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Architectural CADD News by Software |
updated June 29, 2006
DataCAD Plus
DataCAD LLC -- http://www.datacad.com
Latest ver. : DataCAD Plus 9.5
Web site : http://www.datacad.com
As of around Spring 2004 DataCAD
Plus was discontinued
The two main companies developing on it decided to go their seperate
ways
DataCAD LLC now is incorporating parametric walls and other
abilities into DataCAD 12
(probably available in 2007)
Softech International now markets Spirit 12 (formerly
"DataCAD Spirit") -- http://www.softtech.com/
Note from Architectural CADD : DataCAD Plus is a comprehensive architectural CADD program, with intelligent object oriented entities for walls, windows, doors, and more. There is a similarity (and compatibility) between the simpler 2D oriented DataCAD and the artificial intelligence 3D oriented DataCAD Plus. Plus was originally called "Spirit" in Europe, and was built on top of an offshoot cousin of DataCAD. At one time, the software developer thought they would eventually phase out DataCAD in favor of the technologically superior DataCAD Plus, but such a huge user base of the more straightforward DataCAD (over 300,000 strong - more than any other architecturally based program) persuaded the small company to continue development on both CADD programs seperately. Since DataCAD Plus is new to the USA and relatively expensive ($2600 vs $995 for DataCAD) user groups and support specific to DataCAD Plus are just now getting started.
Also check out the section for hot DataCAD News
Hot New News Items :
DataCAD Plus 10 will make use of the web-savvy o2c technology for its visual symbol library database. Check out http://www.o2c.de to get a preview of what this astounding technology can do. DataCAD Plus 10 is expected in April 2001
Date: Sat, 3 Mar 2001
From: "Tony Blasio" <ajblasio@mindspring.com>
The Official ZAC Database Exchange has gone on-line as of today! This also marks the first invasion of Plus oriented material on my web-site. The Exchange has posted the first database contributed by Peter Alberice. Hopefully this will be the first of many contributions from Plus users! Stop by and check it out! If anyone has any Plus related material (tips, tricks, screenshots, dc+ files, etc...) that they would like to contribute then please e-mail me. I need your help to make this a success.
http://www.homestead.com/blasio/datacad.html
or go direct to the Plus page at:
http://www.homestead.com/blasio/dcplus.html
Date: Fri, 1 Dec 2000
From: "Cheap Tricks Newsletter" <eshu@world.std.com>
>From the Editor:
It was nice to see DATACAD LLC be the "big booth" on campus at the Build Boston Trade Show this year (see photo above). Their circular display dominated attention near the showís entrance. Staffers reported plenty of lively traffic as their presentations of DataCAD Plus and DataCAD 9 went over very well at this energetic conference. Build Boston was also the scene of the 13th anniversary DBUG (DataCAD Boston Users Group) meeting and as usual it provided a nice time to reflect on the years gone by as well as to get charged up about the future. Mark Madura, CEO and president of DataCAD LLC as well as DBUG alumnus, was bullish about DataCADís future after a very good year 2000. He announced that DataCAD Plus had just garnered an "Editor's Choice" award from CADENCE magazine. He told the assemblage to look for more tutorials on DataCAD 9 and DataCAD Plus to come from <http://www.CourseFactory.com> KnowledgeWorks. Also in the wake of Evan Shu & Ed Wolfstein's presentation on using PDF for architectural presenta-tions, Rick Morse, A/E/C Project Mana-ger for DATACAD, said that the watchwords for the future are "3D PDF" (see Computerese for more about o2c this issue and see <http://www.o2c.de>).
In presenting, DATACAD LLC's previews of DataCAD Plus 10 as well as new features to come for DataCAD 9, Mark Madura, reiterated the company's commitment to the two-tier product line. He emphasized that their goal was to upgrade both products such that DataCAD Plus was a true "super-set" of DataCAD for Windows and that it would eventually include all the features now in DataCAD 9. Toward that end, Rick Morse and Product Specialist Gary Segal presented the coming improvements to DataCAD Plus 10, which would be issued as a free update to all registered users of DataCAD Plus. This (again) free update is projected for a spring 2001 release. The features that they demonstrated at this meeting were the integrated use of True Type fonts, the incorporation of Data-CAD 9's Print Setup/Pen Table Interface (with an improvement allowing assign-ment of up to 255 pens to any of the 255 colors) and the incorporation of DataCAD 9's popular XREFs feature. The biggest improvement to DataCAD Plus will be a new graphic Building Component Editor that will allow parametric editing and viewing of ZAC database components.
As for continued DataCAD development, they showed the latest improvements allowing direct bitmap import, solid and pattern colorfill of polylines, polylines with voids, a new "tagging" system that can be used to create door, window, or finish schedules, a new 32-bit Estimator and integrated Estimator Link with a Windows-style interface including direc-tory tree selection of CSI specification assignments. The sexiest additions are the new terrain tools for building more realistic site models. These tools use a Triangular Irregular Network (TIN) vs. the current Drop Mesh tool, which uses a rectangular, regular network grid methodology. They demonstrated how a site can be created from contours and survey points and then how a road or a lake might be cut into this terrain using the new cutting tools to be provided with this new TIN modeler. (See Architips in this issue for more detailed information about these improvements for DataCAD Plus and for DataCAD--or online readers can check the DBUG meeting notes for November posted at <http://world.std.com/~eshu/dbug.htm> . . . . And for even more immediate developments, DATACAD LLC has just posted two free bug-fix updates DataCAD 8.53 & DataCAD 9.02 at their website <www.datacad.com>.
We are very pleased with the reception our new PDF option for Cheap Tricks has been getting. We are receiving a lot of compliments from you about what a nice upgrade in visual and functional quality it provides. Also the eProject website as the delivery method for Cheap Tricks appears to be working well for most of you (once you get used to its menus!) We look to be well on our way to achieving our initial goal of getting at least 100 of you to sign up by January 1st. With postal rate hikes looming in early 2001, PDF may be our favorite Cheap Trick of the year. But don't worry, it won't be competition for you as we once again extend our call for the "Best of Your Cheap Tricks" for our 10th annual contest. We have got a number of good Cheap Tricks logged in already but there is plenty of room for more with all the major prizes still up for grabs. Use our form on the inside back cover, or our e-mail or web form<http://world.std.com/~eshu/cheap/ctbest00.pdf>, or any method of your choice--we don't care as long as the quality of your Cheap Trick is worthy of wider reknown. Send them all in, but remember our deadline of December 18, 2000 precedes that of Santa. Happy Holiday Season to All and to All a Good Night--ho, ho, ho! -- Evan H. Shu, AIA
<<The PDF Cheap Tricks is available for all PDF subscribers to Cheap Tricks!>>
Also in the December 2000 issue of Cheap Tricks:
* A Day in the Life of the DBUG Forum Chronicles a typical 24 hours on the amazing DataCAD-DBUG Internet Forum;
* O2C -- With it be the New 3D version of PDF files "It's gonna be huge!" -- what is the new object file format all about? (For PDF subscribers only: an extra download of o2c objects for you to play with: a house, skylights and a ferrari -- what else could you ask for?)
* Clipboard Cut & Paste Some of the trickier aspects of Clipboard Life explained;
* Quick Tips on using repetive distances to copy/move/stretch, quick way to clipcube on/off; grabbing those dashed lines, and the quickest way to do two-point rectangular poly's;
* Keeping Your Registry Clean How to make this important maintenance task a part of your Standard Operating Feature;
* Q & A on Clipboarding MS-Word Pages, Clipboard EXCEL spreadsheets, and an update of available Internal Menu Functions;
* DataCAD Development for 2001 DATACAD LLC tells us and shows us upcoming features for DataCAD Plus and DataCAD for Windows;
courtessy of Cheap Tricks Newsletter
To subscribe immediately or for more info, please go to http://world.std.com/~eshu/cheap.htm or via e-mail contact <eshu@world.std.com>
DataCAD Plus, has been released, as of April 28, 2000
DataCAD Plus is the new software that is an architecturally intelligent 3D design system that automatically generates plans, sections, elevations, details, and 3D models. DataCAD joins the big-time powerful heavy hitters in the parametric architectural CADD rhealm They also join that price range so that DataCAD Plus is now $2495.00. The current sale, with discounts of some $1500 to current DataCAD users, runs out soon, and since we would recommend that every single DataCAD office have at least one copy of DataCAD Plus - if only to do things such as bring in scan images to trace - designers should contact their dealer quickly.
DataCAD is a complete architectural CADD solution. Feature set
includes
2D drafting / 3D modeling / photo-realistic rendering and animation.
Automatic
door / window insertion, associative dimensioning / hatching, automated
3D framing, 1,600 symbols, 23 standard and hand-lettered fonts, and
DXF/DWG
translators.
Date: Sat, 28 Jul 2001
From: "Mark Bell" <peddlethorpnt@octa4.net.au>
Subject: DBUG> DataCAD Plus v.10
To Plus users...
1. I've just received an email from the Australian Distributor, Omnitech (www.omnitech-gdp.com) regarding price upgrades from v.9 to Plus, and....that Plus v10 should be shipping from September! (and available in Australia from September too!).
2. It's probably worth recapping the changes you can expect in DataCADPLUS V10, as detailed by Rick Morse earlier this year.
New DataCADPLUS V10 features:
+ New visual component browser. Browse and select ZAC elements in 2D and 3D.
+ Improved Bitmap import. Supports BMP and JPG formats in all color depths. Bitmaps can be enclosed within any polyline boundary.
+ Drag and Drop support. Now you can drag and drop layer files, drawing files, symbols, and bitmaps into your drawing from the Windows Explorer.
+ o2c support. Drag and drop o2c files into your drawing directly from the web. Get the o2c browser at http://www.o2c.de/englisch/index.html
All features from DataCAD 9.0x will be part of DataCADPLUS V10.
This includes all existing features, such as
- XREFS
- Multi-Scale Plotting
- Cut/Copy Paste
- Dimension Rounding
- 2D Door & Window Styles
- DataCAD Navigation Pad
- Extended Character Codes
- Hyperview Linking
- Multi-Document Interface
- View-sensitive Icon Toolbars
- Integrated 2D/3D GoToViews
- Get Snap and Direction/Distance Input
- Plot Preview/ PDF Export
- Batch Plotting
- New "Previous View Function
...only hope the Qshade remains the same and not as per v9 or users are given the option of which one they wish to use! Mark Bell, Peddle Thorp Architects, Darwin, NT Australia
Date: Mon, 06 Mar 2000
From: Richard Morse <rick@datacad.com>
Datacad Plus features
> 1.0 Are there Xrefs in Datacad Plus or plans to get xrefs or similar teamwork system?
Xrefs will make their debut in DataCAD 9, and will be incorporated into DataCAD plus in a subsequent release.
> 2.0 Is there solid fill hatching?
Yes. You may add a solid fill to any closed polyline.
> 3.0 Does the cursor graphically indicate what snapping point it is closest to?
Yes. _After_ you snap, there is an option to display a graphic symbol indicating what you snapped to: end point, mid point, intersection or perpendicular. This provides you with feedback to eliminate problems associated with miss-snapping. Providing the symbol after the snap prevents the feature from slowing down the system. There is also an option to turn off "implied intersection snapping" that occurs when two lines don't exactly meet.
> 4.0 Will it be Autocad 2000 compatible, and are intelligent objects converted to Datacad Plus intelligent objects and back again or are they dumbed dow in the file translation process.
DataCAD and DataCAD plus will support AC2000. I assume that by "intelligent objects" you are referring to proprietary or proxy data. As this is not accessible to us in the DWG file, the answer would be no.
> 5.0 Will Datacad Plus files be compatible with Datacad 8.5?
Yes. You may exchange files between the programs.
> 6.0 Is Arcon packaged with Datacad Plus or is Arcon a module within Datacad Plus.
ArCon is a module within DataCAD plus in the form of a 3D viewer/explorer/renderer. While modeling in DataCAD plus, you may launch this component to navigate the model, perform solar studies, and add textures. You may also add 3D symbols like furniture, lamps with illumination, cars and the like. Some of these objects support kinematics and may be animated while navigating about the model.
> 7.0 Will icons be programmable from within the Datacad interface
Icons are programmable, but not from within the interface.
> 8.0 Can true type fonts be used.
Not yet. Stay tuned.
> 9.0 Arcon can apparently import 3DS files, will Datacads rendering module be able to do the same.
Not at this time, but we are very interested in supporting this format. The difficulty is that, like DWG, it is an undocumented, proprietary file format.
> 10.0 Will the Datacad files now have a DC6 extension and is the size of these files smaller than DC5 files as implied on the SPIRIT 9.5 web page.
We are still resolving the file format issues. I am not aware of any file size reduction as you indicate.
> 11.0 Can raster graphics be imported into Datacad Plus.
Yes, bitmaps may be pasted into the file and traced over. You can collage and print bitmaps as well.
DataCAD 9 is due out in the fall of this year. Solid fill and bitmap import are not features for this release, but we hope to provide them in a subsequent release.
Richard C. Morse Applications Engineer DATACAD LLC - Software for Architecture 20 Tower Lane, Avon, CT 06001, USA
rick@datacad.com | ICQ:35247543 | www.datacad.com
TEL: 860.677.4004 x19 | FAX: 860.677.2610
Date: Tue, 1 Jun 1999
From: "Ken Clare" <kc@ihug.co.nz>
Subject: Download Arcon
You can download a full working English version of Arcon with save and print crippled from: http://arcon-asia.com/
DataCAD Plus reviews
Here are direct links to recent DataCAD and DataCAD Plus reviews, awards, and articles that have appeared online.
CADENCE 11/00 - CAD Options
(DataCAD Plus Review)
http://www.cadenceweb.com/2000/1100/cadoptions1100.html
CADENCE - Show Stopper Winners at A/E/C Systems 2000
(DataCAD Plus Award)
http://www.cadenceweb.com/news/archive/aecssawards.html