MCAD Tech News #197

Automotive giant moves toward standardized
digital design

This week I am attending NAIAS (the 2007 North American International Auto Show) in Detroit, Michigan. The winter here has been exceptionally mild -- that is, until today. Winter finally arrived this morning with gloomy skies, freezing rain turning to snow and, of course, a long walk to the show. Weather aside, it's great to be here among all the new concept and production vehicles and technologies, not to mention approximately 6,000 of my peers.

One of the things I always notice upon hitting the show floor is the increasing complexity of the surfaces on the vehicles, regardless of whether they are concept or production models. These surfaces require increasingly sophisticated software to create and visualize them. All automotive manufacturers realize that complex surfaces are one of the "emotional" cues and aspects that differentiate their products from the competition; there is, therefore, a continuing interest in digital design products that assist in their creation. Read more>>

By Ron LaFon

Camtasia Studio 4 from TechSmith is ideal for creating and publishing both online and CD-based training, demonstrations and presentations.

You can easily record screen videos and publish them in various file formats. PowerPoint presentations can be recorded—a handy toolbar appears directly in PowerPoint—and you can add narration to elaborate your presentation. New in this release is support for screencasts for iPod mobile media devices.

Camtasia Studio 4
Camtasia Studio 4 is well conceived and achieves the difficult task of providing great depth of functionality while remaining easy to use. In addition to creating custom Web and CD-ROM menus, you can also use a second audio track to add a layer of music to the narration of a presentation. Camtasia Studio 4 includes a one-month subscription to Screencast.com/, a hosting solution for professionals who want to share multimedia content on the Internet. You can publish videos directly from Camtasia Studio 4 to Screencast.com/ and then send viewers to the site for the presentation. If you prefer, you can automatically deliver content using Screencast.com/'s built-in RSS and iTunes capability. An excellent online help system, balloon help and access to Web-based video tutorials provide assistance with any questions that arise.  Read more>>

Mark Your Calendar: MCAD Events

European VisMasters Design Modeling and Visualization Conference
February 2, 2007
Monte Carlo, Monaco
VisMasters has partnered with IMAGINA to initiate the first European VisMasters Design Modeling and Visualization Conference, a one-day event focused on the business, art and technology of design visualization.
Read more

15th Annual Autodesk University
November 27 – November 30, 2007
Las Vegas, Nevada
This annual conference and exhibition offers hands-on training in the latest Autodesk products, as well as networking and learning opportunities with professionals from various industries. Read more

For Cadalyst's full calendar of events, click here.

I'm Worth It
The latest Cadalyst Quick Poll is live online. This month, we want to know if management is treating the CAD community well this year: Is your paycheck growing for 2007, or have you been overlooked? Take the poll (go to any page of Cadalyst.com and scroll down to find the Quick Poll in the margin), then watch for the results in Cadfidential in the February edition of Cadalyst magazine.

Calling All Product Designers
Cadalyst.com now offers direct access to the GlobalSpec search engine and information resource for the engineering, industrial and technical communities. Use GlobalSpec to search engineering content from the open Web as well as from a variety of proprietary content publishers. Or search more than 20,000 digitized OEM and distributor product catalogs representing more than 1.9 million products. Access the GlobalSpec search at the top of Cadalyst's Manufacturing home page.

Cadalyst Daily Update
For all the latest news and new products, subscribe to the Cadalyst Daily e-newsletter. Plus, every issue includes a feature you won't find anywhere else -- hardware and CAD software reviews, success stories, AutoCAD tips and much more! Here's a sample of what you missed recently:

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