Things that make me go Mmmmmm...

#1

First off punch has announced a new $99 product named ViaCAD (shipping in March) that will be a 2D, 3D, surface, and solid modeling tool. Being a CAD solids modeler and supporting several compatible export formats (to EI) it might be a good modeler.

Here is where it gets more interesting… (the Mmmmm part) it is selling for $99 and is based on an ACIS kernel. Now if the cost of the library is so excessive how can Punch market a modeling product, for $99, based on it? And yet, there it is…

Second Mmmmmm… wasn’t it Punch that bought CSI (concepts unlimited) recently. Could this new ViaCAD product be a lite (or not so lite) version of the Concepts 3D CAD product? The mind reels…

If so it could be very interesting, particularly if it can trade native models (SAT/SAB) with modeler (which had one of the best, if not the best, tessellation options available (at any price) and had direct (and nearly flawless) conversion to fact. (One of the reasons I still cling to the G5 box is that I will have to give up modeler with a new MacPro)

Saw the punch press release, and though I would throw it out there… any clarification is welcome.

http://www.punchviacad.com/

-WmH

#2

“Here is where it gets more interesting… (the Mmmmm part) it is selling for $99 and is based on an ACIS kernel. Now if the cost of the library is so excessive how can Punch market a modeling product, for $99, based on it? And yet, there it is…”

You know, I’ve heard the ‘explanation’ posted on different forums as to why the demise of EIM…kind of a more “this user said”. It just never sat well with me. No-one ever asked me “are you will to pay more for EIM as our over-head has jumped dramatically”. EIM was just cancelled and then stated that ACIS licensing in the future wasn’t going to happen.

It would be nice to really know why there is no EIM…though, probably none of my business:-)

To have an ACIS modeler for $99 has to mean the licensing cost is not very substantial currently.

#3

the licensing cost is not very substantial currently.

Or that the initial licenses are cheap and then take a huge hike once the sales volume is established.

#4

I remember reading a while back that the library was somewhere between 20-30k for the licensing fee. So they would have to sell 200-300 units just to pay for the ASICs kernal alone. Add in their own programmer’s fees and the number of units go up. My guess would be that you’d probably have to quadruple (or more) that number of sales to cover your own internal programmer’s costs. (Taking an average of 2 programmers on a team). Then you have marketing costs, promotional material, sales teams, phones, internet costs, overhead, etc etc… .and I’d have to say this company is going to have to sell nearly a thousand seats to break even. If its not popular… they’ll have problems for sure. By the same logic, if EITG can get EIM back online, at a price tag of say $399, they should be able to survive. Factor in that the infrastructure and programming is already there, they have an existing client base and who knows… a lot will depend on whether or not v6.6 and v7 of Animator can draw enough interest.

Or maybe Kurt is right and the fee is dependant on number of sales. I don’t know.

Just because they lower the price to $99 doesn’t mean its going to be effective. A lot of companies under price their software and suffer the consequences. My guess is this company probably has other streams of income that are more lucrative.

#5

Oh… and I wouldn’t be surprised if the licensing fee has to be renewed every year. Maybe at a lower cost… maybe not. Maybe its by per program version. Either way… it aint gonna be easy.

#6

I may be wrong, but I don’t think this is ACIS based.
I think this is a version of Concepts2d which is based on a proprietary 3d engine (the original code for Ashlars CAD products?).

It may have some translation capabilitites to SAT, but I don’t think this is a $99 version of Concepts Unlimited (which sells for over $1700).

In other words this is just a re-badging/new version of “turbo CAD” which is already sold at retail at the same price point.

Not that it wouldn’t be a good compliment to EIAS if FACT is supported.

#7

Just re-read the announcement, so I’ll correct myself.

It IS ACIS based.

This is supposed to be the first of their Version 5 products. It will be interesting to see what the other v5 products offer.

#8

From the press release (link in my first post)
The product supports 2D, 3D, surface, and solid modeling tools with a wide array of features to allow precision illustrations while keeping the process of design simple. Accuracy is ensured by ViaCAD’s ACIS®-based kernel.

I also noticed that at the bottom of the press release Tim Olson is listed as an email contact. That almost cinches it that it is likely some mutation of CSI’s concepts CAD package, which is an outstanding app. several here on the forum use it with EI (Steve W. comes to mind)

Really hoping for SAT/SAB output, EI’s support for obj is sometime troublesome (FBX has been outstanding, but I doubt a CAD package will include it) Being able to Pass models via SAB to EIM for tessellation and FACT output would be awesome.

Having an affordable CAD package coupled with EI would be a real boone for Architectural Visualization, industrial design and set design and survey. I see this (if it is a good product and able to reliably transfer files) as a huge plus for EI.

#9

Also, according to the press release, it will be available for Macintosh.

MoI, another recent CAD program, is not.

I’m hoping they can pack a lot of functionality into this software. All of their other offerings are sub-$200, and they claim to have sold over a million units to home owners and landscapers. Volume doesn’t always mean value however.

Still, I put my name on the notify list.

#10

I´m so excited about this news. Seems to me that Punchsoft can read the minds of a lot Mac users, or that they a least have read the EIM resurrection thread…I´ve signed up there too.

Regards
Stefan

#11

Hey guys, if you are interested in software that has sort of an acis/eim solids modeling
feel to it, I’d really suggest you look at MoI(moment of inspiration).
It’s currently still in beta and free to download and use. I have just recently had
my “ah-ha” moment with the software and am about to start using it in
my 3d model production, probably at the next beta when they will add rotoscopes.
No fact export, but I’m sure if enough people suggest it, it could be added.
They guy working on the app seems to be super friendly and pretty responsive to requests.

http://moi3d.com/

Mike Fitz
www.3dartz.com

#12

Hey Mike,

yep, MoI is very sweet, no doubt. I ran it off of a USB Flash Memory Stick at my local Junior College. Trouble is - no Macintosh version.

If I had a new Intel Mac that’s less of a worry. Still, this ViaCAD (which might be the Concepts 3D product repackaged) seems like one to keep an eye on.

#13

Oh, hey, I don’t know how I missed you mentioning MoI before my post.
Yeah, there is no mac version, but there is a lot of talk about a mac version in the MoI
discussion forum.
btw, that’s pretty crazy that we can run apps from memory sticks now a days…

#14

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