WorldCAD Access

Microdesk Scans Buildings in 3D with UAVs

by Roopnder Tara, Tenlinks.com BIM consultant and reseller Microdesk is open for business in San Francisco, with their new office in the financial district. In their first Tech Talk Thursday, they invited potential customers -- and yours truly -– to show how UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles a.k.a. drones) can photograph nearby buildings, leading to 3D models. Microdesk got its start in the Boston area 20 years ago, and now has 11 offices around the country. It sells its products and services mostly in the architecture and construction industry. Their newest office is in San Francisco office and houses eight employees.... Read more →

On top of all else, Solidworks 2015 also does 3D printing

by Roopinder Tara, Tenlinks.com With every major release of a CAD program comes a dilemma: how to convey all that information? Solidworks 2015 is no exception; Dassault did its best to dumb down the changes -- there are literally thousands -- for the assembled press. As most of the press are not CAD users, the significance of most enhancements is lost upon us. For example, is the new Treehouse feature going to be a hit? I have no idea. But Dassault missed a opportunity to trumpet one enhancement that would have resonated with all the media present. Say “3D printing,”... Read more →

Autodesk Flow Design, the easiest-to-use CFD program ever

by Roopinder Tara, Tenlinks.com Announced last January with little fanfare (Flow was mentioned in an Autodesk blog post in January, and then picked up the same day in TenLinks Daily), there never was an official press release back then, no phone calls or webinars for the media. Even Autodesk's own product site does not do Flow Design justice. Just another Autodesk Labs product done good. The existence of a bona fide CFD (computer fluid dynamics) program for wind-tunnel simulation -- push-button easy and available at a rock-bottom price -- dropped like a bomb in the room of industry analysts and... Read more →

Autodesk buys CAE credibility by acquiring NEi Nastran

by Roopinder Tara, Tenlinks.com Autodesk this week made it quite clear that they are serious about simulation. At a small press event, they revealed Nastran-based products: One is a standalone FEA [finite element analysis] solver, called Autodesk Nastran. The other is in-CAD, which will work inside Inventor and in SOLIDWORKS. The products are a result of Autodesk's acquistion of NEi Nastran. It would have been news delivered with a thunderclap -- if it had not already leaked earlier in mid-May. It seems NEi resellers admitted to seeing interest by Autodesk, which was misinterpreted by reports as Autodesk-only NEi Nastran code.... Read more →

Free SketchUp isn't free for commercial use

by Roopinder Tara, Tenlinks.com (Updated to reflect that free SketchUp was never licensed for commerical use.) How do you tell the largest CAD user base in the world that they they are going to cut off? You don't. SketchUp, known and loved by millions, was revised late last year. There was the usual list of improvements, a name change, but most significantly, it is not free for commercial use. The FAQs issued with Trimble's announcement of SketchUp Make (a new name for what was commonly referred to as "free SketchUp") is this statement: SketchUp Make is the new name for... Read more →

How Arckit makes architectural (physical) models a snap

by Roopinder Tara, Tenlinks.com What if making architectural models was easy, fun, cheap -- and clean? What if it they came in kits with pieces you can snap together, pieces that may actually resemble architectural elements like walls, floor and roof panels, roof trusses, columns, and windows? What if models would come together without explanation, training, or weeks and months of waiting? What if your kid could make them, as easy as building blocks? Snap together your next architectural model with a kit from Arckit. Adhesive backed patterns are applied to plain building panels to get color and patterns. I... Read more →

What Do Journalists Pay for Free Trips?

by Roopinder Tara, Tenlinks.com Quite often, companies pay for journalists to attend their events by covering all the costs. This has most journalists jumping for joy: it's one of the perks of being part of the press. There are not a lot of journalists who work for publications with a travel and expense budget, and few journalists could ever see faroff exotic locales on their own. So if we can get airfare, hotels (usually a nice, downtown, business-class hotel), and meals (sometimes at the best restaurants in town) -- and be the envy of friends and family. Even hang around... Read more →

HP's plans to displace LED printers with its PageWide printhead

by Roopinder Tara, Tenlinks.com HP's large format printer division is based in Barcelona, but their print heads are made in San Diego. The software may well be written in Oregon, and their PR firm is headquartered in Atlanta -- an arrangement that favors frequent flyer miles for most involved, and jet lag. A large contingent was on hand in San Diego, actually looking none too worse for the wear, to introduce a couple of new large format printers. The two new large-format printers hulked on the sides of the stage as the Western Hemisphere press filed into the ballroom of... Read more →

When will GE buy PTC?

by Roopinder Tara, Tenlinks.com Dennis Nagy, head of BeyondCAE and an industry veteran, predicted to those of us assembled for the joint CIC2104/NAFEMS 2014 show that GE will acquire PTC. Dennis later admited he had no real insider knowledge of this acquisition. However, what might otherwise be considered pure conjecture is worthy of consideration for these reaons: Siemens (likened to the GE of Europe) acquired a major CAD company with UGS in 2007 PTC has been seen as an acquisition target as early as 2009; see this DATAMONITOR report from 2009 GE and PTC are already in bed; see this... Read more →

What was ANSYS thinking when they bought SpaceClaim?

by Roopinder Tara, Tenlinks.com The CAD world expected a lot from SpaceClaim: a promising startup founded in 2005 by none other than Mike Payne, whose previous companies -- PTC and SolidWorks -- forever changed mechanical design. SpaceClaim, the product, looked good. It was easy to use, and with direct modeling being the trending topic in MCAD, it seemed to be in the right place at the right time. On the product side, CAD insiders gave it a thumbs up. Despite all its promise, however, it failed to take the world by storm. Some would say it faltered out of the... Read more →

Solid Edge looking like a Big CAD company in Atlanta

by Roopinder Tara, Tenlinks.com Solid Edge is clearly trying to look like a big CAD company at its third straight Solid Edge University, its annual user meeting and conference which takes place over three full days this year in Atlanta GA. The event borrows its name from Autodesk University, the mother of all CAD events, where 10,000 users and 200 exhibitors are the norm. Solid Edge University had a few less of each: a little over 400 attendees and may be a dozen exhibitors. A hundred of the attendees were Siemens employees (Siemens owns Solid Edge) and another 50 or... Read more →

Apple takes the best cheap 3D scanner away from the CAD industry

by Roopinder Tara, Tenlinks.com The best 3D scan devices are made with PrimeSense hardware. PrimeSense was bought by Apple in a $345-million deal in November, 2013. One person not happy with this deal is Amir Rubin, ceo of Paracosm [the word refers to detailed but imaginary worlds you create inside you mind], who may be speaking on behalf of the community of startup firms intent on using 3D scanning for engineering and architectural applications. Amir's company used PrimeSense hardware to create 3D models of building interiors from scan data. "Here was the best cheap scanner you could get, and Apple... Read more →

ArchiCAD Amidst the Cherry Blossoms (Graphisoft, Part 1)

by Roopinder Tara, Tenlinks.com GRAPHISOFT chose Tokyo to announce BIM Cloud, a cloud based collaboration, storage service targeted for architects and the construction industry. Why would a company based in Hungary, with its biggest customer base in Europe, pick Japan for a product launch? It turns out that Japan has been a big success for Graphisoft. Spring blooms near Japanese temple. We have cherry blossom forecasts, says Graphisoft's Tatsuro Kawai, who lives in Tokyo. Bence Kovacs, general manager and VP of Asia “Graphisoft is used by 4 of the top 5 AEC firms in Japan,” says Viktor Várkonyi, CEO of... Read more →

Founder of IB Systems David Heller launches new PR firm

by Roopinder Tara, Tenlinks.com David Heller, 72, founder of IBSystems and creator of “Café” sites like MCADcafe and AECcafe has started a new PR firm, HTS Creative. HTS (short for "Hi Tech Success") is scheduled to begin operation March, 2014. “I stared IB Systems in my garage – literally,” says David. “HTS will at least take off from my dining room.” IB Systems ownership has been transferred to long time employees Sanjay Gangal and Nitai Fraenkel. Jeff Rowe, frequent contributor for MCADCafé and CADinsider, says he expects “business as usual.” HTS Creative will emphasize “success stories,” but in a modern... Read more →

We're Online! (Who Cares About the Rest of the World?)

by Roopinder Tara, Tenlinks.com Autodesk has come out strong in favor of online CAD and cloud technology. Many new apps announced here at Autodesk Universtiy 2013 are browser-based, requiring online acces. In the press Q&A session, both CEO Carl Bass and CTO Jeff Kowalski rolled over any opposition to online apps and cloud technology. In response to Autodesk's adamant stance on online sharing and collaboration, a press member from Argentina explained, "We don't like to share." Another from India added, "Only 6% of us are online." Suddenly with those six words, the world that we in the USA take for... Read more →

In Buying Delcam, Autodesk Ignores Hottest Trend in Manufacturing

by Roopinder Tara, Tenlinks.com What will Autodesk buy next? It's a game CAD insiders play: pondering the next move of a cash-rich market leader. Oh, it would have to be a company that has great technology and a bright future. If you've been listening to CEO Carl Bass, Autodesk would have to be looking for a company that would help the future generations, kids and their adult-ish counterparts, the makers. The company, lock-step behind its leader, is embracing new business models: Design apps -- not monolithic software on archaic workstations, but apps for mobile devices Cloud-based, preferably And helping design... Read more →

Buying Delcam Puts Autodesk on Path of World Domination

by Roopinder Tara, Tenlinks.com Autodesk buying Delcam is the biggest news in the CAD, CAM and CAE world since… umm… the CAD, CAM, and CAE worlds existed. Yet, at this late date, 25 days after the announcement, I am amazed how scant has been the coverage of an event of such magnitude. Wake up, guys! The #1 CAD company [Editor's note: Autodesk no longer is #1, as measured by revenue] buys the #1 CAM company. Autodesk, who used to irreverently claim to have designed everything God did not (their words, not mine) can now also say they can manufacture it.... Read more →

Dassault's "3DExperience," Explained

by Roopinder Tara, Tenlinks.com I love listening to Bernard Charles. I might be a sucker for the thick French accent. Or is it his delivery? The Dassault CEO gives a big smile after every sentence. He must be friendly in person, though I've never met him. Bernard Charles (standing), CEO of Dassault Systemes, and the dashing Monica Menghini (in blue), EVP of Dassault marketing are trying very hard to explain 3DEXPERIENCE to the press at Dassault's annual American gathering of users. They've been at it for over a year. (See previous coverage.) The Smartest People in the Room Are they... Read more →

3D CAD Needs the Leap Motion Controller

by Roopinder Tara, Tenlinks.com The best 3D interface to CAD product is one that is not yet created. Imagine, if you would, waving your hands in front of you to control an assembly, zooming in and out, moving part in and out, etc. without reaching for your mouse or using the keyboard. Half the size of a deck of cards, the Leap Motion Conroller detecting finger and hand movement Enter the Leap Motion Controller. A box half the size of deck of cards sits unobtrusively on the table and it is programmed to detect hands and fingers and their motion.... Read more →

BuildEdge takes SketchUp from pretty lines to real walls

by Roopinder Tara, Tenlinks.com Here among the AEC software giants whose towering booths are metaphors for the huge buildings they will help create, is Aaron Dietzen in a 10'x10' space showing off his little gem of an application. It does nothing more than make one of the giants (SketchUp) a little easier to use. Make that "a lot easier to use," if you are extending walls, making roofs, adding windows, and so on. BuildEdge makes a roof on a SketchUp model in no time flat Aaron shows me how BuildEdge moves a wall in SketchUp by dragging it; the adjoining... Read more →

Canon mixes up its reality

by Roopinder Tara, Tenlinks.com Canon is a company we know best for fine cameras (and less so for the purchase of OCE and their large-format printers). It seems, however, less intent on seeing things as they really are, but rather how you wish they were. With its MREAL virtual reality system, they can show NX models inside an existing, real world environment. Here at the Siemens PLM Connection 2013 exhibit hall, I enter this virtual reality world with my hand in front of me. The cameras detects my position, and the display shows the model with with my hand on... Read more →

AMD FirePro gets a 1-year head start on Creo over nVidia Quadro

by Roopinder Tara, Tenlinks.com In the war between the two superpowers of CAD graphics AMD and nVidia, AMD's FirePro has scored a major victory over NVIDIA's Quadro for the PTC Creo crowd -- according to AMD spokesman Antoine Reymond. I'm at the opening of a PTC user event. Openings of big CAD user meetings are usually an excuse to eat and drink. Held in the exposition hall with the hopes of uniting users with vendors and their products and services, most users are instead occupied with the free chicken quesadillas, cheeseburger sliders, crab cakes, and more. Most wander from food... Read more →

Dassault won't give you this free SolidWorks-Catia xlator, but CCE will

by Roopinder Tara, Tenlinks.com SolidWorks-Catia conversions have been the source of much consternation among users, most of whom don't understand how two programs owned by the same company (Dassault Systemes) won't talk to each other. CAD blogger Josh Mings has reported on Dassault's CATIA-to-SolidWorks converter that costs $3,000 upfront, plus another $1,000/year for maintenance. I couldn't find it on Dassault's site or SolidWorks' site, but I should not be surprised. It's not something that Dassault is likely to promote, maybe for fear that it will cause a mass migration to the cheaper product (SolidWorks). Into the void come a few... Read more →

There's gold in them thar maker faires

by Roopinder Tara, Tenlinks.com The line to get into Maker Faire is a mile long. Spread out over the San Mateo Fairgrounds, just south of San Francisco, this show expects 120,000 people over the next two days. Some of the halls will be so packed by later this afternoon that I will not be able to get from one end to the other. The last big show before Maker Faire I went to was Comdex. The biggest CAD show I go to is Autodesk University, but AU pales by comparison as it cannot summon even 10,000 attendees. I’m certainly not... Read more →

What Kind of a Threat Does Autodesk Faces from China? (part 2)

by Roopinder Tara, Tenlinks.com In the wake of the GstarCAD8 launch last month in Beijing, to which three of us western journalists were invited, I reflect on the chances of success of a Chinese CAD company in the US and world market. GstarCAD8 was launched with sufficient fanfare. There were pretty girls, bright lights, a big stage. As more CAD companies are choosing to soft-launch major releases from behind WebEx screens, this did make us sit up and take notice. One might read a lot into their willingness to fly three Western industry journalists half way across the world to... Read more →

What Kind of a Threat Does Autodesk Faces from China? (part 1)

by Roopinder Tara, Tenlinks.com Autodesk, the heavyweight champion of the world, is about to take on a contender. This one’s from China. Gstarsoft invited me to their 3rd annual conference in Beijing where, with great fanfare, introduced their contender GstarCAD 8. Being virtually unknown outside of China (80% of its sales) did not deter GstarCAD from laying out its plans for world domination, a confidence inspired by the success of Chinese manufacturers and a hope that this will somehow translate to the software. GstarCAD resellers were on hand to point to the inevitability of the business software market caving in... Read more →

Tristram Carfrae is an engineer with an eye for aesthetics

by Roopinder Tara, Tenlinks.com Civil engineering firms work on the grandest scale. pushing back the sea, building dams, bridges, highways. Tristram Carfrae, structural engineer, director and Arup Fellow and keynote at Smart Geometry 2013, is used to overcoming the vast forces of nature. Carfrae and his firm, Arup, have built many big projects, including tall buildings, bridges, the Birds Nest Stadium and the Water Cube for the Beijing 2008 Olympic and plenty more. He is accustomed to moving heaven and earth. But when came up against a frog, he had to back down. The diminutive green and golden bell frog... Read more →

Dassault keeps beloved SolidWorks intact, so far

by Roopinder Tara, Tenlinks.com If you had been freaking out about what Dassault might be doing to your beloved SolidWorks, you would probably be reassured here at SolidWorks World 2013. The Vision From Solidworks World 2012 At last year's event, SolidWorks newly appointed vp of R&D Gian Paulo Bassi stated that SolidWorks future lay in two versions, each relying on different kernels: one would be the tried-and-true Parasolid, upon which SolidWorks has been based since its inception. The other would be CATIA's CGM kernel. Though meant to be reassuring at the time and an answer to FUD* campaigns from competitors,... Read more →

My.SolidWorks.com is the new customer portal

by Roopinder Tara, Tenlinks.com SolidWorks announced its customer portal, my.SolidWorks.com, as it kicks off its annual user meeting. Currently in beta, and open to all (go to my.solidworks.com), it is mostly an aggregation of content previously found on SolidWorks websites, or published by select SolidWorks VARs, like FISHER/UNITECH, which is often supplies good tutorials for SolidWorks users. In addition, it has case histories, even a tweet or two. Some items are several months old so you may have seem them already. I see the most prolific SolidWorks employees (Marie Planchard, Greg Jankowski, Matt West) are well represented. According to SolidWorks,... Read more →

Bentley inspired to go mobile

by Roopinder Tara, Tenlinks.com There were 84 of us media types that assembled in the historic Grand Hotel Karsnapolksy in central Amsterdam, where amidst the picturesque canals, "coffee" shops, and a surprising proliferation of Argentinean steak houses, we heard all about how well Bentley is doing. The event started with a Media Day. We were showered with product news (over 20 press briefs and releases), news of the acquisition of two companies, financial status (record revenue of $523M), and forward thinking strategy with lots of attention to mobile devices. (The rest of the event was devoted to finalists in the... Read more →

Dassault Conference, Pt 2: Dassault Plans World Domination

by Roopinder Tara, Tenlinks.com Dassault Systemes has identified so many industries it means to conquer that it seems to me like a plan for world domination. Here are some of the industries mentioned at the 3DExperience conference: Architecture and construction Energy Apparel and fashion Medical Mining Banking There were more, but my head was starting to spin. To say it is an ambitious plan is an understatement. Each industry already has its entrenched leaders, with known and respected industry expertise. What would the maker of CATIA know about fashion, for example? Sure it can show me the next Boeing jet... Read more →

Dassault Conference, Pt 1: Bernard comes down from the mountain

by Roopinder Tara, Tenlinks.com This morning, we heard Bernard Charles, CEO of Dassault Systemes, reveal that he took a 2-3 month break from his duties as CEO. This may have allowed him to contemplate the world, as well as Dassault’s place in it. He seems to have come down from the mountain with nothing less than a coalescing vision of mankind and technology, parts of which have already spread throughout Dassault divisions. One cannot enter Dassault’s North American headquarters without seeing emblazoned on the doors, “IF WE... ask the right questions, we can change the world” He is trying to... Read more →

Nobody cares PTC lost $84 million last quarter

by Roopinder Tara, Tenlinks.com PTC announced their quarterly results last week. No matter how financial news is framed in a press release sent to us, our news service is trained to distill three key items to formulate the headline: Revenue Change in revenue Profit I'm not a financial analyst, but I hold profit as the most important parameter of a business. It's the bottom line. Checking over the PTC press release, I see the revenue dipped a bit, from $339M to $325M, down 5%... but where is the profit, a.k.a. net income? There is no mention of it in the... Read more →

Dassault Debuts Compass Magazine

by Roopinder Tara, Tenlinks.com Dassault chose the opening press reception of its annual US conference and user meeting (formerly Dassault Systemes Customer Conference, or DSSC), to announce Compass, its new in-house print magazine. Compass is printed in France, available in several languages (including English), and features subjects as far reaching as CEO Bernard Charles' vision, which extends far beyond the mere design of planes, trains, and automobiles. Its debut issue is hardly the nuts-and-bolts user interest stories of Contact magazine (Dassault's old in-house magazine), but is meant to appeal to a "higher" level of reader: those further up the corporate... Read more →

SolidWorks Founders Reunite to Ponder Their Second Act

by Roopinder Tara, Tenlinks.com Scott Harris, one of the founders of SolidWorks -- as well as friend of mine and fellow bike rider -- called to confirm news that had spread like morning wildfire on tweets and blogs (1). He and the other original founders and leaders of SolidWorks have formed a new company. The company is called Belmont Technology, Inc. It was incorporated yesterday (2). The name serves as a place holder, maybe until the group can figure out what they will produce. Belmont is a town in Massachusetts, a few miles from Winchester, which itself served as a... Read more →

Being the next Autodesk is as easy as A-B-C; here's part 3, A = American

by Roopinder Tara, Tenlinks.com The flight home from Bricsys conference in Amsterdam is barely over the North American continent. I’ve secured a lie-flat seat, but I feel the vexation of Bricsys, and other CAD contenders. I cannot sleep. Autodesk’s lock on the market – what can explain it? But I may be looking down at the answer. America. Even before the conference, I saw two other great CAD programs. I see a lot of demos, but one of these was a program I had long given up on; when I first saw it 15 years ago, though, I would have... Read more →

Being the next Autodesk is as easy as A-B-C; here's part 2, B = Bulletproof & Big

by Roopinder Tara, Tenlinks.com On the long flight from the Bricsys Int'l Conference in Amsterdam, every bit of reading material has been consumed. Plenty of time to develop crazy plans, like how contenders like BricsCAD could upset the reigning heavyweight champion, AutoCAD. B is for Bulletproof It must be capable. (See Pt 1, C is for Capable.) But that means nothing when the software is not dependable... bulletproof, even. It must be able to take everything thrown at it and not wince. Customers know that when they go with the market leader, they will be safe; for the others, ut... Read more →

Being the next Autodesk is as easy as A-B-C; here's part 1, C= Cost & Capability

by Roopinder Tara, Tenlinks.com Following the Bricsys Int'l Conference in Amsterdam was for me 14 hours on airplanes to get back to San Francisco. The book I read on the flights was less than compelling, the movies were were the onces I had managed to avoid at home, but the wine was flowing. Ah, plenty of time to culture pearls of wisdom. I must confess to be a bit smitten by Bricsys, the company and its CEO Erik de Keyser. My usual cynicism failed me. But don't worry, it will come back. Already, I am considering Bricsys' chances against Autodesk,... Read more →

Can You Make Money Selling $500 CAD Software?

by Roopinder Tara of Tenlinks.com Pricing of software has always seemed artificial. It's not like a car, where the sticker price can be justified by the cost of metal, rubber...companies get to sell software at whatever price suits them. They justify the price (sometimes the same as a car) by insisting that it is the only sustainable way, that they do a lot of R&D, customer support...that companies that undercut prices are only cutting their own throats. Don't expect those companies to be around long, they say. Erik de Keyser, CEO of Bricsys, disagrees. Strongly. Bricsys sells their software, BricsCAD,... Read more →

Autodesk Rules at NAFEMS Conference (National Agency for Finite Element Methods and Standards)

by Roopinder Tara, Tenlinks.com All the heavyweights in the CAE world were lined up in the front of the room, ANSYS, MSC, Dassault, Siemens PLM and others in what was to be a panel Q&A (with Louis Komzsik, Bill Wheeler, Andrew Hintz, Gilles Eggenspieler, Dan'l Pierce, John Twerdok, Ed Ladzinski). I thought there was going to be a battle, and I had my eyes on Autodesk. Autodesk had just dropped a bomb at NAFEMS North America, annual gathering place of analysts who make a living from stress, fluid, thermal, electromagnetic calculations – if not by hand or calculator, then with... Read more →

The SolidWorks Way

by Roopinder Tara, Tenlinks.com Unlike previous SolidWorks media events, we are given less dazzle. Hot topics of “cloud” and “green” are only mentioned when asked about, and then downplayed. Wait... the only cloud mentioned was about balloon clouds used in 2D drawings. Bertrand Sicot, CEO, addresses the press and bloggers at SolidWorks annual press event. We were treated to a host of enhancements in the core SolidWorks product (though mercifully not all 350 of them), as well as two big new addons for electrical and mold flow. Most conspicuous in its absence was competitor bashing, which seems to have become... Read more →

Gian Paulo Bassi: 'SolidWorks 2013 Best Release Ever'

by Roopinder Tara, Tenlinks.com We get that a lot. But it’s usually from the marketing folk. They have to say make over-the-top claims. It’s some kind of law. But here was technologist, Gian Paulo Bassi, vp of R&D who, despite having joined SolidWorks one year prior, was insisting that SolidWorks 2013 is the best release in 15 years. Was it bluster, over excitement, too many expressos? May be the first big release since you took office is exciting. Should I fault the father of his first born? If you think the head of R&D for a CAD software company should... Read more →

Siemens PLM: We're Just One Big Happy Family

by Roopinder Tara, Tenlinks.com In the race to be everything to everyone, Siemens PLM may be winning. The company known best for NX and Teamcenter is riding high here at the Siemens PLM 2012 Analyst Conference on the shoulders of Siemens AG, the German juggernaut that seems to make just about everything. Maybe not cars or airplanes, but so much of what goes inside them. I'm listening to a Siemens presentation about its automotive products that include its embedded systems -- those black boxes that your neighborhood mechanic hates but you love because, with their millions of lines of code,... Read more →

Solid Edge gets a mention at a Siemens PLM event

by Roopinder Tara, Tenlinks.com Solid Edgers did mental high fives as Solid Edge gets mentioned on the main stage at the the annual user meeting for Siemens PLM product users, Siemens PLM Connection 2012 this week in Las Vegas. Chuck Grindstaff, who replaced Tony Affuso as ceo, talks about "big data." He means the volumes of terabytes of large sets of data big enterprises have -- big enterprises like Siemens, a company of such enormous scale that its two-billion-dollar PLM business is but a minor component. Big companies like to deal with other big companies. Where does that leave Solid... Read more →

Roopinder Tara is fooled again, when Autodesk doesn't buy SketchUp

by Roopinder Tara, Tenlinks.com Following Autodesk is like chasing a jack rabbit. You think it will hop one way but it hops the other. I have watched Autodesk for about 15 years. I’ve written much about them, their products. I live in its shadow; my neighbors are Autodeskers. All that, I still can’t predict their moves. Never has this been more obvious than when Trimble came out of nowhere to buy SketchUp from Google. CAD insiders had known SketchUp was on the blocks. We speculated over and came up with the usual suspects. Not one predicted Trimble. Why did Autodesk... Read more →

SmartGeometry 2012: The Pig's Head

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 →

Glass Industry Gone. But Glass Museum Looks Nice

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 →

Roopinder Tara lists his Autodesk University 2011 hits & misses

by Roopinder Tara, Tenlinks.com Part 1 One might think Autodesk would be content in hosting what is by far the biggest CAD gathering in the world, but it's not. It is inflating the numbers: in addition to the 8,000+ that are expected to be here, Autodesk is also counting those that are attending "virtually," as if that matters. So the number being bandied about is in the hundreds of thousands. IMHO, there is no substitute for being here. If I was attending "virtually," I would also be doing my regular job, answering emails, shopping on Amazon.com, or a half dozen... Read more →

Life’s Unfair for CAD's Non-incumbants

by Roopinder Tara, Tenlinks.com If you are not a leader in the CAD market, then you probably perceive the world as not fair. In a perfect world, products are picked on their merits. And it used to be that every so often, products would be reevaluated, compared to their competition. And so, in a perfect world, CAD operators would be guaranteed the best tools. Incumbency would be devalued. Certainly, we do this with our politicians. With each election, the incumbents are evaluated against the challengers, and if found wanting, they are shown the door. For products like SpaceClaim, who just... Read more →

Roopinder asks, "What were they thinking when Autodesk bought Instructables?"

by Roopinder Tara, Tenlinks.com In a deal that may largely go unnoticed by CAD insiders, Autodesk’s acquired Instructables on Aug 1. But this raises significant concerns about independence of online communities. Autodesk as we all know, makes design software, AutoCAD, Revit, Inventor…. The list goes on. Most of it is dedicated to professionals: architects, designers, engineers, and the like. Recent initiatives, however, reveal a yearning for the consumer market. Products such as Photofly (a runaway success if only Autodesk would focus on it) can create 3D models from digital camera photos. Its recently introduced 123D -- free software intended for... Read more →