Possibly the best 2D draughting system available on the Apple Platform, from Engineered Software
PowerCADD 9 Top 10 :
Performance: It's just really fast in everything it does from opening and saving files to working with objects and menu items.
Consistency: Looking back over 20 years amazing just how consistent the behavior and interface has been. It really makes it easy for long term users to get the most out of new features quickly while making it easy for new users too.
Spotlight: The ability to search basically anything that's text in PowerCADD 9 is just a great productivity boost in locating and managing files in the Mac OS? X Finder.
QuickLook: Again another Mac OS X Finder level efficiency tool. Select a file, or several files, tap the space bar, and see a preview of the drawing right at your finger tips! You will appreciate being able to find files just by looking rather than remembering file names.
Backward Compatibility: The fact you can open drawings up from PowerDRAW 6 or PowerCADD 1 thru 8 (and legacy symbol libraries) is great and makes it nice and easy to bring all your legacy files forward. They've made it simple to upgrade those old drawings by automatically updating them when opened and saving a copy of the new file in 9 format.
References: Managing and manipulating referenced drawings just got a whole lot faster and easier. Now automatically track the movement and renaming of referenced drawings. Multiple viewports, and clipping make this a very productivity feature.
Alpha Channel Support: See through, transparency, opacity, call it what you want. If you have a bit image with a see through background, those bits will still be see thru in your PowerCADD 9 drawing. A great way to integrate entourage elements like trees, cars, shrubs, and people into your renderings from must about any source you can imagine!
DWG 2010: The translator external is faster, easier to use, and has improved support for various subtle but important items. The file format didn't change between AutoCAD r2010 and 2011 so the translator reads both those formats. Saving is as easy as choosing 2010 which can be read by ACad r2010 or r2011
PDF To Objects: Convert PDF files to editable bézier curve objects right in PowerCADD. Including OS Maps!
Live Area: The Edit Window always displayed the area and perimeter of objects (and still does), or you could (and still can) insert the area and perimeter of objects into the drawing. But having that information displayed and linked to the object in the drawing is a great productivity boost! If you get involved in land use or area planning you'll really appreciate seeing the area of the smart labeled object update immediately it's reshaped.
WHAT THE USERS ARE SAYING..........
"I'd have to say this is the best upgrade to PC, ever.
The New Referencing is great!
Import PDF's as vector objects! Fantastic!
Enable Alpha Channel for transparent background of images is terrific!
The first biggest improvement is speed. I think it was PC5 where the available hardware and software combined created a very fluid feel to the program, which dropped off with OSX and although there were incremental improvements I could not get that fluid feel back. PC9 has taken a big step forward and is back to being fluid and much more immersive to work in.
On a laptop, you can use 2-finger scrolling to pan the drawing without choppiness, in general it is just very fast in regular drawing mode-I have not found a need for the fast drawing mode which turns off hatches, etc. The speed also means you can import a full sheet pdf, and put it on a lower layer for reference, something that used to make the program extremely slow. The second huge improvement is the dwg translator. It works so well on importing files that I almost never turn on a PC with Autocadd to see what the original file looked like. Importing a new dwg is now a 1 minute process.
“The speed of PC9 is fantastic. So fast that the computer fades away, and I become completely
immersed in the drawing. There is just no delay in tools, snapping, scrolling and zooming. PC8 is
in my mind the best upgrade yet and really takes PowerCADD to a new level”—Clayton Hayes
“Speed! Now it is possible to open large drawings and work! PowerCADD now comes back to
the speed that we had in PowerCADD 2000 version but with much more functionality and a great
new appeal of drawing on screen.”—Paolo Rossi
“Tool response is instantaneous. Computer-intensive task speeds are greatly improved. Massive
obsessive detailing is possible.”—Frank Sandoval
“SPEED SPEED SPEED. PC2000 was in many eyes the best PowerCADD incarnation. Not to
dismiss new features, of course, but speed was king! So now we have the speed back.”—Matthew Deering
“Speed! Ease of use. Tool power. Flexibility. PC9 does some processor-heavy tasks far faster
than the previous version. It is even faster than PC2000.”—John Cruet
BTW, I still LOVE PowerCADD - after having to use VectorCAD for some 3D drawings I will never switch. Cheers,
Ralph Valmont.
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Essential things to know about PowerCADD 9...
- IT IS INTEL ONLY!! WILL NOT RUN ON PPC !!
- DWG IS UP TO DATE (as off 12-8-10) & VASTLY IMPROVED
Why Intel only?
During testing and development PC8 and now 9 was benchmarked against PPC and Intel machines. There was a huge variation in performance across the board on PPC bases. No pattern to suggest what was going on could be resolved. To fix this situation would have meant huge amounts of time to what in the end may not have been a satisfactory result. So a decision was made to make 8 Intel only and of course 9 is also. Looking forward and putting all future efforts into the Intel solution.
PowerCADD V9 maximizes the Intel engine Mac. It maximizes the speed of the Intel Mac main processor engines that you chose and the ‘turbo charging’ graphics processors that you chose. The experience will be more of a sit back tightly in your seat and an eye popping experience of speed and comfort. It will be like when you first hit the accelerator pedal of your new powerful V8 vehicle and said ‘Wow!’ or ‘Right ON!’. You will express the same sentiment when you fire up PowerCADD V9 for the first time. However, you will NOT have to learn how to drive all over again. The real feel will come when you realize the details of the improvements and the elegance with which the details have been crafted. It will be much like when you get to run your hand over the well crafted ‘new leather’ and feel the ‘double stitching’.
Will it take a day or two to discover all those ‘new details’; those ‘details’ that you and your friends have always lusted for? Yes it will. But just like with any new vehicle, they will become common place.
More importantly, however, is the need for speed.
So fasten your seat belts, and let us introduce you to PowerCADD V9. Have fun!!! As usual we have put a PDF together of all the new features click away and dive in.
A fabulous set of tools from Italy. They provide some unique solutions. Including Photo Survey. Flattening drawings traced from a photograph into an x-y format.
Topography Tools
Architectural Extensions Download a demo version here. |
