Adobe has recently acquired Trade and Technologies France (TTF).

TTF develops CAD file viewers, CAD software interoperability translators and libraries for converting between different CAD formats.

You can read the Press Release

http://www.adobe.com/…/pressreleases/200604/042106TTF.html

And a little information about TTF can be found at

http://www.ttf-group.com/US/indexus.htm

Hardly a month has passed since the purchase of SketchUp by Google and now a copy is available FREE for personal use.

Google SketchUp (free)

Google SketchUp (free) is an easy-to-learn 3D modeling program whose few simple tools enable you to create 3D models of houses, sheds, decks, home additions, woodworking projects – even space ships. You can add details, textures and glass to your models, design with dimensional accuracy, and place your finished models in Google Earth, share them with others by posting them to the 3D Warehouse, or print hard copies. Google SketchUp (free) is a great way to discover if 3D modeling is right for you.

Google SketchUp is free for personal use. No registration is required.

Details at

http://sketchup.google.com/product_suf.html

DRC Computer Corporation have recently introduced a Dynamically Reconfigurable Coprocessor module which can be plugged directly into a CPU slot.

The unit can be inserted into any open socket in a multi-processor Opteron system and close coupling between the CPU and memory means that bandwidth and latencey bottlenecks are virtually eliminated.

CPU intensive Software sub-routines can be off-loaded to the DRC co-processing module which may enable applications to run many times faster.

Possible applications include: modelling, simulation, rendering, synthesis, searching/sequencing, cryptography, compression etc. in the fields of geoscience, pharma, defense, engineering, manufacturing, aerospace, government finance and entertainment.

There’s an article from The Register

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/04/21/drc_fpga_module/

or further details from DRC

http://www.drccomputer.com/

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AECbytes has a review of AutoCAD 2007. Actually, this one makes quite good reading, although it is biased towards Architectural - it does after all come from a site dedicated to the Analysis, Research and Reviews of AEC Technology. Of further interest is the glimpse of how mental ray has been integrated into the AutoCAD environment.

Read the article at

http://www.aecbytes.com/review/2006/AutoCAD2007.html

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CT CoreTechnologie GmbH provides a product called 3D_Evolution which enables data conversion between CAD systems complete with history and parametrics (if required).

http://www.coretechnologie.de/p_enh.htm

Models are converted into a 3D_Evolution native format (which enables the representation of all feature types in use today). This data is optimized and information added to enable the automatic (re-)generation of the model in the target-system. Finally, the model is assembled feature by feature using the target-system API. Both individual parts and complete assembly structures can be converted.

Another interesting part of the system is the “Simplifier” module. This module can be used to simplify parts and assemblies to reduce the overall model size for Digital MockUp (DMU) purposes. The result is the bounding geometry of the original model or entire assembly (with interior geometry removed). A useful feature of the system enables a user to specify those details which should be preserved following the automatic conversion process.

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