Cadsoft Solutions has informed us that Punch’s consumer CAD product line ViaCAD has now moved up to version 9. New in the latest release include three scaled products: ViaCAD 2D, ViaCAD 2/3D and ViaCAD Pro–all at version 9.
This brand new release is packed with new and improved features including true 64-bit support on Mac OS X, improved OpenGL performance and new Quad Mesh and Subdivision tools for the creation of seamless organic forms.
Version 9 Details
Much of the new version is a modern update for its OS X implementation. The old Carbon framework used for the user interface (UI) for Mac OS has been replaced with Cocoa and CoreGraphics. In the past, objects that did not have a 3D OpenGL equivalent were composited using 2D. The result was a small frame delay for compositing the 2D frame into the 3D frame. With version 9 those such instances that do not have an OpenGL equivalent are drawn into an overlay window on top of OpenGL. The end result, frame rates have the potential to be faster in version 9.
Other key features:
- Updated Spatial engine modeling kernel implementation – 64-bit Mac DLLs
- Ability to load much larger models and can exceed 2.3 GB of model data (due to 64-bit)
- Apple CoreGraphics
- ACIS R23, ACIS Interop R23 and Spatial’s DWG/DXF support now at AutoCAD 2013
- Quad Mesh Tools
- Subdivision Tools
- Woodworking Joints – create rabbet, dado (through, stopped blind), miters, dovetails, and tongue/groove)
- 3D Linear Duplicate
- 3D Polar Array
- Customizable Grids
- Enhanced Workplane – You can now drag and drop the workplace using the mouse UI
For the United Kingdom and nearby regions, cadsoft solutions has support for ViaCAD version 9 offerings and pricing information on this page.
To learn more about ViaCAD go here.
01 – Punch ViaCAD Pro v9 — offers interesting new modeling tools for woodwork, among many new features.