Soft Engine / Vibrant Graphics

[Mark McDonough]

I just got wind of the fact Vibrant Graphics, makers of Soft Engine got
bought out (approx. 1 year ago) by Autodesk. I wondered why there were no
plans by Vibrant Graphics to provide a version for AK2, now I know its
because Autodesk now owns the code. I also wonder why this was not a
publicized buy-out.

For those that have discovered the great utilities in Soft Engine; e.g.
detail window (maginfication of the cursor area), much improved Bird's Eye
window, easy highly configurable mouse-button remapping, on-screen toolboxs,
custom color screen palettes, etc., its going to be tough to live without
Soft Engine (we have a 67-user license, matched to our ADLM AutoCAD
licenses). Seems like Autodesk is leaving us high and dry on this one. :-(

Perhaps they'll build SoftEngline-type features into AutoCAD 2001 (AutoCAD A
Space Odessy).

--
Mark McDonough
mmcdo...@sasaki.com
http://www.sasaki.com

[DDA]

check out an outfit called CadPLUS. you can find them on the web. perhaps
their tools can replace wome of what you lost. we found them to be a
'faster-better-cheaper' solution to our needs. no doubt our situations are
different, but it's worth a call. or try 800-423-8127. (and no, we aren't
on commission. we just like this company.)

Mark McDonough wrote in message <80pkhb$ef...@adesknews2.autodesk.com>...

>For those that have discovered the great utilities in Soft Engine; e.g.
>detail window (maginfication of the cursor area), much improved Bird's Eye
>window, easy highly configurable mouse-button remapping, on-screen
toolboxs,
>custom color screen palettes, etc., its going to be tough to live without
>Soft Engine (we have a 67-user license, matched to our ADLM AutoCAD
>licenses). Seems like Autodesk is leaving us high and dry on this one.
:-(
>

[Reini Urban]

Mark McDonough wrote:
>I just got wind of the fact Vibrant Graphics, makers of Soft Engine got
>bought out (approx. 1 year ago) by Autodesk. I wondered why there were no
>plans by Vibrant Graphics to provide a version for AK2, now I know its
>because Autodesk now owns the code. I also wonder why this was not a
>publicized buy-out.

hmm, strange indeed. we had been succesful resellers for some years and
heard nothing from them.
is this fair business practice?
todays value of software is mostly trust in investment, not actual
features.

>For those that have discovered the great utilities in Soft Engine; e.g.
>detail window (maginfication of the cursor area), much improved Bird's Eye
>window, easy highly configurable mouse-button remapping, on-screen toolboxs,
>custom color screen palettes, etc., its going to be tough to live without
>Soft Engine (we have a 67-user license, matched to our ADLM AutoCAD
>licenses). Seems like Autodesk is leaving us high and dry on this one. :-(

>Perhaps they'll build SoftEngline-type features into AutoCAD 2001 (AutoCAD A
>Space Odessy).

It's already in R2000:
The new Object Tracking and Polar Snap, which is btw much better than
the beta versions of SoftSnap with those running dimensions.

But I miss mouse remapping and the other add-on features as well, they
just took the core features. Maybe Juan Vega can offer an addon with the
new distribution channels someday.
--
Reini Urban
http://xarch.tu-graz.ac.at/autocad/news/faq/autolisp.html