Bangalore, India
When we set out to create GeoTools software for AutoCAD way back in 1999, the goal was to create a set of tools that would help make working with the AutoCAD easier. Even today, the goal still remains the same - to help you work faster and more efficiently in your chosen CAD platform. To achieve this goal, GeoTools provides over 260+ tools of different shapes and sizes, purposes and designs, to make your CAD work easier.
Now, we have GeoTools running on Bricscad as well as AutoCAD. And further, the product has grown along with AutoCAD and Bricscad supporting all versions Autodesk has released over the past 11 years, and all versions on Bricscad since 2007.
Today, GeoTools for AutoCAD has been tested with the (yet to be released) AutoCAD 2011 all the way back until AutoCAD 2004. And that means, GeoTools works with AutoCAD 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005 and 2004 versions as well as vertical applications built on these platforms.
The Bricscad version of GeoTools V10 worked with Bricscad V9 and V10 but the new version, GeoTools V11 will work with Bricscad Pro V10 only. There is a good reason why we decided to stop supporting Bricscad V9. Unlike AutoCAD, which is a mature and stable platform, Bricscad is still growing. I am not implying that Bricscad is not stable but there is still a lot of new features and compatibility programming that is still being built into the software. Between V9 and V10 of Bricscad, there has been a huge number of enhancements, fixes and compatibility (with AutoCAD) improvements. As a result, some of the GeoTools functions (both the API as well as CAD commands) does not work correctly in Bricscad V9. So, we thought it was best to stick with the latest release of Bricscad (V10) for GeoTools V11 and ensure that all the commands work correctly, thereby delivering a great experience for the GeoTools-Bricscad user.
GeoTools is almost entirely wriiten using Lisp. We started with plain AutoLisp functions , and then started extending the functions using Visual Lisp extension functions, the (vlax....), (vla-....) and (vl-...) and so on. Over time, we were able to access and use the COM API object module using the (vla-....) functions. We further extended the functionality and reach of GeoTools by using doslib routines. All this was possible seamlessly in AutoCAD and Bricscad. GeoTools for AutoCAD and Bricscad uses the same native code-base, which is Lisp. This demonstrates the level of API compatibility between Bricscad and AutoCAD.
In fact, we wanted to be democratic and provide GeoTools on all other CAD platforms that support Lisp - namely IntelliCAD-based systems. And we did try and make a serious attempt to run GeoTools on ZWCAD, CADian and IntelliCAD, but realized it was not worth the effort. There were many missing links and incomplete compatibility models. So, you have GeoTools on only AutoCAD and Bricscad. Maybe, some day, we will revisit this.
So, the two key messages I want to send out to you are:
- GeoTools V11 for AutoCAD: will work with AutoCAD 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005 and 2004. AutoCAD LT is not supported.
- GeoTools V11 for Bricscad: will work with Bricscad Pro V10 and above only. Bricscad Classic is not supported.
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