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Streamspace releases StreamCAD Beta

Friday, September 5, 2008 · 5:47 pm · 23 Comments

Streamspace has released their new cross-platform CAD application, “StreamCAD,” in beta. The app aims to provide an AutoCAD alternative. The focus is on customization, with easy translation to other languages.

New features include:
• Completely editable user interface; all texts and dialogs stored in XML files.
• Dynamic help and wizard system based on HTML files.
• Data stored in XML and DWG/DXF files.
• C++ API supports new commands and custom entities.
• Cross platform; Windows and Mac now, Linux in the future.

A few usage points:
• Right click to exit a command while saving your work.
• Press escape to exit a command and cancelling your work.
• Some commands have clickable options directly from the help (e.g. line/polyline/zoom).
• There are object undo/redo commands that fetches previous states of individual objects.

More info and Beta download links are available here.

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Comment Feed

23 Comments

zek

Friday, September 5, 2008 - 7:33 pm · Reply

So now we can make everything look the same all over the world using macs as well as windows! Excellent!
MizuInOz

Friday, September 5, 2008 - 9:37 pm · Reply

One of the biggest challenges in the current world of machine design is to be able to design on a Mac and then tell your design to run on a CNC machine – it would be wonderful if this application allows me to do that. (CNC machines are usually run by a (cough-chock-urp) WindowsBox (end-cough-chock-urp), so it is difficult to communicate with them. StreamCAD will allow me to design and then save in a file that works on my CNC machine. So I am hoping that this includes Streamspace Solids. We shall see.
SAB

Saturday, September 6, 2008 - 3:07 am · Reply

As someone who is forced to use Winblows regularly to run AutoCAD, I can’t stress enough how much this one area is where Mac-native CAD applications are seriously lacking. AutoCAD is the Microsoft of the CAD world. There are some very good Mac CAD platforms, but not one of them offers .dwg as the native file format. That is what is needed in order to really break make interoperability and file exchange practical for day-to-day use. For those of you who are not CAD users, here’s what I mean.

Imagine that you use iWork Pages every day to perform your word processing, but almost everyone that you work with uses MS Word and that you constantly need to open, edit and exchange documents with these users. Every time that you receive a document you open it (Pages automatically imports and converts Word documents to the .pages file format). You make some changes and hit save. Now you have a Pages document that cannot be read by the other users. Then you export that document to a Word .doc file and send it away to be reviewed and edited by someone else. Now you have two copies of the same revision of a document, but different formats. You have to do this EVERY TIME that you get a document or revision. You have effectively doubled your file storage and management needs and you have added several steps to your workflow! That may not be a big deal for two or three files, but what about 10-20 or more documents every day? Add to all that the fact that the export is not always precise and sometimes far from it, requiring that you examine every export document to ensure that it exported properly.

CAD drawings can be incredibly complex and even small mistakes or omissions can cost enormous amounts of money or, even worse, lives. It is simply not practical to use such an inherently flawed work flow for production.

This is one of the many reasons for the push behind Open Standards. Until someone comes up with a standard CAD file format that is actually adopted by enough people to matter, the situation will not change.

BTW, this is also one of the reasons that Pages will not gain widespread adoption, especially for businesses.
Clive Atton

Saturday, September 6, 2008 - 2:47 pm · Reply

Microstation! That’s what we need re-issued on the Mac. It knocks Autocad into a cocked hat. I use Microstation SE (circa 1998) on a G4/ OS 9.2 and I can still compete with drafting services offering exhibition floorplans drawn using the latest Autocad software. Many of these services are ‘free’ (billed as part of building the exhibition, and I charge a decent hourly rate) Gawd knows how much better Microstation is now ten years later. Come one Bentley, the market is wide-open for a state of the art heavy-weight CAD programme!!
Cubert

Saturday, September 6, 2008 - 3:09 pm · Reply

It seems that their are quite a few CAD programs out there now for the Mac. No AutoCAD, but many others that are respectable.
Raving MacHead

Saturday, September 6, 2008 - 3:39 pm · Reply

NOBODY TOLD ME!!

What a pain in the ass it is to burn a simple cd in Windows XP.

AHHHHHH!!!

Vista has a burn button right on the window now.

XP is so ANCIENT! Vista is better. OS X is just so far advanced…

But Xp pays the bills in this tough economy, only to get worse with the ObamaNation Taxation And Spendnation Plan.

150 Billion Dollars for clean energy my ass, there isn’t any. Our energy usage is higher than what the sun, the source of nearly all energy, is currently producing. We are using the energy that is STORED in OIL and NATURAL GAS over millions of years to fund our current lifestyles.

Send a Democrat to MIT, before electing them!

Read the book: If Democrats had any brains, they would be Republicans. And watch CNBC, they KNOW THE TRUTH!!!

Hail STEVE JOBS!!!
Raving MacHead

Saturday, September 6, 2008 - 3:42 pm · Reply

Our energy usage is higher than what the sun, the source of nearly all energy, is currently producing.

My mistake, what the Sun is currently sending to the square footage of the Earth.

It takes 40 Acears of corn to produce a car tank of ethanol!! Get the picture?

A tank of ethanol is equal to the calorie input of one human for a year at 2000 cal!

Feed a human for a year, or drive a car for a week.

Stupid democrats.
Raving MacHead

Saturday, September 6, 2008 - 3:44 pm · Reply

“Acears”, damm I think I;ll go to bed now.

USING XP MAKES YOU STUPID!!

You have been warned!
@machead

Saturday, September 6, 2008 - 4:56 pm · Reply

Forget to take your Ritalin today?
Brother

Saturday, September 6, 2008 - 5:58 pm · Reply

I tried to download the beta but the page is missing. Where do I get it?
Rich

Saturday, September 6, 2008 - 6:12 pm · Reply

The total solar energy absorbed by Earth’s atmosphere, oceans and land masses is approximately 3,850 zettajoules (ZJ) per year.[9] In 2002, this was more energy in one hour than the world used in one year.[10][11] Photosynthesis captures approximately 3 ZJ per year in biomass.[12] The amount of solar energy reaching the surface of the planet is so vast that in one year it is about twice as much as will ever be obtained from all of the Earth’s non-renewable resources of coal, oil, natural gas, and mined uranium combined.
From Wikipedia
aka Christian

Saturday, September 6, 2008 - 6:18 pm · Reply

@Raving MacHead

Source, please. I think you’re mistaken.

Add Wired.com to your daily feeds and see what you’re missing. The future is not in a few huge corporations providing all of our energy. In the future, we can all use a mix of wind, solar, geothermal, etc. Every house with a south-facing roof in North America can produce energy. And with advances in hydrogen fuel cells and the separation of hydrogen from water, we can get off of coal and oil. Hell, even nuclear is much more a viable option now than it was back in the 70′s. But it will take the political will to get off our knees and stop sucking the big oil to do it. Truthfully, I don’t know if Obama will be able to get us there, but I know full well that McCain won’t.

I agree with your statement about ethanol. Bad idea all around, but it’s not just a democratic idea. States that grow shitloads of corn pushed for it, both democratic and republican. Read more. Babble less. And chill.

The last time the democrats held the white house, government spending shrank, the national debt shrank, and American productivity AND self esteem grew. Maybe it will happen again.

Sorry. I don’t usually respond to political claptrap, but when someone like you who clearly is enveloped in conservative rhetoric 24/7 goes off, and on a thread that is totally a-political, it gets my goat.

I’ll close with this: John McCain is a pretty good guy. I might have voted for him over Gore, who’s a cold, stiff clerk as far as I’m concerned, and was shocked that Bush won his party back in 2000. But his day is over and he’s compromised himself in too many ways since then. Time for the Dems to have a shot.

Thanks for listening. <>rant
Big

Sunday, September 7, 2008 - 8:46 am · Reply

The amount of solar energy reaching the surface of the planet is so vast that in one year it is about twice as much as will ever be obtained from all of the Earth’s non-renewable resources of coal, oil, natural gas, and mined uranium combined.

Perhaps.

How much of that energy is necessary to drive the ecosystem?

And how do we affordably collect that energy? We can’t even supply our population with enough water, from a planet that’s covered with it! For all the high-tech bling, our knowledge and technology are still hopelessly primitive.
LiM

Sunday, September 7, 2008 - 9:15 am · Reply

> 150 Billion Dollars for clean energy my ass, there isn’t any.

I’ll take a 150 Bill hit before a 3 Trill hit on a useless war any time. Unless I own an oil company. Or a paramilitary services company.

In fact, I’ll take a 150 Bill hit on energy to clean your ass rather than a 150 Bill hit that kills or maims anyone. Unless I own a drug company. Or an oil company.
Raving MacHead

Sunday, September 7, 2008 - 9:29 am · Reply

And how do we affordably collect that energy?

Exactly.

And to compete with already concentrated sources of energy I may add.

For all the high-tech bling, our knowledge and technology are still hopelessly primitive.

So is most of the world’s population unfortunatly. We are still killing each other with anything we can get our hands on.

Anyway the US economy is going through what’s called a Post Real Estate Bubble Recession. If you look up the inflation rate charts for the last 20 years, you’ll notice twice before the Fed Reserve drastically lowered the prime interest rate it loans money to banks, the inflation rate dropped dangerously close to 1%. Very close to a deflation. So the Fed had to act to stimulate the economy and gave away cheap money which spurred the real estate bubble and the economy back onto a inflationary trend.

Of course many got carried away and made bad loans and decisions, which now has to be bailed out by the Treasury. Which will result in billions of dollars that has to be made up somehow.

So in my opinion the government will have to raise taxes regardless. Since the Dem’s now control 2/3 of the government with the House and Senate, that’s 2 years of taxes before we can boot them out.

With Obama as president, that gives the Dems a 100% control of the government for 2 years and a BIG Government Socialist agenda for 4 years. With even higher taxes because of all the fruity ideas the Dem’s like to entertain.

The US economy is headed for years of stagflation, the Repub’s are better at attracting investment that creates jobs to bail us out sooner because they are more business minded.

Drill, Drill, Drill.

Not because it won’t drastically lower world oil prices, but provide much needed JOBS and reduce sending billions of dollars to countries that really don’t need it or like us to begin with.

We kicked the terrorists ass, we can begin winding the war down and start making Iraq pay off their war bill with oil we would sell on the open market (because we don’t use their type of oil). We already have taken all their yellowcake, which McCain will use to help build Nuclear power plants here in the US.

Nancy Poloski owns a alternate energy company, the technology isn’t there yet to employ on a massive scale nationally. Obama will just cater to Nancy if elected with his 150 billion dollar handout.

Alternative energy can help suppliment, but not replace oil and natural gas just yet. People are hurting, it’s because of the BAD LENDING DURING THE REAL ESTATE BUBBLE!!!

But we will RECOVER if Obama and the Dems don’t get their way totally. The US population is growing, the housing glut will gradually be reduced and prices will start going up again!! Different areas of the country will take longer to recover than others in the housing market depending upon the JOB AVAILABILITY!!

Coastal areas near prime offshore drilling areas, provided the Dem’s get their head outta their asses, will recover faster!

The war in Iraq was necessary. It was Saddam after all, because terrorism has declined substancially. Saddam DID have weapons of mass destruction, because the US gave Saddam chemical weapons to use against a invasion by Iran , which of course used them on the Kurds. Iran is #2 worlds supply of oil next to Saudia Arabia and has threatened them and the Gulf nations by cutting off the Straits.

Get the picture now clueless Democrats?

When you get the facts, it’s makes better sense than blind hatred.

For instance Vista isn’t such a bad operating system, it’s not nearly as good as OS X. It’s is a lot better than XP though.

But in the Mac universe, the hatred of Vista is obvious as a threat to OS X. But it’s not, because Vista is well behind OS X and will remain so because Microsoft can’t innovate.

Nothing to fear. Move along.
twilightmoon

Sunday, September 7, 2008 - 9:49 am · Reply

1. This thread is about a 3D CAD program.
2. ie. NOT politics.

“Forget to take your Ritalin today?”

3. Making fun of people with mental illnesses doesn’t make you cool, it makes you a jerk.
JadisOne

Sunday, September 7, 2008 - 5:59 pm · Reply

@Brother,

I guess too many people downloaded it and they moved it but didn’t bother to update the link. I can’t find the bugger either.
@twilightmoon

Sunday, September 7, 2008 - 6:26 pm · Reply

Making fun of people with mental illnesses doesn’t make you cool, it makes you a jerk.

It wasn’t making fun, it was an honest question.

And looking at Raving MacHead posts, it needed to be asked.
Jimbo von Winskinheimer

Sunday, September 7, 2008 - 7:26 pm · Reply

No one should worry. You should just pray. That’s what Sarah Palin thinks will solve all of the problems of the world. Just pray. If it’s God’s Will, it will get done. We’re in Iraq because Got sent us there. A new pipeline will be built in Alaska because God wants it done. See, we don’t have free will and we don’t make anything happen, God does. So just pray. Don’t work, don’t think, don’t solve any issues. Just pray. Thank you. No, thank God.
Please.

Sunday, September 7, 2008 - 10:50 pm · Reply

Don’t be ignorant, Jimbo.

This country was founded on Christian values, and will continue to be the religion of the majority whether you like it or not.

Being vocal about condescending doesn’t make you more informed or intelligent than anyone else. It just makes you an asshat.
almux

Monday, September 8, 2008 - 2:55 am · Reply

@Please
Quote:
“Don’t be ignorant, Jimbo.
1)This country was founded on Christian values, and will continue to be the religion of the majority whether you like it or not.
2)Being vocal about condescending doesn’t make you more informed or intelligent than anyone else. 3)It just makes you an asshat.”
My 2 cts:
1) Christiean values are about the worst ever: killing idians and black people because it “wasn’t sure yet they’d had a soul or none”… Going around occupiying lands pretending it’s god given… And all other excuses to “feel god is on OUR side”.. ASO and all mysery and lies religions pump into humanity.
You’d better forget it and have people free of all that brain polution!
2) Condescendental speach is a speciality for priests and believer of all kinds!
3) Think twice before you kick and, over all THINK DIFFERENT!
B.R. and thank you for any evolution!
Henrik Vallgren

Tuesday, September 9, 2008 - 8:57 am · Reply

Re: Native DWG

StreamCAD could handle DWG in different ways:

- Native (as suggested)
- Translated (present)
- Referenced/emulated (not complete)

I could use native DWG but it’s a format defined by a vendor that for a couple of years has incorporated encryption to hide data from its end users. Autodesk itself is distancing itself from the DWG format, trying to get its users to move to new software like Inventor or Revit.

Using DWG would limit my ability to add new programming styles. Basically, I’d have to go back to 12+ year old ARX programming. Such programs are heavily dependent on windows.

What I’m looking at is the referenced/emulated scheme. I load a DWG file and keep it in memory while also creating a native database. I translate parts that are supported by both platforms and insert “reference objects” for the rest. These objects can support simple operations like move/rotate etc. When saving the files, I update objects that where originally in the DWG and add custom graphics for types that isn’t supported by DWG (e.g. parabola).
Document Management Software

Thursday, September 11, 2008 - 12:23 am · Reply

Great review!!!

Really important information. StreamCAD will process document very frequently.

Document Management System is a computing system used to track and store electronic documents and/or images of paper documents. Document Management Software helps people to improve the processing of information.

Best Regards
Document Management Software