WorldCAD Access

In upFront.eZine this week: we dig up the dirt on think3

This week, upFront.eZine has for your reading pleasure:

1. The Sorry think3 Story Gets Messier

2. Excerpts from Autodesk's Q1 Conference Call

3. Out of the Inbox and other regular columns

You can read all about this week's business of CAD at www.upfrontezine.com/2011/upf-693.htm

 

 

13 Autodesk trademarks that have died

Autodesk no longer holds the registration of the following trademarks in the USA:

• Autodesk Envision (also the name of my bank)

• Autodesk Map

• Autodesk World

• Autodesk Press Express
  
  
• Autodesk Walkthrough
  
  
• Powered with Autodesk Technology
  
  
• Autodesk Workcenter
  
  
• Autodesk View
  
  
• Autodesk University
  
  
• Autodesk Workplace
  
  
• Autodesk Training Center
  
  
• Autodesk Animator
  
  
• Autodesk 3D Concepts 

Source.

 

With 123D, is Autodesk taking on Google? (part 4 of the series)

by Roopinder Tara, Tenlinks.com

Autodesk chose Maker Faire -- the annual gathering of inventor, hobbyists and craftspeople -- for the public debut of 123D, its consumer design software. I didn’t know what to expect at Maker faire. Maybe Autodesk did not know either. The consumer market is fairly new territory for both of us.

Google SketchUp's booth at Maker Faire, drawn in SketchUp, a favorite among DIYers.

But not so new for Google, who was there in a big way with SketchUp: a trailer, a stage and several exhibits, and big crowds. It turns out that SketchUp has achieved a widespread acceptance among the attendees of Maker Faire – and judging from that, probably with the entire community of "makers," as craftsmen, hobbyists, tinkerers and inventors are now being called.  

CAD insiders know SketchUp well for its application to architecture; its ease of use has helped make it the most popular conceptual sketching tool in the world. For massing studies, I hear it has no equal. Like 123D, the basic version is free.

Mechanical modeling?
Yeah, we do that. John Bacus, product manager of SketchUp.

I find John Bacus, product manager of SketchUp, to hear him explain the software's accidental success with the maker audience. He is showing showing Skpr*, a spidery looking remote controlled robot, to a bunch of kids. On the big screen is a 3D model of Skpr. But seeing is not believing.

“Is it even made with SketchUp?” I ask John, incredulously. I suspected the model may have been imported. “SketchUp is not really a serious mechanical modeling tool, right? I mean, It’s not really a solid modeler. It’s not even precise, like CAD software.”

“Yes, it was made in SketchUp,” he says, sounding as if I was not the first unenlightened person he had encountered. “It is manifold geometry, not solids. But it has all the commands like add, subtract [AKA Boolean operations]. Besides, does it matter what’s under the hood, as long as it can model what you want?”

Hmm. John may have a point. But I am not ready to quit. “But it can’t be as precise,” I say.

“It’s every bit as precise as other CAD products.” John counters.

“Can it output to standard formats?”

“Like what?”

“DWG”

“Yup.”

“But they’ve got 4,000 free models,” I counter, admitting to my being easily impressed by the amount of content Autodesk was giving away for free with 123D.

“We’ve got 4,000 chairs,” responds John, disdainfully. “Have you seen 3D Warehouse?”

Darn. Sounds like something I should have known about. Is it possible that there is a vast repository of free 3D models? Was a parallel but invisible CAD universe  created without my notice? I excuse myself, and scurry over to take a look 3D warehouse.

I’m not surprised to find many, many buildings in 3D Warehouse at sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse. After all, that was SketchUp’s reason for acquisition by Google. Google bought SketchUp back in 2006 to populate Google Earth with models of the built world. Therefore, there are also civil projects -- more than a few. A search for Golden Gate Bridge finds 228 models.

OK, it is the most famous bridge in the word and I shouldn’t be surprised to find so many people honing their modeling skills on it. Let’s try something rarer. Didn’t Autodesk include with 123D the model of a dolphin? A search for “dolphin” in 3D Warehouse yields 181 results. Granted, one is the Swan and Dolphin Hotel in Orlando FL, but even after you discount such irrelevancies, that’s still a whole lot of Flippers.

And speaking of chairs... John was modest. A search for chairs comes up with 14,317 entries. There are 34 models of Adirondacks alone!

Who knew? Hundreds of models of piston.
Google’s 3D Warehouse provides an incredible number of mechanical parts.
Autodesk’s 123D will have to play catch-up.

But let’s get back to mechanical design. I look up "engine" and get 894 results. Some are in complete cars. Let’s drill down: "pistons." There’s too many to count. "Speed reducers." Only five? What a letdown!

Clearly, Autodesk has quite a bit of catching up to do. SketchUp users have been busy for years adding mucho models -- tens of thousands of models -- all of them freely downloadable. Combined with Google’s unmatched ability to search, models are incredibly easy to find.

The comparison between SketchUp and 123D may be a bit more complex than I thought. These products will need to be put to the test.

----

*) Get it? The SKP in "Skpr" is the Sketchup file extension.

 [Reprinted with permission from CAD Insider.]

ZStore where zee apps cost $4,000

According to their press release, "Zero Wait-State Announces the First Ever Application Store for PLM." More specifically, it is supposed to have applications that work with Oracle Agile, PTC Windchill, and Dassault Enterprise PDM. The company says their own apps will be there, as well as ones from GoEngineer, shortly.

An app store for PLM! This sounds interesting, and so I checked it out at zerowait-state.com/store and found a few problems:

     - The store is populated with just 12 products so far, some software, some training.

     - Prices range from $1,500 to $4,000 and "Call for Pricing."

So, not exactly the 99-cent pricing we are used to from app stores. How does one go about buying a $4000-app? I decided to find out.

I added "PG&C System Configuration for Supplier Users" to the cart, and then went to check out. No credit card or PayPal logos. Instead, I needed to fill out a form so that I could be billed. At this point, I stopped, and so I was unable to determine how the product is shipped.

 

 

RhinoFabLabs Help Rhino Users Fabricate

by Roopinder Tara, Tenlinks.com

The University of New Mexico became the latest RhinoFabLab last week (see announcement). With recent coverage of TechShop (some of it right here), I was reminded that RhinoFabLab concept has been around for quite some time.

When did RhinoFabLabs get started? And how they different from TechShops? From FabLabs?

I sought out Robert McNeel, CEO of the company by the same name that makes Rhino. Bob tells me RhinoFabLabs started out as and still serves as a online support group for Rhino users who need to fabricate their designs, especially the more challenging ones.

"The online Rhino user community has always been an important part of what you get when you buy Rhino," says Bob. "With RhinoFabLab (www.rhinofablab.com) we are just trying to make it easier to find information and/or the Rhino users that are most involved in the nitty gritty of the fabrication."

"With RhinoFabLab, we are also trying to make it easier for Rhino users to find the fabrication experts willing and able to help them get started with digital fabrication."

"20 years ago, this was done with online bulletin boards. Now we have the Web. The tools have changed," says Bob. The tools Bob is referring to are the online tools, not the laser cutters, drills. lathes, etc.

"But is RhinoFabLab is more than an online community? What about the machine shop, like the one in University of New Mexico," I ask impatiently.

"Right, so for the last 2 years of so, we have been certifying machine shops," says the ever-patient Bob. Indeed, to get a RhinoFabLab logo, you have to fill out an application and undergo an inspection. First of all, to be certified as RhinoFabLab, A shop must also be affiliated with an official Rhino training center. "We wouldn't want to put our name on it and then find out that no one there knows what Rhino is."

What's the difference between RhinoFabLab and others, namely TechShop, or FabLab-inspired workshops?

"Well, clearly we cater to the Rhino user," Bob tells me. "Also our users are actually using the labs in actual production of parts. At FabLabs, they may be making using their shop to make shop tools. TechShops may be making model airplanes or boats. RhinoFabLab users are actually making parts for the actual boats themselves."

"Of course, hobbyists and tinkers are welcome," Bob hastens to add. "Especially those that appreciate industrial grade processes and tools."

So, for Bob the lines are clear. The other shops are used by hobbyists and tinkers. Rhino users are into serious manufacturing -- or architecture, as in the case of UNM.

Different, but to some extent, similar. Like the FabLabs inspired by MIT's Center for Bits and Atoms, RhinoFabLabs uses "tools cover the various leading-edge industrial methods and materials needed to design, analyze, and fabricate almost anything." This according to the Rhino site.

The emphasis on manufacturing may explain why most RhinoFabLabs are overseas. I see only 2 in the US, but several in Latin America. There may be more in Europe and Asia but at the time of this writing, I was not able to see them on the RhinoFabLab website.

"You have to go where the manufacturing is," says Bob. "Just not a lot of it in the US."

Are RhinoFabLab open to the public, thinking of TechShops "gym membership" model?

"To the extent that they are in schools which are public institutions," says Bob.

"Will the shops have only Rhino products?

"We don't have any restriction on what type of organizational structure is behind a RhinoFabLab," Bob says. "Of course, there is no reason for them to sign up if they don't want to offer some kind of services to the general Rhino community."

"Will you tolerate Inventor being used?" I realize I may be goading Bob. Autodesk is McNeel's competitor. But I must know. Autodesk's almost overwhelming support of TechLab threatens to crowd out competitive products. Will RhinoFabLab play that game?

"We realize people use other software," says Bob. "We don't demand exclusivity in RhinoFabLab. We understand that people need many software products to design and build products. RhinoFabLabs are open just like everything Rhino related. Open support forums, open files formats, open SDKs, etc."

Find out more about RhinoFabLab, including how to get certifies as one, here at www.rhino3d.com/arfl.htm

[Reprinted by permission of CAD Insider.]

 

In upFront.eZine this week: we have reports of pro- and anti-BIM uprisings in Russia

This week, upFront.eZine has for your reading pleasure:

1. BIM Discussion Gets Heated in Russia
    Guest Editorial by Alexander Bausk

2. Update on the Russian CAD/PLM Market   
    Commentary by David Levin  
      - Space & CAD in Russia: 50 Years since Gagarin's Flight  
      - Which CAD/PLM Topics are Most Popular in Russia?
      - CAD Companies Operating in Russia

3. Out of the Inbox and other regular columns

You can read all about this week's business of CAD at www.upfrontezine.com/2011/upf-692.htm

 

Autodesk 2012 Suite unboxing photos

AutoCAD Release 12 was the mother of all software packages. It got a special mention by PC Magazine in 1992 for having a package size that spanned something like two feet of shelf space. (I still have my copy of the software, but it is buried at the back of one of my storage areas.)

Then the AutoCAD package began shrinking, first to CDs, then to DVDs, and finally downloads. With 2012's emphasis on suites, the download size is getting a bit large, and so the suites are available on 16GB and 32BG USB keys (aka thumbdrives). For example, Ultimate Product Suite takes up 17GB.

(Don't think you can reuse these USB keys; they are read-only and I found that Linux won't even mount them.)

Here is my photoshot of unboxing:

1. The boxes for the design suites are about 5.5" wide and 4" tall, by 1" thick. Here are the boxes for the Ultimate versions of ProductDesign Suite and Design Suite. The difference between the two: one has more software on it.

2. The colorful cardboard packaging is just a wrapper. Slide it off for the actual box.

3. Open the black box to see the USB key nestled inside.

4. Use the cardboard pulltab to remove the nestled USB key. 

5. The USB key is triangular in shape, made of plastic. The color is titanium, with a nice clear yellow accent line. There is a hole with which the system administrator can lockdown the key.

Both boxes have USB keys that look identical. This means that you cannot tell which software suite is on which USB key. 

6. Open the key by pulling hard on the cap. 

           

7. The back of the key has all kinds of logos that you normally don't see on any other USB key. This must be a very dangerous one.

8. To install the software, plug the key into a USB port on your computer. Double-click the Setup.Exe file. The Serial No. and Product Key are pasted on the back of the cardboard wrapper.

TIP: The cap is very tight. Don't make Al Dean's mistake and try to twist off the cap. That's just breaks off the connector.

Roopinder Tara takes the first look at Autodesk's new 123D

By Roopinder Tara, Tenlinks.com

Autodesk is today lifting the veil off its new 123D consumer design product. Targeted towards the hobbyist, craftsman, tinkerer, inventor,it will be available for a very popualr price: $0.

Here is an early look of the UI. Graphics and descriptions are preliminary and were supplied in advance of the product release.

(click for bigger picture)
The interface.
With commands for Extrude, Constrain, etc., it doesn't seem dumbed down enough for your average Joe
(Update: 123D is based on Fusion.)

123D appears to be based on a solid modeling engine, as commands such as Sketch and Extrude are shown. According to Autodesk, a shelling command will be available to save material for parts that will be sent to 3D printers.

A generous number of common objects will be included as editable models, and so uses can either start their designs using the models as a base or use the models as is in assemblies. Also included are scenes that can serve as backdrops.

About 2,000 fasteners are included, as well as a couple thousand structural shapes, tubes, pipes, and other hardware. Again, very generous of Autodesk. Note that the parts are in DWG format.

Ikea or Autodesk? Piece your 3D shape with cardboard, a little glue and and an Exacto knife.
This dolphin pattern sells for $45.

 
Some designs, like this chair, will be available for free. 

If you just want to make something from an existing design, you can pay to download some projects from Autodesk partners, but some simple projects are made available for free.

123D is Windows-based. But I expect a Mac version is not far off. More information at www.123dapp.com.

{Reprinted with permission of CAD Insider.]

Inforbix aims to be the Google of CAD metadata

by Roopinder Tara, Tenlinks.com

Oleg Shilovitsky maybe best know to us as the most prolific blogger on the subject of PLM. (See plm think tank and Beyond PLM). His posts are familiar to readers of TenLinks. But Oleg is about to embark on a new venture, this time with a commercial software product. Along with partner Anatoly Savin, Oleg will soon make available Inforbix, a data search tool still in beta, recently received the recipient of Top Technology Award at COFES 2011.

Oleg’s Inforbix is a multi-purpose application for the metadata found in CAD models. I recently saw a demo of Inforbix’s search function. Let’s say you want to find an angle bracket in your company’s library of CAD models. You type in “angle bracket” into Inforbix, and the software would find it -- or things like it. It aims to do for CAD data what Google has done for the Web. More applications are under development, including ones that perform PDM and CRM functions to slice and dice metadata.

Isn’t there already software that does this? "Yes, there is," says Oleg, "but nothing that looks across all applications." For example, PDM Express will do this for SolidWorks models; Vault possibly for Inventor models; but what if your company has a mixed bag of CAD apps?

Seems like a good angle… Why hasn’t anyone thought of this before?

The Inforbix interface is elegant. Any resemblance to Google is purely intentional. The interface seems easy to use: you just type in a search term, and hit Go. The program looks through its index to find results. Like Google Desktop, it needs to spend some time creating this index after you install it. Once created, new models are added to the index.

The product is in beta. Oleg hopes to get it into production next quarter. For more information, see www.inforbix.com

[Reprinted with permission of CAD Insider.]

Autodesk resurges the Maker movement: 123D, part 2

by Roopinder Tara, Tenlinks.com

Curiosity piqued by Autodesk ceo Carl Bass’s announcement of 123D, I head to Autodesk's San Francisco office to hear more.

I am introduced to Tatjana Dzambazova, Autodesk’s fair haired, super-driven, yet quite personable seniorr product manager of creative products, who -- despite being in the final phase of product launch -- pushes aside her stack of executive summaries, product descriptions, etc., to make time for me.

She looks familiar. Perhaps we know each other in her previous life, she volunteers. She was once in charge of Revit. She is modest. She has authored several books on Revit. However, her life is now 123D. She has been following the “maker movement” for some time. She was at last year’s Maker Faire, where inventors, tinkerers and craftsmen show their stuff. Over 40,000 attended the event held south of San Francisco. That sort of crowd dwarfs even the biggest CAD show (Autodesk University gets what, maybe 7,500 attendees at the most?). I imagine someone saw gold in them there hills of San Mateo.

But the maker movement goes back further. W-a-y back. Wasn’t God the original Maker? Since then, mere mortals have followed suit -- starting with simple tools, moving on to complex machines, peaking in recent history in the industrial age and mass production. But those who call themselves “makers” now seem to be the ones who want to make things themselves –- personally -- often with their bare hands, taking back the right to do so from factories and assembly lines.

“We as a people have become disengaged from the act of production,” says Tatjana.

Makers take pride in craftmanship, uniqueness. They want to be able to have an idea and be able to give it life in the real world. Maybe it’s a new invention. May be it’s a variation of an existing product. Maybe it’s just a backlash against packaged goods, low quality, being told what to buy, everyone having the same thing, wearing the same things, when a collective quest for low price breeds big-box stores and a thousand unnamed foreign factories making inferior products with numbing uniformity… Ok, Roopinder's getting carried away. Now, where was I?

It’s not the first backlash against mass production. The Arts and Crafts Movement sprang up in England in the latter half of the 1800’s, hoping to revive skilled craftsmanship and stop what it saw as downhill trend in quality and public taste as result of mass production. I’d have to say the public won, bad taste and all, and the Movement more or less fizzled. Hand mande goods increasingly being seen as quaint, backward.

Fast forward to modern time. Inventors, tinkerers, hobbyists, DIYers, and craftspeople have kept the flame alive. Autodesk hopes for more: a confluence of trends that will make the small flame a conflagration.

I am full of questions:

• What technology is it based on?
  
  
• Is it solid modeling?
  
  
• Can I see it?

But it appears Autodesk is not quite ready to show the product. I wonder if Carl totally jumped the gun? Usually, Autodesk is full of information after an announcement. I am told more details are to follow “soon.”

"What can I show?” asks the lovely Ms Tatajana, but she dares not reveal details of Autodesk’s recently announced 123D before the official launch. But I do manage to get an understanding of the basis of 123D; who Autodesk hopes to help; and how it intends to gain.

Tatjana gives me a run down of the genesis of 123D. 

The ordinary person today has at their disposal tools and information they have never had before, not only software, but the Internet, cheap computing, the cloud – and all knowledge just a few clicks away. Let’s say you want to make a better mouse trap:

1. Take pictures of one with ordinary point-and-shoot digital camera, and then pload its images to Autodesk's Labs Project Photofly to create a 3D model.
   
   
2. Tweak the design using Autodesk Inventor at a TechShop (a DIY workshop with monthly membership) and actually produce a working model right there on the premises.
   
   
3. Should you not want to or think you might injure yourself on TechShop’s formidable machines, any number of rapid prototyping services can make a plastic replica of the part.

Da Vinci did not have it this good. Even if your brilliance extends only as far as the idea phase and you are totally challenged in its creation, services like Ponoko (which bills itself as a personal factory) will handle all of it –and even help you market and sell it.

Autodesk has partnered with both TechShop and Ponoko in what appears to be its bid to be the preeminent design software for the maker market.

More information soon. The official product site is www.123dapp.com, where the information is disappointingly lean at time of writing. But Autodesk does promise to send us an email when 123D is available. Note the care taken to ensure that the hardware pictured at the site looks decidedly non-Apple.

[Reprinted with permission of CAD Insider.]