BricsCAD v15 Wishlist

S G

Has anyone started one of these? If not here are some things I am in need of, it would be even greater to update v14 with these if at all possible. These are not in any real specific order, accept the multi-leader and sheet set issues should be given top priority.

1.  Fix Multi-leader to Mirror over a vertical correctly and fix Multi-leader to extend landing on right side to end of text, not end of text frame.
2. Sheet sets publish with sheet numbers not just sheet title.
3. Fix bugs in publish feature, since publish will not PDF correctly all sheets, some end up being 0 KB even after refreshing the folder.
4. Fix bugs in sheet set manager. Sheet set gives an error and ask to abort, retry, or ignore but doesn't allow me to exit the sheet set manager.
5.  Fix dynamic blocks to mirror/flip dynamic block attributes over horizontal correctly without the over offset.
6. Add grips to a hatch that has no boundary.
7. Add midpoint grips to poly-lines.
8. Option to enable a notification icon on status bar that turns a bright color when an external reference has been modified.
9. Add auto-hide of windows/menus and add docking to left or right of main window features.
10. Lock tool bars or lock workspace feature.
11. SETBYLAYER command built in that has option to set all entity defined including blocks within blocks within blocks to bylayer.
12. Disable system beep when typing a letter to quickly find layer in entity property layer pull-down menu.
13. Allow the ability to select the line first then hit the set current layer button instead of just the other way around.
14. Fix scale of hatches to reflect AutoCAD industry standards.
15. Fix sheet set so that it does not reset view back to sheet set properties when updating some values such as the Title.
16. Fix external reference so that every time you update the path of a reference it doesn't close the window and reopen it...this would allow the update of multiple paths that are known to already work before saving the path...speeds up the ability to change multiple paths.
17. Make a reference manger like AutoCAD reference manager to manage multiple sheets at once.
18. Add tabs to access open drawings across the top of the screen, e.g. like the tabs in the Chrome Browser which are flush with the top of the screen when maximized.
19. Allow the insertion of multiple drawings at once. (why not use the built in Windows opendialog window that allows for more features? e.g. the ability to save favorite folders to the dialog window for quick access to network directories or current projects)
20. Add TEMPOVERRIDES command so that shift key ortho can be disabled.
21. Lock viewport along with all the other entities that are locked when editing an xref in place that is above a viewport. If not you can accidentally double click into a viewport in current sheet while you are editing an xref in place which is over that viewport in the same current sheet, which is undesirable of course.
22. Add a grip to the bottom of mtext box.

Louis_Verdonck

Hi Steven

To insert a selection of drawings do the following:

1. In a Windows explorer window, select the drawings.

2. Press and hold the right mouse button, then drag the selection onto the BricsCAD application window.

3. Release the right mouse button and choose either 'Insert Here' or 'Create Xref' in the context menu.

You will be prompted to specify the insertion point for each of the selected drawings.

S G

@Louis Verdonck:

Hi Steven

To insert a selection of drawings do the following:

1. In a Windows explorer window, select the drawings.

2. Press and hold the right mouse button, then drag the selection onto the BricsCAD application window.

3. Release the right mouse button and choose either 'Insert Here' or 'Create Xref' in the context menu.

You will be prompted to specify the insertion point for each of the selected drawings.

Hey Louis,

What was your reply in reference too? I am a little confused since none of the points in the wishlist were about inserting a selection of drawings.

Thank You,

Steven

Denis Lamothe

 Steven, I think Louis is replying to you're 4th last point, which makes reference to:

1. Allow the insertion of multiple drawings at once.

S G

@Denis Lamothe:

 Steven, I think Louis is replying to you're 4th last point, which makes reference to:

1. Allow the insertion of multiple drawings at once.

Ah ha, I did ask for that but I also meant to ask about just opening up drawings in general. Probably should of had a whole separate point for that. If you are familiar with AutoCAD you will notice a white box to the left of the open dialog box window, you can right click in that window to save the current directory you are in as a favorite.

Louis, thanks for the tip about the insertion of multiple drawings/blocks/xrefs and I have used this probably a long time ago once before in AutoCAD but without two monitors, going outside of the BricsCAD window is a little cumbersome, so that doesn't seem like a valid option in a production environment. I still believe the option to insert multiple drawings/blocks/xrefs should be standard within the insert menu's and xref menu's open dialog box.

Jason Bourhill

Hi Steve,

In regards to Favourites, suggest you take a look at Places Bar under _SETIINGS. this allows you to customise the shortcuts on the left hand side of the file dialogue. You can right click on a folder in the file window, then use Send to to add this to your favourites.

You can _OPEN multiple files at once by selecting them in the file window. You may want to check out Working Sets, if this is something you like to do a lot.

In regards to TEMPOVERRIDES. I think this functionality could be achieved with some LISP in conjunction with a partial menu, or AutoHotkey. You can customise the keyboard in the _CUI, but it restricts which keys you can define, such as SHIFT + E. AutoHotkey gets around this limitation. You might be interested in this post, which has some details on using gaming (macro) keyboards.

My main wish would be an overhaul of the forum interface. Enable editing of posts, vote answers up/down, improve support for posting of code, fix the issue of getting log out when you're trying to post a reply, losing your message (just happened on this post).

Regards,

Jason Bourhill

CAD Concepts

Jason Bourhill

Woops,

meant to re-attach this screen grab of the places bar settings.

Regards,

Jason Bourhill

CAD Concepts

2014-06-27_10-41-36(2).png

S G

Hey Jason,

Thanks for the suggestions. I wasn't really looking for answers to my wishlist but I appreciate everyone trying to offer suggestions, at the least they will make using BricsCAD more bearable. The issue is that these suggestions either may be for something other than what is on my wishlist or are small temporary band-aids to things that really need to be addressed, fixed, or robustly added in the next release by Bricsys.

For example:

In regards to Favourites, suggest you take a look at Places Bar under _SETIINGS. this allows you to customise the shortcuts on the left hand side of the file dialogue. You can right click on a folder in the file window, then use Send to to add this to your favourites. 

I didn't know this feature existed in the options menu but if I continue to use BricsCAD utilizing the favorites folder will make it more bearable. Still though in the options menu you only have the option to have one user specified folder called the "Drawings path" folder...in AutoCAD you can delete all preset folders and have as many Drawing path folders as you wish...and you don't have to use the settings menu to specify them...you can add them right from the open file dialog box...you just right click on the places bar and click "Add Current Folder".

You can _OPEN multiple files at once by selecting them in the file window. You may want to check out Working Sets, if this is something you like to do a lot.

I already knew I could open multiple files at once, my wish was in reference to the xref and insert open file window, it appears you can only insert or xref one thing at a time, you cannot select multiple drawings, which is limiting when you use multiple xrefs or blocks in drawings a lot.

In regards to TEMPOVERRIDES. I think this functionality could be achieved with some LISP in conjunction with a partial menu, or AutoHotkey. You can customise the keyboard in the _CUI, but it restricts which keys you can define, such as SHIFT + E. AutoHotkey gets around this limitation. You might be interested in this post, which has some details on using gaming (macro) keyboards.

I will take a look at this but the TEMPOVERRIDES feature just needs to be a part of BricsCAD. Even if I have to go about enabling or disabling it differently than I would in AutoCAD, the feature to disable the shift override should be built in.

My main wish would be an overhaul of the forum interface. Enable editing of posts, vote answers up/down, improve support for posting of code, fix the issue of getting log out when you're trying to post a reply, losing your message (just happened on this post).

And I agree I would like to go back and edit my post too to catch those typos I didn't catch the first time around.    To offer a band-aid for your vote answers suggestion maybe you could just go into the thread you want voted up and post a post with the words "Bump" but that might get on a few peoples nerves lol.

Thanks,
Steven

Richard Sands

Interesting. Multiple dwgs. Thanks.

My suggestion is import shp (GIS) files.
True import, not just a 'pseudo import' that sits in space and can't be snapped to or used in any real way.
One could add Export to GIS format too, but I would settle for import.
Doesn't need to worry about the attributes side of the files.

Its_Alive

“Add tabs to access open drawings across the top of the screen, e.g. like the tabs in the Chrome Browser which are flush with the top of the screen when maximized.”

 

I don’t know if you have seen this yet, there is a doc tabs module in the store (free),  caveat, they display at the editor border.

 

Cheers

Louis_Verdonck

About 'Favorite Folders': click the Folders tab in the Drawings pane of the Drawings Explorer. Here you can add as many drawing folders as you want. Remember that blocks in these drawings can be inserted in the current drawing without opening the containing drawing. 

Louis_Verdonck

Forgot to add: right click a drawing one of the favorite folders and choose an option in the context menu:

- Open the drawing

- Insert the drawing as a block

- Add the drawing as a block to the current Tool Palette

martin@enco.us

I feel like I'm posting what used to be my annual post to Autodesk here, but my plea is to fix underlying problems before adding anything new:
-  Bricscad frequently crashes after a couple of hours of work.  New instances of Bricscad open with the command bar taking the bottom half of the screen.  System commands work when an instance of Bricscad is started but becoming "unknown command" after an hour or so.  These happen almost every day in my office.  Based on previous threads here this may be related to the SDI mode not being fully implemented.  I have no way to know, but I also know I have no way to fix it.  I also hope the final answer is not to remove SDI -- some of us need it for our work processes.
-  Linework on the screen frequently does not repaint properly.  An example would be erasing a text entity and having a nearby line disappear.  Zooming will restore the linework, but that should not be necessary.
-  Object snaps are not fully reliable.  As an example, I often have to zoom in to have the intersection glyph appear, even when there are only two lines on the screen.
-  The scroll bar in the layer toolbar control does not work.  The drawing area scroll bars do not work when a command is active. 

My number one feature request:
-  Add locked layer fading. 

martin@enco.us

I forgot a few others:

I seldom use MTEXT.  One reason is that the first time I call the mtext command my computer hangs for about 20 seconds.  There is no hourglass or other indication that the program is doing something.  It just stops responding.  I think the pause is related to mapping fonts.

I like the additions to lisp, but the improvements have made the error reporting unusable at times.  When the lisp engine optimizes the original lisp code the error messages refer to the optimized code syntax, not to the code I wrote.  That makes troubleshooting much more difficult.

The documentation is not always updated in a timely manner.  If a lisp function is added or a command is changed the online documentation needs to reflect that change.  I'd also really like to see at least a basic documentation of all the vl* functions.  One sentence that tells what the function does plus an example of the calling syntax would be enough. 

S G

@H Martin Shoemaker

-   It sounds like you may need more RAM and a better graphics card and are you still working on windows xp? Those issues sound like something that would come up over a remote connection so it seems like it points to being hardware related.

-   For the object snaps that issue is a part of AutoCAD as well, some issues may be unavoidable by nature of how it works, but as another option if you can click the object first and use a grip there is a setting in the options menu to increase the grip attraction distance.

S G

 @H Martin Shoemaker

I am surprised your computer doesn't hang for text as well. This has always been the case for me in AutoCAD as well, we have a huge directory of fonts on the network and it has to load these. But this only occurs the first time we use the mtext or text command per each drawing. After the first time it is quick to call the mtext or text command as usual, since the fonts have already been loaded.

S G

@Louis Verdonck

I am trying to follow your last two post but they do not offer the same functionality I am wishing for.

S G

@Daniel Marcotte:

“Add tabs to access open drawings across the top of the screen, e.g. like the tabs in the Chrome Browser which are flush with the top of the screen when maximized.”

 

I don’t know if you have seen this yet, there is a doc tabs module in the store (free),  caveat, they display at the editor border.

 

Cheers

Thanks, I didn't know that app existed, but yea that is a big caveat since it doesn't conserve space like the Chrome Browser's tabs do.

Bruce Fillmore

@H Martin Shoemaker:
 I'd also really like to see at least a basic documentation of all the vl* functions.  One sentence that tells what the function does plus an example of the calling syntax would be enough. 

That would be an excellent thing to have.  I'll second that.

martin@enco.us

@Steven G:

-   It sounds like you may need more RAM and a better graphics card and are you still working on windows xp? Those issues sound like something that would come up over a remote connection so it seems like it points to being hardware related.

i7-4770, 16GB RAM, Win7.  I do use the on-CPU graphics.  I don't do rendering or play games on my work computer.  Gigabit network in the office.  No remote connection.

Jason Bourhill

@ Steven,

Louis is referring to the Folders tab of the Drawing Explorer (CTRL + 2). He's offering this an alternative to Favourites, as it offers similar functionality. From the folders tab you can add folders to the list, open drawings, insert them as a block, or add them to a tool palette.

It also highlights that while BricsCAD works with .dwg, BricsCAD ≠ AutoCAD. BricsCAD isn't going to work in exactly the same way as AutoCAD, instead it may offer an alternative way to achieve the same.

@ H Martin Shoemaker.
I agree on the LISP error reporting. Perhaps this is a bug? I don't remember it being problematic previously. It would be useful if you could run a utility that parsed your code, and output it in the optimised format.

Regards,

Jason Bourhill

CAD Concepts

2014-06-28_12-50-42.png

S G

@H Martin Shoemaker:

i7-4770, 16GB RAM, Win7.  I do use the on-CPU graphics.  I don't do rendering or play games on my work computer.  Gigabit network in the office.  No remote connection.

I would point toward the "on-CPU graphics" being the culprit, you need a dedicated GPU for daily CAD work.

S G

Thanks for the screenshot @Jason Bourhill and for the clarification, I didn't realize what Louis was talking about when he mentioned the Drawing Explorer. I guess that is why the old saying came around "A picture is worth a thousand words". At any rate, this functionality is in AutoCAD, but it is called "design center". For some reason it just seems more intuitive to open things from an open dialog box rather than a drawing explorer or design center. I will try out the drawings explorer though and see if it is a faster and more useful method/alternative of doing things.

I would have to agree with you that AutoCAD ≠ BricsCAD, currently when it comes to both price and features AutoCAD > BricsCAD. I would rather it be when it comes to features that BricsCAD be ≥ AutoCAD and when it comes to price I rather it stay that BricsCAD be < AutoCAD, furthermore I rather Bricsys (which will one day included BIM be) be ≥ AutoDesk. I strongly believe developers should get paid their due but the price Autodesk sells software for shows a disregard for people and society since a monopoly hinders productivity and innovation. For that reason I want to support Bricsys's efforts and it seems that this is what Bricsys's mission/vision statement proclaims:

With relentless commitment to the success of the BricsCAD community, Bricsys is focused on providing an industrial strength CAD software platform and industry leading support at a compelling price to customers in the AEC, GIS, civil engineering, process and power, and mechanical CAD markets.

...in doing so I hope Bricsys does not go down the same path as AutoDesk when it comes to charging exorbitant prices.

Damian Harkin

Wishlist - I would like to see an enhancement for attached images - an image placed by giving four corner points.  The image would be rubber-sheeted to fit between these 4 points.  This would allow accurate placement of images and image tiles projected from Google Maps, Open Street Map, NearMap etc.  Sets of adjacent tiles would fit together perfectly after transformation

An enhanced version of the Align command might be developed to create the same transformation. using any four source/target points.  This 4-point solution may be more than we really need.

As a next-best solution, I would like images to have independent X and Y scales.  (Workaround - store the image in a block and scale the block).  The enhanced Align command would use 3 points.

NearMap produces accurate, timely, geo-referenced aerial photographs which are a fabulous resource for designers, surveyors, councils, construction management etc.  We need to project these images from UTM coordinates to Map Grid of Australia coordinates so they align accurately under published cadastral maps.  A degree of latitude is longer on the ground than a degree of longitude - independent X and Y scaling is required. 

Another idea is to store the EPSG coordinate system codes of 1. the attached image and 2. the current drawing, then calculate the transformation of the referenced image on the fly.

Steven Cobden

@Damian Harkin:

As a next-best solution, I would like images to have independent X and Y scales.  (Workaround - store the image in a block and scale the block).  The enhanced Align command would use 3 points.

Having independent X and Y scales would be super handy when working with sections that have vertical exaggeration! 

I'd also like to be able to have the layer tab in the drawing explorer open all of the time instead of having to open and close it every time.

An 'isolate' layer button in the layer tab would be handy as well. The button would make only the layer of interest visible without actually having to turn on/off the other layers. This would make it so much easier when working with design features that are overlayed over existing features. 

Roy Klein Gebbinck

@ H Martin Shoemaker:
You should get the 'Lisp Developer Support Package' from the BricsCAD Application Catalog.

From 'Lisp Developer Support Package.chm':
It is possible to disable the Optimiser by (vle-optimiser nil), which is immediately effective, and suppresses code optimisations, until enabled again; the control statements can appear at any place in a Lisp file, to support troubleshooting, if necessary.
At the end of the file being loaded, the Lisp Optimiser is automatically reset to enabled status again.

martin@enco.us

@Steven G:

I would point toward the "on-CPU graphics" being the culprit, you need a dedicated GPU for daily CAD work.

martin@enco.us

@Steven G:

I would point toward the "on-CPU graphics" being the culprit, you need a dedicated GPU for daily CAD work.

I would be interested in knowing why you believe this.

All my work is 2D.  In the past I used high end gaming graphics cards.  I've also used "workstation" graphics cards.  The "disappearing linework" problem has occurred with every card and every driver I've tried.  For 2D work no one in my office can see a speed difference between the integrated graphics and a dedicated graphics card.

martin@enco.us

@Roy Klein Gebbinck:

@ H Martin Shoemaker:
You should get the 'Lisp Developer Support Package' from the BricsCAD Application Catalog.

From 'Lisp Developer Support Package.chm':
It is possible to disable the Optimiser by (vle-optimiser nil), which is immediately effective, and suppresses code optimisations, until enabled again; the control statements can appear at any place in a Lisp file, to support troubleshooting, if necessary.
At the end of the file being loaded, the Lisp Optimiser is automatically reset to enabled status again.

Thanks.  I hadn't thought to try (vle-opitmizer nil).

S G

@H Martin Shoemaker,

There must be a bottle neck somewhere. I did notice the issue you are having when I first started using BricsSys, maybe it is because I turned off all the special dynamic dimensions, selection highlighting, and all that jazz that really gets in the way of serious productivity...kind of ironic huh...they make those things for productivity yet they make people very unproductive. Or it could be that I don't work daily on that workstation I was using that had the initial problem. Interestingly enough that workstation that had the issue was not one of our best workstations, meaning it doesn't have an Intel xeon processor and the graphics card is not as good as my main workstation.

At any rate a discrete GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) is designed differently than a CPU (Central Processing Unit), in other words a CPU's architecture was built for different tasks than a GPU's architecture. This is why even for 2D work (which can be extensive) requires a discrete graphics processor, unless your drawing only has a few lines in it.

It is too vague for me to know you used a high end graphics card in the past and yet it still not work well. For example we would need to look at multiple factors such as are your drawings hosted on a local network? If they are on a network and your drawing has an xref in it that is on the network the drawing is constantly loading the xref depending on what your XLOADCTL is set to. If your network is slow or old and you have big files with lots of layers, text, and lines then there would be a bottle neck. We would also need to know the best workstation and graphics processor you have ever used where this still happened, because it may have not been the very best...computer manufactures sell you technology that may be the best coupled with technology that hinders it and sometimes even call it a "gaming system". The old saying comes in to play here: you are as strong as your weakest link. If the motherboard's datapath, cpu, memory, and gpu are not working together on the same level then you are as slow as your weakest link. There are so many other factors as well, such as BricsCAD level settings, OS level settings...it gets complex.

Talk your company into letting you do a test by putting together a new rig with:

• Late model graphics card with > 512 Mhz GPU with > 2 GB memory on board the graphics card itself.
• SSD such a Samsung EVO ≥ 250 GB.
• A fast ASUS motherboard or equivalent.
• High performance power supply with plenty of quiet fans on board.
• > 12 GB of RAM.
• Obviously building this system oneself would take a little research even for the seasoned pro since so many things come into choosing what to get, but would be rewarding...and you would be good to go for a few years to come with that setup even when BricsCAD comes out with a complete BIM or Inventor type application in a few years

But BricsCAD very well may have an issue, but you won't know until you do the test above and you get a new rig lol

But BricsCAD minimum system requirements are kind of light: http://www.bricsys.com/common/knowledge/topic.jsp?id=65

S G

 Oh and add to those specs an E5 Xeon processor > 2.2Ghz cores.