RobiNZ CAD Blog

Max and the Revits arrive, it's 2010 for real

Today's delivery completed my set of "Twenty Tens". The arrival of Max (last week) and the Revit Architecture/MEP Series (today) mean it's time to think about building new deployments. As that will also mean moving to Vista 64 it should be fun

 

 

Autodesk 2010 releases shipping, the little boxes and electrons are on the move!

The Autodesk website has had its out of season "Happy New Year make-over" for 2010. Many of the 2010 products are shipping including several* that matter to me: AutoCAD,  AutoCAD Architecture, Autodesk Design Review and 3ds Max Design.

I have been reliably informed the little plastic boxes with DVDs inside are in New Zealand already but the courier has not yet called at work, or home. If you're on Subscription, as I am, you can download many of the applications rather than wait for the shiny discs. If you're in the United States or Canada and just want to try AutoCAD there is also a free 30 day trial download. Other countries need to contact their dealers regarding the trial versions which seems quaintly regional in these days of border-less communication.

I have spent quite a bit of time with the beta versions but it's always interesting to see the final release. At work I'm considering a major shift to 64 bit O/S along with our 2010 deployments. It's not required for 2010, although there are some processor requirements that you should check out, but the increasing complexity of our data, bigger more complex models, means XP32 bit memory allocation limitations have become very real.

At home I'm using 2010 as an excuse to stop procrastinating and rebuild my machine. It has been running unchanged, apart from Windows & applications updates, since it arrived several years ago so it's time for a clean out. Again this isn't required for 2010, which will run alongside many earlier versions, but I have been looking at a once shiny new hard drive, sitting on the desk waiting to be fitted, for far too long!

Press Release Links

Autodesk 2010 Design and Engineering Software Product Line Now Available

Autodesk Introduces 3ds Max 2010 Software at Game Developers Conference

* No sign of Revit yet.

Dear Autodesk Area Blogs, grey on darker grey is hard to read!

The blog, this post on 3ds Max Design 2010 especially, but am I the only one who finds grey text on a grey background hard work to read? Normally I wouldn't care as read the feed but the Area Blogs only have partial feeds, a bad practice in blogworld  

Announcement: 3ds Max Design 2010! - Area : Kens Blog

* At least they are better than the Civil blogs whose feeds keep breaking in my reader.

Cool Auto Design, Thanks to Pulse...

While I have many CAD/BIM/Design RSS feeds in my reader it’s always good to find new ones. In this case I found Car Body Design.com via Franco’s “Novedge Pulse” aggregator.

It has some brilliant “behind the scenes” stories on Auto design, including the tiny Fiat Phylla concept, and links to many tutorials/demonstrations for 2D & 3D Design software (including Photoshop, 3DS Max, Maya & Alias).

 Car Body Design.com Tutorials - www.carbodydesign.com

Car Body Design.com - Fiat Phylla Concept

David's Design ReForm

David Fano’s Design ReForm is a blog with tutorials and explorations in parametric modelling using applications like 3ds Max, Revit, Maya, and Rhino. I hadn’t found it, until he emailed me, so I’m really glad he did.

Go have a look, I’ve subscribed!

Web: http://designreform.net/       Feed: http://designreform.net/feed/

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…