The CAD Insider

Apple Buys PrimeSense and Leaves Industry Without Good Cheap 3D Scanner

Tech giants buying up technology for games and entertainment may have smaller companies scrambling to use leftovers for more serious applications.

SCOTTSDALE, AZ (COFES 2014) - The best 3D scan device was made with PrimeSense hardware. PrimeSense was bought by Apple in a $345M deal in November 2013.

One person not happy with this deal is Amir Rubin, CEO of Paracosm, a startup intent on using 3D scanning for engineering and architectural application. "Apple pulled the Primesense cameras off the market," says Amir. "Here was the best cheap scanner you could get. There are a lot of great products built using Primesense as the underlying platform. They even shut down the website. "

(picture from IEEE website)

PrimeSense 3D scanning hardware. Good, cheap, now unavailable after Apple bought company.

Amir's company used PrimeSense hardware to create 3D models or building interiors from scan data. "Primesense nailed the tradeoff of cost vs performance," he says "There aren't any viable (sub-$30,000) alternatives for acquiring 3D structural data readily available on the market. You can't get that kind of scan from point and shoot camera. You have to have a laser, an infrared laser. Photogrammetry [3D models from photos] gives no scale. That building is going to be the same size as... this candle holder," he says pointing to the candle holder on our table during closing night open bar at COFES. 

Amir's company has managed, by hook and by crook, to stockpile a couple hundred  PrimeSense devices. He seems to think the patented technology of PrimeSense prevents another company from making anything as good, as accurate, or as cheap.

What is PrimeSense?

PrimeSense makes the Capri, which is a 3D imaging signal processor on a chip.

(picture from 3D Systems)

It is used in the $399 Sense device sold by 3D Systems. How the Apple acquisition of PrimeSense affects the future of the Sense product is not known at this point. 

Similar hardware was developed by Canesta, which was bought by Microsoft in 2010 for use in their Kinect gaming system. The acquisition cost was not disclosed but Canesta had been able to raise $60M from investors before Microsoft bought it. Microsoft is no stranger to billion dollar deals (it paid $1.4B for Visio in 2000).

The PrimeSense Capri chip was discovered in a teardown of the much anticipated "Project Tango" smart phone where it would power its 3D imaging capability¹. 

Stakes Too High for CAD

A pity for Autodesk, who is trying to get into the 3D scanning in a big way with ReCap. With promising technology being gobbled up by tech giants at hyperinflated prices, what are CAD companies to do? Even the biggest CAD companies don't make $3B a year. One of the biggest deals in CAD -- Dassault buying SOLIDWORKS in 1997 for $316M -- was smaller than the PrimeSense acquisition. It's possible that Autodesk was in the running for PrimeSense but it's likely that Autodesk would have folded early as the stakes climbed. 

Enough With the Toys - Let's Do This

It sucks to watch sky high deals being made for gamers and watching television (Apple won't say but rumors are it bought PrimeSense for remote control of its media box) leaving serious technology applications, from Paracosm to ReCap, out in the cold. But while the tech titans can afford to pay billions for toys they must have tomorrow, it is the CAD companies that have the tools and the time to put something together. Most technical professionals don't know they need 3D scanning right now. We have 6 months, a year, maybe more before demand builds up. Why not throw a skunk works design team together? A couple of engineers ought to do it. Tell them to put something together. Or how about sponsoring a maker contest? Sensors, IR transmitters, even microprocessors, are stuff of Radio Shack. An infrared beam emitted and detected, with the direction and the difference in time used to give position. The hardware is cheap. The Leap Motion device does that and it sells for $80. Then the rest of the magic is done in the software. How hard can this be? And who better than CAD companies to do software -- and have design tools?

Maybe this is a chance for CAD companies to actually make something, practice what they have been preaching. It beats crying in your beer about those big bad tech giants.

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For More Information

1. Google's 'Project Tango' Smartphone Uses Apple's PrimeSense Technology - MacRumors, April 16. 2014
2. Sense by 3D Systems - corporate product page
3. Paracosm - service that does 3D scans of interiors
4. Leap Motion - $79 3D input device
5. ReCap - 3D scanning by Autodesk

 

 

 

 

A Swing for the Fence - Lagoa Plans a Cloud-Based 3D MCAD Modeler

SCOTTSDALE, AZ (COFES) - Lagoa is creating a 3D mechanical CAD program. It is based on Parasolid. It will be ready some time before the end of the year. It will compete with SolidWorks.

Who or what is Lagoa? And what makes a relative newcomer think they can go up against a reigning champion?

CAD Insider readers know of Lagoa for its renderer and a user part library/gallery. It was a hit at SOLIDWORKS World, where it was nomimated for a Best of Show. I am invited to see them at COFES, where they have rented a suite. I expect them to show me a newer version of what I had already seen. I'm expecting a hit. I have no idea they'll be swinging for the fences.

Thiago Costa, CEO of Lagoa, shows beta of Lagoa, showing how users can work on the same design from different locations. 

I find Lagoa founder and CEO, Thiago Costa and Chris Williams, who does their marketing, finishing an interview. Thiago is talking in English, then switches to French. He is from Brazil, I think. Lagoa may be named for a town in Portugal but the company was once Canadian. Recently, it has situated itself in Boston. And that's where they found their pot of gold (as in VC money).

Then my turn, and they ask if I've heard their announcement. We will be releasing a 3D modeling program. I hadn't. There was nothing on the wire. Nothing on Twitter. It was being leaked at COFES.

"It's a soft launch," says Chris. Chris is known at COFES. In previous years, Chris had pushed his collaboration product, Vuuch. Now he is handling Lagoa marketing and has talked Thiago into coming to Scottsdale. "We're telling a few press people," says Chris. 

It's All Happening in Boston

Boston has proved fruitful to Lagoa. The area is a beehive of CAD activity, old and new. PTC, Dassault and Autodesk have offices in nearby Waltham. Talent bred in MIT in Cambridge is grown with VC funding pools nearly as deep as those in Silicon Valley --at least for design and engineering software. GrabCAD has recently benefitted from this largesse ($13.6M in funding). But the one on which all eyes seem to be riveted is Belmont Technologies, now Onshape...the name is not as important as who is in it: none other than originators of SOLIDWORKS, Jon Hirschtick and his gang. Onshape has raised $34M.

Everyone bets on the horse that won the last race so VC money piling up behind Onshape should be no surprise.

Thiago is betting his horse is faster, younger... and, in contrast to the very secretive gang at Onshape, this horse has jumped the gate.

"We are backed by some of the investors of SolidWorks," he says. "And Siemens." Lagoa has raised almost $7M. They have 30 employees.

Now this is getting interesting.

What Does Lagoa Have?

The Lagoa modeler (company name and product name is the same) is cloud based and will work in your browser --no installation is required. It can be used on mobile devices though not on my iPad at the time of this writing. The model will exist on the cloud. It can be passed around with a hyperlink. It can be anywhere. The user can be anywhere. Two users can operate on an assembly regardless of their location. Moving a part around will update the part on the other screen. The model is no longer tied to the user's desk, says Thiago. It is stored on the cloud, which Lagoa will provide.

The price has not been determined. Currently, only Lagoa's rendering products are for sale.

You Really Want to take on SolidWorks?

"What is SOLIDWORKS except an interface to Parasolid?" asks Thiago. "We are using Parasolid, too."

A brash young challenger could be easily dismissed. Hasn't SOLIDWORKS had 20 years to refine its tools? Gernerated an immense user base? Emerged as the language in which mechanical design is spoken? Blame the confidence on youth. Thiago, his knit hat pulled over his head, doesn't quite fit in among the...um, shall we say distinguished?.. attendees who take the Congress on the Future of Engineering Software quite seriosuly. Will they dismiss Thiago, who looks more like a game developer (which he was)?

Moms on SolidWorks

But according to Thiago, CAD is easy compared to special effects (which he did) and game development. "My mother could use SolidWorks," he says. He shows Maya on his MacBook on a screen so cluttered with commands it shrinks the work window. Mastering such a software requires not just a knowledge of a myriad of commands but writing scripts. "Film guys are making things that no one else has made," says Thiago. A film company had to create a skeletal muscle system to get realistic facial expression in a CG character.

Supermoms to the contrary, is Lagoa really easy to use for the casual user or non-CAD user, the sort who has no experience with CAD or desire to learn it? They want to get a model made so the can 3D print it, for example. Thiago concedes Lagoa is not easy enough for first time or casual users just yet, but by the time of release, he promisies it will be.

Related articles

Lagoa Dazzles at SolidWorks Show with Free, Cloud-based Rendering

Lagoa Debuts 'Industry First' Cloud Based 3D Design Platform, Raises $1.6M From 500 Startups, Atlas

Autodesk ReCap Makes 3D Photos

Accessibility and affordability make ReCap Best of Show at SPAR International 2014

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO (SPAR International 2014) - Autodesk's ReCap, short for reality capture, is a collection of application and service intended to make 3D models of existing objects, buildings, even landscapes, which can then be used for information, modification or design. ReCap will use digital photos or point clouds and create what is essentially a 3D photograph.

Autodesk video shows existing landscape with 3D model of bridge

3D CAD model of car heads down 3D scanned assembly line. (Picture courtesy of Volvo)

Applications

• An architect can get a 3D model of the surroundings in which to place a new design
• A city could see how a bridge would look in its eventual surroundings (see bridge above)
• A factory would know if a new car model would clear existing assembly line equipment (see Volvo example above)
• An aftermarket car car part could be shown on an existing vehicle
• Accident re-creation and forensics
• Women could finally get jeans that fit (see below)

 

I Hate My Jeans

Half the population of the US (the female half) is not happy with their jeans or how they look in them. Imagine biometric data from a 3D scan (that you did yourself and encrypted, of course) that could be sent to a clothing manufacturer for a custom fit.

A single body scan could result in custom made shoes, suits, more...

Key Differentiating Technology

The ability to snap photos from several points of view and have software create a 3D model is a key technology in ReCap. While we take the precise recording to a 2D space for granted in a photo, think of superimposing another photo over the first one from another view point, then another, and so on. A photo shoot to capture an object in 3D could have 30, 40 or more photos. The more the better, actually, in terms of accuracy. The thought of having to sort out millions of pixels in 3 dimensions is enough to give me a headache. Luckily it's all handled by the software, all "under the hood."

Autodesk acquired this technology (known as photogrammetry) in the form of REALVIZ, a small company it found in the south of France which it bought it for an undisclosed sum. REALVIZ founder Dominique Pouliquen moved to the SF Bay Area and now integrates the technology into Autodesk products. REALVIZ surfaced first in 123D Catch which is now ReCap.

3D photobooth at the Autodesk Gallery uses ReCap will create a 3D photo

It is a popular exhibit in the Autodesk Gallery in San Francisco, where over 20 cameras will turn your likeness into a small head and shoulders bust. For $35. Unfortunately, the tops of the head is always missing, but Dominique tells me it can be fixed easily by an additional 2 overhead cameras.

Is Any of This New or Unique?

Google has been prowling the streets with this 3D camera set up for years. (picture courtesy of Google)

Photogrammetry, the math of positioning points in space often from 2D recordings developed not long after the recordings themselves. There's many products that can create 3D models from photographs. Several small companies but also one giant. Google may well be the biggest creator and user of photogrammetry with its ambitious plan to digitize the worlds roadways. Laser scanning, or LIDAR, long a favored tool to capture site data for civil engineers to create digital terrain maps (DTMs) for making and widening roadways, adding bridges, etc., came to light (pun intended) in the '60s. Also, the creation of 3D models from point clouds has been going on for decades.

Access and Affordability

Airplanes equipped with LIDAR can map entire country sides. Factory interiors, BIM models, airplanes, etc., can be modeled with application of a laser scanning system such as those from Faro, Surphaser, and many others who were displaying their wares at SPAR. The equipment is not cheap to acquire. Expect to spend $100K to get a decent laser scanning setup. A van equipped with 360 scan equipment is so expensive and requires so much training and that most state DoTs cannot afford them and don't want to bother with them.

So what is an individual or small firm to do? The typical architect in a small firm does not have that kind of budget, much less LIDAR equipped flight services in his address book.

But we do all have digital cameras -- at least one. They're built into our phones. Send the photos to a service and let it stitch the photos together. Autodesk provides this service for free. Want to scan the neighborhood and entire neighborhood -- from above? You could rig up a point-and-shoot camera to a drone and let it buzz around for 15 minutes taking shots every second, upload it to Autodesk's Recap 360, and receive a 3D model. Autodesk will do its part for FREE! I don't know how long this generosity can continue but enjoy it while you can. You will have to buy your own drone and camera.

Autodesk demonstrated this capability with off-the-shelf $750¹ UAVs (they don't like to say drones) to scan the Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs. (See Is That a Drone? Run for Cover)

The accessibility and affordability makes Autodesk ReCap a welcome entry into the architecture, design and engineering world.

How Much

ReCap is free. You can download it here http://www.autodesk.com/products/recap/get-started. It is included with every 3D Autodesk design suite though it is mentioned with the Building Design Suite on Autodesk's site at the time of this writing.

ReCap Pro, which adds targetless registration of scans in the field, goes for $450/month or $3600 a year.

1. 3DR IRIS, by 3D Robotics, $750. See https://store.3drobotics.com/products/IRIS.

For more info:

• Google Street View 
• Autodesk Recap - corporate product site
• Photogrammetry - Wikipedia entry

 

Bentley Does Point Clouds

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO - and Bentley was on hand at SPAR, the annual gathering for the 3D scanning industry, to remind attendees that its applications that have been helping with 3D scanning and point clouds for years. 

It as at SPAR Europe late in 2011 that Bentley announced it had bought PointTools for its Vortex point cloud engine. The idea was to make point clouds more usable -- which was not the case previously given the massive amount of data and file sizes of infrastructure scans.

"A point cloud file can be 50 to 60 billion points," says Ron Gant, head of marketing for Bentley's civil engineering line. "We've integrated PointTools into all Bentley applications now and can handle very large datasets."

Kurt Rasmussen, AE for Bentley, shows customer point cloud processing with Descartes.

Still, what good is a point cloud if you can't make any sense out of it? 3D laser scans produce x, y, z data that used to be displayed as white points on the screen. Get into the middle of that and it can look like outer space amidst the stars. And you are lost. It has been helpful that most scans nowadays use a camera in conjunction with the laser to capture a color value for each point. With the addition of color, the scan starts approaching what the eye would see and the universe starts looking a lot more orderly. 

But you still have points.

What CAD users need are objects. The pipe that was scanned with a laser is represented as a million points. You can't move the pipe by picking it and dragging it. You can't use it for interference checking. Enter Bentley's Descartes, which can use the points to make CAD geometry.

It's not magic. Don't expect Descartes to sort out the point cloud on its own. A skilled human operator still needs to be in the process.

Kurt Rasmussen, application engineer for Bentley, who shows me Descartes, prefers a step by step approach. He guides Descartes through a colorized point cloud model of the inside of a process plant, letting the software create a pipe here, a column there. A useful CAD model emerges piece by piece. Descartes appears quite adept at interpreting close-together points and determining them to be standard structural shapes. Its efficiency is obvious. But Daniel is there to when the points don't tell the real story. For example, when the laser doesn't record a surface from which it is reflected, or where fireproofing material throws off the shape of an I-beam. A chain link fence might confuse the software -- but not Kurt.

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For more information, see Bentley Descartes product page: http://www.bentley.com/en-US/Products/Bentley+Descartes/

Is That a Drone? Run for Cover

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO (SPAR Int’l 2014) – Autodesk invited the press to the Garden of the Gods to watch them make 3D models of using some of the Reality Capture applications being shown at SPAR.

The plan was to have cameras mounted to a couple of toy aircraft circle the rock formations and convert the resulting photographs into 3D models.

Scarcely had the first aircraft gone up when a passing local registered her alarm.

 “Is that a drone?”

Such is the prevailing fear about drones in domestic airspace. Never mind that the aircraft in question were each about 10 lbs of hardware equipped with nothing more harmful than a camera. Never mind that the potential uses would bring down cost of aerial photography, add terabytes of useful land data for a variety of uses (some even for the public good) or that Amazon could use them to get us our next Apple device sooner than next day. Never mind that hobbyists have been flying radio controlled aircraft without so much as a public whimper since as long as I can remember. Instead there exists a fear of overhead unmanned flying objects that could, at best, crash down on our heads and at worst blow us up in our sleep with missiles. Like they do overseas -- which is ok because they are blowing up terrorists, right?

While Autodesk has gotten away with flying the UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) over the San Francisco bay area and now over the Garden of the Gods, most of the UAV fleet in the US remains essentially grounded. Trimble’s slick UAV is being sold only to government agencies and the occasional university for research. 

University of Colorado at Denver, present at SPAR, is lucky enough to have appropriated a few of the Trimble UAVs and have embarked on a variety of projects to demonstrate their usefulness.

Among the assembled press, there was a lot of questions and confusion about what was allowable and legal. What constitutes a drone – as opposed to a UAV or model plane? It is a matter of stick control by an operator on the ground vs a pre-planned flight. Was it the altitude at which they operated, say 400 feet? Was it the size of the machine? Was it its use, business or pleasure, free or commercial. Even some at Autodesk were not sure. 

The concern and debate of drones/AUVs threatened to take over what would have been otherwise a really cool demonstration of technology. After something like a half hour of flight with some cheap point-and-shoot cameras on top of off-the-shelf $750* toy choppers, Autodesk would be able to create a impressive, full color, accurate enough 3D model of a massive geologic formation. Could it be done by an ordinary person any other way? Could a small firm pay a LIDAR equipped airplane for a similar model of the terrain for their next project?

Autodesk may have shown how UAVs couples withe their software can bring costs down to earth. By a couple orders of magnitude. If it can be heard over public hysteria.

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*Autodesk was using 3D Robotics 3DR IRIS Multicopter, which lists for $750

Volvo CAD Meets Point Cloud

In this digital age, wouldn't you imagine that cars float through virtual assembly lines? Avatars ensuring that assembly workers will have room to maneuver their wrenches? Ensuring robotic arms having no collisions with fenders, rendering an otherwise gleaming auto undeliverable for an unsightly dent?

But car models get bigger every year with just about every automaker. Volvo was not alone in seeing the chance of collisions down the line getting increasingly common.

CAD model of car in point cloud representation of factory at Volvo

Volvo  had been pushing a cardboard mockup of the latest model down the line. This seemingly low tech approach was at least better than having to stop the line -- something no factory will want to do. But the cardboard models would not survive the acid bath, a pit into which the real car would receive its rust proofing. And that pit was getting smaller every year, it seemed.

Volvo has not found a single digital solution to simulate the car going down the line and so have to use a hybrid model. A point cloud from a 3D scan simulates the assembly line. As is becoming increasingly common, a laser scanner is situated in a spot on the factory floor and generates a million 3D points. This is repeated in multiple locations in the same factory. the more the better. One vantage point will "see" things another scan does not. Do this often enough and Volvo got a usable model of the existing factory assembly line. So much easier than having to model the factory!

The car, however, existed as a solid model. Volvo now brings the CAD model into through the point cloud and is able to solve problems before they become an issue on the real factory floor.

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Source:  "Living in the Point Cloud" Magnus Rönnäng, Volvo, keynote presentation at SPR Int'l 2014, April 15, 2014

Graphisoft Touts BIMcloud as Easier, Cheaper Than Revit Server

TOKYO, Japan --Graphisoft, best known for its stand-alone, desktop-based ArchiCAD, has rolled out a cloud offering. Its BIMcloud appears to be primarily for purposes of collaboration. Having a BIM model on the cloud will allow far-flung users to work on different aspect of the same model.

A main advantage of BIMcloud over Autodesk’s Revit Server appears to be its lack of complexity, says Viktor Varkonyi, CEO of Graphisoft. It can be used with as little as one server (which may be even be run of the mill PC) as opposed to Revit Server, which requires one server for each physical office location.

Can it be this simple? GS BIMcloud (left) can turn a  single ordinary PC into a server and can be installed by a small firm with no IT support. By contrast, Revit Server, needs a server at each location, rented VPN and lots of IT.

Indeed, Graphisoft BIMcloud looks startlingly simple, as if could take a computer I no longer have any user for, plug it into the network, and voila! I have a server that can dispense drawings and help my colleagues collaborate. As if. It won’t be that easy, of course. It will take time and effort and require tech support phone calls, Googling for help, being forced to learn arcane commands unique to servers, stuff beyond my training, job description and interest, cajoling and cursing, but if I were to believe Graphisoft at all, I may have a chance of getting it right. That is their claim.

I contrast that to a demo I received of Revit Server which seemed to revel in complexity. Granted, the demo was delivered by a consultant whose main interest was in showing mastery over a beast, and it would benefit him for all to pay him as there was no hope of an ordinary person. Still, I marvelled at how a product could spawn a minor industry in its implementation and maintenance.

A few other notable distinctions about GS BIM Cloud:

• Revit requires a server in each office and a VPN connection. Graphisoft only one and no VPN connection.
• Graphisoft uses Delta-Server patented technology

For more information:

• GRAPHISOFT BIMcloud - corporate product site
• Graphisoft in Japan: Pictures and Notes from the BIMcloud Trip by Anthony Frausto-Robledo AIA, LEED AP
• In upFront.eZine this week: all about BIMcloud and how Graphisoft is getting over its Revit-envy, by Ralph Grabowski

Autodesk: BTW, We're a CAM Company, Too

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - The main story told to the assembled at Autodesk’s dream workshop in San Francisco's waterfront was HSMWorks for Inventor.  I'm too distracted by HSMWorks' start as a SolidWorks CAM add-on, but I have to pay attention. Autodesk is telling us they have kick-ass CAM for Inventor. And that they are serious about CAM. I figured that after they bought Delcam, but they are not even mentioning Delcam this day.

So ingrained is the idea of Autodesk as a CAD company that I have to remind myself that Autodesk has become a design, manufacturing and analysis conglomerate. On the software side. $300M in acquisitions has made it a major player in CAE. $276M to buy Delcam (see press release, Nov 7, 2013) makes it a top tier CAM vendor. Having covered CAD, CAM and CAE on the professional side, Autodesk intends to be there for the next generation of “makers,” those tinkerers, kids who when they grow up, are going to be using a hundred free or cheap apps on their iPads … or whatever they have then, all courtesy of Autodesk’s hyperactive Autodesk Labs.

"We may be #3 in CAM with our Delcam acquisition, but wait," says Carl White, director of Autodesk CAM, pointing to the fractured CAM market in which the leader, Dassault, commands only 10% of the total $1.8B*.

And why stop with kids? Autodesk has been courting the consumer. For consumer making their own 3D self portrait, custom shoes, replacement parts –Autodesk is positioning itself for them. If it’s software and 3D Systems hasn’t already bought it, you can bet Autodesk is interested.

But world domination is not the story today, either. Focus. This day was about HSMWorks, which may very well be a good start in providing Autodesk credibility as a CAM vendor.

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*Autodesk cites CIMData 2013 NC Market Analysis Report

Autodesk About SolidWorks - Now Who's Not Nice?

"The CAD wars are over."

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - We hear it during the unveiling of HSMWorks for Inventor, as it proclaims support of SolidWorks users, many of whom have bought HSMWorks to do CAM. But while Autodesk may now be trying to play nice, they say it now Dassault, SolidWorks's parent company, who is not.  

"They dropped our Gold status," says Anthony Graves, product manager for HSMWorks. SolidWorks reserves coveted Gold partner status for the best, most compatible 3rd party products. To get gold, you have to jump through many hoops, including functioning entirely within the SolidWorks interface.

Does HSMWorks still work within the SolidWorks interface?

"Yes," says Anthony.

Does it still have the same functionality as it did before the Autodesk acquisition?

"Yes."

"Did Autodesk put any bombs in the product for SolidWorks users?" I ask, only half jokingly.

"No."

"They did the same thing with Delcam after we bought it," says Anthony. "It's their routine."

Autodesk does manage to get 2 licenses of SolidWorks for being a developer, which may be a small concession, but when CAD vendors go at each other, that no sure thing.

Autodesk and HSMWorks: We Support SolidWorks Users

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - HSMWorks, Inc., was little more than a small band of 12, happily giving away CAM software¹ for SolidWorks, until their discovery by Autodesk. The CAD giant saw something they liked (apparently, HSMWorks can make toolpaths in fraction of the time it takes other CAM companies) and bought the company. Autodesk boosted their development staff from 4 to 12. Not a huge deal in the CAD, CAM and CAE world -- Autodesk itself has a few thousand developers -- but the HSMWorks deal was very significant in terms of direction and strategy.

Last week, Autodesk assembled us at Autodesk’s dream workshop in San Francisco's waterfront, to tell us about their kick-ass CAM product: HSMWorks for Inventor. But now you are going to have to pay for it².

Yes, the SolidWorks version will still be supported. “Since we bought HSMWorks, we’ve updated the SolidWorks version 4 times,”says Carl White, leader of the Autodesk CAM team, which now also includes Delcam. “We’re CAD-agnostic.”

I have to pinch myself. Autodesk has been in a war with SolidWorks that is going into the 2nd decade. Autodesk treatment of resellers who considered selling SolidWorks, when SolidWorks was getting off the ground in the late 90's was like the arch-villain pushing the button to drop dissenters to their death in James Bond movies. CAD Insiders will remember the in-your-face anti SolidWorks ads on every cab at SolidWorks World in New Orleans. Autodesk sued SolidWorks a few years ago over the use of a graphic³.

Is Autodesk support of SolidWorks the 2nd oddest pair of CAD bedfellows? Only Siemens PLM renting its Parasolid geometry kernel to SolidWorks seems weirder.

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1. Autodesk claims 5,000-6,000 software free downloads for HSMWorks.

2. An annual license costs $7,500 and includes a seat of Inventor.

3. Both the ad campaign and the lawsuit covered by Ralph Grabowski, see "Adsk vs SW: Comments, " Sep, 25, 2008.