CADalyst articles from December 1999

CADalyst archives from December 1999

Clinic AutoCAD.(Product Support)(Questions and Answers)(Column)
December 1, 1999... Invisible lines When I draw or offset a line in AutoCAD LT 98, the new line doesn't display unless I use Regen or zoom in or out. I've tried Audit and Recover, but they don't work. What can I do? - Craig Miller via Internet ...

Attach multiple AutoCAD drawings as external references.(Product Support)(Column)(Tutorial)
December 1, 1999... Jay Musgrove e-mailed a request to attach multiple drawings as external references. Jay has thousands of drawings that make up a complete system for an aircraft design, and he is faced with executing the Xref Attach command for each...

Become a CAD manager.(Industry Trend or Event)(Column)
December 1, 1999... Occasionally a CADALYST reader asks me what kind of skills a person must develop to become a successful CAD manager. An obvious prerequisite to becoming a CAD manager is a high level of expertise in your office's CAD software. CAD is...

My way.(Letter to the Editor)
December 1, 1999... Your magazine is informative, thank you. I recently read Nancy Fulton's "Animate with 3D Studio VIZ 2.0" (October, p. 78), where she mentioned a way to change the opacity of an object. I simply add a visibility track in the track view and...

Raise the Roof.(architectural firm Ellerbe Becket uses Autodesk's AutoCAD 12 and Robert McNeel & Associates' AccuRender to design the Bank One Ballpark in Phoenix)(Product Information)
December 1, 1999... Little evokes the nostalgia of old-time baseball more than an open-air ballpark and the boys of summer playing on natural turf. But balancing such nostalgia with summer comfort is not easy in the desert climate of Phoenix, Arizona, home of the...

E-commerce eruption.(electronic commerce and online services for the construction/CAD industries)(Industry Trend or Event)
December 1, 1999... Let's take a quick look at some e-commerce and building industry statistics. Total U.S. e-commerce revenue was $39 billion in 1998; it's projected to triple in 1999.1 Globally, the market should produce between $1.4 and $3.2 trillion by 2003.2...

Jeronimo 2000: Graphics card drives multiple monitors.(from Appian)(Product Announcement)
December 1, 1999... If you've ever found yourself in a situation where one monitor, no matter what size, is just not roomy enough, you're probably looking for a way to use two monitors. Appian has long produced video cards capable of driving multiple monitors...

LT3D: Now you can use AutoCAD LT and get 3D, too.(drcauto's 3D plug-in for Autodesk's AutoCAD LT CAD software)(Product Announcement)
December 1, 1999... Much of the functionality you give up when you choose AutoCAD LT over the more powerful AutoCAD centers on the absence of the AutoLISP programming interface and the lack of true 3D capability. In many instances these sacrifices are easy to live...

System Commander Deluxe: Bring order to your operating system chaos.(V Communications' software for running several operating systems on a single machine)(Software Review)(Evaluation)
December 1, 1999... Operating systems are burgeoning, with DOS, Windows 95/98/2000/NT, UNIX, Linux, BeOs, OS/2, and others vying for our attention. Often simply getting two operating systems, even from the same vendor, to coexist can be fraught with problems...

Tips from our readers.(for using Autodesk's AutoCAD CAD software)(Product Support)(Column)
December 1, 1999... $50 BONUS WINNER Append to Layer Name Tip #1574 [LYAPPEND.LSP] lyappend.lsp appends text to the begining of each layer name in a drawing. It prompts you for the text to append, changes the current layer to 0, makes a list of the...

SolidWorks is solidly behind 3D.(the company's eDrawings and XchangeWorks software for Autodesk's AutoCAD CAD software)(Product Information)
December 1, 1999... SolidWorks Corporation, a Dassault Systemes S.A. (NASDAQ:DASTY) company, develops and markets mechanical design software products for Windows. SolidWorks was founded in 1993 with the mission to bring production solid modeling to the desktop of...

Reactors call on AutoCAD to perform actions.(Product Support)(Column)(Tutorial)
December 1, 1999... Reactors are objects that react to events in AutoCAD. Once the AutoCAD event is initiated, a reactor starts a user-defined callback function for the event. Similarly, DCL dialog boxes use callback functions attached to each tile in the dialog...

Batch plotting made easy in AutoCAD.(Product Support)(Column)(Tutorial)
December 1, 1999... It's a clear, crisp autumn evening. The seasons are changing. The ski boat and dirt bike are put away for the winter. The ski pass for Whistler is renewed. Time to think about getting the skis out of storage. . . Suddenly an e-mail rings out:...

DECEMBER.(Intel's new Pentium III Coppermine models; Dell Computer replaces Compaq as top PC vendor)(Company Business and Marketing)(Product Announcement)
December 1, 1999... The chips keep falling Intel launched its next-level Pentium III processors in late October. Based on new technology code-named Coppermine, the chips run at 600-, 667-, and 733MHz. Chips destined for desktop systems support a 133MHz system...

Internet e-commerce sites seek share of AEC pie.(online services for the construction industry)(Company Business and Marketing)
December 1, 1999... This fall brought forth a flood of new and enhanced Internet offerings aimed at streamlining the design and construction process. buzzsaw.com, a startup company backed by Autodesk, provides design collaboration, bidding, construction...

Products.(new products from Autodesk and Spatial)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
December 1, 1999... Autodesk released new versions of its AutoSketch and QuickCAD programs.; An update to Architectural Desktop R2 is available at www.autodesk.com/support/archdesk/patches1.htm.; You can download a Mechanical Desktop 4 patch at...

Alliances.(Brief Article)
December 1, 1999... Appian Graphics licensed the PERMEDIA and other future graphics processors from 3Dlabs. The two companies also entered into a co- marketing and supply agreement that gives Appian long-term access to 3Dlabs' products.; Visualize, a...

Business.(Synergis Technologies' new Document Management Group; Smith Corona's ink-jet printer supplies)(Company Business and Marketing)(Company Operations)(Brief Article)
December 1, 1999... Synergis Technologies created an independent software division, the Synergis Document Management Group (SDMG), which is separate from its Autodesk VAR business.; Smith Corona Corp., the typewriter company, introduced the InkJet Solutions...

210 monitor.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
December 1, 1999... Eizo Nanao Technologies announced the FlexScan F980 210 shadow-mask CRT monitor ($1,859). It offers a 0.23mm vertical and 0.20mm horizontal dot pitch, horizontal scanning range of 30-137KHz, and video clock frequency of 360MHz. Recommended...

Flat panel.(Miro Displays' Radius Artica Flat Panel Display)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
December 1, 1999... The Radius Artica Flat Panel Display ($2,595) from miro displays inc. offers a 17.30 viewing area, 160031024 resolution, and 24-bit color. Its 16310 aspect ratio lets you show two pages or applications side-by- side. The monitor ships with an...

CD-R/CD-RW.(Ricoh Disc Media and Systems Center's MediaMaster MP7060A, MP7060S and MP8040SE CD-recordable/rewritable drives)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
December 1, 1999... Ricoh Disc Media and Systems Center announced its MediaMaster CD-R/CD- RW package with 63 recording, 43 rewriting, and 243 reading capability. MediaMaster comes in three models: the MP7060A (ATAPI) is $349, the MP7060S (SCSI) is $399, and an...

3D digitizer.(Company Business and Marketing)(Brief Article)
December 1, 1999... The new 3D Digitizer from Techno-Isel lets you create 2D and 3D models by touch tracing the surface features of real physical objects. You can construct 3D models using points, lines, polygons, splines, and NURBS and export data in DXF, OBJ,...

Jukebox family.(JVC Professional Computer Products Division released its MC-7000 series DVD-RAM libraries)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
December 1, 1999... JVC Professional Computer Products Division released its MC-7000 series DVD-RAM libraries (prices start at $14,495) that have 260GB (100 disks), 520GB (200 disks), and 1.6TB (600 disks) of data storage capacity. Models feature a 50-disk...

Factory modeling.(Engineering Animation Inc unveils VisFactory 6.0)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
December 1, 1999... Engineering Animation, Inc., unveiled VisFactory 6.0 (call for pricing), to create, analyze, and present intelligent visual factory models. VisFactory 6.0 includes FactoryCAD, FactoryFLOW, FactoryPLAN, FactoryOPT, FactoryVIEW, FactoryBROWSER,...

Document management.(Synergis Document Management Group introduces NFM v3.6 document management software)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
December 1, 1999... The Synergis Document Management Group, an independent business unit of Synergis Technologies, introduced NFM v3.6 document management software ($595 per seat) that integrates with Autodesk's Design 2000 software solutions. Version 3.6 extracts...

LT customization.(ManuSoft announces LTX)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
December 1, 1999... ManuSoft announced LTX (call for pricing), an AutoCAD LT extension engine for loading and running AutoCAD ARX applications in AutoCAD LT. LTX supports AutoCAD LT 97 and 98 (company says LTX will support LT 2000 by press time). Applications...

Wire harness and cable design.(Linius Technologies' EMbassy software)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
December 1, 1999... EMbassy ($5,950) from Linius Technologies, Inc., combines electrical connectivity with 3D solid models to create an intelligent electromechanical design environment. You can capture all necessary electrical, mechanical, and component...

Graphics viewer.(X Dimension Software releases 3D Exploration)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
December 1, 1999... X Dimension Software released 3D Exploration ($30, site licenses available), its 3D Studio MAX and AutoCAD viewer with OpenGL hardware accelerator support. You can use 3D Exploration to present a slide show of an entire folder's images, either...

On the Job: The digital courtroom.(Engineering Animation, Inc.)(Company Business and Marketing)
December 1, 1999... Moving beyond Hollywood feature films, television commercials, and games, 3D animation has infiltrated the courtroom. The microscopic structure of a DNA molecule, the physics of a multi-car collision, the intricacies of a surgical...

Stormwater management.(Haestad Methods introduced PondPack v7 urban stormwater management software)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
December 1, 1999... Haestad Methods introduced PondPack v7 urban stormwater management software ($4,995) to model rainfall, runoff hydrographs, culverts, channels, ponds, outlet structures, interconnected ponds, diversions, and tidal outfalls. PondPack generates...

Structural steel software.(Peri-Tech's HPSTEEL 2.0)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
December 1, 1999... Peri-Tech launched its 2D structural steel software package, HPSTEEL v2.0 ($200) for AutoCAD Release 14 and 2000. HPSTEEL offers a variety of structural steel shapes such as WRF, WWF, W, M, S, HP, SLB, C, MC, square, round, rectangular HHS...

Surveying and mapping.(Autodesk introduces Autodesk Survey Release 2)(Product Announcement)
December 1, 1999... Autodesk introduced Autodesk Survey Release 2 (call for pricing), an add-on package to AutoCAD Land Development Desktop Release 2. It creates intelligent land plans through automated mapping, data capture, and surveying analysis tools. It...

LDDT section labeler.(Robert Steltman Inc's Section Labeler civil engineering software)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
December 1, 1999... Section Labeler ($140) from Robert Steltman Inc. is a civil engineering software tool that labels cross sections with feature IDs, offsets, and elevations in Land Development Desktop and other Autodesk civil products. Section Labeler labels...

Electrical controls.(VIA Development Corp announces VIA Schematic Jr)(Product Announcement)
December 1, 1999... VIA Development Corp. announced VIA Schematic Jr ($1,995), made up of three modules that work within AutoCAD Release 14 and 2000 to create electrical controls schematics, bills of material, and panel layout drawings for control systems....

AEC software.(Informatix Software International Limited releases MicroGDS)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
December 1, 1999... Informatix Software International Limited released MicroGDS (call for pricing) for AEC and facilities management. New data management features include double-precision arithmetic and storage that provide an accuracy of 0.001mm over 100,000...

AEC: Schematic wiring (slide).(CIMLOGIC Inc releases Toolbox/WD)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
December 1, 1999... CIMLOGIC, Inc., released Toolbox/WD ($2,495) for schematic controls wiring diagram design and drafting in AutoCAD 2000. Enhancements include new source and destination signals, cross-referencing with spare contacts, a feature that checks wire...

Injection mold design.(Unigraphics Solutions Inc releases MoldWizard)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
December 1, 1999... Unigraphics Solutions Inc. released MoldWizard ($5,900 for MoldWizard add-on; $19,900 for MoldWizard bundled with Unigraphics' CAD package) for plastic injection mold design and manufacturing. Process Wizards link elements of design technology...

Compressed drawing file.(SolidWorks Corp. announces eDrawings software)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
December 1, 1999... SolidWorks Corp. announced eDrawings (free for a limited time, see p. 52, 64), its compressed electronic drawing file that lets you create, view, send, and receive mechanical design drawings via e-mail. The eDrawings Publisher comes with a...

SolidWorks add-on.(Structural Research & Analysis Corp. announces COSMOS/Works 5.0 design analysis, optimization, and simulation software)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
December 1, 1999... Noelle Greenley Structural Research & Analysis Corp. announced COSMOS/Works 5.0 design analysis, optimization, and simulation software for SolidWorks 99. New features include a volume mesher, iterative shape optimization, and analysis of...

FEA software.(Algor Inc releases its InCADPlus family of software products)(Product Announcement)
December 1, 1999... Algor, Inc., released its InCADPlus family of products to transfer exact solid model data from Pro/ENGINEER Release 20, Mechanical Desktop 3.0/4.0, Solid Edge 6.0/7.0, and SolidWorks 98 Plus/99 to Algor's modeling FEA and Mechanical Event...

GIS software.(MapObject 2 Developer Kit from ESRI)(Software Review)(Brief Article)(Evaluation)
December 1, 1999... MapObject 2 Developer Kit ($5,000 for developer license and 50 deployment licenses) from ESRI offers more than 45 programmable ActiveX automation objects for standard Windows development environments such as Visual BASIC, Visual C11, Delphi,...

Modeling and rendering.(Software Review)(Brief Article)(Evaluation)
December 1, 1999... Merlin 3D ($595) from Digital Immersion Software is for CAD users and digital content designers. Merlin 3D's set of modeling building blocks lets you create boxes, spheres, cones, cylinders, tori, and knots. Merlin 3D also features exclusive...

On the Job: Fresh air.(Technology Information)
December 1, 1999... Canadian entrepreneur and RAM Design and Drafting principal Andrew Masse teamed up with Scottish designer and engineer Hugh Piggott and fellow Canadian Bob Budd to develop an alternative source of electricity for the average consumer. Budd...

Internet visualization.(Adaptive Media announced Envision3D 5.0)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
December 1, 1999... Adaptive Media, Inc., announced ENVISION3D v5 ($3,600) that lets any user with a standard Web browser on a desktop PC view, collaborate on, and navigate through large and complex data sets in real time. ENVISION3D v5 introduced Multi-Stream...

Mark Your Calendar.(Brief Article)
December 1, 1999... SolidWorks World 2000 International User Conference & Expo January 12-15 Hilton New Orleans Riverside New Orleans, LA 800.693.9000 info@solidworks.com www.solidworks.com/swworld SOUTH-TEC Charlotte 2000 Advanced Productivity...

3D Studio VIZ turns 3: The designer's choice: Autodesk's AEC visualization tool features enhanced DWG linking and a new Asset Browser.(Software Review)(Evaluation)
December 1, 1999... From the moment 3D Studio VIZ R3 first comes up on your screen, it's apparent that much has changed from previous releases. A tabbed interface now permits quick access to the tools you need, and virtually the entire interface is customizable to...

Draw smart with Visio 2000 Technical Edition: Easy-to-use tools and smart objects help you create diagrams and link to databases.(Software Review)(Evaluation)
December 1, 1999... What tool do you use to create your facility plans, P&IDs, HVAC layouts, and electrical and control schematics? If it isn't Visio 2000, maybe it should be. Visio 2000 Technical Edition is one of four new product offerings from Visio. The others...

Work with drawing file data in 3D Studio VIZ R3.(Software Review)(Evaluation)
December 1, 1999... 3D Studio VIZ lets you create a dynamic link between an AutoCAD DWG file and a 3D Studio VIZ MAX file. If you move a wall or add a door in a linked drawing, the change is automatically reflected in the associated MAX file. In some cases, you...

1999 CADALYST LABS ALL-STARS.
December 1, 1999... CADALYST reviewed 220 CAD-related products in 1999. What follows is a listing of products we've reviewed in the last six months. See our July issue, p. 50, for a list of products reviewed in January through June. Sixty-six products received...

RASTER-TO-VECTOR.
December 1, 1999... David Byrnes , a CADALYST contributing editor, lives on an idyllic island on the British Columbia coast. He has been teaching and writing about AutoCAD for ten years. You can e-mail him at david.byrnes@cadonline.com. In our last...

SolidWorks eDrawings format facilitates file exchange.
December 1, 1999... Eis for excitement when it comes to the new eDrawings Publisher from SolidWorks. With eDrawings you can publish your SolidWorks 99, 98Plus, AutoCAD Release 14.x, AutoCAD Mechanical R14.5, and AutoCAD 2000 drawings to a new eDrawings format and...