nanoCAD 3.5: exit December 5, 2011

We recently announced the release of version 3.2 for season ticket holders and after 1 month we are planning to release version 3.5 ... Why?

If without marketing peel, the new version is actually version 3.2 (plus additional improvements - see under the cat) and an open program interface (API) that will allow you to independently develop applications for nanoCAD. The second is key in this version: now nanoCAD is a free open platform for developing CAD applications. A unique phenomenon in the global CAD community - now you can develop your own application on the basis of free nanoCAD, use it for your own purposes and it will be absolutely legal.

A little more about all of this, plus a questionnaire for CAD users (we want to know which CAD applications you are currently working on) under the cut.

Technical development

At the moment, the license user base of nanoCAD 3.0 is 76 thousand jobs, and the utilization rate of software has increased over the last year more than 4 times. Mass leads to the fact that from all sides begins to pour a huge number of requests with suggestions for optimization, to fix bugs (we rule with pleasure), with non-standard hardware configurations ... Last year we concentrated not on developing new functionality, but on setting up an existing one - good current basic functionality is sufficient for the development of 2D drawings. Therefore, we have included in the new version:

• Computer graphics testing system: starts automatically when the program is first started and analyzes both the hardware and the currently used drivers. And according to the results of the analysis, it automatically adjusts the nanoCAD for maximum performance. Plus, you can run the new command VPERFTEST, which displays the test results and allows you to save information about the video subsystem as a separate file.
• The heights of the newly created MTEXT and TEXT are now tied to the scale of the clearance. By default, when setting the DPS (1: 100), the height will be equal to 250 units; when setting ESKD (1: 1) height - 2.5 units. And if you create a node in scale, for example, 1:10, then the height will be equal to 25 by default - a significant acceleration of work.
  
• 2D design optimization:
  
  • In the Insert External Link dialog, the AutoPan parameter has been added, which, when activated, automatically zooms and panes the inserted link to display it on the whole screen;
  • Added output to the command line of the list of named views in the document - VIEW command with the [?] option;
  • Corrected the logic of adding / deleting objects when selecting - now, as in conventional CAD;
  • temporary ON / OFF of the ORTO mode by pressing and holding SHIFT;
  • new command Markup (Drawing \ Point \ Markup) to distribute the block along the object;
  • A new UCS panel for managing user coordinate systems, etc.
    
  • etc.

In general, there are a lot of small changes even in comparison with 3.2 - and if we compare the new version with the previous free version, then in nanoCAD 3.5 over half a year more than 300 improvements and corrections were made; corrected and improved more than 50 teams and their options. Basically everything is focused on faster and more optimized drawing.
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But error correction is not the most important thing in 3.5. Much more interesting from our point of view is that now under nanoCAD any developer can develop their own applications.

Open program interface

In general, to be honest, it was possible to develop your own small applications before - we had the COM API open (the documentation is in the folder where the program is installed:% nanocad% \ help \ api). But COM does not provide all the possibilities that are very broad in nanoCAD.

When version 3.5 is released, we open the nanoCAD developers club, whose members will have access to the following types of API:

• NrxGate is a classic C ++ API designed to create and transfer applications in C ++.
• Multi CAD API is a unique C ++ API designed for writing cross-platform CAD applications.
• The .NET API is a modern API designed for developing .NET applications.

The structure of the API is close to the API of other CAD platforms, so if you have already developed an application, then you can easily port it to our platform. And in order to make this work easier, we are going to organize and support the nanoCAD developer community. The same community will contribute to the further development of the API - the development has not yet been completed. Follow carefully the announcements of our club!

How could you help now?

Before launching a new version, we would like to receive additional information from CAD users: what additional applications to your CAD system do you use? who is the developer?

We are interested not out of idle curiosity - there is a big chance that you will find your favorite application soon on the nanoCAD platform! Try to contact the application developers and recommend to pay attention to the new free platform nanoCAD, compatible by API with existing CAD platforms. Or tell us about the applications - we will contact the developers :-)

In order to talk about applications - please fill out a Google profile .

We are waiting for you on December 5th on our website www.nanocad.ru .