ODA Opens Public Registration For World Conference

The Open Design Alliance (ODA) has opened public registration for the ODA World Conference in Orlando, Florida, on 4-5 May 2010. The agenda of the conference focuses on the new ODA Technology Exchange, which provides workshop-like offerings from the ODA development team, ODA members and others, and is designed for collaboration, education and cooperation to address the specific requirements of conference attendees.

The agenda also includes presentations on the latest developments in the technical graphics industry, such as SaaS and advancements in the ODA platform technology. Arnold van der Weide, president of the ODA, said: 'This year's addition of the ODA Technology Exchange is designed to stimulate interaction between the attendees, allow further education on the ODA platform by the ODA development team and exhibit the growing number of third-party components.

'This will benefit ODA members as well as people interested in building technical graphic applications with a one-stop platform designed for innovation and further development,' he added. The conference will also introduce a special interest group (SIG) initiative within the ODA. 'Our new SIG initiative will provide an organised framework for small groups of like-minded member companies to meet and discuss new projects and to work with the ODA to bring these projects to fruition,' said van der Weide.

Open Design Alliance Updates ODA Platform

The Open Design Alliance (ODA) has released version 2.7.3 of the ODA platform, which delivers new features for DWGdirecta and DGNdirecta. Version 2.7.3 includes an expanded set of export capabilities, including HOOPS and STL (stereolithography) export support for DWGdirect. To take full advantage of existing export technology, DGNdirect has been adapted to share most of the export modules of DWGdirect, making PDF, SVG, STL and HOOPS exporting from DGN available to ODA members for the first time.

In addition to the expanded export offerings, version 2.7.3 also loads DWG files 20 per cent faster than previous releases and DXF loading and saving has also been significantly improved. In conjunction with this release, the ODA is opening new 'getting started' guides in wiki format to the CAD community for DWGdirect.

Neil Peterson, chief technical officer of the ODA, said: 'The solid core architecture of DWGdirect made it possible to adapt our existing DWGdirect export-modules to work for DGN in a straightforward manner, providing significant added value to our members with only a minimal amount of development work.' Version 2.7.3 of the ODA platform is available immediately at the Open Design Alliance's website for download by ODA members world-wide.