After yesterday's announcement of PTC and Autodesk hearting each other, speculation is that we may hear a similar announcement between Autodesk and UGS -- exchanging vows of implementing each other's direct drawing translation technologies.
For me, the interesting part is that this courtship is being driven by Autodesk's Mechanical Division -- that little island of Autodesk just off the northern coast of California. Any hearting going on between Revit and Nemetschek? Graphisoft and Architectural Desktop? AutoCAD and MicroStation? AutoCAD LT and TurboCAD? Nope.
Oh, but don't expect any similar announcement between Autodesk and Dassault Systems. The heart just doesn't reach that far. Stepbrothers Catia and SolidWorks rarely talk even to each other. Do tell.
With all this direct translation happy talk going on, it kind of leaves the JT Opens and DWFs of the world playing second fiddle.
At the back of the church.
DWF is intended for people who are NOT using CAD systems. For people with design softare, native formats are just fine. A DWF is more like an electronic plot with meaningful metadata. It is not intended as a replacement for the original design data. We are happy at the back of the church. We can sneek out early - just after the sermon.
Posted by: Scott Sheppard | Dec 15, 2006 at 07:13 AM
Scott:
Odd, then, that Autodesk is using it as the translation format between several of its CAD systems. The Building Solutions Division must not have heard the sermon.
Posted by: ralphg | Dec 15, 2006 at 07:39 AM
You actually blogged about this on 2/14/2005 (speaking of Hearts!).
Posted by: Anon | Dec 15, 2006 at 12:06 PM