Designing things right: here are three new CAD tools. One focuses on part assemblies. Another focuses on displaying CAD models. The last focuses on making CAD available everywhere for everybody

Automotive Design & Production,  Sept, 2007  by Lawrence S. Gould

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Users don't have to create everything from scratch for their models. They can create 3D models by tracing photographs. They can also download models from Google's 3D Warehouse, a searchable online database of objects. (Users can also upload objects to the Warehouse for safekeeping and for sharing.)

For those who want more features than are available in the free package, there is SketchUp Pro for $495. Users can export their work in a variety of major CAD and graphics formats (including 3DS, DXF, DWG, OBJ, and VRML). SketchUp Pro includes LayOut, which helps create 2D presentations from 3D creations. Users can add title blocks, callouts, photographs, and logos to those presentations, export to PDF, and give full-screen digital presentations. SketchUp runs on Microsoft Windows 2000 and XP (Vista is not yet fully supported) with Microsoft .NET 1.1. On Apple computers, SketchUp runs on Mac OS X v10.3.9 or higher (Mac OS X v10.5, also known as Leopard, isn't supported yet, nor is Boot Camp or Parallels). Both computer systems require a video card that is 100% OpenGL compliant (and therein lies the gotcha with Windows Vista; compatible drivers are not yet available for all graphics cards).

Now for the "future-is-here" part. Sketchup can be used with Google Earth (earth.google.com), which lets users create objects (most likely buildings for starters) and incorporate them into virtual worlds based on satellite imagery, geographic information system (GIS) data, and data from public and private databases. Think "mash-ups." Also think about anybody anywhere having a 3D modeling tool at their fingertips, and anybody anywhere merging telematics with CAD data to better understand the world they drive, play, and otherwise live in.

Lawrence S. Gould

lsg@lsgould.com

by Lawrence S. Gould

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COPYRIGHT 2007 Gardner Publications, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning