nanoCAD Plus 7: the development of CAD platform a year-long

What can be done in one year of active development? Looking at the speed of development of modern CAD systems, it seems that not very much - to update the interface somewhere, to add a new function somewhere, a few fixes. Therefore, it seems that Russian technologies are hopelessly behind, and we will have to use Western solutions and technologies for the rest of our lives.

But it seems to me that the new version of nanoCAD Plus will be able to change this view - tightly sowing the code, armed with compilers and support of the testing department for one year, Nanosoft CJSC made such a significant leap forward in the CAD platform functionality that I have concerns about the size future article ... Meet the new seventh version of the domestic platform nanoCAD Plus and let's deal with its innovations.

Introduction

Traditionally, I will do a small review of what happened in the development and development group of the nanoCAD platform in the year preceding the release of the new version - it will be clear what we paid attention to when analyzing and developing our product.

First, the company ZAO Nanosoft slightly reduced overall marketing activity and significantly reduced trips to cities and villages with advertising seminars. And they were replaced by direct contacts with the management of design organizations, implementation teams and direct designers, which allowed them to dive deeper into the problems “on the ground” and slightly change the development priorities. In particular, several relatively large (more than 100 jobs) pilot projects took place, the results of which began the development of filing, monitoring the enterprise standard, and the quality of working with broken DWG files. Some of this was reflected in the new functional of the seventh version, some still “brewed” in the development boiler.
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Secondly, despite the decline in marketing, we are seeing a steady increase in the number of users of the nanoCAD platform. In particular, currently, on our site www.nanocad.ru every day an average of 3 to 4 thousand visitors come in, 90% of which are beginners. On average, 500 product downloads from the site are recorded on the day, and about 300 new jobs of all types of licenses are issued. This translates into 10 thousand new registrations in the user database per month! At the official forum forum.nanocad.ru , more than 21 thousand accounts have been registered, which have already written 27 thousand messages and publish about 10-20 new ones every day. The number of free users of the nanoCAD 5.1 platform has reached 450,000 jobs - our absolute record!

Of course, in many respects the active interest of users in nanoCAD is based on the topic of import substitution, which only lazy people are not talking about right now. And it gives a certain result - more and more users are beginning to look around, optimize CAD-budgets and notice our solution with interest. But the development of nanoCAD leads to an increase in popularity - every day we receive positive feedback on the capabilities of nanoCAD Plus and solutions based on it. As a result, despite the difficult economic situation in the country, the number of users of the commercial version of the nanoCAD Plus 6.0 platform increased by 11% compared with the previous version - a very good result.

What does this mean for us and nanoCAD? That changes the user's portrait. If earlier nanoCAD was used more likely among private users, now our solution is considered by design groups with the number of designers from 100 and more people. It is clear that in this case completely different requirements are imposed on the functional: in particular, the stability of the solution and the possibility to use the product without any adjustments are of paramount importance. That is why in the new version we paid a lot of attention to the product interface, the introduction of small but familiar utilities for the mass user and tried to speed up the work of the solution as much as possible.


nanoCAD Plus 7 - the new version of the domestic CAD system

Thirdly, we allocated a whole year to the development of version 7.0! Those who are closely following our project may have noticed that earlier versions were released every six months: 3.0 back in 2011, and six months later 3.5; 4.0 in the summer of 2012 and in half a year 4.5; 5.0 in 2013, then the update of the free version 5.1, and then version 6.0 in the summer of 2014. By the seventh version, we have accumulated difficult puzzles that, on the one hand, cannot be quickly resolved, and on the other, without which we did not really want to move on. That is why we almost immediately after the release of the sixth version took the seventh and worked hard until the end of January. And since February, the version entered the test lab, and we ran around the product under conditions as close as possible to reality: an open beta test was announced on nanocad7.ru , which attracted 106 accounts with 410 jobs. For 4 months, we carefully analyzed the work of nanoCAD Plus 7 on live projects and are now confident that the program is ready for release.

Absolutely accurate: nanoCAD Plus 7 is the best version of nanoCAD we have released!

What's new in the product?

In the review, all the innovations will be divided into several categories, trying to put together the most logical. But at the same time, some functions are entitled to their own reviews - I think that in the future we will conduct additional analysis and description of the most interesting functions, but for now let's start with basic drawing capabilities.

General drawing functions

And this is logical - first of all, nanoCAD Plus is a tool for developing working documentation and it is here that current users are waiting for the next round of development.

Special anchor points

I will begin, perhaps, with the most requested function — the additional bindings used in drawing. nanoCAD has long had a basic set of endpoint bindings, midpoint, normal, parallelism, and so on. - Without such things in general it is difficult to imagine modern CAD. Plus, some people know that nanoCAD also provides a unique opportunity to become attached to the primitives of monochrome raster drawings - this allows you to put into work scanned paper or just raster documents from the archive of project or standard documentation from the Internet. And now in nanoCAD Plus 7 we have included an additional two new types of bindings.


The snap “Midway between two points” allows you to find the midpoint of a segment constructed between two arbitrary points, and the “Offset” binding sets the distance from an arbitrary point in a given direction

Moreover, these bindings work both by vectors and raster objects!

And bindings have learned to cling to some "non-standard" objects - the contours of the sheets and lines of intersection sizes. This unique feature will additionally allow you to control the drawing: for example, attach primitives to the corners, middle and center of the sheet. Imagine how easy it is now to put a format paper on a sheet or break a sheet into zones!

Accelerated Shading Outline Search

In the 7th version, we have made another big step forward in optimizing the operation of hatching. In addition to improved trimming (now hatching is trimmed with both object selection and contour indication), we have significantly accelerated the search for hatching boundaries in complex, saturated drawings, for example, master plans.

Try to measure and compare with other CAD systems - for sure you will notice 3-4-fold acceleration.

Intellectual removal of layers

One of the most frequent operations when working with an electronic document is working with layers. Oh, how often, by copying data from another document, we accidentally bring extra layers. And how difficult it is to remove them then - you need to understand the structure of the document and make sure that the extra layers do not contain objects (that is, delete or transfer primitives to other layers). In nanoCAD Plus 7, this frequent operation has become much simpler: just select unnecessary layers and click on the Delete button - if the layer is not empty, then nanoCAD will offer a dialog that will do the work of sorting objects on its own.


The new layers dialog allows you to remove non-empty layers and move objects from the layer to be deleted to the selected one.

Block editor in a separate window

Earlier in nanoCAD the block editor was contextual (the REFEDIT command), i.e. the block was edited on top of the drawing and in many cases it was convenient - for example, you can quickly add existing primitives from the document to the block. Still, many users noted that sometimes a separate block editor window is still more convenient: for example, on rich documents, where there are many other primitives under the block, or when editing blocks that are rotated. That is why in nanoCAD Plus 7 we have implemented an additional window of the Block Editor, which is invoked by the BEDIT command (BLOCKED).

Improving the convenience of working with viewports and sheets

Viewports are part of a drawing from model space, located on a paper sheet at a given scale with a customized display style. Convenient tool for processing dynamically changeable working documentation.

In the new version, it became possible to rotate the viewports and control the parameters of the FE using three new buttons in the status bar: a button to move from the model / sheet space and back, a lock button and a viewport scale.

Utilities for splitting and deleting proxy-objects

Often, third-party drawings come with data from other applications, which are then almost impossible to remove from the DWG file. In other CAD systems, experienced users used special tools that allowed them to split or delete proxy data from a file.

We have included similar utilities in the basic structure of nanoCAD Plus and now we provide regular tools to improve the quality of documents. In addition, we are planning to further develop these utilities by analyzing difficult situations.

Spellchecking

This is truly a function without which it is very difficult ... The new version introduces the ability to check spelling in your DWG documents : nanoCAD searches for and highlights errors in both multi-line and single-line texts. According to the result, the program compiles a list of suspicious areas, moving along which the user is dynamically transferred to the corresponding text and receives the options for corrections. Also throughout the drawing, erroneous texts are highlighted with a classic wave.


A very convenient and necessary spell-checking function also takes into account typical abbreviations, which are defined by the main GOSTs.

And since nanoCAD Plus is a CAD system that is customized to the national design standards, we improved this function. Please note that when checking spelling, we take into account the abbreviations defined by the main GOST 2.316–2008, GOST R 21.1101–2013, RD 31.30.01.01-89, etc., in which typical abbreviations are approved.

Graphic system nanoCAD Plus and speed

One of the most noticeable visual improvements of the seven is the smoothing and optimization of displaying graphics on the screen, which “blurs” the broken lines of individual segments of the drawing and demonstrates graphics that are more pleasing to the human eye. Whether or not to use this function is decided by the user, but in general, the new display is more convenient, it has become much more comfortable to work with drawings.


nanoCAD Plus 7 by default displays vector graphics smoother compared to previous versions.

But the graphics display system is the tip of the change iceberg. At the same time, all graphics systems were optimized (see Fig. 3): the new version unified the DirectX and OpenGL settings, and the rendering optimization modes were introduced, which made it possible to achieve even faster work with drawings and three-dimensional models. Now, powerful video cards make it comfortable to work with rich drawings, and for slow systems, you can turn off the “beauty” in favor of functionality.

Also nanoCAD Plus on the fly analyzes the opening drawings for speed and independently makes some conclusions about improving performance. So if you try to open a drawing with scattered Z-coordinates in nanoCAD, the software product will signal that “the drawing is damaged, may cause braking” and will suggest a correction of the document. I really hope that there will be no more problems with the speed of working with such drawings.

Improved integration capabilities

Now, let's go along the functions that allow nanoCAD to integrate with other systems and just go beyond the limits of normal drawing. All these functions are asked in one form or another by experienced users of computer-aided design systems.

PDF and DWF Substrates

The PDF format has long been a convenient standard for the exchange of electronic documents - often third-party organizations transmit documentation in it. And, unfortunately, nanoCAD, until recently, did not know how to enclose them in the environment of a DWG file as a substrate. As a result, it was necessary to translate it into a raster format and only in this form to use for the development of new documentation. Without a doubt, not convenient ...

In the new version, we have implemented this necessary functionality - moreover, the UATTACH team allows you to insert not only PDF, but also DWF-format files that Autodesk is developing. When inserting, it is possible to obtain information about the sheets and select the inserted sheet, scale, insertion point, and other standard set (see Figure 8).


nanoCAD Plus 7 supports the insertion of PDF and DWF substrates

And in the future we have thoughts on the development of this part of nanoCAD - remember that we have raster bindings? It would be great to apply them to pdf substrates.

Auto-update fields

The same functionality from the category of frequently asked questions: does nanoCAD support the ability to insert automatically updated fields - texts containing any calculated or received information from the side? Now yes!

Currently, nanoCAD can display standard system information such as information about objects (length, area, coordinates) or file properties (save date, author, file name, size) in the fields. These data often change during work, and it is not advisable to edit them manually - when saving, printing or regenerating a drawing, such text inserts are updated and contain the latest information. At the same time, drawing properties appeared in nanoCAD - look at the menu item File \ Drawing Properties and you can fill out basic information about the DWG file, which you can later use in the fields.

In this case, the fields are compatible with the fields of other CAD systems, can be expanded, taking data from external workflow systems, and are the basis that allows nanoCAD to implement functionality that assembles DWG files into documentation sets.

3D navigation

This is a unique feature for AutoCAD-like CAD systems - my favorite. How many opportunities it provides for the architectural and construction design! And it seems nothing special - now nanoCAD Plus allows you to move in 3D space just as you move in the space of three-dimensional games. Using the keys WSAD (or arrows) you have the opportunity to go back and forth-left-right, the "+" and "-" keys set the movement step, and the mouse indicates where to go - and the three-dimensional models open up before you - watch the video:


nanoCAD Plus 7 allows you to navigate through three-dimensional space by conducting a visual analysis of the model collected from external links.

What gives this functionality? First of all, the opportunity to feel yourself inside the project, to feel its volume, walk through the rooms, look into every corner. Agree that sometimes it is very necessary. Now imagine that you are using external links to assemble into one whole separate models that can be created in completely different CAD systems: ArchiCAD, Tekla, MagiCAD, nanoCAD Electro, SCS, OPS, Geonika. We connected the models through the same coordinates, went out into 3D space and walked through the same model, analyze collisions, inconsistencies, wrong decisions - a screenshot and there is already a task for changes!

In fact, using this feature, the nanoCAD platform is transformed into an environment for collecting all the information on a project and throws a bridge between the three-dimensional design and the release of working documentation. Do you need this feature?

New directions for the development of the platform

And now we come to three more powerful functions that have appeared in the nanoCAD Plus 7 platform. These are not even functions - they are more likely development directions that pull nanoCAD from the field of a pure drawing tool. I'm talking about the functional for working with point clouds, three-dimensional modeling and parametric drawing.

Work with point clouds

What is a point cloud? This is the amount of data that is prepared by modern three-dimensional scanning devices: with the help of laser beams, the scanner automatically analyzes the surrounding space and makes up an array of points with a huge amount of information - three-dimensional coordinates, color, density, etc. Considering that the 3D scanner can move (both at different points and along the trajectory along the surface of the earth) and get hundreds of points around every second, you can quickly create a three-dimensional model of an object or structure, both outside and inside. And then the question “what can be done with this?” Arises.


nanoCAD Plus 7 has learned to work with extra-large (over 500 million) point clouds, which gives tremendous opportunities to work with clouds.

And you can do a lot! You can scan an old building or process piping and integrate your three-dimensional model into existing production - i.e. use point clouds for reconstruction. You can scan what builders are renting and compare the result with the design model - i.e. carry out author supervision. You can carry out aerial reconnaissance and almost instantly build a three-dimensional model of the terrain and get data for your future project. Scanners can get into hard-to-reach places, visualize the surrounding space for further analysis, search for collisions, and be used for a dozen more highly specialized tasks. Which ones? Let's think together and find applications - we now have an excellent basic tool: nanoCAD Plus 7, which can import points from the five most common formats - BIN (TerraSolid), LAS (ASPRS), PTX (Leica), PTS (Leica) and PCD (Point Cloud Library).

Now nanoCAD Plus works comfortably with super-large point clouds (up to one billion points), can change the visualization style (for example, paint points, sort by height, or based on the original scan color), cut clouds, build sections and cuts, unfold and snap to the nearest points.

By the way, this function fits perfectly with the ability to navigate through three-dimensional space: they took a cloud of points, walked through it, loaded a three-dimensional model with an external link ... The future is near! In the future, you can find surfaces, develop ways to bind, divide surfaces into categories, vectorize and ... Yes, a lot can be done - let's discuss! In the meantime, enjoy the demo video:


This video demonstrates the ability to work with point clouds in nanoCAD Plus 7.

Modules "3D modeling" and "2D parameterization"

And now I’ve come to briefly talk about two interrelated directions of development of nanoCAD Plus 7 - the modules “3D-modeling” and “2D-parameterization” . Yes, nanoCAD Plus 7 again changes the image of ourselves - now we are not just CAD for the development and release of working documentation. Now we are also able to create solid models, impose parametrization on them and, having obtained 2D sections, draw up working documentation. The general list of functionality is quite standard: extrusion, rotation, extrusion along a path or section, building 3D chamfers and rounds, 3D arrays, turns and alignments. Plus the history tree of 3D constructions. As well as the parametrization of 2D sketches underlying the three-dimensional body.

This set turns the nanoCAD Plus into a powerful three-dimensional parametric solid-state modeling tool within a DWG file with the ability to quickly build dynamic sections and cuts designed for the preparation of working documentation.


nanoCAD Plus 7 allows you to create three-dimensional solid models.

Plus, the company Fidessis has established the interaction of nanoCAD Plus with its solutions, allowing to carry out a full cycle of strength engineering analysis: FidesysBundle and the cloud service Sim4Design. nanoCAD Plus 7 allows you to transfer the model created in nanoCAD to the calculation, just select the appropriate item and the model will be exported automatically (this happens in the case when the Fidesys complex is installed in the designer’s workplace and using the cloud service). Thus, the user gets a bunch of CAD / CAE directly out of the box. For more details, you can watch a video demonstrating the integration of nanoCAD Plus with Fidesys solutions: www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeIlKs6CPws

Conclusion

It's time to finish with the article, and the improvements to nanoCAD Plus 7 are still not ending. Attentive user will notice dozens of new chips in the interface, a more convenient selection of superimposed objects, a file browser that allows you to transfer blocks, layers and other settings from one file to another, updated MTEXT, API, increased speed in 3D, optimization of work within teams and new ones teams. In the new version we have more than a hundred innovations and changes.

We also recommend visiting the promo site nanocad7.ru , which tells about innovations, there are links to download distributions and there is an opportunity to get a trial version of the product for 30 days.

What would I like to say in conclusion? Try nanoCAD Plus 7. Pass all changes through your hands and head, analyze the work we have done, compare nanoCAD with other solutions and switch to a great modern tool that optimally combines quality, functionality and price.

Good for you projects.

dows Denis Ozhigin
isv Alexander Osmyakov