WorldCAD Access

Robert Shear on Plant 3D

Autodesk is slowly introducing its new Plant 3D software, first through large-volume resellers, and then wider distribution in the spring. Even the 30-day demo version is limited to downloaders from Canada and USA. 

Senior industry manager Robert Shear told me that the AutoCAD add-on took three years to write from the ground up, with the help of some acquired technology. The quick way to distinguish between the company's two plant & process add-ons:

• P&ID -- 2D, connections, processes, etc (shipped last year).
• Plant 3D -- 3D, adds tanks, pumps, etc.
  
  (Plant and process, he says, is "anything measured in gallons.")

Mr Shear explains that Intergraph, Bentley Systems, and AVEVA target the high end of the market, and so Autodesk is competing with a lower price and fewer capabilities. Specifically, they are targeting retrofits, and the documentation existing plants, rather than new construction.

When I asked the price, I got "We'll get back to you on that" as an answer. Fewer capabilities means no analyses, although data can be coordinated through an API with external applications, like Pipestress. 

From my meeting with NTP Truboprovod in Russia, I understand that regional standards are needed to sell into international markets. Here Mr Shear indicated the software so far has standards for North America and Northern Europe, with Central Europe due soon. 

www.autodesk.com/autocadplant3d

Update

Pricing for Plant3D is US$8,995 for standalone license in USA, while Europeans get to pay a nice round e10,000.

Press Release Arrives from 1969

Email can be slow. Last week, I got an email sent to me at the beginning of May. As I understand it, sometimes mail servers get overloaded and so store messages for later delivery. Kind of like the rare horror story of Lazy the Mailman storing his route's mail in the basement.

Today I noticed an email at the very top of my email client (my Inbox is sorted by date). Opening it, the send date was revealed to be:

Date: Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:14:07 -0700

A press release from nearly the pre-history of CAD. How exciting! An electronic document that was perhaps OCR'ed from paper to digital by a mysterious process.

That entered the Internet perhaps through another portal -- CompuServe, perhaps?

That moved from a mysterious mainframe computer, no doubt, onto a minicomputer of some sort, and then transfered by an unknown process to Direct Mail for Mac OS X.

That was able to predict the future, precisely 14,518 days in the future, of something of significance occurring on September 29, 2009. What might be the meaning hidden behind 1 - 4 - 5 - 1 - 8? Or through the patterned sequence 9 - 29 - 2009.

That somehow knew in an uncanny fashion that a company known in the future as "Catalog Data Solutions" would one day announce "the ability for any company to promote their online CAD models and drawings on 3DModelSpace."

Might 3DModelSpace be the bright future predicted to be perfected by technologists and foretold by the gasping Popular Science and Popular Mechanics magazines of the 1950s?

Not at all. The Fuller Brush salesman is at the door:

About 3DModelSpace.com

CAD model downloads are a proven way to lock-in your component products during the design phase and generate new sales when those products are built. 3DModelSpace was launched in 2008 as a search engine for designers and engineers to quickly find CAD models and drawings of the products they need. For manufacturers and distributors 3DModelSpace delivers high quality click-throughs by designers and engineers at highly relevant decision points during their design/product selection process. 3DmodelSpace reaches over 2,000,000 CAD users [the number is 250,000 earlier in the press release] because it is built directly into Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire and is featured in the Autodesk Manufacturing Community. 3DModelSpace is a CAD model search engine, not a CAD library - it directs designers and engineers to your website where your brand is promoted, leads captured, CAD downloads generated and products sold. To have your CAD models included in 3DModelSpace visit www.3dmodelspace.com/promote

(Emphasis mine.)

How Slow is that USB Drive?

I always figured that USB thumbdrives were pretty much the same. After all, they all adhere to the USB v2.x spec, which is supposed to define fast transfer speeds.

(Note that all USB drives use FlashRAM, which is slow for writing, but reasonably fast for reading.)

I came to the realization that there are differences when Windows Vista refused to use a 1GB USB drive for ReadyBoost, complaining it was too slow. This surprised me, for another, identical looking drive was speedy enough for ReadyBoost. (I get most of my USB drives free, from software vendors, ranging from 32MB to 4GB.)

I decided to test the speed of all my drives, to see which are the speediest. I found a couple of Windows programs to download that test drive speeds. But I backed off in a hurry, when the first one contained a virus.

I then searched for a similar program to run on Linux, and quickly found that Linux has drive test software built-in:

1. Open the terminal window (like the DOS window in Windows).
2. Enter the following command:

sudo hdparm -t /dev/---

Replace the --- by the name of the drive. To find the name of the drive, use the System Monitor program's File System's tab.  On my computer, the hard drive is sda3, while one of the USB connectors is sb1.
3. You are prompted to enter your password, and then the test runs.
 
The read tests found a huge difference between those two identical-looking USB keys: one read data at 14MB/sec, the other at just 1MB/sec. I got those speeds from other USB drives, as well.

The results of testing other devices:

• Built-in hard drive: 33MB/sec
• Fastest USB drive: an 8MB Imation drive -- 24MB/sec
• Other USB drives had speeds of 8MB/sec and 12MB/sec
• Portable, external Western Digital hard drive (connected through USB): 25MB/sec

I also tested some SD memory cards:

• HP-branded 16GB SD card: 18MB/sec
• Class 4 4GB SD card: 16MB/sec
• Same card attached with a card reader: 15MB/sec
• MMC+ card: 12MB/sec
• PNY-brand 2GB SD card: 10MB/sec

10th Anniversary of Posting IntelliCAD Source Code

Today is the tenth anniversary of the IntelliCAD Technology Consortium web site going  live with source code for IntelliCAD 2000 freely available to constortium members. The ITC's executive director from back then, Ronald Prepchuk, provides us with a slice of history:

One thing I discovered was that it was the intention to roll IntelliCAD into Visio to make one product. Feeling that would be a disaster I set out in December of 1998 to write a white paper on fixing IntelliCAD...

On April 15, 1999 I delivered it to Jeremy Jaech, President of Visio... A couple of weeks prior to the public announcement in July of 1999 I was approached and told that Visio would be creating a new organization called the IntelliCAD Technology Consortium and that if I wanted a job there one would be available.

You can read the rest at www.autodsys.com/press/PR-092909.htm, as well as get the link for downloading his 10-page PDF document written ten years ago.

When Good USB Keys Go Bad

Within one month, I had my two biggest USB keys go bad on me. Windows had spent a couple of weeks complaining about problems on my 16GB USB thumbdrive, and then one day the drive was no longer recognized by Windows or Linux.

Right before my trip to Russia, I loaded my second biggest USB key with backup data. During the trip, I plugged the 4GB keydrive into my computer, and there was no recognition by Windows or Linux that it existed.

Last night, I tried again. The 16GB one was still dead; but I noticed something different about the 4GB one: the metal stem seemed short. I tugged at it, and found that the rectangular part (that plugs into the computer) had receded into its plastic body.

I pulled the metal connector out to its proper length, applied some crazy glue to keep it in place, and now have a working 4GB USB drive again.

Further Cutbacks

As a newsletter editor, I see real effects from cutbacks. Such as when email addresses suddenly become undeliverable -- the employee no longer works there.

Another sign is the cutback in travel. CAD vendors aren't flying in the media to wine and dine them and to demo the soon-to-be-released software in person. 

The cheaper, almost-the-same alternative is the WebEx demo. WebEx and GoToMeeting events certainly do save time and travel money -- and are just as effective as sitting in person in a CAD vendor's conference room several timezones away. But WebEx still costs money to host.

And to save even more money, several "online" meetings I've had recently were telephone-only. If there are visuals, they consist of a PDF or PPT file emailed in advance.

Just some observations.

1,000,000 is the new half-million

It used to be CAD vendors were pretty excited to ship the five hundred thousandth license of their vertical software. Now, the new yardstick is stretched to a million.

(Yardstick? I had to explain that one to my son's girlfriend, who needed a straightedge measuring device for cutting yarn. And then I one out of the shed. "You see this as a measuring device," I told her; "But I see it as a punishment device." Yah, the 50s and 60s were the days of corporal punishment.)

So we had a modest SolidWorks quietly saying, "Yup, we done a million [commercial + educational seats]" over the summer.

Today, it it's the turn of PTC:

PTC ... today announced the 1,000,000th start of CoCreate Modeling Personal Edition. The CoCreate Personal Edition is the world's first free explicit 3D CAD software [launched in January 2007].

The company doesn't give any background as to what the number is made up of. And then there is that curious use of the word "start." Any guesses what it might mean?

McAfee Be Gone!

Last night my dad arrived, after spending five months up north connected to the rest of the world with just a slow modem line. After the "Hello"s, it's "Can you update my computer?" Overnight, I get his notebook computer updated with megabytes and megabytes of the latest fixes from FireFox, Windows, AVG anti-virus, and whatever else is clamoring for attention.

One update was for Flash. As I downloaded the update, I noticed two programs being downloaded from the Adobe Web site: Flash and McAfee anti-virus. What!?

I hadn't asked for it, and the computer already runs AVG quite nicely, thank you. I was miffed, and of course immediately uninstalled the unwanted intruder. 

This morning, I learned I was an early victim of a new relationship, as described in this businessspeak:

McAfee and Adobe Systems today announced a global alliance partnership to jointly deliver new solutions that will offer more comprehensive security to both companies’ customers.

Later, the press release reverts to traditional English:

Further, as part of the partnership, McAfee has made a free diagnostic tool, McAfee Security Scan, available as an optional download to customers when installing Adobe Reader and Adobe Flash Player software from Adobe.com

Except I didn't see no option for not installing McAfee. But at least you are now forewarned.

AVSO: FY Down 28%

Avatech Solutions today reports that its fiscal year revenues were $35.4 million, down 28.6% from a year ago.

As a result of cutting expenses by $2.3 million, the company had a loss of just $0.3 million. It could have been worse, but Avatech managed to sell off one of its software packages for $0.5 million. And it has $2.7 million in the bank.

The company is one of the world's largest integrators of Autodesk software. Despite that, says ceo George Davis:

The building and manufacturing markets were significantly impacted by the global recession throughout fiscal 2009, which resulted in an unprecedented reduction in spending on the types of software and services we provide. 

Avatech spun off its consulting and services offerings into a standalone business named MSD Consulting, which earned a $1 million for the company.

Source.

Interviewed: Sean Flaherty on Vectorworks 2010

In interview with ceo Sean Flaherty of the awkwardly-named Nemetschek North America, he tells me that the emphasis of the just-released Vectorworks 2010 is on continuing to move the software from CAD to BIM [building information modeling]. 

That means moving architectural design away from specific design patterns, and towards a more flexible "any kind" of design. He gives renovation work as a prime example: contractors don't know what is behind those old walls. Solid modeling gives Vectorworks users the ability to add solid primitive chunks to smart walls -- and the walls stay smart.

"That the architectural market is not focused on solid modeling is the biggest problem for BIM moving forward," he asserts. The solids modeling in his software contrasts with the inability of other architectural packages to handle surprises; Revit is the one brand name he mentions. Vectorworks 2010 allows wall sculpting, where users can add and remove portions of smart walls, and they retain their parametrics.

He is pretty excited about the abilities the Parasolid kernel gives Vectorworks. "We are on a steady path integrating PLM from Siemens," he says. 'Steady path' tells me that there will be more forthcoming, a hunch Mr Flaherty agrees with.

New to Vectorworks 2010 is the D-cubed Constraint Manager, which allows bi-directional editing between 2D plans and 3D models, as well as modifying object by changing their dimensions. Multi-core CPUs were supported by Parasolid modeling for Windows, and now Macintosh users get the same benefit -- at the cost of PowerPC Macs users no longer being supported.

As for the economy, Mr Flaherty reports that he sees it recovering after a bad summer, based on sales of his software. Vectorworks Spotlight (for theatre lighting design) really helped the company through that rough patch.


Vectorworks Fundamentals 2010 starts at $1,295; their most popular version is Vectorworks Architect at $1,995. Learn more at www.nemetschek.net/fundamentals/fundamentals-new-features.php