sm2@sequent.cc.hull.ac.uk (Simon Marshall) (05/30/91)
This is a summary of responses I got to a posting about CAD
software running under X/Windows. There is also data conversion
software here. Unfortunately *no* PD (whatever that is) complete CAD
software (although there is a proposed GNU project for this), but
there are some promised for this summer, and some PD tools (see the
end of the post).
Many thanks to all those who responded. Now read on...
Simon.
_______________________________________________________________________________
Simon Marshall, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Hull, Hull HU6 7RX, UK
"``La la la la la la la la la'' means I love you."
EMAIL: S.Marshall@Hull.ac.uk UUCP: ..!ukc!hu-cs!sm
Telephone: +44 482 465951 (office) Fax: +44 482 466666
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From Peter Simpson (petes@com.nsd) of NCD (manufacturer of X terminals):
Autocad. ("Ubiquitiuos"). He's not used it. (415) 332-2344.
Design Advantage from Cognition. ("Looked pretty good"). Supports IGES
and DXF, and has other modules, including some manufacturing
interface bits. (International) 508-667-7900, fax 508-663-5482.
CADX11, modelled on Anvil-5000, from Graytech software. ("A good solid
3-D wireframe system for a very reasonable price"). Outputs include
IGES (standard) and Interleaf, DXF, Framemaker, Mentor, SMP-81,
Patran, Moss and ISIF, each for $1,000. (708) 682-4030, fax (708)
682-0047.
Anvil-5000 from Manufacturing and Consulting Services (MCS). ("... not
running on all common hosts yet ... feature-rich 3-d wireframe
modeller ... doesn't have full associativity between the 3-D model
and the 2-D drafting layout ... new release ... could be quite
satisfactory for many users."). (714) 951-8858.
Pro Engineer from Parametric Technology Corp. ("Demo ... [showed] a
distinct lack of production tools ... good for initial design of
complex 3-D [machine] parts"). (617) 891-1069.
Others include Bravo-3 from Sclumberger, (313) 995-6000; Patran from PDA
engineering (714) 540-8900; CIMCAD from Cimlinc (708) 250-0090.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From Ed Basart (ed@com.ncd) of NCD:
CADX11. ("Much admired by our internal mechanical designer, and works
great on NCD X terminals"). Phone as above.
Anvil-5000. ("Available on X, only on certain platforms. ... still
running under SunView on Suns"). Phone as above.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From Randolph Back (rback@edu.Colorado.euclid) of Back Software &
Consulting, Inc.:
CGM conversion software.
Iges --> CGM, CGM --> CGM (encoding converter),
CGM --> Postscript, and other CGM translation software. From
Henderson Software (303) 442-6570.
Cgm software, including GPLOT for viewing and plotting. From Pittsburgh
Supercomputer Center. Contact kar@psc.edu.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From Shyam Mittur (shyam@com.atc.atc1) of Advanced Technology Center:
IGES <==> CGM. (714) 583-9119.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From Tim Campbell (campbell@dev8.mdcbbs.com) of Electronic Data Systems
Corp.:
UniGraphics software, McDonnell Douglas. ("Run on several platforms ...
Supports IGES (not sure about CGM) and has an NC package as well").
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From Phil Dykstra (phil@mil.BRL) of Advanced Computer Systems Team, and
Charlie S. Lindahl (lindahl@edu.uta.arrisun3):
BRL-CAD. ("Unix based CSG modelling and ray tracing system + image
utilities etc. ... not public domain, but it is available in source
code form at no cost ... can be used under X11R4. You can not FTP it
as yet, but this may become possible after our next release (a couple
of months?). ... We no not have any standard export format, though a
partial IGES converter (IGES solids) has been written."). There is a
README file on ftp.brl.mil (brl-cad directory on anonymous FTP).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From Michael Mclay (mclay@gov.nist.cme) of National Institute of Standards
and Technology:
A C++ class library for implementing the Standard for the Exchange of
Product Model Data (STEP) is available today but it only supports the
internal data representation and I/O to an exchange file. We are in
the process of linking it to an InterViews based application that
supports generic data editing features. The first release of this
STEP Data Probe should be sometime mid-summer. This probe and the
InterViews 3.0 toolkit should make writing CAD applications based on
STEP quite time efficient. A specialized CAD application would have
to generate specialized InterViews views of the primative STEP data
elements and manipulator operators for the views. The data
representation and I/O are supported by the STEP Class Library (SCL)
and the graphic interface primatives, such as menues, panners,
scrollers, and painters, are supplied by InterViews.
Scl is available in pub/step/src at ftp.cme.nist.gov. Interviews is
available from interviews.stanford.edu. There is one STEP data file
included in the current release of SCL. We should have additional
data in the library of the summer release.
I'd suggest you look into the STEP standard instead of IGES. Step is
intended to be the replacement for IGES that will fix many IGES
deficiencies. I think Part 43 of STEP, "Shape Representation" and
Part 203 "Configuration Controlled 3D Product Definition" may be of
interest.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Anjana Kar (kar@edu.psc.calpe) of Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center:
GPLOT. ("Interprets CGM files and displays the graphic on various devices
(Silicon graphics IRIS, X-windows, Sunview, Decwindows, Tektronix,
Color Postscript, etc.").
Drawcgm. ("Package which can generate CGM files."). This and GPLOT, ftp
from calpe.psc.edu (128.182.62.148), /pub/gplot/gplot.tar.
P3d. ("Uses lisp with slight extensions to store three-dimensional
models. A simple lisp interpreter is included with ... P3D."). Ftp
from calpe.psc.edu, /pub/p3d/p3d_2_0.tar.
There are also C++ binaries for Decstations and Macs in /pub.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~