In Australia, it's already April 1. Source: www.blog.cadnauseam.com/2012/04/01/autodesk-acquires-angry-birds-developer-rovio/ Read more →
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In Australia, it's already April 1. Source: www.blog.cadnauseam.com/2012/04/01/autodesk-acquires-angry-birds-developer-rovio/ Read more →
Posted at 11:06 AM in Behind the Story | Permalink | Comments (0)
1. Writing a book will be the hardest job you will ever do, probably. 2. You won't make any money from it, most likely. Read more →
Posted at 01:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
I use the pre-paid roaming services when I travel to the USA. Roam Mobility is a new Canadian company that resells voice, text, and data plans from T-Mobile. You buy a SIM card (if you have an unlocked phone) or an international phone from Roam Mobility in Canada. They give you a new USA-only number. Once you cross the border, you swap SIM cards, and then make and receive unlimited calls and texts within USA and from USA to Canada. (Canadians can call your USA number, too.) Works out to about$3/day for text and talk; more for the data plan.... Read more →
Posted at 12:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Microsoft is making Windows 8 painful for non-tablet users, but CAD is a natural for tablets. So, which CAD vendor will be first? There are a few tablet-ready contenders: MoI (moment of inspiration) was designed from the ground up for tablet use. It got bought by Alibre, which was then swallowed up by 3D Systems. See moi3d.com AutoCAD got a pair of system variables last year that hint at tablet interactivity. Nothing seems to be happening with them, even in this week's release of AutoCAD 2013. SpaceClaim last year also was boasting of it designed-for-touch-screens features. This year, not so... Read more →
Posted at 01:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)
SpaceClaim must be getting old, 'cause there's a new group of developers who want to do MCAD fresher: We are a small group of mechanical engineers and software developers working on a fesh [sic] approach to how mechanical design is done on a computer. Our backgrounds are firmly planted in the industry, and chances are that you've used products that we helped bring to market or develop; However we are not affiliated with any existing CAD company. They figure that there're four areas in which current MCAD systems are lacking, and for which MysteryCAD has the solution: Design How to... Read more →
Posted at 12:47 PM in Media and/or Spin | Permalink | Comments (0)
So it's afterlunch (new word I invented) now at Autodesk Media Summit 2012, and we've been split into industry groups, like M&E (media and entertainment), AEC (architecture, engineering, construction), and mech, which is where I've been slotted. Each of the four groups is split further into four sessions, to create small groupings of journalists. I'm now in room Newton for the topic of Autodesk PLM 360 with guys like Josh Mings of SolidSmack. Rob Cohee is giving us the "PLM for everyone" pitch. How "everyone"? Earlier, Buzz Kross said his legal team is using PLM 360. The original idea at... Read more →
Posted at 01:09 PM in Travelogues | Permalink | Comments (0)
New - - - Changed - - - Removed - - - AutoCAD 2013 for Windows and Mac For the eighth year in a row, the authority on what's inside AutoCAD is back with the most exhaustive coverage of new, changed, and removed commands, system variables, and user interface elements in the industry. New this year: coverage of AutoCAD for Mac. Includes tips, side-by-side screen grabs with AutoCAD 2012, describes changes in excruciating detail. Adds the commands and system variables not documented by Autodesk. Don't miss the "What We Think" opinions and our choice of the Top 3 New Features.... Read more →
Posted at 12:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Autodesk flew in about 120 media (my estimate) from around the world for a two-day event celebrating the launch of its 2013 line of software. We're starting off with ceo Carl Bass telling us about how the portable computing market is taking off for Autodesk -- something that he predicted two years ago. For instance, 300,000 files are now uploaded to AutoCAD WS a week. This works out to 2.2 files per user (calculated from 7 million downloads of WS) per year, up from last year's number of 1.8 dwg/user. He's announcing Force Effect for doing free body diagrams and... Read more →
Posted at 09:25 AM in Travelogues | Permalink | Comments (1)
by Roopinder Tara, Tenlinks.com The conference here in Troy, Michigan was supposed to be about the use of parametric-shaped geometry, but the lasting image for me may be of the pig's head. Severed, bloody, stuffed in plastic. It was supposed to be appropriate for what it was resting on, a artsy butchers block. Zoe Coombes, founder of Cmmnwlth Studio, knows how to get attention. We were stunned into silence. Only much later at dinner, one of us deemed it vaguely pornographic, someone else objected to her use of the word "orgasm," yet another deplored her use of Autodesk Mudbox. But... Read more →
Posted at 01:59 AM in Roopinder Tara | Permalink | Comments (0)
In upFront.eZine #728 this week, we have for your reading pleasure... 1. Vectorworks Cloud Services - Challenges to Overcome - Designing the Vectorworks-Cloud Interface - How VCS Works - Future of CAD 2. Engineer-to-Order on the Web 3. Out of the Inbox, and other regular columns.mns. You can read all about the business of CAD at www.upfrontezine.com/2012/upf-728.htm Read more →
Posted at 08:16 AM in Android & iOS | Permalink | Comments (0)
by Roopinder Tara, Tenlinks.com Like so many of our Midwest cities, Toledo, Ohio, was once a manufacturing center. It used to be called the "Glass Capital of the World," according to the city's official site. Toledo wanted to pay homage to that industry and build an addition to its Museum of Art. There was only one problem: most of that industry had gone away. Its factories shuttered, its workers laid off. Undeterred, the city of Toledo went to China -- the country responsible for undercutting and usurping so many American industries -- to create the glass panels. If there was... Read more →
Posted at 04:54 AM in Roopinder Tara | Permalink | Comments (0)
Imagine your brain juggling this many acronyms in a single paragraph: As already announced by Mayor Boris Johnson, SCOOT (Split Cycle Offset Optimisation Technique) is playing a major role in reducing traffic delays across London, helping to improve Journey Time Reliability (JTR). TRL, in collaboration with UK traffic systems suppliers, developed the SCOOT urban traffic control system which is now co-owned by Peek Traffic Ltd, TRL and Siemens Traffic Controls Ltd. Not enough? Second paragraph: The latest SCOOT MMX Service Pack 1 provides a facility to assist with improving the Journey Time Reliability (JTR) along critical routes. This was originally... Read more →
Posted at 10:02 AM in Media and/or Spin | Permalink | Comments (0)
Precisely one week before Autodesk announces it 2013 line of software, IMSI/Design ship release 19 of TurboCAD Pro. Here is an abbreviated list of new features that I copied'n pasted from the press release -- and I removed most adjectives: New 64-Bit Version addresses up to 32GB of memory AutoUpdate automatically notifies and downloads updates New Smooth Surface Mesh 3D Modeling Tools (Platinum only) New Geo-Location and New Compass Rose New ePack File Packaging packs up everything associated with a CAD file for distribution (Platinum only) New Page Layout Wizard for creating 2D layouts from existing 3D models New Drawing... Read more →
Posted at 01:40 AM in Computer-aided Design: NEWS | Permalink | Comments (0)
Blake Courter hosted a Webinar on using the API in SpaceClaim. Here are notes I took from the hour-long presentation. Most watching the Webinar had little or no experience at programming. Biggest user of API is SpaceClaim itself. Spaceclaim's API is a wrapper layer using .Net, and so you can use C++, C#, F#, Visual Basic, and other programming languages. (Mr Courter uses C#.) It is only partly documented, and so you may need to contact SpaceClaim for help. It also helps to know a CAD system, Visual Studio, understand vector math and linear algebra, and have experience at programming.... Read more →
Posted at 10:23 AM in Computer-aided Design: NEWS | Permalink | Comments (3)
It irritates me that Windows asked every time I delete a file, "Are you sure?" A silly question, because even Microsoft's smart programmers know that the file is not being deleted; it gets moved to the Recycle folder, from whence accidently erased files can be recovered. Only very large files and folders are erased immediately, ones that are too large for Recycle -- although I have no idea why any would be too large for Recycle on today's 1TB and 2TB drives. Last week by chance I found how to remove the irritating dialog box: 1. Right-click Recycle icon on... Read more →
Posted at 08:27 AM in Tips | Permalink | Comments (0)
In upFront.eZine #727 this week, we have for your reading pleasure... 1. An Update on HP ePrint - How to Connect to Remote Printers - ePrinting from iPads 2. The KCL Difference 3. Out of the Inbox, and other regular columns.mns. You can read all about the business of CAD at www.upfrontezine.com/2012/upf-727.htm Read more →
Posted at 01:35 PM in CAD Blogs | Permalink | Comments (0)
In two weeks, the annual Senior Art Show launches, where 4ourth year fine arts students from Trinity Western Univeristy present their works at the Langley Centennial Museum, Fort Langley, BC, Canada. It starts March 26 at 6:30pm, and I'll be there. More info at www.twu.ca/academics/samc. Getting ready for the exhibition is my daughter, seen here in a spy shot taken with a $2 disposable film camera, working on a pair of enormous paintings. She reports her arms are sore from reaching high up with the brush. Read more →
Posted at 01:11 PM in Travelogues | Permalink | Comments (0)
Let's say a software vendor one day decides that the next release of his software will feature a touch interface, but is meant to run on desktop computers. To be clear, these are today's desktop computers that lack touch-screen monitors which sit an arm's length from your face and are positioned perpendicularly to you. The software vendor decides the touch screen interface should overlay all other elements of his program, so that users will be confronted by it frequently. Since their screens don't respond to touch, they'll be simulating touch by moving their mouses in unnatural movements, or else memorize... Read more →
Posted at 05:17 PM in The Microsoft Chronicles | Permalink | Comments (0)
Canada's primary electronics chain, FutureShop, got some exposure in the local media yesterday for being excited about opening their stores at 8am Friday. (Normally, they open at 10am; staff tomorrow will be yawning.) No doubt that a certain hardware manufacturer required FutureShop to open at 8am to carry their new tablet product, whatever it might be. Actual screen grab from FutureShop's actual front page of their Web site this morning. We have an iPad in the Grabowski household, generously donated by IMSI/Design for testing iOS software related to their CAD products, such TurboViewer. When not in use for testing software,... Read more →
Posted at 08:16 AM in Hardware | Permalink | Comments (0)
HP made the first computer I ever hacked, the HP41CV programmable calculator. Someone, somewhere figured out a special combination of key presses that unlocked it, allowing owners to access additional functions. I recall the fear I felt on that sunny Spring day in 1981 entering the special key codes, and the rush of elation as it worked! 32 years later, and HP still has a special place in my computing heart. Their line of printers are the only ones I can rely on. But I am dismayed at my decision to ban new purchases of their computers from my business... Read more →
Posted at 07:47 AM in Behind the Story | Permalink | Comments (1)
Thanks to the work done by Fair Trade Digital Exchange (a new distributor of my line of ebooks on CAD), you can now get AutoCAD ebooks as Kindle editions. The first two are: Tailoring AutoCAD 2012: Expert Tips, Tweaks and Modifications at www.amazon.com/dp/B007IX0KTI What's New Inside AutoCAD 2012at www.amazon.com/dp/B007IYKH2C Expect more titles in the coming months! In addition, Fair Trade Digital Exchange is making a number of my ebooks available in other ebook formats, such as ePub and Mobi. When you purchase an ebook, you receive it in a ZIP file that holds all formats: EPUB (for most ebook readers),... Read more →
Posted at 01:36 AM in Reviews of Books | Permalink | Comments (0)
In upFront.eZine this week, we have for your reading pleasure... 1. OrthoGraph Architect for iPad - Tutorial - Getting Drawings to CAD - Future Plans - Q&A 2. PTC Meets With Journalists (Part ii) 3. Out of the Inbox, and other regular columns. You can read all about the business of CAD at www.upfrontezine.com/2012/upf-726.htm Read more →
Posted at 01:48 PM in CAD Blogs | Permalink | Comments (0)
"How Toronto's Chris Cheung got to take the stage at Apple's iPad unveiling" by Michael Oliveira, The Canadian Press: It's no secret that Apple's product launches operate on a strict need-to-know basis, which was why Cheung, a senior product manager with Autodesk [in Canada], couldn't tell most of his Canadian colleagues that the upcoming SketchBook Ink app would be featured as part of the iPad event. http://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/torontos-chris-cheung-got-stage-100645186.html Read more →
Posted at 08:31 AM in Android & iOS | Permalink | Comments (0)
I purchased some of Google's 25c rental movies ("The September Issue" and "The King's Speech" so far), and got them to download onto my Android. But my wife would like to see them, too, and so I tried to figure out how to view them on my computer with its bigger screen. Google says I can watch them on Androids or PCs, but doesn't say how. I played around with some and by making mistakes finally figured it out. After you pay for the movie rental, you can watch it on your PC (or Mac) like this: Go to YouTube... Read more →
Posted at 05:56 AM in Google | Permalink | Comments (0)
I was on Twitter, um, about for two years, I think it was. First, I was bummed off about it, because I tried following tons of tweets. The output from Twitter is called the "firehose," because the amount bowls you over. Mostly retweets and irrelevant tweets ("Getting in my car with a coffee"). After that experience, I declared Twitter dumb. But Twitter gets used a lot at conferences, and so I tried again. This time I kept my Follow list down to 25, half of whom rarely posted. After a year of two of this diminished following, however, I began... Read more →
Posted at 01:22 PM in Internet | Permalink | Comments (0)
A couple of years back, I visited the offices of Nanosoft in Moscow. There Dmitry Popov and his team showed me their dream for a free AutoCAD workalike. The money would be made through selling add-on applications. Some initial excitement greeted my report, and then interest faded. Russians are lousy at marketing. Then earlier this week, I heard from Mr Popov, who wrote me: It was long time ago you have visited our office and got pre-alfa version of nanoCAD. We promised you that nanoCAD will be available soon. Well, not soon, but the waiting is over. We just released... Read more →
Posted at 08:44 AM in Free CAD Software | Permalink | Comments (16)
It seems I end up buying several PCs each year, and by "PC" I mean personal computing device, ranging from smartphones to desktop computers. Last year, the list consisted of: - new Acer notebook computer for my daughter, to replace her dead HP. $500 - new slim Acer notebook computer for me, powerful enough to run PTC Creo on the road. $600 - new Android smartphone. $25, on a three-year plan - new Mac Mini to replace the MacBook my other daughter took over. $900 - new cheapo Android tablet. $85 So that was two thousand dollars thrown at the... Read more →
Posted at 10:11 AM in Impractical | Permalink | Comments (0)
Apple introduced the next generation of iPad yesterday, giving it the generic name of "iPad" -- sans numbering. I suppose this mimics their desktop and notebook computers. They have generic names, like MacBook, and then are further identified by a release date, such as "Early 2009" and "Mid 2009." This generic-name approach confuses consumers, and makes it difficult for CAD vendors to accurately specify minimum hardware requirements. We see this with Autodesk saying that its AutoCAD for Mac won't install on Apple computers lacking sufficient hardware; while the software company provides a list of suitable hardware specs, there is that... Read more →
Posted at 09:28 AM in Android & iOS | Permalink | Comments (5)
I've been pumping out ebooks (a) ever since 2003 and (b) ever since I got tired of paper-based book publishers paying tiny royalties for my hard work. As you probably know, my line of ebooks is (a) massive and (b) available in PDF format, only. I tried outputting them in other ebook formats, like ePub, but found (a) these formats require too much tweaking (hence the beauty of WYSIWYG PDF!) and (b) I just didn't have the time. So I was pretty interested when I read about a new publishing company that was (a) dedicated to the ebook market and... Read more →
Posted at 05:20 AM in Reviews of Books | Permalink | Comments (0)
by Bill Fane AutoCAD 2013 on Windows 8? That's nothing. I have 2013 running on an older iPod Touch, as shown below. No, the picture isn't a cut and paste. This is an actual photograph of AutoCAD 2013 RC running on an iPod. Note the new floating command line and the corner of the Welcome screen with the 2013 label. Sort of... It's running thanks to an app called iDisplay. Install it on your iOS device, install a matching program on your PC, and bingo: your PC thinks your iOS device is a second monitor. It can't be a cloned... Read more →
Posted at 01:28 AM in Android & iOS | Permalink | Comments (0)
In upFront.eZine this week, we launch a new CAD Tips column for giving advice to lonley drafters, and we have for your reading pleasure... 1. PTC Meets With Journalists (part i) - Looking Back at Creo 1.0 - AnyBOM (Options Modeler) - Conclusion 2. Siemens PLM's Agreement with Boeing 3. Out of the Inbox, and other regular columns. You can read all about the business of CAD at www.upfrontezine.com/2012/upf-725.htm Read more →
Posted at 01:23 PM in CAD Blogs | Permalink | Comments (0)
The Point Cloud Library is an open (BSD licence) project for processing 3D point cloud data. It's been compiled and deployed on Linux, OS X, Windows, and Android. PCL consists of the following algorithms: Filtering Feature estimation Surface reconstruction Registration Model fitting Segmentation These algorithms can be used, for example, to filter outliers from noisy data, stitch 3D point clouds together, segment relevant parts of a scene, extract keypoints and compute descriptors to recognize objects in the world based on their geometric appearance, and create surfaces from point clouds and visualize them -- to name a few. No suprise that... Read more →
Posted at 01:04 AM in Mobile CAD | Permalink | Comments (2)
Some people call me an "Apple hater," because I point out flaws in the hardware, software, and closed system. What does an Apple hater look like? I don't know about others who carry the label (proudly, I would assume), but as for me my experience and constructive criticism comes from owning the following Apple hardware: iPod Nano, first generation - this unit was given to me by SolidWorks, and is used by one daughter. iPod Classic 120GB - I purchased a refurbished unit from eBay, since it is the only device on the market that can hold my 80GB collection... Read more →
Posted at 12:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Earlier, I described on my Gizmos Grabowski blog about how to run Windows 8 in a virtual machine; see worldcadaccess.typepad.com/gizmos. Later that day, I got AutoCAD 2013 (RC beta) running in 8. It works, except that running inside a virtual machine, the graphics are a bit sluggish, because 3D graphics are emulated -- no hardware drivers. Point is, however, that AutoCAD runs in Windows 8, even if it is not on the official support list. Here's a picture; click it for the unfuzzy view. The large white icons along the right edge are generated by Windows 8, when you move... Read more →
Posted at 01:43 AM in Computer-aided Design: TIPS | Permalink | Comments (24)
I'll have a fuller report on my mid-week trip to PTC in next Monday's upFront.eZine, but thought should follow-up from the blog posting of two days ago. PTC invited four journalists who had written about Creo 1.0 last fall. During the five-hour session, we provided Creo product managers further feedback on our experience, and then quizzed them on how they deal with UX (user experience). We gave examples of unexpected behavior in the software. We brought up the confusion over the "Creo" naming system. We were shown some of the new features in Creo 2.0, most of which we are... Read more →
Posted at 03:34 PM in Travelogues | Permalink | Comments (5)
A new beta of Windows 8 is out, and you will probably want to take the test drive. See if the Metro interface is interesting or awful (I say it's awful), and if critical software works with it. (Changes to Windows 7 broke some software and device drivers, more so than did the Vista dialect of Windows.) There's a couple of ways to do this:Windows Install it on a spare computer. The problem here is that spare computers tend to be older, and so no great spec-wise. Install it on your main computer through a dual-boot process. The problem here... Read more →
Posted at 01:02 PM in The Microsoft Chronicles | Permalink | Comments (0)
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