What features would you like to see added to a future version of DataCAD?
#28217 by msharch
Fri Sep 21, 2007 12:14 pm
Hi Mark and All.

1. I have been trying out DataCad 12 and do not enjoy drafting with the 3-D walls. I am used to offsetting 2-D lines (i.e., 10’3”) for a room dimension, then 4 ½” for the wall, then the next room dimension, then 4 ½” for the next wall, etc. I carry that through my field notes from, for example, left to right, then up or down, and then clean up all the walls. Offsetting walls is a very quick way of drafting. However, it is not yet available in the 3-D walls method in DataCad 12. It would be nice to able to explode the 2-D lines that are close together to cuttable polygons or wall entities that can receive the windows and doors. I know I can explode a 2-D line to a polyline, then change it to a 3-D wall. Then it transforms a one-line wall into a thick wall. It would be nice if two polylines close together can be understood to imply a wall, and therefore a smart wall would be an equivalent transformation.

2. The other major issue I find with the 3-D windows, which hinders me from doing as accurate drawings as with previous versions of DataCad, is the relation of the casings to the window frame (jamb, head, and sill). When I modeled previously, I would cut in a window and apply a casing separately around the whole window. As a result, at least the outside was accurate for a standard exterior clad window (where the casing is around the window unit, not tacked onto the frame as with a traditional wood window).

With DataCad 12, it is no longer possible to apply a casing around the whole window frame or, to express it differently, to insert a window and then apply a casing separately. If there were a setting to set the casing to butt up against the frame or to overlap the frame (as exists with previous versions of the program), one could show a traditional window or a clad window appropriately and set the inside casing either over the frame or abutting the frame (even though attaching to the frame is typical here). However, one might still want some frame showing, because the casing doesn’t usually overlap the frame completely. This is a critical feature for the easy use of the program, which I hope you will be able to accommodate.

Also it would be nice if the walls entity acted like a polygon or polyline and could work with the AEC modeler (window and door insertion macro).

3. Finally, in Sketchup Warehouse, Marvin has 3-D windows. It would be nice if we could use them and insert them into our DataCad walls and apply casings as discussed above.

Thank you so much for considering these suggestions, since it is critical to my firm’s method of depicting windows with casings in the way they should appear for the commonly-used exterior clad window produced by many manufacturers.

Best Regards,

Marc Hershman AIA
Principal
MSH Architecture Associates

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