CADVANCE News

February 2002                              Issue 02:12

 
For all the latest Info - www.cadvance.com  

 

CADVANCE 2002 

We are pleased to announce the upcoming release of CADVANCE 2002!  With many new and improved features, such as: 

  • Isometric Line - when used with Virtual Tablet and the symbols provided, isometric piping or HVAC drawings can be created very easily.
  • New search - searches objects by many filters.
    • It finds objects within groups or symbols by layer, kind and object types.
  • Edit Symbol/Group - edits objects within symbol or group.
    • It allows you to edit objects within a symbol or group, and reflects the changes to other instances of the same symbol in the drawing.
  • Key map - jumps to a specified drawing.
    • Double clicking the key map symbol will load a drawing specified in the key map symbol.
  • Virtual Tablet - acts like a digitizer tablet.
    • Originally sold as a stand-alone tool, it is now included with CADVANCE 2002.  
  • DWG/DXF 2D and 3D imports are improved to allow import of both at the same time.
  • Improved Layer Setup Dialog Functionality - Layers can be sorted by Name or Data, or layer rows can be moved around in any way while in Layer Setup.
  • All "Utility / Query" queries (except Query/Object) have been given dialogs that offer text that can be copied to the clipboard.  These text items are numeric type values.
  • Dimension setup has been divided into several sections for easier understanding and operation, and allows easier settings according to your needs.
  • Text attributes has been enhanced to manage multiple entries with one dialog box rather than many dialog boxes popping up per entry.  
  • Multi-line CAD Text editing.
  • Plus more!

Highlighted New Features added in CADVANCE 2000 Service Pack 1-5:

  • Staged Selection - gives the user the ability to select one of many objects at a point that meet the selection criteria. This only applies to "POINT" selection when "Select object(s) for editing ..." is displayed in the status line.
  • Add new entries to CADVANCE.INI file:
    DefaultLayerColor=-1
    DefaultLayerLineStyle=-1
    DefaultLayerWeight=-1
    These entries supply the values that will be used when switching from a layer that has these attributes assigned to one that does not.
  • New Object Flashing function added. 
  • Support TrueType line length with the TrueType Aux. Object.
  • Areafill function for arc entity.
  • No object snap is required to select a point or to select objects by window in autosnap mode.
  • Symbol Export: A Symbol Export entry has been added to the Symbol Menu.  This will create a symbol file (.SYM) for each symbol master on the OSL. 
  • Control-Z can be used to delete the last point of a lineset.
  • Add support in command line processing for newer directory and filenames containing blanks and dashes.  CADVANCE supports double clicking on VWF or CBL files in Windows Explorer that are in the above format.
  •  “Inherit Layer Properties” information in symbol query dialog.
  • Modify plotter information structure to be dynamically defined instead of a static size.
  • Add support for Hatch entity in AutoCAD and convert it to area texture in CADVANCE.
  • Improve flexibility of View Layers Setup and reference setup dialog boxes.
  • Enhanced the editing of very large lineset at or beyond (after modification) the limit, 2188 points for CADVANCE 2000.
  • Improve the triangularization for exporting Areafill to 2D Solid.
  • Improve the ghost image on cursor for Edit/Move.
  • Eliminate the text attribute prompting when a symbol with text attributes is used in a line texture definition.
  • Enhance exporting areafill polygons bounded by concave vertices.
  • And more!

Take advantage of the Early Bird discount and save  $100 off the list price!  You must hurry, as this special offer is valid only until February 28, 2002.

For pricing details, contact us at cadvance@fitinc.com, or at (800) 931-3171 x14.

 

  FAQ's
 
  • Q: I would like to use the symbol translator, but I don't know what Smallest Unit my symbol was created in.  How can I find out?
  • A: If you don't know the Smallest Unit in which a symbol was first created, place the symbol in a brand new drawing of smallest unit X.  Then measure the symbol by selecting Utility / Object / QuerySize.  The coordinate difference between the x-coordinates is the length of the symbol in the x-direction.  The coordinate difference between the y-coordinates is the length of the symbol in the y-direction.  If the x-coordinate length is too big by a factor of 3 (or if the y-coordinate is too big by a factor of 3), then you'll know that the symbol's original Smallest Unit was X*3.  Here is a simple procedure as an example:

    Open a new drawing and set the Smallest Unit to 1/1024.  Place the symbol in question and measure it.  If the x-length is 10 inches when it SHOULD be 2 inches, you know that it is 5 times too big - so now you know that the symbol was created in a Smallest Unit of (1024*5), which equals 5120.  Thus, when you run it through the symbol translator, type in a Smallest Unit of 5120.
 
  • Q:   I have a bunch of symbols that I have used for pre-v2000 versions, and I can't remember whether I've run these symbols through the Symbol Converter or not.  Is there a quick way to find out whether a WHOLE GROUP of symbols have been run through the converter?
  • A:  No, there is no quick way to do this.  To find out whether a symbol is a v2000 symbol, either open the .sym file with Windows NotePad, or you'll need to look at the .sym file from DOS.  This must be done one at a time.
 
  • Q: I am trying to Edit / Paste my hidden line from 3D into 2D.  The Edit / Paste command is grayed out.
  • A:  If you are using v2000, press [Ctrl] [V] for the paste function instead of using Edit / Paste.  If you are using v99, you will need to do the same as for v2000, or you will need to clean the registry as shown below.  If [Ctrl] [V] cannot paste, it can mean you are low on resources.  Close other programs then try the operation again.

    NOTE:  F I T, Inc. is not responsible for errors you make while editing the Registry.  To enter the Registry, you must have administrator privileges.

    1. Start / Run, type "regedit" (without quotes)
    2. Click OK.  You will enter the Registry Editor
    3. Edit / Find, to find the string "DATATRAN.DLL" (without quotes)
    4. For every instance of DATATRAN.DLL found by the Registry, you need to EDIT the string value by double-clicking the item where the "ab" icon is displayed.  Edit each string containing "DATATRAN.DLL" so that it conforms to the actual CADVANCE 99 program path.
 

 

 Have a Question?  Send it to us at support@fitinc.com