Bricscad V12 is shipping since the past 3 weeks and we have been busy demonstrating the new version to prospects, existing clients and CAD afficionados in several cities in India. And the results so far have been very encouraging. However, we see one interesting observation.
Every drafter we spoke to stressed the need to have quick and easy access to commands in logically grouped clusters. There is a unique style in which most professional drafters in India go about their CAD tasks. The main Bricscad user-interface needed to be tweaked to meet the requirements of CAD drafters to help them find their favorite tools easily and in predictable locations. So, we decided to create a new, optimized-for-India skin for Bricscad that will replace the existing pull-down menus with CADPower-enabled UI that will make it easier for you to locate your tools. You can see, feel and use this new skin in GeoTools V 12.18, which was released today. To change to a new skin, use the GT_NEWBCSKIN command in Bricscad. This command is accessible once GeoTools is installed. At any point, if you want to revert back to the original Bricscad user-interface, there is a GT_REVERTBC command as well.
The new Bricscad skin provided by GeoTools/CADPower introduces a whole bunch of new items in the menus, reorganizes others and also adds a completely new pull-down menu called Format.
Let us now take a look at the new items in the enhanced Bricscad user-interface.
The new Format menu:
The Format menu is no stranger to CAD users. It provides access to some common drawing functions like Layer, Linetype, Lineweight, Color, PointStyle, TextStyle and DimensionStyle management, all under one umbrella in one single pull-down menu. This is how CAD drafters have gotten used to managing the style of the different drawing elements, and now you can do the same in Bricscad.
Changes in the Draw Menu:
Draw -> Block -> Create Block / Define Attributes / Base Point
In the Draw menu, under the Block item, three new items were added in a cascading sub-menu to bring the functions of blocks and attributes under one single menu.
Draw -> Point -> Single Point / Mulitple Point / Divide / Measure
In the Draw menu, under the Point command, three new items were added in a cascading sub-menu to bring the functions of point creation, Divide and Measure commands under one single menu.
Draw -> Helix
The GT_HELIX command from GeoTools-CADPower was added to the Draw menu.
Draw -> Circle
The Tan-Tan-Tan option of the Circle command is a new addition and the DONUT command has been moved in here from the main pull-down of the Draw menu.
Draw -> Text -> Text Orient / Change Case
Two new options have been added to the Text menu. The GT_TORIENT (Text Orient, Make Readable) and the GT_CHCASEQUICK (Change Text Case) command from GeoTools/CADPower have been provided here for convenience. This is a GeoTools-CADPower FREEWARE command.
An addition to the Modify Menu:
Modify -> Polylines -> Light-Weight-to-Heavy-Weight / Heavy-Weight-to-Light-Weight
The GT_CONVERTPOLY command which is used to convert Heavy-Weight-to-Light-Weight and Light-Weight-to-Heavy-Weight polylines is now part of Bricscad menu and is available under the Modify->Polylines menu. This is a GeoTools-CADPower FREEWARE command.
An addition to the Tools Menu:
The GT_FILTER command (Object Selection Filter) command from GeoTools/CADPower has been added to the Tools menu. This is a GeoTools-CADPower FREEWARE command.
An addition to the Dimensions Menu:
Two new additions have been made here. The 'Change Dimension Precision' is used to change the dimension precision without having to go through several dialox boxes and command options. The 'Update Dimension' command runs the Dim;Update; command so that dimensions can be updated with new style settings with a single click of the mouse.
The new Bricscad skin will evolve and grow. We hope to add/modify/reorganize items based on user-feedback directly received from existing clients and trial users. Our goal is to provide a customized user-interface that will offer the highest level of comfort and productivity while using Bricscad.
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