CAD Collaboration – Are You Taking the Best Path?

By its very nature, CAD and CAM activities are collaborative. Unlike other professionals, the work of the design and process specialists must ripple through the organizational processes to provide the input and impetus for delivering the products. However, the level of collaboration is only going to increase substantially in the next few years, as the demands for reducing time to market and increasing efficiency continue.

And the tools for collaboration are changing as well. There are new options and the impact of the Cloud is starting to come to the fore as well. The result is new and changing options for improving CAD collaboration. Read full article »

CAD in the Cloud – What’s New Now

The Cloud, and discussion about it, permeates the technology space. As organizations move to their first real, production level use, of Cloud solutions and understand all the ramifications of moving we are starting to get a sense of what the future may hold. This blog will look at some of the latest news around CAD in the Cloud and what hints that might give us about the future.

Going to School on Office 365

One of the trends that are mostly likely to continue and impact how we use CAD solutions is the delivery of Cloud based versions of common applications. When Microsoft launched their cloud version of Office last year, it served as an excellent model for how to move on-premise software to cloud subscriptions, and we are seeing the same in CAD. One of the most notable offerings is the Autodesk 360 offering. While not a complete solution for on-premise software, this offering starts to point the way on pricing, functionality, and the ability to interact with CAD files on multiple devices. It’s pretty clear that pricing is going to have be in the $25-$35 per month per application range to start, but I’d expect that some suppliers will use predatory pricing in the cloud to try and build market share. More importantly, the Cloud solutions will put some real utility on “viewers” or tools that allow for some interaction with CAD files on smaller tablets and smart phones. Read full article »

A Sneak Peek at AutoCAD 2014

AutoCAD is arguably one of the most important software products that are commonly used by CAD Professionals. It’s got a huge customer base and many pundits claim it is the leading product of its kind. Given the importance of this product, the future directions and capabilities of this product will impact CAD in a substantial manner.

This blog post will examine some of the key features of AutoCAD 2014 and what these features bring to the CAD Professional. Given that there are a number of new features and capabilities, I’ve chosen some of the new functionality that I believe has the most impact. Other new features can be viewed in this preview guide from Autodesk. Read full article »

AutoCAD WS Teams Up with Google Drive

A couple months ago, AutoCAD WS announced that it was one of the official launch applications available on Google’s new cloud file storage offering, Google Drive. As most of you likely know, AutoCAD WS is a cloud-based CAD editor from Autodesk.

What this announcement means is that you can directly store your DWG and DXF files from AutoCAD WS safely in the cloud, access them wherever you are and whenever it’s most convenient, and share them with others who have Google Drive accounts. According to the AutoCAD WS blog, “Just like AutoCAD WS, Google Drive goes beyond mere file storage giving you access to your files on the Web, in your home, at the office and on the go.”

The video below shows you how it works: Read full article »

AutoCAD WS Gives You Freedom—But Is It Safe?

Happy New Year! 2012 is sure to be a time when more and more CAD professionals go mobile, continuing a trend I explored a few weeks ago. In today’s post, I’ll address some of the ways AutoCAD WS ensures the safety of your drawings in the cloud.

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