Topic Title

I think that maybe the issue is that you are wishing that some of the commands (that DC already has) WORKED like AC does - not that you were saying it didn't (I re-read your post and the lightbulb turned on over my head!!).

Maybe the wish might be better stated that it would be nice if there were some extra Preference buttons to allow DC to function (with certain commands, like the implied window/crossing) like AC - mainly for the AC converts. This would allow DC'rs to continue to use it the way that they are used to, but help some of the transitions from AC.

Does this make sense?

I think that maybe the issue is that you are wishing that some of the commands (that DC already has) WORKED like AC does - not that you were saying it didn't (I re-read your post and the lightbulb turned on over my head!!).

Maybe the wish might be better stated that it would be nice if there were some extra Preference buttons to allow DC to function (with certain commands, like the implied window/crossing) like AC - mainly for the AC converts. This would allow DC'rs to continue to use it the way that they are used to, but help some of the transitions from AC.

Does this make sense?

Silly us to think this was implied.

When wishes are made, an outright change is never implied. Added options is always nice, cause there are those that like things how they are. And there is nothing wrong with that.

When AutoCAD is brought up in a suggestion, it's just as a reference, it is not intended to make it seem like we want DataCAD JUST LIKE AutoCAD. As noted if we wanted AutoCAD we'd buy AutoCAD. BTW, IntelliCAD is different enough that you can NOT use it just like AutoCAD.

Hi, Greg -

What are the areas that are different in Icad from Acad? I know that there are some dialog boxes that are different, but the overall "feel" and commands are the same.

I'm just curious since I haven't run across anything that makes any big difference to me ...

Any changes made just to make DCAD work like ACAD need to be an option which can be turned off. I don't like the implied crossing "feature" of ACAD; I find it very annoying and limiting. And, as I said before, if I wanted it to work like ACAD, I would use Intellicad. It may not be exactly like ACAD but it is close enough and it is free. If you wanted some of the things it is missing you could buy the upgrade at a much lower cost than buying ACAD.

Frankly, I would rather DCAD spend their programming time making DCAD better rather than making it more like ACAD. From the previews we have seen, they have obviously done a lot of work towards those ends. But there is still a lot of work left to do, and I would rather they spend their limited resources improving the program rather than making another ACAD clone, which I don't want to use anyway.

These are just my opinions and I don't ask, nor necessarily expect, anyone to agree with them.

Any changes ... need to be an option which can be turned off.
...I would rather [DATACAD LLC] spend resources improving the program rather than making another ACAD clone, which I don't want to use anyway.

I agree with you Paul.

Thanks,
Miguel

Hi, Greg -

What are the areas that are different in Icad from Acad? I know that there are some dialog boxes that are different, but the overall "feel" and commands are the same.

I'm just curious since I haven't run across anything that makes any big difference to me ...

I'm sure I overstepped myself in this as the lastest version I had used was 2000. I also haven't used ACAD in 5+ years so I'm rust on it's usage.


Paul - I happen to agree with you if any option is added that you can choose your preference. Those of use using DataCAD and asking for wish list items aren't looking to make DataCAD into and AutoCAD clone. We are just giving examples from other programs we've seen that do certain things very nicely. I could have said to have the crossing feature like they have in SoftPlan. In most cases we use AutoCAD as an example because most people have used AutoCAD before and can understand what we are trying to describe.

They are all just suggestions for features and improvements.

Please, oh PLEASE, get off the notion that we want DataCAD to be JUST LIKE AutoCAD.

The one single thing that causes me more reversals in procedure and interruption in the flow of working in DataCAD is finding that I'm not in the selection method I thought I was in and having to back up and switch it after making an incorrect move.

I used AutoCAD about 15 years ago and it seemed to me that their method of selection was more efficient as it allowed for multiple methods without having to switch. I don't recall it allowing Group selection, but we could have that by adding shift+click to our selection method.

IMHO, our present method is frustrating. There have been so many advances in DataCAD that that have greatly improved my speed of work over the last few upgrades and I am very grateful for them, but this is one that continues to cause me to stumble.

I vole for snaps. Half the time Datacad snapping misses the dumb place where I wanna snap. And no I don't use nearest snap. Datacad misbehaves when comes to snapping Xrefs, Symbols. AutoCAD style snapping will be good.

thats another thing, the shift click when selecting/deselecting entities is another great feature i wish was incorporated into datacad.

I JUST THOUGT OF SOMETHING ELSE WHILE USING THIS PROGRAM, BEING ABLE TO ZOOM WITHIN THE TEMPLATES. WE WORK WITH A LOT OF DETAILS AND MOST HAVE SUTTLE DIFFERENCES, IT WOULD BE NICE TO ZOOM IN ON THEM BEFORE PLOPING THEM IN THE DRAWING. INSTEAD WE HAVE TO PUT IN SEVERAL AND FIGURE OUT WHICH IS THE RIGHT ONE. NOW, WE ONLY HAVE ABOUT 6-8 DETAILS PER TEMPLATE, SO THEY ARE PRETTY BIG BUT NOT BIG ENOUGH. THE EDITABLE FIELDS ARE NICE, BUT THE LENGTH OF TEXT YOU CAN ADD IN IS LIMITED, PERHAPS LENGTHENING THE AMOUNT OF CHARATERS YOU CAN PUT INTO A DESCRIPTION WOULD HELP.

The length of a symbols name is 80 characters. If there are only 6-8 symbols per template / folder that should be enough to give descriptive titles to each I would think. As for the size of the symbols displaying, you can detach the symbol browser and increase of it to get larger boxes out of your divisions. Not exactly what your looking for I'm sure, but it is a way to do it.