DoubleCAD XT, free commercial use 2D detailing app.
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Hey everybody, I wanted to let you know about another product we released today, February 4:
DoubleCAD XT.
It is a 2D CAD application for drafting and detailing. We've designed it to be a really good companion application for SketchUp (and for AutoCAD). The UI is very similar to AutoCAD so that it should be easy to learn if you know AutoCAD's classic interface. It's not an AutoCAD LT clone, but is a "work-alike" with some differences in the feature set.
DoubleCAD XT is a full featured CAD application without limitations -- and it's free. Use it for unlimited commercial or personal purposes.
It has very good .dwg filters, but also reads .skp really well. Your .skp comes in with all layers and proper visibility; it automatically creates a paper space from each scene in SketchUp; all SketchUp components are automatically converted to DoubleCAD blocks. DoubleCAD includes an ADT-compatible wall tool, and all those DoubleCAD blocks (read .skp components like Anderson Windows, etc) can be dropped into the self-healing walls, and they automatically self-align.
If you save the file as a .dwg and bring it into AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT, the walls, and all the blocks you brought in from our application, retain their self-healing abilities in AutoCAD too! So you might just want to use DoubleCAD to kick-off projects you draft more fully in AutoCAD. You could also use the wall tool to kick-start your SU projects. Draw out the walls, then explode them, save them as a .dwg, and import that into SU -- it's a pretty quick workflow.
Again, it is free, and we believe it is a pretty full and comprehensive 2D application. You can get your download at http://www.doublecad.com
(Btw: we'll make money by launching a Pro version soon, like the SketchUp business model, and what we do with IDX Renditioner. Pro is also 2D with much more advanced features that we hope will be compelling. If it can save enough time in productivity enhancements and quality improvements, it should be an easy upgrade for many professional firms.)
OK, end of advertisement.
-- William
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Wow... It seems that there are alternatives for everything nowadays...
Is this program related in any way to the IntelliCAD project? -
That sounds great, ive been looking for a lightweight CAD package to try out and this sounds like it should fit the bill
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@ecuadorian said:
Is this program related in any way to the IntelliCAD project?
No relation to IntelliCAD. They've been working on a clone for some time, we went a different route: a work-alike... it should feel familiar so that it's easy to use, but it is different code. It should be quite .dwg compatible, but nothing is perfect between different systems. We've had about 20+ years in the CAD world, so we had a lot of experience and a lot of code at our disposal. We've been working on this for about a year already and area really focused on making this a solid professional product line.
Let us know what you think, want, need. We'll be responsive.
-- William
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Wow, William, this sound to be a nice app - for free! I'll also try it out (note that I don't really use any CAD program since I don't have to do "real" plans - however it's always good to know at least some about other, SU related apps...)
May I also "promote" it in the Hungarian subforum?
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@gaieus said:
May I also "promote" it in the Hungarian subforum?
Absolutely! We'd appreciate any word-of-mouth, posts, you name it. I'm just sorry we don't have a localized version for you -- maybe later.
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William, are you planning on developing a mac version?
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Dale, we talk about a Mac version a lot. It would be a major undertaking though, so we're not ready to commit to it yet. We need to see how the market takes to the PC products first. I should have mentioned in the post above that we are PC only at this time.
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Thanks William
Not to get you to expose trade secrets or anything, but for instance in Renditioner, is the Mac market share high enough to have warranted the development time you put into it?
I know now it is easy for mac users to run one of the windows enabling programs, so that is an option. We Mac types are just so "Macentric" -
Dale, we have enough Mac people here that doing it simply helps our sanity.
The Mac product has done well too (we released it first, but it took us longer to get the kinks out). Frankly I prefer rendering on the Mac because it handles bigger, more complex models better -- it uses RAM more effectively than 32-bit Windows, and the Mac Pro with 8 cores is a dream. Although the Mac market is smaller, there is also less software developed for it, so we can take a bigger share of the market. In fact, there wasn't much choice for rendering inside SketchUp on the Mac until recently when LightUp and Podium joined the party. They were welcome additions because I don't see us competing too much: I see us each expanding the size of the rendering market which is good for all of us.With this product though, there would be several orders of magnitude difference in the amount of work. We'd like to, but we need to be sure it makes sense for the business.
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Yes considering that in native operating systems AutoCad isn't available for the Mac platform, I guess it would be a little foolish to spend a great deal of time and money developing.
At work I have both PC and Mac, although most of the rest of the office works on PC's, Unfortunately, my PC is rather antiquated, and most of the comments I make about the video card contain #@** style expletives. Why I would love to have this product is the gentleman I work for works in AutoCad, and frankly is not very good at it. Since I usually end up doing his models for him, if he could have a program like you are developing, which still had the AutoCad feel to it, then our workflow path would most likely be way less time consuming. I also have the feeling I am not alone here, so you may have really found a great market niche.
I'll do some work with your program on the PC and see if it applies to us.
Cheers -
Any idea when we'll receive our emails for the download instructions?
This is exactly what we've been looking for when the summer interns show up, although with the economy it may not be a issue.
No work> no interns > no software needed.
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Fossa, i got mine pretty much straight away. Might be worth checking your spam folder.
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The emails are automated, so should go in seconds.
Warning: for the first people that downloaded, the email had an incorrect activation code. All that has been corrected, but if you get an error you can use the app by pressing "Activate later" then send me a PM and I'll get you a new number.
William
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Got it. Our ISP wasn't letting it thru.
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I got the email in a couple of minutes though just downloading now as it was at work (and now I'm at home). Hopefully the activation codes will work and I wasn't among those "early ones"
Edit:
@unknownuser said:
Hopefully the activation codes will work and I wasn't among those "early ones"
Hm... It seems that I'll need to send you an email, William (again)
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Goodbye Autodesk, I'd like to say it's been fun, but in reality..........
Thanks, looks great wmanning, what we have all been waiting for!!!
Interestingly this is produced by IMSI? So what happens to Turbocad, Designcad, etc?
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I was also an early one who got a wrong activation code
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Gaieus, PeterCharles, good activation codes are in your inboxes. Thanks for jumping on this, and sorry again about the bumpy start.
Linea, thanks for the good feedback. TurboCAD and DesignCAD really get to continue on in their own way. DesignCAD is a great value 3D application for general CAD that has its own strong following. TurboCAD will actually benefit quite a bit from DoubleCAD. They both share a code base, but are designed for different audiences and purposes. A lot of the improvements we've been making in 2D will find their way into TurboCAD making it stronger and more stable, but it will have its own UI, no command line, and be a 3D general purpose CAD application.
DoubleCAD has really been designed for 2D drafting and detailing, and we feel there is a lot more we can do with that before we need to have it go head to head with TurboCAD, AutoCAD or other 3D apps. It should make a good secondary seat as a companion to SketchUp or AutoCAD. With the Pro version, a good companion to a wide variety of MCAD apps too.
It seems that a lot of the market had focused on 3D, and 2D improvements tended to be found only in expensive, more complex BIM oriented applications. So a professional 2D space seemed neglected.
William
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I've now got a good activation code thank you.
Have tried it with some standard DWG's, so far so good.
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