

I liked the fact that I could bring in Excel data as ZWCAD entities (lines and text) or as a single MTEXT in addition (see figure 2).įigure 2: Excel data pasted in ZWCAD+ using as variety of formats The Paste Special dialog box gave me several new options other than the usual OLE object. I switched to ZWCAD and did a Paste-Special from the Edit menu. To test ZWCAD+, I opened Microsoft Excel and copied a blocks of cells from it to the clipboard. dwg platform and report how ZWCAD+ performs in those areas. I will only report on specific stuff that CAD drafters have been looking for in an alternative. I am not going to write about the standard dwg-CAD features of ZWCAD+ in this review. ZWSOFT told me that they are working on building these into the core engine and expect to provide them in future releases. Some of these functions won’t be missed by the average CAD user, but larger companies typically have CAD operations that require the use of batch plotting for large projects and parametrics for complex parts may find the omissions an impediment to migrating to ZWCAD+. I asked the CAD vendor’s support people which ZWCAD functions are missing from the newer ZWCAD+, and they gave me this list: This is good news for end-users who will not have to retrain themselves.īecause ZWCAD+ is a brand-new CAD engine, it does not yet have all the functions of the older ZWCAD. The first thing I saw in ZWCAD is the near-total copy of the AutoCAD interface – right down to the last menu item, Express Tools (which comes with the standard installation). I did not like this “feature.” ZWCAD+ User Interface I was told by support that this is by design and is not going to change. I knew it only when I double-clicked the next. dwg association to ZWCAD without my consent. The installation program forcibly changed the. You get one fixed ribbon (figure 1) or a classic MNU interface which is customizable.įigure 1: Ribbon interface looks like AutoCAD, but is not customizable (like in Word) Here, I see ZWCAD taking a middle path as far as ribbons are concerned. No workspaces to set, no long user environments to memorize. The installation screen pretty much summed up what I needed to check out in the new release.Īt the end of installation, I was given an option – Ribbon UI or Classic UI.


#ZWCAD CLASSIC PRICE FREE#
ZWCAD is now free to innovate on your behalf.It may well be intentional, as ZWCAD uses these 15 minutes of installation time to show me a number of screens, charts, and graphs highlighting the strong points of the software: NET 4.0 framework installation strangely, it took that long during every re-installation as well.

It took, however, about 15 minutes for it to install, which is quite a bit longer than what I expect. ZWCAD+ comes as a 180-MB download, and installation was smooth. This is indeed a positive move, as they no longer need to depend on the IntelliCAD Technology Consortium (ITC) for their CAD kernel any more, and so can chart growth on their own. After BricsCAD, this was the first IntelliCAD-free CAD I was going to look at I realized this company was beginning to head in the right direction. This made me excited enough to want to try ZWCAD+. Ltd released ZWCAD+, which they call the “next generation ZWCAD.” As far as I can see, the most significant difference is that it was written from scratch with a new core CAD kernel, unlike the older ZWCAD. dwg platform which has the most identical look and feel of AutoCAD. I have always known this company for its hunger for growth, aggressive pricing, and for having delivered a.
#ZWCAD CLASSIC PRICE SOFTWARE#
I have heard about China-based ZWCAD software for many years and have tracked this company and its software for some time now.
