Bernd Meißner

Tom, without knowing some preconditions it's still hard to answer your question. The options are still the same (100% Windows on a Mac via Bootcamp, or Windows in a VM), although the VM technology on the Mac has evolved. WHY do your clients want to switch? Are they going to use native Mac software then? Do they want to use IronCad simultaneously to other applications (Mac and/or Win)? If their task is very hardware-demanding (which CAD usually is), running IronCad in Windows only via Bootcamp is still the way to go. This means, you boot your Mac to Windows (or Mac) and can't switch the OS during this session. If they are using IronCad for simple tasks (smaller files), while most of the work is done in Mac applications, a VM like Parallels would be a valid alternative. I haven't tested it yet, but if it is of any importance, I could try to install my version (Inovate 11) in my Parallels VM. Bernd

Thanks, updating the dongle driver did it, although this has been working for versions 8 through 10 without a problem. The demo/registration dialog is gone for now, without doing the activation process again. So let's see what happens in 29 days ;-) Thanks again, Bernd

Hi Marcus, thanks for this tip. I've sent a mail to my dealer, so let's see what happens... Bernd

Well, I did install the patch, but my Inovate 11 installation still doesn't notice it's a licensed version instead of a demo. What I did: 1. Install Inovate 11 from CD 2. Run patch downloaded from above 3. Run activation wizard, activate via internet, successfully finished 3. Launch Inovate and ... get the Registration dialog, which asks me if I want to run the demo or register and activate. Huh? 4. Select "register" again, enter my info... and get an error message when the Inovate license file should be written. Well, yes, it's already existing, I think. 5. I completely uninstalled and re-installed Inovate again 6. Applied the patch 7. Launch Inovate, this time without running the activation wizard first 8. Complete the registration/activation process, which appears after first launch 9. License was successfully installed 10. Launch Inovate... AND HAVE TO REGISTER AND ACTIVATE AGAIN! System: XP Pro SP2 (32-bit) How can I get this &%$§ thing running? Bernd

Hi Tom, this depends on the OBJ file in question. There shouldn't be problems importing "clean" geometry via OBJ into IC, although IC is not really made to handle polygon files. A single (or a group of) solid(s) should come in without problems. OTOH, the Dosch car is a single object consisting of mixed geometries. It contains some (polygonal) solids as well as surface objects, at a pretty low resolution. I can imagine that this is kind of problematic for an application like IC. Edit: I've converted the file (externally) from QBJ to 3DS. While IC chews on the OBJ for a looooong time, the 3DS opens almost immediately. Seems to be the better format for IC (see attachment). Bernd original.3ds.zip

Tom, the number 1 source for humans (including perfect women) and their respective body parts is Poser: Poser I'm using it in order to get hands into my illustrations. Using Poser, you can set up any posture and export the geometry to e.g. *.obj, which is read by IC. The exported file has a limited resolution, so I often use other applications to smooth the resulting geometry, depending on the required quality. From your rendering it's hard to tell what the quality of your glass arm really is, but I think a Poser arm would be better as far as quality and details are concerned. The attached image shows a rendered collection of hands (part of my 'homegrown' library) I did with Poser, just as an example. Bernd

From what I understand, he's asking for a localized version of the IC User Interface, or a way to create one. But I'm not sure, too... Bernd

Question not worthy of an answer? :-( Bernd

@ the IronCad team: There's an *.ics g-plug module available, which ships e.g. with PolyTrans and its Granite importer. I've been talking to Robert Lansdale (founder and CEO of Okino), and he told me that this module hasn't been updated since Granite v2 (while we're at Granite v4/v5 meanwhile) which makes it pretty useless. Since I do file conversion as a part of my service, I'm interested in anything that makes my life (and work) easier. Although I can export my IronCad models to Parasolid and other formats, which can also be handled by PolyTrans, it would be more than helpful if I was able to convert native ICS files without creating intermediate formats cluttering my HDs. Is there a chance you update this plugin to a current version of granite, supporting current ICS files as well? Thanks for consideration :-) Bernd

Tom, you obviously made the best out of it :-) Bernd

Hi Tom, attached you'll find two versions of the torso, the original one and a smoothed version… not quite as ugly as the first one ;-) Both open fine in IC, but the IC file would be 3.9 MB to attach… Bernd tw_torso_m_smoothed.3ds.zip tw_torso_m.3ds.zip

Tom, I think I can convert the Lightwave file for you… but 'usable' is something different. You'll be able to load the file as a polygon format (OBJ ord 3DS). Regards, Bernd

Carlo, if you want I could try to convert the models for you. Although you won't ever get a 'parametric' CAD model out of a polygon file, I could at least try to make an IC readable polygon model out of it. I guess you're talking about *.3ds files? Regards, Bernd

Well, there's still some truth in your first posting. There is no Acrobat 3D available for Mac, which means you can display/use a 3D PDF on Mac (using latest Acrobat versions), but you can't edit any of the 3D features. Adobe's commitment to the Mac platform is… well… questionable to some degree. I'm still missing FrameMaker for MacOSX. Bernd

Hallo Dieter, das scheint tatsächlich ein Treiber- oder Hardwareproblem mit der Radeon zu sein. Wenn man im Internet sucht, findet man einige Diskussionen, die diesen Fehler (wenn auch nur am Rande, neben hauptsächlichen thermischen Problemen) erwähnen… allerdings im Zusammenhang mit dem Spiel "World of Warcraft", welches aber natürlich auch die OpenGL-Fähigkeiten nutzt. Beispiele: http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=4160576 http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.h...&sid=1&pageNo=3 Offensichtlich scheint also nicht IronCad das Problem zu sein, sondern Fullscreen + OpenGL + X1900/Mac. Grüße, Bernd A short summing up for the international community: There seem to exist some issues with the X1900 graphics card in the MacPro version. Other users (especially gamers, using fullscreen OpenGL accelerated games like WoW) experience crashes, overheating etc. So it's not an IronCAD issue, as far as I can see…

Jepp. Allerdings kann ich besser deutsch als IronCad, insofern bin ich vermutlich nur begrenzt von Nutzen ;-) Bernd

Hallo Amdi, ich habe im anderen Thread bezüglich Parallels geantwortet. Prinzipiell kann dein Problem tatsächlich an der Grafikkarte bzw. am Treiber liegen. Ich kann das hier leider nicht ausprobieren, da ich auf meinem MacPro eine andere Grafikkarte (NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT) und außerdem KEIN Bootcamp habe. Aber zumindest in Parallels könnte ich es probieren. Immerhin habe ich auch einen 23"-Apple-Monitor, also kriege ich die Fenster groß genug. Schöne Grüße, Bernd

If it helps, I could try installing my Inovate 9 version in my Parallels environment. I'm running Parallels on a MacPro 3.0 and on a MacBook Pro. There are a few limitations compared to the Bootcamp solution, though: - There's no real OpenGL support yet. You're running an emulated graphics card with some kind of Direct X8 support, aimed at the gaming public ;-) Could result in poor performance while navigating views. - I'm not sure if there will be support for more than 2GB RAM assigned to Windows (for using the 3GB switch)... but this is something which can be answered by Parallels. Deutsche Version: Wenn's hilft, kann ich mal testhalber meine Inovate 9-Version in Parallels installieren. Ich benutze Parallels auf einem MacPro 3.0 und meinem MacBook Pro. Es gibt aber hinsichtlich der Leistung Einschränkungen: - Es gibt keine "richtige" OpenGL-Unterstützung. Nur eine emulierte Grafikkarte mit irgendwie implementierter Direct X8-Unterstützung. Könnte beim Drehen/Schieben etc. ziemlich langsam werden. - Ich bin auch nicht sicher, ob Parallels mehr als 2GB zugewiesenen Speicher anspricht. Hierdurch ist der "Systemverbieger"-3GB-Switch nicht nutzbar. Hilft aber auch nur in Grenzfällen. Grüße/Regards, Bernd

Well, I just tried to to repeat what seemed to work yesterday (I was sure that I ex-/imported a sphere successfully), but today the results confirm your lack of success. Interesting enough: if I import the (OBJ) sphere I created in IronCad into FormZ, it arrives there as a perfect, facetted solid. Doing the same in IC leads to a facet part, which either has the facets required but is not a solid, or, after converting to a solid, has some triangulated facets. Not what it should be in my opinion... Bernd

It should be quite simple. All you need is a piece of facetted geometry, which can be done like this: 1. add a sphere (which *is* a revolved sphere and contains the facets you want) 2. export this sphere to *.OBJ format (facetted geometry, which retains quad faces instead of triangulating them) 3. re-import this OBJ file (which still is a solid you can use boolean tools on) 4. cut the portion you need (from the sides, not top or bottom) 5. difference a smaller sphere from the rest. Attached is a file I created using an other application (which directly supports facetted geometry, without using the ex-/import route), but in IC it should work exactly as described above :-) Bernd FacettedSphere.ics

Well, that's a predicament, I've signed a *very* strict NDA. I'll let you know if I'm allowed to send the files, although I doubt it. Thanks for now… Bernd

Well, parasolid is the default kernel here, too. I'm currently trying to import all the subassemblies one by one... I'll let you know how things work. Edit: geometry successfully comes in for the few files I've tested so far, but coordinates/positioning gets lost, since I'm no longer using the parent assembly file. Not a solution… Bernd

Hi all, I'm currently test driving the Pro/E importer. Although I know, that there are several file formats that could be used as an alternative, there are still some clients who don't want to deal with any export settings etc. from Pro/E. So I'll get Pro/E assemblies or nothing. Now I've got two assemblies which I'm trying to import. Result one: Fails to import. Result two: Ironcad (Inovate in my case) crashes and disappears without any message. Both assemblies open without any problems in PolyTrans, (also) using a licensed Granite translator. Huh? Thinking about buying the Granite add-on which costs 1.5 times as much as my Inovate license, annual support/upgrades twice as much as Inovate, there should be better results in order to convince me... Any (better) experiences? Regards, Bernd

YES, that did it. Works like a charm, and is a great help for my work. Obviously an underestimated feature ;-) Thanks! Bernd

Well, been there, done that... almost. I don't get it to work, although I did what the Help file said (and what it didn't say): - I registered the DLL using the Samples\C++\ModelingHelper\Registration\*.reg file - (after several attempts that didn't work) I copied the DLL to the IronCad\9.0\Bin\ folder My problem is: the ModelingHelper shows up in the Applications/AddIns dialog (where Design/Variations and SmartAssembly already are), but the dialog doesn't show the location of the DLL, and the checkmark (once set) doesn't stick. Every time I re-open the AddIns dialog, it's unchecked again. What am I doing wrong? Bernd