WorldCAD Access

Yes, Dassault has no Catia for Architecture; but they do have Live Buildings

A recent Dassault conference showed off some tech previews of technologies under development at R&D. One was an application, Live Buildings, that uses Dassault's functional modeling, and is described thusly:

 ...an easy-to-use app that brings 3D authoring capabilities to the construction industry, and is focused specifically on the conceptual design phase of construction projects.

It is not based on CATIA, and it is unavailable to you and me. It is currently in a closed beta, and so is being used only by members of yet another new Dassault  online community, Buildings in Life, for construction industry types to exchange ideas and work together.

This week in upFront.eZine: Siemens to stop ignoring Solid Edge this summer

From this week's issue of upFront.eZine:

1. Geomagic Studio

2. Update on Siemens' Handling of Solid Edge
    - The New Marketing Push
    - PLM World

Plus all the other news in And in Other News. You can read all about this business of CAD at www.upfrontezine.com/2010/upf-651.htm

Fujitsu says they've got the world's fastest 3D CAD engine, and it's 200x faster than your's

I remember Fujitsu being big in the CAD world in the late 1980s, but I cannot recall whatever for. (I still have their see-thru plastic mug with its rainbow-colored tree logo.)

And so it came as a surprise to hear from them again, some twenty years later. They say that their newly developed 3D CAD engine can processes one million parts in 0.2 seconds, and will be incorporated in iCAD V7 (aka Micro CADAM Helix), which Fujitsu plans to release by year's end.

MCAD designs are becoming massive, incorporating mechanical, electrical, and control systems, and so this 200x-faster system was needed so that designers no longer need to split models into chunks.

It's not entirely clear to me how it works. Fujitsu says they don't use today's solution (as used by Inventor, SolidWorks, Solid Edge, and others), in which parts are graphically represented, but not loaded until needed for editing. Instead, Fujitsu says, their system works like this:

The new engine employs a new representation method that allows most of the parts of a machine to be precisely represented as mathematical expressions, making it possible to dramatically reduce the amount of memory required.

(The covering email includes this caveat: "This 3D CAD engine supported Microsoft Windows x32 edition only. So, this 3D CAD engine no need high-end Workstation PC.")

And the press release includes their sales target, curiously enough:

8,000 units during FY2011 (ending in March 2012)

More info here.

Photo set from Galiano Island and Pacific Rim National Park, Canada

(Click thumbnails for larger photos.)


Killing time painting his pile driver, Montegue Harbour, Galiano Island


Delicate flower on Bodega Ridge (Galiano Island)


Dog patiently waits at North Galiano dock, while owners load up their motor boat before heading across the channel to Wallace Island.


Three canoes, Retreat Cove, Galiano Island.


Eroded beach rock, Montegue Harbour Provincial Park.


Wild strawberry plants are common at Long Beach, Pacific Rim National Park.


Green sea anemones in a tidal pool along Long Beach.


Closeup of a plant, dunno what kind.


 Islands off the coast from Ucluelet, photo taken from the Wild Coast Trail. Germans love this part of the world.


What is left of a crab after the crows are done with it.
(photo credit: Katrina Grabowski)


Me.
(photo credit: Katrina Grabowski)


Sea lion on an island far off the Long Beach coast.
(Taken with 40x zoom: 10x optical * 4x digital zoom)



Tide coming in at sunset, Long Beach.
(Sunset color faked in Picasa.)

Putting the "Pro/E" into CAD

PTC is pretty excited about shaking up the CAD industry in October. Some of its marketing statements explain why:

Since its peak of innovation over 20 years ago, the CAD market has stagnated during the past decade. Recent CAD advances have focused on incremental user interface changes and niche capabilities.

The problem for PTC is that Pro/E is part of the CAD market, which means we can substitute "Pro/E" each time "CAD" appears, like this:

Since its peak of innovation over 20 years ago, the Pro/E market has stagnated during the past decade. Recent Pro/E advances have focused on incremental user interface changes and niche capabilities. 

Ouch! Reads a whole lot different, doesn't it?

Still, the next part of the company's statement...

Simultaneously, customers have been chronically plagued by key problems that have remained unaddressed during this time.

...raises an interesting question: Which of your key problems has the CAD industry so far failed to solve? 

Or maybe, just maybe, CAD works just fine for you and me.

Source.

CAD vendors are vowing to stir up the industry; if only

As part of Dassault's campaign to get the media excited, we were told, "Dassault Systemes is making an announcement next Tuesday, June 22nd that will shake the CAD industry."

Such a shake-up was also predicted by no less than the head of Dassault Systemes, in that this product will "make some people in the West of America sweat." Considering the unseasonably cold weather we are experiencing here in the West of America, perhaps he meant "sweaters." 

As it turned out, it was yet another free 2D DWG editor -- a bit of a letdown from, say, yet another free 3D modeler, such as the ones available for years now from PTC and other vendors.

Not that some people in the East of America don't have their own software excitement designed to to make us sweat(ers). For "PTC alone" has Project Lightning:

...PTC's vision and strategy to redefine the mechanical CAD market, which will impact the industry for the next 20 years. This exciting initiative will address the industry's most pressing problems and deliver unprecedented gains to individuals and companies.  
 
Which makes me wonder, What happens in year 21?

What I did for the last week

On the one-week vacation my family and I took, we spent two nights at our cabin ("cottage" to Easterners) on Galiano Island, a night at Telco House bed'n breakfast in Port Hardy (to see my aunt from Germany off on BC Ferrries to Prince Rupert) and three nights camping at Long Beach's Green Point campground (part of Canada's Pacific Rim National Park).

As one daughter tweeted, this was the first family vacation in seven years.

Here is the view north-westwards from atop Bodega Ridge (Galiano Island's highest point) towards Vancouver Island.

(Click images for higher-resolution versions.)

And here is Long Beach, just about the furthest west you can go in Canada. (Next stop: Japan).

This week in upFront.eZine: Dassault tweaks Autodesk's nose

From this week's issue of upFront.eZine:

1. Dassault DraftSight
    - About DraftSight
    - APIs and Brainstorm

2. Autodesk 2010 Centaur and Cumulus
    - Project Centaur
    - Logical Extensions to the Cloud


You can read all about this business of CAD at www.upfrontezine.com/2010/upf-650.htm

Dassault relaunches 2D DWG editor

DS SolidWorks had been providing three no-charge licenses of DWGEditor for each license of SolidWorks. The purpose of the AutoCAD work-alike software was to make it easier for (a) AutoCAD users to transition to SolidWorks, and (b) SolidWorks users to edit DWG files.

Then two events happened:

- Firstly, an Autodesk law suit resulted in DS SolidWorks changing the name to 2DEditor.

- Secondly, an ITC law suit rendered the future viability of CADopia in doubt. (CADopia has provided DWGEditor to DS SolidWorks.)

So the company cast about for a replacement. Product manager Aaron Kelly told me that they considered 2D DWG editors from around the world, including some you would never think of. Here are a few I can think of:

ARES - independently developed by Graebert of Germany; available for Windows now, Linux and Mac later.

Bricscad - independently developed by Bricsys of Belgium; available for Windows now, Linux and Mac later.

CADopia - based in IntelliCAD; for Windows only; currently tangled in legal difficulties with the ITC.

ZWCAD - based in IntelliCAD; developed by ZWSOFT of China.

My guess is that Graebert won, because (1) the company is experienced in OEM'ing its software; and (2) its software is not based on IntelliCAD. I am fairly certain that the delayed release of IntelliCAD 7 was a negative preventing Dassault from considering any variant based on IntelliCAD. 

The replacement is named DraftSight. It goes into public beta today, and can be downloaded from www.draftsight.com. It is free, unless you want technical support from Dassault and/or access to the APIs. To prevent "sales" of the free DraftSight cannibalizing those of ARES Commander Edition, DraftSight is 2D-only.

More details on DraftSight in tomorrow's upFront.eZine.

Alternative meanings for AutoCAD system variables and commands

Technical editing of my books isn't all just trudgery. Ask Bill Fane, who provided me with these alternative definitions while editing my Illustrated AutoCAD 2011 Quick Reference and Using AutoCAD 2011 books (proper definition in brackets):

NfwState (toggle New Features Workshop) -- Newfoundland has joined the USA.

Ray (draws a semi-infinite construction line) -- is the length infinity/2?

RebuildU (number of lines in the U direction) -- school where they teach rebuilding.

Resume (resumes a stopped script) -- analyzes drawings you have created and then prepares a resume for your next job.