Product Review Archives - Page 3 of 12

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):

DraftSight ends Beta; general release announced!

The big news from Dassault Systemes today is that they just announced the general release of DraftSight for Windows. DraftSight is a no-cost 2D CAD application for CAD professionals, students and educators which allows them to create, edit and view .dwg files. The very long beta release of the Windows version has ended with an impressive 400,000 450,000 downloads (as of 5:00PM ET on February 22, 2011) from the DraftSight website. In a conversation I had with Aaron Kelly, Senior Director of DraftSight at Dassault Systemes, he stated that this number is “a lot more than we expected.” He added that the total number of full DraftSight activations is over 95,000.

Language support

Also according to Kelly, since the beta 3 release, the DraftSight user interface has simultaneously supported 14 languages at once (English, German, French, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Turkish, Korean, Polish, Russian, Czech). As of today’s general release, DraftSight will now also support these languages in the Help file, meaning that DraftSight is now fully localized (all 14 versions will be released at once for each update).

DraftSight is community driven

Free support, training and enhancement requests may be conducted through the DraftSight online community, based on Dassault Systemes’ SwYm online collaboration and social innovation platform. SwYm communities have profiles, blogs, micro-blogging, “iQuestions”, wikis, media sharing spaces (data, audio, video, and even 3D), status updates, and more all within one online user interface.

Other updates in the general release

API support for DraftSight is now available, for a fee. This enables users to write add-on programs for DraftSight in C++ and other supported programming languages. The addition of Command Variables Enhancement allows users to set and change system variables directly from the command line. Aaron Kelly adds, “we fixed a bunch of bugs that people reported”. He also stressed the value the user base in improving DraftSight.

Service options

DraftSight offers a variety of support options, including no-cost community support (mentioned above), as well as fee-based Premium Services that may include telephone and email support, network licensing and access to DraftSight APIs. There is now the Education Premium Service for educators which includes curriculum materials, network licensing and telephone and email support.

InspectionXpert for SolidWorks review

Refresh Project InspectionXpert for SolidWorks is an inspection report automater and ballooning application that runs within SolidWorks FeatureManager pane. Its tight integration with SolidWorks has earned it SolidWorks Gold Partner status.

InspectionXpert helps users to automatically generate inspection report forms in conjunction with automatically ballooned inspection drawings. The user can choose to create an inspection report for every dimension (for First Article), or choose particular dimensions to inspect, such as those identified with the rounded outline box. InspectionXpert displays identified information in something called Characteristic Tree (it includes dimensions, geometric tolerances, notes, hole callouts, weld and surface finish symbols extracted directly from the SolidWorks drawings). Report forms created from the Characteristic Tree are created in Excel.

Inspection data points within the Characteristic Tree can be saved directly inside of the SolidWorks Drawing for added convenience. InspectionXpert has a project refresh function that may be used if dimensions are added or if a drawing is changed.

InspectionXpert can be particularly useful for Incoming Inspection, Manufacturing, and other groups by allowing them to generate accurate and highly specialized reports based on information directly pulled from the SolidWorks drawing. This seems like a good solution that can simplify and streamline the inspection process.

SolidWorks Live Buildings announcement

At SolidWorks World 2011, a new AEC product was announced. It’s called SolidWorks Live Buildings. It is a 3D conceptual design tool focused on integrated planning and early cost estimation for building design. SolidWorks hopes that this new tool will improve collaboration between architects, engineers and builders.

SolidWorks Live Buildings is based on the ENOVIA V6 online platform. The interface should look familiar to current V6 users. The product will enable any team member to access models from anywhere and anytime. According to SolidWorks,

There is no need to transfer large data files via email or FTP sites. Since everyone has access to the same model, there is no chance of working on the wrong version of a project.

The presentation of SolidWorks Live Building was impressive. Its easy of use was demonstrated on SolidWorks’ future headquarters. Stairs, walls, cubical clusters, doors, and stair tools were all added quickly. They also showed off a sundial feature which tracks the sun’s position and time of day (or night) to change shades and analyse lighting.

SolidWorks is planning general availability for the second half of 2011.

InspectionXpert for SolidWorks achieves Gold Partner status

Extensible CAD Technologies LLC recently declared that InspectionXpert® for SolidWorks has just achieved Certified Gold Partner status with DS SolidWorks Corp. They state,

With this certification awarded on January 7^th, InspectionXpert for SolidWorks becomes the first Certified Gold Partner application for automating quality inspection documentation that is fully integrated into SolidWorks® software.

InspectionXpert enables users to access inspection dimensions directly from their SolidWorks drawings, create ballooned inspection drawings, and export to an inspection report form. The technology should help users reduce manual processes, reduce errors, and save the time it takes to create inspection documentation for first article, in-process, and final inspections.

InspectionXpert for SolidWorks 2011 interface

As noted, Extensible CAD Technologies will be demonstrating InspectionXpert SolidWorks World 2011. As with many other products being shown next week, I’ll try to get a chance to check out their demonstration.

Subtractive rapid prototyping to be demonstrated at SolidWorks World 2011

According to a recent announcement, Roland DGA Corp. and MecSoft Corp. are teaming up at SolidWorks World 2011 to demonstrate a new design-to-part workflow for Subtractive Rapid Prototyping (SRP) technology that “[offers] several advantages over 3D printers.” This workflow combines VisualMILL for SolidWorks CAM software from MecSoft with Roland MDX milling machines that provides a “powerful solution for producing parts and prototypes from a wide range of non-proprietary materials including aluminum, ABS, Acetal, Nylon, acrylic, polycarbonate, wood, plaster and polystyrene.” I’m interested. What will they show at their demonstration? Rapid prototyping has become very important in recent years as companies of all types are seeking to find ways to bring their products to market quickly in order to remain competitive.

As I’ve noted over the years, there are not many CAM applications that run within SolidWorks. VisualMILL for SolidWorks is fully integrated inside SolidWorks as a Gold Partner. This allows Roland MDX users to process their parts in a familiar design environment. This also means that programming can be done inside of SolidWorks instead of going through an error prone file conversion process.

I’m not necessarily sold on this idea yet. I’ve not personally seen effective use of alternatives to 3D printers. But it is interesting to see an integration between a rapid prototyping technology with a CAM package. I’ll try to check out their demonstration at SolidWorks World 2011 next week and provide additional details here as appropriate.