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Upperspace
Announces New Version of DesignCAD
DesignCAD 3D Max Version 12 - 2D/3D Computer Aided Design Software
PRYOR, Okla. – June
26, 2001 – Upperspace Corp. today announced the availability of DesignCAD
3D Max and DesignCAD 3D Max Office. DesignCAD 3D Max combines 2D drafting and
design with 3D solid modeling.
Upperspace Corporation has
announced the release of DesignCAD 3D Max, an upgrade to DesignCAD 3000 version
11. DesignCAD 3D Max provides complete 2D drafting and 3D modeling capability
and is priced under $300. DesignCAD 3D Max is used primarily in professional engineering,
drafting and architectural applications, but with its low cost and ease of use
it is also used by many individuals as a personal CAD system for casual and household
drawings and it is a good CAD solution for laptop users. This new version features
several new and enhanced drawing commands and improved customization capabilities.
DesignCAD 3D Max version 12 celebrates 17 years as a leading CAD solution. “DesignCAD
directly satisfies the needs of our customers. That’s one reason why we’ve always
offered free technical support.” says Robert Webster, creator of DesignCAD and
vice president of Upperspace. He continued, “Listening to customers has always
enabled us to build a better CAD solution.” The DesignCAD solution encompasses
powerful 3D solid modeling with excellent shading and rendering features, easy-to-use
2D drafting, a wide variety of file compatibilities, Internet support, 2D and
3D symbols, a customizable interface, direct scanner support, flexible printing
options, free technical support and more.
DesignCAD's 3D modeling tools include solid subtraction, union, intersection and
interference checking. Complex computations such as volume, center of gravity
and surface area can be performed on any solid object. In addition to several
solid primitives, solids can be created using linear extrusion, circular sweep,
extrusion along a curve, patches, and with surface connecting cross-sections.
Solid objects and surfaces can be edited with a variety of commands including
trim, scale, fillet and the "hammer" command. Models can be viewed from
any angle and with the new Aerial view a model can be viewed around any point
in the design window. DesignCAD 3D Max features excellent shading and rendering,
with textures, texture mapping, multiple independent light sources and 3D animation.
While DesignCAD 3D Max has extensive 3D drawing and modeling capabilities, its
2D drawing features are unsurpassed. DesignCAD has many snap modes and line angle
constraints which can substantially speed up the drawing process and also offers
advanced commands that can be big time-savers for many applications. For example,
double lines can automatically be used for drawing floor plans and there’s a command
to insert a door or window that will automatically trim and label the door or
window for you. The distance and bearing from a legal description can be entered
directly to draw the lines describing real estate property. The Center of Gravity
command can be used to find the center of gravity of any solid or the geographic
center of any 2D shape. DesignCAD 3D Max has several timesaving commands such
as these.
DesignCAD 3D Max has 12 different dimension commands each of which has customizable
text formats, locations, etc. In addition to linear dimensions, the program also
supports a full suite of diametrical and radial commands, and tools for annotations
or notes.
Drawings can be imported from and exported to a variety of file formats including
DWG, DXF, VRML and JPG among others. DesignCAD 3D Max supports version specific
input and output of AutoCAD drawings in both DWG and DXF file formats. With DesignCAD's
VRML output, users can place a DesignCAD 3D model on Web pages and allow others
to view, rotate and animate the drawing with a Web browser. Users can also insert
a hyperlink in the exported VRML file using the www Anchor command. This makes
DesignCAD 3D Max ideal for creating 3D models for Internet marketing purposes.
Direct e-mail support and JPG output provide further Internet support.
DesignCAD 3D Max comes with over 700 2D and 3D symbols. DesignCAD 3D Max's symbol
handling makes it simple to create and edit symbol toolboxes. Any drawing can
be used as a symbol and incorporated in a symbol toolbox. Additional symbols are
included in the DesignCAD 3D Max Office package.
Custom menus, toolboxes, keyboard shortcuts and workspace templates are supported
by DesignCAD 3D Max. The OLE Automation interface exposes the DesignCAD Application
and document objects to the system for use with popular programming languages
such as Visual Basic, Visual C++, C++ Builder and Delphi. In addition, clients
written with these tools can call DesignCAD 3D Max and utilize its functions and
graphics.
Direct scanner support enables users to scan documents and place them into drawings
as bitmaps. DesignCAD's Auto Trace command can be used to convert the bitmaps
into vectors for direct incorporation into a drawing. For example, a design can
be scanned in and applied as texture mapping.
DesignCAD drawings can be output to any Windows printer or plotter as line drawings
or shaded models. DesignCAD's Paper Space Mode enables more than one view of a
drawing to be output on a single page, making it easy to print detail insets or
3-view drawings. Quick printing tools allow users to print the current view instantly.
DesignCAD 3D Max supports multiple views of multiple files. In addition, files
can be inserted as OLE objects into other applications. For example, a user can
insert a link to a DesignCAD drawing into a Microsoft Word document and edit the
drawing later by double-clicking it.
New features of DesignCAD 3D Max include a new Aerial View, a Layer toolbar, Isometric
Drawing mode, a new Parallelogram drawing tool, new Working Plane options, custom
line types, dynamic dimension text placement, new vector fonts, custom hatch patterns,
70 new hatch patterns and four point move and copy. New printing options have
been included such as the ability to print the grid with the drawing or print
layers in any order you want. Plus, users can rotate a view around the center
of the screen or the origin.
In addition to the new 2D and 3D features, DesignCAD 3D Max includes many improved
features. Improved features include 1000 drawing layers instead of the 256 layers
offered in previous versions of DesignCAD, improved layer support and a new dockable
layer toolbar. Other enhanced features include Slice by Plane, improved point
control, quicker double lines, more flexible dimensions and notes, better text
editing, an improved status bar, improved symbol library dialog box, improved
Info Box, paper space improvements, improved smooth line, better WMF import and
export, improved workspace configuration features and those writing third party
programs for DesignCAD 3D Max will be pleased to see longer BasicCAD variables.
DesignCAD 3D Max supports Microsoft Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Millennium,
Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000 and will also support Windows XP which is expected
to release from Microsoft Corp. in November of 2001. It is available through computer
and software dealers worldwide, or directly from Upperspace. DesignCAD 3D Max
has a street price of under $300. Current DesignCAD users can purchase an upgrade
through Upperspace for $79.95.
Upperspace is located at 600 SE 49th, Pryor, OK 74361. Upperspace can be contacted
at - or (918) 825-4844.
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