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| Architosh News Reports | |
| Architosh Staff ([email protected]) |
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Mac CAD News: Spatial Delivers ACIS 5.3 3D Toolkit upgrade
Spatial Technologies Inc. has just released their ACIS 5.3 upgrade. The ACIS 5.3 is a 3D solid modeling engine toolkit and the de facto 3D solid modeling kernel for the CAD/CAM/CAE industries. The new upgrade allows for faster Booleans, blends and shells due to improvements in Law surface handling. New API's will allow for more accurate and varied modeling of springs including tapered, spiral and archimedia springs. Additionally, new API's are now available to streamline the conversion of splines into analytic surfaces. ACIS is the enabler for a whole new generation of AutoDesk Mechanical CAD products which feature tools and abilities that have never yet been achieved by any other CAD developer. Impact on the Macintosh Like the previous versions of ACIS 3D Toolkits, the new ACIS 5.3 supports numerous operating systems including Windows 95/98 and NT, in addition to Alpha NT, Solaris 7, Red Hat Linux, HP-UX, AIX and Tru64 UNIX. Surprisingly absent from the list is the Mac OS. After reviewing the literature on the new upgrade to see if their press release left out the Mac on accident we sent in an email essentially asking, "where is the Mac?" ACIS is a powerful object-oriented software product that functions as a geometry modeling engine; it is designed to be used as the foundation of 3D modeling applications. Information on their website lists Mac OS 8.5 or higher as a supported platform for ACIS version 5.0. The compiler for the ACIS 3D Toolkit for Macintosh is CodeWarrior Pro 3.0. Other non-Intel hardware supported include DEC Alpha, Sun's SparcStations, SGI's IRIX workstations, and UNIX workstations from HP (HP9000). Why Spatial would suddenly stop supporting the Macintosh -- and we have yet to verify that it truly has (we sent them an email to confirm the press release) -- is unclear. Spatial's nearest modeling engine (kernel) competitor is Parasolids, which does NOT support the Macintosh. If Spatial does not support the Macintosh with its industry standard and powerful 3D modeling kernels then Macintosh programs that rely on it could become vulnerable, especially those that are written for Wintel as well. Such program developers who have invested heavily in ACIS integration because of its multi-platform abilities as well as its power may be facing a tough decision ahead of them -- essentially, what to do with their Mac version? If you care at all about keeping the Mac healthy in the CAD/CAM/3D market and, especially, if you use programs like form-Z, Vellum Solids, Electric Image modeler, and others that rely on ACIS 5 then I suggest you email Spatial and tell them you wish to see continued support on the Mac. You can address you concerns about the state of the Mac in CAD/CAM/3D by sending email to the following email addresses and by contacting your program developers. You are especially encouraged, as the state of the Mac in CAD/CAM/3D is still very vulnerable. [email protected] (was Steve Jobs) Special Note: We will be delivering a special report soon entitled "Special Report: The State of Macintosh CAD & 3D". Please check back often as this will be a must read report. EDITOR'S UPDATE: Architosh received very little email regarding this report -- most likely because the report's title sounds boring and nobody read it. However, this is a serious issue that needs to be resolved with Spatial and its Mac developers. We have heard, but yet have not verified, that Spatial's press release omitted the Mac OS on accident, not on purpose, and that the Macintosh is an important platform for them. It is also rumored that Spatial will be announcing in the future their commitment to the Mac OS. When that announcement comes and what it may entail is not yet clear. We hope that it involves Apple and its developers and the potential for the G4's Velocity Engine to be a part of the fastest 3D apps in the market. We will keep you informed. Special thanks go to Architosh reader Steve Wilkinson for following up on this story for us. You will note that Steve Jobs' email address in no longer listed, at the request of Apple's Worldwide Developer department. Apple sent us an email regarding the Spatial-Mac OS issue and thanked us for alerting the Mac software community and Apple to the issue. However, they requested that we not allow readers to contact Steve Jobs directly on this issue. As you maybe aware, many Mac news sites list Steve Jobs email address (from time to time) on very important topics that affect the platform, encouraging readers to be active in their communication with Apple's leadership ([email protected]) and to let Steve personally know that something important has come up. I have been told by other Apple sources that Steve gets hundreds of emails each day -- and, as you can imagine, can't possibly keep up with all of them. With the current Kihei rumor sites showing unauthorized photos and drawings this last week and Apple's legal department working overtime to deal with them, Architosh wants to get one thing out on the table right now: Architosh wants to be considered a "partner" in Apple's mission and we respect their right's to privacy (like Steve's email address) and intellectual property and copyrights. To that end we have removed Steve's email address and will be reevaluating our policy on including it in future Architosh journalism. Thank you. - Ed. Other Architosh News IPIX support coming to QuickTime 3 and 4 - [30] Survey Preview: What type of platforms do you have at your office, early results - [30] Mac CAD News: Bentley's ModelServer Integator, support for XML, aecXML - [30]
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