The 20th anniversary of a conference is certainly an opportunity to look back and to recap its history. And the CADforum conference, organized by Arkance Systems Czechia for the 20th time this year, provided more than enough of such opportunities. Users from the Czech Republic and Slovakia presented amazing projects, examples of advanced products and projects using digital twins, AI and other modern technologies. In combination with demonstrations of the technical capabilities of new applications - in the afternoon workshops - they got a rich offer for mutual inspiration for further use of CAD, BIM, CAM, PDM and GIS technologies.
What has changed in these 20 years?
As the traditional moderator of this conference, Boris Keka, reminded us, the past 20 years are best shown by our children - some of those who were not born 20 years ago were already among the participants of this year's event.
The name of the organizer's company also changed - from the former XANADU, through the new-old CAD Studio, to today's ARKANCE Systems.
But it is the CAx industry itself that has shifted. Discussions back then - around whether and how to go to 3D, how to get data from app A to B, in which format, what plotter plots best, whether Windows XP would run well on Pentium and which disk spins fastest - have moved away from these system details over time to more about the directions and possibilities of team collaboration in the cloud, its security and the best ways to incorporate AI into design processes. We also see a blurring of the distinctions between the industries traditionally covered by these conferences - construction and architecture, engineering and manufacturing, or GIS.
An example of such cross-blurring of industries was not only Autodesk Platform Services (APS, formerly Forge) discussed here, but also one of the initial customer presentations at this year's CADforum - an example of the use of Autodesk and Arkance Systems tools and services in the design and production of stunning glass light fixtures and sculptures at LASVIT. There they use Inventor, Revit and other tools to create such gems (look for a more detailed video on the Arkance Systems' YouTube channel in the coming days - upd.: here):
However, participants could also draw intake from other sources of inspiration. For example, representatives of TOSHULIN showed how various lofty-sounding statements about "artificial intelligence in design" can have a very practical application and impact on the efficiency and parameters of a real product produced by a Czech company.
Other featured customer projects also routinely used point cloud processing, cloud-based CDE and BIM technologies, and the creation and practical use of digital twins. And the presentations also touched on the important "bureaucratic" aspect of BIM implementations and mandates, the full impact of which will become apparent in Czechia in the coming year.
Many suggestions for inspiration certainly arose during the event's networking, during the "executive roundtable" with Autodesk representatives, as well as during the day and evening discussions at CADforum and GISforum in the beautiful Valeč Castle Hotel.
The promise for the future of CAx technology is the youngest generation. The youngest talented engineers from TUL in Liberec brought their monopost to the conference, a student formula developed using the latest CAx tools by Autodesk and other companies. It is these engineers who will co-influence what the CAD industry and the CADforum conference program will look like in the next 20 years. We look forward to it.
Our thanks to all cca 500 attendees, speakers and sponsors of this year's CADforum and GISforum.
Let us recall the 20th CADforum in a short clip:
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