CADalyst articles from April 2003

CADalyst archives from April 2003

Tips from our readers. (hot tip harry).
April 1, 2003... $50 BONUS WINNER Better Offset command Tip #1864 [ofs.lsp] AutoCAD's native Offset command lets you select either a discrete offset distance or a Through option. To change from one option to the other, you must restart the Offset...

Plotting predicament: plus menu misbehavior and new information on no-name blocks. (AutoCAD clinic: AutoCAD Helpline answers your support questions).
April 1, 2003... Last year we upgraded to AutoCAD 2000 from AutoCAD Release 13. Now we have a problem with our CalComp TechJET 720 5436R plotter. Polylines plot only at different percentages of gray. None plot at 100% (black), and most colors plot at 30% (light...

import 3D points from Excel: create AutoCAD polylines from point data stored in spreadsheets. (AutoLISP solutions: reader-requested AutoLISP routines).
April 1, 2003... Two readers want to import Excel spreadsheet data into AutoCAD. David Rodrigues wants to bring a DOS text file saved from an Excel spreadsheet into AutoCAD. John Kuenzle of Waukesha, Wisconsin, needs to create 3D polylines from x,y,z...

Plotting in style: the face-off between named and color-dependent plot styles. (CAD manager).
April 1, 2003... Though the official buzz at Autodesk University in December was about keeping CAD data digital, most of us continue to fuss with plotting to paper. Paper remains the preferred medium in many situations for all kinds of historical, practical,...

AEC web-based services: Internet options help you create and plot drawings. (i-collaboration: tools and technologies for collaborative design).(OfficeCAD)
April 1, 2003... Two big tasks in any organization that uses CAD are creating and plotting drawings. This month, I review two Web-based services that make both of these tasks easier: OfficeCAD and HP Remote Printing for AEC. OfficeCAD OfficeCAD...

AutoCAD 2004: less is more: Autodesk's flagship product benefits from attention to detail. (cadalyst labs review).(Software Review)
April 1, 2003... After sitting through a preview of AutoCAD 2004 at Autodesk University, I worried that this new release wouldn't deliver enough significant new stuff to warrant much excitement. AutoCAD already has pretty much every function and feature you...

AutoCAD 2004: more is more: eleven more products will roll out soon after AutoCAD 2004 ships. (cadalyst labs preview).
April 1, 2003... AutoCAD 2004's debut means that new versions of the many products built on it can't be far behind. See the box below for a full list of products lined up on Autodesk's launch pad this spring. AutoCAD 2004 forms the core of most of these...

SolidWorks 2003--parts power: parts and analysis take center stage in the latest version of 3D modeler. (cadalyst labs review).(Software Review)(Product/Service Evaluation)
April 1, 2003... SolidWorks 2003 is proof positive that CAD products can work out of the box as advertised. After setting the standard for midrange CAD in 1995, SolidWorks, now in its 11th release, continues to raise the bar and keep the competition hopping....

9 flat-panel displays prices quality.(Illustration)
April 1, 2003... Most computer components go through a process of miniaturization over time, so it should come as no surprise that this is happening with monitors. Display sizes aren't changing--190 or larger monitors are still the standard for CAD/CAM...

190: S19: AG Neovo. (cadalyst labs feature review).(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
April 1, 2003... 190 S19 AG Neovo 4 stars out of 5 Although AG Neovo has been around since 1992, this is the first time it's participated in Cadalyst's monitor roundups. AG Neovo has several lines of monitor--the S19 model is from its S-Series. ...

190: CT1904: Cornea Systems. (cadalyst labs feature review).(Hardware Review)(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
April 1, 2003... 190 CT1904 Cornea systems 5 stars out of 5 Surprises can be a welcome part of life, and that's what the Cornea Systems CT1904 is--a very pleasant surprise. From the moment the monitor first powered up, the image it produced was...

190: Dell UltraSharp 1900FP: Dell Computer. (cadalyst labs feature review).(Hardware Review)(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
April 1, 2003... 190 dell ultrasharp 1900FP dell Computer 5 stars out of 5 The Dell UltraSharp 1900FP 190 flat-panel display has a thin matte silver bezel with six small but obvious buttons at the bottom-center of the bezel. This unobtrusive case...

20.10: TFT2025: Hewlett-Packard/Compaq. (cadalyst labs feature review).(Hardware Review)(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
April 1, 2003... 20.10 tft2025 hewlett-packard/Compaq 4 stars out of 5 At 26.4lb, the Hewlett-Packard TFT2025 is, by a slight margin, the heaviest display tested here. Although the base seemed small for the monitor's size, it proved to be stable....

190: CML190B: Hitachi. (cadalyst labs feature review).(Hardware Review)(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
April 1, 2003... 190 cml190b hitachi 4 stars out of 5 Superb gradations from white to black seem to be the hallmark of Hitachi displays, whether analog or flat-panel digital, and the Hitachi CML190B was no exception. This characteristic produces...

20.10: Pro Lite 5131: Iiyama North America. (cadalyst labs feature review).(Hardware Review)(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
April 1, 2003... 20.10 pro Lite 5131 IIyama north america 4 stars out of 5 Iiyama's Pro Lite 5131 is a 20.10 flat-panel display based on TFT (thin-film transistor) LCD technology. With its attractive flat-black case, the monitor's design makes it...

190: NEC Multisync LCD 1920NX: NEC-Mitsubishi Electronics Display of America. (cadalyst labs feature review).(Hardware Review)(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
April 1, 2003... 190 nec multisync lcd 1920nx nec-mitsubishi electronics display of america 4 stars out of 5 The NEC MultiSync LCD1920NX is a 190 flat-panel monitor housed in a putty-gray case with five display control buttons at the bottom of the...

190: Syncmaster 191T: Samsung Electronics America. (cadalyst labs feature review).(Hardware Review)(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
April 1, 2003... 190 syncmaster 191T Samsung electronics america 4 stars out of 5 Prior to this review, I took a prolonged look at the Samsung SyncMaster 191T when I used it exclusively for the workstation roundup in last month's issue of Cadalyst...

190: VX900: ViewSonic. (cadalyst labs feature review).(Hardware Review)(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
April 1, 2003... 190 VX900 viewSonic 4.5 stars out of 5 The ViewSonic VX900 is a 190 flat-panel display housed in an attractive matte silver and black case with seven display-control buttons at the bottom center of the bezel. Display controls were...

Rapid prototyping upgrades. (hardware).(Stratasys' FDM Titan)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Stratasys announced two upgrades for its FDM Titan ($190,000), which builds models from polycarbonate and ABS plastic. The improvements affect surface-finish resolution and support-removal automation for ABS modeling. Resolution of model-layer...

Graphics accelerators. (hardware).(NVIDIA Quadro4 )(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... PNY introduced NVIDIA Quadro4 graphics accelerators with an AGP bandwidth of 2.1GB per second. The Quadro4 AGP 8X includes the Quadro4 XGL and Quadro4 NVS Series, featuring nView multidisplay technology. The Quadro4 XGL portfolio offers...

Laser measuring tools. (hardware).(Leica Geosystems DISTO Lite5 and DISTO Classic5)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Leica Geosystems introduced two handheld laser distance measuring tools, DISTO Lite5 ($375) and DISTO Classic5 ($495). Both products measure distances from 0.7-6509 (0.2-200m) with an accuracy of 1/80 (3mm), using easy point-and-click...

Trackball. (hardware).(3DConnextion SpaceBall 5000 )(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... 3DConnextion launched the SpaceBall 5000 ($499) which features a new state-of-the-art patented optical sensor that offers unsurpassed performance and control to the 3D CAD designer. The new sensor technology provides drift-free and...

Bentley world tour. (report).(Bentley Systems' Bentley V8 Generation World Tour)
April 1, 2003... Cadalyst caught up with the Bentley V8 Generation World Tour at its Seattle event on March 6. The V8 Generation encompasses MicroStation v8.1, related applications, and Bentley's collaboration servers--more than 100 products in all. Bentley...

Data exchange. (Software: mcad/cam).(DP Technology's ESPRIT Data Exchange Kernel )(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... DP Technology's ESPRIT Data Exchange Kernel now supports CNC programming from all CATIA, Pro/ENGINEER, and Unigraphics solid, surface, and wire frame part models, enabling ESPRIT to build toolpaths directly from the original part models from...

Machining software. (Software: mcad/cam).(Delcam's PowerMILL 4.1 )(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... PowerMILL 4.1 machining software (starts at $9,750) from Delcam offers a knowledge-based machining option, PowerMILL AutoCAM, which analyzes the CAD model, then uses the information to select most appropriate machining methods for the job....

ICEM breaks away. (report).
April 1, 2003... In mid February ICEM invited Cadalyst to London, England, to share its plans for the future, announce the latest version of ICEM Surf, and discuss future software developments aimed at taking the company into new markets and increasing its...

Manage collaboration. (Software: mcad/general).(Visiprise's EMBRACE Collaborative Workspace 4 )(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Visiprise unveiled EMBRACE Collaborative Workspace 4 (call for pricing), which according to the company is an instantly deployable solution to efficiently and securely manage design collaboration across the enterprise, regardless of method or...

Dynamic analysis. (Software: mcad/general).(ABAQUS/Foundation)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... ABAQUS announced ABAQUS/Foundation (call for pricing), which provides full access to the linear static and dynamic analysis functionality of ABAQUS/Standard, the company's flagship FEA software. According to the company, ABAQUS/Foundation...

Measurement and analysis. (Software: mcad/general).(FARO Technologies' CAM2 Measure 3.9)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... FARO Technologies released CAM2 Measure v3.9 (call for pricing), its first full release that supports both the new Platinum FaroArm and the FARO Laser Tracker. CAM2 Measure is CAD-based measurement and analysis software developed for use with...

Alibre issues design challenge. (report).(Alibre Design 6.0 and Alibre Design Professional )
April 1, 2003... Alibre invited us down to Texas last month to preview Alibre Design 6.0 (US$495; annual maintenance fee $495) and a new extended version, Alibre Design Professional (US$995). The Professional version incorporates sheet-metal design tools, a...

Hybrid editing tool. (Software: aec).(from Mill Creek Systems)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... The RAS/Edit hybrid-editing software tool (contact company for pricing) from Mill Creek Systems lets MicroStation users manipulate raster and vector areas simultaneously. Rather than use two tools that operate independently under MicroStation...

Render scenes. (Software: aec).(Electric Rain's Swift 3D MAX 2)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Electric Rain launched Swift 3D MAX 2 ($295, upgrade $149), a plug-in for discreet 3ds max and Autodesk VIZ that lets you render scenes to the SWF file format as vector and raster output for Web optimization. It also supports AI, EPS, SVG, and...

Graphics/content manager. (Software: aec/general).(Tailor Made Software's CADViewer 7.0)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Tailor Made Software released CADViewer v7 (contact company for pricing) with advanced CAD and engineering file viewing collaboration and redlining capabilities. CADViewer, written in Java 1.1.8, lets you share documents on the Web without...

People library. (Software: aec/general).(ArchVision's Applauding People, Volume 1 )(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... ArchVision announced 2.5D RPC (rich photorealistic content) Applauding People, Volume 1 ($399), a content library solution for design visualization professionals that includes 16 lifelike people, each viewable from four directions (front, back,...

Document management. (Software: aec/general).(Cimmetry Systems' AutoVue 17)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... AutoVue 17 (contact company for pricing) from Cimmetry Systems lets you view and mark up or redline documents in more than 200 different native formats from a common user interface. You can access, review, and provide feedback on product data,...

Print and plot. (Software: aec/general).(Hagerman & Company's AutoPLOT 6.0)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Hagerman & Company released AutoPLOT 6 (call for pricing), which uses client/server technology to automate printing and plotting, and streamlines the production and delivery of drawings and documents throughout an organization. AutoPLOT 6...

PLM, integration, and easy access. (NDES report).
April 1, 2003... About 1,300 companies, and 10 times as many attendees, gathered for National Manufacturing Week March 3-6 in snowy Chicago. The show has gotten smaller in recent years, but those willing to risk the cold found a number of exciting products. ...

Online collaboration. (Software: general).(Acitify's SpinFire 5.0)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Actify is shipping its SpinFire 5.0 product line, a scalable solution that allows companies to securely host and share critical product design information, regardless of the CAD file type, across an entire enterprise via the corporate network...

Calendar.
April 1, 2003... PLM World April 28-May 2, 2003 Anaheim, CA http://event.plmworld.org AIA Convention 2003 May 8-10, 2003 San Diego, CA www.aiaconvention.com COFES 2003 May 15-18, 2003 Scottsdale, AZ www.cofes.com GeoSpatial World...

Dialog box: readers talk to us.(Letter to the Editor)
April 1, 2003... Thank you, Caddies! I just wanted to express my gratitude to Cadalyst for the opportunity to participate in the MCAD Caddies 2003 Competition (March 2003, p. 18). Though I have been a designer for many years, I'm relatively new to...

Emphasis off features. (Editor's window: opinions, comments, and predictions).(Editorial)
April 1, 2003... "We don't need more features" is a line I've heard repeatedly during my short tenure with Cadalyst. And it rings so true. Each new version of a CAD product is accompanied by a long list of new features. At Cadalyst, we typically run large...