Portland — May 22, 2001 — The IntelliCAD Technology Consortium www.intellicad.org announced the third major release of IntelliCAD and first since the source code was transferred from Visio. IntelliCAD® 2001 offers greater AutoCAD compatibility and increased functionality.
IntelliCAD was designed as a the low cost alternative to AutoCAD by providing 100% .DWG file compatibility as well as support for AutoCAD commands, menu files, script files, shape files, text styles, hatch patterns, linetypes, LISP programs, ADS/C++ programs, and VBA. Many of these areas have been enhanced for this new release including Truetype font handling, MTEXT, Associative Boundary Hatching, Dimensioning, VBA/Automation and Lightweight Polylines. New features have also been added that provide greater support for .DWG files so that drawings will display the same in IntelliCAD® as they do in AutoCAD®. These include:
Complex Linetypes
IntelliCAD® 2001 supports complex linetypes that contain embedded shape and text objects along with dots, dashes, and spaces. Users can transfer their linetype definitions from AutoCAD® or create new ones in a format they are familiar with.
Xref Clipping
Some times it is helpful to display only a portion of a drawing. After attaching a drawing as an external reference the user can define a clipping boundary by entering the xclip command which will suppress the display of geometry outside the boundary. IntelliCAD® 2001 includes support both for rectangular and polyline clipping boundaries.
Display and Printing of ACIS solids
IntelliCAD® 2001 will display and print ACIS solid models contained in DWG files if optional libraries are provided by the vendor. ACIS solids can also be moved, copied, and rotated like other entities.
Fly-over Snapping (Snaps! -aj)
Fly-over snapping is a visual aid to help you to make accurate drawings more easily. When the Fly-over snapping option is set, IntelliCAD® will display a colored marker at matching entity snap points as the user moves the crosshairs around the drawing. This allows the user to quickly locate the correct point to snap to.
IntelliCAD® has had success around the world and is available in Chinese, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, Korean, and English. IntelliCAD® vendors have sold more than twice the number of seats that Visio had sold in the same time period (IntelliCad was transferred from Visio into the open source area in 1999), proving the success of the open source model. "IntelliCAD offers good value to users and developers while maintaining their investment in drawings and add-ons", said Ron Prepchuk, Executive Director of the IntelliCAD Technology Consortium. "For AutoCAD® users there is virtually no learning curve and beginners can use a book on AutoCAD® to get up-and-running in no time."
About the IntelliCAD Technology Consortium (ITC)
The ITC is an independent non-profit organization that has been established for the purpose of licensing and coordinating development of the IntelliCAD platform amongst it's paying members. Commercial Members pay a fee to join and get access to the IntelliCAD source code to develop it into commercial products. Non-Commercial Members can receive the IntelliCAD source code for free for their internal or academic use. Members are required to submit fixes and improvements back to the consortium. A larger pool of developers is now working on IntelliCAD, more resources than any single company could apply.
Contact Information:
Ronald Prepchuk, Executive Director
IntelliCAD Technology Consortium
540 NE 167th Pl.
Portland, OR 97230
Phone: 503-408-9387
Email: ronp@intellicad.org