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What's new in DataCAD LT 12?
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DATACAD LLC Software for AEC Professionals Since 1984 www.datacad.com 20 Tower Lane Avon, CT 06001 USA Sales (860) 677-4004 Main (800) 394-2231 Sales (860) 677-2610 Sales Fax info@datacad.com Technical Support (860) 677-2829 Technical Support (860) 677-2883 Technical Support Fax techsupport@datacad.com Free DataCAD Forum forum.datacad.com Dear Valued Customer: Thank you for your interest in DataCAD LT 12. As part of our dedication to continuous improvement and to deliver the highest quality CADD products possible, this latest upgrade includes your most requested enhancements. To get the most from DataCAD LT 12, please refer to the overview below. If you have any questions about DataCAD LT 12, contact our technical support staff at techsupport@datacad.com. Thank you for supporting DATACAD, Mark F. Madura President/CEO mark@datacad.com

DataCAD LT 12 New Feature Highlights
Where to find the new feature Helpful hints

Smart Entities
Far be it from us to presume your design intentions, but we couldn't help ourselves. With DataCAD LT 12's Smart Entities, you can draw walls, doors, and windows the way you always have and get 2D cleanup and 3D modeling for free! What exactly is a "smart" entity? A smart entity is a drawing element such as a wall, door, or window that contains routines and parameters that define how it behaves and interacts with other smart entities. When you draw two walls in a prior version of DataCAD LT, they don't know anything about each other until you explicitly tell the program to clean them together. In DataCAD LT 12, walls of the same type automatically clean to each other without you having to perform additional cleanup routines. The same automation applies to doors and windows as well. When you add a door or window to a wall, the wall automatically cuts itself to accommodate the opening. Further, when you move, copy, or delete a door or window, the wall automatically heals itself. These "smarts" eliminate most of the cleanup steps you had to perform in prior versions. A smart entity also knows what it is supposed to look like when viewed in plan or perspective. In plan, a door looks just like the 2D doors you are familiar with. However, when you switch to a 3D view, the door is automatically modeled complete with a jamb, casing, and trim. When you display your model in the object viewer, it is complete with rendered materials. Of course, we really can't predict all of your intentions or accommodate every potential condition. So when necessary, you can still draft with plain ol' lines and arcs. You can also convert smart entities to simple entities. Since DataCAD LT's standard entities co-exist with smart entities, you can utilize both methods. What can I do with smart entities that I can't do with traditional entities? Smart entities enable you to make changes more easily. When you change the width of a wall, all of its intersections update automatically. You can change a door from double to bi-fold without having to remove it first then redraw it. You can copy a window from one wall to another. Smart Wall and Door (Plan, Isometric and Rendered Views) Wall Type Manager Door Type Manager Window Type Manager Search and Replace Dialog Architect Menu "classic" versus "smart" Press [a] for "Architect" and toggle on Auto 3D You can use the [=] (equals sign) to switch between drawing walls and lines

SketchUp File Import
DataCAD LT 12 provides direct support for SketchUp files. Now you can easily add models you've created in SketchUp to your DataCAD LT projects. When you insert SketchUp files, DataCAD LT 12 automatically extracts materials and bitmap textures from the SketchUp file and embeds them into your DataCAD LT drawing. You can also convert SketchUp files to o2c format for raytraced visualization. Select SketchUp from the Insert pull-down menu and choose the SketchUp file you want to add to your drawing.

Object Snapping Enhancements
DataCAD LT 12's object snapping mechanism has been completely re-written to provide faster response times in larger drawings and to eliminate previous limitations. It is now possible to snap between and within symbols and XREFs (including nests). You can also snap to polyline bulge centers and XClip boundaries. A new dynamic snap indicator displays available object snap locations in real-time. The real-time display of object snapping points is automatic based upon your object snap settings. You can customize settings for the Dynamic Snap Indicator via the Dynamic Snapping section on the Interface tab in Program Preferences.

Double-precision Display List
12345678901234... DataCAD LT 12 includes a new option to enable a double-precision display when you need to work on projects that cover a large real-world area.
You can enable a double-precision display list on a per drawing basis via Utility, Display, Display List, Double.
Multi-line Text (a.k.a. MText)
A new multi-line text (with support for TTF, CHR, and SHX) entity provides wrap-around text boundaries and the ability to uniquely format text within the same paragraph such as font, size, bold, italic, underline, overline, color, alignment, and line feed factor. Multi-line text is based on RTF (Rich Text Formatting) and is round-trip compatible with AutoCAD's MText. MText Editor Dialog PText Editor Dialog
Select MText from the Text menu. You can use PText instead of MText if you only require single-font paragraph text.
SHX Font Support
DataCAD LT 12 provides native support for AutoCAD SHX fonts.
Your existing CHR fonts are automatically converted to SHX format when you run DataCAD LT 12.
Font Dialog Enhancements
An enhanced Font Dialog enables you to save and load text styles. You can also access options such as All Caps, Plot Scale, and Line Factor options that were previously available in the main Text menu only.
Font Dialog
Select Font... from the Text menu.
o2c Rendering Settings Enhancements
In addition to rendering by color or by layer, you can also assign material definitions on a per entity basis. Material definitions are now embedded in your drawing in a central location. So you can easily assign the same material to multiple entities.
Edit Material(s) Dialog Material Assignment Dialog Rendering Settings Dialog
New Symbol Tools
Insert Symbol DataCAD LT 11 versus DataCAD LT 12	Toggle Fix Text on to force text to read from the bottom or right of the drawing window. Toggle Current View on in a 3D view to orient your symbol to world coordinates rather than orthogonal to the screen. Toggle Symbol Scale on to enlarge your symbol based on the current plot scale similar to Text Scale. Toggle Dynamic Flip on to use hot keys to orient your symbol before you insert it. Press [Ctrl] to mirror about the y-axis, press [Shift] to mirror about the x-axis, and press [Ctrl] + [Shift] to mirror about the x and y-axis. Set Max. Lines to [0] zero to display all entities while dragging your symbol. Set Max. Lines to [1] to display only a bounding box (faster). Explode-related Options Toggle Active Layer on to explode the contents of your symbol to the active layer. Toggle Orig. Layers on to explode the contents of your symbol to their original layers. Toggle Bind Material on to bind layer materials to corresponding entities. Toggle Keep Groups on to maintain original entity groupings.

New Ready2Render Symbols
New 3D symbols added to DataCAD LT 12 include pre-assigned materials and textures so they are ready to render as soon as you add them to your model. In addition, we've updated many of the existing 3D symbols so they are "ready-to-render" as well. New Classic Furniture Symbols

New Seamless Textures and Backgrounds
DataCAD LT 12 includes new seamless textures to add realism to your renderings.

Pen Styles
Based on the Windows line type format, you can now apply scale-independent patterns to your DataCAD LT line types. These patterns are compatible with the Windows Metafile format and convert directly to Adobe PDF format. Now you can apply property lines to curves. New Pen Styles
Select Pen Style from the Line Type menu.
New Toolbars
Types Toolbar Rendering Toolbar

Plotting Enhancements
Your current plotter and Quick Layout settings can now be saved to a file and loaded into other drawings. You can also assign unique pen tables to specific scales. So large-scale drawings and details can have thicker pens and small-scale drawings can have thinner pens.
Scale to Pen Table Dialog

Line Type Manager
A line type manager has been added to the Line Type menu. Select Line Manage from the Line Type menu to access a dialog for loading or re-loading external line type definitions into your drawing. You can also set the End Correction and Default Spacing for embedded line type definitions.

Hatch Pattern Manager
A hatch pattern manager has been added to the Hatching menu. Select Manage from the Hatching menu to access a dialog for loading or re-loading external hatch pattern definitions into your drawing. You can also set the angle and scaling for embedded hatch pattern definitions. Hatch Pattern Manager Dialog

Change Menu Enhancements
Added Change, Text, Angle and Change, Text, Alignment.
< See what was new in DataCAD LT 11
Revision History
More information about the improvement history of DataCAD LT

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