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The future of AutoCAD

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Re: The future of AutoCAD

#41

Post by msla »

zmix wrote: post #39

I hate webapps. What will happen to scripting, application automation? Just have a look, how dumbed down most webapps are when compared to their desktop parts or similare programs as desktop version.

People say the same things about GUI desktop apps being dumbed-down versions of command line utilities and tool ecologies. Command line tools are still here, and we have more of them compared to the Old Days; it seems focusing entirely on the newest thing provides a skewed view of the totality of what's available, as pre-existing technologies tend to not only not go away entirely, but continue to evolve.

(I wonder if anyone thought command lines were dumbed-down versions of punch-card batch setups.)

Re: The future of AutoCAD

#42

Post by fsloth »

frankharv wrote: post #26
haberman wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What about SketchUp? I'm very new to 3d modeling, but I've been modeling my house over the last week or so in SketchUp and it seems pretty nice. Are 2d CAD and 3d modeling different kettles of fish?

Well AutoCAD has some tools for drawing 3D but their actual 3D program is called 3D-MAX. This is derived from the old 3D-Studio program that they bought from Kinnetix years ago. Funny thing is in the shop environment 3DMAX is not used. It is the bastard child of Autodesk. Solidworks is predominately used in machine shops these days.They have a SolidCAM that works well for generating G code for CNC usage. Autodesk als…

Autocad's main customer base is the AEC industry, while 3D-MAX is used in video game and visual production. Solidworks, on the other hand, is used for modeling mechanically detailed structures - like you would produce in a machine shop.

Revit, on the other hand, is used for building information modeling. It's main domain is designing buildings.

Except for Revit and Autocad, which are somewhat interchangeable within their users' domain, none of these products really serve each others core userbase well. Hence, they are not really comparable. It's like saying Word is a bit like Excel since you can compose tables of numbers in each.

If you were to offer one to the core user of the other they would complain as much as if you were giving a steak for a vetenarian to cook.

Re: The future of AutoCAD

#43

Post by convolvatron »

fsloth wrote: post #37
frou_dh wrote: post #30

This probably doesn't count as full-blown CAD, but there exists a cool and mature desktop 3D modelling application written in _ERLANG_! How can you resist at least trying that? It's called Wings3D: http://www.wings3d.com/wp-content/uploads//SS01.png http://www.wings3d.com/wp-content/uploads//Amx141prscr.jpg http://www.wings3d.com/?page_id=84

3D programs target different domains. Wings is mainly for creating renderable meshes. A CAD software's main usage is in modeling physical structures.

another major point of distinction is free form sculpture vs engineering parts. the tools made for either of these domains is largely useless in the other.

Re: The future of AutoCAD

#44

Post by seanmcdirmid »

msla wrote: post #41
zmix wrote: post #39

I hate webapps. What will happen to scripting, application automation? Just have a look, how dumbed down most webapps are when compared to their desktop parts or similare programs as desktop version.

People say the same things about GUI desktop apps being dumbed-down versions of command line utilities and tool ecologies. Command line tools are still here, and we have more of them compared to the Old Days; it seems focusing entirely on the newest thing provides a skewed view of the totality of what's available, as pre-existing technologies tend to not only not go away entirely, but continue to evolve. (I wonder if…

It was either Diajkstra or Hoare who supposedly lamented programming students not being as careful when they got to use a terminal rather than punch cards.

Web apps, however, tend to have fewer features and are more limited than desktop apps. Their only advantage being the ability to run in a web browser.

Re: The future of AutoCAD

#45

Post by bitL »

Why can't they just wrap it into Electron or Meteor and go full circle desktop-web-desktop, all in C++, just eating a few more gigabytes for V8? It's so super enjoyable to see Chrome header, buttons etc. on top of any desktop app, really!

Something in our industry went horribly wrong, investments going to self-serving "innovations" instead of needed areas.

This is probably an attempt to turn a full-blown desktop app into a SaaS-bound, remotely-delivered app without much concern for users. I guess we will have to get used to it; next is likely going to be Photoshop & co.

Re: The future of AutoCAD

#46

Post by fsloth »

zmix wrote: post #39

I hate webapps. What will happen to scripting, application automation? Just have a look, how dumbed down most webapps are when compared to their desktop parts or similare programs as desktop version.

There is a large category of users, for whom effortless access through a browser offers great value. For example, in the AEC industry there are lot of roles where one needs to access the 3D model for review purposes and not modeling itself. For these roles a webapp that is quick to open offers actual value (and is not just a cheap gimmick from the vendor).

Re: The future of AutoCAD

#48

Post by fsloth »

bluedino wrote: post #38

You would think, if you wrote a hosted CAD program that ran on large compute instances in AWS, you'd really lock the market down. No more buying expensive CAD workstations, way less graphics drivers, just fire it up. Need more power? Just pay more each month/day/hour. Plus you could host all your giant CAD files in the cloud, no more buying storage and easier to share across remote teams.

The hardware is cheap nowadays compared to the software. Any sub-1k dollar/euro PC will handle most things one would use Autocad for. It's the software that is expensive.

Re: The future of AutoCAD

#49

Post by ozten »

haberman wrote: post #7

SketchUp has been running in the brower for the better part of a year (or at least their free version does): https://help.sketchup.com/en/article/3000315 I wasn't able to find any technical information about whether SketchUp takes the same approach of compiling their desktop code to Emscripten.

I found the web version unusable and had to revert to the desktop app. Buggy user interaction was a deal-breaker.

Re: The future of AutoCAD

#50

Post by specialist »

bluedino wrote: post #33
specialist wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The road to Sausalito is littered with the corpses of AutoCAD challengers. Generic CADD was pretty good. Bought and shut down. I also remember Visual CAD (which I don't think is the same Visual CAD a quick google search is turning up). I forget who bought them. There's a zillion others I no longer remember. Unbelievably, as bad as AutoCAD is/was, Bentley Systems' MicroStation was a hellspawn of turrible. I've never r…

>> I've never really understood how AutoCAD and Office maintained their dominance. Saying it's hard to write something that's 100% compatible would be an understatement. Viewing the same document in Google Apps, Microsoft Word, or Open Office makes me think of QA'ing a website in 3 different browsers.

Ya. You reminded me that any Excel clone (or interop) has to reproduce Excel's bugs too.

No fun.

Ages ago, I was buddies with a guy (Dale?) who reverse engineered DWG, which I think became the code dump for the Open DWG Alliance, which may be this group today https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Design_Alliance, though I don't see McNeel & Assoc listed (Rhino3D).

Dale worked for a graphics card company, Appian?, writing drivers and file viewers. He'd reversed DWG to write a wicked fast viewer. Just like those guys from Atlanta (don't remember their names).

I now dimly recall that Dale's team had to also reproduce AutoCAD's rendering bugs.

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