AutoCAD 2000 makes up for slow file loading with user-friendliness
Can 1 million users be wrong? AutoDesk Inc. is betting the answer's no and anteing up an upgrade of AutoCAD Release 14 for Microsoft Windows 9x and Windows NT 4.0. Most new products are adopting 2000-style names these days, but the new AutoCAD 2000 is in fact more like 4000—though its $3,750 retail price is probably worthwhile for many AutoCAD users.
Can 1 million users be wrong? AutoDesk Inc. is betting the answers no and Most new products are adopting 2000-style names these days, but the new AutoCAD 2000 is AutoCAD 2000 from the San Rafael, Calif., company has a new Multiple Design Interface The new DesignCenter, which resembles Windows Explorer, lets you view and copy blocks, DesignCenters Find tool can locate drawings by layer or drawing name, key words, My only complaint about AutoCAD 2000 is how slowly files load. A Partial Load option The 3DOrbit feature lets you view wireframe or rendered drawings almost in real time, When you start to rotate an image, it switches to a wireframe for real-time display. As AutoCAD 2000 incorporates more than 400 changes from Release 14, which means a new Last year I reviewed Canvas 5 from Deneba Software Inc. of Miami. The multifaceted, Its impressive successor, Canvas 6, is a graphics suite in the same sense as an office Some users dislike the restriction, but I consider it valuable. Once you make a In Canvas 5, if you selected an illustration project, you could build multiple layers I didnt mind Canvas 5s interface, but I applaud the new interface for its Canvas 6s image editing capabilities are almost as strong as those of programs John McCormick, a free-lance writer and computer consultant, has been working with
anteing up an upgrade of AutoCAD Release 14 for Microsoft Windows 9x and Windows NT 4.0.
in fact more like 4000though its $3,750 retail price is probably worthwhile for many
AutoCAD users.
that lets you open several computer-aided design drawings and edit back and forth by
simple drag and drop or more sophisticated exchanges.
layers and external references from an existing drawing without opening the file. It works
locally, on a network or over the Internet.
date modified, file size or wild cards. This is almost the CAD equivalent of reusing
pieces of programming code.
can open a previously named view or piece of a large drawing. Most times you only want to
edit or view small portions, and Partial Load saves time.
even on relatively slow computers. I could manipulate a rendered drawing with only about a
half-second delay on a low-end 200-MHz Pentium clone system.
soon as you release the mouse button, the rendered view quickly reassembles.
learning curve. But I found the new version much easier to learn than earlier ones.
AutoCAD has always been massive, standard, expensive and powerful. Now it finally is
becoming more user-friendly.
vector-based digital editing package can produce illustrations, edit photographs, generate
technical drawings and do desktop publishing. It does a good job of integrating its
capabilities.
suite. It forces you to make a project decision at the beginningillustration,
presentation or publicationjust as an office suite forces you to first open a word
processor or spreadsheet and so on.
selection, you see a predefined set of tools that emphasize the chosen task.
but only on one page. If you selected a publication, you could build a long document but
only in one layer. That limit is gone in Canvas 6. And its new support for International
Color Consortium standards will assist high-end publishing jobs.
ability to build custom toolbars, create command macros and add a custom floating menu.
costing many times more. The image tools have expanded; the publishing tools remain about
the same. At $375, or about $200 to upgraders, the package is good value for Mac OS and
Microsoft Windows users.
computers since the early 1960s. E-mail him at powerusr@penn.com.