WorldCAD Access

CAD Vendors: Implement Layar

No, not layers. Layar, the iPhone app that overlays photos with location-based info. ReadWrite Web's Dana Oshiro gives a bunch of practical examples at Layar Adds Foursquare, Beatlemania and Civic Projects to its AR Offerings.

Layar themselves have more examples, including architectural ones, at Layar 3.0 launched: 5 cases to show the power of the platform. Looking at the examples reminds me of William Gibson's Spook Country, which I happen to be reading right now.

'Cept in the book, the protagonists have to wear headgear to see the VR scenes; the iPhone dispenses with all that!

Updated CAD News from Russia

From the current issue of the Russian-language isicad.net digital magazine, we learn these news items of interest:

• Bentley Systems recently sold 120 licenses for $500,000 to Russian design companies specializing in nuclear-energy construction. Bentley is intensively investing in Russian localization and by 2012 plans to increase its income in Russia by 3-5 times.

• Nanosoft known mainly as a sensational "legitimate CAD-for-free" vendor of Nanocad software, suddenly announced "a traditional" way to get their key software NanoCAD Mechanics 2.0: for 25,000 rubles (approx. $800). "The end of a nano fairy tale?" asks a Russian blogger.

• SpaceClaim and Russian engineering company AXIS agree to distribute SpaceClaim products in Russia. In particular, all Russian universities can get academic versions of SpaceClaim Engineer 2009 with an unrestricted number of licenses. 

Source in Russian only (English summaries by David Levin).

World Leader in CAD Gives Away Software to the World Leader of Piracy

Autodesk donates software worth US$50 million to 50 Chinese universities and secondary vocational schools. It is natural for CAD vendors to donate their software to places of higher learning. Siemens PLM Systems (UGS) is probably the biggest donor, going by press releases announcements. I've always wondered how often these donations are made primarily to lower the corporate tax bill.

Now, 50 universities sounds like a lot, and that would cover all of Canada and part of the United States. But it represents a mere 2.2% of China's 2,236 colleges and universities (as of 2004; don't have a newer stat).

Just wondering: is that $50 million-value based on the usual $4-$5,000 list price of Autodesk software, or the more-recent China-only 80% discounted price? 

Source.

Dassault Ships V6 R2010x

Dassault Systèmes launched V6R2010x of its PLM software. But in Dassault fashion, the press release makes the feature set incomprehensible -- at for a CAD guy like me:

V6R2010x includes major deliveries in support of DS's PLM 2.0 and Social Innovation strategy serving new audiences within all communities, including traditional industry-oriented ones.

The enhancements are delivered in the three sectors of V6's organic architecture (Lifelike Experience, Collaborative I-PLM and IP Creation).

V6R2010x extends the reach of the V6 platform beyond on-premises solutions to include mobile and cloud solutions. 

Well, at least it includes a mention of the soon-to-be-no-longer-trendy term, cloud.

Source.

State of the Industry: Construction

Don Fornes reports that the trend in construction is up:

• Estimating and takeoff solutions are in demand.

• Software as a Service is in the right place at the right time.

• LEED credit tracking creates new demand.

• Stimulus funds are trickling down, slowly.

• But, fewer accounting & job costing replacements.

And the outlook for 2010:

Company budgets likely won't fully recover in 2010, limiting the purchase of construction software. However, so far we've noticed more activity this quarter than any other this year.

Read the entire report at Software Advice.

Update: SketchBook Mobile Doing Well

Autodesk pr tells me that its SketchBook Mobile software for the iPhone is doing quite well. iPhone and iPod Touch users have downloaded 700,000 copies of the paid and free Express versions (available only through AppStore via iTunes software):

#1 entertainment application
#3 top grossing U.S. app
#5 overall U.S. paid app

Update

Autodesk today gives greater details to the numbers behind SketchBook Mobile:

• 141,000 paid copies of SketchBook Mobile downloaded at $2.99 each; I think they have to give 40% to Apple, so that's a net revenue of $253,000.

• 900,000 free copies of SketchBook Mobile Express downloaded. 

As for the desktop version, Autodesk says there are 100,000+ licenses of the $100 SketchBook Pro. Detailed numbers from a company that last year said it would no longer announce numbers of software programs licensed; when the news is good, it's hard to resist.
 
Source.

Adobe Pulls a Visio

There was a time in the mid-1990s when Visio Corp set forth its plan to become the vendor of drawing tools. It already had the Visio diagramming software; it had acquired the IntelliCAD design software; momentum was on its side. What could possibly go wrong?*

A half-decade earlier, Autodesk Inc had an even grander plan: to be become the vendor of all graphical tools. It had its high-end AutoCAD design software; it acquired the Generic CADD line of low-end design software; it was busy acquiring other forms of graphical software for presentations, molecular design, chaotic theory, virtual reality, Macintosh, and more. What could possibly go wrong?**

This decade, Adobe Systems Inc planned to pervade every area of interactivity. It had its desktop publishing software; it acquired the MacroMedia line of Web publishing tools; it steadily oozed further into the picky field of CAD. What could possibly go wrong?***

This week, we learn from Randall Newton that "Adobe is ending a vertical approach to marketing its 3D technology, but will continue development" because customers are finding Adobe's 3D API difficult to implement.

- - - 

*, **, ***) Short answer: Sales of new products were insufficient, and in each case the company eventually retrenched.

Longer answer: Each of these companies went outside of its customers' fields of expertise. Potential customers were unaccustomed to this "foreign" vendor, while existing customers had no interest in the new offerings:

• Visio customers create simplistic diagrams as occasional side jobs; the complexity of CAD requires commitment.

• Autodesk customers create complex models that must be accurate; chaos and virtual reality are inaccurate distractions.

• Adobe customers publish 2D publications on paper and the Web that guide the reader/viewer; 3D interactive models offend by the difficulty and randomness of their interaction. 

Source.

Dassault's Stunning Spin

Al Dean has already commented on Dassault's breath-taking spin on spinning off one of its old acquisitions: 

Dassault Systemes Strengthens Commitment to ENOVIA SmarTeam V5

Strengthening its commitment by dumping its development team into the newly created and independent-of-Dassault company Artizone); ie, if DS were instead acquiring SmartTeam, then its press release would have to read the opposite: "Weakens Commitment."

(Former CEO of SmarTeam brand and former VP of Dassault Systems value channel Alex Zeltcer becomes CEO of artizone.)

Source.

Bone-based Architectural Design from solidThinking

Industrial design is today a crucial aspect of marketing products; car makers, for example, now want to update the style of their models every year.

The problem then becomes finding sources of inspiration for new design directions. (Seen a really different watch lately?) 

Others, like Rhino, solve the problem through algorithmic design variations (Universal Deformation Technology). solidThinking is adapting technology used by its parent company prosthetics design -- bone development.

I'll have more details in next week's upFront.eZine, but now I wanted to share images of how this bone-based design might work in architecture (click thumbnails for larger images):

1. Draw the volume of the product that defines its overall shape and function (must be watertight surfaces or 3D solids). Here is part of a stadium:


2. Add forces (do not need to be exact).


3. Transfer solidThinking model to Inspired (a one-buton click).
4. Specify general parameters, such as how much material to leave (default = 30%) and minimum or maximum thicknesses.
5. Wait a few minutes for Inspired to generate bone-based structure. This is the minimum material required to maintain strength.


6. Now designer can add his flair...


7. Finalize the design...


8. ...and create the final rendering (all done with solidThinking).
 

www.solidthinking.com

Autodesk and Intergraph Acknowledge Each Other's Existence

At 5:00am this morning comes news that Autodesk is licensing ISOGEN's automatic production of piping isometrics and BOMs technology from Intergraph for AutoCAD Plant 3D 2010.

Autodesk needs Intregraph so that its Plant 3D software can automatically generate isometric plans from 3D piping models.

Intergraph needs Autodesk so that, um... Well, it gets revenue from Autodesk for the long-term license agreement. (Now that it is privately owned, we have no idea how Intergraph is doing financially.) And then there is the altruistic reason, as Intergraph explains:

As Intergraph ISOGEN technology is open and interoperable, Autodesk and other Intergraph ISOGEN customers and partners will be able to more easily share information – a win-win for the industry. 

Source.