CADalyst articles from November 2000

CADalyst archives from November 2000

Brave new workstation.(Product Information)
November 1, 2000... Ever since humans lit oil lamps and scratched charcoal symbols on papyrus, standard office furniture hasn't changed much. There is a chair, and a wide flat surface of fixed height. You sit in the chair and work until you are done. The results...

Unintended emphasis.(Product Support)(Tutorial)
November 1, 2000... I use AutoCAD 2000i and Windows 2000 with service pack 1. When I create an mtext object and decide to underline a word in the middle of a paragraph, it appears as expected in the internal editor. When I click OK to place the text in the...

Align AutoCAD attributes.(Technology Tutorial)(Tutorial)
November 1, 2000... David Ripley of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow, Scotland, requested a routine that aligns the attributes associated with theatrical lighting plans. He sent a sample drawing, shown in figure 1, that has lighting symbols...

Next month in CADALYST.(News Briefs)
November 1, 2000... CADALYST Labs workstation review Break through the 1GHz barrier. Today's fastest processors show their stuff in systems from Dell, IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Polywell, SGI, and Xi. CADDIES 2000 winners We hand out the trophies in our...

ARRIS 2001 Architect's Studio takes the stage : Mature program offers architects new functionality.(Software Review)(Evaluation)
November 1, 2000... ARRIS 2001 Architect's Studio v7.1, the latest upgrade to this venerable CAD program, provides some fundamental new and revised functionality. This mature program is a full-featured drafting product, although it's starting to show its age--the...

Elegant AutoCAD customization eliminates problems.(Product Support)(Tutorial)
November 1, 2000... General-purpose CAD programs such as AutoCAD beg to be customized. AutoCAD's out-of-the-box program menus and default settings have improved over the years, and the Express Tools add a lot of the functionality that we used to cobble together...

Find consultants, clients, and software online.(Company Business and Marketing)
November 1, 2000... As the Internet matures, companies are developing a variety of strategies to profit from it. One strategy that borrows directly from traditional brick-and-mortar business models is to focus on a specific customer group and target its needs....

Part analysis.(Company Business and Marketing)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... MSC.Working Knowledge announced rental versions of MSC.visualNastran FEA for Autodesk Inventor ($400/month) and Mechanical Desktop ($400/month). You rent MSC.visualNastran by the month and download it via the Autodesk Point A design portal. The...

Online file storage.(Company Business and Marketing)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... Punch Networks Corp. announced Punch WebGroups Enterprise ($6,000) and WebGroups Enterprise ASP ($8,000). Both are versions of the Punch WebGroups file storage and collaboration service the company offers from its Web site. A single user or a...

Collaboration tools.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
November 1, 2000... DesignKnet (call for pricing) from Microsoft Corporation and Unigraphics Solutions Inc. is a tool suite to help enterprise-class manufacturers and ASPs develop design collaboration portals. DesignKnet's collaboration environment reduces...

Online software portal.(Company Business and Marketing)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... ASPire3D.com from Imagecom is an ASP portal that offers CAD applications on a pay-per-use basis. The first ASP application is an Internet-enabled version of Imagecom's FlexiDesign. This software automatically converts 2D legacy CAD drawings to...

Dialog Box : Thoughts from our readers.(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2000... Where are the tough fillets? I'm writing in reference to figure 2 (p. 40) shown in your August review of Vellum Solids. You indicate this model represents a good example of Vellum Solids' extensive blending abilities. The example model is...

Corrections.(Correction Notice)
November 1, 2000... Credit for the rendering on p. 55 of November's ArchiCAD 6.5 review should go to Amos Byington of Michael Gaertner & Associates. The image on p. 59 was created by Doug Engel, also of Michael Gaertner & Associates. Mechanical Desktop 4 does...

Autodesk, Inc. (1).(Company Business and Marketing)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... An Autodesk press event took me to Monterey, California, for a weekend of Autodesk Inventor and the Grand Prix of Monterey. PacWest Racing Group recently adopted Autodesk's Inventor to design parts for its race cars. One such part is a drive...

Bentley Systems.(Industry Trend or Event)
November 1, 2000... "Working Together" was the theme at this year's Bentley International User Conference, which drew more than 2,400 participants from 40 countries to Philadelphia on September 18-20. "Working Together" took many forms, most significantly in the...

Autodesk, Inc.(2).(Industry Trend or Event)
November 1, 2000... Autodesk reveled in its success in the GIS realm at last month's Autodesk GIS 2000 First International User Group Conference in San Rafael, California, an event that included five days of technical training, exhibits, and presentations. ...

Unigraphics Solutions.(Product Announcement)
November 1, 2000... Unigraphics Solutions used the occasion of its Solid Edge Third Annual Global Summit to officially unveil the next release of its midrange mechanical design software package, Solid Edge v9 (see July, p. 30, for our hands-on review of v8). ...

Bentley wants you to have a V8.
November 1, 2000... The news from this year's Bentley International User Conference is that the next version of MicroStation, V8, will directly read and write DWG files. A revamped DGN file format will handle both the current DGN data types and those found in...

IBM T86A : 180 flat-panel monitor.(Hardware Review)(Evaluation)
November 1, 2000... Prices are starting to drop--finally--on flat-panel monitors. IBM's T-series of flat-panels is aggressively priced, at least compared to other vendors' offerings. It includes the T54A (150 viewable screen, 10243768 maximum resolution) with an...

Argos 3.5 : Track your plots.(Software Review)(Evaluation)
November 1, 2000... As you all know, plotting is expensive. Whether you want to bill customers for drawing sets or know how much you spend each week for paper, Sepialine's Argos helps you capture and manage plot data. Argos has two main application...

AutoSolids : Solid modeling add-on for AutoCAD.(Software Review)(Evaluation)
November 1, 2000... In the past five years, many CAD companies and professionals have moved from 2D drawing to Windows-based solid modeling applications. Others have not made this migration due to budget constraints or a lack of understanding of the benefits that...

Spaceball 4000 FLX : 3D input device.(Company Business and Marketing)
November 1, 2000... Labtec's Spaceball 4000 FLX 3D input device features 12 customizable buttons and an adjustable ergonomic rubber-cushioned wrist pad that you can convert to either left- or right-hand use. The Spaceball 4000 FLX lets you control the view of the...

Tips from our readers.(News Briefs)
November 1, 2000... $50 BONUS WINNER Enhanced Fillet Tip #1658 [DDFILLET.LSP] and [DDFILLET.DCL] Here's a dialog box version of the Fillet command with several new options. It shows the current value of the fillet radius and includes a Pick Radius...

Up against the walls: How to control cleanup.(Product Support)(Tutorial)
November 1, 2000... This month we continue our discussion of Architectural Desktop's wall objects with a look at the settings that control how walls clean up (or don't clean up) when they meet other walls. Cleanup groups are useful when you create architectural...

It's a snap--AutoCAD 2000's Parallel and Extend options.(Product Support)(Tutorial)
November 1, 2000... Captain LearnCurve thought about the tracks he had seen during a recent motorcycle ride. Deer tracks were quite common, and he'd even spotted a few bear tracks. The easiest tracks to identify, however, were those left by a train. This is...

Budget CAD : Surprising Power for less than $500.(Software Review)(Evaluation)
November 1, 2000... Do you work on a tight budget? Is AutoCAD overkill for what you do, but compatibility with AutoCAD a necessity? Do you need to learn CAD, but can't afford AutoCAD? Or are you simply tired of high prices and big companies that seem more...

CoCreate Software's.(Company Business and Marketing)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... sara.ferris@cadalyst.com CoCreate Software's employees and an international investment group consisting of independent financial investors 3i PLC and the Triton Fund purchased the CAD software company, a subsidiary of Hewlett-Packard.

ANSYS.(Company Business and Marketing)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... ANSYS will acquire ICEM CFD Engineering for $12.4 million in cash and ANSYS common stock. ICEM's computational fluid dynamics software will augment ANSYS' software for structural, thermal, electromechanical, and other physics analyses.

Alibre.(Company Business and Marketing)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... Alibre will provide free, unlimited access to students at the University of Delaware, University of Iowa, and Purdue School of Engineering and Technology. The company is looking for other partners. www.alibre.com

Ariba.(Company Business and Marketing)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... Ariba now offers its recently acquired Supplier.Market technology as a private-label enterprise procurement solution called Ariba Sourcing.

e-Manufacturing Networks will acquire Industrial Automation Solutions.(Company Business and Marketing)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... e-Manufacturing Networks will acquire Industrial Automation Solutions, a developer of CNC software, for cash and stock worth $800,000. e-Manufacturing's InterNetworking software connects machine tools to the Internet.

SolidWorks.(Company Business and Marketing)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... SolidWorks announced its 2000 Student Design Competition, open to all degree-seeking students who use SolidWorks 2000 Student Edition. www.solidworks.com/education

Struxicon.com.(Company Business and Marketing)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... Struxicon.com will use the A/E/C Express network to print and deliver AEC documents from its construction bidding Web site.

ASP provider iEngineer.com Inc.(Company Business and Marketing)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... ASP provider iEngineer.com Inc. acquired Vuent Inc., a provider of enterprise-level software for 3D visual collaboration.

Computer-maker Dell will purchase Toshiba's memory, storage products.(Company Business and Marketing)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... Computer-maker Dell will purchase Toshiba's memory, storage products, and LCDs as part of a strategic alliance worth up to $5 billion over the next three years. Dell will also consider Toshiba's new low-temperature, poly-silicon LCDs and...

Intel recalls 1.13GHz Pentium III, prepares Pentium 4.
November 1, 2000... In late August Intel recalled all of its 1.13GHz Pentium III chips because of a problem that caused certain applications to freeze. The 1.13GHz processor shipped July 31, and only IBM has shipped significant numbers to customers. Intel plans to...

Unigraphics buys EAI, starts Innovator program.(Company Business and Marketing)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... Unigraphics Solutions plans to acquire EAI (Engineering Animation, Inc.), a developer of visualization, collaboration, and analysis software. Unigraphics will pay $13.75 for each share of EAI common stock and a total purchase price of around...

AutoCAD 2000i patch fixes Internet woes.(Company Business and Marketing)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... Service Pack 1 for AutoCAD 2000i, AutoCAD 2000i LT, and its Desktop flavors is now available on the Autodesk Web site. It fixes many of the Internet-related problems as well as dimensioning, plotting, and other issues. www.autodesk.com

UDDI standard to facilitate e-commerce.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... Microsoft, Ariba, and IBM set forth a standard specification, called the UDDI (Universal Description, Discovery and Integration) Project, to describe and list companies and their Internet business capabilities. A set of XML standards will...

Bentley restructures organization.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... Bentley Systems reorganized itself to both "leverage the unique extent to which its products and service offerings work together throughout E/C/O networks and cultivate innovative and flexible new business models between Bentley software users...

STEP-NC standard debuts.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... STEP Tools Inc. will demonstrate the new STEP-NC standard on November 30 as part of its Super Model project. STEP-NC will let product design data control CNC (computer numerical control) machine tools. It aims to replace M and G codes with...

B-to-B by the numbers.(Industry Trend or Event)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... Business-to-business e-commerce revenue in North America grew 171% in 1999, according to market research firm Gartner Group. Revenue totaled nearly $500 million, up from $183 million in 1998. Gartner predicts that three types of Internet...

Graphics card vendor outlines CAD strategy.(Company Business and Marketing)
November 1, 2000... 3Dlabs' Gary Kinsey met with us at the Bentley International User Conference in September to outline its approach to developing graphics cards for the CAD market. 3Dlabs now claims 60% of the professional workstation market with more than 4...

HARDWARE : Flat-panel displays.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
November 1, 2000... andrea.swangard@cadalyst.com Compaq Computer Corporation announced the TFT 5004 ($799, pictured) and TFT 5005 ($999) flat-panel displays. The TFT 5004 comes in opal and carbon colors and is available bundled with the iPAQ desktop. It...

HARDWARE : 190 flat CRT.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
November 1, 2000... The p1450 190 flat CRT monitor ($475) from Cornerstone Peripherals Technology, Inc., features an Invar shadow mask flat tube to reduce reflection and maintain sharp text quality. The monitor also features a 128031024 resolution at an 85Hz...

HARDWARE : Graphics board.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
November 1, 2000... ELSA announced the ELSA Synergy III graphics board ($500). Based on NVIDIA's Quadro2 MXR processor, the Synergy III offers dual-monitor support, advanced video features, OpenGL technology, and improved 2D and 3D performance. Features include up...

HARDWARE : 500 scanner.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
November 1, 2000... The PANORAMA, a wide-format 500 monochrome scanner (call for pricing) from Contex Scanning Technology scans an E-size drawing at 400dpi turbo in seven seconds, according to the company. It features a 500 wide imaging area, ADL1 error diffusion...

HARDWARE : Cursor control.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
November 1, 2000... CADPro ($299) 60 3 90 digitizer from GTCO CalComp, Inc., controls your on-screen pointer and lets you create menus of frequently used commands. CADPro provides a resolution of 4,000 lines per inch, accuracy of up to 0.0080, and digitizes...

MECHANICAL SOFTWARE : Model simulation.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
November 1, 2000... Marc2Go from MSC.Software is simulation software bundled as part of a single purchase with a fully configured Dell computer ($64,800). MSC.Marc simulates both linear and nonlinear industrial processes such as contact problems typically found in...

MECHANICAL SOFTWARE : SolidWorks toolbox.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
November 1, 2000... CIMLOGIC introduced Toolbox/SE 6.0 ($695) automation software. New features include a drag-and-drop interface for SolidWorks 2000 that lets you place standard hardware into assemblies. You can also create circular and linear cams and sprockets...

MECHANICAL SOFTWARE : Product management.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
November 1, 2000... SolidPLM ($1,800 per seat) from CaRD America, Inc., is a product lifecycle management solution for SolidWorks users who use the SAP R/3 system as their ERP (enterprise resource planning) solution. SolidPLM gives you access to the complete...

MECHANICAL SOFTWARE : Data management.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
November 1, 2000... SmartExpress ($850 per seat) from Smar-Team is a data management solution for SolidWorks users. As part of SmarTeam v4, SmartExpress is an upgrade to SmarTeam-Works, a PDM plug-in for SolidWorks. With SmartExpress you can manage the assembly...

MECHANICAL SOFTWARE : Parametrics package.(Company Business and Marketing)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2000... data M Software GmbH split the full version of COPRA MetalBender Desktop into several smaller packages. SheetMetal Desktop (call for pricing) is the parametric module of the COPRA MetalBender Desktop. It includes the COPRA MetalBender Solver...

MECHANICAL SOFTWARE : Design optimization.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
November 1, 2000... GrafiCalc (pricing starts at $795) from GEOMATE Corporation is mechanical design automation software that incorporates behavior modeling and synthesizes geometry, calculations, and design goals in an independent extendable environment. In...

On the Job: Construction company banks on AutoCAD.(Product Information)
November 1, 2000... Nor-son, Inc., a design-build construction company headquartered in Baxter, Minnesota, recently designed a bank. When the building was overlaid on the site plan, the designers realized they needed a variance from the city planning commission to...

3D rendering.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
November 1, 2000... trueSpace5 (call for pricing) is a 3D modeling and animation program from Caligari Corporation. trueSpace5 features NURBS-based modeling tools, realistic rendering, and advanced surfacing features. A 3D interface lets you manipulate models in a...

Image rendering.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
November 1, 2000... Advanced Rendering Technology's RenderDrive RD3000 ($14,995) 3D rendering software lets you create virtual photographs indistinguishable from real photographs to forecast the physical attributes, appearance, and other environmental changes in...

3D measurement.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
November 1, 2000... ShapeQuest Inc. announced ShapeCapture 3.1 ($1,599 regular price, $799 limited competitive upgrade) 3D measurement and modeling software. ShapeCapture achieves first-order measurement accuracy and camera calibration with 3D modeling features....

MECHANICAL SOFTWARE : Product inspection.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
November 1, 2000... SDRC announced Imageware v10 ($28,000), software to design, build, and inspect free-form products. Imageware is a 3D surface modeling and verification solution that consists of Surfacer, Verdict, and Build!IT. Surfacer captures design intent...

MECHANICAL SOFTWARE : 3D modeling tool.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
November 1, 2000... @Last Software announced its SketchUp ($495) 3D modeling package. In SketchUp you draw the edges of a model in 3D space, and the software fills the shapes to create 3D geometry. Features of SketchUp include 3D tracking, smart snaps, intelligent...

MECHANICAL SOFTWARE : Model testing.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
November 1, 2000... International TechneGroup Incorporated released CAD/IQ v3 (call for pricing) CAD model quality testing tool. CAD/IQ detects and displays hidden errors and anomalies in CAD models. The software helps you identify and correct problems at the...

MECHANICAL SOFTWARE : Assembly design.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
November 1, 2000... Autodesk Inventor R3 ($4,995) from Autodesk, Inc., supports adaptive design and provides large-assembly performance and single-day productivity. Release 3 includes more than 120 new features, such as 3D Exchange Editor to modify imported 3D...

MECHANICAL SOFTWARE : Image storage.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
November 1, 2000... Smart Storage Inc. announced the SmartStor Virtual Tower (call for pricing), network-based software that caches and compresses images from CD-ROM and DVD and stores them on available hard disk space. SmartStor does not require proprietary...

MECHANICAL SOFTWARE : Print driver.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
November 1, 2000... The Oce 9600 Print Driver (call for pricing), from Oce USA and Intergraph Corporation, is an addition to the InterPlot Mid-Volume Driver pack. The driver lets you take advantage of the InterPlot solution with the 9600 wide-format printer and...

GENERAL SOFTWARE : Design automation.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
November 1, 2000... iSIGHT v5.5 (prices start at $9,000 for annual license) from Engineous Software integrates and accelerates the design process. A mixed integer algorithm combines a hill-climbing technique with a branch and bound method, and a sequential...

GENERAL SOFTWARE : File recovery.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
November 1, 2000... Undelete v2.0 ($249 for server, $49 for workstation) from Executive Software International protects your data and recovers files. Undelete replaces the Windows recycle bin with a recovery bin that captures all deleted files. An Emergency...

GENERAL SOFTWARE : Block manager.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
November 1, 2000... GlobalCAD 2000 ($145) from GlobalCAD manages details and blocks within a design. You can view and compare blocks and drawing details within libraries, work seamlessly with 2D, 3D, and attributed blocks, and automatically create libraries from...

On the Job: CAD sets the stage for music.(Product Information)
November 1, 2000... As pop icon Madonna prepared to perform her song "Nothing Really Matters" as the opening act for the 2000 Grammy Awards, she asked Entertainment Lighting Force, Inc., to design the set. The video for the song had a Japanese theme, so designer...

On the Job: Autodesk generates power for Ireland.(Company Operations)
November 1, 2000... NIE (Northern Ireland Electricity) implemented a GNIS (geographic network information system) using Autodesk VISION technology (www.autodesk.com). The GNIS is installed at the electric company's central support center in Belfast and gives...

Project estimation.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
November 1, 2000... Eagle Point Software announced Bid-Builder (pricing starts at $795), a software tool for estimators, contractors, and subcontractors. Bid-Builder estimates project quantities and costs and allows quick takeoffs for specific trades in the...

Plot tracker.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
November 1, 2000... PLD (plotting log database) v1.1 for AutoCAD Release 14 and 2000 ($142 for three-seat license) by Jimmy Boone tracks plot information such as date, time, project name, printing device, paper type, user comments, and sizes. PLD also tracks the...

MARK YOUR CALENDAR.(Calendar of Events)
November 1, 2000... ACADIA 2000 October 19-22 Catholic University Washington, D.C. www.acadia.org/conferences.html FEDCON 2001 October 23 National Press Club Washington, D.C. 800.283.4699 www.nafc.com CMD Group's North American...