Topic Title

Hello all.

New to the forum and to DataCAD. Any help would be appreciated.

I have an interview with a large firm next week.
I understand they use DataCAD...I am an AutoCAD person. I would like to go into the interview with a bit of information on and working knowlege of DataCAD.
I have used most versions of AutoCAD, from R14 up to the new 2006 but have never "set foot" into DataCAD

I downloaded the DataCAD Demo this evening and I am starting to play around with it.
I will look around this forum closely for help but any start up tips would be appreciated.

I have a couple of "right off the bat" questions.

1. Does DataCAD have the ability to work in paper space with viewports to model space?

2. Can you place toolbars such as Draw, Dimension, Hatch...?

I am sure I will have many more.
Thanks a bunch in advance for any help. This could be fun.

Welcome!!

I have my feet in both "worlds" (Acad by day ... Dcad by night and weekend!) so I will try to help you see the good and bad of both programs!

The first thing that I found when I started to learn Dcad (having been trained in Acad for 3 years) is that while they both essentially do the same thing, they don't necessarily go about doing it the same way. If you will try to put aside the "Acad does it THIS way" and learn how Dcad does it you will feel less frustration. There are things that Acad does that Dcad doesn't (yet!!) do; but there are an equal amount of things (or more) that Dcad does (or does MUCH better!) than Acad does.

One of the biggies is learning to use Dcad's shortcuts (the "F" function keys, the ALT key combinations, the standard key shortcuts, etc.) - similar to Acad's PGP file. If you read up on how to set up your Aliases you'll also gain more productivity than Acad has out of the box with PGP.

As for your "bat" questions:

1. DataCAD doesn't use PaperSpace with viewports to ModelSpace - you normally draw in only ModelSpace. However, DC has a function called MSP ("Multi Scale Plotting") which is similar to a Viewport ... except it's done in ModelSpace. I have never fully embraced MSP (nor even really tried it), but there are other Gurus who can teach you more about it (like Neil Blanchard, Mike Smith, etc.).

2. I'm assuming that you are referring to Acad's type of toolbars (where you can have as many as you want on-screen at a time, either docked or floating). In a word ... no. At least, not exactly! You can set up custom toolbars which can reference anything that you want - including (unless I misunderstood things) Aliases. You may want to search for posts by Tony Blasio and Josh Huggins for more info on setting those things up!

Ask away with anything else!! I have found that the Dcad users are among the most giving, helpful, knowledgeable folks on the planet. If one of us doesn't have an answer someone else will!

The thing to remember about this experience is that it **WILL** be fun ... if you will be open to learning new things! Once you have a taste of Dcad you will NOT enjoy going back to the "Dark Side" (sorry ... couldn't resist!!!).

Good luck, and please feel free to ask as many questions as you'd like!!

Thanks MtnArch... much appreciated.

I found this link...
https://www.datacad.com/bbs/viewtopic.ph ... ht=welcome
...and I am currently printing out the "how to" and Tutorial pages of the manual. I will play with them tomorrow.

Honestly, my first impression was frustration. Of course I have only spent about 45 min poking around with no direction. Yes the How To is different.

I will keep an open mind, especially since it means I may get a better paying and more fulfilling job out of it.

Off Topic.
Have you used SketchUP? I currently use it at home and work. I love it.

Yes, many of us use Sketchup to augment our DataCAD work, and the ties between the two programs are becoming even closer with coming DataCAD upgrades.

Thanks MtnArch... much appreciated.

I found this link...
https://www.datacad.com/bbs/viewtopic.ph ... ht=welcome
...and I am currently printing out the "how to" and Tutorial pages of the manual. I will play with them tomorrow.

Honestly, my first impression was frustration. Of course I have only spent about 45 min poking around with no direction. Yes the How To is different.

Yes, the initial reaction (if you started out in Acad) is TOTAL frustration - it's exactly what I went through, too!! BUT ... if you will just "let go of your feelings" and realize that they are two different programs that each do things differently that you need to learn separately, it will go much smoother - I promise!!!

As I said before, there are things that you will wish Dcad did that Acad does (and well) ... but there are a multitude of things that Dcad DOES do that Acad doesn't. And Dcad is catching up quick with the FEATURES that Acad users want; except that Dcad is doing them BETTER. Trust me on this one ... after almost 20 years of Acad'g and almost 15 of Dcad'g I can truthfully say that there aren't many things that Acad can do that Dcad can't (yet). The next two years will be a BIG shake-out of Acad users fleeing to other programs, simply because all other programs can do it ... and do it better!!

Keep on keeping on!! Onward and Upward!!!!

I found this an interesting read...
http://www.cadinfo.net/editorial/datavsauto.htm

And a couple quotes from the article.

"About 5% will actually prefer AutoCAD, about 25% will prefer ArchiCAD, and, usually some 70% will like DataCAD the best - and yes I do surveys all the time."

"(and yes you do know AutoCAD users who "tried" DataCAD and hated it)."

Well I got the job so I guess I will be lurking around here quite a bit.
Thanks for the help.
Here's to learning a new way of doing things.

Welcome Buff,

We've been around here for years and I can state that this a very healthy space.
In no other place you will be able to speak directely with the "owner of the piece" like here.

Thanks,
Miguel