DesignCAD 3D Max Changelog

What's new in DesignCAD 3D Max 27

Jul 10, 2018

AutoCAD 2018 Import/Export Support:
DesignCAD 2018 is now able to import DWG and DXF files in AutoCAD 2018 format, and able to Export DWG and DXF files to AutoCAD 2018 format.
New Icon Scaling Option
DesignCAD 2018 offers the ability to scale the toolbox icons from 16x16 pixels up to 64x64 pixels in size steps of 8 pixels. This allows users with ultra-high-resolution screens to scale the icons up to a usable size.
New Control Curve Command:
DesignCAD 2018 adds a new type of curve entity to the existing set. Now in addition to Curves and Bezier Curves, we have the ability to create Control Curves (NURBs) with both Cubic and Quadratic weightings. Control Curves use the points you set as an enclosing cage to constrain the shape of the curve, rather than as a set of points the curve must pass through.
New Arc Tangent to 2 Lines Command:
DesignCAD 2018 adds the new Arc Tangent to 2 Lines command, which draws an arc of a specified radius tangent to two picked lines. The result is similar to the arc formed by the Fillet command, but it does not trim the tangent lines to meet the endpoints of the resulting arc.
New AutoHatch Feature:
DesignCAD 2018 adds the ability to automatically create a hatch fill pattern in 2D shapes without having to separately run the Hatch, Hatch Line, or Hatch Fill. The current AutoHatch pattern can be set from the AutoHatch Settings in the Options menu; the pattern for an existing object can be changed from the AutoHatch Settings in the Info Box's toolbar.
New Text Option: Dynamic Scaling:
DesignCAD 2018 adds a new Dynamic Scaling option to the Text command. When this option is enabled, text scales automatically and proportionally between the first two points set; when it is off, text is drawn at the specific size specified in the dialog box.
Insert Manager Improvements:
The Insert Manager no longer deletes selected blocks, images, or symbols immediately – it marks the ones selected for deletion, but they are not actually deleted from the drawing until the 'Apply' button is pressed. Pressing 'Cancel' will unmark the selected objects and leave them intact.
New Normals Shading Mode:
DesignCAD 2018 adds a new OpenGL Shading mode named 'Normals'. When this shading mode is active, facets of 3D objects that face toward the camera are shown in a lighter color than those facing away from the camera. This makes it easier to locate and correct mis-aligned facets in the drawing.
New Mixed-Mode Shading Mode:
DesignCAD 2018 adds a new OpenGL and RedSDK Shading mode named 'Mixed Mode'. When this shading mode is active, 3D objects are rendered in a combination of Shaded and Hidden-Line modes, making it easy to see the underlying wireframe construction of shaded objects.
Improved Solid Engine:
DesignCAD 2018 has improved the underlying solid engine so that new solid primitives are created in such a way tha the surface normals consistently face toward the outside of the object. This also applies to new Sweeps and Extrusions. Similarly, Boolean operations performed on newly-created objects result in more consistent surface normals than with previous versions.
New Is Solid Watertight Command:
DesignCAD 2018 adds a new command to check a selected solid for water tightness. Also, when performing Boolean operations (Solid Add, Solid Subtract), it checks the result for gaps in the mesh and gives warning if any gaps are detected.
New Solid Leaks Test Command:
DesignCAD 2018 adds a new command to help visually identify leaks in a triangulated Solid Surface object. The command creates two new layers in the drawing: HoleEdges and ExtraEdges. If there are holes in the mesh (specifically, if any edges are used in only one facet of the Solid Surface), blue lines are drawn in the HoleEdges layer. If there is extra geometry in the mesh (specifically if any edges are shared by more than two facets of the Solid Surface), red lines are drawn in the ExtraEdges layer.

New in DesignCAD 3D Max 26.0 (Oct 12, 2016)

New Import/Export feature SketchUp Import:
DesignCAD 2016 can now import SketchUp drawings. SketchUp versions through SketchUp 2015 are currently supported. When importing SketchUp drawings, each separate solid object is imported as a distinct Solid Surface entity in DesignCAD. The SketchUp Import Setup dialog includes a Transpose Y and Z option. When checked, this allows SketchUp objects imported into DesignCAD to appear "right side up". This option is provided because DesignCAD uses Y for the vertical axis, whereas SketchUp uses Z for the vertical axis. If this option is left unchecked, SketchUp imports will appear on their sides instead of upright.
Insert Manager File/Insert Manager is a new command that allows the user to review and manage all blocks, symbols, and image files that are reference by or embedded in the drawing. When the Insert Manager command is run, a dialog box appears with three tabs, one each for Blocks, Images, and Symbols.
Blocks:
The Blocks tab shows a visual list of all blocks that are present in the drawing. When a single block is highlighted by clicking on it, a larger preview is displayed below the list. Beneath the larger view is more information about the block: its Name, ID, and a Reference Count.
Right-clicking on the list of symbol icons displays a context menu for sorting the blocks. Blocks may be sorted by Name, ID, or Reference Count.
Right-clicking on the Name line gives you the option of copying the name to the clipboard.
Right-clicking on the Symbol ID line gives you the option of copying the id to the clipboard (perhaps for use in a macro or COM program).
The Reference Count line shows three different values: -- Direct, Indirect, and In Definitions. The Direct count is the number of times the block is included in the drawing as a stand-alone block (i.e. not as part of another block or symbol). The Indirect count is how many times the block is included in other blocks or symbols that are included in the drawing. The In Definitions count is how many block or symbol definitions include the block as part of that definition.
Right-click on this References line for a more detailed view of how the block is used; a context menu appears with the same categories: Direct, Indirect, and In Definitions.
Expanding the Direct category will indicate if the block is in use by the drawing's Model Space view and/or by one or more Paper Space layouts. Expanding the Indirect category will show which symbols and/or blocks are in active use that include this block. Expanding the In Definitions category will indicate
which symbols and/or blocks include this block, whether or not there are any active references to those symbols/blocks.
The Blocks tab of the Insert Manager offers three editing operations: Open in Block Editor, Delete, and Insert.
Clicking on the Insert button will run the Block Insert command, and show the Block Insert dialog box with the highlighted block already selected.
Clicking on the Delete button will allow you to delete all instances of the highlighted block from the drawing, as well as the underlying block definition.
Clicking on the Open in Block Editor button will open a special view window with a limited menu and command list. While in the Block Editor, you can make almost any changes to the block definition that you desire, without the distraction of other drawing entities. See Block Editor below.
Images The Images tab of the Insert Manager is quite similar to the Blocks tab, showing all raster images that have been added to the drawing. Most of the options for Images are the same as for Blocks. Images also contain a Path field, an Index field, and an Embedded field, and these are additional sort options if you right-click on the thumbnail list at the top.
The Path field indicates the full path and filename of the original image. For embedded images, this original file may no longer exist in the referenced location. Right-clicking on the Path field allows you to copy the full path and filename to the clipboard for later reference.
The Index field indicates the index of the image in the list of images, i.e. the relative order in which the image was originally added to the drawing.
The Embedded field indicates whether the image is stored completely in the drawing (Yes) or is only a reference to an external file (No). Blocks are always embedded, so this button is hidden on the Blocks page.
If an Embedded image is highlighted in the visual list, the Embed in Drawing button becomes highlighted. Clicking on this button allows a referenced image to be embedded in the drawing, so that the external image file is no longer necessary. This also changes the Embedded field from Yes to No. Note that the original image file must be present in the specified path for this to work.
Symbols :
The Symbols tab of the Insert Manager has the same features as the Images tab, and also has the Open in Block Editor button just like the Blocks tab.
Block Editor:
When you highlight a symbol or block in the Insert Manager and click Open in Block Editor, the contents of the block or symbol are displayed in a separate window, with no other entities in view. This Block Editor mode has a somewhat limited set of drawing and editing commands; there is no access to loading symbols or blocks via the File menu, no print command, no options to save the symbol or block as an external file, and no access to special modes like Paper space Mode or Animation and Walkthrough Modes. There is also no access to the Help or Window menu commands, and the Options command has no effect. Aside from these exceptions, most other drawing and editing commands are available to you in the Block Editor.
If you need to add a symbol or block to one that you plan to edit, this cannot be done through the Block Editor's File menu. Instead, first select the block or symbol to be added in the main drawing window and copy it to the clipboard. Then you can open the symbol or block in the Block Editor and paste in the additional content. Care should be taken, however, not to paste a copy of a block or symbol into itself while it is being edited – this causes a circular reference, and may result in any number of difficult problems.
To discard the changes made in the Block Editor, choose File/Cancel Changes and Exit. To save the changes made to a block or symbol in the Block Editor, choose File/Save Changes and Exit.
The Insert Manager and the Block Editor are available in both Model Space and Paper Space. However, you may find some blocks and symbols difficult to edit while in Paper Space Mode, due to the limited drawing area that is available in that mode. If you have difficulties editing a particular block or symbol in Paper Space Mode, try exiting to Model Space and editing it there.
Custom Properties DesignCAD now supports the addition of custom properties to drawings and to drawing entities.
Custom Properties are bits of text that are identified by a combination of a Key and a Name field. This is a means of adding "invisible" text information to a drawing or an object. These custom properties can be viewed and edited manually by means of a Custom Properties dialog, or processed by code via BasicCAD macros or OLE Automation programs.
Drawing Custom Properties are accessed via the File/Document Custom Properties command.
Entity Custom Properties are accessed via the Custom Properties button in the Info Box. Either method opens a Custom Properties editor:
The dialog shows four fields: Index, Key, Name, and Value. The Index is simply the order in which each custom property was added. The Key is one of two fields that uniquely identify each custom property. The Name field is the second field used to identify a custom property. The Value field is the "contents" of the custom property.
A new Custom Property may be added using the Add Custom Property button.
No two custom properties for a given drawing or drawing entity may have the same Key/Name combination. Two different drawings may have identical Key/Name pairs, and a drawing and one or more entities contained within it may have the same Key/Name pairs; the restriction only applies for the set of custom properties in use by a particular drawing or a particular drawing entity.
A single custom property can be selected by left-clicking on it. More can be selected using Ctrl-left-click or by Shift-left-click or Shift-down-arrow. Once one or more custom properties are selected in the Custom Properties editor, they can be deleted using the Delete Selected Properties button. The Delete All button will delete all custom properties that have been added via this editor.
Note, however, that some custom properties that were added via BasicCAD or OLE Automation may not be editable. Any such non-editable custom properties will have a gray background, and can only be edited or deleted using BasicCAD or OLE Automation methods.
Accessing custom properties via BasicCAD and OLE Automation is described below.
Custom Properties of drawing objects are duplicated when these objects are copied and pasted, duplicated, arrayed, or trimmed. (Note: any non-editable properties are NOT duplicated in this way.)
When you Explode a compound drawing object (such as a dimension or grid) that contains custom properties, the exploded pieces will no longer contain those properties. Similarly, Combine Lines causes the resulting object to lose any custom properties that may have been in its component pieces.
Custom Properties of drawings are saved with the drawing when you use Save, Save As, Save a Copy, or Save as Symbol; however, they are not transferred into a host drawing if you use Symbol Load.
Other Changes in DesignCAD 2016
Flicker-Free GDI Draw A new option has been added to the View Options panel – Flicker-Free GDI Draw. When this option is selected, DesignCAD uses special optimizations to speed up the draw of wide lines in GDI wireframe views. This option has no effect when RedSDK Mode is active. To access this setting press the 'Q' key to open the Options panel, and activate the 'View' tab. The checkbox is on the bottom right of the Display options group. The difference is particularly notable under Windows 7 if you have transparency enabled.
General Fixes and Improvements:
When exporting files to DWG or DXF format, sometimes angled text would be converted to horizontal text. This has been fixed.
The Scan Image command sometimes was grayed out because DesignCAD couldn't find the necessary program. This has been fixed.
When applying a material (such as Oak, Cherry, Pearl, etc.) to a Solid Surface entity, the material was not saved with the object when the drawing was saved.
Save as 2D Projection was not working with Solid Surface entities.
Working with multi-lines could sometimes crash DesignCAD.

New in DesignCAD 3D Max 25.0 (Aug 5, 2015)

New Windows 64-bit & 32-bit Compatible:
DesignCAD can now be installed as either a 32-bit or 64-bit application. The 32-bit version has always been limited to using 2 GB of RAM, even when running on 64-bit versions of Windows with 4GB or more of RAM. The 64-bit version can access the larger amounts of RAM that are usually available on 64-bit systems, enabling you to create and edit larger drawings than you can with the 32-bit version.
New 3D Printer Optimized:
This latest release of DesignCAD 3D MAX is now optimized for 3D printing, allowing users to import and export 3D models to the STL file format, one of the most commonly used file formats for 3D printing.
New Import/Export OBJ Files:
DesignCAD 3D MAX can now export and import OBJ files. OBJ files are a common means of exchanging 3D models, and can be used by many other CAD and solid- or surface-modeling programs. Note that DesignCAD's OBJ capabilities are limited to geometry only; materials and texture mapping are not supported.
New Export SketchUp Files:
DesignCAD 3D MAX is now able to export drawings to SKP format for use with SketchUp versions 3.0 to 2015.
New GIF Image Support:
We have changed the libraries that DesignCAD 3D MAX uses to work with raster image data. As a result of this, AWD, EPS, PCT, PSD, WMF, and WPG files are no longer supported, and GIF support has been added.
New Group Editor:
DesignCAD 3D MAX version 25 adds a new Edit Group button to the Info Box when group objects are selected. This Group Editor shows the internal structure of the group and any subgroups, and allows you to do some simple reorganization of the contents of the group without having to explode it. Group editing options include:
Move highlighted group members or entire subgroups to a different layer.
Remove individual objects or an entire subgroup from the topmost group (Extract).
Move objects between sub-groups of the topmost group (Move To).
Collapse an entire group hierarchy to a single-level group (Unnested).
Improved Balloon Command:
The Balloon command now allows you to specify either a fixed balloon size or a fixed text size when creating text balloons. Previously only the balloon size could be specified, so that longer text strings would appear much smaller than short ones.
Improved Distance and Angle between Two Points:
This command, in addition to showing the overall distance, now also shows the separate X, Y and Z components of that distance.
Improved Hidden Edge and Hidden Edge by Section:
The Hidden Edge and Hidden Edge by Section commands now work on Solid Surface objects.
Improved Show All Edges Command:
The Show All Edges command now works on Solid Surface objects as well as other entities. In addition, it can now be set to work only on selected entities; before it would show all edges on everything in the drawing.
New Command: Hide Edges of Coplanar Facets:
The Hide Edges of Coplanar Facets hides the interior edges of a selected Solid Surface object, making it much easier to understand the shape of the object.
New Command: Triangulate Surface:
The Triangulate Surface command reduces all faces of a Solid Surface object to triangles. This can be helpful when converting the drawing to a different drawing format for use in some other program (OBJ, DWG, DXF, STL, SKP). While DesignCAD allows facets to have any number of edges, some other programs work most reliably with triangular facets.
New Export Triangulate Solid Surface Options:
DWG, DXF, and OBJ exports now have an option to convert any exported Solid Surface entities to triangles.

New in DesignCAD 3D Max 24.0 (Nov 24, 2014)

New in DesignCAD 3D Max 22.0.0 (Sep 20, 2012)

New Print Section Command:
This new command allows you to specify a rectangular subsection of the drawing to be printed. Once the region is selected, the Print command opens, and only considers the area you chose when calculating overall size, scale, and other print features.
Enhanced Print to PDF:
Printing multiple panels to PDF format now results in just one multipage PDF file.
New Double Line to Vector Command:
This new command converts the selected double-line object(s) to normal vectors using the currently-active line style and line width. Note: This command differs from the similar command Double Line to Wide Line, which converts the selected double lines to wide lines of the same width as the original double lines.
Larger, more versatile Layer Options dialog box:
New Layer Options dialog box has been redesigned to maximize the amount of layer information displayed.
Dialog box can be resized to show more layers and longer layer names
Unwanted columns can be hidden by right-clicking on the column headers
Right-clicking on the body of the layer list provides a context menu which exposes commands that were formerly presented as buttons
New capabilities have been added to the Layer Options dialog box, including:
Show Marked Layers
Hide Marked Layers
Lock Marked Layers
Unlock Marked Layers
Clear Marked Layer Colors
Clear Marked Layer Line styles
Clear All Layer names
The Save as Default button now saves the layer names along with the layer presets
New Coordinate bar field width option:
This option lets you specify the width (in pixels) of the coordinate bar’s numeric fields. This can be handy when you want to display more digits, are displaying coordinates in feet and fractional inches, or are using a large display font. The minimum value is 48 pixels, while the maximum will vary depending on the width of your display.
New Layers List additional width:
This option lets you specify how much extra width (in pixels) to add to the layer drop list in the Info box and Layer Toolbox relative to the width of the collapsed layer control. Increasing this width allows you to see longer layer names.
Improved Hatch, Hatch Line, Hatch Fill:
A new “Same As” button in the Hatch dialog box allows you to easily match the style of the hatch being drawn to an existing hatch entity.
Improved Import and Export:
The “Missing Xref” warning dialog now offers options to skip some or all missing xrefs when importing dwg files. We’ve also improved the export of paperspace layouts to dwg format. In addition, DWG/DXF export now exports layer names longer than 32 characters.
Improved Fillet command:
A new, more robust algorithm has been implemented for filleting one arc against another. This should result in less ambiguity when filleting arcs where multiple solutions are possible.
Improved Linear Dimensions:
We have reduced the gap between the arrow “tail” and the dimension text when the text and arrows are forced outside the extension lines. We have also added a snap point to the left-side arrowhead to enable repositioning the dimension line using that arrowhead from Point Select Mode.
Improved Section Trim, Section Cutoff and Section Cut by Line:
The Section Trim, Section Cutoff, and Section Cut by Line commands now also affect hatch objects; hatch entities were previously ignored by these commands.
New File Wizard command:
New options have been added to Ignore Shading Flags and Ignore View Data, just like they were already present in the Open dialog.
Improved Set View and Set View by Drawing Center Command:
Several new controls have been added to make it easy to save, load and delete “cameras” with preset viewing angles.
Improved Repeat Last Command (F3) and Undo Command:
DesignCAD now longer records the various Zoom commands in the F3 and Undo command buffers. This makes it easier to repeat drawing commands even if a zoom in or out was necessary to see more details. All Zoom commands can still be undone separately using Zoom Previous.
Improved Sweep Command:
Previously, the original profile used to generate the sweep was left separate from the swept object, with the assumption that you might want to re-use it for some other purpose. Now, the profile becomes part of the swept solid. A new option has been added to retain a copy of the profile if you want to use that profile again.
Enhancements to many commands using “Selected only” checkboxes:
The last state of several “Selected entities only” checkbox is now remembered, so the next time you run that command with something selected, the checkbox is checked or not depending on your last choice when something was selected. If nothing is selected, the setting is ignored.
Additional Enhancements:
Improved Hidden Line - New option to change the dash scale for hidden lines in hidden line mode.
Improved Shading Command - Slight improvements to the anti-aliasing algorithm when using native Phong or Gouraud shading.
Improved Load Animation Template – New delete button allows you to delete an existing animation template from the drawing.
Improved Arrow and Dimension commands - New algorithm for drawing arrows with a line width results in an arrowhead that points where it should and ends in a sharp point.
Improved Dimension Arc - Improved appearance of the extension lines.
Improved Surface Intersection command - Previously this command only worked on grid objects. Now it also works on solids, including planes.
Plus, corrections have been made to bugs found in DWG/DXF export, animation export to AVI, fillet command, rotate command, view settings, coordinate bar, print preview, and gradient hatches.

DesignCAD 3D Max Changelog

What's new in DesignCAD 3D Max 27

New in DesignCAD 3D Max 26.0 (Oct 12, 2016)

New in DesignCAD 3D Max 25.0 (Aug 5, 2015)

New in DesignCAD 3D Max 24.0 (Nov 24, 2014)

New in DesignCAD 3D Max 22.0.0 (Sep 20, 2012)

New in DesignCAD 3D Max 16.0 (Feb 9, 2007)