The CAD Insider

The Shape of Things to Come

Stephen Hooper, Vice President & General Manager, Design & Manufacturing Cloud Solutions at Autodesk, is about to reveal what is coming up in generative design. He is at a Q&A session at Accelerate 2022 conference. He is not making an official announcement as the technology is still in R&D. If it were up to the PR watchdogs in the room, he would go no further. But Hooper’s enthusiasm is not to be bridled.

“We’re going to use ML [machine language] to look for similar shapes,” he says about the next generation of Autodesk’s generative design, which will, no doubt, be manifest itself in Fusion 360, the company’s do-all design and manufacturing platform.

We will be able to create a 3D map of your shape and match it with another existing shape, he states. Engineers reinvent the wheel all the time, he implies.

We asked if the generative design of this future could not only look for similar parts, but look for similar elemental or primitive shapes, such as I-beams or round tubes, the shapes engineers rely on.

Yes, says Hooper. It certainly will.

Hooper, whose youthful figure belies decades of CAD experience, tells of his initial introduction to CAD with Unigraphics. His conversion to Autodesk came when he realized that, despite Unigraphics superiority in CAD, its expense was a hindrance.

“For what we paid for a few UG seats, we could outfit a hundred engineers with Fusion 360 today,” says Hooper.

He invokes a Moneyball reference, the movie with Billy Beane (played by Brad Pitt) creates a pennant winning major league franchise (the Oakland A’s) by recruiting underrated (and therefore underpaid) players and creating an overall better team when tradition was to win with one or two (very expensive) superstars. While this could be considered an admission of PC-based AutoCAD’s inferiority to the workstation-based CAD, the point Hooper is making is consistent with Autodesk’s humble approach to democratizing design, simulation and manufacturing software.

Only 3% of Us Want to Work from Home? Can this be Right?

Only 3% of employees want to work from home 100% of the time, says Kim Dabbs, Global VP, ESG + Social Innovation at Steelcase, citing her company’s survey at Autodesk’s Accelerate 2022 conference currently taking place in New Orleans. Can this be right? Most employees we hear from are fine where they are, mostly working from home except for going to the office “as needed.” That’s code for “as little as possible.”

Consider the source. Steelcase exists to make office furniture and fixtures and a permanent and complete change to a work at home status for workers in their markets is an existential problem. Steelcase is asking the question and presenting the result in a manner that is to their advantage. The same question to a US market increases the figure of employees wanting to work from home 100% of the time by 40% (5%). Asking the same demographic whether they want to work at home most of the time may yield a result much higher, more in keeping with the common perception – and less advantageous to a manufacturer of office furniture.

Diébédo Francis Kéré Receives 2022 Pritzker Architecture Prize

The “Nobel Prize for architecture,” the Pritzker goes to the unlikeliest place on Earth, landlocked Burkina Faso and its native son, Diébédo Francis Kéré.

Burkina who, you might ask. You are not alone. Burkina Faso has this entry in the CIA World Factbook:

“By late 2021, insecurity in Burkina Faso had displaced 1.4 million people and led to significant jumps in humanitarian needs and food insecurity. In addition to terrorism, the country faces a myriad of problems including high population growth, recurring drought, pervasive and perennial food insecurity, and limited natural resources. It is one of the world’s poorest countries.”

So a country with dirt roads and mud huts now has an entry into architecture’s most hallowed clubs? Has the world become apologetic, or simply gone mad?

Kéré, a black man, stands out in the gallery of previous winners of the Pritzker: mostly white males and a few women. Asians seem to have been allowed into the club for a few years and constitute a small minority but perhaps only because Japan, a country that has played nicely with the West (since WWII, anyway), has long upheld aesthetics standards over simple survival.

Forgive me for noticing. Living as a minority in the US and the UK, I’m a tad sensitive to race issues.  

What country has the most architects per capita? (Picture courtesy of ArchDaily)

I am not first to study this issue on the basis of region, if not race. ArchDaily did it over 8 years ago and discovered China has the most number of architects per inhabitant, with one architect for every 40,000 people. The US is 13^th, with each architect serving 1300 people. As you might expect, super style conscious Italy has the most: one architect for only 414 people. Strangely and conspicuously absent is India. But what do you expect for a country that may not even acknowledge architecture as a noble calling?

From my days in India, if you were not a doctor, engineer, your parents could not have bragged about what you did in the matrimonial.  In recent years, IT and tech may have been included in along with a man’s marriageable assets,  but architects…?

As Larry David might say, “Umm….we're thinking about it.”

Back in the Circuit

Here at the Siemens Media and Analyst event (#MAC22)  it is clear how much all we CAD insiders have missed live events. 

Seated for lunch, here some snatches of conversation.

“I was heading for to the 2 million mile club,” says  one analyst whose climb to the prestigious United Airlines level that grants one—and their spouse – special privileges for life was thwarted.

“My investments… I don’t know where they’re heading,” said another analyst through his mask (it is still COVID remember?), a reference to the Ukraine war, I believe. 

“I had to take a Delta flight and had to sit at the back of the plane,” moans one who has long been faithful to United, which has a San Francisco hub. 

Many from Siemens are genuinely overjoyed to see people face to face. For PR, which counts on establishing personal relationships, the event was a huge relief.

We have dinner on the 72^nd floor of Detroit’s Renaissance Center), snacks at the technology showcase (LIFT). These are experiences you cannot create with Zoom meetings.

For analysts, however haughty, there’s nothing like being face to face with a client to cement a consulting gig, the next white paper of webinar. And for media too long chained to their work-at-home-desks, kids at their feet and dogs barking to be let out, lousy salaries, jetting somewhere (even if is Detroit) is a welcome respite.

Shapr3D, Hungary Step Up to Support Ukraine

I spoke to István Csanády, CEO and founder of Shapr3D in Budapest about an exciting product release tomorrow. At the end, I had to ask how he, the company, and Hungary are dealing with the Russian invasion of neighboring Ukraine.

"There are a 100,000 Ukrainian refugees right now in Hungary," says István . The team is working very hard to to help them out. Shapr3D is matching everyone who donates 1 to 3% of their salaries to help refugees. The team has also been helping to with shelter, food, and accommodation to refugees. We are making sandwiches here in the office and taking then to the railway station. We are sending supplies, too."

"We have been working really really hard to to do as much as we as we can," he adds. "We have a lot of history in the last 100 years with similar events from from Russia. I can tell you like those are not not our best memories."

 

Going to Hell in a Handbasket

Jacket from the 2013 Boston Marathon. Its the colors of the Ukraine’s flag.

What happened to me in 2021? Did I get old in just one year? Was it malaise brought on by the pandemic? Was it the death of our last two parents, Richard T Howard and Rani S Tara? Was it an undiagnosed condition that, over the course of a year,  has put me in the emergency room 3 times, in the hospital for 4 days and every third day throws my digestive system for a loop?

It has been hard to give up all the activity, the running, the cycling and the swimming. I’ve placed my membership at Rolling Hills gym on hold for the second time.

I can still write. I write this in my jacket from the 2013 Boston Marathon. The jacket had hung in my closet since 2013 because a) the memory of the bombs was too painful b)I don't like people who brag and c) the colors are so garish. But the blue is the flag of Ukraine.

As the pandemic news gives way to war news, the stock market swings wildly and people say “buy gold.” The Great Resignation continues. One event after another is cancelled. We don’t care for the last president or the present one. Nationalism is on the rise. Racism is rising. A record number of guns are being bought. Women's’ rights are disappearing. Are all these things connected? Should we worry?

Are we, as old Grandpa used to say, "going to hell in a handbasket?"

Another Indian CEO. Is the Chai Party Picking Up Steam?

Chai is Indian for tea. Every time you order a chai tea at your Starbucks, we laugh. Chai tea is redundant. You are ordering "tea tea". We ought to know. We (Indians) invented tea. You can Google it.

The Chai Party is invented as I write this. It is composed of Indians who have been given the reins of tech and software companies. There’s even a few women – a bit of surprise for Silicon Valley, purported to be male dominated. Quite a few are graduates of the India Institute of Technology, which seems to be handing out diplomas with degrees on one side and CEO coupons. The coupons used to be redeemable only in India, but US companies now seem to be accepting them. Also, somewhat of a surprise for tech, which for most of its existence in America, was content to import Indians by the thousands on H-1B and use them for cheap coding.

Here is a list off the top of my head. Did I miss any?

• Manish Kumar just joined the Chai Party last month when he was appointed CEO of SOLIDWORKS. 
• Ajei Gopal, CEO of Ansys
• Biplab Sarkar, CEO, Vectorworks
• Vyomesh Joshi, previous CEO of 3D Systems
• Amar Hanspal, Co-CEO of Autodesk, now CEO of Bright Machines
• Sundar Pichai: CEO, Google LLC & Alphabet INC
• Arvind Krishna - CEO, IBM Group
• Satya Nadella - CEO, Microsoft
• Shantanu Narayen - CEO, Adobe Inc.
• Ajaypal Singh Banga - CEO, Mastercard
• Parag Agrawal, Twitter's CEO
• Sanjay Mehrotra, CEO, Micron Technology
• Nikesh Arora, Palo Alto Networks
• Jayshree Ullal, Arista Networks

Did You Hear Bruce Jenkins Died?

I get the sad “news” that Bruce Jenkins died from an editor friend – who might have been making sure I had not done the same. Bruce passed away over a year ago, I hear to my surprise. He was 61.

I used to hear about industry people’s passages while they were still current. But we don’t see each on the conference and trade show circuit anymore. Thanks, COVID.

The late Bruce Jenkins (right) with Tom Greaves outside their Cambridge, Mass. office circa 1990. (Picture by Karen Nord, courtesy of LinkedIn)

Every CAD insider knew Bruce. Every one remembers the first time they met Bruce. I met Bruce early in my career of covering the CAD industry. We were at a Daratech conference in Boston. Daratech was where the Who's Who of the industry converged. Bruce was the brains behind Daratech although Charles Foundyller took the spotlight. The year I met Bruce, Computervision (CV) was on the decline and PTC was on the rise. But PTC was not content to lead the way in MCAD. Steve Walske, CEO of PTC, was to announce his company was not a CAD company but a PLM company. That  made for a loud buzz.

At that time, Intergraph, McDonnel Douglas Unigraphics, DEC, Cadence… others were the big players. Most of them had their CEOs at Daratech and all of them wanted the spotlight to move from Walske to them. The conference  hall strained to contain the big egos.

It was very important to be seen at Daratech. Bruce had been able to create an aura around the conference that attracted all the VIPs. If you weren’t at Daratech, you weren’t important. The investors and media would not notice you. You paid Daratech handsomely for the privilege of attending.

How would a newbie on the circuit get an interview with CAD royalty, I asked. They pointed to Bruce. It was apparent that Bruce was the gatekeeper and if you couldn’t get past Bruce, you weren’t going to get your story. Bruce was standing between several CAD big shots, all talking at once, all towering over him. Bruce was holding his own, looking cool, nodding. He was always immaculate in dress and diction, in a very New England kind of way. I approached warily, feeling intimidated, out of my depth. When I finally garnered the courage to break in and introduce myself, Bruce looked at me with a raised eyebrow, saying without words, “Who are you, again? You are with which magazine? Why should I talk to you?”

Over the course of the next 30 years we got to know each other a little better. We ended up knowing all the same people -- over 508 mutual connections on LinkedIn. Bruce would leave Daratech to start Spar Point Research with Tom Greaves and then start Ora Research by himself. Ora Research, specialized in the emerging technology of the day, far 3D laser scanning. The industry conferences had had their time. Smaller, agile CAD companies took over from the lumbering CAD behemoths and they favored trade shows over conferences. 

I never to know Bruce really. Not as a human being. My loss. We never shared a dinner or a drink. A shame. I find out after Tom Greaves' tribute what I had missed. Bruce was a man of letters, a product of Yale, from where he graduated summa cum laude, a degree in English literature. I would have asked him what possible interest would someone who could recite  Russian poetry from memory have in CAD or engineering. I did not know his husband and partner of 15 years. Or that he liked billowy white shirts like a pirate – and could curse like one.

The engineering and design software world has always suffered from being dry, humorless, straight laced and far too serious. Without Bruce, it seem even duller. 

Bentley IPO was Impeccable Timing

Bentley Systems, makers of MicroStation and every imaginable software for the infrastructure industry, finally came through with an IPO. The Bentleys had been flirting with an IPO for ages, offering it and withdrawing it, then settling into a quasi-public company  that would revealed certain aspects of their business (revenue, employees) but not others.

The timing was never right. 

This year, everything changed. The pandemic threw conventional business practices out the window, workplaces changed and the workforce disbursed, thousands of business failed or were in jeopardy and entire industries found themselves in an existential nightmare (airlines, hotels, trade shows, restaurants…) and, inexplicably, IPOs became a thing.

There has been more money raised in IPOs so far this year than ever, more than in the dot com boom.

(Picture courtesy of WSJ, source: Dealogic)

The wave started to build in 2016 ($24 billion) and grew ever year until it inexplicably took off in 2020 (already at $94.5 billion by September). Time to strike,  I would have said if I were a Bentley brother.

It may be too early to tell, but in the short term, the Bentley IPO has proved to be a smart move, going from initial offering of $22 a share to $33.49, a 52% increase in one day for the lucky investors. At the end of the week, it closed at $34.79, down from its high earlier in the day of $35.12.

Who are the investors? The stock is available only to Bentley employees, the 4,000 or so, most of them in near the company headquarters in Exton, Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia.

The IPO offers a chance for liquidity for employees of Bentley, as every employee is now a stockholder. The IPO puts the  valuation of Bentley at $5.7 billion initially and at $8.7 billion by the end of the first trading day, according to the Philadelphia Business Journal.

By comparison, Bentley’s chief competitor, Autodesk, is valued at around $50 billion.

Coronovirus Giving Us Great Views. Himalayan Mountains Pop Into View in India.

Himalayas pop into view, as welcome but unintended consequence of the Coronavirus. (Picture courtesy of CNN)

 

Mt Everest grows by a quarter inch a year due to the unrelenting push of the India land mass into the Eurasian plate. That has created the Himalayan mountains range over millions of years. But to those who woke up in the north of Punjab in the middle of last month, it must have seemed liked they popped up overnight.

 

When I was a kid, in Dharamsala, Ludhianna, even Chandigargh, I could see the snowy peaks. I imagined Mt Everest, but that was far off, over the horizon. Still, the ridge of mountains remains a lasting refrain, an image, a little fuzzy after 50 years later but one that still guides me toward mountains, wherever I am living.

 

These days, I live in California. I remember Mom telling me of her visit to Simla, the hill station favored by the British, to get away from India's oppressive heat. I remember the mountains, always with snow on them, from our house in Dharamsala, where my father was dean of the college, and where I met the Dali Lama. He was at a ceremony. He was dressed strange. I remember orange. I was 5 years old. 

 

The Himalyas had been cloaked in air pollution, their majesty hidden to at least one generation. India, in its modernization, took to the internal combustion engine, the oil and coal burning of the industrialized nations to heart. The sky, once just filled with dust, smoke from dung fires, became full with so much particulate matter that the mountains were completery obscured.

India, with thousands of two-cycle engine scooter cabs, have been making travel convenient but breathing difficult.
(Picture courtesy of Tech Crunch)

 

Now, COVID-19 has put the brakes on the scooter cabs. Their oil-burning two-cycle engine has gone silent.  Dehli, Mumbai, Kolkata take their turns as having the worst air in the world. Living there is like smoking a pack of cigarettes a day -- if not worse. Most Inidians are sick a lot If not from the air, it's from the water.

 

The Coronavirus, deadly and sickening as it is, has brought the scooter cabs to a halt. No longer are they belching black smoke.

 

And the Himalayas never looked better.