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2005: a Title Block Manager Odyssey
Title Block Manager opens
the door to managing all types of title blocks.
CLEARWATER, FLORIDA, USA — While Title Block
Manager, as a program, is far from becoming the software
that powers an artificial intelligence system responsible
for controlling a spacecraft, the creators of the HAL 9000
(the astronaut-killing, omniscient supercomputer of the book
and movie 2001: A Space Odyssey) would be proud of the leaps
and bounds made by the Title Block Manager development
staff in 2005. 2005 marked a step toward managing existing
title block information through artificial intelligence. They
year also saw the successful integration of Microsoft Access
as an output database for title block data and a dramatic
increase of processing speed.
Title Block Manager was conceived on the notion that
CAD shops need and want the capability to modify their title
block information in batch. Originally, the program was only
able to modify a proprietary title block cell that was placed
inside a design file. While these title block cells were very
helpful with new projects, they were difficult to implement
throughout an existing project (one that had been started
prior to a CAD shop's installation of Title Block Manager).
Since CAD shops often have thousands - sometimes hundreds
of thousands - of active and archived design files containing
title blocks that were placed without the benefit of Title
Block Manager technology, we wanted to find a way to address
this.
In late 2004, the Title Block Manager development team
was presented with this problem: "How can Title Block
Manager modify existing information contained in a title
block?" The solution: create a method by which Title
Block Manager can intelligently read existing drawings!
This solution, while elementary, is much more complicated
in practice than in theory. How is the program to differentiate
between information contained in the drawing from that information
contained in the title block?
Different kinds of title blocks
Since title blocks vary so much from design firm to design
firm, the designers of Title Block Manager had to come
up with a solution that was flexible enough to process each
type of title block, while having the least possible user
interaction and manual input. Axiom CEO, David Greenbaum,
came up with the solution: Design an intelligent algorithm
that utilizes inputs from the user and element-pattern-seeking
software to play a sophisticated game of "hide and seek",
resulting in the automated identification of all title blocks,
wherever they may be lurking. All the user has to do is provide
a few "clues" (rules) by inputting some characteristics
of the elements that compose each of the various types of
title blocks in the set of files in question. In an intricate
version of "Where's Waldo?", the program uses these
rules to spot all the instances of each type of title block.
[Editor's Note: "Where's Waldo?" is a series of
kids books where the object is to find tiny man named "Waldo"
and other tiny characters in large pictures of scenes containing
hundreds of people.]
To state it more technically, Title Block Manager creates
rule files (sets of operating commands) from the data input
by the user to identify which elements are title block elements.
A rule is the roadmap that Title Block Manager follows
in order to read existing design files and differentiate between
elements that are in the title block and elements that are
not. Once the title block elements are identified, Title
Block Manager locates all the values within the title
block and attaches Title Block Manager-specific linkages
to them. With this linkage in place, users can take advantage
of Title Block Manager's batch processing capabilities
and automate many time-consuming data management tasks.
Faster speed equals increased productivity
Aside from the capability to read existing title blocks, Title
Block Manager versions 3.0a (V7) and 8.3a (V8) boast dramatically
faster processing times than the previous versions. Title
Block Manager's functions have been dramatically sped
up across the board to offer increased productivity to all
Title Block Manager users. Changes to title blocks
can now be made in seconds as opposed to minutes!
Microsoft Access
Along with the increased speed of Title Block Manager,
the program can now create Microsoft Access tables. Prior
to the release of versions 3.0a and 8.3a, Title Block Manager
created only Excel spreadsheets containing the title block
information. Now, the program has been expanded to create
Access tables. This feature gives users the option to either
create true databases of their title block data or Excel spreadsheets
of that data.
Edit fields
Title Block Manager also has the ability to instantly
modify field values of individual title block fields (including
tags) by holding down the <Shift> key while clicking
the right mouse button. This feature enables users to quickly
and easily modify Title Block Manager title block field
values.
Free upgrades to existing customers
Title Block Manager maintenance holders, throughout
2005, have had the luxury of numerous updates to the program.
Microsoft Access compatibility, dramatic speed increases and
the capability to extract data from existing title blocks
are all major enhancements. All users with active maintenance
receive these updates, at no additional cost, as they are
released.
The development staff has been on a rampage this year, providing
users all that they need and want from Title Block Manager.
Next year promises to be just as fruitful for the development
team, which, in turn, will provide users with much more value.
Call now!
For more information on Title
Block Manager
contact an Axiom MicroStation Consultant today! Call 727-442-7774
extension 9393, e-mail 9393@axiomint.com
or visit Axiom on the Web at www.axiomint.com now!
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