3D CAD NEWS

Here is the next clue for those of you trying to guess the mystery celebrity keynote speaker at next week's SolidWorks World conference:

He is still wondering if being called "sweet britches" is a compliment or a put-down.

To all 3DCADNews Readers,

The 3D Editorial Team wishes everyone a great Holiday week, in whatever it is you are celebrating, and we wish the entire CAD/CAM industry the best of fortunes in 2008.

We are by no means signing out until the New Year and will be continually tracking and watching the CAD news at all of our sister sites at:
AECnews,
CADCAMNet
CCNtv
TeamDWf and more,

Please have a fun time reading our sites and watching our broadcasts, and may your God be with you as we step into the New Year.

3D CAD News editorial team

Another round of artillery fire, in what seems to be an ongoing feud in the rapid prototyping industry was lobbed this week when RP vendor 3DSystems was granted a preliminary injunction in Germany against rival RP vendor EnvisionTEC. It was your basic "shut your mouth" injunction.

To work from the present and going backwards (the story has length but is worth it), this week 3D Systems obtained the injunction to prevent EnvisionTEC from further publishing statements it made in a November 28, 2007 press release, which stated 3Dsystems' "V-flash unit system is potentially infringing on its German issued patents."

3DSystems' December 18 2007 press release about the injunction states,
"The preliminary injunction prohibits EnvisionTEC from the further publication of those statements in Germany and stated that EnvisionTEC GmbH may be subject to a fine of up to €250,000 or that its legal representatives are subject to arrest and imprisonment for up to six months for each violation of the court’s prohibition order." (editor comment: ouch)

But this is a huge step forward from the war of words in the weeks before: 3DSystems' December 4th announcement initially responding to the claims made by EnvisionTEC has the following quote:

“As a company, we are keenly aware of the importance of intellectual property, and we make every effort not only to protect our own intellectual property but also to respect the valid intellectual property rights of others,” said Abe Reichental, president and chief executive officer of 3D Systems. “In this regard, we are currently involved in litigation with EnvisionTEC in the United States charging that its Perfactory and Vanquish prototyping systems infringe a number of our United States Patents. With respect to EnvisionTEC’s recent press release, we believe that EnvisionTEC does not have sufficient technical information or a factual basis for the statements it makes in that release.”

Here's a curious point: the offending November 28 2007 press release issued by EnvisionTEC is almost nowhere to be found on the web, anywhere, even on the company's web site. It implies a lot about EnvisionTEC's press release distribution ability and I even started to think that they may have simply sent it to their sibling rivals at 3DSystems for some fun and giggles near Christmas. But no, thank goodness for Ralph Grabowski, who kindly dug up the text from the cache archives of Google. It reads as follows:

BREAKING NEWS - EnvisionTEC Gmbh Claim Patent Infringement

November 28th, 2007 - EnvisionTEC Gmbh has officially notified the
German distributor of the V-flash system manufactured by 3D Systems
company that the V-flash unit system is potentially infringing on
its German issued patents.

"Our intellectual property is very essential to our strength in
delivering innovative solutions to our customers, and growing our
market share in the Rapid Prototyping and Manufacturing market. We
intend to vigorously defend our patents when we believe that they are
being infringed upon" said Mr. Siblani, CEO of EnvisionTEC Gmbh.

EnvisionTEC Gmbh is based in Gladbeck Germany and manufactures a
complete line of rapid prototyping and rapid manufacturing systems
known as the Perfactory Standard, MINI , and Desktop. It also
manufactures the Perfactory Vanquish Flashcure System as well as its
latest offering, the Perfactory Xede.

But the squabble doesn't end there. In a clear pattern of feudal hissing and squabbling in the RP family, 3DSystems is currently involved in litigation in the US regarding EnvisionTEC's possible infringement of 3DSystems' US patents. That began in 2006; 3D Systems issued a press release on March 9. Part of it reads:

"3D Systems’ complaint asserts that the defendants are infringing these U.S. patents by importing, marketing or selling prototyping systems, including their PERFACTORY and VANQUISH modeling systems, used for creating physical three-dimensional models of objects." This legal action is still ongoing and is referred to in the Dec 4, 2007 press release by 3DSystems.

But then the story twists. In a moment of what we at 3D CAD News see as pure hypocrisy, 3DSystems asserted the following in its December 4th 2007 press release:

"“It is regrettable that EnvisionTEC has chosen to issue a press release concerning its views with respect to its patents and our V-Flash™ Desktop Modeler. We prefer that legal issues be confined to the appropriate legal forum and that companies compete fairly in the marketplace,” concluded Reichental. “Unfortunately, EnvisionTEC’s public statements have left us with no alternative but to respond in order to make our distributors and customers aware of the facts and our position.”

Now then, who issued that first opening shot, publicized via press release, on March 9, 2006? It could, just perhaps, have been 3DSystems, non?

And while members of the RP family continue to lob grenades back and forth as a form of distraction from the job at hand, rich cousin Stratasys continues to experience record growth. You can see more about the financial health of Stratasys and 3Dsystems at CADCAMNet's lead story last week, at www.cadcamnet.com. (Free trial subscription or paid subscription required.)

Day 3 of Autodesk University was marked by the amiable groaning of people who were again walking the endless halls and floors that comprise the Venetian Hotel and the Sands Expo center. AU actually continues into Friday but Day 3 is always punctuated by the closing of the show floor and a corresponding high speed exodus by the exhibitors.

CCNtv, our online video broadcast, has issued three broadcasts directly from AU this week, where the lovely Amy Adams, our TV host, has charmed attendees and exhibitors alike. The team covered a lot of ground, finding and reporting on new products that include HP's Blade Workstations, Adapx' digital pen and digital paper, 2Bot's Modelmaker product, NextEngine's pretty neat little 3d scanner which costs just $2499, and much more.

Autodesk has basked in the glory of doing just about everything right. The show floor was well subscribed by exhibitors, the event attracted more than 9,000 attendees, the keynotes were creative, confident and bright. People were telling me that the software training they get at AU is 'beyond good.' Autodesk should be getting a nod from the industry for this one.


Adapting to Adapx
Image - Jeff Drust, a strategy consultant with Adapx, proudly displays the new Capturx digital pen - a product I hope might soon change the way I work.

Adapx is a newcomer to the industry, with a product which looks and acts like a pen, except that your handwritten notes can be immediately loaded into the corresponding documents on your computer. This is cool for many reasons, and the application of the technology makes some sense. For example when you are out in the field surveying a building site, or checking as-built details, instead of having to manually transpose the notes you made into the CAD file, it does it for you, instantly. It currently supports AutoCAD, ArcGIS and Microsoft OneNote. But indications are that it will soon support lots of other stuff. I spent the entire event trying to persuade them to support Microsoft Word, so that whenever I do a manual edit on an article, it can be immediately uploaded into the Word document.

The product technology is based on a dissertation undertaken by David McGee, the founder and CTO of Adapx, who is a man with a vision. It turns out that while the company has a fledgling 'rocking' product, he has his eye on the future: he believes that writing as a form of communication is not about to disappear. It will continue because using our hands, fingers and thumbs to write is inherent to our nature. However, he believes that the media we use to write on will absolutely change, has to. That we will probably end up using super-thin panels that will probably have a zero carbon footprint and immediate recyclability. They will fold into the size of a postage stamp and fold out to the size of a dining room table. And we will write on them, as well as view images, TV shows, play video games (there's a dated term eh?) and so on. He is planning on Adapx' technology being a part of that vision of the future.

You can view a more detailed article on Adapx at our sister publication, CADCAMNet, at this link (free trial or paid subscription required)
http://www.newslettersonline.com/user/user.fas/s=63/fp=3/tp=47?T=open_article,963664&P=article


CCNtv Gets Out in Public at AU
Some nutter allowed our entire CCNtv crew to spend the week at AU. Our host for the week was Amy Adams, and we did three broadcasts directly from the event, providing coverage of the keynotes, hot new products and attendees.

Image: the more diminutive of our two cameramen, JT, gets demo footage from Spheron for the CCNtv broadcasts.

Spheron was demonstrating an absolutely eye-popping 360 degree, high def scanner/camera, that can provide some incredibly detailed images of a space, and also delivers photogrammetry tools for 3D measurement of said space. It is way cool, but does not yet carry a published price, which therefore means it costs a lot. But that's not a problem really - if the need for this technology is there, people will inevitably pay the price.

Spheron is based in Waldfischbach, Germany which is somewhere on the western border, not far from France.

2Bot also got noticed by a lot of attendees for its very interesting CNC machine for architects. By focusing on taking away the problems inherent with CNC machines - mostly the need to do G-code programming, 2BOt turns out to be incredibly easy to use. Paul Nye, founder and CEO of 2Bot, claims that the receptionist could learn to use it in an hour. Having seen the product, I believe him! 2Bot has a few aspects to it that are not quite ready like the size of the material, but, rather than dwelling on the small details that will resolve themselves in time and in a similar attitude to Adapx, 2Bot rather is focused on its strong vision for the future. This involves a future where any and every kind of model, part, or product, can be made using this machine, and that eventually every home will have a 2Bot. Interesting idea.

Don't Press
In an effort to consolidate many of its press efforts, Autodesk has decided that press will be given the VIP treatment only at its separate press events, such as the recent Paris Summit, rather than host the press at AU as it has typically done before. It did invite a small amount of editors, but not to the extent that we have become used to. On the first day of AU, the MCAD press were given a lavish lunch (see photo) but no lectures. It was a really fun little interlude between lengthy walks.

Image: Brad Holtz (left) and Roopinder Tara compete for best-dressed CAD editor, although there's not much competition when you put them up against the 'down-and-out' look preferred by editors such as Martyn Day and Al Dean (pictured below).








I am now headed for home, and about to board my flight for denver. Will be checking in with you soon.

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Last week during the heavily-attended Oracle OpenWorld User event in San Francisco, Oracle Company President Charles Phillips, (who is also total ‘keynote candy’ according to some of the team), introduced the new Oracle Agile PLM applications.

As reported by Randall Newton in this week’s issue of CADCAMNet (subscription or free trial registration required), Oracle Agile PLM will be a CAD-neutral platform that integrates completely with Oracle’s other business applications such as CRM, ERP, and SCM.

Oracle’s aim, writes Newton, is “to simplify what have become complex IT environments. Oracle wants to rid corporate culture of a tool-based approach to problem solving, replacing a fragmented IT environment with a unifying middleware stack that allows the various tools to be united by a common dashboard interface.”

But, while CAD vendors can probably leverage the software giant’s move into PLM, Newton predicts that PLM vendors will have more to worry about: “Five years from now, the Oracle Agile line will have a PLM market share that surpasses at least one, if not two, of the Big Three CAD-centric PLM vendors” he writes.

You can also view a video news report of Oracle's PLM announcement at www.cadcamnet.tv

Video of the keynote at Oracle OpenWorld, featuring Charles Phillips who, simply put, could be Central Casting’s answer to Barack Obama, can also be viewed here:
http://www.oracle.com/openworld/2007/keynotes.html

3D CAD News has learned Siemens PLM Software, the former UGS, has decided to postpone the release of NX 5 for the Macintosh OS X environment. Instead, Siemens will next release NX for OS X  as part of the NX 6 release in 2006.

The original plan called for the release of NX 5 for the Mac after the release of the Leopard update, now scheduled for October 26. But a source inside Siemens says doing so would have meant releasing a beta version of both NX 5 and NX 6 for the Mac to early adopters for testing at almost the same time. "We are releasing [NX for the Mac] with NX 6," said the source, who did not want to be identified. "This gives us time to incorporate some additional functionality based on customer feedback from our early adopters."

Our sister publication CADCAMNet gave NX 5 an enthusiastic review earlier this year. As reviewer Al Dean noted, NX 5 sports a new user interface, Active Mockup, Requirement-Driven Design Validation, and many more features. Beyond the specific new features, Dean said NX 5 "removes ambiguity, maximizes knowledge retention, and reduces the time invested in learning." We can only imagine at this point in time what goodies await the (rarely) patient Mac users who want the power of NX in OS X, now that they must wait for NX 6.

NX 5 as it appears in Windows. 

Just like going to the doctor for an injection, a quick watch of CCNtv seems to create a binary response—either enjoyment or acute cringing tinged with anger. Either way, the sensation doesn’t last long and you never know, you might be all the better for the experience! Some viewers don’t think so though…

One vendor sent an email today that had the response that implied that the quick shot in the arm was a bruising experience. (Identities deleted to protect the guilty)

“[Our Company] was mentioned 3 times - each time in a negative light. Less-than-flattering press over the years about [Our Company] means that I am pretty thick-skinned so negative stories do not bother me so much, but the selective, unbalanced reporting of these negative stories, interspersed with sarcastic comments, is lame tabloid fodder and lacks balance and credibility.”


By contrast, another vendor/viewer sent a more positive email earlier today saying that his “entire development team watches CCNtv religiously on every report.” In fact, a lot of people have been incredibly complimentary and encouraging, so we, also, are encouraged. CCNtv is ramping up nicely. But it doesn’t stop there!

We do pay attention to what people think, and have for some weeks been working on software reviews for the broadcast. To do these properly on video takes more than just an enthusiast, a laptop and a camera. But we are optimistic that the time spent getting this right is worth the effort!

And another thing to note is that in its purest form, CAD, 3D and engineering can be incredibly dry (dare I say boring without getting howls of complaint?) and we are working hard at CCNtv to not just present the current news, and highlights in the industry but to do it in a way that is interesting! It seems that a few viewers don't appreciate the more humorous and human sides that we present, and believe that CCNtv should be, well, boring. We disagree. What do you think?

Along those lines, we would like to announce our upcoming ideas for CCNtv subjects, and hope that a few viewers would like to make suggestions. Please do add comments on what you would like to see in the future on CCNtv!

• Software Reviews (new)
• Tips’n tricks (new)
• More news
• More user site-visits

Do viewers want to see executive interviews? Do we need more corporate reporting? Or we keep focusing on the items our editors believe are newsworthy?

Comment now, so we can find out what you think!

In today's article at CADCAMNet about SharePoint as a PLM trojan horse (paid subscription or free trial required to view article), CCN editors comment that proprietary PLM vendors could be soon regarded as dinosaurs.

"...at a conservative estimate of 85 million users, with a proven application that enables standardized file sharing, collaboration, revision control, and workflow process control, SharePoint has become a product of choice for millions of companies worldwide wanting to centralize their data—and then share it out. Manufacturers are no different. Chances are good that their globally distributed teams are using SharePoint for some part of their operations. It makes sense to have their PLM operations on SharePoint, too." writes publisher, Rachael Dalton-Taggart.

While this statement may infuriate traditional (big iron) PLM vendors, many of them have already created PLM applications that support SharePoint operations. Same goes for the AEC/BIM vendors too.

Microsoft, however, is very keen to emphasize its strategy - that of providing the key technology backbones on which developers can create specific applications.

Comments Simon Floyd, Worldwide Industry Strategist for PLM at Microsoft, “Our partners are very important to the success of SharePoint. Where we provide the common platform for document management, search, workflow, etc., they provide their deep domain expertise to deliver industry relevancy. This not only provides businesses with PLM-specific functionality and the ability to share that data across departments and roles, it also enables their IT organization to achieve economies of scale and benefit from the convenience of a common system.”

How many readers use SharePoint already, even for other, more mundane business functions? In my mind, if I could work PLM on top of an existing SharePoint installation, I would do it in a micro-second. But there must be barriers. What are they?

Comments welcome.

Earlier this month private equity firm Ampersand Ventures made an offer to acquire RAND Worldwide, one of the world's largest value-added reseller of CAD and PLM software. Today CADCAMNet has learned that a Canadian investment bank has acquired a 10% interest in RAND and intends to oppose the Ampersand acquisition bid.

Full details later today at CADCAMNet.  

Recently we started a series on RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances) and its effects on producty designers in CADCAMNet (available to subscribers only or for a free month trial when you click 'subscribe') .

It is our perception that these stringent restrictions, which, while starting in the EU have already proliferated across South Korea, China, and will eventually come into effect in the US, will demand yet more of the manufacturers than the burden they already have for making safe products. But what it also brings is a position of strength for the PLM vendors. All of the major vendors have modules and applications that support RoHS activities, and for once, they all make sense to the product development process.

RoHS and WEEE (Waste Electrical & Electronic Equipment) requirements demand that certain documentation is created with each product to ensure compliance. This in itself is an exercise in paper-pushing, but one that is based on the Bill Of Materials (BOM). The BOM is also a central point of pretty much most PLM software products available today, so it is an ideal tool on which to build RoHS compliance tools.

Up until recently RoHS was regarded as a 'purchasing' problem. But indications are that the responsiblity for choosing the right materials, component parts and so on is moving upwards towards the design team. Once again, PLM tools tend towards communicating with the designers and engineers, and thus are in a perfect position to leverage their tools into this growing area. While we are already seeing major growth in PLM, Ithink the next 2 years are going to be sky-high for PLM growth, acceptance and adoption.

As Tony Affuso said in a recent interview in CADCAMNet, "PLM is not for the faint of heart." Well, neither is RoHS. Gather your strength everyone.

 

The Brat