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GraphSoft MiniCAD
As one of the popular CAD options for professionals, GraphSoft’s MiniCAD offers full-featured integrated industry solutions for CAD users. The Resource palette contains thousands of items in the Design and Drafting Toolkit (symbols, macros, parametric commands, database records, worksheets, and hatch patterns). New palettes and tools have replaced the commands of earlier MiniCAD versions, and extensive modifications have been made to the interface to enhance clarity and to further comply with industry standards.
Dimensioning: Dimensioning is offered for constrained horizontal and vertical formats, constrained chains, constrained baseline, ordinates, centermark, diametrical/radial, angular, with the inclusion of upper/lower dimensioning limits where desired. The dimension standards are customizable as far as text positioning and alignment, tolerance sizing and text rotation. A full Dimension Info palette is available for editing all dimension information in the drawing, with support for the following dimensioning standards: Arch, ANSI, BSI, DIN, ISO, JIS, and SIA. Customized dimensioning standards can also be added by the user.
3D Options: Clearly articulated commands in the 3D menu offer a list of the following sculpting, rendering and viewing options: Creating Linked Layers (a layers option as in Photoshop), Extrude/Multiple Extrude/Sweep (3D object creation tools), Conversion to Mesh or Polygonal objects, Move/Rotate the working plane, Cutting 2D/3D Sections, and rotating the 3D view. All standard orthogonal 3D views are supported and selectable, and exacting perspectives can be set. In addition to orthogonal and perspective projections, MiniCAD supports Oblique Cavalier 30 and 45 degree, and Oblique Cabinet 30 and 45 degree views (familair terms to CAD users). Rendering options include Wireframe, Quick, Solid, Shaded Solid, Shaded No-Lines, Final Shaded Solid, and Final Hidden Line.
Text: MiniCAD follows all of the expected Mac standards for text insertion and font accessibility, and adds spacing and case commands. Text blocks on the page can be scaled and moved into position. MiniCAD scene files can also be exported as text files, and text scene files can be imported into MiniCAD. A special command translates any TrueType font into a polyline object (making the text object suitable for editing). This makes it easy to create full 3D text objects in MiniCAD. TrueType font files contain all of the necessary bezier curve data to make this translation possible.
Symbol Library: MiniCAD allows the user to select from a list of possible overlay modes: Standard, AEC, Civil, Cross Stitch, Electrical, Mechanical, Terrain Modeler and Toolkit. Each of these modes has separate symbol libraries that provide symbol support, as for example the standard cross hatching techniques used to represent materials in that specific overlay.
Import/Export: ClarisCAD users should note that MiniCAD offers complete translation capabilities from ClarisCAD documents. The Export formats supported include PICT, EPS, DXF, Text, QuickDraw 3D, Renderman, Worksheet, Data Base, and Quicktime Movie. The Import formats supported are PICT, PICT as picture (for tracing), EPSF, DXF, Text and Worksheet.
Animation: MiniCAD has very powerful animation capabilities, allowing you to create path animations that function as virtual reality walk-throughs of any 3D model. The instructional CD guides you though each step of the process. The animations are user controlled as far as frame rate and keyframe settings, and complex camera interactions can be programmed. Rendering Options MiniCAD has a list of preview rendering modes from wireframe and hidden line wireframes to solid, shaded, and final solid shaded options. The higher rendering modes require more RAM, so resetting the preferred memory size in the Info menu is highly recommended.
Special Features: A complete Digital Terrain Modeler is included, allowing for the creation of DEMs (Digital Elevation maps) as either 2D contours or full 3D models from data files, 3D loci or polygons. The 3D model can be rendered as a solid and viewed at any angle. MiniCAD has a special menu dedicated to structuring and formatting tables. MiniCAD offers a special Multiple Extrude module that can aid in the production of objects very difficult to model by standard extrusion methods.