Return to Vdraft FrontPage

CADALYSt November 2000 issue/ vol. 17 no. 11

 Vdraft 2.2.1

SoftSource

If you are on a thin budget yet need to work with AutoCAD drawings or generate DWG output, Vdraft is a cost-effective choice. Version 2.x of this drafting package directly reads and writes AutoCAD files through 2000/2000I with no translation step. It supports entity types such as hatching, leaders, bit-maps, complex linetypes, lightweight polylines,proxy entities, true ellipses, and splines. It also supports native AutoCAD SHX and TrueType fonts.

As a drafting package, Vdraft offers a full set of tools to create objects and view your work. Some of these are not quite as robust as the equivalent AutoCAD tool, while others surpass AutoCAD in functionality. The Hatch command, for example, lacks the ability to determine logical areas by picking internal points. The dynamic Pan and Zoom commands, on the other hand, are easier to use than AutoCAD’s. Other features, such as the displaying of entity information (for example, the circumference and area of a circle) under the curser, are of arguable value.

Active X Automation, Visual BASIC, Visual C/C++, and scripting provide customization capabilities. Internet capabilities include hyperlinking and two plug-ins. The DWG/DXF plug-in allows dynamic panning and zooming and layer control over the Web. The SVF (Standard Vector Format) plug-in adds the ability to link URL information and textual information in an SVF file.

For documentation, Vdraft includes the best of both worlds by providing a well-written User’s Guide (with a huge index ) and extensive and equally well-written online Help.

For value, Vdraft is difficult to beat. If you use an AutoCAD workstation at work, this may be the package to install on your more modest home system. To use Vdraft, you need a 386 processor with math coprocessor or higher, Windows 95/95/NT, 16MB (recommended) of RAM,

20 MB of disk space, VGA display (SVGA recommended), and a pointing device.