Experiences of a 35-year AutoCAD veteran

SteveDaniels
SteveDaniels
edited August 2018 in 2D Drafting

I've been using AutoCAD since 1984, so using it is about like walking or breathing. I've done thousands of lines of Lisp from single and two-character command shortcuts (before they were even built-in) to more involved stuff that expedites the stuff I do, which is mostly 2D industrial control schematics. All that familiarity and all that customization is what's kept me with AutoCAD for probably the last 15 years or so. That's to give you background to grasp what a truly impressive thing Bricsys has achieved for AutoCAD users.

I put probably 6 hours over the course of a couple days into evaluating the trial version of BC, probably half of that in customization (copying my blocks and lisp files, setting screen background and cursor color, cursor size, setting folder paths, setting config variables in BC, etc.) and half in practice/evaluation time seeing how it would do loading my existing drawings and AutoLISP routines, and generally evaluating the drawing experience. I have yet to find one of my Lisp routines that's not perfectly supported, and by the end of that 5-6hrs, including customizing time, I felt like I could actually use BC full time with no impact on productivity! That's 2-3hours drawing time for a guy who's being doing AutoCAD for over three decades! Just beyond impressive.

So here's my [very short] list of stuff that I don't like and/or still need help with:

  1. I like to create ad hoc groups of object by drawing, cutting and then pasting back as a block. In AC I can do this with a right click after cutting, but in BricsCAD I have to hit Ctrl-Shift-V. Is there a way to create a right click menu?
  2. I despise the option list that appears when you enter most commands in verb-noun sequence, but I can't find any place to turn it off. Can it be disabled, and if so, where?
  3. I plot in AC using the plot dialog rather than the command line, and to get the equivalent in BricsCAD, I have to right click on the viewport tab and click Print. I'd like to reroute the Plot command and probably the toolbar button as well. I think I can probably figure out how to do this, but if anyone wants to save me the trouble or has a quick way, it would be appreciated.
  4. I prefer the top-level recent file list in AC to the File → Recent Files → choose your file method in BricsCAD (and prefer leaving GettingStarted turned off). Is there a way to edit the BC menus to emulate the AC way?
  5. I don't really have any use for LookFrom in most of the drawings I do, and I've got the template updated so it doesn't show when starting a new drawing, but it still (usually?) shows when opening an existing drawing. Is there a way to disable that?

Comments

  • SteveDaniels
    SteveDaniels

    I actually, once near the end of that evaluation time, FORGOT that I wasn't in AC!!

  • SteveDaniels
    SteveDaniels
    edited August 2018

    Wow, awesome package and VERY easy to migrate and learn. 3 and 4 addressed and 1, partially, and it's been what, two hours? (Can't figure out yet how to make a Right-Click menu, but Paste-As-Block is mostly the only thing I use on the AC one, so for the moment, I've just defined Right-Click as Paste-As-Block. That's probably a 90% solution, and might be good enough to just leave as is)

    Update 1: Issue 2 fixed. PROMPTMENU = 0

    Update 2: OK, turns out I use Right-Click for [enter] a lot. Moved Paste-as-Block to Ctrl-Right-Click.

    Update 3: Issue 5 fixed. Just added (command "LOOKFROM" "OFF") to the end of my lisp header files that autoloads and loads all the routine files. Doesn't seem to like setvar for some reason.

    So that's 2, 3, and 4 totally addressed and 1 and 5 tentatively/interim, but potentially final.

    Again, amazing accomplishment, to make a guy with 30+ years on the competing product almost 100% comfortable in your app with only 8-10 hrs of familiarization. Giant kudos!

  • Jason Bourhill
    Jason Bourhill

    @SteveDaniels said:
    I've been using AutoCAD since 1984, so using it is about like walking or breathing.

    Welcome aboard. I think you will enjoy BricsCAD.

    1. I think you are wanting the right click menu. If the QUAD is on then it will display first on right click by default. F12 will toggle the QUAD on/off. When the QUAD is on a long right click will display the right click menu. You can fine tune this behavior in SETTINGS.
    2. In SETTINGS, look for PROMPTMENU
    3. In BricsCAD PLOT / -PLOT is used for the command line version, PRINT for the dialogue. You could create a shortcut in the default.pgp (edit using CUI) to set PLOT to run PRINT instead.
    4. You can edit BricsCAD menus using the CUI command. BricsCAD menus use the same .cui format as AutoCAD.
    5. Right click on the LookFrom icon and select "LookFrom Settings" from the menu. This will take you to SETTINGS. NAVVCUBEDISPLAY is the variable to change. As this is saved in the drawing, you could create a template to capture this preference.

    It looks like you have got most of the way there. I think getting used to SETTINGS will help you fine tune the rest.
    You might like to check out the Lisp Developers Support Package and the ebooks available for AutoCAD users and customisation.

    Regards,
    Jason Bourhill
    CAD Concepts

  • Steven_g
    Steven_g

    Nice sentiments, I am +/- 10 year user of Autocad, and recently finished an extended trial of Bricscad (the decision to not continue was taken by the Revit group in our company). From the first week of the trials I fell in love with Bricscad, it is just so much easier to use, at least it is for my workflow. My trial finished 3 weeks ago and there isn't a day goes by that I don't hover over the Bricscad icon and wish it would work again.

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