Archive for April, 2009

The other day I wrote a post about cheaper alternatives to AutoCad and SolidWorks. Recently, I stumbled on another 3D modelling software but this time, it’s free and best of all, a software by Google by the name of Google SketchUp. See a sample of an image created using the free software by Mrs. Gemstone on the left.

Without hesitating, I downloaded the software and gave it a try and it’s indeed a free 3D modeling software which is really simple to use. There are many 3D modeling features in within Google SkechUp which are comparable to those available in the market such as 3D Studio Max and Blender.

Check out this neat video about Google SketchUp and how easily this guy built himself a dvd rack by utilizing the free software.

Continue Reading »
Google SketchUp – a free 3D modeling software

Does your organization have tons of information which needs to be published to many different parties such as:

Customers Staffs Partners Suppliers Vendors Management

Image by karindalziel

If yes, it is vital and crucial to have an enterprise content management system (ECMS) in place so that the right information / documents can be made available for the right party.

For most organizations, top secret information for internal staffs and management is kept on a separate server while information for vendors and suppliers in another. Effectively maintaining and managing the right data for the right party is crucial for every business. Continue Reading »
JAVA based open source ECMS – Hippo

In Windows Sharepoint Services (WSS), we can create many sites and subsites to organize our content and information.

Recently, I have set up WSS in within the office environment to showcase the various features of Sharepoint. After going through the site, there were some requests by the management to move and restructure some of the existing sites. Image by kjarrett

I basically had to move a site from a subsite to another parent site. For example, I had to create the company name as the main site and move existing department sites which were initially at the top level to be a sub sites of the company site instead. In summary some restructuring and moving around of sites within WSS was required.

So I looked for ways to achieve this and was quite shocked to find out that there isn’t a simple way to move sites around. I initially thought that there was an easy way to move the sites around with some drag and drop capabilities. Realized it’s not as straight forward as I thought. Continue Reading »
How to move a site from one subsite to another in Sharepoint

Recently one of my tasks were to obtain quotes to purchase AutoCAD and Solidworks for a friend’s company whose main business was into machine fabrication.

After contacting several vendors to obtain the respective quotes, I was quite shocked to find out that the pricing for both AutoCAD and Solidworks were quite high.

I got to find out that these software are the starting point to many products all around us. Even the mouse that is right beside us now (screenshot), was initially designed using a CAD software. Most CAD software today is capable of designing 3D models or 2D drawings. But do these software need to cost so much?

If your organization need to create 2D or 3D models but do not have the right budget yet, the following is a list of cheaper alternatives to AutoCAD and SolidWorks. Continue Reading »
List of cheaper alternatives to AutoCAD and SolidWorks