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 From the CAD Supply Corner 
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VectorWorks 12 to Support Apple’s Intel Macintosh Computers
Columbia, Maryland (December 20, 2005) - Nemetschek North America announced today that its VectorWorks 12 line of software products will support Apple Intel Macintosh computers. Existing VectorWorks 12 users will receive this new support without additional upgrade fees.
"Nemetschek North America has been working closely with Apple and our other technology partners to create a native Intel version of VectorWorks for Mac OS X," states Paul Pharr, Nemetschek North America’s chief technology officer. "Apple's Intel plans open up new possibilities for fast and affordable hardware to run their industry-leading operating system, so we understand the keen interest in the Mac community regarding Intel Macs. As the makers of the best-selling CAD program for the Mac, we want to assure our many users we are committed to providing an Intel-native VectorWorks 12 application for Mac OS X."
Nemetschek North America is a wholly-owned subsidiary of European software giant Nemetschek AG. A global leader in design technologies, Nemetschek N.A. has been developing CAD software for the AEC, entertainment, landscape design, and manufacturing fields since 1985. VectorWorks, its flagship product, is one of the world's best-selling cross-platform CAD applications. It is available in more than 85 countries and is translated into eight languages. An all-in-one solution that's easier to learn and use and more cost-effective than most other CAD programs, VectorWorks is ideal for firms that don't have unlimited IT budgets. For more information, visit www.nemetschek.net.
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New Year's Resolutions
First, some old business -- we have just finished passing out the calendars. I know -- just a touch late -- but come on, we printed almost 1200 this year! We have already received some early bird entries for the famous person contest -- you still have time to get in on the Cool River Dinner.
With the new year we are putting our plans together. We have several areas we plan to strengthen and a couple of new ones we are thinking of trying.
Due to the huge demand for color management we are getting more people trained in color profiling. We hope to have our service technicians able to help out with the increase in workload.
Since HP has jumped into the solvent arena with the purchase of Sci-Tex and an exclusive agreement to distribute Seiko, we are going to try our hand with solvent machines. With luck we will start to service some of the other solvent machines as well. Please let me know if you have a solvent machine and would like us to pursue service for it.
Please read my article/plea regarding the scanning service. I need your input to determine whether or not there is a true need ... or if I am just delusional. I need your input/encouragement to give it a try.
That should last us through 2006 -- now let's get back to work!
J Christopher Epstein
President
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Scanning -- is it a good idea?
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During my attempt to sell our new line of scanners, I think I have uncovered a need in town. Many firms have a ton of legacy prints from the old drafting days taking up space in their file room. Hardly a surprise there. Most companies would love to archive those plans in a safer/cheaper manner, but few are willing to commit to spending $12,000 on a scanner.
My initial plan would be to bring our in-house Colortrac Scanner out to clients location. Our trained personnel would then scan and archive the originals. We could provide DVD or hard drives full of originals. We would handle everything from start to finish. The plan would be to make is a painless, turnkey operation.
The advantage would be to finally get rid of those old paper prints (trust me, it pains me to even suggest this). The plans could be moved off-site or (gasp) destroyed. The electronic file would live on in a more usable format.
I believe that quite a few people would be willing to have us scan-to-file their prints. However, I would like some encouragement before I invest huge sums of money to determine if this is indeed a viable plan.
Please email me at if this might be a consideration for your company.
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The Keys to the Kingdom
Many years ago now when I built my first backyard swimming pool, I was determined that my pool was never going to be like every other pool I had ever been in. My pool was going to be sparkling clear. It was never going to burn anyone's eyes nor reek of chlorine.
Every morning I went out with my little test kit and made sure those chemical levels were just perfect. And of course I made sure the chlorine level never got high because my pool was never going to burn anyone's eyes nor reek of chlorine.
I did all that, and the water was never sparkling blue; it always had just a slight green cast to it ... and it always burned everyone's eyes ... and it reeked of chlorine.
And that went on for quite awhile until I read somewhere that what people thought was the smell of chlorine in a swimming pool was actually the smell of chloramines. Of course it's also chloramines that burn your eyes and turn your water to sparking green. And how do you break up chloramines? You add chlorine.
So ever since that day when I tossed about half a bucket of shock into the pool and it instantly turned crystal blue and quit all of its reeking and burning. Whenever anyone's told me they were buying a pool or asked me anything about pools, I've always draped an arm over their shoulder and looked all sage and said, "here's all you need to know about swimming pools: Chlorine is your friend."
So what's all that got to do with the keys to the color kingdom? Well it's instructive that sometimes things aren't what they seem, and sometimes the counterintuitive answer is the correct answer.
When you're looking at an image that has any kind of coloring agent on any kind of substrate, what you're seeing is the light reflecting either off the coloring agent completely, or off the coloring agent to some degree and the substrate to some degree.
And that's the key. Because what that means is that any place you see an imperfection in the image -- be it ghosting in a litho-printed piece or banding in an inkjet-printed image or even streaks in paint -- what your eyes are actually seeing is not the actual imperfection, but the substrate showing through the imperfection.
And while it may not be possible given the medium to make the imperfection go away, you can make it appear to go away by covering the substrate enough with ink that even though the imperfection still exists, you can't see the substrate through it.
Bottom line? Keys to the kingdom? Ink is your friend.
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