Bricscad transition tools - FREE
Dear Users,
GeoTools V 10.10 from Coordinate Systems, Bangalore now offers four A2B (AutoCAD to Bricscad) transition tools FREE of cost.
As part of our efforts to ease the transition of users from AutoCAD to Bricscad, we have put together a set of commands that help ease the switch from AutoCAD.
These four transition tools are completely FREE always, which means that they will NEVER expire once you have GeoTools for Bricscad installed on your computer.
*** A2B Transition Tool # 1: GT_FILTER: (GeoTools -> Selection Tools -> Object selection filter):
The FILTER command in AutoCAD is very addicitive and extremely popular.
We nopw offer that in the Bricscad environment as well. The GT_FILTER command provides the familiar object selection command in Bricscad which many of you are used to. With GT_FILTER, you can build your own powerful filter criteria using object properties, along with combinations thereof using AND, OR or NOT logical operators as well.
The GT_FILTER command complements the QSELECT filter tool of Bricscad as well as the GT_MAKESEL command of GeoTools, both of which are also used for object selection and filtering, but have different approaches and interfaces.
*** A2B Transition Tool # 2: GT_TABLEEDIT: (GeoTools -> Miscelleanous Tools -> Table EDit/EXplode ):
The GT_TABLEEDIT command does what many Bricscad users have been asking us for long - Edit or Explode a TABLE object.
Background: An AutoCAD TABLE object when imported into Bricscad becomes an anonymous block (if DXF'ed) or an un-explodable, un-editable ACAD_TABLE object (if saved as DWG). The GT_TABLEEDIT command is an attempt to bring this TABLE back to life in Bricscad and make it usable. The command offers two possibilities - to explode the TABLE or convert it into a block with attributes so that you can edit it further. When you explode the TABLE, it becomes lines and MTEXT. When you convert it into a attributed block, each cell of the table becomes an attribute which you can then edit using block attribute editor.
Tip: It has been observed that working on a DXF import of the TABLE exported from AutoCAD may yield better results.
Known limitations:
- If the original TABLE is rotated, the resulting TABLE may get created horizontally (angle=0)
- Sometimes, the resulting table may get created at a slightly different (offsetted) location. You may need to move it to your desired location.
- The cell text may sometimes show up slightly ofsetted with improper justification. This will need manual correction.
The GT_TABLEEDIT command works pretty well but is not perfect. This is because the TABLE object and its variations can be quite
complex. Your feedback is welcome to imporve the tools.
*** A2B Transition Tool # 3: GT_APPLOAD: (GeoTools -> Application Loader and StartupSuite):
AutoCAD has the APPLOAD command with 'StartupSuite' support. Now, Bricscad has it too, via GeoTools.
The GT_APPLOAD command extends the functionality of the APPLOAD command provided by Bricscad. The main addition is that of a startup-suite, where you can add/remove applications that will be automatically loaded at startup.
*** A2B Transition Tool # 4: GT_WBLOCKBC: (GeoTools-> Miscellaneous Tools -> WBLOCK and preserve AutoCAD Map object data):
Some history: Many of Bricscad users work with AutoCAD/Map-created DWG data as well, either at their workplace or received from clients or associates. The seamless inter-exchange of DWG data is one of the key strengths of Bricscad. However, when you bring in an AutoCAD Map drawing, there can be a big problem....and a solution as well. Read on..
When you open AutoCAD Map drawings in Bricscad and save them using the Save command, there is no problem with the integrity of the resulting DWG file. It can be opened in AutoCAD Map with all the Map-related features like object data intact.
But, if you WBLOCK (Save Block) a part of or the entire drawing from Bricscad, the object data gets destroyed in the resulting drawing and will not show up when you open the drawing in AutoCAD Map. This is a big disaster. You lose your entire object data and are left with just the entities. This probably is due to the ODA libraries used for read/write of DWG files and is perhaps not stricly an issue with Bricscad per-se. There may be a more elegant and native fix for this in the future from Bricsys/ODA but, in the meantime, we have created a workaround for this in GeoTools by providing a command called GT_WBLOCKBC (WBLOCK for Bricscad).
This small tool overcomes the limitation by doing a little bit of jugglery of drawing entities in such a way that eventually, the SAVE command is used internnaly and not WBLOCK. The result is that you can still keep your object data intact through a round trip from Map to Bricscad and back, even after using WBLOCK command in Bricscad.
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Find out more how these tools work by checking out the GeoTools 30-day trial:
GeoTools V 10.10 direct downloads:
** English : http://www.coordsys.com/geotools/download/geotools_bricscad.exe
** German : http://www.coordsys.com/geotools/download/geotools_bricscad_de.exe
** Spanish : http://www.coordsys.com/geotools/download/geotools_bricscad_es.exe
** Russian : http://www.coordsys.com/geotools/download/geotools_bricscad_ru.exe
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