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The UK CAD Managers Survey 2008 is now live! The UK Architectural, Engineering & Construction CAD Manager's Survey 2008 is the fourth annual survey that aims to compare the roles performed by CAD and Technology Managers in the UK construction industry. Topics covered include role...

Mid Continent MicroStation Community Summer Conference Overland Park, Kansas August 26-27, 2008 Registration is now open! Here are just a few reasons to attend this year's conference: • Interesting and informative sessions on MicroStation, including MicroStation V8 and the latest, MicroStation V8 XM Edition • The latest information on the current MicroStation, GE...

See Answer to the tip: (ACAD,ADT,LT,ACADM)

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A Dassault insider says PTC is being one-sided in its triumphalism over its win in the EADS PHENIX initiative. He tells me:

• PHENIX had two components, (1) authoring tools and (2) PDM. EADS chose Dassault for CATIA, DELMIA and SIMULIA.
• This is a corporate initiative at the EADS level. Airbus has committed to CATIA, DELMIA, ENOVIA VPM, and SIMULIA for their on-going major programs, A400M, A380, and A350. There are no new airframe programs on the drawing board.

Large aerospace companies choose tools by program (and usually pay for them by program). The ROI to change tools on existing programs is just not there. PTC may see some revenue from this, but it will be a while in coming. This is particularly true given the financial issues at EADS cited in a recent NY Times article.

I am certainly going to be sad about the ending of the Education Tour.  What a great opportunity to spend so much time with all the teachers!  I truly enjoyed myself and look forward to doing another tour in the future.  And as always...they didn't just learn from me - I definitely did my fair share of learning from them as well.

I had to take a picture of the crew from the very last event...it was held at the extremely nice Anthem College in Phoenix, Arizona.  Below you'll find our host, Floyd McWilliams of Anthem College (in the suit jacket), Maureen Higgins, the local Autodesk Education Rep, and a very nice man from CADsoft Consulting whose name I forgot (Bad Lynn).  I am really bad with names (so embarassing).  Floyd is a member of the ADDA Board and invited me to speak at their annual meeting in Nashville next year - I am looking forward to it!

 

They took me on a tour of their Veterinary school at Anthem and I couldn't help but let one of the dogs out of their pen so I could pet him (also Bad Lynn).  He was so adorable and in desperate need of a little petting (please don't tell on me).  I just couldn't resist. 

An AutoCAD Hip Tip on Controlling Object Frames:

Various imported objects have frames: Images, DWFs, DGN and OLE. In order to edit these objects we need to have their frames turned ON but we often want those frames turned off for printing. We use the IMAGEFRAME, DWFFRAME, DGNFRAME, and OLEFRAME system variables to control the visibility of frames. If you are tired of flipping these frames on and off you'll appreciate that the setting of "2" (added recently to AutoCAD) turns the frames on for editing but doesn't display them during printing. Hoorah!

See Answer to the tip: (ACAD,LT)

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Includes Tools for Extreme Detailing of Digital Characters and Objects

New paperwork is posted to the USPTO Web site in the ongoing irritant between Autodesk and the Open Design Alliance. At this point, I have no idea what is happening, other than the ODA saying to Autodesk, "In your face!" -- to use current slang common amongst teenagers in specific geographic areas.

Here's what I mean. A document posted 28 July is entitled, "Respondent's Opposition to Petitioner's Motion for Leave to Amend Petition for Cancellation." Translated, I think that means "We haven't billed our clients sufficiently."

Seriously, though, and despite the title, the PDF document makes for interesting reading. I get the feeling a different Fenwick & West lawyer is on the case; the text is easier to read and extensively referenced. In short, the ODA's lawyer seems to be saying, 'Autodesk's tactics are getting tiring enough for all their protestations to be thrown out by the USPTO,' such as this sentence page 6:

Autodesk makes these arguments on the basis of its own selective interpretation of deposition's testimony that cannot be given the slightest credence.

And on page 9:

Autodesk has simply failed to read the publically-available documents regarding this issue.

And on page 8:

Such an amendement [by Autodesk] is futile and should not be permitted to waste Respondent's or the Board's time.

Ouch!

The issue here is that Autodesk claims the ODA did not exist in 1998. The upFront.eZine archives for 1998 make for interesting summer reading, since the weekly e-newsletter provided extensive coverage of the founding and subsequent actions of the ODA in 1998. (The 'zine even gets a mention on page 13 of this latest USPTO filing). Some of the ODA's actions back then were outrageous, such as blowing half of the fledging organization's $375,000 initial budget on a single full-page anti-Autodesk ad in the Wall Street Journal that year. 

The ODA laywer is also presenting the question that if Autodesk owned these DWG-related marks for so many years, why did it fail to register them way back then?

Eh? What's That?

On the other side, the ODA does some backtracking by claiming the current ODA president doesn't have English as his first language, and subsequent to a deposition realized he had not understood or answered some questions correctly. And so needed to correct his sworn statements:

...something made plain by the witness' errata...

I've been (unfortunately) in attendance to a disposition (involving my son's car accident). In the Canadian version, at least, there is plenty of time to ruminate, clarify, correct, and pinpoint. This "Oops, I didn't meant that" argument could become a problem for the ODA. But maybe depositions are different in the USA.

The document goes on to extensively rebut Autodesk's claims of the ODA's fraud. We look forward to reading Autodesk's counter-rebuts but are somewhat terrified of the forthcoming document's title -- perhaps, "Rebut to the Rebut to the Rebut, to the Rebut, to the Rebut, to the..."

We also learn for the first time that former ODA president Evan Yares is now giving testimony. Page 11 is a copy of his statement, in which he notes that he communicated regularly with Autodesk executives in the late 1990s, and that they were well aware of the ODA's use of the "OpenDWG" mark.

When you read upFront.eZine's 1998 archives, you learn that Autodesk back then was more concerned with the word "open" than the term "DWG." 

Shhhh

A second document was posted the same day by the ODA's lawyer, but it is titled "Confidential Defendant's Opposition/Response to Motion" and cannot be read. Darn!

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I asked and you responded about your perspective on jumping up a release or Double Jumping.  You explained in the comments how you firm and you approach this question.  Now I would like to offer some of my advice on making this call….

When is the right time to upgrade your software release?

Think about these things… (portions originally published in AUGI Hot News 2005)

Before the next Project begins.

Many people want to prepare and move before a major project starts. Rather than move the whole company at one time they take one project into the next release and manage the process like a Project Manager. This can be a good thing and a bad thing.

The Good – It sets you up to use the increased productivity in the new release to be applied to the new project. It also places you on focus for the future since the project will outlast your prior release use. By taking a project into the next release, you can control the tools used on a small scale, selecting which new tools to apply. Sheet Sets? Project Navigator? Vault? No need to expect to use all of the new improvements, just select the ones that will impact the project for the better.

The Bad - Your upgrade troubles may slow down the project schedule. Training and tech support issues may impede project timeline. Productivity may (will) take a slight dip until users get up to speed. All of the this impacts the project

My Advice – make sure the Project Manager is supportive. Let him or her know the issues surrounding the use of the new software. Make them your ally. If not – he could turn into your worst critic.

Lessons Learned - Make sure you track the troubles you have.  Document anything that is a concern.  make a definite process of expanding it to the next project.

After Training

Most firms want to do some form of training.  It may be formal, informal or just a handout.

The Good – When you have completed training your users are hopefully excited and ready to use the software. Training can create momentum for the migration.

The Bad – Training takes time away from project work. Productivity loss from training time may need to be recovered as users return to the project environment.

My Advice – you need to train before the migration begins, but you may want to wait a week or two so that all the projects are caught up from any time lost during the training.

Lessons Learned - Training does not stop when the class ends.  Keep in touch with the users.  Make handouts that can be used as reference material.

When demanded by clients

Sometimes the client sets the pace for upgrades.

The Good - May force your team to make a move if you are having difficulty making progress. It is often hard to get the migration started. After I was prepared, I have used a clients demand for upgrades to get my team moving.

The Bad – The demand may come before you are ready. You may not have trained. You are forced to move and may be reluctant. Bad morale may creep in since it was not your choice

My Advice - The whole issue of when to move may or may not be in your hands. If it is, then you should carefully think and plan for the move. If it is not, you should prepare for it because it may be inevitable. Be prepared!

Lessons Learned - Be prepared before they ask you.  Get everything set and migrate your content prior to the question being posed.

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Working in 3D can be e real challenge at times when you are used to only worrying about 2 dimensions. One tool I have found to be very handy is the ability to orient a 3D view of a multiple story building to show just one floor at a time.
To do this go to the View menu and select Orient and then To Other View.This will bring up a dialog that allows you to select the floor you want to view.

After you pick the floor, it will look like you have a plan view. Orbit your model to reveal your single 3D floor for coordination.

Bentley Systems cto Keith Bentley does a good job explaining why they made the interoperatiblity agreement with Autodesk: The Bentley/Autodesk Agreement - what does it mean for Bentley Users?

He is candid:

Some observers have speculated that Autodesk's support of DGN in AutoCAD will be a net negative for Bentley -- allowing organizations that currently use MicroStation to create DGN files to instead use AutoCAD for that purpose. Of course there may well be some of that, and I suspect that prospect is a motivating factor for Autodesk in this agreement (again, I don't speak for Autodesk.) 

And informative:

For example, we have already begun several projects to better integrate the Bentley Building applications with the various flavors of Revit.

As well as this indication of vigorous competition:

Do not get me wrong -- this agreement does NOT make DGN and DWG equivalent, nor does it make MicroStation and AutoCAD interchangeable. We won't concede for a minute that anyone working in a DGN-based workflow should use AutoCAD, even though they technically could use AutoCAD. The Bentley Marketing department is salivating at the prospect of educating all of those newly-DGN-aware AutoCAD users all over the world of the advantages of the Bentley product suite.

Read it all.

Dassault Systemes has doubled the number of words in the name of SolidWorks Corporation to:

Dassault Systemes SolidWorks Corporation

Ricky Jordon figures everyone will continue to call them "SolidWorks" Corp. I figure on using DS SolidWorks to avoid confusion between the eponymous company and product names.

Mr Jordon also hopes this is a foreshadowing of Catia and SolidWorks being able to exchange drawing files; my guess this is a foreshadowing of SolidWorks dealers selling Catia.

Users who wish to deploy the Autodesk Design Review 2009 SP1 can do so using the following method:

Create Admin Install

• Msiexec /a [path\name of MSI file] TARGETDIR=[Directory Path]

Sample: msiexec /a C:\Product\adr\SetupDesignReview2009.msi TARGETDIR="C:\Target\ADR"

Update MSI with MSP(Service Pack)

• [Directory Path]>Msiexec /a [Directory Path\name of the MSI file] /p [path\name of update MSP file]

Sample: C:\DOCUME~1\kalvaik\LOCALS~1\Temp>msiexec /a C:\target\adr\SetupDesignReview2009.msi /p D:\Releases\ADR\SetupDesignReview2009SP1.msp

We have tested this method several times over and the result confirmed that it is working as expected. Once you have updated the MSI with the MSP file, the resultant deployment of the MSI will provide all users access to Build 0127, being Autodesk Design Review 2009 SP1.

-Volker

School Honored for Integrating Revit Architecture Software for Building Information Modeling into Curriculum and Encouraging Sustainable Design Skills

Open Source Technology Continues to Gain Momentum with Geospatial Professionals

Welcome to AECWeekly! AECWeekly is a news magazine featuring important industry news profiles, a summary of recently published AEC product and compa

How often do you check your email?  I keep mine running just about all the time.  I check it frequently.  I have several accounts pulling in emails from several sources into my Outlook client.

What are you doing?  How often do you check your email.  Are you addicted?  Do you control it, or does it control you?  Are you easy to get a hold of?

Take the survey on the left and also leave a comment for us all.

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Boston Dynamics is developing a series of biomimetic ("life-imitating") robots. Cool videos and brief explanations can be found here. (Thanks, John Miller!)

Surfaces Surfaces are three-dimensional elements that have no thickness. Surfaces can be flat or they can be curved in multiple directions. Surfaces can be “stitched” together to enclose a space. Solids Solids are three-dimensional elements that have thickness; they are solid all the wa...