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Design a commercial CAD comparison diagramBRL-CAD
Status: ClosedTime to complete:
72 hrs
Mentors: Sean
New users frequently ask how BRL-CAD compares to other major commercial CAD systems such as CATIA, Unigraphics/NX, Pro/ENGINEER, Solidworks, and AutoCAD. BRL-CAD has many of the same features and it would be very useful to visualize the feature overlap graphically with a diagram.
This task involves identifying core significant features of relevance and describing BRL-CAD along with the various major CAD vendors. The diagram should fit on one page.
References:
- http://brlcad.org/Industry_Diagram.png
- Example feature comparisons (although not a diagram): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_3D_computer_graphics_software
- Additional feature comparisons (also not a diagram): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_CAD_editors_for_CAE
Uploaded Work
| File name/URL | File size | Date submitted | |
|---|---|---|---|
| brlcadComp.pdf | 174.7 KB | January 06 2013 18:40 UTC | |
| conceptDiagrams.zip | 95.7 KB | January 09 2013 02:41 UTC | |
| conceptDiagram1.png | 71.0 KB | January 10 2013 00:16 UTC | |
| finalDiagrams.zip | 222.5 KB | January 11 2013 01:56 UTC |
I would like to work on this task.
This task has been assigned to BrendenD15. You have 72 hours to complete this task, good luck!
Here's what I have so far. If you would would like me to add something, take something away, or whatever just let me know. Once that's all said and done I'll put the other CAD softwares on there and send it in.
The work on this task is ready to be reviewed.
Melange has detected that the deadline has passed and no more work can be submitted. The submitted work should be reviewed.
Brenden, it looks like you could have come up with that diagram in about 10 minutes. Not only are there outright spelling mistakes, the oval representing BRL-CAD makes no sense. It implies we have partial linux support and complete windows support? Attempting to mimic the other diagram may not be the best approach since it involves numerous dimensions of information and is rather precisely organized (took a week to get perfect). You don't need something that complex, but you should be accurate and well thought through. What are you trying to compare, show, describe, explain, diagram?
One of the mentors has sent this task back for more work. Talk to the mentor(s) assigned to this task to satisfy the requirements needed to complete this task, submit your work again and mark the task as complete once you re-submit your work.
The deadline of the task has been extended with 2 days and 0 hours.
I understand what you're saying and I'm developing a new format that could work really well. I also understand your confusion with the BRL-CAD Oval. I didn't mean it to be precise at this point until the comparison points and layout were finalized. I just threw it up there to get an idea of what it would look like and how the format would work. I'm sorry I didn't specify that.
I am curious though, as to what I misspelled. I checked it several times and didn't find anything. My dad didn't see anything as well, nor did my computer.
I've sent two different design concepts for the diagram, both in the .zip file. They both have their pros and cons, however I feel that the second design is a more viable choice. I have laid out all of the details of the second one on the image itself, unfortunatly, I did not leave myself enough room to put a description on the first one so I'll leave a quick explanation in the next comment. Lastly, keep in mind these are both mock-ups. Any information in these diagrams may or may not be correct.
I'll leave the choice up to you.
The basic idea of this diagram is that each circle represents a feature corresponding to a software. The amount each circle is filled in indicates the utilization of that feature in the corresponding software.
Pros:
Cons:
The work on this task is ready to be reviewed.
Brenden, I like the new diagram concept. I'm not sure I understand the second one, but the basic idea of filling in the circle in a feature matrix works. Your diagram makes me think that the best angle for the diagram is to focus on portability.
Itemize every operating system you can find and major versions where relevant (e.g., Windows 7, 8, XP, FreeBSD, Haiku, ..., etc). You welcome to fill it out the matrix, but you don't have to. You should at least have it all set up to be filled in regardless.
What is a primative? ;)
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I sent the first diagram with the changes you requested. I sent it as a .png file, but I can send it in a different format if you would like.
The deadline of the task has been extended with 1 days and 0 hours.
It's better to review as a png, but would be great to have in an editable format (ideally xls or similar gridded format, maybe psd) so we can easily add more columns. I noticed in this latest version that the circles aren't lined up perfectly (uneven separation), the italicized font is difficult to read, and the title is uninformative (and poor readability to abbreviate).
One of the mentors has sent this task back for more work. Talk to the mentor(s) assigned to this task to satisfy the requirements needed to complete this task, submit your work again and mark the task as complete once you re-submit your work.
I kind of expected to see more operating systems too... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operating_system lists many that would be good to include (iOS, Android, OpenBSD, NetBSD, HP-UX, AIX, ...)
Grouping them like this table would be better too: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_operating_systems#Web_clients
After this task, I think you just need one more and you'll get the free t-shirt prize from Google!
What program would I need to use to export in one of those formats? I have MS Paint (which I've used thus far) and GIMP. The only reason I haven't used GIMP is because I just got it a few days ago and didn't want to spend half of my time figuring it out instead of working.
I would prefer it be a free program, also. Since I just spent the last of my money getting a can of compressed air to clean my laptop so that it would quit sounding like it was going to blow up when I pulled up Chrome. It's still a plenty good enough computer for a task like this, I just haven't cleaned it since it was new (about 3 1/2 years ago).
The text and presentation program have simple vector-graphic functions. To create a PNG you could make screen-shots (simple) or print via ghostscript (hard to set up but simple if you did it once). But creating a PDF is ok too.
I'm sending in the copies with the changes you suggested. However, I don't have the ability to produce the image in the file formats you suggested since the closest thing I have to professional photo editing software is Microsoft Paint. I was able to save to PNG and edit it later the whole time, but I understand why you want a ready to edit format. If it makes any difference I'm including a Bitmap of the image, too.
If it's absolutely neccessary I can get better software that uses those formats, and make more precise adjustments to the image elements.
P.S. I added about 7 more OS's to the diagram.
The work on this task is ready to be reviewed.
Unfortunatly, I probably won't get that last task in. My Windows 8 Release Preview license expires Tuesday, and the only time I have before then to back up all of my files and install Windows 7 is this weekend. Too bad they won't just let me keep it for free like Linux.;-)
Congratulations, this task has been completed successfully.
GCI ends on Sunday, so you should have time to do both, no? :) Tasks are estimated to only take about 2 hours, especially if you pick the right task that you're rather familiar with.
Probably, I would have to find another task quickly, but I can probably get one more done.
Given you're on Windows, this one is pretty easy: http://www.google-melange.com/gci/task/view/google/gci2012/8082205
The follow-on is really easy too: http://www.google-melange.com/gci/task/view/google/gci2012/8137202