SpaceClaim Gets Some More Dough

These days it's nice to hear that a company has received additional funding from its investors as opposed to receiving bailouts from the government. Today SpaceClaim announced that it has secured another round of funding from its investors in order to "fuel ongoing investments in R&D and drive market demand for SpaceClaim’s 3D Direct Modeling solutions". A cool 7 million.

From an earlier article on this blog:

"Ever since SpaceClaim appeared on the scene, people (me including) have been talking about when they will be bought and by whom. I wanted to hear it directly from the horse's mouth. So I asked Chris [Randles, the SpaceClaim CEO]. "I have not heard anything to that effect", he quipped. "SpaceClaim is on solid footing. In these bad times when money is not easily available, we are getting ready for another round of funding. This goes to show that our investors are strong and believe in what we are doing."

BRX - Under The Hood

Luc De Batselier, the CTO of Bricsys, was kind enough to let me in on a few details about the BRX SDK, that I attempted to explain yesterday. Apparently, before Bricsys embarked on the exercise of developing the BRX SDK, they made an attempt to count the number of functions that existed in the ObjectARX SDK. They arrived at a number of about 22,000. With that number I am actually surprised that they decided to proceed.

Today the BRX SDK has about 4,000 functions. Yes, that's only about 18%. But like I explained yesterday, these 4,000 functions are part of the most commonly used functions used by ARX developers. Luc estimates that these functions will cover about 50 to 70% of all existing ARX applications.

Bricsys engineers add about 30 new functions every week. The number does not seem large, but that's because each function added to the BRX SDK is fully backed by automated tests. Every function is checked for normal operation and error return values. This ensures that they maximize:
1) the correct functioning across different Bricscad versions.
2) compatibility with the AutoCAD platform, including the correct flow of error handling routines.
3) backward compatibility of the plug-in across different Bricscad versions.

It looks like quality is high on their priority list, which is a good thing. You don't get a second chance to make your first impression.

Luc disclosed what Bricsys has been working on and laid out their plans for the future, "Recently, we have started some extra development projects to support utility libraries like AModeler, HLR API and Boundary Representation in a code compatible way. This will open the door for the larger 3D client applications. We have finished adding support for 'deep cloning' and 'long transactions'. Currently we are adding support for 'custom object snap'. By the end of this year, we want to be able to support more than 90% of existing modules".

Years ago, when Bricsys announced that they were leaving the ITC to carry on with their own development, people thought that they were crazy. The ITC has still not been able to cough up the new IntelliCAD 7 based on ODA's DWGdirect SDK. Bricsys did that long ago with V8. They are now at Bricscad V9. This should be a bit embarrassing, to say the least, for the ITC.

If you are a programmer you may find the online Bricscad Developer Reference interesting. You can customize Bricscad V9 using a bunch of technologies:
LISP (LISt Processing)
DCL (Dialog Control Language)
COM (Component Object Model)
VBA (Visual Basic for Applications)
BRX (Bricscad Runtime eXtension)
DRX (DWGdirect Runtime eXtension)
SDS (decprecated)

To give you an idea, at SYCODE, we still use the antiquated SDS library to develop plug-ins for the current version of IntelliCAD.

You can get free access to the BRX SDK, simply by registering yourself as an application developer on the Bricsys website.

BRX Explained

Bricsys released an ARX source-compatible SDK called BRX a while ago. Judging by the number of applications listed at their Applications page, I would say that quite a few third party developers have been using it. However, I have been receiving many questions regarding the BRX SDK from users, especially AutoCAD users, and a few developers as well. From the questions I get the feeling that people have not quite completely understood what “ARX source-compatible” means and how it can affect them. This article is written for end users, but I guess, some developers may find it helpful as well.

Let’s start from the beginning. When Autodesk developed AutoCAD they also created a SDK (Software Development Kit) called ObjectARX, which enabled third party developers to write plug-in applications that work inside AutoCAD. This SDK is basically a set of C++ classes and functions. For sake of simplicity, let’s assume that the ObjectARX SDK has a function called DrawLine. As a third party developer, I can use this function in the C++ code of my plug-in to draw a line in AutoCAD. I simply need to call this function in my plug-in code and supply it with input, in this case, a start point and an end point. But unlike LISP, I don’t give the source code to my customer. I need to build it into an .ARX file (basically a DLL) using the ObjectARX SDK and ship it to my customer, who then loads it into AutoCAD and runs a command which draws the line.

So as you can imagine, AutoCAD users who rely on such ARX plug-ins are virtually tied down to AutoCAD and cannot move to another CAD system unless the developers of the ARX plug-ins they use offer similar plug-ins for the other CAD system as well. Bricsys has decided to solve this problem in a unique way, by means of their ARX source-compatible BRX SDK, the “source-compatible” part of which I am now going to explain.

Say you are an AutoCAD customer and are using an ARX plug-in developed by me. You want to dump AutoCAD and are looking for an alternative. It looks like Autodesk has just given you another reason to do so. You look around and try Bricscad. It seems to fit your bill, both in terms of functionality and cost. But there is a problem. I don’t offer a version of my ARX plug-in for Bricscad. So it appears that you are stuck with AutoCAD. But as a third party developer I see this as an opportunity to make some money and at the same time, widen my product line. I take the existing C++ code of my ARX plug-in and rebuild it using the BRX SDK supplied to me by Bricsys. And behold, I get a BRX plug-in that works with Bricscad. You dump AutoCAD, purchase a license of Bricscad and a license of my BRX plug-in and we both live happily ever after.

But is it as simple and straightforward as that? And here is where all the skepticism and confusion starts. Does the BRX SDK contain each and every function of the ObjectARX SDK? The answer is no. But it does contain almost all the functions that are most commonly used. ObjectARX contains thousands of functions, most of which are rarely used. And frankly, I do not see the point in Bricsys spending their time and resources adding all of them to BRX.

Which begs the question: What happens if BRX does not have a function that my ARX plug-in uses? Take the DrawLine function I mentioned above. Suppose Bricsys has not yet implemented it in their BRX SDK, my BRX plug-in will not be able to draw a line in Bricscad.

Bricsys has a solution for that as well. When I build my C++ code containing unsupported functions I will get compilation errors, which will tell me exactly which functions are missing. I simply need to send the build log file containing these compilation errors to Bricsys. Their engineers will put these functions in the top of their priority list and start working on them immediately. Bricsys regularly releases updates of their BRX SDK, along with the corresponding version of Bricscad. Bricsys will do whatever it takes to add the missing functions as soon as possible. It is in their best interest to do so.

Another thing, Bricsys maintains binary compatibility across the same version of Bricscad. This means that they always add functions to the BRX SDK, never remove them. So I need not worry that a future build of Bricscad V9 will not load my BRX plug-in. Bricscad users are free to download and install updates of Bricscad V9 without having to bother about plug-in compatibility. This also means that I do not need to rebuild my BRX plug-in for each and every update of the BRX SDK. Once I successfully build my plug-in and it loads and runs properly in Bricscad V9, I can forget about it.

So if you are an AutoCAD user and no longer want to be one, Bricsys has a bailout plan specially designed for you. Contact your ARX plug-in developer and let him know about BRX. And if you are a third party developer, BRX may very well turn out to be an opportunity for you. And what’s more, Bricsys is doing all the heavy lifting so that you can sit back and count the money.

I hope this article has helped clear a few doubts about the BRX SDK. By no means do I consider myself an authority on BRX, but if you have any questions, please feel free to ask. If I know the answers I will reply. If I don’t, I will bluff. ;-)

Don't Buy My Book

Don't buy my book if you are attending the ODA World Conference. The ODA is going to give a complimentary copy of my book to all attendees.

From ODA's press release:

Deelip Menezes, author of the book, remarked, “The Open Design Alliance is probably one of the most important organizations in the CAD world. Unfortunately, it probably also is one of the most misunderstood. The technologies offered by the ODA go far beyond just reading and writing DWG files. Through this book I hope to increase awareness about the ODA and its technologies.”

Earlier today I wrote about the agenda for the conference. If you are a CAD software developer, I am pretty sure that this conference will be well worth it.

Registration fee for the conference is $350, which includes entry to the conference and meals. I am told that there are limited seats. To register click here.

ODA World Conference - The Agenda

The main purpose of the ODA World Conference in Leiden, Holland, this April, is to highlight the ODA Software Platform and the technologies of its partner organizations. Take a look at the Conference agenda. One of the presentations caught my attention - the one by Jim Thorpe from Siemens PLM Software about their “D-Cubed 2D Dimensional Constraint Manager” or DCM.

One of the major enhancements in AutoCAD 2010 has been the geometric and parametric constraints, which I believe is not Autodesk’s invention. It appears that they licensed the D-Cubed 2D DCM from Siemens. No, I do not have inside information about this. I simply observed the copyright notices on the AutoCAD 2009 and 2010 about boxes and noticed that the following copyright notice has been added in 2010:

“D-Cubed 2D DCM © Copyright 2008 Siemens Product Lifecycle Management Software III (GB) Ltd.”

And now Siemens is presenting at the ODA World Conference. So putting two and two together, I guess the updated DWGdirect SDK for AutoCAD 2010, when it does come out, may have the D-Cubed 2D DCM tied to it. This also means that the new IntelliCAD 7 (or maybe a later version) may have the same geometric and parametric constraint system as AutoCAD.

This seems to be quite similar to how Autodesk initially uses the 3D solid modeling kernel from ACIS and the same found its way into the present day DWGdirect SDK. In fact, a presentation titled “ACIS 3D modeling engine” by Thomas Tillman from Spatial Corporation is right after the D-Cubed 2D DCM presentation by Siemens.

Another interesting presentation that I am looking forward to is by Fabien Chauvire of Redway3D about their Redsdk, an industrial grade 2D/3D graphics toolkit. I first saw Fabien presenting the Redsdk at the IntelliCAD World Meeting in Athens last year. Here is part of what I wrote about it at that time:

“He (Fabien) opened a 2D drawing of map of South Carolina in his test application containing 1.5 million curves and 72,000 text objects. He then zoomed and panned across the drawing and you could not see any time lag. He mentioned that he was using a medium performance laptop. Next he opened a model of a car designed in CATIA V5 containing 40 million triangles. He zoomed, panned and rotated and the performance was simply mind blowing.”

Fabien will demonstrate a successful DWG integration of his Redsdk. I am not quite sure what that means, although I have a good idea. In Athens an ITC programmer showed me a build of the new IntelliCAD 7 running the Redsdk, effortlessly navigating around a 3D model of a car having 100,000 triangles. I expect to see something more fascinating in Leiden.

Interestingly, earlier the same day, there is a presentation by Ron Fritz and Ken Royall from Tech Soft 3D on HOOPS, their development platform for high-performance applications. Here is something I wrote in the same post I mentioned earlier:

“A year ago, the ODA and Tech Soft 3D announced an integration between ODA's DGNdirect libraries with the HOOPS graphics components from Tech Soft 3D. The ITC watched and waited for the ODA to extend the integration to the DWGdirect libraries, the foundation of the IntelliCAD. Since this has not yet happened the ITC is now looking at other options. One option is Redway3D.”

So this is going to be interesting. With the ODA consisting of over 2000 members, I am not surprised that these 3D graphic technology companies are interested in its members.

There are a bunch of other presentations that I also look forward to. One called "Mobile DWG" by Wilfried Graebert from Graebert Gmbh, the company that has some fantastic CAD software for the handheld devices. The keynote will be delivered by buildingSMART co-CEO Bjørn Stangeland, where he will explain what his organization does and how it can work more closely with the ODA. There will be a presentation by Mauritz Botha of IMSI/Design on using the DWGdirect database as a common platform for file import and export filters, something that I know only too well about. I first met Mauritz at COFES 2008 last year and had an interesting conversation with him over lunch.

There will also be presentation by the ODA staff, people that I have been conversing with for many years now and look forward to meeting in person.

The third day is reserved for the annual ODA board meeting. There will also be a couple of courses on building a DRX application and an introduction to DWGdirect.NET. If you want to learn how to build a DRX application but cannot make it to the conference, buy my book "OpenCAD - A Step by Step Guide to Developing a Professional CAD Application". There is an entire chapter dedicated to developing DRX applications.

When time and technology permits I will be reporting the happenings of the ODA World Conference on this blog.

Time and Attention

Every morning, before my driver drops me to office, we stop by the school of my 5 year old son, Reuben, and drop him as well. I sit in the co-driver's seat and Reuben sits at the back. He looks out of the window most of the time and minds his own business, while I am deep in thought planning the day that lies ahead of me.

A couple of weeks ago, Reuben asked me if he could sit on my lap on the front seat. I usually don't allow it for safety reasons. But since we do not encounter a highway on the way to his school there is not much traffic. So I let him sit on my lap with my seat belt on and my arms locked around him, just in case.

With Reuben in my arms I really could not continue planning my day and we ended up have a conversation as we were drove. He enjoyed the drive that day and I did too. It was a much better way to start my day. And I guess he felt the same.

The next day we did the same thing, and pretty soon it became a routine. He would run out to the car with his school bag and water bottle and start prancing about the co-driver's door till I opened it and let myself in. He would then jump in and onto my lap, as if it was the most existing thing to do in the world. In reality, to him, it was. And slowly I began to realize it.

Work takes up most of my time. And when I am home, I am mostly helping my wife with our other son, Russell, a one year old who is perpetually in a bad mood, thanks to his teething. I do keep time for Reuben on weekends. I take him fishing, sometimes go for a bike ride or take him to the movies. But this daily morning drive to his school has made me think.

Reuben's need for my time and attention is not a tap that can be turned off on weekdays and let open on weekends. He needs my time and attention every single day of the week. And I really don't have to do something elaborate like go fishing with him. Just conversing with him while he sits on my lap for a five minute drive to his school gives him unimaginable joy.

This has nothing to do with CAD software. But I don't know. I just felt like sharing this with you.

What's Inside? AutoCAD 2010

Ralph Grabowski had been burning the midnight oil to figure out what's new and what's changed in AutoCAD 2010. He has just completed writing 26,000 words, 200+ illustrations, 130 pages, and 5 chapters making up the latest edition of his "What's Inside? AutoCAD 2010" ebook.

According to Ralph, "This ebook delves into every detail of using the new release of Autodesk's flagship software, including new and changed commands and system variables, undocumented commands, and system requirements." But wait. Shouldn't the AutoCAD 2010 documentation already contain most of this?

The ebook is priced at $19.50. But if you are an existing customer, you get a 30% discount.

Link

SYCODE Plug-ins Ready for AutoCAD 2010

With AutoCAD 2010 shipping from today, I am pleased to announce that SYCODE's AutoCAD plug-ins, all 22 of them, have been updated to work with AutoCAD 2010 (32 bit and 64 bit). This means that we now support an entire decade of AutoCAD. To emphasize my point I will list all the versions of AutoCAD that our plug-ins work with:

AutoCAD 2000
AutoCAD 2000i
AutoCAD 2002
AutoCAD 2004
AutoCAD 2005
AutoCAD 2006
AutoCAD 2007
AutoCAD 2008 (32 Bit and 64 Bit)
AutoCAD 2009 (32 Bit and 64 Bit)
AutoCAD 2010 (32 Bit and 64 Bit)

So now we get to use this pretty logo.


At SYCODE we are committed to developing and providing support for our plug-ins for versions as early as is technically possible and feasible. I know this sounds like a line from a press release, but we actually are committed. In fact, once every while we regretfully turn away prospective customers who ask us to add support for AutoCAD 14. AutoCAD is such a fantastic piece of software, that versions more than a decade old are still in use today, something which Autodesk, in a way, may not be too happy about. But this really goes to show the kind of software that has been coming out from that company.

AutoCAD 2010 has been built using a new compiler and hence all plug-ins needed to be recompiled using the same compiler. While the porting was mostly uneventful, the process of testing each and every command in each and every version of AutoCAD was quite a long one. Apart from a few minor issues, I would say that the update happened quite to my satisfaction.

However, I must admit that this "forward thinking" way of naming software has wreaked havoc with my already convoluted mind. Just the other day, someone returned one of my checks because I dated it with the year 2010. You stare at a window called "AutoCAD 2010" long enough and 2009 begins to look like last year.

Books Don't Crash

I am beginning to like this authoring stuff. I released my first book just yesterday and orders have already started flowing in. But that's not the only reason why I am in such a good mood this morning.

Up until now, I wrote software for a living. After someone purchases a license for one of my software products, certain things happen.

(1) The customer needs to install the software. He can face problems right then and there, since most of my products are plug-ins and need to be properly loaded into the host CAD application. I need to provide support to the customer.

(2) I need to give the customer a key to register the product on his computer. Since I live on the wrong side of the planet (at least in terms of CAD software), my customers sometimes need to wait for me to wake up, brush my teeth, walk my dog, have my breakfast and turn up in office before they get a key. But by that time, they are making plans to go to bed themselves. To solve this problem I am trying to get make this system instant and online. Anyways, this entire story repeats itself when the customer needs to transfer his license to a new computer.

(3) The product needs to work! This means the software needs to give the customer useful output without crashing. If it does not then I need to provide support and fix a problem that I sometimes do not experience myself. I once asked a customer to send me a screenshot when the error occurred. He stood three feet from his monitor, fished out his camera, took a snap and sent it to me. Luckily he sent the picture by email as an attachment and not by post.

(4) I need to constantly update my software so that it works with new versions of operating systems, CAD applications, their service packs, browsers, etc.

So basically, when someone purchases one of my software products, it is actually the beginning of a long term relationship, with me constantly striving to keep that relationship a good one. And for that I get paid. But when someone purchases one of my books (err... there's actually just one), I simply get paid. There are no licensing or support issues at all. I may need to revise my book probably once a year, but I highly doubt that my readers will not be able to continue working if I don't.

But, as a programmer there is one thing I simply love about authoring - Books Don't Crash. So if something cannot break, there is no need for me to fix it. And here is the best part. Let alone being pestered by customers for support, I don't even know who my customers are. My publisher has such a fantastic privacy policy that he will not tell me who purchased my book. I simply get to count the money, which is precisely how I would like to spend my time.

OK, the money in books may not be as much as software, but for the effort that goes into writing a book, it certainly appears to have an extremely high return on investment.

But try as I might, I still cannot get over my realization that Books Don't Crash. You have to be a programmer to really understand how good that feels.

OpenCAD - My First Book

I have been making noise about the Open Design Alliance on this blog for some time now. Most of the noise has been about the misconceptions surrounding the ODA and its technologies. And now to justify the noise that I have been making, I have gone ahead and written a book about it. The 92 page book is titled "OpenCAD - A Step by Step Guide to Developing a Professional CAD Application". I think the best way to explain what the book is all about is to simply list its Introduction here.


Introduction

Ever since the Open Design Alliance (formerly the OpenDWG Alliance) was founded, it has been busy reverse engineering the DWG file format as and when Autodesk changed it. Due to this the ODA came to be known as the "hackers group" who give nothing but pain to Autodesk by offering their members libraries to read and write DWG files. Autodesk already has a library called RealDWG which reads and writes DWG files, but they are known not to license it to their business rivals. Hence the need for an organization such the ODA grew and the ODA delivered every time Autodesk changed the DWG file format.

My company, SYCODE (www.sycode.com), is a member of the Autodesk Developer Network (ADN) as well as a member of the ODA. I have been keeping a close eye on the cat and mouse game between Autodesk and ODA for quite some time now. In all the confusion, law suits and out-of-court settlements, there is one important aspect of the ODA that has gone completely unnoticed. And the purpose and motivation for me to write this book is to shed some light on that particular and very interesting aspect.

Every time the ODA reverse engineered the DWG file format, they improved their technology, not surprisingly, by cloning that of Autodesk. One thing led to another and they finally ended up cloning Autodesk's ObjectARX SDK, the very foundation on which AutoCAD has been built. The ODA called their clone DWGdirect and needless to say, ODA members started using DWGdirect to read and write DWG files. And that is the problem which I hope to address by means of this book. DWGdirect is not just a SDK to read and write DWG files. It actually offers a full blown framework that can be used to develop a professional CAD application, complete with plug-in architecture and all. Applications built using the DWGdirect SDK are called DWGdirect hosted applications. The not yet released IntelliCAD 7 is one of them. Bricsys rewrote Bricscad as a DWGdirect hosted application in V8 itself.

This book is my attempt to show that the ODA offers far more than libraries to read and write DWG files. We will create the framework of a professional CAD application (which I have called OpenCAD) using nothing but Visual C++ 2005 and a bunch of ODA libraries. You will also learn how to create plug-ins that extend OpenCAD using the ODA's free DRX SDK. And of course, OpenCAD will be able to read and write DWG files as well.

This book is divided into two sections. Section I deals with creating the basic OpenCAD application, wiring it up with required ODA libraries and adding features to make it a full blown professional DWG viewer. Section II deals with adding plug-in architecture to OpenCAD and developing a plug-in that converts it into a DWG editor. We will also see how the plug-in developed for OpenCAD loads and runs in Bricscad V9 as well.

If you are an ODA member then you already have access to the DWGdirect SDK and you can start building OpenCAD or your own DWGdirect hosted application by following the instructions in Section I of this book. If you are not an ODA member you can download the OpenCAD source code and binaries from www.open-cad.com and start developing plug-ins for it or any other DWGdirect hosted application by following the instructions in Section II of this book.

The point of the OpenCAD software and this book is not to develop a full blown free CAD application. Rather my intention is to showcase the various technologies offered by the ODA, apart from reading and writing DWG files. We will first create OpenCAD as a DWG viewer and then add features as we proceed.

OpenCAD is not open source for the simple reason that the DWGdirect SDK is not open source. However, all the C++ source code used to build OpenCAD and its plug-ins are available free of cost at www.open-cad.com. I have also organized the source code by chapter. So if you want to skip a chapter or two you can do so.

I have used Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 and DWGdirect version 2.06 to develop OpenCAD and its plug-in. The ODA offers libraries for other compilers as well and you can very well use another compiler.

I write software for a living, not books. So I am not quite sure how this book is going to turn out. I am going to need all the criticism that I can get - good, bad and ugly. Please do give it to me.

If this book ends up helping you in any way or gives you a better understanding of the technologies offered by the ODA, do let me know. It will make me happy ;-)

So let's get right to it.


The book is available as a perfectly bound paperback book ($99) as well as a PDF eBook ($49). It comes with complete C++ source code which you can use to make a professional CAD application that makes you a whole lot more money than you spent on purchasing the book. The book also serves as a good primer on developing DRX plug-ins that work with DWGdirect hosted applications like Bricscad V9, which will also help you earn money. So you see, its all about spending some money to make a whole lot more money ;-)

For more details on this book visit www.open-cad.com.

And now, thanks to this book, you can henceforth respectfully refer to me as Author.

Front Cover

Back Cover

Will Autodesk Activate a Retired Product?

I was trying to help an AutoCAD user at IntelliCAD.net who is unable to get a simple answer to what I believe is a simple question: "Will Autodesk activate a retired product?". The answer to this question would determine whether he would stick to AutoCAD or dump it for IntelliCAD.

This Autodesk customer has a license of AutoCAD 2006 and does not wish to upgrade for the simple reason that it does his job just fine. He has previously posed this question at Autodesk Discussion Groups in the hope that someone from Autodesk would reply. But that didn't happen. Surprisingly, his reseller tells him that Autodesk "may not" give him an activation code for AutoCAD 2006.

Autodesk has an entire section at its web site dedicated to activation - http://www.autodesk.com/activation. Here is part of one of the FAQ documents:

1.10 What if the company shuts down? I paid for the product and should be able to use it in perpetuity.
The Software End User License Agreement grants the user of an Autodesk product the right to use it in perpetuity. In the unlikely event of the company's shutting down, we will enable automatic approval of all activation requests or provide other technical means allowing users to continue using our products.

So it seems like the reseller is either ignorant or a liar. I will put my money on the latter.

Bricsys Developer Meeting

Bricsys is taking the fight up Autodesk’s alley. They are organizing a Bricsys Developers Meeting this May. Basically a two day seminar for application developers to help them port their existing AutoCAD plug-ins over to the Bricscad platform. Bricsys could not be more clear in their message.

“Most DWG application developers have their roots in AutoCAD and have built business on it. With the recession hitting hard globally, many AutoCAD users and clients want to cut costs. Bricsys is your partner to minimize expenses on the CAD platform side so that you can maximize revenue on your applications. The only thing you have to do is recompiling your code for Bricscad.”

The seminar will be held at the Bricsys European headquarters in Ghent, Belgium on May 26 and 27, 2009. You can have one-on-one business and technical meetings with Bricsys management and developers on the days before and after the meeting. If you want to attend the meeting, click here.

You may not find me at the meeting as I will already be spending the first few days of May at the Bricsys headquarters in Ghent on my return from the ODA World Conference in neighboring Holland.

A Couple of Surveys

Your email address could now be worth close to $4,000. Cyon Research is conducting a follow up survey to the one they did with Merrill Lynch last summer. That was a survey on CAD/PLM users, the report of which was published this January and could be purchased from Cyon Research for $1,995.

This survey is titled “Cyon Research Survey of Users of Software Tools for Design and Engineering” and I am told that its report will also be priced at $1,995. However, if you take part in this survey and submit your email address, you will be entitled to get its report for free. And what’s more, you will also get the report of the CAD/PLM survey for free as well. So that adds up to a cool $3,990 worth of reports.

Click here to participate.

Brad Holtz of Cyon Research is also conducting another survey with Peter Marks and Jim Brown for a presentation at COFES 2009 (which I will be attending). This survey is titled “Engineering Software Market Outlook Survey” and is aimed at determining the impact of the tattered world economy on engineering software. This one has just nine quick questions. You can keep an eye for the results of the survey on this blog.

Click here to participate.

The first survey is meant for end users of engineering software and will be open for two months. Whereas, the second survey is meant for end users as well as software developers, VAR's, vendors, etc. and will be open for only two weeks.

AutoCAD LT and Plug-ins

I have kept this to myself for quite some time now, but I think I need to let it out. As far as possible I prefer to play by the rules. My company, SYCODE, is a member of the Autodesk Developer Network (ADN). Every ADN member, or for that matter, anyone who uses the ObjectARX SDK to develop plug-ins for AutoCAD, has to first agree to the terms of the ObjectARX License Agreement, which clearly prohibits the use of the SDK to develop plug-ins for AutoCAD LT.

"You may not use the Software to develop applications for AutoCAD LT®, DWG TrueConvert™, and DWG TrueView™, as the aforementioned products are nonextensible applications and the use of the Software to develop applications for these products is expressly prohibited by this Agreement."

Now this post is not about whether Autodesk is right or wrong in putting this restriction. After all, it's their software and they are free to restrict or allow access to it as they please. I am writing this post in light of the recent demise of LT-Extender, a LT enabler by Torsten Moses. Or maybe suicide would be a more deserving term in this case. This post is about how one ingenious ADN member has been able to extend its middle finger towards Autodesk and its ObjectARX License Agreement.

The ADN member I am referring to is ASVIC, a developer of software related to Mechanical, Piping, HVAC and Structural Steel Detailing. They simply bundle a LT enabler along with their software, in this case drcauto's LT Toolkit. Their usage instructions lay it out:

"Mech-Q for AutoCAD LT2000-9 requires a Lisp Enabler to work. The Mech-Q installation will also install the Lisp Enabler.

(snip)

The LT Toolkit serial number and authorization code will be sent to you either by email or with the software CD when you download a Mech-Q demo or when you purchase."

And if you want to purchase LT Toolkit only you can do that as well. ASVIC resells LT Toolkit and I guess that is how they bundle it with their products.

Out of curiosity, I asked the ADN Program Manager what Autodesk had to say about this, especially since ASVIC is listed as an Autodesk Partner and its products are listed as Autodesk Partner Products at the Autodesk web site. I was told that Autodesk would investigate and take appropriate action if necessary. That was two years ago!! ASVIC is still listed as an Autodesk Partner and its products are still listed as Autodesk Partner Products at the Autodesk web site.

So I am now trying to figure out the point of all this. If Autodesk does not mind it's partners bundling LT enablers in their products and even recommends them to its customers by listing them as partner products on its web site, then why not just let AutoCAD LT load plug-ins?

Am I missing something here?

DoubleCAD XT Pro

With AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT sales dropping by a third IMSI has put its plan into action today by releasing DoubleCAD XT Pro, their AutoCAD LT killer.

Priced at $695, which includes one year of premium technical support, IMSI claims that DoubleCAD XT Pro is "an AutoCAD work-alike, but better, for half the price". I have written about DoubleCAD in the past and intend to take it for a spin when I manage to find the time. But judging by number of virtual post it notes on my desktop, it does not look like it will be anytime soon.

According to their web site, IMSI wants to "shake up the CAD world". Looks like Autodesk is shaking already. So can IMSI rattle them with their daring DoubleCAD XT Pro and the free DoubleCAD XT combo?

Way Off Topic

Some of you may find this interesting.