CADalyst articles from August 2000

CADalyst archives from August 2000

Brave new world.(Industry Trend or Event)
August 1, 2000... The buzz is back, proclaims the headline on the A/E/C SYSTEMS 2000 Web site (www.aecsystems.com/aec2000). As the chart below shows, A/E/C SYSTEMS' popularity has declined in recent years. Although the number of exhibitors for the 2000 show,...

Dialog Box : Thoughts from our readers.
August 1, 2000... Dead pixels? I plan to purchase a 210 monitor and was delighted by your May review by Ron LaFon and Art Liddle. Your reviews are the best and most definitive source of information about workstation hardware, and I look forward to them. I...

Corrections.
August 1, 2000... In our June review of Unigraphics v16 (p. 36), we omitted the company's training site: www.ugsolutions.com/services/training. The correct Web address for CR/LF Corp. (June, p. 20) is www.crlf.de/Software/. June's "Lessons in Programming"...

Excited about XML: Autodesk announces several schemas.
August 1, 2000... Autodesk outlined its plan to create common, platform-independent, open standards for communicating design data via the Internet using XML (extensible markup language). The company just published a RedlineXML schema to Biztalk.org, an...

NEC and Mitsubishi launch joint venture.
August 1, 2000... NEC-Mitsubishi Electric Visual Systems Corp. launched its North American and European operations. This joint venture between the personal display divisions of NEC and Mitsubishi is the top LCD supplier and among the top three CRT suppliers...

Mergers.
August 1, 2000... Construction industry e-commerce site Bidcom bought Cubus Corp., a developer of project collaboration software. www.bidcom.com | Collaborative sourcing site SupplierMarket.com was acquired by e-commerce platform vendor Ariba. | Diehl...

Alliances.
August 1, 2000... Autodesk will integrate AutoCAD Map and Vision* with CADTEL Systems' plant design and engineering software to create an enterprise-level facilities management solution for the telecommunications industry. | Timberline Software Corp. will...

Products.
August 1, 2000... Autodesk shipped the Volo View viewing and markup application (US$195; upgrades from Autodesk View US$69) and 3D Studio VIZ Internet Extension (3vX; US$29.95 in the United States and Canada). www.autodesk.com | CADKEY released a...

HARDWARE : 220 flat monitor.
August 1, 2000... ViewSonic Corporation announced the PF815 PerfectFlat 220 monitor ($999). The monitor is designed with a flat screen for edge-to-edge images and minimal glare in a large-screen display. It features a 0.25-0.27mm variable aperture-grille pitch,...

HARDWARE : Graphics accelerator.
August 1, 2000... Intense3D announced the Wildcat 4210 graphics accelerator (call for pricing). The Wildcat achieves 60 frames per second in the SPEC/ OPC ProCDRS-03 Viewperf benchmark. It features dual-screen and multiview support and Intense-3D's SuperScene...

HARDWARE : Storage subsystem.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
August 1, 2000... Hammer Storage introduced the SLPRO12-FC/FC-FT Fiber Channel RAID storage subsystem ($42,000 for a 500GB system). The SLPRO 12-FC/FC-FT is a fault-tolerant, rack-mountable, desktop or tower fiber channel storage subsystem. Features include a...

HARDWARE : On-line archive storage.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
August 1, 2000... AditiNet Inc. announced LANRedi ArchiveTurbo (prices start at $5,034 for network license) that brings fixed information on-line. ArchiveTurbo provides on-line hard disk storage for fixed-information files such as scanned images, CAD and GIS...

HARDWARE : 170 monitor.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
August 1, 2000... Samsung Electronics introduced the SyncMaster 170MP 170 flat-panel monitor ($1,999). The MP is a 3-in-1 TFT display that functions as a computer monitor, TV, and video display for use with VCRs, DVD players, and camcorders. The...

GENERAL SOFTWARE : Java-based viewing and markup.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
August 1, 2000... Cimmetry Systems Inc. released jVue AutoVue for Java ($4,000 for a ten-user license). jVue lets you view and mark up documents, drawings, and CAD files in more than 200 formats from Web browsers such as Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator....

GENERAL SOFTWARE : Project communication.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
August 1, 2000... Framework Technologies Corporation released ActiveProject v2000/E project communication software ($79,995 includes licensing for one server and 100 collaborators for Oracle). ActiveProject is a Web-based software solution that enables...

GENERAL SOFTWARE : Skills assessment program.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
August 1, 2000... Office Technology, Inc., announced XLQuest 3 (prices start at $99) skills assessment program for AutoCAD and Mechanical Desktop. XLQuest 3 features a database of more than 1,300 questions, an on-line answer guide with dozens of animations that...

GENERAL SOFTWARE : Document management.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
August 1, 2000... Cyco Software announced the release of AutoManager Meridian 2.0 software (starts at $599) for Internet integration in mechanical and manufacturing environments. AM-Meridian features versioning capabilities and a history mode that lets you...

On the Job: Museum goes 3D for dollars.(Company Business and Marketing)
August 1, 2000... Long Beach Museum of Art (www.lbma.com) officials needed a visual presentation of the museum to show potential investors. They hired Liquid Light Studios (www.liquidlightstudios.com), a Los Angeles-based animation studio, to create their entire...

MECHANICAL SOFTWARE : CAD 2D software.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
August 1, 2000... CoCreate Software Inc. announced ME10 2000 ($5,200) 2D CAD software with tools that support industry standards and Internet technology. ME10 2000 features OLE server technology, direct integration of Microsoft NetMeeting, DXF/DWG translation,...

MECHANICAL SOFTWARE : 2D-to-3D conversion.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
August 1, 2000... Imagecom, Inc., announced FlexiDesign 2.0 ($4,995), an ObjectARX application for Mechanical Desktop 4.0. FlexiDesign converts 2D legacy CAD drawings to parametric feature-based 3D models. FlexiDesign v2.0 offers a new interface and supports...

MECHANICAL SOFTWARE : 3D design.(Product Announcement)
August 1, 2000... SDRC announced I-DEAS 8 (starting at $4,995 for combined 2D/3D applications and $2,000 for 2D applications), a set of software solutions designed to automate design. I-DEAS 8 combines the I-DEAS Master series with the I-DEAS Artisan series into...

MECHANICAL SOFTWARE : ASCII file creation.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
August 1, 2000... Robert Steltman Inc. announced Sections from Breaklines ($140) and Sections from Points ($140). These civil engineering software tools help you create cross-section ASCII files for import into Autodesk Land Development Desktop or Softdesk S8....

MARK YOUR CALENDAR.(Calendar of Events)
August 1, 2000... URISA 2000 August 19-23 Omni Rosen Hotel Orlando, FL 847.824.6300 info@urisa.org www.urisa.org ISA EXPO/2000 August 21-24 Ernest N. Morial Convention Center New Orleans, LA 919.549.8411 info@isa.org www.isa.org/events...

AEC SOFTWARE : Low-cost CAD tool.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
August 1, 2000... Bricsnet announced IntelliCAD 2000 ($149 for new users, $99 for annual subscription) Windows-based CAD software. IntelliCAD 2000 supports 3D surface commands. You can script repeated tasks and incorporate, edit, and manipulate advanced raster...

AEC SOFTWARE : AutoCAD training.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
August 1, 2000... Referentia Systems released AutoCAD 2000 Essentials for the Workplace ($89), the second volume in the Referentia for AutoCAD 2000 series on CD-ROM. The computer-based training volume teaches the principles and techniques needed to get up and...

AEC SOFTWARE : AutoCAD management.(Product Announcement)
August 1, 2000... ARCHIBUS, Inc., announced the ARCHIBUS/ FM Overlay for AutoCAD 2000 ($1,995). The Overlay exploits AutoCAD's 3D Orbit feature to rotate ARCHIBUS/FM 3D furniture and equipment assets in real time. The AutoTrack feature uses temporary alignment...

AEC SOFTWARE : Mechanical design.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
August 1, 2000... Mechanical Dynamics introduced ADAMS/ Insight v10.1($9,000), which lets you run virtual experiments and measure the performance of mechanical system designs. You can post experimental results and design alternatives to the Web for analysis and...

Top Ten Awards: A/E/C SYSTEMS 2000 -- Ear to the ground at SIGGRAPH 99.(Product Information)
August 1, 2000... CADALYST editors reviewed the many new and outstanding hardware and software offerings on display at A/E/C SYSTEMS 2000 and bestowed Top Ten honors on the following companies. In next month's special feature we'll begin to decipher the...

Imagenation v6.1 : Viewing and markup tools.(Product Announcement)
August 1, 2000... Imagenation v6.1 from Spicer Corp. is a full-featured viewing and markup tool for EDM (engineering document management) and PDM (product document management) systems and enterprise resource planning. Most organizations store essential documents...

IntraVISION v4.2 : 2D and 3D file viewing.(Product Announcement)
August 1, 2000... IntraVISION is a viewing application from Spatial Inc. that lets you view, measure, mark up, convert, and print 2D and 3D files without the native application installed on your machine. It supports more than 300 file formats, including raster...

Oxygen GVX210 : OpenGL graphics card.(Hardware Review)(Evaluation)
August 1, 2000... 3Dlabs' Oxygen GVX210 is a powerful 3D OpenGL graphics card that seemingly does it all. This full-length card is dual-head capable and can drive two high-resolution monitors with a combined resolution of 409631536 at true color. A display...

Modeling made easy.(Company Operations)
August 1, 2000... Not everyone is charmed by the mysteries of the East. If unknowns stand in the way of effective engineering, the romance of secrecy goes out the window. When the Chevron Corporation began managing a ten-year-old liquid gas facility in Tengiz,...

AutoCAD 2000i connects to the Web : Multiprocessor support and a new graphics driver promise to speed up performance.(Software Review)(Evaluation)
August 1, 2000... Hard to believe, but it's been more than 15 months since AutoCAD 2000 began shipping on March 19, 1999. As I write this, Autodesk plans a July 10 ship date for AutoCAD 2000i, which represents the next major release of its flagship product. (For...

AutoCAD 2000i vertical markets.(Product Information)
August 1, 2000... AutoCAD 2000i forms the foundation for new versions of Autodesk's vertical applications. Each application uses Web-based features to provide data integration, collaboration, and e-commerce abilities. Specifically they help design teams meet...

Shape and sculpt with Vellum Solids 2000 : Ashlar delivers easy-to-master surfaces and solids for industrial design.(Software Review)(Evaluation)
August 1, 2000... There's no shortage of so-called midrange solid modelers. When CADALYST looked at available products earlier this year (see "3D Solid Modeler Buyer's Guide," April 2000, p. 66), we listed specifications for more than a dozen of them. Most of...

Hybrid modelers: Do they offer the best of both worlds?(Industry Trend or Event)
August 1, 2000... Chris, a longtime user of a solids-only CAD system, just received a set of 3D models from a customer who uses a hybrid surface/solid modeling CAD system. "I was able to import and sew all but one of these parts into a solid," said Chris. "I...

RENDERING AND BEYOND.
August 1, 2000... There's often more to rendering images than a single static image. Using an application such as Adobe Photoshop to make final embellishments to a digital image is relatively common. Such programs make it easy to add effects that used to be...

3D Model collections for cad visualization.(Buyers Guide)
August 1, 2000... 3D blocks for modeling applications are readily available and offer several advantages for design and visualization professionals. First of all, you don't have to reinvent the wheel with each new project, so such blocks save you both time and...

Clean up your mess with the Filter command.(Product Support)(Tutorial)
August 1, 2000... It was a wet, rainy May evening in Vancouver, and the forecast called for more rain. Captain LearnCurve mused that there would be no water skiing again tomorrow. Some things never change. Suddenly, a distressed wail drifted through the gloom:...

Develop database applications Step 3: Xdata.(Technology Tutorial)(Tutorial)
August 1, 2000... In our last installment ("Step 2: Nongraphic data and attributes," June 2000) , we discussed storing nongraphic data in a drawing by attaching attributes to block and nonblock objects. This month, we take this technique to the next level by...

Tips from our readers.(Letter to the Editor)
August 1, 2000... $50 BONUS WINNER Erase Grips Tip #1635 [XG.LSP] This short AutoLISP routine removes all grips from the screen. If you assign xg.lsp to your mouse button, you can stop pressing [less than]Esc[greater than][less than]Esc[greater...

Printing layer data.(Column)
August 1, 2000... I want to import layer information for a given drawing into Word and Excel. Can AutoCAD 2000 capture Layer Properties Manager information in text format? -- Chris M. Krall via Internet The simplest way is to type -LA at the Command...