CADalyst articles from June 2003

CADalyst archives from June 2003

It's a job. (viewport).
June 1, 2003... Your world has become a community of instant communication and high-tech productivity. Your workstation is filled with the fastest components to help you produce more in less time. You work (or your peers do) in 3D modeling and collaborate on...

Dialog box: readers talk to us.(Letter to the Editor)
June 1, 2003... Early warning Another reason folks might not be upgrading (Editor's Window, May 2003) is the system requirements for AutoCAD 2004 or, better yet, Architectural Desktop 2004. Our firm has 16 PCs (not all for architects) and only...

Corrections.(Correction Notice)
June 1, 2003... Cezar Nicolescu, currently a junior at Ramsey High School, designed E-Bus Station for a competition for high school students at New Jersey School of Architecture at NJIT ("AEC Caddies," May 2003). A reader wrote in to report that Tip #1872...

190 LCD monitor. (hardware).(Sharp LL-T19D1)
June 1, 2003... Sharp announced the LL-T19D1 monitor ($799), a 190 TFT-LCD display with SXGA (128031024) and a high 700:1 contrast ratio combined with a brightness of 300nits. The LL-T19D1 monitor incorporates analog and digital interfaces, dual analog RGB...

Robotic floor mapping system. (hardware).(ActivMedia Robotics's LaserPlans)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... ActivMedia Robotics, LLC, announced a new floor mapping system, LaserPlans ($19.995 including the LaserPlans data collector, USB storage key, LaserPlans software, CAD export tools, instructions, and one year warranty). Combining intelligent...

Drawings on your cell phone. (hardware).(VISIARC AB's Visiarc C System)
June 1, 2003... VISIARC AB technology makes thousands of CAD drawings accessible on Sony Ericsson's P800 flagship mobile phone (50-user base system: $49,895 or $998 per user). VISIARC System, the only wireless drawing archive, allows professionals to access...

Athlon-based PC. (hardware).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... BOXX Technologies offered a new AMD Athlon MP Processor 26001 with QuantiSpeed Architecture in XXtreme Systems (in dual-processor systems only; pricing starts at $1,948) for 3D modeling, CAD, animation, and digital video editing. A wide variety...

Card scanner. (hardware).(Contex 4600)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... Contex's 4600 ACS (aperture-card scanner; contact company for pricing) includes automatic scanning features such as a built-in automatic card feeder and a separate catch bin for sorting and collecting rejected cards. The Contex 4600 ACS...

3D models. (software: general).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... CADsymbols introduced more than one thousand new 3D models in eight libraries ($19.95-$149 per library). Previously released Library Collection CS0A has 1,334 3D models for $300, and the new Library Collection CS0B has 1,053 models for $223....

Plot-stamp protection. (software: general).(ManuSoft's EDU-Scan )(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... ManuSoft introduced EDU-Scan 1.0 (ranges from $25 per seat for individual licenses to $350 for a site license) for AutoCAD 2000/2000i/2002/LT users. EDU-Scan prevents commercial drawings from accidental contamination with a plot stamp that...

Hatch patterns. (software: general).(CompugraphX's 100 Plus Hatch Pattern Library 8.0)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... CompugraphX offers 100 Plus Hatch Pattern Library v8 ($79 plus shipping and handling) for use with AutoCAD Releases 14-2004 and all versions of AutoCAD LT. Version 8 contains 330 hatch patterns that append to the 69 patterns supplied with...

CAD translations. (software: general).(Softco's StanConvert 5 translator for AutoCAD 2000-2004)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... Softco released StanConvert 5 translator for AutoCAD 2000-2004 ($339 for ground shipping with printed manual, $289 for electronic delivery; $59 upgrade), which offers centralized control of translations and automated conversion of AutoCAD...

Secure collaboration. (software: general).(Document Flow's CADsafe)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... Document Flow released CADsafe ($495 for first license, $245 for additional licenses; $12,495 site license with 50+ seats), which lets you collaborate securely while protected from accidental or malicious modifications. Users can prevent the...

Technical document search. (software: general).(Docupoint's Docupoint Discovery 3.0)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... Docupoint shipped Docupoint Discovery 3 ($1,195 for base ten-user server for AutoCAD, $1,995 for a 25-user server for AutoCAD with Office Document Indexing option), a technical document search portal for AutoCAD drawings and Office documents....

AIA expo spotlights new architectural products. (aia convention report).(Industry Overview)
June 1, 2003... The AIA Convention drew close to 20,000 attendees to an unusally cool San Diego from May 8-10. Next year's edition is scheduled for June 10-12, 2004, in Chicago. Standout software In the expo's technology pavilion, Autodesk, Bentley,...

Viewer software for ICEM. (software: mcad/aec).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... ICEM announced viewer software for ICEM Surf surface models and digital mockup visualizations over the Internet (call for pricing). The viewer software is an add-on to ICEM's Surf software and consists of two parts: an export module that...

Models and materials. (software: mcad/aec).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... Marlin Studios announced Premium 3D Models--Suburban Houses ($199), a 3D model library, and Seamless Textures 10--Roofing Materials ($159), a seamless textures library. The Suburban Houses library includes 105 highly detailed 3D models that...

People. (software: mcad/aec).(Realworld Imagery's People on the Weekend II )(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... Realworld Imagery released People on the Weekend II ($149), a photorealistic image collection of more than 100 casually dressed people engaged in leisure activities. The People on the Weekend II CD-ROM includes people sitting and relaxing,...

Designing a turnkey race car for Grand Am. (on the job).
June 1, 2003... On March 1, when the Brumos Racing #59 FABCAR won the Nextel Grand Prix of Miami at Homestead-Miami Speedway it wasn't just a racing victory. The car was a prototype of a new class of Grand Am racing car, and the entire vehicle--including...

Virtual modeling software. (software: aec).(Cadsoft's Envisioneer)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... Cadsoft launched Envisioneer ($595), an intelligent behavioral connectivity engine that allows elements and drawing objects to be aware of their surroundings and to react according to their building application. Envisioneer can write to native...

Project management. (software: aec).(Meridian Project Systems' Prolog LT)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... MPS (Meridian Project Systems) unveiled Prolog LT ($1,495 per license, includes 90 days of maintenance and support) designed specifically for midsized construction companies to manage costs, documents, and daily construction activities. It...

Fire sprinkler design. (software: aec).(M.E.P.CAD's AutoSPRINK VR)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... M.E.P.CAD released AutoSPRINK VR ($6,950-$10,950, plus maintenance contract), an object-oriented, stand-alone application for fire sprinkler design and hydraulic calculations, with modules for stock listing and pricing. With it, you can layout...

Material advisor. (software: mcae/mcad).( Resinate Material Advisor 4.0)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... Resinate launched RMA (Resinate Material Advisor) v4 (from RMA Bronze at $1,295 per seat plus $295 per year maintenance through RMA Platinum at $3,995 per seat plus $795 per year maintenance; other options are available), an ASP version of its...

CAM for woodworking. (software: mcae/mcad).(WoodMill from DP Technology and Somatech Applications)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... DP Technology and Somatech Applications announced WoodMill (call for pricing), an optimized CAM system for the woodworking industry, powered by ESPRIT. Used as a stand-alone system or with any CAD system, WoodMill helps you program complex...

Tools for Tablet PC. (software: mcae/mcad).(NGRAIN Interactive 3D Tools for Tablet PCs )(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... NGRAIN Interactive 3D Tools for Tablet PCs (implementation for training, maintenance, and other manufacturing applications start at $12,000; developer toolkit is $14,995), gives you a pen-based interface to identify and order parts within an...

Associative analysis add-on. (software: mcae/mcad).(DesignSTAR 4.0 )(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... COSMOS announced COSMOS DesignSTAR 4.0 (call for pricing) which brings associative analysis capabilities to Autodesk Inventor, Solid Edge, and SolidWorks to help you simulate real-world conditions. COSMOSDesignSTAR 4.0 reads geometry files from...

Cadalyst picks 18 hot products.
June 1, 2003... This year we add two new honors to our semi-annual selection of Cadalyst All-Stars. The All-Star award recipients are picked from the pool of products that received Five-Star Highly Recommended ratings in Cadalyst Labs reviews from January to...

Pro/Engineer Wildfire.(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
June 1, 2003... PRO/ENGINEER WILDFIRE REVIEWED 02.03, P. 30 PTC's stalwart Pro/ENGINEER was overdue for an interface update, and Wildfire delivers a modern, Windows-style environment. Though veteran users will need to update their working process as a...

ArchiCAD 8.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... ARCHICAD 8 REVIEWED 01.03, P. 40 We appreciate ArchiCAD 8's competitive price ($3,950) and its improved interface, which is similar enough to that of Autodesk Architectural Desktop to ensure converts are comfortable and productive....

Quadro4 980 XGL Graphics Card.(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
June 1, 2003... QUADRO4 980 XGL GRAPHICS CARD REVIEWED 02.03, P. 28 All the graphics cards we covered in the February issue were based on the AGP 8X interface standard, and all excelled at 3D image processing. But the midlength Quadro4 980 XGL,...

Cornea Systems.(CT1904 190 LCD monitor )(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
June 1, 2003... CORNEA SYSTEMS CT1904 190 LCD REVIEWED 04.03, P. 24 Wow, what a great display! With no banding, bad pixels, or interface flicker, and near-perfect color, Cornea Systems' CT1904 190 LCD monitor delivers. It's priced very...

Polywell AMD 880NF2-2700XGL Workstation.(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
June 1, 2003... POLYWELL AMD 880NF2-2700XGL WORKSTATION REVIEWED 03.03, P. 28 Polywell's AMD-based system is well proportioned. Its price tag (it's just $1,750), footprint (it's very compact), and weight (thanks to its aluminum and Lucite case)...

SYS PowerHouse 306 workstation.(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
June 1, 2003... SYS POWERHOUSE 306 WORKSTATION Reviewed 03.03, p. 29 SYS Technology's PowerHouse was the big winner in the March workstation comparison, with As across the board on the Reviewer's Report Card, except for a couple of A1s. Although it...

Canon Imageprograf EPSon Stylus PRO.(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
June 1, 2003... Canon imageprograf EPSon stylus pro Reviewed 05.03, p. 28 Canon's imagePROGRAF W7250 (pictured right) and Epson's Stylus Pro 10600 (pictured below) were the stars of our wide-format printer roundup, and we found it impossible to...

3DConnexion Spaceball. (Editors' Wow!).(entry-level SpaceNavigator and the high-end SpaceBall 5000 )(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... 3Dconnexion's motion-control devices prove that two hands are better than one, at least as far as CAD design goes. The company says designers who use its products are up to 30% more productive. The SpaceBall devices let you manipulate your 3D...

Alibre design. (Editors' Wow!).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... Alibre Design impressed us with the breadth of functionality provided for the price. The recently released v6 adds modeling functionality such as NURBS curves, helical features, and support for threaded holes and callout annotations in 2D...

Solidworks 3D Skills Program. (Editors' Wow!).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... It's a program, not a product, though a product lies at the heart of the program. It's a great deal for users and an effective marketing tool. We can't think of another 3D modeling program that you can use for free for 90 days (PTC used to...

Immersion Haptic Workstation. (Editors' Wow!).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... The price tag alone is enough to merit a Wow--close to $100,000 for the top-of-the-line Haptic Workstation, complete with adjustable car seat, a head-mounted display, and CyberForce haptic feedback units for both hands (less costly options are...

Idelix PDT. (Editors' Wow!).(pliable display technology)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... IDELIX PDT isn't a product we'd usually cover in Cadalyst. It's aimed not at end users but at developers who incorporate the technology into their products. PDT stands for pliable display technology, basically a different way of looking at...

Elysium FBT. (Editors' Wow!).(feature-based translation technology)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... Elysium's FBT (feature-based translation) technology, an add-on for its CADporter and CADserver products, adds a new wrinkle to file translation. It lets you tranfer both geometric data and a model's feature tree from one CAD program to...

Plantracer. (Editors' Wow!).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... PlanTracer for Architectural Desktop is a boon to anyone who wants to switch to 3D modeling without leaving all your 2D drawings behind. The program automatically converts 2D vector drawings and raster images into Architectural Desktop models...

Xpress 3D. (Editors' Wow!).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... There's nothing inherently Wow-worthy about online services that generate quotes for rapid prototyping, but Xpress3D distinguishes itself with add-ons for various applications that let you generate quotes directly from your desktop, without the...

HP Designjet 100 Printer. (Editors' Wow!).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... The HP Designjet 100 is one of those good ideas that make you wonder why no one thought of it sooner. HP reports that the printer has proven more popular than anticipated in Europe, where it was first introduced, and the model on display at the...

Intergraph Smartplant 3D. (Editors' Wow!).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... Intergraph's SmartPlant 3D brings the benefits of object-oriented, database-driven design to the process plant realm, a development effort that took seven years. It checks for interferences and enforces design rules as you draw. Isometric and...

Readers' favorites.(Buyers Guide)
June 1, 2003... In the April 2003 Editor's Window, we invited you to vote for the Readers' Favorites awards. Our goal was to find those products that deliver value and increase design productivity long after the wow wears off. We hope you find a few gems here...

Share 3D models. (cadalyst labs feature review).(Illustration)(Product/Service Evaluation)
June 1, 2003... The ability of viewers to interface via the Internet enables design groups to meet, mark up, and evaluate drawings simultaneously, from anywhere in the world, without incurring the cost of a CAD license for each user. No wonder viewers have...

SpinFire Professional 5.0 SP1. (CAD viewmasters).(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
June 1, 2003... SpinFire Professional 5.0 SP1 Actify 4.5 stars out of 5. Actify's SpinFire Professional 5.0 SP1 is a desktop application that provides 2D and 3D viewing and markup capabilities. It imports standard CAD formats such as IGES, VDA,...

AutoVue SolidModel Professional v17 for Windows. (CAD viewmasters).(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
June 1, 2003... AutoVue SolidModel Professional v17 for Windows Cimmetry Systems 5 stars out of 5 Cimmetry Systems' AutoVue SolidModel Professional v17 for Windows is one of three applications to receive a five-star rating in this roundup. Not...

WiseImage Pro 5.1. (CAD viewmasters).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... WiseImage Pro 5.1: IDEAL.com 4.5 stars out of 5 WiseImage Pro is hybrid drawing and raster-to-vector conversion software. Using WiseImage Pro you can semiautomatically and automatically edit, update, and convert entities such as...

ModelPress Publisher 3.0, ModelPress Viewer 2.0. (CAD viewmasters).(from Information Graphics Corp.)(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
June 1, 2003... ModelPress Publisher 3.0, ModelPress Viewer 2.0 Informative Graphics Corp. 4 stars out of 5 The ModelPress System from Informative Graphics Corp. comprises ModelPress Publisher 3.0 and ModelPress Viewer 2.0. It differs from the...

WiseVIEW v4.6. (CAD viewmasters).(from Samsung)(Software Review)(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
June 1, 2003... WiseVIEW v4.6 Samsung SDS 5 stars out of 5 Samsung SDS's WiseVIEW v4.6 offers a relatively simple interface from which you can view more than 400 file formats, including common 2D and 3D CAD files. Especially noteworthy is support...

Imagenation 7.2. (CAD viewmasters).(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
June 1, 2003... Imagenation 7.2 Spicer Corp. 5 stars out of 5 Spicer's Imagenation 7.2 offers a high degree of functionality and a wealth of tools. Its extensive pull-down menu structure gives you access to the power of the application. You can...

TurboCAD does double-duty design: capable, affordable, and not just for architects anymore. (cadalyst labs review).(Product/Service Evaluation)
June 1, 2003... Imagine a hybrid CAD application that combines the familiar interface and 2D capabilities of AutoCAD LT with some of the power of a 3D package such as Autodesk Inventor. Imagine, too, getting this basic 3D power for roughly the price of the 2D...

HP xw4100 workstation: versatile CAD workstation. (first look reviews: brief hands-on product reviews).(Product/Service Evaluation)
June 1, 2003... In mid-April, Hewlett-Packard introduced the xw4100 line of workstations, which are unique in many ways. What first catches your eye is the sleek and compact case, which is much smaller than those typically associated with Hewlett-Packard...

AccuRender and LT Toolkit for LT: add-ons expand AutoCAD LT.(Product/Service Evaluation)
June 1, 2003... Much of what you sacrifice in AutoCAD LT over more expensive--and more powerful--standard AutoCAD lies in two areas: 3D functionality and programming interfaces, especially the popular AutoLISP programming language. Of course, not everyone...

Draw it once: save time with 3D block libraries and content. (aec tools: master the architect's desktop).
June 1, 2003... The best way to use CAD is to "draw something only once." Take advantage of block, cell, copy, and reference capabilities to increase productivity by reusing predrawn elements. Today, you can find many sources for 2D content and intelligent 3D...

Motivation and morale in difficult times: how to keep morale up during down times. (cad manager).(Column)
June 1, 2003... We are living through difficult times for many people, and the general anxiety level is high. There are concerns about the state of the economy and unemployment, about violence and terrorism alerts, and about armed conflict in the Middle East...

Custom menu mayhem: how to transfer custom menus from Release 12 to AutoCAD 2000. (autocad clinic: AutoCAD helpline answers your support questions).
June 1, 2003... We have an AutoCAD Release 12 menu file for custom functions such as adding material text and fasteners. In AutoCAD 2000, it doesn't swap the menus correctly. Here is a section from the part that doesn't work: ***POP1 ID_1000 [RAJ...

Tips from our readers. (hot tip Harry).
June 1, 2003... $50 BONUS WINNER BUBBLE NOTE Tip #1876 [BUB-NOTE.LSP] Here is a neat variation on the traditional bubble. bub-note.lsp asks you to select the text elements you want to call attention to and then automatically surrounds the text...