ARRIS Technology Survey

ARRIS Technology Survey

As part of our planning for ARRIS / BuildersCAD 8.1 and beyond, we would like to know about how you use ARRIS / BuildersCAD, and what things you would like to see added to, fixed, or improved in the software over the next 12 to 18 months.

Please take a moment to complete this survey and return it to us. If you have the survey in MS Word .doc format, or .ez format, the document may be attached to an e-mail and returned to . Otherwise please print and mail to:

Sigma Design

5521 Jackson St.

Alexandria, LA 71303

Thank You,

Sigma Design Development Group

ARRIS Versions and Operating Systems

Current ARRIS CAD Version

ARRIS 8.0...... # seats:______

ARRIS 2001 (version 7.1)...... # seats:______

ARRIS 7.0 version: _____ ...... # seats:______

Other ARRIS version: ______..# seats:______

Operating System

Please indicate how many seats of ARRIS you run on each of the following platforms

Windows

Windows 2003 Server...... # seats:______

Windows XP...... # seats:______

Windows 2000 or ME...... # seats:______

Windows 98...... # seats:______

Windows 95...... # seats:______

Other: ______.....# seats:______

If you have Windows 98 or prior versions of Windows, would it be difficult for you to upgrade them if future versions of ARRIS required Windows 2000 or Windows XP? ______

SUN

Sun Solaris Version: ______.....# seats:______

Other SUN Version: ______.....# seats:______

SGI

SGI Version: ______.....# seats:______

Other: ______

Version: ______...... # seats:______

New Features for ARRIS

For each of the following, please indicate your level of interest from 1 to 5

Don’t bother adding this feature – work on other things instead.
OK if others need it – but I don’t really have any use for it
OK – but I can get along without it.
Somewhat Important: This feature would be valuable for me
Extremely Important: ARRIS needs this feature to remain productive.

(Some of these were taken from the ARRIS list server and ideas submitted from users. I apologize in advance if some of the items mentioned below are already included in ARRIS.)

High Color Rendering: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

Will render 3D models using all 16 million colors instead of just 256. Will use 96 different shadable colors.
Proposed for ARRIS 8.1 for Windows and ARRIS 8.2 for UNIX.

Comments: ______

______

High Color Bitmap Support: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

Bitmaps stored in drawing will display and plot using their full original colors and appearance. .
Proposed for ARRIS 8.1 for Windows and ARRIS 8.2 for UNIX.

Comments: ______

______

Raster Background: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

Will allow you to draw on top of a scanned image which is registered to the ARRIS drawing. The raster background can be turned on and off, and included or ignored in the plot.
Proposed for ARRIS 8.1 for Windows and ARRIS 8.2 for UNIX..

Comments: ______

______

Windows dialog boxes for pop-up and screen menus: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

Will load menus which obscure the drawing area into Windows Dialog Boxes which can be dragged and moved.

Comments: ______

______

PDF Output – Integrated into ARRIS : ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

Direct PDF creation from ARRIS – without needing to acquire or install PDF print drivers.
Will support multi-page and batch creation of PDF files.

Comments: ______

______

Site Plan and Contour Map Improvements: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

Create new site application combining ARICAD Topographer and ARRIS Site.

Comments: ______

______

Improve Details Package: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

Make a stronger and better details package.

Comments: ______

______

Excel Documents in ARRIS: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

Find a way to import, display and plot Excel Spreadsheets in ARRIS.

Similar logic may be able to embed Word documents, PDF files, etc.

Comments: ______

______

Long File names: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

Allow longer files name for files imported into ARRIS.

Comments: ______

______

Long RI Names: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

Longer names for repeated items.

Comments: ______

______

Long Layer Names: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

Longer names for ARRIS layers.

Comments: ______

______

Textures in ARRIS rendering: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

Will assign textures and materials to surfaces in ARRIS and render the objects with textures.

Comments: ______

______

Point Lights in ARRIS rendering: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

Point lights with shadows create a realistic look on walls, in work areas, etc.

Comments: ______

______

Reflection in ARRIS rendering: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

Floor shininess and surface reflection will make a model much more realistic.

Comments: ______

______

Interface to LightWorks or another 3rd party high-end renderer: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

With the difficulty of obtaining Lightscape support, do we need a new third party high-end rendering solution?

Comments: ______

______

Attribute RIs: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

A better system for placing attributes on RI’s, viewing and reporting on them, exporting to Word or Excel, etc.

Comments: ______

______

Ability to store RI Attributes in an excel database: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

By associating a row in an excel database with each RI, you can easily use the data for reports and in other applications.

Comments: ______

______

Better interface to EZ: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

Load ARRIS drawings directly into EX without having the export the from ARRIS into a different format.

Add layers to converted EX drawings so you can turn them on and off easily from within EZ.

Comments: ______

______

Better interface to Sketch-UP: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

Put a button in ARRIS to automatically load Sketch-up drawings without having to export them from Sketch-up into a different format.

Put a button in Sketch-up to automatically load ARRIS drawings – without having to export them from ARRIS first.

Save Sketch-Up intelligence when loading Sketch-Up drawings into ARRIS, so it is not lost when returning them to Sketch-Up

Comments: ______

______

Work directly in rendered 3D: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

Items added, moved or edited in a rendered drawing would immediately be displayed in the rendered drawing without revering to wire frame first and re-rendering the model.

You would be able to pan, scroll and zoom the drawing dynamically like you can in EZ or Sketch-Up..

Comments: ______

______

Foreground plot in ARRIS: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

Plot directly from ARRIS. (This would be in addition to batch plotting.)

Comments: ______

______

Plot Preview: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

Preview plots using Windows Plot Preview feature before plotting.

Comments: ______

______

Improve the Plotting Interfaces: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

Make ARRIS work better with more of the plotters which are available.

Comments: ______

______

Windows "look and feel" buttons on menus: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

Make ARRIS menus look more and more like Windows dialog boxes.

This would be an option when defining ARRIS menus to have certain controls appear as Windows Buttons on the pop-up menus, while still keeping their current appearance in UNIX.

Comments: ______

______

Windows object selection logic, right click, etc. : ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

Use the standard windows logic of selecting and dragging objects in the ARRIS drawing, selecting multiple objects, using the control key to modify the selection set, right clicking on objects to being up a menu of edits, etc.

Comments: ______

______

Open File Menu - using window look and feel: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

Use standard windows dialog boxes to navigate the file system when opening files and saving the drawing.

Comments: ______

______

Ability to move and customize ARRIS toolbars, slidebars, etc. : ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

Like in other Windows products you will be able to drag menus and toolbars to different locations. You will be able to resize the toolbar and menu areas to make the screen drawing area larger when working at high resolution.

Comments: ______

______

Ability to load and save images in .JPG and .GIF as well as .BMP format: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

Use these just like Screen Saves for Bitmap backgrounds, Bitmaps in drawing, etc.

Comments: ______

______

Free ARRIS viewer : ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

You will be able distribute this to your clients, partners or plotting service so that they can view and plot ARRIS drawings without having to purchase ARRIS or have access to your RI libraries

Comments: ______

______

Ability to read Symbols directly from libraries of shapes in .DWG format: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

Store your symbol libraries in a format which is compatible with both AutoCAD and ARRIS.

Comments: ______

______

“Single file” format for ARRIS databases: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

Store saved ARRIS database in a single file on the disk rather than a directory.

Automatically ZIP and unzip ARRIS database directories into a single ZIP format file for easy archiving and distribution. ZIPed files will save space on your disk.

Comments: ______

______

Change Menu Colors and restore saved values: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

Set your own menu colors, or specify that they should match your current selection for Windows color schemes.

Comments: ______

______

Improve redisplay logic: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

Only redisplay the screen as needed. This will let you work with ARRIS occupying only part of the screen, making it easier to access other applications without having ARRIS flash all the time.

Comments: ______

______

New Dialog Generation Language: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

Will work like the ARRIS Menu generation system, but will create Windows dialogs directly, fill the values and automatically execute SIGMAC commands.
(The current menu generation system will continue to be available).

Comments: ______

______

New Command Language: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

A Visual Basic or C++ interface which can make all the same $utility calls as SIGMAC.
(The current SIGMAC language would remain available)

Comments: ______

______

Use, Display and Plot with TRUE TYPE fonts. : ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

Comments: ______

______

Magnifying Glass tool to zoom in on drawing areas. : ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

Drag a zoom area across drawing to magnify just that portion of the display.

Comments: ______

______

Double precision on display lists: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

Make sure that accuracy is not lost when plotting, etc.

Comments: ______

______

Scroll wheel support: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

Use the scroll wheel on the mouse to scroll the drawing, scroll through lists, etc.

Comments: ______

______

Anti-aliasing in Rendering: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

Automatically anti-alias rendered output

Comments: ______

______

Building Information Model : ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

Implement more BIM features.

Comments: ______

______

User defined entities: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

Let the Sigmac programmer define custom entities in the ARRIS database. As in AutoCAD – C-code would be provided to define and display the entities.

Comments: ______

______

Extrude walls to 3D walls and generate it back to section with walls (not lines) : ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

And other improvements to sections and elevations.

Comments: ______

______

Parametric doors/windows: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

So they can be easily stretched to fill walls and opening.

Comments: ______

______

Integrated DWG import/export: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

Include DWG / DXF in ARRIS

Comments: ______

______

HTML link entities

Entities which will automatically load web pages when selected. Could be used with ARRIS viewer to direct you clients to your web page.

Open office look and feel: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

Comments: ______

______

Polylines: 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

Make a polyline entity which is directly compatible with the AutoCAD polyline.

Comments: ______

______

Euro signs in ARRIS fonts: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

Add the Euro sign to ARRIS fonts.

Comments: ______

______

Enhancing zones : ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

Comments: ______

______

Ellipse as an entity : ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

Comments: ______

______

Central place of storing project data: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

- or ability to retrieve it from an office (SQL-) database

Comments: ______

______

Support for GDL objects: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

Direct support for GDL symbols and libraries.

Comments: ______

______

Ability to outline view ports by grid like Revit does : ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

Comments: ______

______

Linux version: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

Create and distribute a Linux version of ARRIS

Comments: ______

______

Personal assistant: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

This would be similar to the little dog or Einstein in Microsoft Word.

Comments: ______

______

Pop-up Help when cursor passes over a toolbar icon does : ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

A text aid to help remember what each tool button does.

Comments: ______

______

Right click help for menus and dialog boxes does : ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

Additional help for menu buttons and controls.

Comments: ______

______

Automatic generation of Web pages from ARRIS drawings does : ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

Publishing system to make word documents or Web pages from ARRIS drawings and other materials.

Comments: ______

______

Context Sensitive Help does : ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

Launch help system directly from menus and dialog boxes and automatically jump to proper help topic.

Comments: ______

______

Better Permissions issues between sheets, drawings and multiple users: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

Comments: ______

______

Fix the Bugs first: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

Forget all these new ideas and fix the bugs in ARRIS first

Comments: ______

______

Ideas added at IABC Show Name: ______

Link other programs to ARRIS: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

Add a link which lets other programs launch an ARRIS drawing into a window.

- either a Vector display of the drawing, or a higher resolution thumbnail of the drawing.

Comments: ______

______

Better Boundary Chase: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___
Pick a point inside of the boundary and just find it.
Use Pixel Flood as an option to make a boundary. (This would “flood” the area on the screen, and create a boundary which matches the flooded area. It would not be precise for Database locations – since it is rounded to pixels – but if might be good for adding patterns to plots and elevations.)

Comments: ______

______

Auto Extrude 3D Walls first: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

With the speed of today’s computers, we can make all walls.

This can be an option if users want to see only 2D walls in a 3D view

Comments: ______

______

Put attributes on all entities: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

Search, sort and report on the attributes

Comments: ______

______

Repeat 3D entities like we do 2D in cross hatch: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

For example, to fill a roof plane with shingles, or to apply ridges to a roof.

Comments: ______

______

Plot by Color: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

Add the Utilities feature – to set colors be pen – just making the color darker – to ARRIS

Comments: ______

______

Single Authcode for multiple modules: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

For users with more than one module – find a way to enter just one op-code

Comments: ______

______

Make CAP-ON a preference: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

This is the setting which says what the default is when launching ARRIS.

There is a GCAPLOCKOFF ini file setting.

Can we add this to the options menu as well.

Comments: ______

______

INI file manager improvement: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

Add a way to see what other setting are available and perhaps a way to know what the expected values aref roe each setting.

Comments: ______

______

GWINSIZE – add MAXIMIZE and REMEMBER as options: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

REMEMBER would remember the current window size when you last exited ARRIS.

Comments: ______

______

GWINPOS – new INI file setting to position window on screen: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

Comments: ______

______

CUT, COPY and PASTE selected elements: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

Add to the right click menu.

“ARRIS Clipboard” does this now – including betw3een drawings and ARRIS sessions. Stores the selected items in the TEMP directory.

Comments: ______

______

Add a COMMENTS field to Projects: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

And/or a status field.

Comments: ______

______

Edit Notes more easily after placement: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

Global edit on notes by searching and replacing current text

Can we extract all notes to an external file so we can run spell checker on them?

Have an option in the Notes Catalog to show only notes already used in the drawing.

Have a function to Regenerate Notes from keys. (So the user can change the notes catalog and then apply the changes to the drawing.)

Comments: ______

______

Notes: Move individual points: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

Can we find a way to let the user move individual points – end of arrow or bend point as part of move point or move area.

Comments: ______

______

Write to 3D MAX and/or 3DS formats: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

Many rendering programs can read .LP format, but the 3DMAX format can contain more information.

Also, material names for colors 0-31 do not transfer properly to .LP

Can we copy the ARRIS view to Lightscape and reload it?

Comments: ______

______

Put an Auto Orient features in ARRIS: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

This would reverse triangles which are visible in the current view.

(Note: we would have to render first to see which triangles remain visible in the current view.)

Comments: ______

______

Door Window Generator: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

Does it work and/or does anyone know how to use it?

If it works lets add it to Builder’s CAD

Comments: ______

______

Add some ARRIS features to Builder’s CAD: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

Door Window Generator

Custom Walls definitions,

etc.

Comments: ______

______

DWG Improvements: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___
Have ability to translate only what is inside a sheet or viewport. (Currently we translate the entire drawing, and the person who receives it may have to interpret the sheets or viewports)
Consider saving the viewports as layers.
Similarly – ability to translate only the selected items.
Make the translation interface seem easier. (Users would like saving in DWG to be as easy as saving as a database.)

Comments: ______

______

PDF – make sure it scales properly: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

If the PDF is made to scale, then the user should be able to print the PDF and it will still be to scale.

Comments: ______

______

Paste as Single Entity: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

Add an option to paste from the ARRIS clipboard and automatically make it a single entity, rather than individual entities. (either an RI, or a user-defined entitiy)

Comments: ______

______

Plot drawing to BMP, JPG or GIF: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

Specify resolution and create a bitmap image directly from the ARRIS drawing.

Comments: ______

______

RI’s in multiple libraries: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

If we are storig the library name with the RI, can we make sure that we load the RI from the proper library?

(How would this work fir users who intentionally change library – by unloading one library and loading another/)

Comments: ______

______

Add ARRIS warning messages: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

Messages like: “ERROR: Some displayable attributes have not been placed” display as errors and show a red square.

Can we add a “warning” level message, such as: “WARNING: Some displayable attributes have not been placed”, and make the square yellow instead?

Comments: ______

______

ATTRIBUTES – move with RI: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

Attributes are moved properly with Move RI, but not with move point.

Can we fix this?

Comments: ______

______

Ability to force layer overrides RI: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

Override of pen and color should be able to be forced for all things in layer – not just for thins in pen and color ‘none’

Comments: ______

______

Override line type for ‘none’: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

Like override for pen and color.

This would allow us to dash an RI or a layer for special purploses.

Comments: ______

______

Option to view NODES on cursor when placing RI’s: ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

Also, we could show with a dashed line to the snap point when nodes will snap.

Comments: ______

______

Make walls and cross hatch in RI’s work better: : ...... 1: ___ 2: ___ 3: ___ 4: ___ 5: ___

Comments: ______

ARRIS Technology Survey

Company Information

ARRIS Versions and Operating Systems

Current ARRIS CAD Version

Operating System

Windows

SUN

SGI

Other: ______

New Features for ARRIS

Ideas added at IABC Show Name: ______