RobiNZ CAD Blog

Ed Bott on XP versus Vista, is it a 2000/XP replay?

I haven’t got a great deal of experience with Vista, one machine with Vista Business, but so far it’s been OK. I like the looks but find it’s constant “Do you want to do this..” nagging a little tedious. I haven’t had any technical problems but this is with a limited range of applications on hardware spec’d for Vista. I was interested to read Ed Bott's amusing comparison of Windows 2000 vs XP reviews from 2001 with XP vs Vista from 2007. The post release “fix up” SP1 isn’t far away so maybe it’s Vista time.

Remembering Windows XP’s early days | Ed Bott’s Microsoft Report | ZDNet.com
I am amused by the current lovefest going on with Windows XP. It’s the greatest operating system ever, in the minds of some, especially compared to the allegedly bloated, slow Windows Vista. In fact, InfoWorld has gone so far as to kick off a “Save XP” petition drive…

Vista bashers really hate it when you point out that the same criticisms being leveled at Vista today were commonly aimed at XP after its launch. Fortunately, I’ve found a near-perfect example of this trend. It’s illuminating, and ironically, it comes from InfoWorld Vista bashers really hate it when you point out that the same criticisms being leveled at Vista today were commonly aimed at XP after its launch. Fortunately, I’ve found a near-perfect example of this trend. It’s illuminating, and ironically, it comes from InfoWorld…

Jimmy saves my desktop layout

Jimmy Bergmark posted a cool tip for anyone who, like me, spends time arranging desktop icons “just so” – only to have a resolution change or similar mix them up again. Now it’s just right-click Restore, sorted. Thanks Jimmy!

JTB World Blog: Save desktop icon layout so it can be restored - 32bit Windows Xp/Vista
I typically find that when I upgrade graphic card driver (NVIDIA's driver setup) or change to lower resolution for one or the other reason that the desktop icons move like I don't want them to. With this solution you can save the desktop icons positions and restore the positions of the icons later…

Microsoft offer 5GB of "Cloud" - Windows Live SkyDrive

Microsoft have released SkyDrive, their “cloud” storage solution, from beta and now offer 5GB storage in 38 countries, including New Zealand. That’s a ray of sunshine on a gloomy Auckland day.

Windows Live SkyDrive Team Blog
You've made two things clear since our first release: You want more space; and you want SkyDrive where you are. Today we're giving you both. You now have five times the space you had before — that’s 5GB of free online storage for your favorite documents, pictures, and other files. SkyDrive is also available now in 38 countries/regions.

Windows Live SkyDrive - skydrive.live.com

The demise of Viz, comes at a price...

At the recent World Press Day Autodesk announced the demise of Autodesk Viz and their intention to “encourage” Viz customers to move to Autodesk 3ds Max Design 2009. It’s a subset of 3ds Max 2009 optimised for architects, designers, and visualisation specialists. As a Viz subscription customer I was interested to read this “encouragement” was the opportunity to give Autodesk more money (based on the US pricing in the press release):

From March 31, 2008 to July 17, 2008, existing Autodesk VIZ 2008 software Subscription customers will be able to cross-grade to 3ds Max Design 2009 for US$249**. During this same timeframe, Autodesk VIZ 2006, 2007, and 2008 customers who are not on Autodesk Subscription will be able to cross-grade to 3ds Max Design 2009 for US$895**, if  they purchase Autodesk Subscription for 3ds Max Design 2009.

Autodesk Subscription will be available for purchase simultaneously with the product purchase or upgrade. The Autodesk suggested retail price for Autodesk Subscription for 3ds Max or 3ds Max Design will be US $495* per year.
* International pricing may vary. ** International pricing may vary. This promotion only applies to Autodesk VIZ purchases made prior to February 12, 2008.
http://www.worldpressdays08.com/pages/doc/products/3ds_Max_Design_2009_press_release.pdf

Here is the justification for Subscription from the Autodesk website in my region;

Simplify your technology upgrades and boost your design productivity with the complete software, support, and training package from Autodesk® Subscription. With Autodesk Subscription you get the latest releases of your Autodesk® software, incremental product enhancements, personalised web support direct from Autodesk technical experts, and self-paced training to help extend your skills.
http://south-apac.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?siteID=1157326&id=3868490

An email arrived recently addressed to “Dear valued Autodesk® VIZ Customer” including this statement:

In the coming months, we will be working to manage the transition of VIZ customers to 3ds Max Design. As part of this transition, all Autodesk VIZ development efforts are being transferred to 3ds Max Design, and there is no plan for further development of Autodesk VIZ software.

Given Autodesk decided to kill Viz and transfer all development to 3ds Max Design surely “the latest releases of your [my] Autodesk® software” is now 3ds Max Design?

While 3ds Max Design is a far superior application it would have been decent to recognise the subscription commitment by migrating current Viz Subscribers with no cross-grade fee. I didn’t decide Viz was inadequate or choose to upgrade my Viz to Max. Autodesk killed Viz to simplify their code-base for development and other business reasons. Viz users wanting to remain compatible with the latest partner applications (Revit, AutoCAD, Inventor) have little choice other than cross-grade at a price. Not exactly my idea of encouraging valued subscription customers.

I'm not sure what I'll do as it will depend on the final regional pricing. If it follows the US model, as I expect, I'll drop my personal Viz Subscription and recommend the same for most of them at work. If that's the case Autodesk's attempt to "encourage" this Viz user by charging for a migration I didn't want/need means they'll probably loose a few “valued” subscribers. The price of killing Viz…

Hide the InfoCenter, if you prefer - AutoCAD 2009

InfoCenter was introduced with AutoCAD 2008. I liked how it combined the old communication centre, help, search and integrated RSS feeds. However, some found the title bar search entry box consumed too much space clipping the title/path display. AutoCAD 2009 adds a control to hide the panel when not in use.

DWG TrueView 2009 measures up

I’ve flogged this capture from “Beyond the Paper” to illustrate an important new feature in Autodesk’s free .dwg drawing viewer. 

It could always view, print and publish (to DWF) but Autodesk DWG TrueView 2009* will finally measure!  There is more about the new TrueView at:

Beyond the Paper: DWG TrueView 2009 is cool

* Does the T (for TrueView I presume) button icon “read” as a rotated IT to you or is it just my dismal eyesight?

Fiat 500 Abarth - Re-inventing a design classic

Fiat does small cars best. Abarth has returned to it’s roots, making Fiats fast. The Fiat 500 Abarth is nearly here.

It’s small, it’s Fiat, it’s Abarth and it will be a classic*.

Fiat 500 Abarth Design Preview

Fiat 500 Site - www.fiat500.com

* Unlike the new Mini, a successful failure

Tags: fiat, abarth, Fiat+500

A couple of new AutoCAD blogs

From Perth, Australia, AutoCAD Guru Steve Johnson has started an AutoCAD blog…

Welcome to blog nauseam - www.blog.cadnauseam.com
This is the blog of cad nauseam owner Steve Johnson. Expect to find a somewhat strange selection of stuff about AutoCAD, music, image manipulation and video…

Meanwhile, somewhat closer to home, my Sunday cycle ride/brunch mate has done the same;

William Le Couteur's AutoCAD Blog - wlecouteur.blogspot.com
Where do I start? Is there a target audience? I would hope my target audience would be interested in things to do with drafting and usage of AutoCAD…

Subscribed!

AutoCAD 2009's Quick View Layout & Drawing feature

I was going to blog about AutoCAD 2009’s new Quick View Layout & Drawing feature but now there is little point. Just click through to Donnie’s brilliant post and video to see these features in action:

AutoCAD 2009: Quick View Layout & Drawing Video Introduction - The CAD Geek Blog
“Starting with AutoCAD 2009 we’re no longer trapped within a static interface.  Instead we start seeing some dynamic UI elements.  Among these is the new Quick View Layout, and Quick View Drawing feature...”

QuadriSpace gets ribboned

Yesterday a press release arrived in my in-box from QuadriSpace. I wasn't familiar with their product but the tag line on their site “3D Publishing Software – It’s 3D, it’s a document” says it all. They have range of applications which claims to take existing 3D design data then format, enhance and publish it for use in technical, marketing and other documents.

I haven't used the software but one feature caught my eye in the preview of their 2008 releases. It's a new user interface. Another design related application gets the ribbon, notice a trend?

QuadriSpace - 3D Publishing Software

Tags: QuadriSpace

"Matt Writes" on a new User Inteface

Given the focus of the latest AutoCAD release, a new UI, I found this recent blog post interesting reading:

Matt Writes - dezignstuff.com/blog/:
“The 2008 interface is only the latest salvo in this war on their customers. The 2008 interface throws away all of the knowledge and training that loyal customers have accumulated over the years, mainly for the benefit of people who have never used the software - potential new sales to reluctant-to-change 2D users. Is this any way to treat your loyal customers? Yank the rug out from underneath them? What’s wrong with a familiar interface for a tool? We are not talking women’s fashion, we are not talking styling, we are talking about how we interact with an engineering tool that needs to remain familiar. There is no benefit in random change.” [continues]

The UI in question? SolidWorks 2008 (released July 2007) with it’s version of the ribbon. Matt's “reluctant-to-change 2D users” being targeted by the new UI? AutoCAD users who have just been ribboned!

Who’s on first…

Buzz Bruggeman & Robert Scoble see something remarkable at Microsoft

If it impresses Buzz and Robert I can’t wait to see what it is...

Microsoft researchers make me cry « Scobleizer — Tech geek blogger

• It’s not often that I see software that really changes my world. It’s even rarer that I see software that I know will change the world my sons live in. I can count those times pretty easily.


• Yesterday was one of those days


• If I told you today what they were doing, without showing you the video we’ll have up on March 3, you’d tell me “that’s lame Scoble.” But when you see it face-to-face everyone I know who’s seen it say they’ve had an emotional reaction to it. Buzz Bruggeman, CEO of ActiveWords, was the first to tell me about it and said it was the best thing he’s seen in years from Microsoft…

Time flies, it’s Autodesk 2009!

Autodesk have announced their “2009” product releases including AutoCAD, AutoCAD Architecture/MEP and Revit Architecture/MEP. While there is a lot to see in these products some of the announcements made today regarding acquisitions and subscription are just as interesting. It’s a month or so before the release products ship but via the MyFeedback program I’ve had access to a few of them for a while. There are some major changes in all the applications and lots of refinements, although some I’d classify as bug fixes. These are my highlights from the releases, I’ll follow with more detail in future posts. To maximise browser compatibility I’ve shared animations (captured with Camtasia) in .gif format which does limit colour and gradient rendition. The static captures are a better guide to the true appearance, in my case as seen on Windows XP, and details may change between now & release.

AutoCAD 2009 – It’s the User Interface… 

While there are lots of refinements the major impact is how AutoCAD looks and feels. If you’ve recently upgraded to Office 2007 things might seem a little more familiar but AutoCAD veterans are in for a shock. AutoCAD has adopted many of the principles and general layout of the Microsoft Fluent UI however, unlike Office, Autodesk’s interface allows full customisation. It’s all new from the “A” (for AutoCAD) desktop icon to the “AutoCAD” Button, Menu Browser and Ribbon. Even the old status bar text toggles have changed to swish new icons. The focus shifts from tools to tasks as, like Office, the interface attempts to present tools and controls relevant to your work-flow. If your priorities differ the AutoCAD Ribbon allows the same level of customisation as the previous toolbar UI. Unlike Microsoft Office, AutoCAD also retains the old UI so those who can’t live without the legacy Menu/Toolbar model have still that option. Of course the command line, dynamic cursor input and keyboard shortcuts are there for those who prefer the keyboard approach.

• This  capture shows the “AutoCAD Button” and Menu Browser which allows access to Menus, Recent & Open Files and Recent Actions. The options for thumbnail and image previews make finding & selecting files easier. The Quick Access toolbar (next to the A, displaying New, Open, Save etc here) can hold any command you use frequently.

• Below you see a few features of the AutoCAD Ribbon in action. It can be partially or completely hidden (it flies out when you hover over it) and the individual panels can be pinned open or torn off. New look icons and tool-tips are featured which have a crisp, if monotone, appearance more like Inventor.  The ribbon is customised using the CUI (shudder) and combines with the existing “workspace” and Tool Palettes to support a task focused approach. Sadly the appearance is a bit Henry Ford! Any colour you like as long as it is dark or light grey. I suspect it was designed for Vista as, to my eyes, clashes horribly with the default XP blue & beige. I’m running XP with the grey theme which is more acceptable. Layers can be managed from the Ribbon Panel, a traditional layer dialog or a new mode-less, always open, dialog.

• The new status icons for Snap, Grid, Ortho, Polar etc replace the old text labels.

• AutoCAD now features refined 3D View Cube (nice!) and Steering Wheel controls (yuk!) similar to those previously seen in Autodesk Design Review!

AutoCAD Architecture 2009 – Refinement, Refinement…

As usual AutoCAD Architecture inherits many of the AutoCAD features, but interestingly not all. It makes less use of the Ribbon and won’t use the mode-less Layer dialog seen in AutoCAD. It features improvements to Walls (Cleanup and end-caps), Spaces and Project Navigator to aid work-flow. Perhaps my favourite feature is a tiny one. When you have over a hundred live projects the ability to close the current one from Project Navigator, without opening and finding it in Project Browser, is awesome!

• AutoCAD Architecture in Design Workspace Menu/Toolbar and Visualisation Workspace Ribbon mode.

Revit Architecture 2009 – Exceptional Rendering…

Yes, Revit could always render, thanks to Accurender, but invariably it looked “OK, except…”. For 2009 the factory have incorporated the high quality Mental Ray render engine as seen in Max, AutoCAD and other products. This change alone would justify Revit 2009 for me but there are many other improvements. Sadly apart from an “R” desktop icon (get it?) Revit has not benefited from major UI changes other than the View Cube and Steering Wheel 3D viewing controls seen in other Autodesk products. The new render UI is delightfully simple and credit to the team. Inter-operation between Revit and Max has also been improved.

Other announcements:

• Autodesk announce acquisitions of analysis technologies from Green Building Studio and Carmel Software
• Autodesk Impression free for AEC application subscription customers!? See this post for more detail
• 3ds Max Design and 3ds Max 2009 Entertainment announced. Autodesk also announced Viz development is ending and it’s “encouraging customers to shift to 3ds Max Design”. As a Viz user, subscriber, I’ll be interested to see what form this “encouragement” takes as the press release only has US pricing!

That’s all for now, it’s time for bed!

Tags: Autodesk, 2009

The full featured Apple Macbook Air

Is a Sony

Via planetsab

Autodesk making an Impression?

Lisa’s blog has an announcement from the Autodesk World Press Day which impresses!

Coming soon... – Inside Hues – Lisa's Autodesk Impression Blog
“At World Press Days (taking place as we speak) it will be announced that Autodesk Impression 2 (to be released this Spring) will be available to Subscription customers of AutoCAD, AutoCAD Architecture, AutoCAD Civil 3D, AutoCAD Map 3D, AutoCAD MEP, and AutoCAD Revit Architecture Suite. If you read between the lines, this means that Impression will no longer be sold as a stand-alone application, and that the Technology Preview program which we've been running in select regions will come to an end.”

Journalists and Bloggers, what's that all about?

Recently, I was surprised to be asked if I was attending the Autodesk World Press Day. I responded: “No, I’m not Press, I’m just a blogger!”.

As the press and “deskers converge on San Francisco it appears Roopinder Tara has been pondering the whole question of Journalists and Bloggers;

CAD Insider: Journalists and Bloggers - Old School Meets New School
Major CAD companies have indeed recognized blogging as valuable. Has their treatment of bloggers given bloggers cred? Does the old school resent the intrusion? Do bloggers play by the rules -- or do they even have rules? I'll try to examine some of these issues in an ongoing series of posts. And as usual, I welcome you to chime in with your opinion…

It will be interesting to see how his series develops, and what emerges from Autodesk over the next few days.

18 Stunning Bridges...

Bridge design can result in some beautiful combinations of engineering and aesthetic excellence. Frikoo have a brilliant review of amazing bridges with photos and information. I’m not really surprised they missed this one…

 

18 Stunning Bridges From Around The World - Frikoo

With the technological boom of the last century came a huge increase in construction capability, and rivers, seas or valleys which were once thought to be completely uncrossable were finally overcome by the advent of numerous new, spectacular bridges. So in honour of these incredible engineering achievements, we have selected our favourite few bridges from around the world. We have the very old, the very new, the very-nearly-finished, the very long and of course the ones which just look very, very cool. Take your pick!

SolidSmack and the Flying Spaghetti Monster

Although I don’t use SolidWorks I do read SolidSmack – a SolidWorks focused blog. The “how to" posts aren’t much use to me but there is a wealth of other content on product design, technology and other cool stuff that keeps me reading.

I suspect Josh has been touched by the Flying Spaghetti Monster's noodly appendages. His “5 minute model” combined with his site logo (below) resembles a cubist FSM.

SolidSmack.com - www.solidsmack.com
I created the below model in just over 5 minutes. Fun stuff.

It’s already appeared in AutoCAD, DWF/Freewheel (thanks to Robert Grandmaison), MindManager and Second Life. Will the Flying Spaghetti Monster spontaneously appear in Revit, ArchiCAD, Inventor and other design applications? Is it a sign?

 

Tags: SolidSmack, Flying+Spaghetti+Monster

The language of planners...

Is this a statement, of the obvious?

Tech Tea!

Mike & Melanie (pictured at AU2007) have a new’ish blog which is theirs, as opposed to his (sort of) and hers. Something to do in their spare time? 

I found it after noticing Melanie's profile had changed on LinkedIn. Pop over, have a read, and subscribe like I just did.

Tech Tea - Mike and Melanie Perry

A technology-loving couple sharing about what is going on in the world of design and technology. If you like the Web, Engineering and Conservation, you've come to the right place. Have a nice cuppa tea and join us for some tech chat.

A SnagIt Blog!

I found this great blog about SnagIt after it’s author, Peter, left a comment on one of my SnagIt posts. Subscribed!

SnagIt Guide - www.snagitguide.com
At SnagIt Guide you find SnagIt tips, tricks, secrets and guides on how to get the most out of SnagIt, enjoy!

2D Graphics for a 3D world? CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X4

I’ve used CorelDRAW for years* and news of a new release was all it took for me to check out the Corel website. I currently use CorelDRAW 12 and skipped upgrading to last years “X3” release – did they really need to avoid “unlucky 13”?

Corel have been known to add and drop applications so I was interested to see what was new in the CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X4. Would it be a compelling upgrade for a CorelDRAW 12 user?

I was a little surprised to see the promotional material makes extensive use of a 3D CAD/BIM looking world. In the past Corel have flirted with various applications and the CorelDRAW Suite has seen 3D modelling (CorelBryce), 2D vector animation (CorelRAVE), texture generation (CorelTexture) come and go.  I wondered if they had ventured back into the CAD world, remember CorelCAD?, and the suite now included some sort of 3D modelling application!

Fear not CAD world! The only reason “X4” appears in a 3D world is to showcase a wide variety of uses for it’s 2D graphic applications. It’s a clever way to reinforce the graphic influences in our lives and how the CorelDRAW Suite can handle everything from billboards down to bar-codes.

CorelDRAW, PHOTO-PAINT and PowerTRACE are still the core applications and are improved for X4. Also in the box are utilities for capture, font management, bar code generation, colour matching and the usual truckload of templates, clip-art, fonts and images that make it usable out of the box. New this time is ConceptShare – an on-line collaboration tool for document sharing and review. The applications have had interface refinements but retain the familiar, and good, Corel UI with no sign of being “ribbonised”. In a blast from the past a modernised, but familiar, CorelDRAW Balloon returns to the X4 box with no sign of X3’s chameleon.

You won’t find CorelCAD, or CorelBIM, but check out the website, especially the video, for a look at what’s new in CorelDRAW Suite X4’s and it’s “2D in a 3D world”! As for that upgrade decision, the jury is still out .

CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X4 - Corel Corporation
CorelDRAW® Graphics Suite X4 lets you tackle creative graphics and design projects with confidence…

* Click for post related Disclosure Statement

Indexed - Graphic Math Humour!

Indexed is math based humour and social comment drawn on an index card. A favourite blog which is about to become a book.

INDEXED - by Jessica Hagy - indexed.blogspot.com

This site is a little project that lets me make fun of some things and sense of others. I use it to think a little more relationally without resorting to doing actual math.

Will Microsoft + Yahoo mean MicrosoftYahoo!Xtra Bubble for Kiwis?

I’m not sure what to make of “Microsoft Yahoo!” which led the business news when I woke up this morning. Wasn’t it last year that Steve Ballmer said Microsoft were going to be doing small acquisitions for the next five years. Still $44.6 billion isn’t that much I suppose!

It’s kinda funny that months after Xtra, my ISP, switched it’s partner allegiance from MSN to Yahoo! they may be merging back together. I hope the proposed merger goes better than the XtraMSN to Yahoo!Xtra transition which was far from seamless for many of its 1/2 million subscribers.

Perhaps the real problem for both Microsoft and Yahoo is having heard the radio news, like many I suspect, I used Google Search, News, Blog Search to find out more about it!

Microsoft makes unsolicited $44.6 billion bid for Yahoo - Feb. 1, 2008
“Software giant offers $31 a share - a 62% premium - in deal that could reorder online ad market. Microsoft's Ballmer: 'Major milestone.”

Microsoft makes bid for Yahoo | Between the Lines | ZDNet.com
“Microsoft said Friday that it is making an unsolicited offer of $31 a share, or $44.6 billion, to buy Yahoo in a move that would give the software giant more market share and become a significant threat to Google”
“Microsoft sent the following letter to Yahoo. Realistically it’s hard to see how Yahoo could say no”

Running the Numbers on a Possible Yahoo/Microsoft Merger | Epicenter from Wired.com
With Microsoft's surprise $44.6 billion offer for Yahoo this morning, we thought we'd look at some hard numbers to get a better sense of what the potential merger would mean for both companies...and the rest of the tech sector.

“Value of each Yahoo visitor based on Microsoft's $44.6B offer: $1,200/visitor“*

Does that mean this blog with approx 700 subscribers is worth us$840,000?

Tags: Microsoft, Yahoo!, Google, Xtra

Garmin vs the iPhone? Say hello to "the nüvifone"

Garmin, the GPS company, have announced they are entering the phone market!

Garmin will take on Apple & Nokia with “the nüvifone”.  It promises to merge 3.5G phone/camera/browser with Garmin’s GPS/Mapping technology, slick design and a touch UI. There isn’t much tech detail yet but from their press release the feature set looks promising:

• 3.5G mobile phone capability with an Internet browser, data connectivity, personal messaging, and personal navigation functions with 3.5-inch touchscreen display
• Web browser incorporating premium features and touchscreen operation for an optimum mobile browsing experience.
• Built-in video camera, MP3 and MPEG4/AAC
• GPS with pre-loaded maps of North America, Eastern and Western Europe (no mention of Asia Pacific?)
• Find a specific street address, establishment’s name or search for a destination by category using the nüvifone’s built-in database with millions of points of interest.
• Turn-by-turn, voice-prompted directions, after missed turn automatically recalculates a route
• Helps drivers find their car in an unfamiliar spot or crowded parking lot by automatically marking the position in which it was last removed from the vehicle mount.
• Garmin’s first device to include Google local search capability
• Direct access to millions of geo-located landmark and sightseeing photographs available through Google’s Panoramio picture sharing site.
• “Where am I?” feature lets users touch the screen at any time to display the exact latitude and longitude coordinates, the nearest address and intersection, and the closest hospitals, police stations and gas stations.
• The nüvifone includes access to Garmin Online™, an online service offering constantly-updating information such as real-time traffic, fuel prices, stock prices, sport scores, news reports, local events and weather forecasts
• Garmin anticipates that the nüvifone will be available in the third quarter of 2008.

The big questions are cost, battery life (a major limitation with multi-function devices) and, if not for my USA/European readers, will it be available in Asia/Pacific? As a Garmin Etrex owner I know how useful personal GPS can be so combining that with decent phone and mobile web looks like an enticing mix. With evidence of Google photo mapping New Zealand city streets in recent months we will have the database to support it. Come on down Garmin!

Garmin Blog: Garmin's New York Surprise
“As you may have heard, last night was a big night for us in the Big Apple.“

“The purpose was to unveil our Super Bowl ad and to discuss "the future of Garmin and its products." Seems tame enough.

But we had a trick up our sleeve -- the nüvifone. It's safe to say we took the audience by surprise -- OK, that's an understatement. As we made the announcement, the audience collectively reached for their BlackBerries and iPhones to send the big news back to their offices…

Additional information about nüvifone is available at http://www.garmin.com/nuvifone