Webcast: Direct Modeling panel discussion

Beth Stackpole, Contributing Editor for Design News, recently helmed an online panel discussion featuring representatives from the top companies promoting the use of Direct Modeling.

The discussion lasts about 45 minutes and features:

  • Paul Hamilton (PTC – CoCreate)
  • Blake Courter (SpaceClaim)
  • Dan Staple (Siemens PLM)
  • Evan Yares (Industry Analyst)

Direct Modeling can no longer be dismissed as a fad. It is an undeniable movement. CoCreate, SpaceClaim, and Siemens are clearly focusing lots of time, energy, money, and development in this key area of 3D technology.

While each company is discussing Direct Modeling here, each appears to have a distinct notion of how it should be applied. It was interesting to see these points of view presented side-by-side. Watch for these differing themes in each of the corporate presentations:

CoCreate:
Companies should look to choose either Direct Modeling or traditional (history-based) CAD.

SpaceClaim:
Companies should introduce Direct Modeling alongside their traditional CAD platforms to serve non-drafters who are unlikely to climb the traditional CAD learning curve.

Siemens PLM:
Companies should have a single, traditional CAD tool encompassing Direct and history-based modeling.

Hands down, my favorite part of the presentation came from industry vet, Evan Yares. I encourage you to hold out till the end to hear his comments. His no-BS, down-to-earth style is refreshing and entertaining.

Filed Under: Direct Modeling
March 14, 2009
  • http://jonbanquer.wordpress.com/ Jon Banquer

    Until Siemens, CoCreate and SpaceClaim decide to go head to head with SolidWorks, SolidWorks will continue to control and rule the market. The marketing concept of we compliment other CADCAM products isn’t going to gain any CADCAM company any serious market-share and is laughable.

  • http://jonbanquer.wordpress.com/ Jon Banquer

    Until Siemens, CoCreate and SpaceClaim decide to go head to head with SolidWorks, SolidWorks will continue to control and rule the market. The marketing concept of we compliment other CADCAM products isn’t going to gain any CADCAM company any serious market-share and is laughable.

  • Jeff Waters

    Hi Jon, you originally posted this comment on March 15. I just noticed it got caught in the SPAM filter for some reason, though. Had to manually repost it for you.

    The world is full of wonderful opinions. Makes life fun, right? I will say that I personally enjoy watching Pro/E, Solidworks, NX, Inventor, and CATIA customers empowering “non-CAD-gurus” to interact with the native CAD data coming from the CAD dept in ways that were impossible before adding SpaceClaim as a complimentary toolset.

    Most people have both microwaves and conventional ovens in their homes. Not everyone has the time, inclination, or need to become a 5 star chef. Nothing against chefs. And, nothing against regular folks who just need to eat.

  • Jeff Waters

    Hi Jon, you originally posted this comment on March 15. I just noticed it got caught in the SPAM filter for some reason, though. Had to manually repost it for you.

    The world is full of wonderful opinions. Makes life fun, right? I will say that I personally enjoy watching Pro/E, Solidworks, NX, Inventor, and CATIA customers empowering “non-CAD-gurus” to interact with the native CAD data coming from the CAD dept in ways that were impossible before adding SpaceClaim as a complimentary toolset.

    Most people have both microwaves and conventional ovens in their homes. Not everyone has the time, inclination, or need to become a 5 star chef. Nothing against chefs. And, nothing against regular folks who just need to eat.

  • http://cadjunkie.com/ Adam O’Hern

    To say that SolidWorks “Rules the Market” is quite the overstatement! It operates on the NX Kernel, so it wouldn’t exist w/o NX. Also, while popular among consultants and small businesses because of its low price and ease of use, most major manufacturing corporations in the world do not use SW as their primary design tool. No major car companies use it; they all use V5 and NX for PLM, and Alias/ICEM for development surfacing. Consumer product design consulting firms use SW and Rhino, but what about corporations? I know that at my two previous corporate design jobs I used V5 and NX respectively, and that the major pressure for change was not from SW, but from PTC, mainly because ProE is so ubiquitous in the far-east. So I think it’s a stretch to say that SW is a clear-cut “ruler” of the market!

    Don’t get me wrong; I love SW. I think it’s a fantastic tool, and a really nice interface in many ways. But like all tools, it has many limitations, and those limitations keep it from being used as the PLM system of choice for most large organizations today. This will likely change, but it hasn’t yet.

    On the topic of SpaceClaim, I would throw out there that while SpaceClaim is “intuitive”, it’s also… not very powerful (yet). If you think about it, the worlds most “intuitive” drafting tool is a pencil; but we don’t use those anymore because they aren’t as powerful as a CAD system. So what you really want isn’t a CAD system that’s merely intuitive, but one that marries intuitiveness with power and flexibility. This is what NX is trying (but failing, in my opinion) to do with ST as it integrates with the NX history tree.

    None of these direct-modeling systems work the way that they should yet, but we can be sure that they will in the near future, and we can only hope that somebody out there is also working to make the interface as nice as SpaceClaim’s already is!

  • http://cadjunkie.com Adam O’Hern

    To say that SolidWorks “Rules the Market” is quite the overstatement! It operates on the NX Kernel, so it wouldn’t exist w/o NX. Also, while popular among consultants and small businesses because of its low price and ease of use, most major manufacturing corporations in the world do not use SW as their primary design tool. No major car companies use it; they all use V5 and NX for PLM, and Alias/ICEM for development surfacing. Consumer product design consulting firms use SW and Rhino, but what about corporations? I know that at my two previous corporate design jobs I used V5 and NX respectively, and that the major pressure for change was not from SW, but from PTC, mainly because ProE is so ubiquitous in the far-east. So I think it’s a stretch to say that SW is a clear-cut “ruler” of the market!

    Don’t get me wrong; I love SW. I think it’s a fantastic tool, and a really nice interface in many ways. But like all tools, it has many limitations, and those limitations keep it from being used as the PLM system of choice for most large organizations today. This will likely change, but it hasn’t yet.

    On the topic of SpaceClaim, I would throw out there that while SpaceClaim is “intuitive”, it’s also… not very powerful (yet). If you think about it, the worlds most “intuitive” drafting tool is a pencil; but we don’t use those anymore because they aren’t as powerful as a CAD system. So what you really want isn’t a CAD system that’s merely intuitive, but one that marries intuitiveness with power and flexibility. This is what NX is trying (but failing, in my opinion) to do with ST as it integrates with the NX history tree.

    None of these direct-modeling systems work the way that they should yet, but we can be sure that they will in the near future, and we can only hope that somebody out there is also working to make the interface as nice as SpaceClaim’s already is!