The CAD Insider

The Sun Sets Over COFES

Figure 1- Sunset in Scottsdale, AZ, the setting for COFES every year after its inception in 1999.

COFES, the Congress of the Future of Engineering Software, is a quirky conference by design. It houses a micrometer collection. Its rules forbid suits and ties. It can even set a minimum IQ to attend a session. The brainchild of Brad Holtz, Joel Orr and Evan Yares, COFES was conceived in 1999 as a meeting to facilitate more of the chance encounters and conversations that happen at other conferences. As Brad is fond of saying, the most important parts of a show are not its presentations, but the chance to meet and interact with people, often informally. After a proof of concept in Chicago, it moved to Scottsdale, AZ, near Phoenix and Evan’s home. Known only for major league spring training and a golf course, the town annually attracts 200 to 240 attendees, an eclectic mix of the most important --and self-important --software vendors and users, pundits and a few journalists, all of whom spend three days in a desert oasis (the Scottsdale Plaza Resort) in t-shirts and sandals.

Figure 2 - Already looking relaxed after putting COFES in the hands of a nonprofit group, Brad Holtz delivers housekeeping rules for the last time.

This year, Brad announced that he will be turning the reins of the show over newly minted COFES Institute, which is to be run as a non-profit organization. Not that he’s abandoning the conference - Brad is quick to add that he will still show up to offer guidance to the new management, but hopes to enjoy more of the show from among the audience. “A few house keeping rules…” will not be the same. He will be turning his attention to another project, serving as “Nexus Officer” at a “stealth-mode startup.”

It was a decision that caught almost no one by surprise. Many COFES regulars knew Brad wanted  to– and needed to -- get out from under COFES. Becca Yeh, hired initially as Brad’s assistant, has over the years gained more responsibility, and will be taking on a more managerial role with the new committee.

Vince Caprio, head of the COFES Institute, will lead sales. The show’s primary revenue came from attendee registration fees, in which Brad had a strong role.

Over the last few years, both those who attend and those who don’t have expressed a common concern: that the rank of attendees from big vendors was seen as dropping. When COFES was at its prime, it was not unusual to see the CEOs of top companies chatting with each other by the resort pools. This year, there was one business development person from Autodesk.PTC was a no show. Dassault sent the CEO of one of their divisions and Siemens sent none. That being said, our percentage of CEOs overall is higher than ever, says Brad.

As with the age of its founders, so goes the age of the average attendee. So old are they at COFES that a young face, usually a student intern, shines among a sea of gray hair, hats over bald heads, canes against chairs. The age issue is common in the industry and conferences across the board and has proven to be a tough nut to crack. “We’ve cracked it,” argues  Brad. “We have more younger attendees this year than previous ones.”

We hope the new management will be able to turn COFES around. There is no other show like it.

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.

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