IMSI Design First to 3D DWG Viewing on Android

IMSI Design announced today that their popular CAD Viewer application TurboViewer is now available on the Android Platform.  IMSI Design released two versions of TurboViewer; TurboViewer (free version) and TurboViewer X ($3.99 U.S.)  IMSI’s Turboviewer for iOS was named one of the Top 5 apps in the iOS world by Macworld/iWorld.

The Android versions match the iOS versions in abilities.  They support native 2D and 3D .DWG and .DXF viewing, smooth multi touch navigation for panning, zooming and orbits.  Offline file support, ability to restore saved views, full screen previews and more.

TurboViewer and TurboViewer X are about the same in functionality.  TurboViewer Free is, well, free.  It is supported by adds.  TurboViewer X has no adds.  Both read DWG and DFX files.  Files can be viewed via web downloads, FTP, Dropbox®, WebDAV, through email attachment, and several cloud based storage systems.  There is an online Wiki help if you get stuck using the app.  TurboViewer X adds more features to the mix.  Besides having no adds, it has a layer visibility manager.

TurboViewer v1
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.imsi.TurboViewer.Free

TurboViewer X
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.imsi.TurboViewer.X

Wiki Help
http://turbocaddoc.onconfluence.com/display/TView/TurboViewer

For more information see www.IMSIdesign.com/TurboViewer

2012 the Year of the Software Update

I am dubbing 2012 “The Year of the Software Update” because of all of the major updates that are scheduled to take place.  Autodesk has a yearly update schedule and if they follow what they’ve done since 2003 the next release of AutoCAD® should have a new DWG file type.  Adobe has announced that they too are on a yearly release cycle for their Creative Suite® with CS 6 due this year.  Solidworks yearly cycle will give us a new version this year.  Draftsight seems to be on a yearly release that should come out this April. Now Microsoft has announced that Office 15 will come out this year.  On top of that Microsoft Windows 8 is also scheduled to release this year.

Autodesk Ended Support for Microsoft Windows Vista, but not Windows XP for 2012

On January 1st, 2012, Autodesk formally ended support of products released in 2012 that will be running on the Windows Vista Operating System (See Press Release).  However, they have not ended support for their products running Windows XP.  Interesting isn’t it?

Right now nothing has really changed because as of the date that this is posted, Autodesk hasn’t released anything (that I am aware of) in 2012.  The 2012 line of products were released in the year 2011 so they are still supported, if you are running Vista.

Why are they doing this?  They ended sales support for Vista way back in 2011 so they are following suite with the rest of their support system.  Ok, that makes sense but why support XP and not Vista?  According to their press release they have enough customers using XP that they need to support it.  That’s just crazy isn’t it?  What’s going to happen when Windows 8 comes out this year?

I don’t know either but all of these updates makes my head spin!  It’s going to be a great year for IT support and CAD managers dealing with software updates.  Maybe this is a great year to get all of your users on the same Operating System?

Microsoft’s Next Release of Office® is Coming!

The Microsoft Office Exec Blog announced today that the next version of Office, dubbed “Office 15” (during testing anyway) is now in Technical Preview.  This preview is the first time a new version is released to the public.  This preview is not available to everybody (yet.)  It is a small closed group of users that will test it out before Microsoft goes forward with a public beta.  The preview is full so no point in trying to get in on it (I know right?  I want in) but the public beta is set to be available “later this summer.”  Can’t wait!
So what’s in it?  They didn’t say too much but I like what they did say.  According to the blog “Office 15 is the most ambitious undertaking yet for the Office Division.”  What does that mean?  Let’s be honest.  It’s hype, but I’m listening.  Here is another quote, “With Office 15, for the first time ever, we will simultaneously update our cloud services, servers, and mobile and PC clients for Office, Office 365, Exchange, SharePoint, Lync, Project, and Visio. Quite simply, Office 15 will help people work, collaborate, and communicate smarter and faster than ever before.”

Autodesk releases 123D Make Web App as a Technology Preview

Autodesk has a series of applications based on 3D creation.  Several of them came from their Labs Projects and others have made it iOS iPad applications.  When released, 123D Make was only available as a free download for Macs on OSX.  Now Autodesk has released a preview web based application that is available to those with a web browser.

123D Make is a program that takes a 3D model and assists in creating a real life 3D physical model.  It creates a pattern of flat panels that can be cut and put together to recreate your model.  It can be used in one of two ways: order pre laser cut plates, or create eps files that you can print and use as templates to cut the material yourself.

Now that anyone can use it give it a try.  Autodesk has several premade models that you can try out.  The 123D series of programs are a great way for users to create 3D models, to capture 3D models, and to create 3D models.