Speculating Onshape growth
The history of SolidWorks and SpaceClaim hold lessons for estimating the number of paying Onshape users. Next month Onshape will celebrate two years as a commercial product. The CAD-in-a-browser startup […]
Articles by Randall
Bringing Design Thinking into product development: An interview with Chris Cheung
Former lead designer/product owner at Alias/Autodesk and Entrepreneur identifies the challenges and opportunities inherent in bringing Design Thinking into the enterprise. By Randall S. Newton Product design processes have been […]
Graebert presents the business case for cloud-era drafting
Desktop, mobile, and browser-based CAD tools work alone or synchronized. Mobile Device Management simplifies team deployment of mobile CAD. Graebert GmbH has introduced a synchronized line of drafting software […]
Why 2D CAD is still important
3D is modeling, best for design, analysis, and product definition. 2D is drafting, best for fabrication, assembly, and construction. Cost differences are substantial. For as long as CAD has been […]
.dwg is post-proprietary
Design-based industries still depend on drafting software; .dwg has become the common denominator of technical communication. Last month I attended the annual development conference of the Open Design Alliance (ODA), […]
Other voices: BIM is the Canoe, Construction is the River
Noted CAD writer Ralph Grabowski challenges conventional wisdom about Building Information Modeling. “In the end, BIM cannot be in charge of construction; construction is in charge of BIM.” [Editor’s Note: […]
Bentley challenges AEC data accessibility with significant upgrade to iModels
New cloud synchronization technology and an overhaul of iModels for data transfer help Bentley bring digitalization to infrastructure projects. Bentley Systems creates software for the largest infrastructure creators and users, […]
Dawn of the Digitalization Era
Digitalization is here to stay, even if the definition is still a bit fluid Manufacturing and construction industries are buzzing about a new term, “digitalization.” Every think tank and every […]
Good times for drafting software
Drafting software vendors believe Autodesk is handing them an historic marketing opportunity. The two obvious leaders, Bricsys and Graebert, will update their developer and dealer networks this month. The […]
The emerging role of digital thread and digital twin
A new process model is emerging for creating and using product data Despite a generation of talk about integrated manufacturing data, today the data behind most manufactured products comes from […]