SonomaProducts.com wrote:
Welcome to the world of paramentric design.

In my real job I am in the 3D CAD business. Parametric design was a
revolution for this industry 20 years ago. With complete parametrics
you can embed an amazing amount of intelligence into one base design.
They can be linked to spreadsheets, can hide and multiple parts and
features, matain ratios or more complex rules, nest one design inside
anothjer and drive changes up through the design; very cool stuff.

This was initially only available in the $20-$50k type software. The
second revolution was the "desktop" or "mid-range" solid modelers in
the $2-$8k proce range. Now I guess R3 is in Sketchup. Too cool.

I think pretty soon the $2-$8k guys are going to have a hard time
seeling their stuff when their only real differentiation is being
harder to use. ;^)

Methinks SketchUp may have a ways to go yet.

I discovered an interesting "feature" this morning and will post to
abpw. It doesn't like to make a hole through material that already has a
hole in it.

--
Morris Dovey
DeSoto Solar
DeSoto, Iowa USA
http://www.iedu.com/DeSoto/