Bricsys Conference Archives

BLADE, Blowing my own horn, BricsCAD, Bricsys, Bricsys Conference, CAD Management, Customisation, Development, DWG, Fun, Interview, LISP, Maintenance, Navel Gazing, Nostalgia, Video

The BLADE video watchlist

By Steve Johnson 19 February 2019, 9:43 pm 19 February 2019 itemprop="discussionURL"0

I did my third and final (for now) BricsCAD Unplugged webcast about BLADE last Wednesday. Here’s the video:

Before I dig into DCL, I start with a brief description of an absolutely brilliant feature that was added to BLADE in V19. If you code in LISP, you’ll love this feature.

Then I move on to some ancient history. Did you know that we can thank the far-sightedness of some slightly renegade Autodesk OS/2 developers in the early 1990s for the dialog boxes we use today? Did you know that you could program dialog boxes for AutoCAD for Mac in 1993 but you can’t today? Can you spot the items of interest in the background?

The rest of the video is dedicated to describing DCL programming and debugging, and I explain how BLADE is the best tool for that job using examples.

If you want to watch all three of the BLADE videos in a row (that’s 1 hour 49 minutes of viewing), Matt Olding has created a YouTube playlist for this series.

It has been an absolute pleasure working with the Bricsys people in putting this series together. Torsten Moses has informed me about yet another bunch of enhancements that are coming very soon to BLADE, so maybe you haven’t heard the last from me on this subject on BricsCAD Unplugged.

BLADE, Blowing my own horn, BricsCAD, Bricsys, Bricsys Conference, CAD Management, Customisation, Development, DWG, Fun, Interview, LISP, Maintenance, Navel Gazing, Nostalgia, Video

Video – who is that masked man?

By Steve Johnson 20 December 2018, 10:39 am 20 December 2018 itemprop="discussionURL"0

Last night I made another guest appearance on the BricsCAD Unplugged webcast series. This time I was discussing the LISP development environment, BLADE. Here’s the video:

Bonus points will be awarded for identifying three items of interest in the background. No, not counting my dog Sunday asleep at lower left.

Despite going way over time, there was still nowhere near enough opportunity to describe the full LISPy awesomeness that BLADE represents. I am therefore scheduled to return for another two or three episodes beginning in February. In those, I’ll be doing more of a step-by-step demonstration rather than the overview and V19 new feature description I did in this episode. If you have any particular requests for what you want covered, please comment on this post.

I also showed how the tools in BLADE (e.g. the (inspector) function) are still worth having for any DWG-based CAD Manager or power user, even if you’re not a full-on LISP programmer. If you have to work out what’s going on with dodgy DWG files, you’ll want to have (inspector) in your set of tools.

The BricsCAD Unplugged webcast broadcasts run on the Bricsys Facebook page and are then quickly transferred to YouTube. This was the last episode for 2018 because of Christmas and New Year.

BLADE, BricsCAD, Bricsys, Bricsys blog, Bricsys Conference, Navel Gazing, Real World BricsCAD, Travel

My Bricsys 2018 – getting there

By Steve Johnson 6 November 2018, 10:13 pm 7 November 2018 itemprop="discussionURL"7

Last month I attended my third annual Bricsys conference. Following on from Munich and Paris, this year’s event was held in London. (For those who remember M’s cheesy hit Pop Musik from 1979, you will notice that Bricsys is holding these events in reverse order, and the next event should therefore be held in New York). Before we get to the conference itself, I should point out that I preceded it by pinging around Europe doing other Bricsys-related things. I had a couple of days in Berlin with BLADE creator Torsten Moses, preparing our upcoming presentation on BricsCAD’s VLIDE-beating IDE. …

Announcement, Bricsys, Bricsys blog, Bricsys Conference, Hexagon, Other Blogs, Other Sites

Other views on the Hexagon/Bricsys acquisition

By Steve Johnson 2 November 2018, 5:09 pm 3 November 2018 itemprop="discussionURL"2

I’ve made a couple of posts on this subject, but so have several others who might have different perspectives. This post is merely an accumulation of links to those other sources. R.K. McSwain, CAD Panacea – Bricsys 2018 Conference – London Jimmy Bergmark, JTB World Blog – Bricsys and BricsCAD now in the big Hexagon family of companies Cyrena Respini-Irwin, Cadalyst – Backed by a New Big Brother, Bricsys Eyes a Bigger Piece of the Pie Paul Wilkinson, Extranet Evolution – Hexagon acquires Bricsys Paul Wilkinson, Extranet Evolution – Hexagon on Bricsys 24/7: “Watch this space” Anthony Frausto-Robledo, architosh – …

Announcement, Bricsys, Bricsys Conference, Hexagon

Hexagon acquiring Bricsys – what does it mean for the future?

By Steve Johnson 1 November 2018, 10:03 pm 2 November 2018 itemprop="discussionURL"13

As reported earlier, Swedish Hexagon AB has acquired Bricsys. It goes without saying that this was the big talking point among everyone at Bricsys 2018. Surprise! This announcement was a big surprise to almost everyone at the conference. Hexagon has been working very closely with Bricsys for nearly two years, so if someone was going to buy Bricsys then Hexagon would have been my first guess, but the fact that it was happening at all came straight out of the blue. Most Bricsys employees in London only found out about the acquisition at a meeting in the hotel on the …

Announcement, Bricsys, Bricsys Conference

Hexagon acquires Bricsys

By Steve Johnson 23 October 2018, 10:49 pm 6 November 2018 itemprop="discussionURL"9

The acquisition of Bricsys by Intergraph-acquirer Hexagon AB was just announced at the Bricsys 2018 conference in London. That means that BricsCAD is part of an organisation with 2017 sales of €3,470 million – significantly larger than Autodesk. This follows on from Hexagon’s previous close relationship with Bricsys that led to its CADWorx series of AutoCAD-based products also being available on the BricsCAD platform. Hexagon Executive VP Rick Allen took the stage to explain his enthusiasm for the BricsCAD product, noting many of the strong points that will be no news to regular readers of this blog. Interestingly, he was …

A & B Tips, BLADE, Blowing my own horn, BricsCAD, Bricsys, Bricsys Conference, Bug, CAD Management, Cadalyst, Customisation, Development, DWG, Fun, Interoperability, Interview, LISP, Maintenance, Navel Gazing, Nostalgia, Video

Video – Steve on BricsCAD Unplugged

By Steve Johnson 13 September 2018, 12:17 pm 13 September 2018 itemprop="discussionURL"0

Following on from Lynn Allen and Robert Green’s guest appearances on the BricsCAD Unplugged webcast a couple of weeks ago, this time it was my turn. Last night (my time) I was the special guest on the episode BricsCAD Unplugged – Steve Johnson 5 surprises moving to BricsCAD. I’m introduced at 2:12 and appear at 3:30. Here’s the full video: In this week’s episode, you’ll witness: Me discussing the five biggest things that pleasantly surprised me about BricsCAD. (I have more than five, but time was limited). Don Strimbu bribing me with drinks containers. An actual printed copy of Cadalyst …

BricsCAD, Bricsys, Bricsys Conference, DWG, Fun, Video

Where on Earth is Lynn Allen going?

By Steve Johnson 30 August 2018, 9:22 pm 30 August 2018 itemprop="discussionURL"5

Well, this is a fun video for CAD geeks. The third in the BricsCAD Unplugged series of weekly webcasts, this one promotes the Bricsys 2018 conference which will be held on 23 and 24 October in London. These live broadcasts run on the Bricsys Facebook page and are then quickly transferred to YouTube. This one is interesting because of the people in it and some interesting news. It features Bricsys regulars Don Strimbu, Heidi Hewett, Vince Aman and Matt Olding, but also a couple of special guests. First on the scene is Robert Green (see 4:57) but the real surprise …

Autodesk, Autodesk University, Bricsys Conference

Is anyone going to Autodesk University this year?

By Steve Johnson 22 June 2018, 1:34 pm 22 June 2018 itemprop="discussionURL"8

No, I don’t mean, “Hey, I’m going to Autodesk University this year, let’s hang out!” I mean, is anyone going to Autodesk University this year? Edit: in this post I am referring to AU2018 in Las Vegas, not any other event. Because I’m seeing lots of people saying they’re not going. People who haven’t missed it for many years. When Robert Green announced his forthcoming non-attendance on Facebook, I was amazed to see so many prominent long-term Autodesk loyalists do likewise. Here are a few comments: OUCH! With all the people I know who won’t be there, AU is going …

Bricsys, Bricsys Conference, CAD Management, Cadalyst, Gallery, Travel, Win, Writing

Rock on, Robert Green!

By Steve Johnson 7 March 2018, 9:24 pm 20 March 2018 itemprop="discussionURL"1

I’d like to offer my congratulations to Robert Green on his landmark of 400 issues of the CAD Manager’s Newsletter. There’s a interview with Robert here.

As a fellow CAD Manager and Cadalyst contributor, I’ve admired Robert’s work for many years. I finally got to meet Robert last year at the Bricsys Conference 2017 in Paris, and it was a pleasure.

Legends on stage – Robert being interviewed by Don Strimbu at Bricsys 2017

Robert, R.K. McSwain and Steve enjoy lunch at the Carrousel du Louvre

No pictures! R.K. McSwain, Nancy Johnson and Robert

Robert rocks out

Some of you will already be aware that Robert is a seriously good guitarist, and he did not disappoint at the after-conference party. I look forward to seeing Robert again, and to reading many more of his insightful articles.

Category: Bricsys Conference