PowerCADD 9

About PowerCADD 9

August 26 2010:Engineered Software has released PowerCADD 9

Visit this link on our website to learn more about Buying PowerCADD for the first time or to learn how to Upgrade from a previous version of PowerCADD to version 9. Engineered Softwares website also has information on what's new in PowerCADD 9 and we have information here in our PowerCADD 9 Learning Center. We also suggest readers visit PowerCADD Canada to read this release announcement for PowerCADD 9.

About this section of our website

This section of our PowerCADD User Learning Center is dedicated to the latest version of PowerCADD, version 9. Premium content on this site is restricted to registered users only. To post comments, vote in online polls, and access other features on this website please register or login.

Basic System Requirements:

PowerCADD 9 supports Intel only Apple Macintosh Computers.

Recommended System Requirements for PowerCADD 9:

While the minimum system requirements will do the job with respect to PowerCADD, here are a few additional or modifications to those requirements well worth considering:

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What Changed in PowerCADD 9

What's different in PowerCADD 9 from previous versions?

In PowerCADD 9 Engineered Software added a special Help Menu item which brings up a list of the new features of PowerCADD 9 ( Help menu → What's New ). To further assist we've added to that with lists and general description of changes in no particular order, grouped by function. We have listed the PowerCADD 8 feature first, and how it has changed in PowerCADD 9, new items unique to PowerCADD 9 have been noted as NEW and did not appear in earlier versions.

Requirements

  • PowerCADD version 9 (9.0.0 or newer recommended)
  • Mac OS? X 10.5 or 10.6 (Snow Leopard version 10.6.4 or newer recommended)



General:

  • Consistency: The change is --- there was once again no change to the general look, feel, behavior of the application.
  • Performance: Faster execution of menu items, saving & opening files, and just about every other aspect of the application. In general it's been optimized to take advantage of what Mac OS X Snow Leopard has to offer with it's new architecture. The rendering, storing, and management of raster images is improved; reducing files sizes and once again increasing performance.
  • Backwards Compatibility: Opens legacy drawings from PowerDRAW6, and PowerCADD 1 through PowerCADD 9.
  • Cosmetics: Improved rendering of font sizes on high resolution monitors for various floating windows including Edit and Layer Windows, and larger Tool palette icons.



    • Preferences:

    • General → Convert Incoming PICT? Data to Objects: Deleted.
    • General → Interpret PICT Bitmaps as Placed Objects: Deleted. By default any such items may be cropped or modified using various PowerCADD 9 features and techniques.
    • General → Check for Software Updates: Deleted.
    • General → Drag and Drop Enabled: Deleted. This works on an incoming basis only from Picture Clipping Files on the Desktop into a PowerCADD 9 document.
    • View → Hilite Color, Snap Color, Background Color, Construction Line Color: Interface change from buttons to Mac OS X Color Wheel icons. Behavior is the same, interface is cleaner.
    • View → Scale Patterns: Deleted. By default patterns do not scale when zoomed in or out.
    • View → End Caps: Deleted. End Caps are now an object level attribute as opposed to a global Application Level Preference.
    • View → Palette Size: Moved to Preferences → Tools.
    • View → High Quality Drags: Deleted. By default all drag operations render a high quality live preview. To display a low quality preview press Control while performing the drag operation.
    • View → Save Window Positions: Moved to Preferences → General.
    • Tools → Scale Points on Zoom Out: Moved to Preferences → View.



    Drawing Setup:

    • Show → Simulate Thin Lines: This item no longer has a check box setting; to disable the feature (the same as Unchecking this feature in PowerCADD 8 ) simply drag the slider all the way to the right to turn it off.
    • Snap → Nudge Amounts: Nudge amounts now respect drawing scale and layer scale. Example, a nudge value of 12" will always be 12" even with switching between layers with unique layer scale settings.
    • Print → Registration Marks: Deleted.



    Menu Items:

    • File Menu → Open: Legacy files are automatically converted to PowerCADD 9, a copy of the file is saved in the same location as the original.
    • File Menu → Open, Import: Support for additional file formats including AutoCAD r2010, EPSF, Illustrator, and Postscript.
    • File Menu → Open → *.dwg: Improved translator performance and stream lined interface, support for *dwg r2010, improved text support for special characters.
    • File Menu → Save: Drawings saved as PowerCADD 9 contain a QuickLook Preview accessible in Mac OS X Leopard (10.5) and Snow Leopard (10.6)

      • [inline:PCD9QuickLookPreviewNew.jpg]

    • File Menu → Place... Cropping: Behavior of Cropping Placed, Imported or Opened raster images and PDF?'s has changed. To crop from a mid point handle bar press Shift + Cmd as illustrated below. Attempts to crop from mid point handle bars without pressing those keys will not crop the object.

      • [inline:PCD9CropShift.jpg]

    • Edit Menu → Edit... Polygon Edit Dialog: This feature has been deleted. The polygon edit dialog pictured below no longer appears when choosing the aforementioned menu item with a polygon selected.

      • [inline:PCD9NoPolyEditDialog.jpg]

    • Edit Menu → Exit Group: Behavior changed when existing nested groups. By default it now steps out one level at a time instead of existing to the root drawing (previously required a custom key command). To exit to the root drawing assign a custom key command. See the PowerCADD User Manual for additional information.
    • Edit Menu → Select Special: Updated to support new End Cap object attribute.
    • Tool menu → Live Area: New. Allows you to insert a smart text object in the drawing display the area and/or perimeter of an object. Resizing or reshaping the object will dynamically update the displayed value.
    • Tool menu → Auto Alpha: New. Allows you to remove a specified color from a raster (bitmap) image. Once removed the previously colored pixels become transparent (see through).
    • Tool menu → Objects to Bitmap: Choosing this menu item will always display a dialog to specify the DPI to be used for conversion. In PowerCADD 8 and earlier it was necessary to press Option to set the DPI for conversion.
    • Tool menu → PDF To Objects: New. Allows you to converted postscript based object files such as PDF, EPSF, Illustrator and Postscript in PowerCADD to editable bézier curves and text.

      • [inline:PCD9NewToolMenu.jpg]

    • Tool menu → Set Data: Deleted. Note this was also deleted as part of a rolling change in PowerCADD version 8.
    • View menu → Greek Text, Hide/Show Hatch, Hide/Show Transparency?, Hide/Show Dimensions: These menu items have been deleted.
    • Attr menu → End Caps: New. Allows you to assign the style of end cap used for lines and other open ended geometry for each object. In previous versions this was an application level Preference setting which assigned to the same end cap style to all open ended geometry.

      • [inline:PCD9AttrMenuEndCapsNew.jpg]

    • Window menu → Object (Obj.) Notes: Deleted.
    • Window menu → Date Browse: Deleted. Note this was also deleted as part of a rolling change in PowerCADD version 8.
    • Window menu → Edit: Will also display the DPI and Bit Depth (number of colors) of a selected raster image.

      • [inline:PCD9EditMenuDPINew.jpg]

    • Window menu → Layer Window: Layer Attributes for Scale and Color may be accessed by double clicking a layer name, pressing the Edit button, or pressing the new Scale or Color buttons at the bottom of the Floating Layer Window.

      • [inline:PCD9LayerWindowNew.jpg]

    • Window menu → References: Interface and behavior completely reworked. Reference the PowerCADD User Manual for additional information (Help menu → PowerCADD Manual).
    • Window menu → Overview: Increased redraw performance.

      • [inline:PCD9ReferenceWindowNew.jpg]

    • Help menu → What's New: New. Opens a PDF file outline new features for this release.
    • Help menu → Tutorial: New. Opens a PDF file for Chapter 2 of the manual, getting started with PowerCADD.
    • Help menu → PowerCADD Manual: New. Opens a searchable PDF file of the complete PowerCADD User Manual.
    • Help menu → PowerCADD Tool Guide: Deleted (link pointed to third party content related to PowerCADD version 7 which was out of date).



    Tool Palettes:

    • Magic Wand: Updated to support new End Cap object attribute.
    • Advanced Text, Text, Sticky Notes, Leader Lines: Text is indexed for Spotlight searching in Mac OS X Leopard and Snow Leopard.
    • Round Rectangles: Rotating a Round Rectangle will retain that object type (previously they became polygons).
    • Place Symbol: Options for Setting Data tags was deleted as a function of removing the Set Data External described earlier. This was also a rolling change to PowerCADD 8.
    • Offset Line: Optional Setting added for Multiple Increments (see PowerCADD user Manual for additional information (Help menu → PowerCADD Manual).
    • Parallel Offset: Optional Setting added for Multiple Increments (see PowerCADD user Manual for additional information (Help menu → PowerCADD Manual).
    • Eye Dropper: Updated to support new End Cap object attribute.

      • [inline:PCD9UpdatedTools.jpg]



      We hope that helps
      caddpower.com

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      If you found this article or the website in general to be helpful, educational or a time and money saver you can show your support. Thank you ~ Brian (huc) Huculak, Co-founder and Managing Editor, caddpower.com - powercadduser.com

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PowerCADD 9 Techniques, Tips, & Tricks General Information

Looking for information on Tips and Techniques with PowerCADD 9?

Don't forget to check out the PowerCADD 6, 7 and 8 sections of our PowerCADD Learning Center. Why? Well the general techniques applicable to those versions of PowerCADD in almost every case also apply in PowerCADD 9. This section (PowerCADD 9) of our PowerCADD Learning Center contains information unique to PowerCADD 9 that is either not in the manual, or unique to some aspect of Mac OS? X and PowerCADD that is beyond the scope of the manual, or simply content in the manual that may need further clarification.

You can get access to the searchable PDF? version of the PowerCADD 9 manual by simply launching PowerCADD and choosing Help Menu → PowerCADD Manual. If you're new to PowerCADD 9 don't forget to review all the content in the Tutorial which can be found again by launching PowerCADD and choosing Help Menu → Tutorial.

If there's something specific you'd like us to address on this website for the PowerCADD 9 Learning Center feel free to email us -- while can't make any promises we'll do our best to try and accommodate your requests and questions.

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PowerCADD 9 Top 10

My Top 10 Favorite Things About PowerCADD 9

It always seems unfair to try and rate ones favorite things about a new software release. After all, we all have different needs, desires, and workflows. In all fairness I'll even admit that my own list of favorites is to a certain degree situational depending on the task or deadline at hand.

The task of creating a top 10 list gets even trickier when you put into the context the amount of time and effort programmers put into all the little things that make such a big difference. Often it's those little things that get overlooked during the months of beta testing as we get accustomed to them -- sadly they become just a one line sound byte (sorry for the pun) that never does them justice.

Still, for what it's worth, at the time of this writing here are my top 10 favorite things about PowerCADD 9, most favorite listed first.



PowerCADD 9 Top 10:

  1. Performance: It's just really fast in everything it does from opening and saving files to working with objects and menu items. Those guys at Engineered Software know how to write some fast code.
  2. Consistency: It never ceases to amaze me how, looking back over 20 years of using this product, just how consistent the behavior and interface has been. It really makes it easy for veterans to get the most out of new features quickly while making it easy for rookies too.
  3. Spotlight: The ability to search basically anything that's text in PowerCADD 9 is just a great productivity boost in locating and managing files in the Mac OS? X Finder.
  4. QuickLook: Again another Mac OS X Finder level efficiency tool. Select a file, or several files, tap the space bar, and see a preview of the drawing right at your finger tips! Designers and illustrators are visual folks and we appreciate being able to find files by looking rather than remembering file names.
  5. Backward Compatibility: The fact I can open drawings up from PowerDRAW 6 or PowerCADD 1 thru 8 (and my legacy symbol libraries) is great and makes it a breeze to bring all my legacy files forward. They've made it dead easy to upgrade those old drawings by automatically updating them when opened and saving a copy of the new file for me!
  6. References: Managing and manipulating referenced drawings just got a whole lot faster and easier. How they're able to track the movement and renaming of referenced drawings is truly impressive. The only way I've been able to break a link was by deleting the referenced drawing or moving it off my server (or local hard drive if that's where I made the link). Even with a broken link I still see the last saved state which is a nice way to be treated after shooting myself in the foot!
  7. Alpha Channel Support: See through, transparency, opacity, call it what you want. If you have a bit image with a see through background, those bits will still be see thru in your PowerCADD 9 drawing. A great way to integrate entourage elements like trees, cars, shrubs, and people into your renderings from must about any source you can imagine!
  8. DWG? 2010: Because no application is an island -- support for *.dwg release 2010 is a great feature. The translator external is faster, easier to use, and has improved support for various subtle but important things. I can't wait to see where this goes in the future.
  9. PDF? To Objects: Bring in those EPSF, PDF, Illustrator, or Postscript files and the convert them to editable bézier curve objects. Lots of neat uses for that ranging from creative to technical.
  10. Live Area: Sure the Edit Window always displayed the area and perimeter of objects (and still does), or you could (and still can) insert the area and perimeter of objects into the drawing. But having that information displayed and linked to the object in the drawing is a great productivity boost! If you've ever done land use or area planning you'll really appreciate seeing the area of the smart labeled object update immediately it's reshaped.

As a reminder I reserve the right to change my mind and modify or reorder the above list based on a whim or what I'm doing to meet a deadline Cool

Feel to share your favorite things about PowerCADD 9 by posting a comment.
caddpower.com

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If you found this article or the website in general to be helpful, educational or a time and money saver you can show your support. Thank you ~ Brian (huc) Huculak, Co-founder and Managing Editor, caddpower.com - powercadduser.com

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PowerCADD 9 Wish Lists

PowerCADD v8 was released March 2008 and we've already started our PowerCADD v9 wish lists. Who said the life of a software developer was easy Smile

Feel free to cast your vote or contribute a comment (must be logged in to vote or post comments). If you have something you'd like to add drop us a note and we'll get a new page and poll started.

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Spotlight Search Support

feature request -- not sure how easy -- but given the move to X Code this one might be practical and reasonably painless

The ability to have PowerCADD drawing text content indexed by Apple Spotlight search engine.

Right now we have to use the comments field (or an automator action to set comments) to add important date or search criteria. For example, drawing title blocks typically contain important info on the project name, project number, and key dates and descriptions of when a drawing was issued. For example I might need to find all my drawings that were 'issued for construction' or 'issued for tender' on project 'x' ; content which appears in the drawing titleblock as matter of standard drawing practice in virtually every office I've seen drawings from.

A little thing that could be helpful; until then we do have a work around that's pretty easy

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Control Click to Remove a GuideLine

Feature Overview

While there are quick ways to remove all guidelines from a drawing or turn them on or off, there's no short cut to removing a single guideline from a drawing.

Feature Description:

Currently, removing a single guideline from a drawing requires dragging it onto the ruler. While this is a very easy task, it does require a lot of mouse movement, particularly on large monitors. It's also somewhat disruptive to the workflow in that it requires we remove our attention from the object at hand to drag things onto the ruler. Given we can currently control+click on an item to bring up a contextual menu to object attributes, why not also have the ability to control+click on a guideline to remove it. Since one of the underlying reasons behind contextual menu's is to make the drawing process more efficient by reducing mouse movement in and out of palettes and menu's, this seems like a logical extension to the process.

We realize it's a little thing - but it just seems like it's the little things that make life easier Smile

Cast your vote using the link below
Don't see the voting link? Log in to vote.

Poll Choices are:

  • Very Important Feature: you think the feature is a big deal and has a big impact to your workflow
  • Important Feature: not critical to your workflow but something you'd find useful or would explore more deeply if it was there
  • Not an Important Feature: this feature wouldn't impact your workflow at all and you're not interested or don't see value in exploring it

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If you found this article or the website in general to be helpful, educational or a time and money saver you can show your support. Thank you ~ Brian (huc) Huculak

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Vote Here: Control Click to Remove Guideline

Very Important Feature
60% (3 votes)
Important Feature
40% (2 votes)
Not an Important Feature
0% (0 votes)
Total votes: 5
0
Your rating: None

Cropping Referenced Drawings

Feature Overview

The ability to crop and un-crop Referenced drawings similar to how we can currently crop and un-crop Placed items.

Feature Description:

Even though Referenced drawings span multiple layers, they are in essence treated as a single entity in that they can be selected and rotated, scaled, bound, etc, all from the References menu. If we can see the References bounding box, it would be helpful to treat that bounding box the same as we do with Placed items; cropping and un-cropping the referenced content; all layers associated with the referenced item would be affected.

Cast your vote using the link below
Click here to vote (must Log in to vote).

Poll Choices are:

  • Very Important Feature: you think the feature is a big deal and has a big impact to your workflow
  • Important Feature: not critical to your workflow but something you'd find useful or would explore more deeply if it was there
  • Not an Important Feature: this feature wouldn't impact your workflow at all and you're not interested or don't see value in exploring it

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If you found this article or the website in general to be helpful, educational or a time and money saver you can show your support. Thank you ~ Brian (huc) Huculak

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Vote Here: Cropping of Referenced Drawings

Very Important Feature
100% (4 votes)
Important Feature
0% (0 votes)
Not an Important Feature
0% (0 votes)
Total votes: 4
0
Your rating: None

Drawing Preview when Editing Groups

Feature Overview

An application level preference to enable/disable seeing a preview of the drawing when in Edit Groups mode (Edit menu -> Edit Groups).

Feature Description:

Currently when editing a group, all other drawing data is hidden and only the group is displayed. However, when editing groups, it's often important to see other drawing data for reference. The preview, if enabled, could be a reduced opacity version (i.e. dimmed) of the layers that were visible when the Edit Groups command was chosen from the Edit menu.

Example: If the user needs to rotate one element in a group relative to some other general drawing reference point, it's important to see that contextual data from the main drawing.

Current model requires users to either:

  1. Guess where the other drawing data is when editing the group. This can result in having to edit the group multiple times to get things right
      2. or
  2. Copy data from the general drawing, then choose Edit Menu > Edit Groups, then Paste the general drawing data for reference. After completing the Edit Group operation the pasted reference objects need to be deleted

The problems are fairly apparent with both models. Option (1) in particular may get even more cumbersome if Edit All Layers is OFF and the object needing to be copied is on a different layer, or if the object needing to be copied is part of different group or symbol.

The ability to enable/disable preview when editing groups would speed up the drawing editing / production cycle. An application level preference seems reasonable since it's presumed most users would want this feature 'on or off' ( much like Hide Reshape Fills is a logical Preference choice for general application behavior across all drawings).

We think the new feature in PowerCADD 7, which displays static text Editing Group in the Layers Window during an Edit Group operation is a significant first step and we think being able to choose to see (or not see) a drawing preview that is faded (reduced opacity) would be a welcome feature and logical next step.

Cast your vote using the link below
Don't see the voting link? Log in to vote.

Poll Choices are:

  • Very Important Feature: you think the feature is a big deal and has a big impact to your workflow
  • Important Feature: not critical to your workflow but something you'd find useful or would explore more deeply if it was there
  • Not an Important Feature: this feature wouldn't impact your workflow at all and you're not interested or don't see value in exploring it

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If you found this article or the website in general to be helpful, educational or a time and money saver you can show your support. Thank you ~ Brian (huc) Huculak

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Vote Here: Edit Groups Drawing Preview

Very Important Feature
40% (2 votes)
Important Feature
40% (2 votes)
Not an Important Feature
20% (1 vote)
Total votes: 5
0
Your rating: None

Improved Previews for Bitmap Effects

Feature Overview

The preview presented when using the Apply Bitmap Effects... menu item is too small (note, it's acknowledged this is an Apple limitation since the menu item calls Apple's QuickTime). An improved preview where the entire drawing window acts as the preview would provide better visual feedback.

Feature Description:

Any QuickTime or similar effect should be previewed in the main drawing window. The dialog box for the QuickTime effect should also be moveable. The current model makes it difficult to get predictable results.

Cast your vote using the link below
Don't see the voting link? Log in to vote.

Poll Choices are:

  • Very Important Feature: you think the feature is a big deal and has a big impact to your workflow
  • Important Feature: not critical to your workflow but something you'd find useful or would explore more deeply if it was there
  • Not an Important Feature: this feature wouldn't impact your workflow at all and you're not interested or don't see value in exploring it

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If you found this article or the website in general to be helpful, educational or a time and money saver you can show your support. Thank you ~ Brian (huc) Huculak

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Vote Here: Improved Bitmap Effects Previews

Very Important Feature
33% (1 vote)
Important Feature
67% (2 votes)
Important Feature
0% (0 votes)
Total votes: 3
0
Your rating: None

Optional Tool Settings Append as Sheet

Feature Overview

When pressing Option and clicking on a tool with two dots, the Optional Tool Settings dialog should append as a sheet to the associated tool palette.

Feature Description:

Currently, tools with optional settings (two dots in their icon), pressing Option and clicking on a tool opens a new floating window. In the case of PowerCADD Tools, those windows float and can be moved around. In the case of WildTOOLs, those windows don't float (a long standing HIGs? violation and pet peeve) and are stuck to the center of the screen area.

The proposed feature for tools with optional settings; their settings should open as sheet appended to the tool palette instead of a floating dialog.

Why

The user already knows where the tool palette is; it's my work flow anchor for production. I've had to move my mouse around just to press option and click on the tool to open the dialog. I then have to go through more mousing around to get to the dialog to either move the dialog (in the case of PowerCADD tools) and enter the data.

It would more convenient if the optional settings just appended to the Tools Palette as a sheet. It would behave in principle just like the see-through / auto-fade settings work now for floating windows or the primary tool palette. In case you missed it, here is how you can adjust the auto-fade settings in PowerCADD 7: Control+Click on any tool palette and choose Palette Settings... from the contextual menu to see this sheet append to the selected tool palette:

Having all the user interface elements grouped together around the tool palette would be more efficient for production and provide a smoother user interface. While it's possible to assign a key command to a tool which includes the Option key to force the dialog, having it all associated with the tool palette as a sheet just seems like a nice logical extension of the Mac OS? X interface.

Special Note: If the optional settings were appended to the tool palettes, it would also mean that WildTOOLs would follow the same standard (or at least one would hope so), thereby unsticking their optional tool settings from the center of the screen and making for a more fluid and consistent work flow.

Cast your vote using the link below
Don't see the voting link? Log in to vote.

Poll Choices are:

  • Very Important Feature: you think the feature is a big deal and has a big impact to your workflow
  • Important Feature: not critical to your workflow but something you'd find useful or would explore more deeply if it was there
  • Not an Important Feature: this feature wouldn't impact your workflow at all and you're not interested or don't see value in exploring it

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If you found this article or the website in general to be helpful, educational or a time and money saver you can show your support. Thank you ~ Brian (huc) Huculak

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Vote Here: PCadd8 Optional Tool Settings Sheet

Very Important Feature
75% (3 votes)
Important Feature
25% (1 vote)
Not an Important Feature
0% (0 votes)
Total votes: 4
0
Your rating: None

Wish List: PowerCADD 9 ACAD Translator

Some of the items here are carry overs from our PowerCADD v8 translator wish list. Some items are new.

Feel free to cast a vote or post a comment (must be registered and logged in).

If an item was carried over from PowerCADD v8 we've left the poll question and topic the same so we didn't loose any votes!

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Batch Processing

Feature Overview

Reintroduce the ability to Batch process reading (opening) DWG? or DXF? files and writing (saving) PowerCADD to DWG or DXF.

Feature Description:

The old PowerDRAW translator, a stand alone application, had the ability to batch process files. We'd like to see that feature integrated into the PowerDWG Translator External. Key elements would include:

  1. The ability to open (read) multiple DWG or DXF files by pointing the translator to a folder full of files
  2. The ability to save (write) multiple PowerCADD files to DWG or DXF by pointing the translator to a folder full of files
  3. The ability to save presets of translator settings that could be applied to reading or writing DXF or DWG files
  4. The presets noted in (3) would include the ability to link to the Line Weight to Color or Color to Line Weight settings and other existing optional translation settings

Optionally, we'd also like to see the translator let us save the preset settings a droplet. Dropping a folder full of files onto the droplet would tell PowerCADD to automatically process the files (either read or write) with the saved settings.

Cast your vote using the link below

Poll Choices are:

  • Very Important Feature: you think the feature is a big deal and has a big impact to your workflow
  • Important Feature: not critical to your workflow but something you'd find useful or would explore more deeply if it was there
  • Not an Important Feature: this feature wouldn't impact your workflow at all and you're not interested or don't see value in exploring it

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If you found this article or the website in general to be helpful, educational or a time and money saver you can show your support. Thank you ~ Brian (huc) Huculak

0
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Vote Here: PowerDWG v8 Batch Processing

Very Important Feature
67% (2 votes)
Important Feature
33% (1 vote)
Not an Important Feature
0% (0 votes)
Total votes: 3
0
Your rating: None

Clip Filled Objects when Writing DWG

Feature Overview

The ability for PowerDWG to automatically clip objects when writing (saving) a PowerCADD drawing as a DWG file.

Feature Description:

In PowerCADD, and on the Mac in general, we can create objects that are filled white; for example a rectangle that is filled white. If that filled rectangle is on top of another object, for example a line, the white fill hides the line (or portion of a line) below it as shown here:

That technique, which could loosely be referred to as masking, is a common one used in PowerCADD drawings and on the Mac OS?. When a PowerCADD drawing using that technique is saved as a DWG file, the fill pattern is ignored (not a surprise) and in AutoCAD the user sees through the rectangle to the line below. As shown here, that is clearly not the same condition as we drew in PowerCADD (illustrated above).

[inline:PCD8_Wish_DWGClip_02.jpg]

So, what do we mean by clipping when writing a DWG file?
In the old days, PowerCADD has a Plot Driver built in -- that plot driver would cut or clip overlapping objects when creating the HPGL? files necessary for output. In the example we're describing above, the results would be that the section of the line, hidden by the white fill, would be clipped where it intersects the sides of the rectangle. In effect, producing new line segments where they intersected. As shown here, if the PowerCADD PowerDWG Translator supported clipping, like it's old Plot Driver did, we'd see a result in AutoCAD that looked like this:

The result in AutoCAD would look like they did in the original PowerCADD drawing
[inline:PCD8_Wish_DWGClip_03.jpg]

A short trip in the way back machine, back to the roots of Engineered Software and their experience with writing Plot Drivers, would yield a valulable addition to the PowerDWG Translator that would bring us one step closer to WYSIWYG? translation between the Mac (PowerCADD) and Windows (AutoCAD) worlds.

Of course, we'd like the clip filled objects feature to be a radio button optional setting so we can choose to turn it on or off. Yes -- we'd like it all, thank you very much Cool

Work Around

Currently, the only work around is to manually trim the types of intersections illustrated earlier. Clearly, in a complex drawing, that can be an extensive (and expensive!) task, particularly where smart objects such as doors or windows are used to mask wall lines to create openings. The only other choice is to start the PowerCADD drawing, from the start, with the plan that is going to be exported via DWG to AutoCAD and draw down to that standard. While this is a reasonable approach, it negates many of the advantages we have by drawing on a Mac and with PowerCADD.

Cast your vote using the link below

Poll Choices are:

  • Very Important Feature: you think the feature is a big deal and has a big impact to your workflow
  • Important Feature: not critical to your workflow but something you'd find useful or would explore more deeply if it was there
  • Not an Important Feature: this feature wouldn't impact your workflow at all and you're not interested or don't see value in exploring it

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If you found this article or the website in general to be helpful, educational or a time and money saver you can show your support. Thank you ~ Brian (huc) Huculak

0
Your rating: None

Vote Here: PCADD 8 PowerDWG Clip Filled Objects

Very Important Feature
83% (5 votes)
Important Feature
0% (0 votes)
Not an Important Feature
17% (1 vote)
Total votes: 6
0
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Map Fill to Hatch Patterns

Feature Overview

The ability for the PowerDWG Translator to automatically map PowerCADD fill patterns in a drawing to hatch patterns when saving (writing) out a DWG file.

Feature Description:

Those of us who have been around the block and using PowerCADD (and PowerDRAW) might remember a feature in the PowerDRAW Translator application. This was a separate application used to translate PowerDRAW files to DXF? in those days but it had a great feature: the ability let the user map their Mac OS? X fill patterns to any hatch pattern they liked.

The feature was actually part of the plot driver technology and it worked great, except for one flaw: it wouldn't look inside of groups.

We'd like to see that feature brought back and improved upon. Let the user map their PowerCADD fill pattern to a hatch pattern when writing a DXF or DWG File?. The objects fill pattern, whether in a group or symbol or an independent entity in the drawing, would be converted when saving the DWG file so it opens in AutoCAD with a hatch pattern instead.

There is some discussion here about the AutoCAD Wipeout feature that could also apply in this case. But our thought in bring this old feature back to the future is the technology is already there and maybe that will make for an easier start point and lay the foundation to build upon. Were also going to more digging into that AutoCAD feature since there may be silver lining in there too!

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  • Very Important Feature: you think the feature is a big deal and has a big impact to your workflow
  • Important Feature: not critical to your workflow but something you'd find useful or would explore more deeply if it was there
  • Not an Important Feature: this feature wouldn't impact your workflow at all and you're not interested or don't see value in exploring it

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If you found this article or the website in general to be helpful, educational or a time and money saver you can show your support. Thank you ~ Brian (huc) Huculak

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Vote Here: Map Fills to Hatches

Very Important Feature
50% (2 votes)
Important Feature
50% (2 votes)
Not an Important Feature
0% (0 votes)
Total votes: 4
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Save Setups for Translation Settings

Feature Overview

The ability to save the settings used to translate a drawing as a preset setup that could be recalled again later and applied to different files.

Feature Description:

When a file is opened for translation, the user has to make a variety of choices for the translation settings such as scale, sheet size, limits, extents, whether to use a specific pen color to line weight lookup table, delete off page objects, etc.. There are in fact several settings which must be set.

Currently the translator remembers the last used settings, which is helpful but limiting. Ideally it would be great if all the settings and optional settings assigned in the Incoming Settings Window could be saved as setup. In principle this is similar to how Gradient settings, Sheet Setups, or how Color To Line Weight and Line Weight to Color translation settings are saved and may be applied quickly by selecting them from a menu.

Given most AutoCAD shops are consistent in how they setup files, or at a minimum are consistent with how files in a given project are setup, the proposed new feature would make it considerably more efficient when multiple translations are required on a project (which is typicall the case). The time savings also become even more significant when we realize there are typically multiple consultants on a given project, each with their own AutoCAD to PowerCADD translation setting requirements. In addition, those user who work with multiple consultants on multiple projects would see an even greater benefit for the proposed feature.

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Poll Choices are:

  • Very Important Feature: you think the feature is a big deal and has a big impact to your workflow
  • Important Feature: not critical to your workflow but something you'd find useful or would explore more deeply if it was there
  • Not an Important Feature: this feature wouldn't impact your workflow at all and you're not interested or don't see value in exploring it

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If you found this article or the website in general to be helpful, educational or a time and money saver you can show your support. Thank you ~ Brian (huc) Huculak

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Vote Here: PCadd 8 DWG support for Translation Setups

Very Important Feature
100% (4 votes)
Important Feature
0% (0 votes)
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0% (0 votes)
Total votes: 4
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XML Database Support

Feature Overview:
Write the user defined database attributes assigned in PowerCADD as an external XML? resource file for the current suite of database file options.

Feature Description:

XML is at the core of numerous aspects of Mac OS? X and various internet technologies. In it's simplest definition, an XML (Extensible Markup Language) file is a cross platform, smart , text file which formats data which can be more readily used by other applications. XML support would make the entire database process more seamless and set the stage for future interopability of the user defined PowerCADD database attributes. Two common examples of similar implementations include:

  • Apple iLife'04: XML allows the database for items such as playlists defined in iTunes to be read in iPhoto. Chapter marks in iMovie can be used/read by iDvd, etc.
  • Apple's Addressbook application publishes it's contents in XML allowing the data to be read and repurposed by various third party authors. There are several examples of third party applications which take advantage of the XML format of Addressbook including iWork and YouControl. There are other third party applications which read the Addressbook XML formated data for printing address labels and envelopes.

PowerCADD currently provides several methods for users to assign database attributes to objects (see our two related links here and here for additional information on the currently available methods).

In the current scheme, the database attributes are assigned to objects within PowerCADD and are saved with the core PowerCADD drawing. in order to extract the database attributes, users must perform a Save As... and select the appropriate report option which results in a text file saved to disk. The text file can then be manually integrated into various third party applications for additional value added analysis. However, changes made to the drawing require saving a new report and reimporting that file. The cycle can become cumbersome and tends to slow down the work flow.

Maintaining a proprietary drawing object database is important for the core PowerCADD drawing objects and that should not change with support for XML. However, opening up the user defined database attributes as defined using Object text, Symbol Tags, Set Data, Export Data would make the data more usable without compromising the proprietary drawing file database/format.

The basic methodology for this feature request is:

  1. A unique XML file is written to disk when a user assigns a database tag using any of the existing methods.
  2. The XML file is live linked to the drawing database: that is, if the user makes a change to the drawing (for example deleting a symbol), the appropriate XML file is updated when the PowerCADD drawing file is saved.
  3. The user could then link to the XML file saved to disk in their database application of choice which would reflect the last saved state of the XML File?

Support for XML should not compromise the internal, proprietary, PowerCADD drawing database. However, making the user defined database tags from Symbol Tags, Object Text, Export Data and Set Data accessible via XML would help stream line the work flow. Using an open, cross platform standard, also helps set the stage for future database development.

Click Here to Cast your Vote on this PowerCADD 8 Wish List Item
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Poll Choices are:

  • Very Important Feature: you think the feature is a big deal and has a big impact to your workflow
  • Important Feature: not critical to your workflow but something you'd find useful or would explore more deeply if it was there
  • Not an Important Feature: this feature wouldn't impact your workflow at all and you're not interested or don't see value in exploring it

------
If you found this article or the website in general to be helpful, educational or a time and money saver you can show your support. Thank you ~ Brian (huc) Huculak

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Vote Here: PCadd8 XML Dbase Support

Very Important Feature
100% (3 votes)
Important Feature
0% (0 votes)
Not an Important Feature
0% (0 votes)
Total votes: 3
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arc by chord niggly issue

this is an old and ongoing niggly thing

when I'm drawing Arc by Chord, I can't press TAB to activate the Edit Window and specify the chord length.

Why not? I can use Tab for direct entry of the length and angle but not the chord length which arguably the most important part.

I think it compromises the effectiveness of the tool.

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