Continued from page 2
BS: Synchronous is wonderful technology but it is not apart of Parasolid. They built that on top of the kernel.
AFR: I just have a few more questions but my next one is about multi-threading. We just saw your sister company Graphisoft multi-thread parts of ArchiCAD 12 with great performance results — and yes some of that was also algorithm optimization work too — have you guys considered using a tool like RapidMind so that you can continue to focus on single-threaded development and yet gain the performance benefit that comes from all these wonderful Intel and AMD multi-core chips? The world is increasing going multi-chip and multi-core, how will Vectorworks use this?
BS: That is a very good question. We have looked at the work involved in threading our code base for multi-core processors (ed: note: like Intel Core Due 2). It is not as simple as people think. It involves a lot of potential redundancy and there are some inefficiencies with multi–threading just as people mistake 64-bit computing as being automatically better than 32-bit computing.
AFR: Well…I think that’s the whole argument and beauty of using RapidMind.
BS: We are continuing to research this issue and have not yet chosen a path. For the case of RapidMind it is key that your code base is disciplined and our code goes all the way back to mid 80’s.
AFR: I see. So tools like RapidMind work better on probably younger code bases where there is much higher levels of coding consistencies. This is very technical stuff for most users and readers but I just want to bring this issue to light. So you are looking at multi-threading but are still researching the best path forward?
BS: Yes.
AFR: Last question. Your integration of FileMaker into Landmark is very elegant. It’s beautiful. Why not work with a third-party FileMaker developer to tackle the cost estimation application? That way you don’t have to go out and build cost estimation yourself? Partner?
BS: That could be one way to do it. But we are looking at XML and the types of tools that have been built exchanging data via XML.
AFR: Thank you Biplap Sarkar for talking to me.
BS: You are welcome.
Reader Comments
There are four major geometric modeling kernels in existence for developers to license. Spatial’s ACIS, Siemen’s Parasolid, SMLib and IntegrityWare’s Solids++. Other kernels include Autodesk’s Shape Manager, itself based on ACIS from several years ago, plus PTC’s proprietary kernel in ProEngineer and the proprietary kernel behind ultra-highend MCAD player CATIA.
There are four major geometric modeling kernels in existence for developers to license. Spatial’s ACIS, Siemen’s Parasolid, SMLib and IntegrityWare’s Solids++. Other kernels include Autodesk’s Shape Manager, itself based on ACIS from several years ago, plus PTC’s proprietary kernel in ProEngineer and the proprietary kernel behind ultra-highend MCAD player CATIA.
In the AEC world:
Vectorworks 2009 = Parasolid
AutoCAD = Shaper Manager (ACIS related)
Microstation = Parasolid
ArchiCAD = Unknown (in-house developed?)
Revit = Shaper Manager or proprietary based on earliest version of Revit (it could be ACIS based.
In the lastest ArchiCAD 12 review by Jerry Laiserin at Cadalyst he notes that the ACIS kernel is behind ArchiCAD.
http://aec.cadalyst.com/aec/Review%2C+AEC+Software/ArchiCAD-12-Cadalyst-Labs-Review/ArticleStandard/Article/detail/556437?contextCategoryId=6574
In the lastest ArchiCAD 12 review by Jerry Laiserin at Cadalyst he notes that the ACIS kernel is behind ArchiCAD.
http://aec.cadalyst.com/aec/Review%2C+AEC+Software/ArchiCAD-12-Cadalyst-Labs-Review/ArticleStandard/Article/detail/556437?contextCategoryId=6574
Love the redesign, Anthony. It’s just beautiful … and functional. Kudos to you and your team. Thanks again for your great work, and especially for your recent interview of my colleague, Dr. Sarkar.
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