Category: News

Melissa Appel is at it again on the SolidWorks Forums

Some time ago, Melissa Appel of SolidWorks started a thread in the SolidWorks forum for “silly” drawing workarounds.  This thread got a lot of attention.  Well, she’s at it again.  This time, she’s started a thread called “Show me what we can’t do in SolidWorks annotation formatting“.

There’s already a ton of suggestions that have been posted to this thread.  There’s a mention or two of bugs.  The notorious balloon quantity spacing issue is there.  Several issues with GD&T callouts are on the list.  Better control over breaks in extension lines, extension line termination and other dimensioning issues show up all over the thread.  I even suggested the creation of a SelectionWizard so that users can set up the order precedence when they want to select from several overlapping objects in SolidWorks drawings (and where the selection filter is not desired or is ineffective).

There’s plenty of room for more input in the thread for others who have ideas for improvement with annotation formatting in SolidWorks.  What’s been bugging you about SolidWorks annotation formatting limitations?

Bertrand Sicot makes progress to CSWP

During an event at SolidWorks World 2011, Bertrand Sicot, new CEO of SolidWorks Corp, made a declaration that he would earn his CSWP status by SolidWorks World 2012 (February 13, 2012) .  He recently posted on update on his progress on the SolidWorks Blog.  I cannot do justice to Sicot’s own great words by restating them here, so I invite you to read his article without any further introduction.

Strong response to DraftSight for Linux

Dassault Systemes dives head first into uncharted waters with its beta release of a no-cost Linux based 2D CAD application called DraftSight for Linux, announced earlier this month.  Though DraftSight for Linux is not open source, it is free to download and use, and the community of users will direct its development via 3D SwYm.  There are two Linux versions available for download, Ubuntu and  Fedora/Suse/Mandriva.

File compatibility

DraftSight reads and saves .dwg and .dxf file formats.  It can read those formats from any version 2.5 and after.  It can save to any versions from R12 to R2007-2010.  It can also export to PDF, PNG, TIF, SAT and STL.

Free!

What makes this stand out in the Linux community is that DraftSight for Linux is the first non-GPL release of a 2D CAD application from a major corporation that is free for both commercial and personal use.  Even ARES does not offer that!  DraftSight for Linux will have a paid subscription service for educational and commercial customers who want phone support, network licensing, and access to API.  Other than that, free activation of DraftSight for Linux is required to access certain functions.

Linux community response

The response from the community has surprised Dassault Systemes’ Aaron Kelly, Senior Director of DraftSight, who states,

Over 11,000 [downloads] since yesterday (3/16/2011).  A little over 1,000 a day on average.  80% choose the Ubuntu download.  I am surprised by this number as it is about what the MAC uptake was.  These are not users we typically reach. 

An article about DraftSight for Linux appeared on Slashdot, and threads are appearing on Linux related forums.  (These have generated a substantial amount of traffic to SolidWorks Legion.)

System requirements

Ubuntu 9.10 Gnome, Fedora 14 Gnome, Suse 11.2 Gnome, Mandriva 2010 Gnome and KDE, or higher versions, 32-bit

  • 1GHz x86 processor
  • 1GB RAM (2GB recommended)
  • 1GB hard drive space
  • 1024×768 display (1680x 1050 or higher recommended) with True Color graphics card
  • Mouse (wheel mouse recommended)
  • DVD-ROM, only needed if installing from a DVD (who’s doing that?)

64-bit installation

Now, there’s been some comment from the Linux community that DraftSight for Linux is not 64-bit.  Leave it to the Linux community to address its own complaints!  Check out this solution at Courira.ca for Ubuntu 64-bit users.

Other versions

DraftSight for Windows and DraftSight for Mac OS (beta) are also available.

Intel announces new processor with built-in graphics capabilities

For far too long, the CAD industry has played second fiddle to the gaming industry in terms of graphics and computers.  Though there are many overlapping needs between the two industries, there are significant differences as well.  With their announcement of the Xeon processor E3-1200 product family, Intel seems to now put more focus on the CAD industry.

They are attempting to create a workstation category with optimized performance for CAD by combining the CPU and GPU into one chip.  Intel states that this new processor (combined with the Intel C206 chipset) will be optimized for professional and practical performance on workstations designed for CAD, digital animation and 3D imaging.  The graphics technology employed on this new chip is called Intel HD Graphics P3000.  The “P” in “P3000” simultaneously means “performance”, “practical”, and “professional”.

The first product release in this new family of processors should have graphic abilities that are equivalent with entry-level graphic cards currently on the market.  There are several advantages to this new product over traditional graphics cards.  Though pricing is not available yet, there is a suggestion that customers will save because they are no longer required to buy and maintain separate graphics cards.  There will also be power savings that will lower the cost of the workstation by allowing for a smaller power supply (or at least, more efficient use of the power supply).

Monitors will connect to this new type of workstation directly to the motherboard (or presumably offset connections at the back of the workstation that lead directly to the motherboard).

Pricing, availability and other information about this new product will be released by Intel within the next month or so.

Early-bird special for ADDA conference ending soon

ADDA’s 52nd Annual Technical & Educational Training Conference in 2011 is coming up quick.  To save on registration, the early bird special is running until March 18, 2011.  The conference days are from April 12 to April 15.  It’s billed as “4 days of training, educations, professional development, learning sessions and certification”.  As I mentioned in a previous article, there are a wide variety of sessions, with ASME and GD&T education being prominent features of this conference.

There is a two part session on GD&T.  Part one is available on the 12th, and part two is available at various times on the 13th.  Several ASME sessions cover drawing standards and stack-ups.  There are also numerous CAD sessions for the mechanical and architectural fields.  Several sessions may interest civil designers too.  Digital design sessions on several Adobe applications are also in the plan.  A preliminary list of sessions is available on the conference website, though no times are yet on display.

Follow ADDA on twitter @adda_intl, and on Linkedin at the ADDA group.  As noted previously, I’ll be posting tweets (follow me on Twitter) from the conference with hashtag #atec11.

DraftSight for Linux is now in beta!

It took a little longer than originally planned, but DraftSight for Linux is now in beta release for the general public!  Of course, DraftSight is a no-cost 2D CAD product by Dassault Systemes for CAD professionals, students and educators (download at DraftSight.com) that allows them to create, edit and view DWG files.

The Linux version of DraftSight was openly talked about by Dassault Systemes as early as August 2010.  The original statements at that time suggested that a beta release would be happening in the Fall of that year.  That didn’t happen, but the Linux version is finally available.  This is a major move that allows Dassault Systemes to position itself very well in the 2D CAD industry with its beta release of a MAC version, and its recent general release of the Windows version.  For additional information about DraftSight, please see my previous article.  There’s also more Linux specific information now available in this newer article.

Here are some images of DraftSight for Linux (click on image to enlarge):