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| Architosh Staff ([email protected]) |
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MacCAD - reView: Hot Door's CADtools 2.1 with CADgate
CADtools 2.1 adds remarkable CAD functionality to Adobe Illustrator For those who have never heard of Hot Door Inc., let this be known: CADtools 2.1 is one remarkable piece of software ... and a plugin, at that! Over the last few days we have taken the latest version of CADtools out for a spin. And there are a lot of nice things to say about it. And, of course, some not so nice -- though to be fair some of this because of the vessel in which it resides, Adobe Illustrator (versions 7-8 required). The Plugin CAD CADtools installs simply, thanks to the architecture of Adobe Illustrator. What happens after installation is barely noticeable until you start peaking around Illustrator's menu structure. CADtools alters the main toolbox subtly with four additional tool buttons, with extensive tear off tool menus below. To access the wonders of CADtools you visit the Windows menu, then CADtools, revealing the main CADtools 'tabbed tool palettes'.
The four additional buttons added to the main toolbox are visible above (shown with red dots). In typical Adobe fashion these tear out and off, allowing you to place what tools you want where you want them. The dimension tool group is shown below. These dimension tools offer extensive methods of dimensioning your drawings, from single, multiple point dimensions, dimensions from common datum, diagonal versions of these, angular and arc dimensions and radius/diameter methods for circles, ovals and curved lines. And, best of all, dimensions are fully 'associative' -- meaning when you move an item (change your artwork) linked dimensions update to reflect the new change. After changing a wall location or a bolt hole, you click an update button on one of the palettes and the dimensions re-associate.
The tool group below is dedicated primarily to architecture, engineering and construction CAD applications. Certainly, some of these items are abstract enough to be used in mechanical design and other disciplines as well. Yet missing from this set are key symbols for architectural sections, door and window designations and a few others. Nothing that can't be added in the next upgrade. Best of all, these pre-drawn symbols are very easy to apply, and you are constantly advised via the CADtips palette on the exact steps involved.
The Overall CADtools Interface The main interface of Illustrator (version 8 shown below) is altered with the addition of the CADtools' own tabbled palette sets. The CADdocument and CADattributes are the two primary large tabbed palettes in CADtools. To view the entire CADtools interface larger click the image below.
For those not familiar with Adobe's software product Illustrator, it bears the same interface design as other key Adobe products, such as Photoshop, InDesign and PageMaker. Tabbed palettes are of the wider variety (then typical CAD applications) with Adobe's signature collapsable, docking tabbed features which allows you to tear away key palettes and reassemble them into their own palette set and or collapse them at will. In the view above most of the common Illustrator palettes are put away to allow room on the screen for the rather extensive CADtools palette sets. Notice the Adobe Illustrator toolbox is shown grouped on the right. If you ever wondered what a CAD application might look like if Adobe actually made one, well, this is probably it. CADtools provides a snap-to-grid that can be set to specific units and made visible or invisible. You can also determine the color of the grid at any time or change its scale. Changing its scale is very useful if the 'snap-to' feature is on because CADtools allows you to work on different layers each assigned a different scale (just like serious CAD programs). In addition, the rulers can be set to the CAD units. Some positives about CADtools' interface over some other CAD programs is mostly warranted to Adobe's interface design architecture. The Navigation tab palette allows for a different type of panning, and the Layers tab palette provides scrollable editing of the visibility and attributes state of any layer at any moment. No need to bring up a dialog box to change layer attributes, so common in most CAD programs. Adobe's pullout Guides allow you to quickly set and move 'zero-zero' on the drawing as well as provide instant guides for snapping elements together. And there are other numerous Adobe signature software design elements that add much to the strength of CADtools. Essentially, if you work in and love Adobe's software already, CADtools' interface will certainly please you. Next page: Drawing in CADtools Other Architosh News and Special Reports Architosh Seybold Report: Mac products for CAD/AEC - Part 1 solidThinking 3D app coming to Mac OS 9 and OS X VersaCAD returning to the Macintosh! iDisk to be powerful tool for AEC and "design pros"
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