I know you guys read the forums, but I often wonder if you guys ever consult your target audience when lining up new features for Concepts.

Here are some now standard technologies that are employed in competing products .. that I believe it's high time we saw

- Non Photorealistic Rendering .. this has been out and available through Lightworks now for years. Whilst we can't decide what the future is for our rendering module, others are getting on and integrating these neat features. Goodness sakes, FormZ and SolidThinking have had this for eons. Given our superior modeling environment, must we keep tailing to these guys ?

- Real-time textures & environmental reflections .. totally practical on modern hardware .. this tech was used in Alias 10 years ago. Hell, even the first version of Inventor had it. Sketchup has it. Hell 2, even Cobalt now has it. It really helps in surface evaluation (our scan-line surface eval tools are from the ark) and of course it helps in design-mode presentation

- Panel Light. Surely this just needs switching on. Perhaps it is processor intensive - but the users can decide if it makes sense. This is one thing that can go some way to helping produce more natural lighting results from Lightworks .. that can give us something of what Maxwell provides so beautifully albeit very slowly

- Strip Light. Strip lights have been used in automotive and product design for 40 years to check surface response. ie: to help ensure clean, consistent reflections and highlights. Why isn't this technology available to our designers yet ?

- Anti Alias Always .. and not in a shoddy way as 'edges' .. but in a consistently clear, smooth way. Open Illustrator .. that's how we should look - with all lines smoothed .. and by default circles and lines appearing the same width. Nobody wants to see un-anti-aliased lines now .. just as nobody wants to see bitmap text now ! We need to get with the program here !

- Lightning Fast OpenGL .. where I can see my shaded model through the middle of a '6' or a '9'

- Ambiguity pop-up on the Mac that doesn't leave me going for a bath or doing my accounts whilst I wait

- A Tape Measure Button, not least so new users can quickly find one of the most essential tools in any toolbox

And another thing .. why is it with so many such technologies we're playing catch-up. It'd be nice to get a bit further toward the leading edge. I'm not sure however that dumping prices to ViaCAD levels is a great omen for leading edge design features to come.

Let's get the sizzle back into Concepts !!

I'm another one who is now using CU - great modeler and I'm sure it's not perfect (none of them are) but from the sounds of the tech support and the development guys, it will continue to be improved.

I tried the demo of C3D awhile ago and found the Logicursor too foreign so gave up. But, spending a little money on ViaCAD forced me to at least see how the modeler felt - the $100 was enough to commit to learning it and little enough to not feel I wasted too much if it still didn't feel right.

At the end of 3 weeks I haven't stopped raving about the tools and products...and the great people from Punch I have had a chance to deal with learning and using their modelers.

....and 90 day money back guarantee!!! How unreal is that in this industry!!