CompuServe Messages

James, >>>Hope you've got the full picture now and I would appreciate it if you told me what "GDS" is?<<< Extremely oversimplified history of GDS [Graphic Design System]: Born: Cambridge, England Bought and further developed by McDonnell Douglas here in the U.S. Couple years ago it was purchased by EDS [Don't know if Ross Perot had anything to do with it.] Just a month ago the software was purchased by an entrepreneur/former EDS exec. GDS uses VAX/VMS for an OS but is soon to welcome WindowsNT and I await a trial spin on one of DEC's Alpha PC's which should put the pentium and sparcstations to shame for an excellent price point. The software is becoming very popular in the GIS world but I have only used it for Architectural Design. The price is not right for the client you've profiled and would be like giving a kid trying to learn to ride a bike a lamborghini. The software is better described as a graphic database because of its inherent object based structure. I should think any facilities managers [and european quantity surveyors out there] would worship its ability to store data attached to graphics. There are modules for precision solid modeling and viewing. The modeller is where I have created all of my base geometry for import to 3D Studio. There is another extraordinary module where I put all of my zillions of pieces together called PAM [Parts Assembly Modeller]. I have also created site meshes directly from survey data in a Site Modeller which automates the process for complex terrain. One drawback to this software is that there is no photorealistic renderer. The viewing module offers excellent shades and shadows and even the lighting isn't too bad. Someone dropped the ball in material editing so GDS has always maintained a relationship with Wavefront for such things. GDS makes porting to Wavefront very easy but thats it. Enough about GDS. Now lets talk about MicroGDS [also sold as Wincad]. This is a new 32 bit Cadd package for Windows written by a few of the original Cambridge boys who wrote GDS. I am demo-ing this currently and my first impression is that it packs a lot of the features that GDS offers. Microgds includes attribute data, OLE, solid modeller and also the ability to do walk-throughs. I have not found that it packs anything more than wireline 3D rendering cababilities. Of course this is where 3D Studio comes in. I wish I knew what the price tag was on this software but I'd guess in the $2,000 range. Probably still breaks the budget for your client but MicroGDS has some features that you may be interested in. By the way, I knew not that you were a dealer for AutoCAD and have enjoyed reading your copious messages. I am impressed with your approach to objectively outfit a client with a system tailored to his needs. I suspect that you have many satisfied customers. For whatever its worth – For a guy starting out on his own in architecture [or anyone in architecture for that matter] a rented laptop playing brief and varied animations of past and present projects blows prospective clients away! I have a lot to learn about 3D Studio but its going to win me a few projects. Now about designing the James "What's the 'M' for ?" Murphy memorial animation laboratory, summer villa, corporate campus, stadium, …….. Ciao for now, Bob Ritger – The Hillier Group Architects