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Struc Plus - Behind the ScenesAdrian Stephens |
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| Article Struc Plus, IntelliCAD, structural drafting, engineering, add-on, application, developer |
Struc Plus is an
affordable, leading-edge structural engineering and drafting application. Developer Peter
Coburn defied the odds to create software that sells very successfully across the world.
Struc Plus is an add-on
software application that provides structural engineering functionality to a base CAD
package such as IntelliCAD or AutoCAD. It is developed by Peter Coburn, who describes
himself as more of a hobbyist than a programmer. His story is fascinating and an
inspiration to those who have a latent desire to develop commercial software.
Orinally a structural design drafter from New Zealand, Coburn moved to Australia 20 years ago. He worked with many of the major structural engineering firms in Melbourne including Rankine & Hill, Scroggie Consulting Engineers and Connell Wagner on a variety of projects from shopping center redevelopment and highways throught to skyscrapers and sports arenas. He was introduced to CAD with the UNIX-based ARPLAN. Its ability to read the project database and turn electronic files into drawings quickly won Coburn, and he became an enthusiastic advocate of computer-aided design.  Creating structural engineering details in IntelliCAD 98 with Struc Plus. The Rise of Desktop CAD Coburn began writing programs at home as a hobby. He began automating structural drafting tasks with a PC version of DOGS on an early IBM 386 PC. AutoCAD had become the industry standard PC CAD package and was widely adopted throughout the engineering community. Coburn bought AutoCAD Release 10 one Friday, taught himself how to use it over the weekend, then started a contract on the Monday at an AutoCAD site. It some became apparent that he had a better grasp of CAD than other more experienced users and was able to use his skills to the benefit the whole office. Coburn started programming in AutoLISP and within twelve months was receiving commercial offers for the programs he had created. A worrying thought dawned that he might be able to turn a profitable hobby into a serious business. In order to create a truly professional product Coburn realized he needed to work full-time on the project, and in the absence of external financial backing (their bank was not interested in the project), the Coburns sold their house to raise the investment capital. Between Peter programming by day and driving taxis by night and his wife returning to full-time employment, the family took a serious gamble on the project. A Hobby That PaysIt was mid-1991. Melbourne had lost the Olympic bid and the recession was biting hard. There was little work in AEC. In hindsight, Coburn thinks the lack of contract work made this the best time to have start working on the programming. Coburn worked then as he does today — from home with a computer, phone, fax and Internet connection. No rented office, no staff and virtually no overheads. That’s the way he likes it and it makes good dollars and sense. In late 1992 Coburn implemented the embryonic Struc Plus for Connell Wagner throughout Australia, Hong Kong and New Zealand. Over a period of six-months the company carried out 10,000 hours of beta testing and Coburn worked on site, fixing bugs and making improvements. Struc Plus cost around cost around A$300,000 to develop, including about 5,000 hours of programming time. The first commercial release was made available in May 1993. The Coburns were literally down to their last $500 when the first copy sold for $950, which seemed at that stage more like winning the lottery. Sales have accelerated since with the total installed base exceeding 2,000 users. Struc Plus adopts an aggressive pricing strategy keeping the retail price below A$1,000. A nominal A$100 buys you an annual software maintenance contract, which includes technical support and upgrades. Local distribution arrangements make Struc Plus easily available in Singapore, New Zealand, Thailand, Malaysia, South America and the USA. When Struc Plus was first released it shipped on a 1.44MB floppy disk. It now occupies 200MB of a CD-ROM and can even be purchased and downloaded via the Struc Plus Web site.  Nested menus in IntelliCAD 98 for parametric concrete slab detailing in Struc Plus. A Rosy Future Struc Plus is now a local standard for enhanced structural engineering, with a list of users and projects that is an industry who’s who. Struc Plus has been used on Melbourne’s City Link project and Crown Casino, the Sydney Casino, Auckland Casino, shopping centers and various industrial projects. Originally developed for AutoCAD, Struc Plus was recently ported to IntelliCAD, (Struc Plus for IntelliCAD). Five years ago the Coburns risked everything to develop a dream, coming within $500 of bankruptcy. They now own their new home outright, have an investment property and drive a BMW. You bet the bank would like to know Peter Coburn now. Some how, I don’t think he’s interested! Adrian Stephens Also online, Porting a Commercial Application to IntelliCAD, how Struc Plus was ported to IntelliCAD. 
This article was originally published in CAD User Australia/New Zealand. Reproduced with
permission.
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