It's that time again -- time to tuck away the stories of the past year and look forward to what's ahead. In the world of CAD software and workstations, the big news for the coming year includes an increase in CAD demand in several industries, as well as big changes for the 3D printing market and digital jobs replacing more production jobs. Here's a sneak peek into what the headlines of 2015 are likely to look like.

In many ways, we are already living in the future. As the rate of technology development continues to accelerate, ideas that were once considered far-out science fiction are becoming daily realities.

Where is setting of mouse middle button to use as pan in Auto-CAD 2013 & what is change required to use mouse middle button as pan ?

The fifth generation of MakerBot Replicator 3D Pprinters is now more functional, convenient, and accurate thanks to the new software and firmware packages released just last month. This desktop software package was developed in response to customer feedback. MakerBot is still working on some additional features, but didn't want to hold up the release date for those items.

Siemens PLM Software just released its latest edition of Tecnomatix. Version 12 offers some updates and enhancements to make plant production planning easier, more efficient, and more cost-effective. While new innovations in plant automation put more production work in the hands of robots, it takes skill and training to operate these systems -- opening up more jobs in manufacturing that pay higher wages, involve less manual labor, and are safer and easier for people. Here are the most notable improvements in Technomatix 12.

Desktop virtualization technology has advanced greatly in recent years and is beginning to offer the robust performance, superior graphics, and quick response times required by users of CAD and other compute-intensive applications. On top of those benefits, virtualization brings other benefits to the CAD user. For instance, virtualization allows remote workers to do their jobs anywhere while maintaining a high level of security for the data stored back on site. It is also perfect for remote file viewing and collaboration, as the speed issue isn't as bothersome as it is during the actual work process. With the right tools, you can create a virtualized CAD experience that is as good as a desktop CAD workstation. Here's how.

Some CAD processes require a long, long list of instructions to explain, whereas a short video can make the steps clear and easy to replicate. This is a nifty feature of Autodesk Screencast, a free app that captures your screen output, commentary, keystrokes, and menu selections in a video you can share on the cloud.

Lenovo, one of the world's top consumer PC manufacturers, is a contender in the professional workstation market as well, and making gains every year. Earlier this year, Lenovo introduced a new family of workstations -- the P-Series -- which offers features that CAD users need to check out.

PC sales have reversed the decline seen over the past several years of tablet popularity, while workstation sales have reached $7 billion and are expected to climb to more than $9 billion within the next couple of years. Meanwhile, gaming machines are growing by 39 percent. What does all this add up to? There's a growing need for better graphics performance and more powerful CPUs. Until recently, Nvidia (as well as AMD) have effectively made Intel feel like an un-favored, red-headed stepchild. Is that changing?