Cadalyst - January 2008 - (Page 22)

cadlabsreview of RAM, performance was snappy, as expected. The pricing for CADVANCE LiTe v13 alone is $595 and $795 for a bundled package with AETools LiTe. I found both the standalone version and the combination with AETools to be well worth their prices. The latter combination is great as far as price and performance are concerned, making it a particularly good choice for users who are working with architectural engineering designs. You can get additional information about CADVANCE LiTe as well as other products from the company Web site at www. cadvance.com. Here you can also order a free demo CD with a trial version of the application. Updates for the application are posted for download as they become available, and the company runs a forum where users can interact with the company and make suggestions. General CADD Pro v6.1 General CADD Products 607.264.8344 www.generalcadd.com Price: $599 Based on the popular old DOS application Generic CADD (CADD, CADD5, and CADD6), General CADD Pro is a more capable and sophisticated application that updates and adds to the basic design. General CADD Pro, General CADD Pro is the ideal solution for quickly making precise, accurate, 2D line drawings. 22 January 2008 | cadalyst | www.cadalyst.com commonly called GCP, is a 2D CAD and drafting program updated to fit comfortably in the Microsoft Windows environment while retaining — but elaborating upon — the older application’s ease of use and command structure. General CADD Products is not the company that originated Generic CADD, but it has been the driving force in recreating the program for Windows and continuing the development with features requested by its user base. For this roundup review, I evaluated General CADD Pro v6.1, which is still in beta testing as this article goes to press. Users can download GCP6 in either a demo version or they can prepurchase the application prior to its release. The download is, in fact, the real application, although the ability to save files has been disabled. All other features, including printing, are fully functional. A fully illustrated help manual is also available for download. Since making the transition to the Windows environment, the development of GCP has been steady, incorporating numerous needed new features and commands while retaining the two-letter command structure of the original application. Each release has added new capabilities. General CADD Pro v6.1 has numerous improvements and enhancements for performance: a major speed increase for Dimensions/ Text, a faster NP search, better selection rules when complex objects (such as components, fills, hatch, and text) are on top of one another, faster multiple drawings and batch print, and storage of entity extents in the drawing for faster load times after a drawing has been saved from GCP6. The minimum recommended system requirements for General CADD Pro v6.1 are a PC with a Pentium 4 microprocessor and at least 512 MB of RAM. Microsoft Windows XP Pro is recommended, and the company notes that — as is true with most design applications — the faster the processor and the more memory, the better the performance of the software. In addition to Windows XP, which I used for my evaluation, Windows, 98, 2000, and Vista are supported. The application requires a dongle for licensed operation, so you’ll need a free USB port for operation. General CADD v6.1 will be available for $599 when released. At the General CADD Web site, you can download evaluation versions of their software. You’ll also find links for downloading a number of files that enhance the operation of General CADD, including architectural–electrical–mechanical symbol libraries and surveyors’ utilities. Older versions of the primary application also are available for download, as is a new GCP6 command video tutorial. IntelliCAD 6.4 IntelliCAD Technology Consortium 503.293.7655 www.intellicad.org Price: $199–$799 The IntelliCAD Technology Consortium (ITC) is a nonprofit, open-source organization that is owned and governed by its members. ITC focuses on the development of the IntelliCAD DWGcompatible platform, and individual members focus on the customization, marketing, and sales of their specific products. In late August 2007, ITC released IntelliCAD 6.4, which offers improved quality, compatibility with the latest DWG format, and increased stability. IntelliCAD 6.4 uses the latest advances in the ODA DWGdirect 2.3.2 libraries, which interpret the updated DWG 2007 file format, including 2008 object support. IntelliCAD 6.4 can read, display, and save drawings in the latest DWG file format, which includes several new entity types, such as annotations, and more than 40 new system variables. ITC licenses the basic IntelliCAD technology to its commercial mem- http://www.cadvance.com http://www.cadvance.com http://www.intellicad.org http://www.generalcadd.com http://www.cadalyst.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Cadalyst - January 2008

Cadalyst - January 2008 Contents Editor's Window Cad Central Chasing the Dolphins CAD that Won’t Break the Bank AliasStudio 2008 — Design and Visualization Software VectorWorks 2008 — CAD/BIM Authoring Software Dell Precision M4300 — Mobile Workstation What’s in Store for 2008? Low- or No-Cost CAD Goliath Reinvented Doin’ the DEED Cad Cartoon Issue Indexes The Return of Hot Tip Harry

Cadalyst - January 2008

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