-precise illustrations of portfolio hedging processes.

I later employed it to design the rural studio and stables which I still enjoy today in my retirement. Coincidently my home in upstate New York is not far from Cherry Valley, where GCADD’s successor General CADD is based. Small world.

I continue to design with GCADD v.5 using DOSBOX v0.74-3 on W7, and print as follows:

  1. In the Print dialog, select Send to = Postscript

  2. Port = File / EPS

  3. Page size = 7.5 long and 10 wide

  4. Then use Page setup to scale, and fit origin appropriately (zoom out helps).

  5. In Word, the resulting EPS file may be inserted directly into a 8 1/2 x 11 landscape page and readily printed from there.

            -  PB Turgeon (via WorldCAD Access)

 

Notable Quotable

“Is Web3 just libertarian nonsense with planet-destroying energy consumption? Probably.”

     - Jeremiah Lee

 

Thank You, Readers

To support upFront.eZine through PayPal.me, then I suggest the following amounts:

Should Paypal.me not operate in your country, then use www.paypal.com to send funds to the account of [email protected].

Or ask [email protected] about making a direct bank transfer through Wise (Transferwise).

Or mail a cheque (US$ or CDN$ only, please) to upFront.eZine Publishing, Ltd., 34486 Donlyn Avenue, Abbotsford BC, V2S 4W7, Canada.

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Posted at 07:01 AM in Interviews, Q&A, Software | | Comments (0)

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