WorldCAD Access

Hey, maybe 3D printing will become affordable in 2011

Joris Peels of 3D printing service i.materialis makes 11 gueses for 2011:

• Both Stratasys and Objet will release $5000 desktop 3D printers at Euromold 2011.

•  At least five 3D printing startups aimed at consumers will launch during 2011.

• Makerbot will sell more than 10,000 3D printers in 2011.

• 3D Systems will launch a 3D printing service for consumers in 2011. 

• Zcorp & EOS will be the only major 3D printer manufacturers not to offer a desktop 3D printer in 2011. 

• 3D modeling software vendors will start to offer “light 3D printing” versions of their products

• Bre Pettis will appear on the cover of Bloomberg Businessweek magazine in 2011.

• A designer will have revenues of over one million US dollars with a single 3D printed product in 2011. 

• 3D printed products will win at least two Red Dot Design Awards in 2011

And the eye-roller predictions:

• Adobe will buy Autodesk in 2011. 

• Microsoft buys Dassault Systemes in 2011.

Read his rationales at TechCrunch.

HP computers now banned from our household

Even though this is our home, it feels more like a small office. Amoungst our family of five, we have nine computers -- 11, when you include computer-like smartphone devices.

To make it easier for me, I standardize on hardware, because I am the IT guy. That way, there are fewer device drivers and user interfaces to work with. For example, all keyboards and mice are from Logitech, all printers and nearly all computers from HP.

But as of last week, HP is off the approved list for household computer acquistions. That's because I've finally clued in that they have approximate lifetimes of 18 months. And then they go boom.

The final two straws were (a) my son's less-than-a-year-old HP notebook computer's LCD screen gone blank; and (b) my daughter-in-Europe's HP notebook's screen flickering. My son now attaches his notebook to his 40" TV ("I use it has a media center," he reports); my daughter reports her's is OK for now.

Last summer, I had already switched to an Acer desktop after my two-year-old HP desktop gave up the ghost. I got the Acer, because it was cheaper, better spec'ed, and better looking than equivalent HPs. My faith in HP's quality first broke with the tx1000-scandal, their line of convertable notebooks whose Nvidia chips overheat the motherboard. After several years of dithering, HP and Nvidia have so far accepted blame only for a small segment of tx1000s; my specific model so far is excluded.

From now on, I think we'll go with Asian brands. My netbook from LG is now two years old, and continues to perform as a dual-boot Linux Mint and Windows XP computer. My primary computer these days is Samsung's Galaxy S Vibrant running Android. One of the local independent computer shops says he only sells mid- to high-end ASUS notebooks, which come with two-year warranties.

Update

I should make clear that it is not just 3 or 4 HP computers that have broken down. Since 2004, when our first child got his own computer (an HP  notebook for college), I had to replace six more HPs after they wore out. This is why it's time for a change.

Autodesk and Assimilate end their war

Autodesk Canada earlier this month settled a law suit it was planning to bring against Assimilate. Assimialte's press release relates the tangled tale:

The lawsuit... was based on Autodesk Canada’s purchase of the intellectual property, including copyright interests, in a software program called Cyborg from an English company, 5D Solutions, Ltd. The Cyborg software provided digital compositing, color correction and various editing and art functions for the post production and visual effects industry. The lawsuit alleged that Assimilate’s software program, known as Scratch, infringed Autodesk Canada’s copyright in the Cyborg software. 

...Assimilate acknowledges that it used code and design elements from Cyborg in its Scratch product. Assimilate... has received a perpetual license back from Autodesk Canada for use of that code and those design elements and a release for any past use of that code and those design elements.

Big sign of relief all around.

photo of the sunday: where the plants grow

A seed found its home in the knot of this nylon rope holding a dock in place on Lake Kawkawa outside of Hope, BC. I took this photo in May, 2009. 

Take the Canadian citizenship test

In Canada, we have a new multiple-answer test for immigrants wanting to become citizens. They need to get 15 right out of the 20 questions, which are:

    
- Identify four (4) rights that Canadians enjoy.

-Name four (4) fundamental freedoms that Canadians enjoy.

-What is meant by the equality of women and men?

-What are some examples of taking responsibility for yourself and your family?

-Who were the founding peoples of Canada?

-Who are the Metis? 

-What does the word "Inuit" mean?

-What is meant by the term "responsible government"?

-Who was Sir Louis-Hippolyte La Fontaine?

-What did the Canadian Pacific Railway symbolize?

-What does Confederation mean?

-What is the significance of the discovery of insulin by Sir Frederick Banting and Charles Best?

-What does it mean to say that Canada is a constitutional monarchy?

-What are the three branches of government?

-What is the difference between the role of the Queen and that of the Prime Minister?

-What is the highest honour that Canadians can receive?

-When you go to vote on election day, what do you do?

-Who is entitled to vote in Canadian federal elections?n.

-In Canada, are you obliged to tell other people how you voted?

-After an election, which party forms the government?

-Who is your Member of Parliament?

-What are the three levels of government?

-What is the role of the courts in Canada?

-In Canada, are you allowed to question the police about their service or conduct?

-Name two Canadian symbols.

-What provinces are sometimes referred to as the Atlantic Provinces?

 

The full test, its multiple-choice answers, and its answers are here at a Canadian government Web site. Publius took the test and came up with his own answers. Here is one of them:

Q: Name four (4) fundamental freedoms that Canadians enjoy.

A: The freedom to speak, unless it offends a politically influential minority group.
The freedom to own property, unless it offends a politically influential environmental group.
The freedom to protest, unless it offends visiting dignitaries.
The freedom to bitch about the weather, unless it offends a co-worker who is a ski-nut.

Merry Christmas! from WorldCAD Access -- and Marius

 

Marius is the young man my family has been sponsoring for about a decade now. This year he is 17 years old, but suffers from moderate mental delay due to the living conditions in Romania. His family gave him up to live in a Romanian care home run by Missions without Borders, which houses 120 other children aged 3-18.

Each Christmas, he decorates a card for us. In the past, the drawings were rudimentary. This year's drawing shows more details and has filled-in areas -- a good sign.

Marius would like to become a sailor when he is old enough.

 

 

It's now updated: Bricscad V11 for AutoCAD Users

Bricsys contracted me to update the Bricscad for AutoCAD Users I wrote for them last year. The book is updated for Bricscad V11 and AutoCAD 2011, and includes coverage of the new Briscad Platinum edition. The ebook has grown a bit, and is now 156 pages.

The purpose of this book is to help people understand how Bricscad is similar to -- and different from -- AutoCAD. I describe the benefits and drawbacks to using Bricscad. Here's the contents:

1 Bricscad for AutoCAD Users     

2 Comparing User Interfaces

3 Drawing File Compatibility

4 Customizing and Programming Bricscad

Appendices

A AutoCAD-Bricscad Command Cross-reference
B AutoCAD-Bricscad System Variable Cross-reference
C AutoCAD-Bricscad Alias Cross-reference
D AutoCAD-Bricscad Keystroke and Button Cross-reference

How to Get the Book
You can download the ebook for free from the Bricsys Web site: http://www.bricsys.com/common/news.jsp?item=358

Or, you can support the author (me!) by buying the book for $21.60 from my Web site: http://www.upfrontezine.com/b4a/default.htm

 

Bricscad does point clouds

Daniel Marcotte sent me a screen grab showing Bricscad displaying data input from a 3D laser scan file. He writes:

I wrote a point cloud custom entity for Bricscad while back as a programming exercise, it reads points in from .las files. If I remember correctly, the upper limit was about 7 million points. I added Delaunay triangulation too, but I have no idea if this would be useful -- just not my field. I've posted the source at www.theswamp.org

And here's the screen grab:

The Wengerd Report: AUGI forum posts go missing

by Owen Wengerd

[This is the first time Owen Wengerd has written for WorldCAD Access, with plans to write more about user-oriented issues here. He'll continue writing about AutoCAD programming at his blog, Outside the Box. More about Mr Wengerd at http://otb.manusoft.com/about ] 

- - - 

Visitors to the revamped web site of AUGI (Autodesk User Group International) wouldn't know it from reading the glossy ad-adorned main page, but there's been trouble brewing. The official AUGI blog had proudly proclaimed that the new site will "contain more information than ever before," but it turns out that in fact the treasure trove of information collected in the AUGI discussion forums over the past ten years disappeared during the transition, and members are not very happy about the loss.

It's clear that someone at AUGI dropped the ball, but it's not clear who. Outgoing president Mark Kiker spearheaded an effort two years ago to cut ties with Solid Vapor, the third party contractor who had been hired in 2003 to operate and promote the AUGI brand in exchange for, among other things, the right to profit from these pursuits for the next 10 years. Apparently this included the rights to the forum content. Could it be held hostage (until 2013 by some reports) due to terms in that original Solid Vapor contract?

I've been told that when the Solid Vapor agreement collapsed, one of the Solid Vapor principals agreed to continue hosting the AUGI web content, and the new hosting entity claims to have inherited all rights to the data and refuses to provide it to AUGI. In any case, AUGI apparently does not have access to the data from the old forums. It's plausible (and widely assumed) that AUGI management made a unilateral decision to change web hosting providers, then realized too late that the forum content would be held hostage.

Incoming president David Harrington has stated that the dispute will be resolved soon, and that he plans to restore the old forum software along with the old data. I don't know whether this represents a fundamental shift in philosophy, or was the plan all along, or is a reaction to the outcry from members and the recognition that a mistake was made, or just an attempt to smooth things over temporarily in hopes that the ruckus will die down.

This story has all the elements of a good spy novel, but the fallout has repercussions for many AUGI members who relied on the forum as a valuable information resource. As in past AUGI crises, members are left with no clear communication from AUGI representatives as to what is happening or who is calling the shots, and this magnifies the sense of helplessness that many members feel.

Unfortunately it also results in a lot of unhelpful gossip and innuendo clouding what is undoubtedly an important organizational drama playing out behind the scenes.

I'm confident that David Harrington and the AUGI board will eventually get this current crisis resolved, but as an AUGI member (albeit infrequent forum participant), I have a wish list for AUGI going forward:

1. Make AUGI member-supported: consider a tiered membership system that ranges from free to dues-paying.
2. Publish all legal agreements, contracts, and meeting minutes in a place where all members can read them.
3. Give a membership-chosen ombudsman unfettered access to act as an impartial observer and auditor of all internal affairs.
4. Focus on the members: act on our behalf, represent us, empower us, and be our collective voice to Autodesk.

 

Owen Wengerd writes on programming issues at his blog, Outside the Box. He is president of ManuSoft and vp Americas of CADLock, Inc. 

 

foto of the sunday: caution, artist at work

My youngest daughter is in third year fine arts at Trinity Western University. Here she is working in the school's art studio. She says that it takes 16 hours, typically, to complete a painting. This photo was taken by Natalie McNeill and was featured on a poster for SAMC, TWU's arts program.