NOVEDGE blog

Grab this Kinemac Special! Best Value on Animation for Mac

For this week only we're having a special on Kinemac: only $124

For this week only we're having a special on Kinemac -- half price! Kinemac runs on Macs and is a powerful and easy-to-use 3D real-time animation and presentation software. If you're in the market for a Mac animation product at an extremely attractive price, or are looking specifically for a great deal on Kinemac, this is the time to buy. At only $124 per copy you should take advantage of this opportunity that will only last one week.

Cristiano Sacchi

modo 401 Pushes the Limits of Rendering and Animation

modo has been improved in so many ways that is almost impossible to list everything here

On June 23 Luxology released the latest version of its 3D modeling, rendering, and animation product: modo 401. The version 4 of modo arrived about a year and a half after the release of version 3. modo has been improved in so many ways that is almost impossible to list everything here. Luxology prepared an impressive 14 page guide to the new features of modo 401 with tons of videos and amazing pictures. Among the several new and improved features: better motion blur, stereoscopic rendering, shadow catcher shader, selective radiosity type, volumetric lighting, lights linking, anisotropy mapping, and blurry refractions. The visual quality of the results of modo is very impressive and should rapidly convince everyone about the caliber of the software, as well as of the technical skills and determination of the development team (for more detailed information you can read my interview with Luxology CEO Brad Peebler). modo's rendering is so good that major CAD companies like SolidWorks have licensed the technology from Luxology to offer it to their customers.

SolidWorks licensed Luxology's rendering technology from

My recommendation is to take the time to go through the Luxology pages, learn about modo, and watch out for the upcoming trial version. As soon as the demo version of modo 401 is available we will add it to our website for all the visitors. Don't forget to take a look at Marc Hermitte review of modo written for "It's Art" online magazine and website.

Franco Folini

Adding Details with Replicators Luxology products are available from Novedge

Interview with Lorenzo Puleo, CEO and Founder of Kinemac

Lorenzo Puleo is one of the many creative people who fell in love with Mac. However Lorenzo didn't stop at the user level as most Mac fans do, he went on to conceive a new product and created a company around it. That company shares the name of its main product and is called Kinemac (website).
Kinemac is an easy to use real time animation software for the Mac platform. It combines the ease-of-use typical of so many Mac applications with the power of a professional tool. Novedge is a proud reseller of Kinemac since 2008. I asked Lorenzo to share with us his story and vision. Here is the interview.

Lorenzo can you tell us a bit about yourself and your company?

my greatest dream: creating a 3D animation for the Mac users

I am originally architect migrated to the informatics in 1996. Kinemac is a company I have founded to realize my greatest dream: creating a 3D animation software for the Mac users community. And looking at the results, we succeeded.

The Mac platform is the favorite of creative people. Can you help us understand why?

Mac is not just a computer, it’s a lifestyle

Mac is not just a computer, it’s a lifestyle, a philosophy which perfectly joins math and art. Left brain and right brain think differently. Mac, introducing an intuitive approach to the schematic (but powerful) world of the math, merges them together. That, I suppose, is the secret of the success of the Mac platform in the creative area.

Video and animation are now mainstream on the Internet, an area inundated with amateurs. How much room is there for serious professionals?

to be a pro you need to study more than just being creative

I wouldn’t mix holy and profane. There is an amateurs’ world which could easily find a land on the internet. There is a professional world which daily needs professional tools and skilled artists. I think they speak different languages. I recall these lyrics from the US3 group: “Different rhythm, different people”. I think that professional works like this one from the Tronic Studio can never be put together with amateurs’ works. To be professional you need to study more than being just creative. Furthermore you need powerful tools too. Amateurs could be successful, make a lot of money and get famous too, but this doesn’t mean they are pro. Surely there are exceptions.

Who is your typical user of Kinemac? How does he or she use the program?

Kinemac is in between the consumer and the professional world

We gather users from the pro-sumer world. This means that Kinemac is in between the consumer and the professional world. While offering professional results it can be easily learnt and used by professional and non professional users. We have different profiles of users, we have beginners, single video-artists, small post-production companies, schools and universities, research labs and big companies as international TVs and post-production companies. We have conquered many big names in these last areas, but as you know well, we can’t mention any of them.

What is your strategy for raising awareness of your product and the benefits that come from using it?

Kinemac is one of the most popular 3D Real Time Animation software for MacOS X

We have spread the word of Kinemac in many ways, from exhibiting at the MacWorld SF to releasing articles, interviews, and tutorials. Lately we have granted our product in special bundles which have had a great impact on the Mac community. Today we can surely say that Kinemac is one of the most popular 3D Real Time Animation software for Mac OS X. And everybody loves it. As far as the educational world, we have successfully reached a great goal. We apply special discounts to schools and universities and in change, spontaneously, we get a lot of precious feedback which help us to improve our product in an impressive way.

The new generation browsers will implement video as a native type of data, in the the same way as images and text. What could be the impact of such an important change for video and animation producers and consumers?

Surely the demand of tools to produce video will grow largely. We expect to grow as well. And we are ready for the event. But the day the browsers will implement a standard 3D engine is still far. Let’s see what the future will bring.

What is the geographical distribution of your business and how different are the European and American markets?

we have clients all over the world

We mostly sell over the Internet, so we have clients all over the world. This is the way we look at the market: as one nation.
It could be surprising, but the clients have all the same requirements, no matter the country they live. And this sounds promising.

I would like to thank Lorenzo for taking the time to answer my questions. If you have any questions for Lorenzo or for Novedge, please leave a comment below and we will be glad to answer.

Franco Folini

Kinemac Video Tutorials
Kinemac products are available from Novedge

Vectorworks 2009 Viewer Makes Architects' Life Easier!

in order to view and print a Vectorworks file you don't need a Vectorworks license

People at Nemetschek, the makers of Vectorworks, have a little secret I would like to reveal to you: in order to view a Vectorworks model or drawing you neither need to own a Vectorworks license, nor to convert your files into some data exchange format. You only need to download a copy of the free Vectorworks 2009 Viewer, and have it installed on your or your clients' computers.

you can easily set up a collaboration process without having to worry about budget constraints

The Vectorworks 2009 Viewer can open any file (.mcd and .vwx) created with several versions of your favorite CAD system including 9, 10, 11, 12, 2008, and obviously the latest 2009 (with all the enhancements of the Service Pack 4). Using this free tool you can easily set up a collaboration process with your clients without having to worry about budget constraints or loss of information due to data conversion. Simply send them your Vectorworks files with a link to the Vectorworks 2009 Viewer download to let them open, explore, and print your 3D models and 2D drawings.

Now that you know this little secret you can go on the Novedge website and download a copy of the Vectorworks 2009 Viewer for your PC or Mac. And the the best part is you are not bound to keep this secret. Tell all your colleagues about it!

Franco Folini

Web Browsers Flirt with 3D

Is the web ready to adopt plugin-less 3D and advanced 2D?

Are web browsers ready for a new wave of 3D and vector-based 2D content (plugin-less)? Is the web ready to adopt 3D and advanced 2D with the same enthusiasm it recently adopted videos? Those were the questions discussed yesterday evening in Cupertino at the Apple headquarters by a group of tech enthusiasts attending a presentation organized by the Silicon Valley chapter of the ACM SIGGRAPH. The official topic of the event was "Browser Standards from 2D to 3D."

there is not a fully recognized 3D standard for the web

Vladimir Vukicevic (blog), a Firefox technical lead, went through the recent evolution of web browsers and described all the important improvements and enhancements generated by a more competitive environment where FireFox, Internet Explorer, Safari, Opera, and Google Chrome are competing for market share. In the long list of new capabilities of the current generation 3D was clearly absent, as we all know. Vladimir explained that there is not a fully recognized 3D standard for the web. Browser developers within the Khronos Group are getting close to a final decision on how to approach 3D features. The struggle is between providing a complete set of 3D APIs (at a level comparable to OpenGL), and keeping everything as simple as possible in order to attract the largest number of web developers. Currently the optimal solution seems for the browser to expose a complete 3D API while allowing advanced developers to build on top of it a layer of software (or library) providing higher level access to less technical web developers (more info here).

who do we expect will be the first to jump on the new 3D opportunities?

In a year from now we may be witnessing the diffusion of 3D capable web browsers (starting from Firefox 3.5) and hopefully the appearance of the first 3D web applications not requiring a plug-in. Who do we expect will be the first to jump on the new 3D opportunities? New CAD systems running from the cloud on the browser? Simple 3D widgets integrated into traditional webpages? New applications able to exploit the 3D capabilities of the browser? Server based CAD viewers? New 3D searching tools? Online 3D games?

What is your opinion?

Franco Folini

Interview with Daniel Ha, DisqUs Founder and CEO

Novedge recently added a section at the bottom of each page of its website providing a space where visitors and customers can leave comments sharing their opinions and experiences. The tools that allowed us to implement this service are provided by Disqus, a new startup located in San Francisco, just a few blocks from Novedge headquarters. Disqus has been deployed on over 38,000 blogs and is hosting the comments of over 70,000 users. After only a week from the introduction of this feature on our website we started seeing the first comments appear on our pages. While many visitors post comments about products, some use this space simply to ask Novedge technical questions or to find out more information about prices. I'm getting very excited about this technology, and its future developments and implications. In order to satisfy my growing interest, I went directly to the founder and CEO of Disqus to get a first hand opinion on this topic. Daniel Ha, who is still in his early twenties, promptly accepted my invitation for an interview and almost in real-time answered all of my questions. Here is the text of the interview.

Daniel, can you tell us a bit about yourself and your company?

I founded Disqus with my friend Jason Yan toward the beginning of 2007. At the end of 2006, we decided to work on a web project together while we were in school (studying computer science). Discussion was an area most familiar to us and we began working on tools for forums, group discussion, and community building. Today's Disqus evolved from this as the blog feature of our project became popular amongst our earliest testers. We both participated in Y Combinator, which gave us some money and a lot of guidance and connections. It wasn't a lot of money, but it was enough for us to leave school and work on our project (which became our company) full time.

We benefitted heavily from enthusiastic bloggers

After launching publicly at the end of 2007, we raised some more money and began expanding the service as fast as we could. We benefitted heavily from enthusiastic bloggers and commenters are naturally vocal with their opinions. Today, Disqus is the leading comment system and management tool for all sorts of sites.

Disqus is quietly introducing a Copernican revolution for the net. While in the past users had to bring content to their social network websites, with Disqus the social network goes where the content is. What are the implications of this paradigm shift?

I think most implications are yet to be seen. What we've witnessed thus far is that people are more willing to contribute to websites when they feel they are rewarded or have control over their comments. If I know that my comments are claimed by me, and they're not just attached to a single site, I'm more wiling to contribute and develop my online persona.

people are more willing to contribute to websites when they feel they are rewarded or have control over their comments

One issue that is brought up often is the fragmentation and overall messiness of discussion. People tend to use their content aggregator or discussion tool of choice, and the discussion may stray far from the original content. I think Disqus will play a pivotal role, moving forward, in bridging all of this together. We certainly think this is one of the most interesting things about what we do.

Disqus is starting to face competition from some big names. How will users react to a proliferation of commenting systems?

We've always had a smattering of competition here and there. The way we will be the best is to continually innovate in providing a great commenting experience. If we can deliver on this promise better than our competitors, then I think we'll do well.

If we can deliver on this promise better than our competitors, then I think we'll do well

For users, I think it's great that they have choice. On the flip side, it may be confusing to have so many different channels for discussion -- our job is to make sure their choice doesn't negatively affect them. We want to be compatible; our network of commenters and publishers shouldn't be closed and we're working to be more open.

Another big challenge Disqus is facing is the recent establishment of login systems independent from the content provider (Facebook Connect, OpenID, etc.). Disqus promptly embraced this trend by implementing Facebook Connect. What is your strategy in this specific area?

Our strategy is to play nice. We're not going to be a login service. We do the discussion part well because we focus on that only. Our own login system is necessary for how things work, but we'll openly embrace the best technologies that will benefit the most people on the web.

Our strategy is to play nice

Facebook Connect has been working well for us so far and we're going to be adding more functionality that will allow people to take advantage of what Facebook has available in their platform.

How much interaction with Disqus is happening on the Disqus website and how much on the content hosting websites (blogs, newspapers, etc.)? How do you plan to promote the social features of your system?

The majority of interactions is on the publisher partners. That's how we want it -- we provide a service and I don't think we really need to see much traffic on our sites. Most of the interactions on our site is from the administration and profiles.

Novedge, among the first of e-commerce websites, just implemented Disqus across its entire main website. What can we expect as far as reactions from the users and benefits for them?

The first benefit I hope you'll see is an increase in engagement from your users. Novedge is exposed to a greater community of commenters, with social features that ideally encourages contributions.
Users should find it easier to leave comments and find more value in doing this. The overall experience should be more enjoyable as well.

I would like to thank Daniel for taking the time to answer my questions. A special thanks also to Giannii, Disqus Community Manager, for his generous contribution to the Disqus users' community and for connecting me and Daniel. If you have any questions for Daniel or for Novedge, please leave a comment below and we will be glad to answer. The Disqus commenting system is available on every product and brand page of the Novedge website.

Franco Folini

For more information on this topic, take a look at this foldier sPression, an online collection of the most interesting articles on the new wave of commenting technology and its players.

An Interview with Evan Yares, Charismatic CAD Expert

Evan C. Yares is a well-known figure in the CAD world. He has the drive and vision to put himself in the right spot in order to maximize his influence on the CAD community and its products. He has opinions and is not afraid to share them, even when this means taking the risk of making a few enemies in some powerful corporations. His popular blog openly discusses critical topics, and his long advocacy for greater CAD interoperability was publicly recognized by the CAD Society that awarded Evan with the prestigious 2008 Joe Greco Community Award. After exchanging opinions with Evan about several CAD topics, I asked him for an interview. He accepted but took his time getting back to me with his answers. After reading Evan's responses I believe it was well worth the wait. Please feel free to judge for yourself; the interview follows below.

Evan, can you tell us a bit about yourself and your professional activities?

I’m an engineer who grew up in a family of artists. That might help add some perspective for people who can’t quite figure me out.

I’m an engineer who grew up in a family of artists

I started my working life as a construction worker and house painter, which was great motivation for me to get into college, and get my engineering degree. After graduating, I worked as a field engineer, then a design engineer. In 1982, I discovered AutoCAD (at its first official showing), and shortly thereafter, my career became CAD. Through the years, I’ve worked as a reseller, a consultant, a writer, and more. I was a co-founder of Cyon Research (co-creating COFES: the Congress on the Future of Engineering Software, with my partners Brad Holtz and Joel Orr), and for eight years was the president/executive director of the Open Design Alliance.
These days, I work as an independent analyst and consultant, continuing to focus on the engineering software industry, with a user-centric viewpoint.

You have earned a great reputation as a promoter of CAD users’ rights. Was this just part of your job at ODA (Open Design Alliance) or is this something you are passionate about?

It’s a personal passion. I originally came to CAD, about 25 years ago, because I was an engineer looking for tools to help me get my job done better and faster.

It’s a personal passion [to promote CAD user's rights]

I was already an outspoken proponent for users before I started working at the ODA.
I felt it was a great compliment when the CEO of a significant CAD company told me he was impressed that I’m willing to actually say what I think. I’m pretty sure there are some CEO’s that are not thrilled when I do this. Even so, there are companies of which I’ve been very critical, that still treat me with respect. Autodesk’s CEO Carl Bass may not send me a card for my birthday, but he returns my phone calls, and is willing to discuss substantive issues without saying “this is off the record.”

The last revolution in the CAD world was the migration to the PC platform, which happened over 15 years ago. Despite rosy predictions from marketing departments, true evolution seems to remain extremely gradual and slow. Why do you think this is so?

There is no one culprit: User mindset, lock-in, program complexity, poor development processes, lack of leadership, and economics are all factors slowing innovation in CAD.
I’d argue that the last major revolution in MCAD started in 1987, when PTC premiered Pro/Engineer, the first major CAD program to implement parametric feature-based modeling.

we’re in the midst of the next major revolution in MCAD, with the emergence of feature inference modeling...

I’d also argue that we’re in the midst of the next major revolution in MCAD, with the emergence of feature inference modeling, implemented in products from CoCreate (PTC), Kubotek, SpaceClaim, and soon Siemens PLM. What’s exciting about this new revolution is that it’s not about overthrowing the last revolution; it’s about completing it. Feature inference modeling and feature-based modeling are complementary technologies, that, when used together, have the potential to completely transform the product development process.

CAD users are frequently victims of “licensing systems” that shamelessly limit their rights to own and control data, transfer licenses, or travel internationally with their CAD license. What should users do to counterbalance the power of large software corporations?

You’ve probably heard of the case of Vernor v. Autodesk, where an ebay seller sued Autodesk in Federal District Court. A couple of weeks ago, the judge in the case issued a strongly worded ruling, tossing out all of Autodesk’s significant arguments. Realistically, Vernor never could have gotten this result with his original self-written complaint; he got it because Public Citizen, a high-profile consumer watchdog group, took his case on after hearing about it through the blogosphere. While this case involves Autodesk, it could have just as easily been almost any major software vendor. Autodesk is far from the worst offender in the CAD industry when it comes to unconscionable licensing restrictions – yet I’d argue that it was the company’s aggression towards customers that brought this to its doorstep.

There are only a few effective strategies by which users can counterbalance the power of large corporations: litigation, legislation, and regulation

The moral of the story, and a partial answer to your question, is that billion dollar software companies and $500 per hour lawyers are no match for pissed-off users who know how to tap into the power of the blogosphere.
The more complete answer to your question is that there are only a few effective strategies by which users can counterbalance the power of large software corporations. They are litigation, legislation, and regulation. Public pressure generated through the blogosphere is simply a tactic to help make those things happen.

Open source is affecting many areas of the software world but so far its impact on CAD/CAM has been absolutely negligible. Do you see any change coming?

It is possible to build a CAD or CAM program using open source software components, but that’s like saying it’s possible to build a skyscraper using standardized building components. There’s a big difference between something being possible, and actually being able to do it.
Separate from technical issues, there are pragmatic issues of money.

CAD is hard; it’s not the kind of thing that a few idealistic amateurs can knock out in a few months [talking about Open-Source]

CAD is hard; it’s not the kind of thing that a few idealistic amateurs can knock out in a few months. If you want to get a sense of scale, consider that the Pro/E Wildfire 4.0, the latest version, represents 349 active R&D projects, and over $100 million in R&D investment. And that’s just a new version, not a built-from-scratch program.
I believe we’ll continue to see specialty engineering programs (especially those developed at universities) delivered as open source, but I don’t anticipate that we’ll see open source being a significant factor in the mainstream CAD market. I would, however, love to be proven wrong.

Many believe that the adoption of standard CAD data formats can become the Trojan horse that brings back the ownership of CAD data to end-users. But the definition of standards is frequently based on obsolete, slow, and not always transparent processes. What can be done to improve the current situation?

The only answer I can find to this question is “educate users to choose wisely.”
It’s interesting that you should mention “Trojan horse.” There are some vendor-developed standard formats that deserve the title. I call these “write only” standards: Anyone can write these files, but only their developers can reliably read them, as their documentation is incomplete, or their specifications indeterminate. Examples of write-only standard formats include DXF, DWF, 3DXML, XVL, ACIS SAT, and Parasolid XT. (The CAD industry has no exclusivity on write-only standards: OOXML from Microsoft and SWF from Adobe both fit into this category. Neither company can legitimately argue that this is a mere accident or oversight.)
The only proprietary standard CAD formats I feel comfortable with are 3DM, which is supported by the free and unrestricted OpenNURBS toolkit, and JT, which has a seemingly complete format specification. (At least, it’s complete by my reading.) The gold-standard for CAD data formats is STEP. While it may have evolved slowly, and it isn’t perfect, it is very well thought-out, and (finally) robust.
I’m one of those who believe that standard data formats are the path towards giving ownership of CAD data back to users, but I believe that formats alone are insufficient. It is a combination of improvements in standards (e.g. the inclusion of PMI data in STEP ap203 E2), and the rise of feature inference modeling that makes it possible.

If CAD software reached the status of a mature technology, then we may start to see the transition from the traditional release-upgrade license model to a subscription based model. Are users ready for this? What is your opinion on the subscription model?

I see the today’s typical subscription model as being designed to benefit vendors more than users. It’s the same commercial-off-the-shelf software, with a more restrictive license, and a cost structure optimized to provide predictable annuity income to the vendor.

what is more interesting than software subscription is software as a service (SaaS)

The inherent problem with subscription software is that it begs the question of data ownership. While vendors may argue that proprietary data file formats are acceptable when used with perpetually licensed software applications, it’s hard to make such an argument in the context of software subscriptions. When software subscriptions are combined with proprietary data file format, users are effectively put in the position of paying a periodic “tax” to the vendor in order to access their own intellectual assets.
I think what is more interesting than software subscription is software as a service (SaaS). Done right, it can have real benefits for users, particularly in shifting maintenance and procurement costs to vendors, and in converting front-ended loaded overhead costs into scalable variable costs. Yet, I don’t know that any of today’s major CAD vendors are anywhere near the point of being able to deliver serious SaaS solutions. And I don’t know that the current SaaS platform vendors are anywhere near providing the kind of capabilities demanded by such solutions.

I would like to thank Evan Yares for taking the time to answer all my questions. If you have any questions for Evan or for Novedge, please leave a comment below and we will be glad to answer.

Franco Folini

An Interview with Jon Banquer, "Enfant Terrible" of CAD/CAM

Jon Banquer is well known in the CAD/CAM community for his daily presence on some of the most popular newsgroups. According to Google Groups, Jon wrote a total of 6,267 posts on the Usenet newsgroups since he began posting in June 1999.  See Jon's old-profile and current-profile.  (The King of CAD/CAM Usenet groups is a guy posting as Cliff with a total of 102,027 contributions.) Jon is strongly opinionated about almost everything related to CAD and CAM, leaving comments on several forums and many blogs. His style is direct, sometimes very explicit, but always honest. His uncompromising and compulsive attitude has made him a sort of "enfant terrible" of the CAD/CAM world: he has been blacklisted on several blogs and forums, and his comments are frequently deleted (some even from the Novedge blog). In order to unveil the real person under the unstoppable torrent of posts and to get a summary of his opinions without reading all six thousand newsgroups' contributions, I asked Jon a few questions.

Jon, can you tell us a bit about yourself and your professional activities?

I currently work in a machining job shop in San Diego, California. We manufacture an extensive product line of after market automotive and motorcycle parts and offer our machining and design services to others as well. Currently I spend most of my time supporting our new horizontal machining center which has 11 pallets and is capable of unattended lights out machining. We make use of modular vises and the owner's custom designed vise jaws which are placed on tombstones.

You are a constant presence on several newsgroups. As a professional CAD/CAM user what are the benefits of being part of a user community?

no one has been able to create a moderated web forum where to read the real truth about a CAD/CAM products weaknesses

The benefit to being part of alt.machines.cnc or comp.cad.solidworks is that they are unmoderated Usenet groups. So far no one has been able to create a moderated web forum where you're going to be able to read to real truth about a CAD/CAM products weaknesses... and all CAD/CAM products have major weaknesses. The Unmoderated Usenet format has it's problems though as you have what amount to Internet stalkers and you have to ignore a lot of off topic nonsense. I hope one day a moderated web forum is setup that is run by those who are experienced enough with CAD/CAM to understand why users have a right to be so angry and let them express that anger. So far almost all the moderated web boards that have been setup are heavily censored and you don't get to read the real truth about a CAD/CAM product. In addition, some web boards are setup with the main focus on making money on advertisers. This type of web board doesn't want posters offending those precious advertisers so when you tell the truth about a product your comments end up being censored or deleted. Usenet doesn't have that drawback and that's very important to someone like me.

Online training and training DVDs are becoming more and more popular, replacing training classes. What is your opinion on this evolution?

what's needed is high quality video training that covers advanced subjects in depth

The way most successful CAD/CAM product have traditionally been sold is to use a VAR network. This has it's good and it's bad points. The good point is that it really helps a software manufacturer sell more product. The bad is that software manufactures need a way to keep their VAR's making money and this means that the documentation that comes with a software product is most often inadequate and very poorly done. If you want quality training you must fork over big bucks to the software manufacturer's VAR to get the proper training. This means taking off work and spending the day(s) at the VAR's offices. This simply doesn't work for many of us. I believe what's needed is high quality video training that covers advanced subjects in depth. I don't believe software manufactures will ever offer this. I do believe it represents a tremendous opportunity for expert CAD/CAM software users who want to start their own business and make good money showing others what they painstakingly have learned... often by trail and error or through years of experience at the school of hard knocks.

Blogs, newsgroups, forums, and mailing lists can provide a lot of feedback to software manufacturers. Are they listening to the users?

Great! An easy question with a simple answer: Absolutely not.

Which of the several innovations introduced by CAD/CAM systems have the strongest impact on the end-user? Which one would you say has a marginal impact on your daily activities?

the division between design engineers and manufacturing people is probably greater than it ever has been

Machining job shops often have to work with non-native data. High level tools for modifying a “dumb” solid will have a strong impact because Feature Recognition and editing a history tree take way too much time. Machining job shops have been hard hit by the Chinese. Most successful machining job shops are run way too lean so they can make a profit for their owners. The lack of talented labor as well as just having enough labor will continue to be a major problem for machining job shops. Also, it needs to be easier to create tool-path on solid models. Having to extract wire-frame geometry from the solid model seems like a major waste of time to me.
Things like-real time rendering have a marginal impact for me but I can understand why others need better and easier rendering. It's too bad most engineers and many software manufactures could careless about the tools that hands-on manufacturing people really need especially when I'm sensitive to the tools they need.
The division between design engineers and hands on manufacturing people (those who know how to use their hands and can actually make something) is probably greater than it ever has been despite the advances in technology.

Based on your experience, can you give new users some recommendations on how to choose a CAD/CAM software?

(when choosing a CAD/CAM) you had better do your homework and know what compromises you will have to make

Very, very carefully. You had better do your homework and know what compromises you will have to make. Suggest new users make use of Usenet and discover what users in an uncensored format really think of the software they're thinking of purchasing.

I would like to thank Jon Banquer for accepting my challenge of being interviewed for this blog. If you have any questions for Jon or for Novedge, please leave a comment below and we will be glad to answer.

Franco Folini

UPDATE -- July 8, 2007 -- I had to close this blog post to further comments and to remove the personal attacks between Jon and some other newsgroups readers. Before the interview, I made an agreement with Jon about the style of the interview and the way to handle it. Jon didn’t respect our agreement, posting comments under fake names. Jon’s authentic and fake comments are all posted from the same IP address, 72.199.251.224. I can now see that my trust in Jon was misplaced.

Do's and Don'ts for Selling CAD CAM Software in the US

In the last few years several companies from around the world have entered the market in the development and commercialization of CAD, CAM, and graphic software. Some are from countries that have a long tradition of software production, such as France with Dassault. Others, from countries such as India -- with a background in outsourcing software services, are now developing and selling their own products. The list of countries selling software in the US grows every day. From a mere glance at the Novedge catalog, I see companies from France, Russia, Italy, India, China, Spain, Germany, Czech Republic, and Sweden.

Some companies have difficulties approaching the US market from abroad. In many cases they don't have the experience to approach a global market and to interact with as large and mature a market as the US.

Based on my experience with Novedge, I made a list of the top 10 things non-US companies should do to have a better chance to succeed in the US market.

1. Think big! The US market includes more than 300 million people. They all speak one single language and they all share the same culture. It's a very big opportunity for your business.
2. Spread the word! Again, this is a huge country. In order to reach your potential customers you will have to invest in marketing, wisely but heavily. Let people know that you are here and you have a product for them. The rule is simple: no marketing, no business.
3. Speak English! Before approaching the American market, be sure you have a fantastic English version of your website, and professionally written English documentation for all of your products. Double check that the English throughout your product is perfect. Also have your sales people and technical people prepared to speak English well and to work according to the US time zones.
4. Keep it simple! Americans are used to simple and fast purchasing processes. This is the country where you can go to a car dealer and leave in 15 minutes driving your brand new car! Americans expect the same level of service from you and your resellers. Because of the Internet, expectations for software products are even higher than for a car. Forget USB keys, computer-IDs and activation codes exchanged by e-mail. Always go for a simple software activation, avoiding complex procedures. Don't invest in excessive piracy protection. Americans are mostly honest people and they like to be respected as such.
5. Adapt to the local culture! Always remember that you are coming here to sell, not to teach your country's ways or impress people with your local culture. When selling in the US, try to think and act like an American. Even if you believe you have a better practice, never question the American way. Blend in with the way Americans do business, and focus on excelling at what Americans believe is important.
6. Be local! Prospects, customers, and resellers will expect you to have a US toll free number, and a US e-mail address. You can keep your local domain for your local business, but get a .com domain for the US. Be ready!
7. Be fast! Don't even think about shipping your products from your country! If you want to sell in the US, you must ship from a US location. Immediately send tracking numbers to your customer or reseller. Shipping from the US will give you the opportunity to offer overnight shipping, a magic word that Americans love, along with a tracking numbers.
8. Always be nice! Americans are always very polite and nice. This is the country where the lady at the cash register always ask "How are you?" and the only possible answer is "Great!". Prepare your people to be courteous all the time: when they answer the phone, when they write e-mails, and when they send a fax. Believe me, this is really important.
9. Accept Credit Cards! Be prepared to accept payments by all major credit cards. Never complain about credit card fees with your customers and resellers. Credit cards are an essential tool for US businesses, whether you like them or not.
10. Follow up, follow up, and follow up again! In order to succeed always follow-up with everyone you do business with and keep each communication short and simple. Americans are used to receiving follow ups as reminders, and expect them. Without follow ups, very little happens.

Franco Folini

P.S. This post is based on a short article I posted on the blog of BAIA (Business Association Italy Ameirca) on November 20, 2006.