WorldCAD Access

Q&A with Graphisoft Executives

ArchiCAD 24 launch

Graphisoft has for years held an annual by-invitation-only conference for its top customers, to which we in the CAD media were also invited. With this year's coronavirus canceling in-person events, Graphisoft opened this year's conference to all users.

Two days earlier, Graphisoft held a press conference moderated by Graphisoft senior manager of global communications Julianna Gulden with Graphisoft ceo Huw Roberts, Nemetschek Group chief division officer Victor Várkonyi, and vp for product success Akos Pfemeter.

We got an early heads-up on ArchiCAD 24 and new product logos, along with a extended question and answer session.

New logos for Graphisoft products

 

In brief, this year's release of ArchiCAD offers enhancements in the areas of

• Enhanced MEP modeler
• BIM change tracking
• Greater file support
• New surface materials and residential library
• Python API for automation
• Param-o as an easier version of GDL for driving parametric parts

The launch will be world-wide in all languages and includes updates to BIMcloud server and BIMx viewer, naturally, but also deep integration with Risa (structural design for North America) and Scia (structural analysis and design for Europe). We first heard about this Nemetschek-wide initiative last year, as well as during last week's interview with the Vectorworks ceo.

BIMcloud server is the core of integrated design for ArchiCAD and this year it gets

• Open for files from any source, making it interdisciplinary instead of just limited to ArchiCAD
• Connect to it from other software through a new API
• Performance boost

BIMx model viewer works on mobile devices and Web browsers:

• New 3D visualization engine that handles files of any size
• A single BIMx app with freemium and subscription options
• Free version offers all forms of viewing, smart measure, and presentation gallery
• Paid version adds large model support, and API, ability to save favorite

- - -

Q: Does the Graphisoft-Scia-Risa integration use the new internal file format? Or does it use OpenBIM?

A: The Nemetschek Group is using an internal data scheme but it also is being developed as an open format for data sharing and real-time teamwork.

There are couple of different layers for integrated design:

• Teamwork for connecting people and workflows -- managed by BIMcloud
• Parameter level, in whcih an element in a model is used by different people for different purposes, which cannot go out of sync or be misaligned.
• Schema is the SAF (?) schema, open, works with other software top

This makes it possible to integrate the structural model inside the BIM model, like MEPs checking that ducts don't go through columns, and the architect knowing from the structural analysis that the building won't fall down. They are- working inside Risa and Scia, which are integrated into a single model with ArchiCAD. BIMcloud ties it together

Q: Param-o looks like Grasshopper. Is it based on it, or a different product?

Param-o parameters driving the design of a table

A: They are two different products with two different purposes, but they can be connected. Grasshopper is for algorithmic design; Para-o is an ArchiCAD function inside ArchiCAD 24 to create objects for architectural products. They look similar but have different purposes and have different functions.

Our roadmap will allow Grasshopper algorithms to drive Param-o and so drive objects in ArchiCAD.

A: Architects are very familiar with visual scripting metaphor of Grasshopper. That is where the similarity comes form. At the technology level they are entirely separate things. Param-o creates parametric custom objects without needing GD, which can be difficult to program.

Q: How does open BIMcloud connect to non-Graphisoft CAD format? Does it handle CAD files from outside the Nemetschek Group?

A: [unanswered]

Q: Do GDL objects work with Param-o?

A: [unanswered]

 

Q: Can you talk about owner hand-off and digital twins?

A: Nemetschek plans to cover the lifecyle of the building, so we are getting into operations side of things. It is too early to talk about this.

A: Support for OpenBIM is a great means to anyone in any process. We think that is a real advantage we have in flexibility and processes we can support. When you think of hand-off, there is data handoff, data lockdown, things that are frozen for the record, things that stay live. The publishing from BIMcloud is very flexible for hand-off. It gets better when the Nemetschek portfolio is involved.

 

Q: Firms are developing their conceptual tools. How do these connect with ArchiCAD?

A: As an architect, I get it. Sometimes design driven by codes and compliance, sometimes by social drivers, by geometry drivers -- and so many tools are used as input to the design process.

Large firms have the resources to experiment with technology and that will always be the case. The challenge is making a custom tool that isn't a dead-end, that it integrates into the workflow. We ensure we have good APIs so that custom development can be interfaced with the heart of building design, which is BIM.

A: ArchiCAD can work as a conceptual tool, even though it is seen mainly as BIM for formal design. Its API is wide open for experimentation. Also, we partner with Rhino and SketchUp.

Q: Is Graphisoft using ODA libraries for Revit?

A: Yes, we are using the ODA's libraries.

Q: Can Revit use BIMx without ArchiCAD?

A: To use BIMx you have to go through ArchiCAD, because it keeps track of versioning and workflow.

Q: All firms tend to use other structural tools. How will you move these firms to Nemetschek tools?

A: Scia is best for use in Europe and Risa in North America. All of them work with open workflows, but if an engineer wants to use a different one, the experience won't be as good. It is up to Scia and Risa to offer deals to convince people to switch. It is not about price, it is about workflow.

 

Q: Is the CDE [common data environment] from Bluebeam still in the works, as was spoken about a few years ago?

A: The Bluebeam solution does not have the overarching vision that covers everything. Today we think of CDE as a "common design environment." Different firms have different workflows, and so being able to connect and work with as many of those workflows is in everyone's best interest. Our strategy is a universal approach.

 

Q: For which competitor products are you writing plug-ins?

A: We are first concentrating on Nemetschek Group products. We allow connections to other programs, such as other structural tools. We have the most control with Nemetschek brands, but then connecting with Open BIM with anything, even if it just at the IFC level. Revit will not have this level of granular integration.

A: Other firms are contributing data exchange -- there are solutions that are specific to regions. Structural engineers typically use more than on solution, to make sure there is not a problem in one software.

 

Q: Is the Nemetschek schema open? Is IFC granular enough?

A: The Nemetschek schema is designed to be open for other companies to design connections. The IFC scheme is a very rich schema that can contain any information related to BIM. In theory, IFC is granular enough; in practice, it is useful for connecting software to exchange information but our format is complete for designing with.

A: The same information could be in both schema; they overlap but are different topics. The shift is from a disconnected transaction mode, to a share experience where you work on one part of the model and I work on another part of the same model.

www.graphisoft.com

 

Navisworks vs ODA BimNv SDK

 

 

OpenDesign Alliance's BimNv SDK is a software development kit for dealing with Navisworks files and was developed independently of Autodesk.

 

About Navisworks from Autodesk

Navisworks is Autodesk's universal file format for viewing project files made with multiple software programs, such as AutoCAD, Revit, and Inventor, as well as neutral file formats (like IFC, STL, and PDF) and proprietary ones, such as Pro/Engineer, Solidworks, and MicroStation. (See figure.) For more info on formats, see knowledge.autodesk.com/support/navisworks-products.

 

Navisworks model (source: GrabCAD)

For instance, you are designing a building with Revit that contains a machine designed in Solidworks, all on top of topology from a point cloud (Recap). To view how it all fits together, the individual models are loaded and coordinated in Navisworks, from which clash detection, markups, project progress, and so are performed. (See figure.)

 

Navisworks UI (source Autodesk)

The native file formats of Navisworks are as follows:

NWD - contains all the models in a single, compressed file
NWF - contains links to model files, plus markup data
NWC - cache files created when an NWD file is opened, to speed up subsequent loading

When an NWD file is opened, it uses external file readers to view the different file formats; you can substitute your own readers, as the ones provided by Autodesk do not necessarily support all entities. The Autodesk Developer Network offers an API to members ($1,400 and up) for writing add-ons to Navisworks, as well as exporting data out of Navisworks.

 

ODA's Navisworks SDK

The ODA has its own version of a Navisworks SDK that it has named BimNv. The SDK [software development kit] allows programmers to write software that works with Navisworks files. An SDK includes APIs [application programming interfaces], which programs use to make calls that read and process data in the Navisworks files. The ODA says its API is similar to that of Autodesk's Navisworks API. The SDK is available only to Sustaining ODA members or higher ($5,000 and up).

Neil Peterson, the president of ODA, tells me that he sees three kinds of organizations that might prefer using BimNv over Autodesk's SDK:

• Those wanting to view and import Navisworks models in their own desktop software without having to depend on Autodesk software
• Those wanting to visualize and access Navisworks models on the Web without having to use a third-party service like Autodesk's Forge
• Those wanting to export Navisworks models from their applications with no dependencies on Autodesk software.

For example, some government agencies in Australia are mandating the use of Navisworks for certain civil projects, and so the ODA has members looking to BimNv for integrating an Navisworks export function into their products.

The ODA held a Webinar this week on the progress is is making with BimNv API, explaining that it really is a work-in-progress.

BimNv supports NWD, NWF, and NWC files from 2013 and newer. Older formats (2009-2012) are also supported but not as well, because, as they explained, "It is hard to find many Navisworks files from 2009 for testing purposes." Currently, the focus of ODA programmers had been on reading the format, and they have completed some initial editing functions of NWF files.

Navisworks contains data from many programs, so if ODA has already documented one of them, like DWG, then it is OK; if not, then it is more difficult for the ODA to support the data. So, designs made with DWG (AutoCAD and workalikes), DGN (Microstation), DXF, RVT (Revit), and IFC have "excellent" support.

To view Navisworks-style files, ODA offers its Visualizer Viewer (see figure). To view the files, ODA converts them to its own VSF format (Visualize Stream Format). The viewer handles the following functions (among others):

User interface of ODA's viewer (source: ODA)

• Cutting planes
• Multiple models in one viewer
• Save to DWG (quite large, as DWG has to represent everything)
• Export to PDF (when the ODA's Publish SDK is added) and OBJ

Autodesk has no Navisworks viewer for mobile devices, although third parties have viewers that export NWD files to their own viewer's format. So it turns out that the ODA's OpenCloud is the only way to view Navisworks files on mobile devices, through cloud.opendesign.com (see figure).

Mobile viewer from ODA (source: ODA)

What's Next for BimNv

The ODA's programmers are working on exporting VSF files to Navisworks format, reading the clash elements that are stored in Navisworks files, and support for sheets.

 

Q&A

Q: Are PDF files exported from Navisworks files in 2D or 3D?
A: Both, as they is generated by the Visualize SDK.

Q: Has Autodesk a Navisworks viewer for mobile?
A: No. Navisworks files tend to be large as they combine many formats, and so there may be issues loading them on mobile devices. With Autodesk, there are third-party plug-ins to convert the format and then view the files on a mobile devices.

Q: Does BimNv have any accessible BIM data in it?
A: Yes, we can contain data in the file as BIM data, such as those from Revit converted to Navisworks format. Here, some Revit properties are retained, such as colors, categories, and so we can access that data.

Q: Can it visualize without the Visualize SDK?
A: You would have to create your own viewer, such as with your own MSC or Qt application.

Q: Is rendering single-threaded?
A: Yes.

Q: Any plans for multi-threading?
A: Yes, but the priority is not high right now. Visualize SDK could handle multi-threading external to Nv but some output need may to be internal to BimNv.

Q: Is the loading single-threaded?
A: We have both, single- or multi-thread, so you can switch.

Q: Is a trial version of BimNv SDK available?
A: It is available in trial format for Windows only, which is sufficient for concept.

https://www.opendesign.com/products/bimnv

Three, no Four! OSes for Chromebooks

Is Chromebook becoming the ultimate computing device?

The question become relevant as Apple switches it Macs from Intel CPUs to its platform of the future, ARM, and so no more Boot Camp, no more Windows booting natively on Mac desktop computers and laptops. Until now, this was possible, because Windows and MacOS are both coded for Intel CPUs.

The death knell for Windows on new Macs is about two years away. Apple has shown Linux working on ARM CPUs through virtualization; MacOS is based on Unix. It could be the same for Windows, but running an operating system on a virtual machine slows it down significantly. 

Microsoft has an ARM version of Windows, but indicated that so far it is not interested in cooperating with Apple. Apple, likewise, shows no interest in reciprocating. Bifurcation may be the future of computing. https://www.theregister.com/2020/06/25/apple_gives_boot_camp_the/

Apple has shown iOS and iPadOS apps running on Macs, as both would be hosted by ARM CPU.

 

Four OSes, One Computer

Beside native ChomeOS, Chromebooks smoothly handle Android apps, have taken a stab at running Linux programs, and now Google says the lithe computers might in the future run Windows programs, too.

It may seem more complicated getting Android to run on Chromebook than what Apple plans to do with iOS on Macs. Normally, Androids run on ARM CPUs, while Chromebooks on Intel CPUs. However, Google has an Intel version of Android, which allows Android emulators to run on Windows PCs. There even are some dual-boot tablets out of China that run Android or Windows 10.

While I find my i5-based Acer Spin 13 Chromebook a wonderful machine, its lack of running Windows programs can be a practical pain. I took it as my sole computer to a software conference in Europe last year. When the software vendor released a beta of the next release of its CAD system, I could not download it and try it out; I had to wait until I was back home again.

(A workaround is for Mac and ChomeOS computers to use remote-access software, such as TeamViewer or Chrome Remote Desktop, to view Windows programs running on a Windows computer. But this, too, is not a speedy solution.) 

Details about Windows on ChromeOS are, at this point, ultra vague. Given how slowly Linux support is developing, I'd not be one to be holding my breath. androidpolice.com/2020/06/16/google-and-parallels-announce-plans-to-bring-windows-apps-to-chromebooks/

 

Siemens Media Conference: Q&A

 #SiemensMAC2020

 

The first day of the online Siemens Digital Industries Software Media and Analyst Conference 2020 ended with a lengthy Q&A session. All the questions I posted got answered, so that was cool. (That doesn't always happen.) Here are my notes on the questions that were asked:

- - -

Q: Siemens had a sketching app on Android a few years ago, which I notice hasn't been updated in over a year. Is NX Sketch based on this technology?

A: Good catch on that. We learned from CatchBook how people sketch, but NX Sketch is brand-new and is built into NX. It avoids over-constraints on sketches.

Q: Is NX Share available standalone or only in NX?

A: Right now, it is part of NX. It will be available standalone later this year.

Q: Regarding the $100 million AAR [average recurring revenue] of Mendix: why did revenues skyrocket?

A: The Covid crisis is making companies wanting to build apps quickly, to work remotely. Even before, Mendix provided local capabilities such as to Teamcenter. It grew 155% over last year.

Q: What is the pricing for Teamcenter X?

A: We have very competitive and attractive pricing with what's out there on the market.

Q: Is Teamcenter Share a rebadge of Solid Edge Portal?

A: Absolutely not. It is built on the Mendix platform. It adds CAD knowledge to a Dropbox-like platform.

Q: Will Teamcenter be replaced by Teamcenter X over time? Is this part of a roadmap to replace all desktop programs with cloud apps?

A: We are not one of those vendors who go to their customers who say, 'as of May 25 we will be completely SaaS'. This is not our approach. We are modernizing products by bringing them to the cloud. Customers can make the transition, if they want to, when they are ready.

We will never have to have that hard discussion with customers about them having to make a difficult transition of technologies.

Q: What market does Teamcenter X target?

A: Immediately, the mid-market. But there is interest from large customers as well.

Q: How is Mendix affecting development at Siemens?

A: We learn a lot from each other. We don't forget that Mendix began with business applications, such as HR and finance. So we can solve the complete solution across the board for customers [including non-CAD ones].

Q: How is your partnership with Bentley on CALM [Capital Asset Lifecycle Management] going?

A: It is growing business for data management of plant design, offshore platforms, and so on. We will be doing more together, as you will hear in the coming 12-18 months. We are bringing Teamcenter product configuration to these large projects. [See https://blogs.sw.siemens.com/teamcenter/introducing-teamcenter-for-capital-asset-lifecycle-management-calm/ for an introduction to CALM.]

Q: When will authoring [CAD] software like NX be on the cloud?

A: The cloud is a major trend and we are looking at how to bring more of it to our customers. We are working on the authoring side, but the real strength of the cloud is on the collaboration side. So, for instance, we are bringing more collaboration to the authoring software.

Q: What were the revenues of your division for the year?

A: Siemens does not report divisional revenues [such as for Siemens Digital Industries Software], but maybe that will change in the future, like in two years. We are outgrowing our competition every quarter.

Q: How is simulation, CD-Adapco doing?

A: Overall it is doing well. Simulation is core to the digital twin of vehicles and plants. Our simulation revenues are equal to the revenues of the market leader. That gets lost in our large portfolio of software. [ANSYS had $1.5 billion in revenues for fiscal year 2019.]

Q: How many attendees today?

A: Close to 300, our largest ever for a media and analysts day, made possible because of being online.

 

 

Siemens Media Conference, Day 1

 #SiemensMAC2020

 

The day that Siemens Digital Industries Software sets aside for we CAD media and analysts is this year online, instead of in-person in Las Vegas. To make it easier to digest, the conference this year is two hours online on each of two days -- a schedule that I greatly appreciate. 

The Conference interface in the Web browser

The two days seem mostly about how customers use Siemens software, along with overviews of the Siemens approach to the manufacturing industry. President and CEO Tony Hemmelgarn noted that it is surprising how many his competitors force customers into subscriptions. Siemens, he says, lets customers choose their own path, whether how to implement software or how pay for it. Except: I think that the new X-named cloud-based software is available only through subscription payments.

The primary slide is this one, which is an overview of the approach that Siemens takes towards customers:

Siemens Digital Industries Software's offer to customers

The CAD software from Siemens has one advantage that no competitor can offer: software like NX and Solid Edge are owned by a manufacturing company, giving Siemens an edge in knowing what is needed by customers, because it is its own customer. Siemens in its most recent fiscal year made $89 billion, down 8% from the year before.

Me, I'm mostly interested what's new in software. 

 

New Software Announcements

NX Sketch is new software for 2D sketching -- inside NX -- without pre-defined parameters or relationships. Instead, it infers relationships between tens of thousands of curves, including imported ones. In the figure blow, this means that Sketch figures out that all those small holes in the disc rotor (imported from a DXF file as just lines and arcs) are all the same diameter, and that the arcs are linked to the lines and so applies geometric constraints. 

User interface for NX Sketch

Siemens had came out with similar software originally for Android five years ago called Catchbook, but had not updated it in over a year -- I had even paid for it!, In it, you sketched lines and arcs by hand, and Catchbook turned them into basic entities connected by constraints. I suppose Siemens was working on this Windows version instead.

Also new is Teamcenter X PLM [product lifecycle management] software, the SaaS [software as a service] version of regular Teamcenter. (SaaS means cloud-based software paid for by subscriptions.) The new X version of Teamcenter uses modules that customers choose, such as working with BOMs [bills of material], ECM [engineering change management], and release management.

Interface for Teamcenter X

Both are part of the Xcerlator portfolio, Siemens' new (as of last year) name for its collection of CAD software, that includes stalwarts like NX and Solid Edge MCAD, Mentor ECAD, and Polarion ALM [application lifecyle management].

The following slide explains cloud-based Polarion X -- be clear that ALM is totally out of my league.

What ALM entails

Siemens bases its cloud offerings on it Mendix platform (which runs on Amazon cloud or on private servers), which last year made $100 million on its own. 

The capabilities of Mendix

 

More on Teamcenter X SaaS PLM

• Instant-on PLM, because it is runs on Medix cloud and comes with "out-of-the-box best practices"
• Base modules include document management, visualization, workflow, revisions & releases, and basic BOM
• Expandable and personalized with add-ons
• Fixed price
• 30-day free trial available from [to come]

This chart shows the difference between regular Teamcenter and new Teamcenter X:

Teamcenter vs Teamcenter X

Tomorrow we learn about Teamcenter Share, which looks like it runs on smartphones and tablets.

 

Siemens User Conference

Siemens holds their annual user conference online next week. Realize Live 2020 starts at 8:30am PDT over June 23 and 24, 2020 at https://events.sw.siemens.com/realizelive/teamcenter-plm-conference. Siemens expects ten thousand in attendance online. Hope the ON24 system doesn't buckle!

https://www.sw.siemens.com/

 

 

 

Nobody owns 3dconnexion

Gone in 2011

 

A letter to the editor in last week's upFront.eZine newsletter noted that Logitech's new top-of-the-line mouse is a loser. So, the letter writer instead bought a new 3D and 2D mouse from 3Dconnexion, after reading positive reviews. "I am grateful for Logitech's failure because it forced me to look deeper into my other options and allowed me to give my money to another company that I would not have otherwise considered," he said.

In the back of my brain, I recalled that Logitech had spun off 3Dconnexion, and so I let his statement stand. 

Some readers, however, wrote immediately to explain the reader was still giving his money to Logitech, because it owns 3Dconnexion. Did it? Clearly, my back-of-the-brain notion wasn't sufficient in the area of supporting evidence, so I investigated further.

 

Let's Ask the Horse's Mouth

First place to look: the horse's mouth.

The 3dconnexion Web site's Company Profile page has scrubbed any mention of its owners, instead waxes on about how great their mice are. No mention of Logitech. As well, no recent press release mentions Logitech, which a subsidiary would do in order to bask in reflected glory of a normally well-liked company.

 

Let's Ask Google

Next place the look: the oracle of the intertubes. Let's ask Google:

Google's answer

 

Clearly, Google thinks Logitech owns 3dconnexion. So why does 3dconnexion not declare the ownership with pride?

The cached version of every Web page Google finds is the one it has in its storage banks. This is the location from which Google shows you its search results and the information it displays. 

Accessing the cached version of the Web page

 

When I click on the cached version of the page, Google shows me the result from when it trawled the site six days ago. Problem is, the page in its cache from six days ago is the same one I saw today. It does not say who owns 3Dconnexion.

Complete reproduction of Company Profile from which Google should be getting its information

 

So Google is reading one thing, and telling us another. Chalk that one up for the ongoing investigation into the behemoth.

 

Let's Ask Bing

Actually, I use Bing all the time, because I don't care to give Google more information than my Android phone already does. Also, Bing pays me to search with them, Google doesn't. And so every few months I get to present my wife with a $5 Starbucks coupon, and she uses it to buy the biggest latte the chain sells.

So, let's ask Bing.Well, that seems straightforward. Bing does not, however, provide a link to the source for its assertion. It does have a Feedback button, which I clicked and told the microsofties about what I had found (see below).

 

Let's Ask Wikipedia

But what about my notion that Logitech sold 3Dconnexion? Let's ask Wikipedia:

Oops, that page hasn't been updated in ages.

 

Let's Ask Logitech

Let's ask Logitech. Here I credit Henry S, who helped me research this question. He came across the most official reference that there cam be regarding corporate maneuvers: the annual report.

Logitech's annual report for 2011

On page 241, we learn that...

In fiscal year 2011, the Company sold its equity interest in certain 3Dconnexion subsidiaries, and its intellectual property rights related to the manufacture and sale of certain 3Dconnexion products, to a group of third party individuals and certain 3Dconnexion employees.

A full valuation allowance of $2.2 million was provided for $5.7 million of capital loss carry forward from the sale of 3Dconnexion Inc. in the U.S. as the Company determined that it is more likely than not that the Company would not generate adequate capital gains in the next five years before the capital loss expires under the U.S. tax law. The remaining valuation allowance of $0.1 million represents a full valuation allowance for certain foreign tax credit carry forwards in the U.S. 

In short, 3Dconnexion was sold to its employees nine years ago, because Logitech determined it would not be making a profit from it any time soon.

 

I Cancel Twitter

So much like TV 

 

Last week I stopped reading Twitter, cold-turkey.

In the aftermath, most surprising to me was that I did not miss it. I had no curiosity as to what I might be missing. Kind of like when I quit tv cold-turkey at age 18, after realizing I was addicted to it. Not watching tv meant not missing tv.

In the case of Twitter, the urge to quit occurred just as suddenly. I had built up a modest following of 931 (as of yesterday), while I followed twenty or so active users, who  in their commentary were either smart or witty or both. As for me, I wrote about (as a CAD writer) CAD industry press releases, (as a non-fiction reader) philosophical arguments, and (as a media person) documenting hypocrisy in the mainstream media.

Twitter canceled me a few times. It blocked one tweet as "incitement to violence." In the tweet, I had suggested cruise ships could better cater by Millennials by offering bungy jumping out on the ocean.

Twice Twitter stealth-edited me. This is when Twitter shows your tweets in your timeline, but does not display them in the public timeline. I got around the blockage in both cases by posting screen grabs of the offending tweets. And then there were examples from others of Twitter coming to the end of its era in free speech.

One of my followers even demanded that I no longer engage in free speech. Well, that's not quite how he put it. He told me angrily what I shouldn't be writing about. Sorry, but that's not how it works.

For me, Twitter's second stealth-edit was the end. Reading and maintaining my feed took up a fair amount of time, as had tv watching. I did enjoy working out philosophical arguments, because 280 characters forced me to work through arguments very, very concisely. On the other hand, I was receiving no benefit from posting press releases, just as watching tv has no benefit.

So then I thought what if I unfollow most of the twenty, and just keep up with a very, very few uniquely-gifted commentators, like @wretchardthecat. Nope, back to the time sink again.

I still have my @upfrontezine account and will check it from time to time for direct notifications, as well as cross-post from this blog. Otherwise, it's as a girlfriend once explained to me, "It was fun while it lasted, but now it's time to move on."

 

LEDAS Reports on Business Through COVID-19

 

In my nearly 35 years writing about computer-aided design, I realized that CAD is largely immune to recessions. It seemed that each time economic activity declined, CAD use picked up as a way to benefit from the lowered costs. The sort-of recession caused by the rapid spread of coronavirus did a only small dip on the CAD industry.

Here is a report from LEDAS on how coronavirus impacted their business. The company provides software R&D [research and development] services for the engineering market, and released an update on its business in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. The firm is located in a somewhat isolated region of Russia, in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk -- 3,300km from Russia's coronavirus hotspot of Moscow.

Novosibirsk, Siberia

- - -

At the end of March and during April, a few LEDAS customers were forced to reduce costs by suspending or decreasing their projects with us. The decrease was caused by the general global decline, which affected CAD and manufacturing industries everywhere. Personalized digital medicine, a rather new but important sector for LEDAS, also declined, as healthcare changed its focus to fighting the coronavirus, and so other medical treatments were partly suspended.

The decline reversed during May and into the beginning of June from two sources of growth. Some projects returned to their previous levels of execution, and new customers began projects with us. In the area of digital dentistry, for example, one project essentially halted in March but then resumed in May, because dentistry took a big dip during the peak spread of COVID-19 in Europe and North America. Talking of new projects, in May we began a new project in specialized 3D modeling.

The coronavirus-related dip

One reason the impact of coronavirus was rather small on our business is due to our involvement in long-term projects. These projects have long roadmaps, with sales typically lasting years into the future. When you develop a 3D kernel, a constraint solver, or a complex algorithmic engine for polygonal meshes (all in development by our team now), you plan for decades, not for months or even years.

The spread of coronavirus in Russia is not yet in stable decline, but our Novosibirsk region fortunately was not severely affected. Both the infection rate and the lethal rate are considerably less than in the Moscow region and most western countries.

In any case, LEDAS employees began working from home in March. This was due to an internal management decision before the start of the official lockdown by the government. We will continue to work remotely, as our work processes have been adjusted to this new environment.

We consider the pandemic to be the highest level of global threat, and we address it seriously at both the corporate and personal levels.  

www.ledas.com.

[Reprinted with permission from http://ledas.com/news/859-ledas-reports-on-business-through-covid-19/]

How to Hack C++ with Templates and Friends

by Andrey Karpovskii

 

Templates are a very powerful feature in C++, because they allow you to write generic programs that accept a data type as an extra parameter. This feature of them means that we don’t need to repeat similar code for different data types.

When templates were first introduced in C++, their capabilities were unforeseen. Since then templates have grown into a separate functional language inside of C++. This language has its own syntax, rules, and huge number of specifics, one of which I will discuss later.

How Templates Work

Each template defines a family of functions. It is, after all, a functional language. But the family does not produce any code on its own. Instead, the compiler generates code only for functions that are actually used in the program. This process is a multi-step process called instantiation.

template<typename T>
struct Foo {
  T val;
};

template<>                      // generated code
struct Foo<int> {
  int val;
};

...
template struct Foo<int>;       // explicit specialization
Foo<int> foo;                   // implicit specialization
...

First, the user must request a specialization, either explicit or implicit. Seeing this, the complier starts the instantiation process which includes things like the substitution of template parameters. If the code with the substituted template arguments is valid, then the compiler generates the actual specialization.

Making New Friends

“Friendship” in C++ is commonly thought of as a means of granting non-member functions or another class access to private and protected members of a class. This is done to allow symmetric conversions on non-member comparison operators or to allow a factory class exclusive access to the constructor of the class, among other reasons.

void bar();

struct Foo {
  // bar now may use private members of Foo
  friend void bar();
};

Note that function bar is not required to be defined in the same translation unit. But what happens when we forget to define it?

struct Foo {
  friend void bar();
};

Well, it still will compile. This might come as a surprise to you, but the result is completely valid code.

This is called a friend declaration. It declares function bar, if it hasn’t been declared before. (If it has, then it redeclares one.) Such declarations do have some limitations as compared to regular ones, but the limitations are not essential to this topic.

Okay, so it declares a function. But what scope does this function have? When a function is first declared in a friend declaration within a class, it becomes a member of the innermost enclosing namespace of that class. But it is not a member of the class it is declared in.

struct Foo {
  friend void bar();
};

...
bar();		// error - bar is not declared
::bar();	// error - bar is not in the global ns
Foo::bar();	// error - bar is not a member of Foo
...

The only way to call the function is to use an Argument Dependent Lookup (ADL). ADL is a set of rules for looking up unqualified function names. These function names are looked up in the namespace of their arguments, in addition to the scopes and namespaces considered by the usual unqualified name lookups.

Let me change the example, as shown by the figure below.

struct Foo {
  friend void bar(Foo) { cout << "Got it!" << endl; }
};

...
Foo foo;
bar(foo);	// Ok - found through ADL
...

Note that friend functions can be defined inside class definitions. These are inline functions and, like member inline functions, they behave as though they are defined immediately after all class members are seen, but before the class scope is closed.

Down the Rabbit Hole

Let me now combine the techniques I described above.

template<typename T>
struct Foo {
  friend void bar() { cout << "Got it!" << endl; }
};

As before, we have a structure Foo and a hidden friend bar, only now the structure is templated. We know that to call bar we have to declare it in global namespace. Let’s try this.

template<typename T>
struct Foo {
  friend void bar() { cout << "Got it!" << endl; }
};

void bar();

...
bar();	// error - unresolved external symbol
...

Hmm... what happened? The compiler generates templates instantiations only when they are requested. Because there is no instantiation of structure Foo, the definition of bar also does not exist. The compiler doesn’t know about the content of the structure, and so we have to instantiate Foo explicitly.

template<typename T>
struct Foo {
  friend void bar() { cout << "Got it!" << endl; }
};

void bar();
template struct Foo<int>;

...
bar();	// Ok
...

And now it works! It’s all fun and games, but can you spot an issue? Well, there are actually two issues.

First, note that bar is a plain function (not a templated one) that refers to a specific specialization of the structure Foo. What this means is that we can use all the template parameters passed to Foo – even when the parameter is a pointer to a private member of another class. This feature is described later.

Second, whether the function is defined depends on whether the specialization of Foo is instantiated by the compiler. And this is the internal state of the compiler. Templates in C++ have a way to check this state: SFINAE, or “substitution failure is not an error.”

There are plenty examples of using this technique, but for ease of understanding we will look at the implementation of the compile-time counter. As this code is not production-ready, we will use a new feature of C++20 which I describe later.

Accessing Private Members

Imagine that you have a class containing two private inner classes, one of which is templated, and a public method func.

class Parent {
  struct ChildA {};
  template<typename N> class ChildB {};

public:
  void func();	// Do something with ChildB<ChildA> 
};

Imagine that the specialization ChildB<ChildA> is used in method func. You want to explicitly instantiate such specialization. How would you implement it? Simple question – simple answer. Just do what you always do:

class Parent {
  struct ChildA {};
  template<typename N> class ChildB {};

public:
  void func();	// Do something with ChildB<ChildA>

template class Parent::ChildB<Parent::ChildA>;

Here is a tricky part. The explicit specialization is in the global namespace, not in the class itself. But how does the compiler know that you are allowed to use private inner classes? The answer is, it doesn’t! For such cases the C++ standard contains the following wording:

§ 14.7.2/12

The usual access checking rules do not apply to names used to specify explicit instantiations. [Note: In particular, the template arguments and names used in the function declarator (including parameter types, return types and exception specifications) may be private types or objects which would normally not be accessible and the template may be a member template or member function which would not normally be accessible. – end note.]

In short, it does not check whether you allowed to do it, or not. This means that we can write an external getter for any class we want. Let’s try writing it.

class Private {
  int data;
};

template<int Private::* Member>
int& dataGetter(Private& iObj) {
  return iObj.*Member;
}

template int& dataGetter<&Private::data>(Private&);

...
Private obj;
dataGetter<&Private::data>(obj);	//error
...

Here we defined a function that is parametrized with a pointer to a member of the class Private with a type int. The fancy-looking syntax in the return statement is just a way to access a member by its pointer.

When we make an attempt to call this function, it will, unfortunately, fail. A call is not an explicit instantiation and the access rules will be checked.

Luckily, we can use a friend injection to make things work.

template<int Private::* Member>
struct Stealer {
  friend int& dataGetter(Private& iObj) {
    return iObj.*Member;
  }
};

template struct Stealer<&Private::data>;
int& dataGetter(Private&);	//redeclare in global ns

...
Private obj;
dataGetter(obj) = 31;	// Ok
...

And so we changed a private member of an arbitrary class.

Compile-time Counter

Let’s move on to the second part to see how a compile-time counter can be implemented. First of all, let’s look at the use of the counter.

template<int R = reader<0>(int{})>
constexpr int next() {
  return R;
}

...
static_assert(next() == 0);
static_assert(next() == 1);
static_assert(next() == 2);
...

Isn’t it beautiful? We just violated one of the fundamental aspects of the language! And yet, I emphasize, everything is in full compliance with the C++ standard.

So, what is happening here? Well, next is a constexpr template function with a single argument R that has a default value. The default value is generated with template function reader which accepts an integer as a parameter. If you are familiar with template metaprogramming, then you can guess that reader is implemented as a tail recursive function which iterates over all successive numbers starting from the number 0.

template<int>                                         
struct Flag {
  friend constexpr bool flag(Flag);
};

template<int N>
struct Writer {
  friend constexpr bool flag(Flag<N>) { 
    return true; 
  }
  static constexpr int value = N;
};

template<int N = 0>
constexpr int reader(float) {
  return Writer<N>::value;
}

template<int N = 0,
         bool = flag(Flag<N>{}),
         auto = unique()>
constexpr int reader(int) {
  return reader<N + 1>(int{});
}

The end of the recursion is controlled not by the number itself, but by the presence of the definition of a special function flag in the global namespace. If the definition has been generated previously, then the control is passed to the successive reader function. If not, then the definition is injected into the global namespace by Writer, and the current value is returned.

Note that the first overload of reader has a lower priority, because it accepts float. Choosing this overload requires an implicit floating-integral conversion.

The last thing worth looking at is an implementation of unique function. As the name implies, unique produces something unique on every call. More specifically, it produces an object with the unique type. It is necessary to bypass the caching of default arguments by the compiler. How can it be implemented?

template<auto T = []{}>
constexpr auto unique() {
  return T;
}

Starting with C++20, the list of types applicable as non-type template parameters has been extended, and now it includes lambdas. Every lambda is implicitly converted to a functor with a unique type. It even works with default arguments!

Current Status of Stateful Metaprogramming

Here is what the C++ Standard says about stateful metaprogramming:

2118. Stateful metaprogramming via friend injection

Section: 17.7.5 [temp.inject] Status: open Submitter: Richard Smith Date: 2015-04-27

Defining a friend function in a template, then referencing that function later provides a means of capturing and retrieving metaprogramming state. This technique is arcane and should be made ill-formed.

Notes from the May, 2015 meeting:

CWG agreed that such techniques should be ill-formed, although the mechanism for prohibiting them is as yet undetermined.

http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg21/docs/cwg_active.html

From reading this, it may seem to you that stateful metaprogramming ought to be illegal, and that the committee feels the same way. The problem is that they do not know what to do with this “feature” that they introduced accidentally. The technique was found back in 2015, and since then the issue has remained open.

Conclusion

Friendships and templates are powerful tools in C++. Like other tools in C++, they can surprise us with their behavior, behavior that can become confusing when combined together. Not that such aspects of C++ are rare, but they again demonstrate how complex the language has become.

[Reprinted with permission from LEDAS; original story at ledas.com/post/857-how-to-hack-c-with-templates-and-friends/]

Google Signals WFH is Acceptable From Now On (Updated)

Working from home

 

For corporations, working from home was a gamble. Could they trust employees to actually work when hanging around at home, instead of being supervised at the office. Some firms even deployed sophisticated electronics over the last decade to track employees and their productivity in the office.

IBM famously reversed itself some years ago when it insisted all employees had to show up in the office. A CAD vendor virtue-signaled by boasting how it had installed solar panels on its employee parking garage; I thought that not needing a parking garage would be the better approach.

Coronavirus changed that. Well, no. It forced change on corporations, at least those whose industries supported working from home. With employees telling surveyors that 40-60% of them wanting to remain working at home after the restrictions ended, executives were left scratching their heads over what to insist on once it was safe again to return to their normally-crowded offices.

On the one hand, keeping employees at home saves on costs arising from office and furniture leases, utilities, and coffee machines. Google spends $60 million a year on free food for employees. Moar profit! On the other hand, those 5- and 3-year leases don't end when offices are emptied. Businesses owning their buildings are in a greater bind: selling them on a free-falling market isn't a profit-maker. (Well, the capital losses could offset tax bills.) As PTC's CEO complained last month, "We have a lease on a brand new headquarters. It's been empty for six weeks. I'd like to renegotiate that, but the vendor doesn't seem to want to renegotiate it with me."

Breaking the Dam

Somewhere, an accountant is working out the costs and benefits. The first (that I heard) was OpenText, announcing it wanted only 50% of its employees to return to work, the remainder to remain WingFH (working from home). Then others expressed similar sentiments.

Finally, the 1000-tonne gorilla spoke. Google, announced that it didn't expect employees back until next year. That broke the dam, giving corporations permission to do likewise. Twitter said it never wanted to see its employees again, except for the few who needed to be in the offices -- custodial staff, I suppose.

As crowding is the way that the coronavirus is transmitted, one theory holds that cities will depopulate and suburbs will again become vogue. WingFH solves some of the dismal problems that seemed intractable as of last January:

• Rush hour traffic jams with hour-long commutes
• Overpriced housing relative to incomes
• Pollution from concentrated transportation and skyscrapers

But then WingFH creates problems:

• Loss of income for firms supplying corporations, such as meals and stationary
• Loss of relationships, as those who hang out together at work no longer do
• Loss of jobs related to office construction and operations

It will be interesting to watch how this shakes out, as computer-based industries make a shift that no one expected to occur this year.

What Will Become of Extroverts?

The mainstream media is these days concentrating on the psychological unwellness of those staying at home. About 50% of the population reports that. Those would be the extroverts, I expect. This is understandable, as the media is staffed by extroverts, and the media typically reports on what they know. The media don't report on introverts, who are glad to be "stuck" at home, with some expressing to me that, confidentially,  they wish this would go on forever.

Throughout this coronavirus virus, I could be smug, having WedFH since 1991, initially using fax, CompuServe, and FedEx to communicate with clients. It helps that I am extrovert-introvert: I like being around people, but then I need my me-time -- 50/50.

Also, I am a compartmentalizer, so that I can ignore home-related problems as I write (like kids screaming in the early days). One of my fondest memories is of my youngest daughter coming down to my office, crawling under my desk, and falling asleep at my feet.

A neighbor, an introvert, envious of me WingFH, tried it. After a week, he admitted failure, as anytime there was a noise elsewhere in the house, he had to rush out of his office to find out what it was. For him, me being able to ignore that sort of thing, was incomprehensible.

As my wife points out, however, where does WingFH leave the extroverts who need to be in the office, or those who need to be away from home for familial or psychological reasons?

All humans are different, much to the dismay of the behavioral psychologist community. And so I suggest that corporations may want to survey staff to see which ones prefer staying home, and which prefer being back in the office. This would fit in well with initial recommendations coming out from countries like Britain, that there be that 2m-distancing between office desks.

Update

Sarah Frier at Bloomberg points out more issues (with my answers in brackets):

• When employees leave for cheaper locations, do employers keep paying them the same high San-Francisco-level salary? (Yes.)
• How easy is to advance your career remotely? (Should be no more difficult than advancing in a global conglomerate with offices spread worldwide.)
• Do employers recruit for the next open role from anywhere? (Yes, that's a benefit.)
• Should employers give relocation bonuses to get employees to leave the city? (Interesting thought.)

 

 

 

 

The flyingshapes approach to VR CAD

Interactive d-sub modeling

 

flyingshapes held a Webinar to introduce the way in which its VR-based CAD software works. Here are my notes from it.

We are used to downloading demo software and minutes later working with it. 'Tis not the case with software like flyingshapes, because first you need VR goggles, naturally. Here are the ones supported:

• Oculus Rift and Rift S
• HTC Vive and Vive Pro
• Windows Mixed Reality
• Pimax
• Varjo HMD

Next you need a Windows 10 computer and then one with at least an i5 CPU, and then one that has one of the supported graphics boards:

• At least NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 through to RTX 2060 
• Or at least AMD Radeon R9 380 thru to RX 5600 XT

For weaker systems, some special effects, like shadows, can be turned off.

With the hardware in place, go to flyingshapes.com/download to register and then download the software. I don't have the hardware, so I didn't do that. 

The UX

The user experience is nothing like you know from mouse-and-keyboard-based CAD. It is hyper-interactive. Just moving your head moves the viewpoint, kind of like 3D orbit mode.

A controller in each hand lets you grab objects and execute commands by pressing or holding buttons. Here is an overview of the interface:

The red-green-blue lines represent the x,y,z axes. You can see planar grids, but the software also offers a 3D grid with evenly-spaced crosses throughout 3D space.

The two controllers you hold in your hands are shown in front of you. To the side is a panel reporting the current x,y,z coordinates. You can zoom in and out, or else scale the model interactively.

Between the controllers is the gizmo, which lets you move and scale in each of the three directions. 

The figure below shows the popup menu through which you access tools and apply materials. Another popup screen shows videos of how to use the tools. Next to each controller is a flyout indicating the active tool.

The two primary drawing tools appear to be freehand sketch and spline. Splines have control points that are manipulated interactively. Surfaces are stretched between boundaries. You can apply G1 curvatures between splines and surfaces.

As you press buttons on the hand controllers, a text tip appears reporting the action, such as Trigger Released.

The idea of flyingshapes is to do CAD modeling, but in a sub-d manner (interactive editing of mesh-like entities). They plan to move towards more CAD-like editing, which I think means a 3D-solids kind of direct editing.

Why VR?

I gotta say that what the folks at flyingshapes (from Germany) have accomplished appears impressive. 

But is there a market? My argument has always been that humans are adapted to navigating by 2D in spite of living in a 3D world. Three-D CAD models are not just "one extra dimension"; they add five more sides to plan views.

There are 3D mice, which have not been overwhelmingly popular. There have been in my estimation only three advances in 3D modeling over the decades:

Multiple windows -- so that we can see more than one side of the 3D model at a time, with the drawback that the more windows we open, the smaller the model becomes in each.

Realtime shading -- so that we no longer look at puzzling wireframe models, trying to figure out what is outside, inside, front, or back.

Dynamic UCS -- so that the software anticipates the plane on which we want to draw.

The last one exposes the myth of 3D modeling: even in "3D", we still work in a 2D micro-environment.

Don't get me wrong: 3D modeling is important for efficiency; it's just that we are trying to shoehorn our 2D selves into a 3D environment that is virtual, and not one by which we experience the real world. The UX is the problem, not the 3D.

So, where does that leave flyingshapes. I see it as a test case to examine what is possible with CAD in an immersive 3D environment. 

https://www.flyingshapes.com

 

I Come to Praise USB-C

You can't do all this with an iPhone

 

We know USB-C mostly for no longer needing to think about which way to stick a USB plug when inserting a charging or data cable. That's convenient, especially in an era when trying to figure out which side is up on a microUSB plug is a challenge.

Male and female ends of USB-C cable

But USB-C does more than charge or transfer data. It is the all-encompassing port on which we have been waiting. It handles:

• Power
• Data
• Memory card read/write
• Ethernet cable networking
• External peripherals like keyboards, mice, and portable hard drives
• Sound output (sound input? I dunno)
• Print
• And it is fast at data transfer

Now, be sure that the capabilities of a port depend on the device, and so I tested it with my new Asus Android phone and new Acer Chromebook, both equipped with USB-C ports.

 

On the Phone

I had heard that USB-C headphones could sound better than ones plugged into a 3.5mm socket. (Don't get me started on wireless Bluetooth headphones: this protocol requires music to be compressed to an even greater extent that the damage MP3 already does.) I bought a couple USB-C headphones cheap off eBay and was instantly disappointed. The sound was very distorted. Here's why:

When you plug headphones into the 3.5mm socket, the D/A circuit inside the phone converts the digital music file into analog sound. The quality of the sound depends on the quality of the D/A circuit, which can be hardware and/or software.

When you plug headphones into a USB-C port, the digital music file bypasses the phone's D/A circuit and goes directly to the port. This can be good, because now it up to the headphones to convert the digital into analog. The circuitry is cramped inside the headphone's USB-C plug and with cheap headphones the result is terrible. Perhaps one day I'll be able to try a quality set of USB-C headphones.

I tried out an external SSD drive (by SanDisk) with the phone's USB-C port and it worked just fine: the phone immediately recognized the drive, and allowed me to access files from among the 1TB of data -- no problem. This drive is about half the size of the phone, and transfers data at 3GB/minute (when connected to a PC).

Sandisk 1TB SSD external drive with USB-C port

 

Vilcome Hub

I had read that newer Android and Chromebook devices could connect to ethernet cables, and decided to try it out by buying a multi-port USB-C adapter. The one I picked out from amazon is made by Vilcome (CAD$39) and is made of solid-feeling aluminum.

8-port hub from Vilcomme with USC-C connector

 

The hub from Vicome connects to a USB-C port and offers eight ports:

• ethernet cable
• SD card
• microSD card, which it labels TF
• three USB v3 ports, the rectangular kind, which can be used for USB drives, keyboard, mouse, printer, and so on
• HDMI port for an external monitor
• PD port, for which I needed to read the manual: this is an input power port, in case the hub takes up the only USB-C port on the device. My Chromebook has two USB-C ports, so that's not an issue, but it would be with my Android phone with its single USB-C port.

(Note that the phone or computer provides the power needed by the hub, again over the USB-C connection.)

I plugged the hub to the phone, and the phone instantly recognized that there was an ethernet adapter buried inside the hub.

Ethernet connection recognized by my Android 10 phone

 

Hooking up an ethernet cable to a phone lets you bypass potentially insecure WiFi and mobile data connections. I turned off WiFi and cell data, and could access the Internet with the ethernet alone -- the cable, of course, being connected to my office network.

I plugged a full-size keyboard into the hub, and my Asus phone immediately recognized it. I could type into a word processor. Next I added a wired generic mouse, and the phone recognized it too. An arrow cursor let me move around the screen.

I plugged the SanDisk drive into the hub, as well as an SD card. The phone recognized the extra drives. 

Android phone's file manager showing (1) internal storage (2) inserted microSD memory card (3) external hard drive and (4) external SD card

What did not work with the phone was the USB-connected printer. Lastly, I plugged in an external monitor to the hub's HDMI port, but the Android phone does not handle external monitors. Too bad, as it could become a portable computer while on the road (borrowing a keyboard, mouse, and monitor).

 

With the Chromebook

All the same things worked with the Chromebook, even though it has its own keyboard and trackpad.

In addition, the printer worked, although in this case it was not recognized immediately. I suppose ChromeOS had to download the driver for my aging HP 1320 laser printer, and so it took about a minute to be recognized by the Chromebook.

When I connected the hub between the Chromebook and the external monitor, the Chromebook immediately recognized the external screen, and now I can use a two-monitor Chromebook, in either mirrored or extended mode; see figure below.Update

This week I also tried the adapter on my ASUS 10" Android tablet, wondering if that could work as a portable workstation when I don't want to haul a heavier laptop around.

It works. And it doesn't. Here's why:

It works, in that the USB-C dongle and its inserted peripherals are recognized by the tablet -- ethernet, keyboard, mouse, etc.

It doesn't work, in that the dongle, corded keyboard, and corded mouse are bulky, and so it is more efficient to just take a laptop that has the keyboard and mouse built-in.

So I tried an uncorded keyboard and mouse, but the cordless devices were not recognized by Android. I suspect this is due to a lack of support for the 2.4GHz dongle that the peripherals depend upon.

Which brings me down to a Bluetooth mini-keyboard with integrated touchpad. It worked. No USB-C dongle needed, and the keyboard is just one-inch longer than the tablet.

 

 

Open Design Alliance Shows Off Its Revit Interface

Software development kit

BimRv SDK is the name of the Open Design Alliance's new interoperability software development kit for Autodesk's Revit files. It accesses data stored in RVT 2014-2020 files, and writes RVT files. Third-party developers  would use it to do the following kinds of things:

• Visualization to see models external to Revit
• Conversion to PDF and other formats
• Extract data to databases and so on

Because Revit hides some data, BimRv accesses it in two ways. Raw format returns all data and the programmer has to figure out what to do with it. The Custom API interprets the data, but does not expose all of it.

Internally, the ODA uses its own VSF format as the intermediate format, which allows it to convert geometry to multiple formats. For instance, BimRv can export geometry representations from a DWG file to a Collada DAE file, and then export that to an Revit RVT file. The result is, however, just the geometry in Revit format and so there are no parametrics. Revit models can of course be saved as 3D PDF files, which can be the preferred method of design sharing by clients with contractors.

Nevertheless, just having the geometry is good enough for lots of activities, such as visualization, geometry collision detection, slicing planes, and exporting to DWG. Models can be viewed in Web browsers using the ODA's Open Cloud platform, and so it also works with mobile devices, as shown below. The Web and mobile versions have all the same functions as the desktop version, such as cutting planes.

To be clear, ODA also handles RFA files, Revit families that define parametric parts, like doors and windows.

Next up for BimRv: blends and swept blends, not hosted and hosted family instances, Boolean operations, and more. Details about these new functions for Revit files will be detailed in an ODA Webinar planned for May: https://www.opendesign.com/webinars

The name BimRv implies to me that the ODA could consider addressing other BIM programs.

What's New in nTopology This Month

Lattices galore

 

nTopology is one of a very few independent generative design software firms; I know of just one other. Some of the others were last year snapped up by large CAD vendors: Frustum by PTC and AMendate by Hexagon. When I interviewed CEO Bradley Rothenberg last year, he maintained he wants his company to remain independent. This makes sense in terms of making the software available broadly. When a CAD vendor buys, say Frustrum, only PTC users from now on can access it.

What is unique about nTopology is that they wrote their own kernel, which models 3D parts in a manner different from nearly all other kernels. It defines precise boundaries of objects, and so allows their software to create unbreakable parts: "We don't worry about any modeling operations." This figure show the difference between in the mathematics between most other kernels (at left) and how nTopology does it:

The software that runs on top of the kernel is called nTop. Here's at what the user interface looks like today. The ruler at the bottom can be dragged to get an idea of the size of the model and its parts.

New in nTop

Models can be exported in STEP format as b-reps (boundary representations) for further editing in CAD software. Also new is 3MF, which exports models as meshes and lattices. nTopology recommends you use 3MF for CAD, as the data files are 3x smaller and more detail is exported.

To define parts, nTop now handles the following parameters:

• point constraints
• stress loads
• displacement restraints
• bearing loads (see figure below)
• constraint charts

Coming to a future release of nTop is parameterized lattice structures, driven by thermal and other variables. Here is a view of the upcoming parametric-driven capability:

nTop now supports multi-threading, using as many cores as the CPU sports. nTop does not (yet) support two or more materials in a single model.

https://ntopology.com

How I work from home

Spare not the efficiency

 

A reader asked if I could write about having to work from home. I was blase in my reply, as I've been working from home for 29 years now. 

Transportable Licenses

He was relieved, he said, that he could get a home-use license for his CAD software, which normally is locked to a computer at work. Siemens is one of the companies allowing that, albeit for only 30 days. I reckon an extension will be coming for that.

Companies like Bricsys and Graebert allow you to easily move the license to another computer: just unlicense the first computer first. I won't describe how to do it as the process is different for each vendor.

Allow some time for the license to get moved at the software company's head office. Sometimes it takes a few minutes. Earlier this year, I needed a CAD license renewed for my writing work, and the employee in charge was out of the office -- for a week. The firm has since changed the way customers contact it for license changes.

My Rule

I have one rule that guides my software and hardware purchases and upgrades: I tolerate no product that slows me down. This means that all my computers are fast enough, my monitors big enough, my mouse with sufficient buttons, my keyboard having the exactly right clackiness, and my table-chair comfortable enough. 

I will spend whatever it takes to meet my no-delay criteria, and then I stop spending. Here are two examples:

• Last year I bought Logitech's upgrade to its wonderful Performance MX mouse. The design changes made it unwonderful -- dreadful, actually--, so I gave it away to a friend, and then found the original model (no longer made by Logitech) brand-new on eBay, and bought two. (I wear out a mouse every half-dozen years).
• I still use PaintShop Pro v6 (copyright 2000) because it loads in under a second, and has the function set I need. Newer versions groan under feature-bloat.

My Hardware

29 years ago, when I could only afford one computer, I realized that depending on just one was risky. Computers and monitors became cheap, and so now I have several arranged around me:

1. Primary 3.1GHz quad-core Acer desktop computer topped out with 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD, and 4TB HDD. It runs Window 7 and has an old nVidia 2000 board only so that it can drive the three monitors I hook up to it.

2. Secondary desktop computer is a space-saving 2.6Ghz dual-core Acer all-in-one computer with lower specs, and acts as the monitor for my Apple Mac Mini that I rarely use.

3. Primary laptop: Windows 10 on a 2.6GHz dual-core HP Spectre laptop with 8GB RAM and 1TB SSD. It also handles three monitors.

4. Secondary laptops: a variety in storage.

5. Printers: an HP laser printer for every day printing, and an HP color printer for special jobs.

6. Network: 1GHz wired ethernet for any device with an ethernet port, and a commercial-grade router for WiFi connections.

7. Internet: I have a business account with my ISP, which means no waiting for tech support and it has unlimited data. Backup provided by my ISP through a LTE modem that lets me connect to the Internet over the cell phone system, in case the wired connection fails (as it has done twice so far). It is an ADSL connection, meaning there are never any download delays, but uploads are slower.

8. Keyboard and Mouse. I use a keyboard from Azio that has brown K-switches, which I really like. It matches my typing style. For mouse, it is Logitech's Performance MX, because it is tall and it has that spin/clack center wheel that makes me more efficient.

9. Backups: I find I have little data to backup, as most of my of my work gets shipped off to clients. At the end of each day, I drag a copy of the folder I worked on to the 4TB backup disk using TerraCopy. Every so often, I use Windows Briefcase app to backup my crucial files (income spreadsheet, etc) to pCloud. Every half year I backup my online actives, such as this blog and my Twitter activity, to pCloud and a compact, portable drive that I made from a left-over 250GB SSD.

Another form of backup: A few weeks ago I realized that my ten-year-old desktop computer running Windows 7 might croak one day. Most of the software I rely on runs on Windows 7, and cannot run on newer versions. I found on eBay a lease-return Dell desktop that still runs Windows 7, bought it, and one day I will set it up with the software I use. Maybe I'll never need it, but at $350 it is cheap insurance.

Yet another form of backup: last fall, when I lost my laptop while in Europe, I found that my late-model Android cell phone was a pretty good replacement device. It doesn't work for writing and editing, but it handled all my other business tasks. (My laptop was eventually returned to me, some weeks later.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

What determines the end-game

Is there one?

 

News Item
Gov Cuomo: “We have to plan the pivot back to economic functionality” Says we may not have to isolate everyone. Could allow the healthy, less vulnerable to work. #COVID19 survival rate is 98%. NY Forward plan to look into restarting economic engine.

"What is the endgame?" is the question being raised by Cuomo and Trump as they say it's time to get people back to work.

We assume that one day this will all be over, because we assume the infection rate follows the bell curve. But perhaps this horror follows a sine curve, where false hope is followed by renewed infections, until we regress into a kind of Children of Men dystopia.

The total lockdown strategy is one based on least-harm ignorance. Leaders mimic each other over the correct approach. They apply the most extreme tactic that they hope will keep the most people safe -- biologically and economically -- until scientists finally get the opportunity to catch up with the coronavirus.

It's easy for politicians to place us into just-in-case lockdowns, but they are clueless as to the conditions under which to release us. Should we be let out of our homes after 70% fall ill, or after 70% recover, or once the number of new cases falls to 70% of the peak, or...

No one knows. Even the rallying cry "Flatten the curve!" is based on assumptions, not knowledge.

The first role of government has always been the safety of its citizens. But now leaders now face a Pontius Pilate-role, except today the question these events are dooming them into asking is, "What is safety?" Is it...

• Physical health?
• Psychological health?
• Family?
• Community?
• Economy?
• Prestige?
• Hope?

- - -

As creatures of habit, we fall into new patterns after sufficient repetitions, even void repetitions, such as avoiding each other. Once this is over, do we maintain our habit of social distancing, or will we fall with relief into a global group hug.

What if by the end the economy is irrecoverable, supply lines irrevocably cut, neighbors forget how to be neighborly, children's childhoods lost. Even as health officers calmly give us our daily update, society is breaking down. A nurse we know has three home-from-school pre-teen sons; social distancing means that no babysitter is allowed to help her, and so she cannot help society with her nursing skills.

The owner of a ten-store business found 14% of his staff no longer show up for work, because they took up the government's offer of free, no-questions-asked money.

A branch manager is under his doctor's orders to self-quarantine for two weeks, not because he has the virus, but because he was breaking down from stress over the virus breaking down his business.

Even as governments pour trillions (or billions, in the case of Canada) into society to keep it from falling apart, society is falling resolutely apart in ways government cannot foresee, nor detect. Perhaps one best-outcome will be recognition that our salvation does not come from government on high.

Nor does our salvation come from technology. We (a pair of tech-knowledgeable guys) struggled greatly yesterday to set up a Hangouts group video chat. (We nicknamed it "Hangups.")  One person's MacBook refused to allow its microphone to work, and so we could only see her. Another had never before installed an app on her phone and when I offered to help, had no idea what her Apple ID might be. Socially distanced by tech, and not even Google is mighty to save us.

All this was triggered by a printed sign I saw for the first time during this outbreak at a local grocery store:

"Out of Stock
Long Term"

 

Installing Linux on ChromeOS

It ain't easy

 

I was excited about running a tri-OS laptop. The latest ChromeOS computers run most Android apps really well (contrary to the nay-sayers) but Linux support is still rudimentary and in beta. Linux makes sense, because it's free and, more significantly, ChromeOS and Android are built on Linux.

Once you turn on Linux in ChromeOS, all you get is the command prompt of Terminal. I tried a few times to get a GUI running, such as a Linux desktop or a word processor. I failed, partly because the instructions I found online were old (tutorials from August are old) because Google has been updating the Linux system. After Christmas, I searched again, and this time was successful.

In my case, the solution took two steps:

Step 1. Remove a locked folder so that software would install:

sudo rm /var/lib/dpkg/lock

See https://itsfoss.com/could-not-get-lock-error/ for details, in case your situation is different.

Step 2. Install the Gnome package installer:

sudo apt-get install gnome-software gnome-packagekit

See https://computerworld.com/article/3314739/how-to-use-linux-apps-on-chrome-os.html for details.

With the Gnome package installer, I was able to install some GUI-based software. But in the end, I found that Linux support is not complete in ChromeOS, and so programs tends to run slowly and awkwardly.

 

About that ASUS Flip Camera

ASUS Zenfone 6 (2019)

 

Here are some specs you’d expect from a desktop computer:

• 2.8GHz eight-core CPU
• 8GB RAM
• 512GB solid-state storage

Except these describe my latest smartphone, the ASUS Zenfone 6 (2019). The ‘2019’ is important, as the Taiwanese company is reusing the name from another model a half-decade or so ago. I got the silver-blue model with 256GB storage RAM, and then added a 256GB microSD card. 

ASUS Zenfone 6 (2019) showing fingerprint sensor and flip camera

Other features important to me:

• 5000MHhr battery that lasts up to 3 days, and acts as a charger for other devices
• Dual SIM slot
• Updated to Android 10
• 3.5mm headphone jack

Full specs here: gsmarena.com/asus_zenfone_6_zs630kl-9698.php. Although it was "released" in May earlier this year, it generally has been hard to find in North America until the late in the fall. I bought mine direct from Taiwan through eBay in September.

 

Oh, That Camera

The highlight of this phone is its unique camera that flips from back to front in about one second. It takes excellent photos, especially at night.

Camera flipping from home position to front-facing position

 

The flip design offers these capabilities:

• The quality of cameras on the back are available to the front; on most phones, the front camera has lower specs than the back camera(s).
• The front of the phone is all-screen, much like my first smartphones that had no selfie cams.
• The flipping motion is further used to make panoramic photos and to adjust the viewfinder to any angle from 0 to 180 degrees

But how well does this work in practice? The Zenfone 6 has, after all, only two lenses -- regular wide (equivalent to 26mm on a standard 50mm SLR camera) and ultra wide-angle (11mm equivalent).

When Google released its Pixel 4 phone, the company excused the lack of a wide angle lens by claiming that very few people ever use it. In the past, I’d have agreed, as I was an analog zoom fanatic. But since September I’ve been using the wide angle lens on the Zenfone 6 -- especially during three trips to Europe -- and have become amazed at what it makes possible:

• Taking outdoor photographs where you can’t back up far enough
• Making indoor photos that take in much more area without needing to resort to stitch photography

Below are two photographs of the same locomotive in the Berlin Technical Museum. One was taken with the regular lens, the other with the wide-angle one. I think this makes my point better than any Google marketing slide.

Left: Photo taken with regular lens; right: photo taken with the wide-angle lens

 

In addition, taking selfies is much easier with a wide angle lens: no need to squeeze so tightly together anymore!

Selfie taken with wide angle lens

 

Using the flip camera to take panoramic images works well enough, but it is limited to taking them in landscape mode. However, I prefer taking them horizontally in portrait mode; this is not possible with flip phone. 

Taking a panoramic photograph

As well, I find I end up in the panoramic image as the lens rotates relentlessly -- I have less control than when I move the camera manually.

When the writer becomes part of the story

 

The camera doesn’t have to be just at the back or front. By sliding a soft button, I can move the camera to any position. In practice, the slider is touchy and so I find it hard to position the camera precisely. In theory, I could use this to take ground-level photos, such as of mushrooms, or overhead photos, such as of crowds. Again, I find that this does not work well.

Mushroom photographed from below with the assistance of the flipped camera

 

(I loved the swing viewfinder on early Canon digital cameras; the problem with the Zenfone 6 is that we are moving the lens, not the viewfinder, making it awkward to rotate the lens while trying to position it.)

 

How the 48-megapixel Lens Works

The primary lens uses a Sony 48-megapixel sensor, which a few years ago would be incredulous, but today is already obsoleted by the newer 64- and even 108-megapixel sensors. These high megapixel count sensors can employ all pixels, but typically don't.

When I select 48-megapixel as the resolution, the phone takes a photo, and that’s all. There is no zoom; the aspect ratio is 4:3; the resulting image is about 14MB, depending on the content. But realize that in selfie mode the camera also operates in 48-megapixel mode, and so you get very high resolution selfies -- which might be a good thing, or bad.

Camera set to 48-pixel mode

 

When I switch the camera to 12-megapixel resolution, notice that this is ¼ of 48 megapixels. This is no coincidence. The camera uses four pixels on the sensor to generate one pixel in the image. It means that difficult lighting situations result in good photos, as well as engage digital zoom that doesn’t lose any clarity until after about 4x.

Zenfone 6 has one aspect ratio that is rather unusual: 19.5:9. See below. This one is designed to utilize the entire screen. (Aspect ratios are traditionally made relative to ‘9’.) 

The camera saves images in JPEG and/or RAW format.

 

Other Camera Apps

Despite the unique style of camera (and I think that Asus uses its own camera API), other camera apps work with it, mostly. 

I have successfully side-loaded the port of Google’s Pixel Camera software; see www.celsoazevedo.com/files/android/google-camera/dev-parrot043, and installed Open Camera from Google Play store. In the case of the Pixel Camera, I also needed to install a configuration file that tells the app what is different about the Asus phone. 

By using the Google app, I regain access to features like manual panoramic mode and spherical mode. The much-vaunted night mode is not necessary, as Asus does such a good job. I've even taken streak-free night photos while walking!

 

 

Graebert Gets Into BIM

Graebert Annual Meeting 2019

 

Graebert is no stranger to BIM [building information modeling], even though the company is never associated with the ArchiCADs and Vectorworks of the world. It has a subsidiary named iSurvey whose SiteMaster software is used to measure and model the interiors of buildings and kitchens in a BIM context for six years now.

ARES Commander is Graebert's desktop DWG editing software, while ARES Kudo is its cloud-based DWG editor. The 2020 releases of both due early in the new year will introduce the first stage of a multi-year roll-out of BIM-related capabilities. The idea is to use ARES as an engine to generate accurate 2D drawings from 3D BIM models.

The 2020 release adds the following BIM-related functions:
• Import RVT, RFA, and IFC files; export IFC export format
• Examine BIM properties with Properties panel
• View and control BIM-format models with BIM Navigator panel
• Extract data in CSV format and to tables for quantity take-offs
• Generate 2D sections and views of BIM models

Once the BIM models (and associated data) are in ARES Commander, users can employ its drawing and editing commands to further annotate and edit the models as drawings.

For third-party developers, Graebert put together the BIMflow Pack which packages all of the new BIM functions for third-party developers using ARES OEM. The Cloudify Pack adds ARES Commander (including new BIM functions) to ARES Kudo for third-party developers.

Graebert is not alone in producing BIM-compatible DWG software, and so it sees a significant market into which it can step. The company found a number of reasons for why the market for DWG in BIM is still large:
• Fewer than 20% of users in AEC use BIM (the other 80% use CAD), indicating there is a great resistance to BIM, twenty years later.
• Despite BIM allowing firms to work in all-3D, they nevertheless produce large amounts of 2D drawings for use in shops and in the field, partly because 2D is still an accepted standard and partly due to liability reasons.
• There are roughly three to ten CAD users behind each BIM user.

Graebert has significant market presence in Japan, India, and parts of Europe. Where its general desktop and cloud software is already being used gives it an entryway to BIM adjacent drafting.

A Look at CAD Software R&D'ed in Russia

by Olga Kalyagina

 

What Russian CAD programs do you know? Perhaps nanoCAD from Nanosoft and possibly Kompas-3D from Ascon.

Russian developers also make their mark on widely-used products, such as CATIA, BricsCAD, and Altium Designer. Many global software vendors have established their own R&D (research and development) centers in Russia or else work with local outsourcing firms. Let’s take a look at who they are.

CATIA from Dassault Systèmes

Designed for modeling sophisticated shapes and multi-thousand 3D assemblies, CATIA from Dassault Systèmes is especially preferred by the aerospace and automotive industries.

Some program components in CATIA V5 and V6 were developed by LEDAS, a software programming company in Novosibirsk. The Russian team contracted with Dassault Systèmes to help create the CGM geometric modeling kernel and the Constraint Design Solver between 1999 and 2011. This was not just about writing code, but developing the complex mathematical algorithms that brought these 3D modeling functions to CATIA.

In addition to working on those two components, LEDAS contributed to a pair of CATIA end-user modules, CATIA Product Engineering Optimizer and CATIA Knowledge Advisor.

The 12-year partnership with Dassault Systèmes earned LEDAS its reputation as one of the top companies to hire for R&D outsourcing services in the area of engineering software. A list of some of its clients is available on the company's Web site, www.ledas.com.

We here at С3D Labs also work with the great guys from Novosibirsk. They helped develop our B-Shaper SDK that converts polygonal models to 3D solid models.

Dominique FLORACK, President, Research and Development, Dassault Systèmes,
in the LEDAS office, Novosibirsk, 2004

BricsCAD from Hexagon

BricsCAD is used for 2D drafting and 3D modeling and employs the industry-standard DWG file format. It was developed by Bricsys, a Belgian company, which was acquired last year by the Swedish IT giant Hexagon.

Bricsys has two R&D centers in Russia, one in Nizhny Novgorod and the other in Novosibirsk. It is interesting to note that the Bricsys team in Novosibirsk is closely connected with LEDAS. After LEDAS sold Bricsys the rights to some of the products and technologies they had developed, as part of the agreement some employees moved to the newly established Bricsys Technologies Russia subsidiary.

Bricsys is quite open about its ties with Russia and how it benefits from the relationship. The Web site of the company's Russian distributor informs visitors that "BricsCAD is the first alternative DWG-based CAD developed in Russia."

And journalists are happy to mention LEDAS in their articles about Bricsys. As Roopinder Tara wrote on engineering.com, “If you haven’t heard of Bricsys in Ghent, it’s even less likely that you’ve heard of LEDAS from Novosibirsk. LEDAS deserves more attention. Composed almost entirely by PhDs, some rocket scientists (they worked for the Russian military before the USSR meltdown, I’m told) were more than capable of creating entire, robust CAD programs of their own.” (“A Lean CAD Company Punches Above Its Weight”)

TurboCAD from IMSI/Design

TurboCAD software was developed first in South Africa but is now owned by the American firm IMSI/Design. Unlike Bricsys, it does not mention that its products were developed in Russia. For a long period, the SoftDev team from Saint Petersburg was taking complete charge of TurboCAD development.

ARES from Graebert

ARES CAD applications developed by Graebert GmbH (aka Gräbert) are fully compatible with DWG files. In the conservative engineering software industry where the benefits of cloud technology continue to be debated, Graebert is one of the few companies to develop cloud-based and mobile products that create and edit CAD drawings on the go.

Graebert has three R&D centers, one of which is located in Saint Petersburg, Russia, according to the company’s Web site.

The ARES Kudo cloud CAD solution for DWG drawings. Source: graebert.com

IntelliCAD from ITC

The CAD development platform from IntelliCAD Technology Consortium supports a family of AutoCAD-workalikes. IntelliCAD features a user interface identical to AutoCAD, native DWG format support, the LISP programming language, and similar user commands and options. Its development takes place mostly in Nizhny Novgorod, the city on the Volga River.

Altium Designer

It is not an exaggeration to say that Altium Designer is one of the most popular software packages for printed circuit board (PCB) design. It is developed by Altium Limited, a company established in Australia in 1985, which over the last 35 years transformed itself into a global software company. It has headquarters now in San Diego, Munich, and Shanghai.

In 2015, the company announced that it opened software development centers in Moscow and Saint Petersburg. The Moscow team specializes in developing PCB routing functions and the browser-based CAD solution Upverter.com. The team in Saint Petersburg focuses on merging the electronic and mechanical design functions within Altium Designer, and on data management solutions.

It is especially gratifying for C3D Labs that our C3D geometric modeling kernel, C3D Solver constraint manager, and C3D Converter data translation module are implemented in Altium Designer. They help design rigid-flex PCBs, mate objects, and export models to STEP and Parasolid formats.

Altium Designer 19

Mentor Graphics

Together with Cadence and Synopsys, Mentor is one of the world's top three suppliers of electronic design automation (EDA) software. In 2017, the company was acquired by Siemens for $4.5 billion and was renamed Mentor, a Siemens Business.

The Mentor R&D center opened officially in Moscow in 2008. At the time, the facility focused on two areas, wire routing algorithms in PCB design, and approaches for verifying and analyzing high-speed PCB design. The center had 45 employees.

In addition to EDA software, Mentor is famous for its fluid flow and heat transfer simulation solutions, some of which have their origins in Russia. FloEFD for 3D computational fluid dynamics analysis, for instance, was originally created at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, and today is still developed in Moscow. The figure below illustrates the history of the Mechanical Analysis department at Mentor Graphics.

Source: cadflo.ru

Cadence Design System

Cadence Design Systems is the second largest supplier of electronic design automation software, and has an R&D center in Moscow. There, several teams specialize in different areas of product development, including extraction of chip layout data, microchip signal delay calculations, and physical verification.

Synopsys

And finally, the number one supplier of EDA software, with annual revenue of over $3 billion, also has ties to Russia. In 2010, Synopsys opened an R&D center in Saint Petersburg tasked with developing ARC processor solutions and photolithography tools. The center has 60 employees, according to the company’s Web site.

ESPRIT from DP Technology

The ESPRIT CAM software from DP Technology is designed for automating CNC (computer numerically controlled) programming. It is developed in collaboration with Rubius, located in Siberian Tomsk. Rubius is a talented high-performance outsourcing company that also writes its own software for AEC (architecture, engineering, and construction), task management, and GIS (geographic information systems). The company is currently looking for programmers to work on yet another ESPRIT project.

Rubius built ESPRIT ExtraCAD with our C3D geometric modeling kernel. The software program was designed to work with ESPRIT CAM. DP Technology decided, however, to not proceed with the project.

ESPRIT ExtraCAD based on the C3D geometric kernel

Open Design Alliance

Open Design Alliance is a nonprofit organization based on the idea of supporting DWG files without Autodesk. Over time, ODA transformed into a robust supplier of software development toolkits (SDKs) that provide interoperability with many CAD formats, visualization, PDF publishing, and more. At the beginning of the year, the ODA revealed its own solid modeling kernel, a kind of high-end program component.

These innovations were created with incredible speed by Russian programmers for the most part. ODA has R&D centers in Saint Petersburg and Nizhny Novgorod, while some of the work is performed by the LEDAS team in Novosibirsk -- yet another mention of LEDAS in this article!

Open CASCADE

Open CASCADE Technology is the only open-source software development platform on our list. The French company provides services and tools for 3D surface and solid modeling, visualization, and CAD data exchange. In an interview with the Linux Format Russia magazine, the company said that its administrative and management staff were based at the headquarters in France, while most of the development work was done by a Russian team comprising around 70 engineers. Open Cascade SAS’s Datavision production facility in Nizhny Novgorod is responsible for supporting the open-source SDKs and writing end-user software applications.

3D model visualized by the Open CASCADE Technology component
Source: opencascade.com

- - -

So, the next time when you run your fav BricsCAD or Altium Designer, think for a moment that their smart algorithms were probably developed in Russia.

 

[Olga Kalyagina is a head of marketing and communications at C3D Labs, a developer of C3D geometric kernel and other program components. She has over 16 years of marketing experience in the engineering software industry. She previously worked as an academic program manager, PR manager, head of marketing service department at ASCON, the parent company of C3D Labs. Olga holds a degree in management from the Moscow State Institute of Electronic Technology.]

This article was first published by isiscad and is reprinted with permission: http://isicad.net/articles.php?article_num=20905