The future of Volo View, does it have one?

[Prototype]

Ok, I've been going thru the AutoDesk forums for any useful info. Well I came to some info, but bad to me. It seems that I've been reading a few post that Volo View wont be supported any more with IV9, is this thru? Then what viewer is there for Inventor files?

Maybe I'm getting out of hand here, but since many of my co-workers rely on VVE & VV3 to see idw & ipt/iam files, this news is not welcomed. I want to make sure that what I'm hearing is true before I come up with this info to management and IT dept. I see that AutoDesk is making way with their AutoDesk DWF Composer, but it won’t support native idw/ipt/iam files, only dwf (don't trust). Any one care to shed some light on this?

Each time I see stuff like this from AutoDesk they are turning me off, it seems like they turn their backs on all their users and force them to use only what they want.

[Anonymous]

Autodesk is getting out of the various file formats viewer business and sticking only with DWF format as the preferred 'exchange' file format. What they do with it we will find out soon from them, until then, it's just a total waste of time to discuss really since those in the know can't say anything. Just wait like the rest of us and see what shakes out. -- Dean Saadallah Add-on products for LT http://www.pendean.com/lt --

[Anonymous]

Autodesk is having trouble keeping Volo View as the one viewer that views all of their formats. Whether you like that or not - it's true. With the addition of Inventor support, the size of Volo View exceeds that of AutoCAD. Autodesk has twice as much work to do to keep Volo up to date. They update the original application, in this case AutoCAD or Inventor, and then have to turn around and try and re-invent the wheel and make viewing and markup work in Volo. So it's twice as much work. Anytime the original application and Volo differ - even by only a little bit, a customer logs a bug. Look in this newsgroup regarding postings on application-specific features like wipeouts or diesel strings. They don't work in Volo just like AutoCAD. Then there's the time delay. Inventor is updated. There is a lag between when Inventor is available and Volo is available. People with the new Inventor lament the unavailability of the corresponding Volo. Having read this paragraph - tell me - who is happy? No one. So rather than have one viewer product have all of the complexities of all its products, Autodesk went the other way. People who want to share DWG files buy AutoCAD. People who want to share IDW files buy Inventor. Each product handles the complexities of its market. For Autodesk, there is one product to maintain per market. For people who want to share CAD data with others who cannot afford or do not need to buy the authoring application, there are cheaper alternatives. Viewing is free. Just download the DWF Viewer. Markup is inexpensive. Just purchase the $99 DWF Composer. These products are DWF centric and do not have the baggage of DWG or IDW. The down side is that customers like you have to generate the DWF files and keep them in sync with the original DWG or IDW files. This is almost impossible to do manually. So you can take the money that you would have spent on buying Volo View and use that to automate your processes to generate DWFs. You can use some home grown process if you like. On the other hand, Autodesk sells a Vault product that will generate DWF files based on original CAD data. If I were you, I would report to my top management that Autodesk will probably support Volo View for another year. After that we had better have a strategy in place to generate DWF files and distribute them to users who have the DWF Viewer or DWF Composer. You may consider the news unwelcome, but it is happening. Just my opinion as an outside observer... Whether you print a DWG, IDW, or DWF - it's all just paper and toner to us (Océ). "Prototype" wrote in message news:17945933.1085418139483.JavaMail.jive@jiveforum2.autodesk.com... > Ok, I've been going thru the AutoDesk forums for any useful info. Well I came to some info, but bad to me. It seems that I've been reading a few post that Volo View wont be supported any more with IV9, is this thru? Then what viewer is there for Inventor files? > > Maybe I'm getting out of hand here, but since many of my co-workers rely on VVE & VV3 to see idw & ipt/iam files, this news is not welcomed. I want to make sure that what I'm hearing is true before I come up with this info to management and IT dept. I see that AutoDesk is making way with their AutoDesk DWF Composer, but it won't support native idw/ipt/iam files, only dwf (don't trust). Any one care to shed some light on this? > > Each time I see stuff like this from AutoDesk they are turning me off, it seems like they turn their backs on all their users and force them to use only what they want.

[Anonymous]

You make some good points Scott. I would like to address some additional issues that I think warrant the need for an application like VoloView. I find the DWF format to be a burden. Yes it is handy when you want to send a file to a non-cad user, or to publish drawing sets online. But for in house purposes it is practically unusable. The time it takes to generate a DWF is one factor. I often have aerial photos as backgrounds in my drawings and the time it takes to create a DWF with a photo is horrendous. Also the files are huge-20 MB is not uncommon in this instance..far larger than the CAD file. As you point out, keeping DWF files up to date is an issue, but there is also the issue of file storage. Do we want to have 2 sets of data for all our drawings? Definitely not! This requires storage space for DWF's and DWG's, and DWF's can be very large as I mentioned. The design community needs to access CAD files in native format without question. If Autodesk is not going to support DWG viewers, then someone has a great opportunity, if they want to chase Autodesk's strategy of new versions every year. Frankly I am irritated at the way things are heading. Technology is advancing at a pace that is counter productive. I don't know what strategies to implement anymore because by next year they are no longer valid! "Scott Sheppard" wrote in message news:40b266fd$1_2@newsprd01... > Autodesk is having trouble keeping Volo View as the one viewer that views > all of their formats. Whether you like that or not - it's true. With the >

[Anonymous]

You are correct that if someone else wants to develop and sell a DWG viewer, then there is an opportunity. You are also correct that this company would have to chase Autodesk's strategy of new DWG versions every year; however, it tells you something if Autodesk doesn't want to chase Autodesk's strategy of a new version every year. The intelligent objects in AutoCAD and other products are just too hard to deal with outside of their original applications. In terms of disk space, a DWF is no different than a plot file. No one complains that they can't just send DWGs to the plotter. They have to turn them into HPGL, PostScript, or something else first. Some people archive PLT files. Some people don't. Here at Océ we use LDF files. Reprographers keep them on Océ Plan Center, so plots can be reordered later - or by someone else. So treat DWF files that way. Have the Vault product generate them, send them where they need to go, and then delete them. In the same way people unroll an E-size plot and ask questions about what they see, people can do the same with DWF. In the same way that a hardcopy may be out of date compared to the original data used to create it, so too could a DWF. If you have users who need to collaborate, you can stick with DWG. Just be prepared to use AutoCAD itself instead of Volo View. The DWF train is rolling... "Neil W" wrote in message news:40b36638$1_2@newsprd01... > You make some good points Scott. I would like to address some additional > issues that I think warrant the need for an application like VoloView. > > I find the DWF format to be a burden. Yes it is handy when you want to send > a file to a non-cad user, or to publish drawing sets online. But for in > house purposes it is practically unusable. The time it takes to generate a > DWF is one factor. I often have aerial photos as backgrounds in my drawings > and the time it takes to create a DWF with a photo is horrendous. Also the > files are huge-20 MB is not uncommon in this instance..far larger than the > CAD file. > > As you point out, keeping DWF files up to date is an issue, but there is > also the issue of file storage. Do we want to have 2 sets of data for all > our drawings? Definitely not! This requires storage space for DWF's and > DWG's, and DWF's can be very large as I mentioned. > > The design community needs to access CAD files in native format without > question. If Autodesk is not going to support DWG viewers, then someone has > a great opportunity, if they want to chase Autodesk's strategy of new > versions every year. > > Frankly I am irritated at the way things are heading. Technology is > advancing at a pace that is counter productive. I don't know what strategies > to implement anymore because by next year they are no longer valid!

[SteveChestnut]

I enjoy reading some of the posts in this discussion group. I'm learning a lot about Autodesk, some of it is a little disappointing. I see that Autodesk employees are real quick to correct you if you get out of line on this board but the majority of real useful, helpful posts come from non Autodesk people. I'm in the middle of my own dilemma now between Volo View 3 and DWF Composer. We've been using Volo View Express for our engineering types to view and plot vendor drawings. Now with 2004 .DWG files coming in we have to do something. You can read the info on Autodesk's web pages about these products, but maybe I'm a dummy, I still don't see answers to my questions. It just totally blows my mind that there is no way for me to ask my questions directly to Autodesk about these products.

I've been trying to get a sample copy of DWF Composer to no avail. I really have a problem buying a bunch of copies of something and not even getting to try it first. I made this comment on another post and someone suggested I look at the demo on the web page. The demo is very pretty and has nice pictures and graphics. It also tells me how wonderful DWF Composer is and how the world will be a better place after I buy it BUT I really would like to sit down and use it for a few minutes before I OK buying it. I guess I'm old fashioned. I've been in CAD since 1982 and have worked with many other vendors. I've always assumed that since AutoCAD was number 1 they must really be on the ball. It seems like they look for ways to keep their customers at a distance. That's this old timers opinion.

Steve

[Anonymous]

I don't have any problem with PLOT files or DWF as an option for storing CAD files. They certainly have their merits. However, up until now we have had the ability to view CAD files in native format using a relatively inexpensive viewer. As it now seems apparent, we will no long have that ability. Unless someone else develops a capable DWG viewer, we will be forced to use DWF or Plot files, or buy several seats of Autocad to use as viewers, which is far from practical. "Scott Sheppard" wrote in message news:40b371c0$1_2@newsprd01... > You are correct that if someone else wants to develop and sell a DWG viewer, > then there is an opportunity. You are also correct that this company would > have to chase Autodesk's strategy of new DWG versions every year; however, > it tells you something if Autodesk doesn't want to chase Autodesk's strategy > of a new version every year. The intelligent objects in AutoCAD and other > products are just too hard to deal with outside of their original > applications. >

[Anonymous]

You have to recall that Autodesk has a dealer channel. Customers talk to dealers and dealers talk to Autodesk. My guess is that your dealer has a copy of DWF Composer that you can play with on his machine. "Steve Chestnut" wrote in message news:14737984.1085507655780.JavaMail.jive@jiveforum2.autodesk.com... > I enjoy reading some of the posts in this discussion group. I'm learning a lot about Autodesk, some of it is a little disappointing. I see that Autodesk employees are real quick to correct you if you get out of line on this board but the majority of real useful, helpful posts come from non Autodesk people. I'm in the middle of my own dilemma now between Volo View 3 and DWF Composer. We've been using Volo View Express for our engineering types to view and plot vendor drawings. Now with 2004 .DWG files coming in we have to do something. You can read the info on Autodesk's web pages about these products, but maybe I'm a dummy, I still don't see answers to my questions. It just totally blows my mind that there is no way for me to ask my questions directly to Autodesk about these products. > > I've been trying to get a sample copy of DWF Composer to no avail. I really have a problem buying a bunch of copies of something and not even getting to try it first. I made this comment on another post and someone suggested I look at the demo on the web page. The demo is very pretty and has nice pictures and graphics. It also tells me how wonderful DWF Composer is and how the world will be a better place after I buy it BUT I really would like to sit down and use it for a few minutes before I OK buying it. I guess I'm old fashioned. I've been in CAD since 1982 and have worked with many other vendors. I've always assumed that since AutoCAD was number 1 they must really be on the ball. It seems like they look for ways to keep their customers at a distance. That's this old timers opinion. > > Steve

[SteveChestnut]

Neil,

You may want to look at CAD Viewer 4.0. It does a nice job of viewing and plotting all .DWG files. It also has a nifty save as .PDF option. I played with it and like it. If it wasn't for some of my people wanting to redline, I'd be buying copies of CAD View 4.0 right now.

www.guthcad.com

Steve

[Anonymous]

Thank you for the tip. I'll take a look at it. There are other viewers out there as well. The ones I've tried were freebies and lacked support for certain drawings. As VoloView phases out we'll be looking closer. "Steve Chestnut" wrote in message news:21020467.1085573192793.JavaMail.jive@jiveforum1.autodesk.com... > Neil, > > You may want to look at CAD Viewer 4.0. It does a nice job of viewing and plotting all .DWG files. It also has a nifty save as .PDF option. I played with it and like it. If it wasn't for some of my people wanting to redline, I'd be buying copies of CAD View 4.0 right now. > > www.guthcad.com > > Steve

[SteveChestnut]

Scott,

I am going through a dealer. Not much interest from them in helping me. They don't know if they can let me see the product before I commit to buying. I've been waiting on a decision from them. I'm really disappointed. I'm glad to hear you have a good dealer though.

Steve

[Anonymous]

As a Volo View owner, you can get the product for $49. You might as well buy one copy, try it, and then see if you want to buy more. "Steve Chestnut" wrote in message news:23559473.1085578966989.JavaMail.jive@jiveforum1.autodesk.com... > Scott, > > I am going through a dealer. Not much interest from them in helping me. They don't know if they can let me see the product before I commit to buying. I've been waiting on a decision from them. I'm really disappointed. I'm glad to hear you have a good dealer though. > > Steve

[SteveChestnut]

No offense Scott, but no.
I should be able to see what I'm buying before I buy it. I do not want to buy one copy and then maybe more later. It costs a lot more than the $49 for me to get a purchase through my company's system.

I see no reason why I should not be able to make an informed decision and purchase the number of copies I need as one purchase. I appreciate your advice though. You notice you see no one from Autodesk stepping up here and offering assistance. I'm not going to steal anything from anyone, I just want to see the product work before I buy it. I don't think I'm out of line. Other vendors would see this as an easy problem to solve.

[Anonymous]

Steve, I use CadViewer V3.2 and it allows me to redline just fine. Al "Steve Chestnut" wrote in message news:21020467.1085573192793.JavaMail.jive@jiveforum1.autodesk.com... > Neil, > > You may want to look at CAD Viewer 4.0. It does a nice job of viewing and plotting all .DWG files. It also has a nifty save as .PDF option. I played with it and like it. If it wasn't for some of my people wanting to redline, I'd be buying copies of CAD View 4.0 right now. > > www.guthcad.com > > Steve

[SteveChestnut]

Thanks Al,
I don't see any redline options in the 4.0 demo I downloaded.
I'm going to contact guthcad for more info. This product may be what I want afterall. Thanks again.

[SteveChestnut]

Al,
I took another look at CAD Viewer 4.0 - no redline options.
I downloaded and looked at CAD Viewer 3.2 - no redline options.
It can do slight text editing. Is this what you're referring to when you say you can redline?

If you don't mind, where are the redlining commands? What type of file do you output your redlines into? If you're right and I'm wrong and this thing really redlines then that would be wonderful. But I'm sorry, I don't see any redline options or any redline info in the help files, other than the text touch-up commands. I appreciate your help
Thank you,
Steve

[Anonymous]

You might want to look at Oasys Document manger. It is free and will allow you to view multiple CAD, Spreadsheet, Word Processing, Text, and image file formats, including DGN and DWG. It also has redlining and measuring tools. I use it as a file previewer. It is a very versatile tool and the price is unbeatable. It is not yet supporting 2004 DWG, but they say it is forthcoming. The only drawback is that is doesn't support multiple layouts or layer control. You can find it at the following link: http://www.oasys-software.com/ "Steve Chestnut" wrote in message news:21397702.1085596023618.JavaMail.jive@jiveforum2.autodesk.com... > Al, > I took another look at CAD Viewer 4.0 - no redline options. > I downloaded and looked at CAD Viewer 3.2 - no redline options. > It can do slight text editing. Is this what you're referring to when you say you can redline? > > If you don't mind, where are the redlining commands? What type of file do you output your redlines into? If you're right and I'm wrong and this thing really redlines then that would be wonderful. But I'm sorry, I don't see any redline options or any redline info in the help files, other than the text touch-up commands. I appreciate your help > Thank you, > Steve

[Anonymous]

I should point out that the Pro version does support ACAD 2004 ,layouts and layers. You might want to look at the feature list for the Pro version. Here is a more direct link to the File Managemant System. It is called Columbus. http://www.oasys-software.com/product/dm/columbus/

[SteveChestnut]

Al,

I just heard back from the author of CAD Viewer. He says the product doesn't redline. Here's his quote.........................

Hi Steve,

re. > A fellow on one of the AutoCAD discussion groups says that he uses CAD Viewer 3.2 and can redline.

The current software does not have red-lining/markup as such. It is planned for a future version. The software does have 'Text Touchup'. If used creatively it is possible to add notes to the drawing, which I guess may be construed as partial markup. But it is really not its purpose (the purpose is make minor corrections / or insert additional text prior to printing.)

The proper redline/markup has been high on our request list for quite a while now. I hope that we will have it in the not too distant future!

best regards,
Paul Guthrie

.........................Oh well. You had me hopeful for a little while. I'll keep looking.

[SteveChestnut]

Hey Neil,

Thanks for the link. I'll check it out.

Take care,
Steve