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CAD on the Web

Who's Doing What?

Software developers have bundled Internet connectivity into their software. This page looks at products and Web functionality in each.

Autodesk

DWF document format

A compressed vector graphics format. DWF is an open standard format devised by Autodesk. Viewing DWF files requires the WHIP! Plug-in or ActiveX control installed on your browser. Because of their compact filesize, DWF files are fast to download.

WHIP! Plug-in/ActiveX control

This add-on software is freely distributed by Autodesk and is required to view DWF files distributed across the Internet or intranets. Vector graphics allow the WHIP! Driver to provide fast, clear panning and zooming in a drawing view.

AutoCAD Release 14

Open and save drawings to URLs is quite an advance in AutoCAD. I know of no other software that will allow users to open documents directly from a URL (accessing the drawing data via HTTP) and allow saving (via FTP). Of all Web-enabling options that one might look for, only AutoCAD does it out of the application.

Your web browser can be opened directly from the AutoCAD standard toolbar. The button is preconfigured to open http://www.autodesk.com, but this can be changed. Once connected to the AutoCAD Release 14 pages, there are numerous information resources available.

Another excellent feature of Release 14 is the ability to drag and drop DWG files from browser to drawing editor window. These are definitely areas where AutoCAD is far ahead of the competition in utilising the Web.

WorkCenter for the Web

WorkCenter is a comprehensive document and workflow management system for all kinds of documents. WorkCenter for The Web extends accessibility to the Workcenter document vault to all users of the WWW. Users throughout an extended enterprise can securely access documents through this system from anywhere in the world.

WorkCenter for the Web uses the browser as the primary interface. Accessing information and files fires up helper applications which can include text editors, AutoCAD, AutoCAD View or what ever may be required to use the data coming down the wire.

Baystate Technologies Inc.

CADkey 97

This CAD software includes a Web-enabled link from the Help system to Baystate’s website for up-to-the-minute technical tips and help. A VRML output option in CADkey enables 3D models to be published on the Web very easily.

Bentley Systems

ModelServer Publisher

ModelServer Publisher was recently released by Bentley Systems. It seems to be a very powerful document publishing tool that is sure to attract a big following in the not too distant future.

ModelServer Publisher is a Web document publisher that provides access to Microstation DGN and AutoCAD DWG files (up to and including R13) across the WWW. Drawings requested by users are converted on the fly to an appropriate Web-compatible format such as JPG, PNG. CGM. SVF or VRML. Users have the option of customising the information they want to see.

No specialised software is required at the client site. Users only need web borwser and any plug-ins that may be required to view certain file types. Drawing security is maintained by ensuring that no native CAD file is sent across the Web. Clients only see published representations of data that contain no CAD intelligence.

To publish engineering data without ModelServer requires significant effort in converting CAD files to various Web-compatible formats and keeping the converted sets up to date. Because it converts on-the-fly and on-demand, ModelServer Publisher eliminates the conversion and maintenance stage. ModelServer Publisher also has the advantage of coexisting with existing workflow systems with little additional effort.

Two other products in the Model Sever line, ModelServer Continuum and ModelServer TeamMate, are also key components in the Bentley Engineering Back Office strategy

MicroStation 95

This popular software allows Web-compatible output in CGM format only. However the Web functionality of MicroStation is greatly ehanced by MicroStation Links (see below).

MicroStation Link

MicroStation Link is the harbinger of Web integration in Bentley Systems' software. Bentley is gradually updating the entire product line as well as adding new products which embrace the web and make users of Bentley software more productive using the Web and the Internet.

MicroStation Link is free to Bentley's SELECT (Ed: a service and technology subscription program) subscribers and provides the ability to output in JPEG, CGM, SVF, VRML, whilst enabling HTML authoring, the ability to drag and drop cells from web sites.

MicroStation Link allows engineering data (design files, cell libraries, BASIC macros, MDL applications, etc.) to be viewed, placed, or loaded across the Internet without leaving your MicroStation session. An Internet connection and a simple point and click is all that is necessary.

MicroStation/J

The announced, but not yet shipping, MicroStation/J will provide native Java support in MicroStation. Developers will be able to build complete engineering applications using Java. Java provides connectivity to enterprise applications and the Internet and allows engineering organizations to consolidate around Java, optimising IT administration and flexibility through the Java's ‘Write Once, Run Anywhere™’ capability. With the release of MicroStation/J, Java will become a native application development language for Bentley’s engineering software.

IMSI

TurboCAD Professional 4

Here is the first CAD vendor outside Autodesk to allow users to save to DWF format. The DWF format is a very useful format for making drawings available on the Web and TurboCAD’s export option allows for selectable degrees of precision (traded off against filesize). TurboCAD does not support embedded hyperlinks in DWF, which is a pity.

The TurboCAD Help system includes a direct Internet link to IMSI’s Online Knowledge Base.

Visio

Visio Technical 4.5

This technical drawing software that enables users to create good-looking drawings very quickly. One of the output options in Visio is HTML. You can even embed hyperlinks in such a document. Vision achieves this output by generating an HTML document to display the drawing image and define a client-side image map. It also generates a GIF file or the graphics.

When the HTML file is loaded in a browser, it displays the GIF file and reads in the hyperlinked hotspots from the image-map definition. Very easy, very fast.

Visio also supports direct web access from its Help system.

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