CAD Central

Autodesk Talks Turkey about Vista; think3 Introduces Two New Products; Location Intelligence on SQL

Autodesk Talks Turkey about Vista

In December, nearly a full year after the release of Windows Vista, Autodesk issued a brochure that outlines how its products fare under the new operating system (OS). The emphasis of the 20-page document is this: Upgrade to the 2008 product line if you want to make the most of Vista. "Autodesk and Windows Vista" is downloadable at http://labs.blogs.com/articles/Autodesk_Vista_WP.pdf.

The new "Autodesk and Windows Vista" document outlines Autodesk products compatibility with Windows Vista.

The paper makes its case by pointing out that many of the 2008 products "take advantage of some new Vista capabilities. Specifically, Windows Vista offers thumbnail previews for DWG and DWF files in Windows Explorer, displays AutoCAD properties in the detail tab of Windows Explorer, and provides search tools that look for text strings in the drawing properties, text, and mtext of DWG files." In the case of Autodesk Inventor, the paper stated, "Whether users choose to run [the software] on Windows XP or Windows Vista, they will experience the same great performance and workflows." Of Revit Architecture 2008 and 3ds Max 2008, it similarly noted, "users should experience the same high performance" in both XP and Vista.

For AutoCAD Mechanical, the paper acknowledged some "issues associated with the UAC [user access control]" For example, "the user account control in Vista will prevent nonadministrator users from accessing certain portions of the Vista OS such as the program files directory." Autodesk also pointed out, "Map 3D 2008 was developed to run on 32-bit systems . . . but will not be able to take advantage of the Windows Vista 64-bit OS at this time." No benchmark test scores are included in the brochure.

Think3 Unveils Two New Products

EuroMold 2007 is an international fair for mold-making, tooling, and design. At the trade fair, industrial design software developer think3 (www.think3.com) previewed two new products: thinkreshape, a reverse-engineering system, and thinkmold, an automated injection-molding package. According to the company, thinkreshape is "recommended whenever it is necessary to start from a physical prototype in wood, resin . . . or from any real object that has to be reproduced in a 3D computer image to process or change it."

think3 touted its "optical triangularization technology," which lets users capture 3D objects of different sizes as 3D digital models [comprising clouds] of triangularized points (mesh).

Of thinkmold, the company stated, "One of [the software's] most relevant features is the semantic split, which semantically automates and stabilizes the separation between punch and mold . . . For example, in case of substantial modifications of a 3D model, where it is necessary to separate punch and die, this separation is enabled by means of rules defined by the mold maker."

Both products are scheduled to appear alongside thinkdesign 2008, the company's flagship mechanical design suite, in March 2008. Pricing is not available at this time.

Location Intelligence on SQL

Microsoft SQL Server 2008, now available as a community technology preview download (www.microsoft.com/sql/2008), can quite literally put enterprise data on the map. By adding location-intelligence support, Microsoft is positioning SQL as a database application for those who want to incorporate consumer demographics, environmental information, economic information, market segments, and similar business drivers into a GIS environment.

ESRI's upcoming ArcGIS 9.3 software is expected to take full advantage of the new spatial components in SQL Server 2008.

In its announcement to the press, ESRI stated, "This integration of ArcGIS 9.3 with SQL Server 2008 Spatial will benefit ESRI's government customers who are using spatial technology to improve operational efficiency, data sharing, and public service. It will also benefit business customers who are using spatial technology to improve customer support, decision making, logistics, market analysis, and energy conservation."