Counter Punch! UGS Socks it to Dassault

Despite the hoopala Dassault created by having their ceo show up in Microsoft France offices alongside Bill Gates to show off their XML-based 3D format displaying 3D CAD images on a variety of hardware, Microsoft isn't confiring monopoly status on Dassault. No, no, no, no.

Today UGS wrote up a press release that they and Microsoft are showing how 3D CAD models can appear in non-CAD documents. I'll leave it to UGS's marketing department to explain how:

"As part of their work together, today at PDC05 the companies demonstrated a UGS PLM application creating a single file that included XAML, JT and PLM XML data by using the open packaging conventions formally known as XPS packages. That file was then viewed using the Windows Presentation Foundation, demonstrating how PLM users can now share files with Windows users who do not have a computer-aided design (CAD) or PLM software application installed on their PC."

So, what's the point? This announcement is about being able to view 3D CAD models in Vista, the next release of Windows, due in 2007, perhaps. We can view 2D and 3D CAD drawings right now in the current version(s) of Windows, without the acronyms brought to you by the letter X.

Comments

[Amar]

They are doing 'soooo' much more than just viewing 3D CAD modes.

Next couple of years will bring some interesting developments.

Amar

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[Amar]

They are doing 'soooo' much more than just viewing 3D CAD modes.

Next couple of years will bring some interesting developments.

Amar

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[John Burrill]

What I'm gathering from this is that instead of a user having to download a 5Mb activeX control to view a CAD file in it's native format (averaging EDrawings and 3DXML player), a user will simply have to install Windows Vista-wait-upgrade their machines to a minimum P4 2.0 Ghz w/1Gb of RAM and buy a video card that supports DirectX 10 to view a CAD file. Oh, and you're screwed if you're using a MAC, order a copy of Windows Vista, upgrade all of their programs (waiting for the app-migration that'll occur in 2008), take a weekend to back-up and install, license and register (and by then you'll have to sign a license agreement that includes the phrase 'stick a needle in my eye')-and then you can try viewing a CAD file without having to install anything that you didn't buy from Microsoft.
Half the machines in my shop are still Windows 2000 and a few are still Windows 95.
Windows Vista Required does not equal Open Standard.

[Evan Yares]

"...UGS user can open and save parts that were saved in AutoCAD directly in Edge."

This statement is pretty meaningless without a discussion of how the semantic content is managed. One could do the same thing with WMF or EMF. I'd be surprised if the XAML interoperability is actually useful in the real world -- but then, I like surprises that are good.

XAML is a variant of SVG, the scalable vector graphics standard from the WorldWide Web consortium. Both formats lack substantial capabilities to be ideal for CAD.

[Mike DeKoning]

Reading a transcript of the demo given at PDC05 what was of greater interest to me was the following statement by David Mitchell from UGS.
"Now, you might notice something here, which is Fabricam, as you saw in the previous session, they chose AutoCAD as their corporate CAD system. My company went a different direction. My company chose to use Solid Edge, a Windows-based CAD application from UGS. But because Autodesk and UGS are working together, using XAML in conjunction with our own formats, a UGS user can open and save parts that were saved in AutoCAD directly in Edge."
This appears to be about more than just viewing 3D CAD models.