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Painless progress
Starting in a garage 25 years ago, this Munich-based CAD/CAM software company continues to develop the same product it started back then.
Kate Dixon
February 12, 2009
3 Min Read
.svg?width=850&auto=webp&quality=95&format=jpg&disable=upscale "Painless progress")
raphics and Dots software debuted in 1983.
Starting in a garage 25 years ago, this Munich-based CAD/CAM software company continues to develop the same product it started back then.A lot has changed in the past 25 years, especially when it comes to software, but for CAD/CAM software manufacturer Schott Systeme GmbH (Gilching, Germany) some things that have remained the same are worth celebrating. Starting the business in 1983 in a back-street garage, Hans-Joachim Schott and Silvan Greverus had to figure out how to produce the very first graphics on a microcomputer, which at the time were purely text-based. By creating clever algorithms, existing pen and needle plotters could output actual graphics, and the first incarnation of Graphics and Dots software was born.
Schott Systeme shared the history of its products through the quarter-century at Euromold 2008 late last year, and though the changes have been drastic, the company reports that simple 2D drawings created today can still be imported into the very first version of the software. Another surprising factor that has not changed for the past decade is the price of its complete solution software. The company also offers free support with no yearly maintenance cost, making it a product worth celebrating.
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Above left Later acclaimed as one of the most highly sold graphical printer programs for the 8-bit computer, Graphics and Dots software debuted in 1983. Left Jumping ahead just one year to 1984, the advent of IBM-AT computers and further development of the graphics card led to the slightly redesigned Pictures by PC v1.8, which is the forefather of the current high-end Pictures by PC CAD, CAM, and graphics package available today (right).
By 1988, after the age of computer-aided design had truly begun, Schott Systeme was developing complex freeform surface functionality with Pictures by PC.
The average 8-bit PC in the late ‘80s severely lacked processing power, but highly optimized machining CAM algorithms helped Pictures by PC become one of the first PC-based CAM packages for both simple 2.5D machining and complex 3D free-form milling.
Schott avoided changing each new release to suit different operating systems and platforms by developing every aspect of the software itself. This enabled a seamless transition to Pictures by PC v2.6 for Windows 98.
Pictures by PC, now at version 3.2, still remains Schott Systeme’s main product, with the latest 64-bit version nearing completion.
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