CADalyst articles from April 2001

CADalyst archives from April 2001

CADALYST.COM.(News Briefs)
April 1, 2001... New this month LT Online | MARK MIDDLEBROOK AutoCAD LT, like AutoCAD, offers a confusingly large number of ways to select objects for editing. Learn why you have all those options and how to use some of them to improve your overall...

Publish AEC documents to the Web : Six solutions facilitate AEC collaboration online.(Company Business and Marketing)(Buyers Guide)
April 1, 2001... In the CAD world, we typically print or plot hard copies when we want to share our production and construction plans. Though hard copies have been around for a long time, the Internet is fast replacing them as a tool to distribute and share our...

AutoCAD database.(Product Support)(Tutorial)
April 1, 2001... We want a database or spreadsheet program that creates a stock list while allowing other departments to create reports from database information. We want to import and export the stock list from the program into AutoCAD 2000 and print and plot...

Factory turned art school.(Technology Information)
April 1, 2001... As parametric object modelers gain popularity with architects, they are most often associated with new buildings. Their capacity for laying out regular, precisely repeated elements seems more appropriate for architectural blank slates than for...

Drafting or design.(Industry Trend or Event)
April 1, 2001... Through the years, the CAD acronym has changed from computer-aided drafting to computer-aided design. In reality, most CAD software is still used for drafting today, but will that always be the case? We recently received a letter from a...

Tips from our readers.(News Briefs)
April 1, 2001... $50 BONUS WINNER Plate Holes Tip #1696: [PLATE.LSP] and [PLATE.DCL] This program draws triangular pitched holes in both front and rear circular plates. For rear plates, you indicate the smaller hole size and it prompts you for the...

3D architectural modeling falls short of promise.(Technology Information)(Column)
April 1, 2001... Architectural CAD software developers seem to concentrate most of their development effort on 3D modeling these days. New architectural CAD software revolves around the premise that architects and building services engineers want to construct a...

Dialog Box : Thoughts from our readers.(Letter to the Editor)
April 1, 2001... BigFlop Regarding Michael Dakan's column on patches (February 2001, p. 62), I've used BigFix on three occasions with AutoCAD Releases 14 and 2000. Each time, the program caused numerous crashes. My advice is to get the fixes...

GIS Goes Mobile : The industry's top companies offer wireless technology support.(Company Business and Marketing)
April 1, 2001... Do you suppose Gene Roddenberry was on to something when he created the communicator for the original Star Trek? Crew members carried this tool--which provided voice communication as well as computing on a handheld device that knew where it...

Explore online AEC services.(Product Announcement)
April 1, 2001... As we in the AEC industry strive to find ways to increase our productivity, Internet vendors scramble to provide us with useful services, hoping to fill our needs and find a niche to call their own. While many of us have heard about online...

Internet product update : Web-based software for CAD/CAM/CAE users.(Company Business and Marketing)
April 1, 2001... Online file conversion Design4Advantage announced Translate 4CAD (parts start at $50), an online service to convert CAD files. Translate4CAD features 88 data translators that work with CATIA, Unigraphics, I-DEAS, Pro/ENGINEER, Solid Edge,...

Explore Inventor 4 : Assembly improvements, new constraints, and 2D drafting tools top the list of new features.(Software Review)(Evaluation)
April 1, 2001... These days, each new software release has so many new features that it's impossible to list them all, let alone do an in-depth analysis of each one. In addition, most software in a particular category works much the same and has most of the...

Extend AutoCAD entity data.(Product Support)(Tutorial)
April 1, 2001... It was a dark and stormy night. Captain LearnCurve's acute hearing picked up an anguished cry: Oh, woe is me! I have many pages of data that must match up to objects in my drawing! It takes forever to find the data for a given object! Whatever...

Storing nongraphic data groups.(Product Support)(Tutorial)
April 1, 2001... I recently experimented with AutoCAD's new ActiveX functions for storing nongraphic data with objects. These functions provide a simple yet powerful interface to store and retrieve nongraphic data with an object. However, in my quest to replace...

Geometric modeling kernels revisited.(Technology Information)
April 1, 2001... A geometric modeling kernel lies at the heart of every commercially available 3D modeling application. Knowledge of how kernels work and the differences among the main types can help you determine which CAD modeler will work best for you. This...

Can Internet vendors capitalize on market potential?(Company Business and Marketing)
April 1, 2001... Market research firm Daratech (www.daratech.com) estimates that the market for E/C/O (engineering/construction/operations) technology will increase from $500 million in 2000 to $1 billion by 2004. E/C/O technology covers Web-hosted design and...

Bentley starts government unit.(Company Business and Marketing)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... Bentley Systems launched a state and local government unit for North America. The unit includes Bentley Transportation, which develops transportation management systems, and the Viecon Public Works Network, which uses the Internet to encourage...

Unigraphics shortens name to UGS.(Company Business and Marketing)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... Unigraphics Solutions shortened its name to UGS and launched a new e-factory business to focus on virtual manufacturing--the ability to collaboratively create, validate, and communicate an optimized manufacturing process plan. UGS' e-factory...

SDRC makes Metaphase plans.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
April 1, 2001... SDRC's Metaphase PKM (product knowledge management) software now has 405,000 users worldwide, after an increase of 30,000 in the last quarter. SDRC will work more closely with long-time partner Sun Microsystems to help drive adoption of CPC...

Acquisitions.(Company Business and Marketing)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... Logitech will purchase Labtec Inc., also a provider of computer peripherals. Ariba acquired Agile Software, a developer of product lifecycle management products, for $2.55 billion in stock. Monitor maker ViewSonic Corp. acquired the...

Business.(Company Operations)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... Graphisoft appointed Al Moulton, president of Graphisoft subsidiary Drawbase, as president of Graphisoft US, which has offices in Boston, San Francisco, and San Antonio. OneBuild has expanded its scope to include helping customers create...

Alliances.(News Briefs)
April 1, 2001... 3Ga Corp., joined the Solid Edge Voyager Program and will add support for Solid Edge parts and assemblies into its 3G.web.decisions product. Robert McNeel & Associates incorporated ArchVision's RPC rendering technology into the latest...

HARDWARE : Digital printer.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
April 1, 2001... The DisplayMaker Esprit ($14,995) is a wide-format printer from MacDermid ColorSpan, Inc., that features four-, six-, and eight-color printing and a straight-through paperpath. Esprit prints on sheet-fed rigid media and roll-fed flexible media...

HARDWARE : 540 scanner.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
April 1, 2001... VIDAR Systems Corp. announced the Latitude ($29,750) 540 scanner. The Latitude handles 12mm thick documents and scans paper, mylar, maps, and redlined drawings. The scanner captures 36 bits of data, removes background noise, and sends the best...

HARDWARE : Handheld computer.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
April 1, 2001... Eagle Point Software's SMI (Surveyors' Module International) division announced the Titan ($3,995 with SMI Data Collection/GPS Robotic v6 card), an expandable Windows CE handheld computer designed for field work. The Titan features a 166MHz...

HARDWARE : Scanning and milling.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
April 1, 2001... The MDX-20 ($4,495) from Roland DGA Corp., is a 3D scanning and milling desktop machine for reverse engineering, rapid prototyping, and small lot production. You select the scanning or milling attachment, and the RAPS (Roland active piezo...

HARDWARE : Office modeling system.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
April 1, 2001... Prodigy (pricing starts at $66,500) from Stratasys, Inc., is a rapid prototyping modeling system that lets you test form, fit, and function with durable ABS parts produced within a networked office environment. Prodigy is based on fused...

CAE & GIS SOFTWARE : Design analysis.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
April 1, 2001... COSMOS/DesignSTAR (call for pricing) from Structural Research and Analysis Corp. is a design analysis program for 3D CAD packages. COSMOS/DesignSTAR features tools to verify your 3D CAD models and perform multiple what-if scenarios. Design...

CAE & GIS SOFTWARE : Shape calculation.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
April 1, 2001... Sectionwizard ($695), from Research Engineers International, facilitates calculation of section properties for custom or assembled shapes. Sectionwizard lets you calculate section properties such as area, moment of inertia, section modulus,...

CAE & GIS SOFTWARE : System design.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
April 1, 2001... Airpak 1 ($27,000) from Fluent Inc. is CFD (computational fluid dynamics)-based HVAC system design software. Airpak combines unstructured meshing and a powerful solver engine for the design and analysis of ventilation systems. You drag and drop...

CAE & GIS SOFTWARE : Data management.(Product Information)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... GeoMedia Transaction Manager (call for pricing), from Intergraph Corp., integrates GeoMedia, Oracle Spatial, and the Oracle Workspace Manager for the capture and maintenance of geospatial data in a multi-user environment. GeoMedia Transaction...

CAE & GIS SOFTWARE : Mechanical simulation.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
April 1, 2001... LMS International announced LMS DADS 9.6 (call for pricing) mechanical simulation software. DADS' virtual prototyping capabilities predict and analyze the dynamic behavior of vehicles, aircraft, and other mechanical systems during the design...

CAE & GIS SOFTWARE : Rendering software.(Product Information)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... FastCAD 7 ($250 for update from FastCAD 5 or 6) object-oriented rendering software from Evolution Computing, Inc., features an image buffering scheme, plug-in rendering interfaces, in-window OpenGL hardware-accelerated rendering and printing,...

CAE & MCAD SOFTWARE : Design simulation.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
April 1, 2001... MSC.visualNastran Desktop 2001 (call for pricing) from MSC.Software Corporation includes MSC.visualNastran FEA for SolidWorks and MSC.visualNastran 4D and Motion for SolidWorks. MSC.visualNastran 2001 for SolidWorks lets you simulate tests...

CAE & MCAD SOFTWARE : Design tool.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
April 1, 2001... AEA Technology announced CFX-BladeGen ($7,500 for annual license), a 3D software tool for the rapid design of rotating machinery components. A unique Plus module enables 3D viscous flow screening of the design through an embedded and fully...

CAE & MCAD SOFTWARE : 2D-to-3D design.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
April 1, 2001... CoCreate Software Inc. announced ME10 2001 (call for pricing) 2D-to-3D CAD software, which features a 2D-to-3D accelerator kit, design management with a Windows-compatible interface, interface customization toolkit, and a library of ME10...

CAE & MCAD SOFTWARE : Decision analysis.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
April 1, 2001... Acclaro 1 ($4,500) from Axiomatic Design Software helps you identify the best design plan for your concepts, according to the company, and prevents functional coupling that causes harmful interactions. The software suggests the fastest sequence...

CAE & MCAD SOFTWARE : SolidWorks educational software.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
April 1, 2001... SolidWorks Corp. announced the SolidWorks 2000 Lab Pack for educators ($2,895). The Lab Pack is a complete design package developed specifically for instructors who use Windows applications in their engineering classrooms and computer labs. The...

CAE & MCAD SOFTWARE : Model repair.(Product Information)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... CADfix for ANSYS 5.6.2 and 5.7 (call for pricing) from ANSYS, Inc., repairs CAD model geometry to improve, enhance, and expedite the import of models into the engineering simulation process. CADfix for ANSYS imports native CAD or geometry file...

SHOW REPORT : SolidWorks World Conference 2001.(Industry Trend or Event)
April 1, 2001... SolidWorks was kind enough to invite CADALYST to SolidWorks World Conference 2001, its third annual international conference, held February 11-14 in Orlando, Florida. More than 2,000 users, members of the press, and employees of SolidWorks and...

AEC SOFTWARE : Project management.(Product Information)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... Project Navigator 2000 (call for pricing) from VirtualSTEP is a browser-based application tool that provides a dynamic simulation of construction activities for improved communication among project team members. Project Navigator 2000...

AEC SOFTWARE : Standards checker.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
April 1, 2001... GDS Engineers, Inc., released CADQC for AutoCAD, a drawing standards checking application that runs as a stand-alone package ($495) or with AutoCAD 2000/2000i ($395). The CADQC standards editor lets you define a custom rule set for each...

AEC SOFTWARE : Project estimation.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
April 1, 2001... Eagle Point Software announced Bid-Builder (pricing starts at $795) software for estimators, contractors, and subcontractors. Bid-Builder estimates project quantities and costs and supports takeoffs for specific trades in the construction...

AEC SOFTWARE : Automated management.(Product Information)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... World Desk Pro ($1,200) from World Desk Pro is a browser-based application that automates help desk, call center, work management, dispatch, and other aspects of infrastructure service delivery. You can integrate World Desk Pro's Web-based...

On the Job: Company revamps with CAD.(Company Operations)
April 1, 2001... The Substation and System Protection department of Baltimore Gas and Electric Company (BGE) switched from an outdated, orphan CAD package to several AutoCAD-based solutions in 120 days without any downtime. The utility had to switch quickly...

CAM SOFTWARE : Machining tools.(Company Business and Marketing)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... Cimatron Technologies, Inc., announced new developments in its Intelligent NC for HSM (high-speed machining), such as smart machining, toolpath options, and trochoidal machining (prices start at $13,000). By implementing new HSM techniques,...

CAM SOFTWARE : Code programming.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
April 1, 2001... DP Technology and Haas Automation, Inc., announced ESPRIT Machinist 3 ($495) with Haas Quick Code programming. Haas machine tool customers can now program both mills and lathes with the Haas Quick Code on their PC using a Windows interface....

MARK YOUR CALENDAR.(Calendar of Events)
April 1, 2001... COFES 2001 April 26-28 Scottsdale Plaza Resort Scottsdale, AZ 301.365.9085 www.cofes.org URISA Public Works 2001 May 6-8 Holiday Inn O'Hare Int'l Rosemont, IL 847.824.6300 info@urisa.org AIA 2001 Convention & Expo...

7 Workstations : Optimized for Windows 2000.
April 1, 2001... For our first workstation roundup of the new millennium, we requested systems with an Athlon or Pentium 4 processor running at 1.2GHz minimum clock speed--the faster the better. Systems needed at least 384MB of system RAM and, at a minimum, a...

Versio F15 Xtreme.(Hardware Review)(Evaluation)
April 1, 2001... Versio F15 Xtreme ARM Systems 5 stars out of 5 As with computers we've tested before from ARM Systems, the Versio F15 Xtreme is an extremely solid and well-built system, in this case based on an Intel Pentium 4 processor running at...

Dell Precision Workstation 330.(Hardware Review)(Evaluation)
April 1, 2001... Dell Precision Workstation 330 Dell 5 stars out of 5 Dell did its homework before submitting a system for this review. Dell outfitted its new 1.5GHz Pentium 4-based Precision Workstation 330 with a custom version of the nVIDIA...

HP Kayak xu700.(Hardware Review)(Evaluation)
April 1, 2001... HP Kayak xu700 Hewlett-Packard 4.5 stars out of 5 The newest in Hewlett-Packard's Kayak line of workstations, the xu700 is a single-processor Pentium 4 system just released in January. Based on your choice of a single 1.4- or 1.5GHz...

IntelliStation MPro6849 23Z.(Hardware Review)(Evaluation)
April 1, 2001... IntelliStation MPro6849 23Z IBM 4 stars out of 5 Continuing the IBM tradition of sleek, fast, dark charcoal-gray systems, the IntelliStation MPro6849 23Z is both a visual and a performance treat. Based on a 1.5GHz Pentium 4 processor,...

Poly 880KR-1200.(Hardware Review)(Evaluation)
April 1, 2001... Poly 880KR-1200 Polywell Computers 4 stars out of 5 The Polywell 880KR-1200 was one of two systems that arrived populated with 384MB of 266MHz DDR memory, the first such systems we've evaluated in CADALYST Labs. Continuing its...

PowerStation IVX.(Hardware Review)(Evaluation)
April 1, 2001... PowerStation IVX TriStar Computer 4 stars out of 5 The TriStar PowerStation IVX is a ruggedly built and solidly engineered system housed in a slightly larger than usual mini-tower case that provides a lot of room for expansion....

Xi 1200K MTower SP.(Hardware Review)(Evaluation)
April 1, 2001... Xi 1200K MTower SP Xi Computer Corp. 5 stars out of 5 The Xi 1200K MTower SP featured 384MB of DDR RAM, filling the three RAM sockets on the motherboard with 128MB SIMMS of PC2100 266MHz DDR RAM. Using other SIMMS, you can populate...