Below is a brief description of the enhancements and new features. Click on the hyperlink keywords for a detailed description.
Some features or commands might not be available yet on the Linux platform. Please check the Command Reference guide.
FLATSHOT command: Creates a hidden line representation of all 3D entities as displayed in the current view. This 2D representation can be inserted as a block or exported to a file.
EXPORT command: support for SVG format (Scalable Vector Graphics). SVG export options were added in the Settings dialog.
ATTRIBUTES: added support for FIELDS.
MTEXTFIXED:
system variable has been added. When MTEXTFIXED is set to 2 ( =
default), the Mtext Editor rotates, pans and zooms the view to
ensure that edited Mtext is easily editable.
When MTEXTFIXED is set to 0 or 1, no zoom or rotation is applied,
only pan in case the Mtext is completely invisible.
NETLOAD command: Loads a .NET application.
SOLPROF command: Creates a hidden line representation of 3D solids in a layout viewport.
GRID system variables:
PEDIT: added support for converting splines to polylines.
WNEXT and WPREV commands: Displays the next and previous drawing window if multiple drawings are open simultaneously.
BREAK: added support for breaking splines.
LINE TYPES
RENDER BACKGROUND: views have been extended with backgrounds. The background definition of the active view is applied during rendering. The background can be defined either as a solid or gradient color, or using an image (e.g. of a cloudy or sunny sky) which can be scaled, offset and tiled. The 'Sun and Sky' option, which generates a parameter-based synthesized image of a sky, is not yet supported.
PDFFRAME system variable: determines whether PDF underlay frame is visible and plotted.
PERSPECTIVE system variable and command, allowing to switch perspective ON/OFF.
Besides an entirely reworked RTROT command (Real Time
ROTation), new commands RTROTF and RTROTCTR were
added.
RTROTF offers Free rotation, as formerly offered by RTROT, while
RTROT has become constrained, no longer allowing 'roll' because
roll is undesirable during most modeling work. Roll is what happens
when the view is rotated around an axis perpendicular to the
screen, the Z-axis, like in the RTROTZ command.
Moving the cursor horizontally rotates the camera around the Z-axis of the World Coordinate System (WCS).
Moving the cursor vertically rotates the
camera around the X-axis of the view.
The new RTROTCTR command first asks to pick the rotation center point, and from then on behaves like RTROT.
RTROT is executed transparently when using Shift + Middle Mouse Button (or wheel), the former key combination Ctrl + Left Mouse Button remains supported.
RTROTF is executed transparently using Ctrl + Shift + Middle Mouse Button (or wheel).
RTROTZ key combination is unchanged: Ctrl + Right Mouse Button.
Bricscad Platinum version: besides the modules contained in Bricscad Pro, Bricscad Platinum includes the new X-Solids module, offering history-based 3D modeling, and X-Hardware, a library of parameterized scripts to create commonly used hardware.
TABLES:
Enabled the creation and editing of Tables and Table Styles.
Commands: TABLE, -TABLE, TABLEDIT, TABLEEXPORT, TABLEMOD, TABLESTYLE
WNEXT and WPREV commands: Displays the next and previous drawing window if multiple drawings are open simultaneously.
DYNAMIC BLOCKS: insertion of dynamic blocks and modification of properties through the properties bar have been implemented, so existing dynamic block libraries can be leveraged. Insert Dynamic blocks from your existing dynamic block libraries and adjust the custom properties and constraints in the Properties Bar. The creation of new dynamic blocks is not possible yet.
PDF UNDERLAY: Attach any pdf file to your drawing, then control the display of layers in the pdf using the PDFLAYERS command and snap to the geometry contained in the pdf. A pdf underlay can be clipped using a rectangle or a polyline.
PDFATTACH command: allows to attach PDF files similar to image files and reference files.
PDFLAYERS command: allows to control the display of layers in a PDF underlay.
PDFCLIP command allows clipping PDF files similar to reference files
PDFOSNAP system variable enables/disables snapping to geometry contained in a PDF underlay.
LAYER PREVIEW: the content of layers, selected in the Drawing Explorer, is displayed in the Layer's preview pane. (according to the currently active viewport). To disable layer preview, simply close the preview pane. This will only affect the Layer explorer preview pane, the preview pane in the other Explorer windows will remain available, each category of explored items stores its own pane layout.
DYNAMIC DIMENSIONS: When creating or grip-editing entities, dynamic dimensions help you to work accurately by keying in the desired distance or angle in the according fields.
The following system variables and user preferences control the behavior of dynamic dimensions:
DYNMODE variable: controls whether dynamic dimensions are available while creating/editing entities.
DYNMODE can be switched ON/OFF clicking the new DYNMODE field on the status bar.
DYNDIGRIP variable: specifies which dynamic dimension types display.
DYNDIVIS variable: specifies how many dynamic dimensions display simultaneously.
DynDimColorHover preference: specifies the color of dynamic dimensions when hovering over a grip point.
DynDimColorHot preference: specifies the color of dynamic dimensions when moving grip points.
DynDimLineType preference: spedifies the line type of dynamic dimensions when moving grip points.
DynDimDistance preference: specifies a factor for the distance between the dynamic dimensions line and the grip points being dimensioned.
SELECTIONAREA, WINDOWAREACOLOR, CROSSINGAREACOLOR and SELECTIONAREAOPACITY system variables control whether, and how, the selection area is visualized.
HPSEPARATE: A new option in the hatch dialog lets you choose whether to create a single hatch or separate hatches when clicking subsequent points to detect hatch boundaries or when you select multiple closed entities to be hatched.
MTEXT: added support for background masks.
MIDPOINT SNAP: the midpoint-between-two-points command modifier can be used at any Command prompt to locate a point by keying in MTP (or M2P).
PARALLEL SNAP: constrains a line, polyline segment, ray or xline to be parallel to another linear entity. Specify the first point of linear entity or polyline segment, then hover the cursor over the linear entity or polyline segment to draw parallel with: the parallel entity snap symbol displays on the selected line. Then move the cursor so that the rubber banding from the starting point is nearly parallel to the selected entity: a tracking line displays from the starting point. Click to define the second point while the tracking line displays or key in the desired length.
PARALLEL command: toggles the parallel snap setting.
PERFORMANCE:
The CACHELAYOUT system variable controls whether the content of layouts is cached. The extra memory required for caching is made up for by improvements to the memory requirements for displaying entities, the net result being that the memory needed to display drawings has been reduced. As a result of this switching between layouts is up to 10 times faster now.
INCREASED MEMORY LIMIT: until V10 the limit of the amount of memory that could be used by Bricscad was around 1.6 GB. In V11 this limit has been increased to 4 GB on 64 bit systems and 3 GB on 32 bit systems. On 32 bit systems additional manual changes to the boot process are required:
32 bit XP: set /3GB flag in boot.ini. It is recommended to back up your boot.ini beforehand.
32 bit Vista/Windows7: on windows commandline run 'bcdedit /set increaseuserva nnnn', nnnn being a number between 2048 and 3072. The default value is 2048, to allow for 3 GB set it to 3072.
CREATEVIEWPORTS variable: controls if a new viewport is created for newly created layouts.
ACIS: upgraded to ACIS R19 modeler libraries (Pro version only).
To enjoy the benefits of the new powerful render engine requires a Pro license.
Based on the Redway3d rendering engine (www.redway3d.com). By default the rendering engine will try to leverage the hardware on the graphics card. If experiencing problems, please switch off the RenderUsingHardware user preference. It is recommended to install the most recent drivers for your graphics card. The IsRedSdkHardwareRenderingSupported user preference reports if Red SDK hardware rendering is fully supported and the initial value of RenderUsingHardware user preference is set accordingly.
RENDER command: renders the current view. By default the rendered display is overwritten by the next redraw of the display. When switching to Permanent rendered mode, every subsequent redraw of the display will produce a rendered image. Rendered views can be saved to file at any desired resolution. LIGHT, SPOTLIGHT, POINTLIGHT, WEBLIGHT, DISTANTLIGHT, commands allow to create and set various light types. The LIGHTINGUNITS system variable sets the units for the photometric properties of a light.
LIGHTLIST or LL opens a list of lights in the Drawing Explorer, which offers a quick way to switch lights ON/OFF, or to select lights in the drawing (e.g. distant lights have no graphical representation...).
MATERIALS command: opens the Materials Explorer which allows to create and modify rendering material definitions.
TextureMapPath setting: allows easy switching between using render textures of low/medium/high resolution.
Materials can be assigned using the Layer Explorer and/or the Properties Bar.
SUNPROPERTIES or SUN opens the Drawing Explorer on the Lights section, where the Sun properties for the current viewport can be set.
GEOGRAPHICLOCATION (or GEO) command opens the GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION dialog, which lets you specify the longitude (West or East) and latitude (North or South), timezone and north direction of the drawing location. The settings are saved to the LATITUDE, LONGITUDE, NORTHDIRECTION and TIMEZONE system variables.
Some features or commands might not be available yet on the Linux platform. Please check the Command Reference guide.
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