The Unofficial Bricscad Wishlist

Jason Bourhill

With the next release of Bricscad only a few months away, now is a good time some input from you the user, or potential user, as to the must have features you want to see included. So pop the top off a Duvel, and get stuck into the Unofficial Bricscad Wishlist. And first wish is granted, it doesn't require Facebook!

I've prepared the following for you to vote on, plus the opportunity to add some of your own must haves:

1. Multileaders  -  Provide the ability to create, and edit Multileader objects, not just look at them!
2. Copy and Paste from Excel as a TABLE.
3. MLINE and MLEDIT - This should be built in, not a freeware add-on!
4. BATTMAN  - This should be built in, not a freeware add-on!
5. PDF Printer - Available via PRINT & PUBLISH
6. Annotative Object Support - Text, Blocks, Hatch, Leaders......
7. eTRANSMIT - Package multiple drawings, and Include XREF Binding options
8. Sheet Set Manager - I need to manage my sheets
9. EXPORTLAYOUT - export a layout to model space
10. Model Documentation Viewport Generation
11. Viewports - Hidden line removal when printing
12. Surface modelling - Slice a solid with Surface etc..
13. IMPORT - add support for PDF, EPS, IFC/ifcXML, ESRI SHP, KML, STL
14. EXPORT - add support for STL, KML, ESRI SHP
15. I Want my Bricscad to run on
16. And I need my Bricscad to support this many bits

So visit Unofficial Bricscad Wishlist and make your voice heard! The wishlist will be open for a month, and results will be posted back here.


Regards,

Jason Bourhill

CAD Concepts

Emanuel Simionescu

Just did it!

Juraj Matel

Full MULTILINE support (minimally grip support, for drawing and editing is here great BcadTools), please!
FORMULAs for FIELDs (as is in AutoCad)
GRIPs for dynamic blocks, if not also dynamic blocks edit and create
Inplace textedit...
"Inteligent" command line, like is in AC2013 (if there isn't some patent for this) - it's quite nice feature

Juraj Matel

Oh! And also Mac version (iOS device would be good to have... but it's only wish).

Resto Mara

Well, well - You want AutoCAD at a 1/5 th price...

Tim Neumann

My two cents.....

1. Balloons w/ number & leader

2. Detail balloons

3. Break command for dimension lines

Has anyone seen the list of improvements for V13?

Daniel Eiszele

Jason, some of the features you have listed are scheduled for the V12 lifecycle.  Are we writing these off  as "no shows" already?

Features scheduled for V12 life cycle

 

- Tool Palettes

- Parallelization (Multi-Core support)

- Multiline and Multiline styles

- Layer filters

- Plot to file print option

- Improved PDF export

- Array command dialog

- Dimlinear: ‘zero’ extension lines

- Import WMF

- Sheet sets

- Publish command

John Gaunt

It's encouraging that these lists are along the lines of features I would appreciate.

I'm still using the last incarnation of V11 because V12 has a problem for me with one dimension variable, the workaround for which is more trouble than sticking with a version with which I am basically very happy.

While a fix is promised, some recent updates are all to do with things like .net which I must admit I don't even know what they are or do.

I can't find the release notes screen just looking now, makes me feel I must be getting even more out of touch.

Richard Sands

I'd favour Esri shp file export or some propriety GIS format.
KML export too.

I have tried some of the applications for GIS in Bricscad but yet to find one that actually works for my data. (import that is)
So a good robust export would be nice, import the icing on the cake for me.

Jason Bourhill

@Daniel,

I based the wishlist on what was available as of V12.2.14, some of features identified for the V12 life cycle have yet to make an appearance, some of the others are there, but need further development to be truly useful. Maybe this will act as a timely reminder on a promise made!

Some commands/features may not necessarily meet people expectations. e.g. eTransmit has been available in Bricscad for a while, but it lacks the bells and whistles. Publish is more recent, but similar. Theses missing features are made more pronounced when you introduce new commands, like Sheetsets. In the case of array, perhaps people will be satisfied with a simple dialog, but others may infer that associative arrays will be provided with it, which may not prove to be the case.

For reference, here are some links to previous discussions on feature requests:

• Preference Poll. Prior to launch of V12.
  
• Wishlist: Smart Track with smart spacing
• Recent feedback from users in India.
• Support for 3D mice/devices.
• Features scheduled for V12 life cycle

If you now of some more, please post.

Had a great response so far to the poll, thanks to all who have made  the effort.

Regards,

Jason Bourhill

CAD Concepts

Walter Vardanega

I prepare 2D architectural and civil type drawings using Bricscad.
I need to be able to draw 2d walls, windows and doors (different types) in plan view.
I also request that selected items are not deselected when the zoom icons are activated as per the pan command (most important). This would make using a Wacom tablet a lot easier
Regards
Walter

Greg Skelhorn

Some of these would certainly be nice to have, I'm not sure what "10. Model Documentation Viewport Generation" means.

Walter Vardanega

Also I need to be able to adjust the boundaries of MSpace Viewports.
Walter

Jason Bourhill

@Greg,

This video provides an intro to Model Documentation viewports, a feature useful to those working in 3D.

Regards,

Jason Bourhill

CAD Concepts

Mustafa Kocatürk

Hi,

if there is a whish list,  I would like to whish supporting of transparence entities (Hatches, Layers…) like AutoCAD does it since several releases.

Regards,

Mustafa Kocatürk

below software GmbH

Jason Bourhill

@Mustafa,

visit Unofficial Bricscad Wishlist and make your voice heard!

Regards,

Jason Bourhill

CAD Concepts

Simon Crowder

I think its interesting to see that almost all wishes from users are for 2D drafting capabilities. I subscribe to that view, most of my output is 2D drawings on paper and PDF. The CAD market is full with programms that do 3D in some form, but few that take 2D drafting seriously. Don't get me worng, I have nothing against 3D modeling. I use Rhino if I need to get work done in 3D, it plays very well with Bricscad. It's just that 95% of the fee paying work is for 2D drawings. 

Bricscad is now a hybrid between 2D and 3D CAD. With 3D being the 'Premium' feature. I'd like to see a hybrid between 2D CAD and Vector drawing applications (Illustrator, CorelDraw) with the premium feature being the best technical drafting you can get.

Jason Bourhill

@Simon

visit the Unofficial Bricscad Wishlist and make your voice heard!


Regards,

Jason Bourhill

CAD Concepts

Randy Long

 Please add microstation .dgn file import/export to the list. I'm surprised people don't mention it more often in the forums. And maybe a sketchup import/export plgugin as well? .skp

Knut Hohenberg

I have to second Simon's view.

While I follow bricscad's progress in the 3d realm with interest, its primary purpose for the majority of users will remain drafting (at least in medium terms), and v12 didn't bring many substantial improvements here.

But I think the problem is that implementing more of AutoCAD's features will not really help, since its 2d-toolset looks increasingly outdated. This leaves companies like Bricsys in a difficult position - moving forward on their own would break dwg compatibility and probably destroy their main market, while copying half-baken features drains their resources without bringing real progress to the users.

That said, I'll list what I see as main shortcomings, knowing that they cannot be addressed at this point:

- (LW)POLYLINES, SPLINES, HATCHES and REGIONS are legacy stuff that should be replaced by a comprehensive CURVE entity featuring background color and hatching as properties, real fillets and chamfers as vertex modifiers, and allow for easy boolean and bezier-style editing.

- the whole units and scale system is a mess (I bet less than 1% of users really understand it), and annotational objects will not change this.

- their should be a modifier stack instead of isolated features such as dynamic arrays (download a copy of blender if you don't know what that means). I don't think many people would ask for mlines if there was an offset modifier...

- a full parametric system that allows for user-defined, 'intelligent' objects. Constraints and dynamic blocks are just a partial (yet very complicated) solution. I would vote for something like ArchiCAD's GDL in LISP...


There are, however, a number of things that could be improved without affecting compatibility, and IMHO these should be done prior to implementing new features:
- All 2d-commands should feature real-time graphic feedback, e.g. it is not understandable why filleting a solid's edge has it and filleting a polyline hasn't.
- With the amount of regressions found in some releases, I think there is the need for a 'stable' and a 'testing' branch (like McNeel does with Rhino).

Simon Crowder

Very good points from Knut.

I accept, that my whish for the ultimate 2D drafting and drawing programme is possibly beyond the scope of what is possible with a DWG based system. However there needs to be a vision. Today the vision for CAD vendors and developers is to provide 'full 3D' 'parametric constraints' etc you know the buzz words... when in fact most users don't need these features and accordingly don't use them.  All this development work could be put into something that users actually find useful.

 

John Gaunt

I thought 3d (cad) might one day come to me, or I must be getting left behind going by all I have read and heard suggesting 2d is all but buried.

Couldn't get much sense out of Blender or Alibre either so I suspect I must be thick, but I get paid for 2d drawings in dwg format.

Perhaps too inflexible, but very few drafters would be strangers to actual 3d.

Apparently I'm not alone, but still feel I'm missing something.

Randy Long

 John,

I've found the easiest 3d program is sketchup. The learning curve is pretty flat, and the basic program has a lot of file types you can play with. I'd give it a shot. If you get the pro version, it comes with paper space tabs and has many more file formats.

Wonderful and fun, but I've not been able to put it in production.

RL~

John Gaunt

I will definitely give it a try but my sticking point is really, what to do with this 3d thing when the linework is finished.

I can draw say a run of ductwork in 3d, but as complicated areas get more impressive they seem less useful and/or time consuming for sorting clashes, and noting and dimensioning side views as easily as if they were 2d sections.

Robt Deans

I most miss Express Layer Tools, i.e:
LAYMCH
LAYCUR
COPYTOLAYER
LAYERP

Jason Bourhill

Just a reminder that the Unofficial Bricscad Wishlist is still open, so you still have time to cast your vote. Results will be posted back here. Thanks to all who have taken the time to respond so far.

Regards,

Jason Bourhill

CAD Concepts

Jason Bourhill

Last reminder the Unofficial Bricscad Wishlist is due to close 21 Sept, 1800 UTC. If you haven't voted you still have time, but be quick!

Regards,

Jason Bourhill

CAD Concepts

Dan Wiseman

 @Robt Deans

You can download Express Tools from the App Store.  

I don't think LayerP command is an Express Tool though.  I really miss that too.

Roberto Marafante

in properties bar near button "quick select" requires button "pickadd" +  for on,  or 1 for off   ;-))

Sander Scheiris

 When do you publish the results?

martin@enco.us

I hope that in addition to the wish list that Bricsys takes the time to fix some of the bugs that are still in the v13 beta.  The ones that affect me the most are

~ the scroll bars work inside some commands but do not work inside some other commands
~ GRREAD returns the same codes for the arrow keys and keys % & ' and ( 
~ the TEXT command in lisp does not work the same as the command line command or Autocad lisp
~ the Bricscad mouse routine requires far too much time between a left click in a selection function and a right click to say "I have completed my selections".  In Autocad no delay is required.  In Bricscad I have to wait 1/2 second or so between the left click and the right click or the right click is ignored.
~ copybase does not play well between Bricscad and Autocad.  A copybase plus ctrl-v works to copy and paste linework within Brickscad.  It works within Autocad.  If you try to use the same command sequence between Bricscad and Autocad or between Autocad and Bricscad the entities paste as an OLE object rather than as linework.

New features are a good thing, but fixing known bugs and incompatibilities is also important.