* AfterCAD Insite CAD Viewer
I’m amazed not only by how fast business processes have moved onto the Internet, but by how reliant on the ‘Net those processes have become. What got me thinking about this was today’s focus: AfterCAD Insite CAD Viewer from AfterCAD Software.
In engineering of any kind you have to make drawings, and getting these to the client quickly can make or break a business deal. We used to use blueprints and couriers, but with the advent of the ‘Net digital transfers of drawings as files started to become commonplace.
Of course, some of the file formats used resulted in transfers of tens or even hundreds of megabytes which caused all sorts of problems in their own right. These files were too big for e-mail so the client needed to use FTP to get them, and if they had a slow connection it would take forever and they needed to have either the same CAD package you used or a viewer of that format and … well, there were lots of things to slow down the transfer and make it difficult. That said it was still better than the old blueprint and courier method, just not a lot better.
AfterCAD is a huge step forward in simplifying the process. Rather than transferring the data, Insite CAD Viewer renders 2D AutoCAD or Microstation documents in your browser using AJAX. Here’s the big advantages of Insite CAD Viewer: It is compatible with Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox on both Windows and Linux platforms, and the Insite CAD Viewer requires no downloads or plugins to work.
Insite CAD Viewer allows you to zoom, pan, add comments, draw lines and shapes, and select which layers to view. For a displayed document you can also print, get the link to it, and e-mail the link using your local e-mail client. See the demo display of a house plan that demonstrates all of these features along with other demos on that same page that show 3D rendering and maps.
Insite CAD Viewer can handle documents in DWG, DXF, and DWF as well as TIFF, PNG, and JPG images and DGN formatted document support is also planned. The server side of Insite, written in ASP, works on Windows with ISS and a version for Linux running Apache will be available. There’s also an API for customization.
Making documents available for Web viewing simply requires uploading the document to the Insite server using the server’s Web interface. The server converts them into JPEG tiles for each zoom level and each layer (think Google maps) and then creates the displayed image on demand by the Insite CAD viewer. The result is excellent browser-side performance.
The Insite server is priced at $1,995 per server, and maintenance subscriptions are also available. Each server license allows for up to 50 concurrent users, and 50 additional concurrent users can be purchased for $995.
I’m really impressed with this company. Their Insite system works incredibly well and is very flexible, and if anything it is remarkably cheap for what it delivers as compared to similar presentation products particularly in the GIS market.
The company is currently in beta test with a 3D presentation solution that uses pure AJAX wrapped in a Flash frame, but still avoids using anything additional such as ActiveX controls or Java applets. They are currently using MySpace as a testing ground (you can get a sneak peak here) and they are at pains to point out that the technology is in beta and therefore it is subject to downtime.
