Sunday, October 11, 2009

Is this a good thing?

This link will give you a list of Autodesk's products available. I guess it's good to be supported by such a large and diverse software company but it could be easy to get lost in the crowd.

AutoCAD mechanical is referred to as "a standard in 2D mechanical design" and then mention is made of 'prototyping' which I thought could only refer to 3D.  The downloadable pdf shows 3D renderings.  Maybe much of it is still 2D? Here's an old article about Mech's demise. But it appears a 2010 version has been released. Maybe users didn't move to Inventor as quick as they hoped. I think that Mech is still only available together with Inventor or at least that's how it was for a time.

AutoCAD Civil3D is mentioned as a BIM solution? whereas AutoCAD Architecture is not .... er.... because Revit is! Ah....marketeers! No mention is made on the ACA opening page of 3D but it does tell you that you can move to a BIM solution "at your own pace" and points you to Revit! It's there again in the pdf brochure!

Ok so I'm just grumbling really and just surmising what's going to happen with ACA in the future. As I am about to set up a builder's drawing office with a system, you'd like to know which direction to head. For now it's looking like ACA!

I also have noticed that all the major players in the 3D architectural modelling are now (or appear to be) owned by North American companies. Not sure what that means but the basic package is never a fit for the way we do things here in Oz. We are always reliant on local content (bought or created) to make it relevant to our local market. But I guess whether the package is from the US, Canada or Hungary we always have to customise it somewhat and we are always at the mercy of developers far away!

Cheers

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