[ Page 2 of 3 ]

Updates for 3D CAD, collaboration tools
By Deborah Snoonian, P.E.

The Treo 650 Smartphone is compatible with mobile-phone carriers Cingular, Sprint, and T-Mobile.

Treo 650 Smartphone
palmOne
www.palmone.com
Palm OS/Windows and Mac

After the wild success of last year’s Treo 600, palmOne has upgraded its popular mobile device with several new and improved features. Like the older version, it combines a Palm handheld organizer, a full-featured mobile phone with speakerphone and conferencing capabilities, a digital camera, an MP3 digital music player, and a Web browser. Carriers Sprint, T-Mobile, and Cingular provide mobile-phone service for the Treo. Customers can download their e-mail messages using palmOne’s VersaMail technology, and for corporate customers, the 650 also enables synchronization with Microsoft Outlook data such as messages, task lists, and calendar items. Integrated Bluetooth technology communicates wirelessly with accessories such as headsets, car kits, and computing devices, and a full (if tiny) keyboard lets users type text messages, e-mails, or phone numbers on the fly. Expansion cards also let users add custom content and applications like games and electronic books. Even among smartphones, this device is an overachiever.

The Texxus team is helping design the Skipper Library in England (below), a pebble-shaped structure that will house a private collection of Japanese manuscripts.

Texxus
Texxus
www.texxus.com
Windows and Mac

Texxus is a specialized service firm offering surface design, texture design, and rendering and manufacturing capabilities. Originally envisioned as a company to assist designers in creating custom-textured surfaces for injection-molded materials, the firm now used 3D CAD/CAM technology to model complex geometries and surfaces that can be mass-produced using digital manufacturing methods, in any machinable material—including stone, concrete, wood, terrazzo, and rapid-prototyping materials. The company works on projects on various scales, from model development to full-scale manufacturing, and its services have been employed for both preservation work and new projects. When creating customized surfaces, the team combines its aesthetic approach with an intimate knowledge and understanding of material properties and behavior, so that the surfaces imagined can be produced cost-effectively. The firm uses several different software programs in its work, including CATIA and ProEngineer. Projects the company has supported include the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain in London’s Hyde Park.

LaunchPad CadOperator lets users customize common CAD tasks to improve efficiency, productivity, and accuracy.

LaunchPad CadOperator
LaunchPadOffice
www.aclaunchpad.com
Windows only

As any budding architect knows, CAD drafting can be mind-numbingly rote and repetitive. This combined software/hardware package aims to slash drafting time by 50 percent or more (a video showing a mock race between two CAD operators using traditional entry methods versus this product even verifies the claim). A specialized keyboard and mouse device simplifies repetitive tasks and reduces the number of keystrokes needed for common operations. The software allows users to create shortcuts for, and libraries of, specialized “blocks” (combinations of CAD keystrokes or “objects” that repeat throughout a project), hatch patterns, color combinations, layering rules and styles, line weights, and other popular drafting tasks. Training videos and online tutorials are also available to bring users up to speed—literally.

ADVERTISEMENT