- #AUTOCAD 2013 AND AUTOCAD LT 2013 COMPARISON MATRIX SKIN#
- #AUTOCAD 2013 AND AUTOCAD LT 2013 COMPARISON MATRIX UPGRADE#
- #AUTOCAD 2013 AND AUTOCAD LT 2013 COMPARISON MATRIX SOFTWARE#
- #AUTOCAD 2013 AND AUTOCAD LT 2013 COMPARISON MATRIX CODE#
Best of all, the SmartMouseConfig command fully customizes any of the movements.įigure 4: Drawing an E with the right mouse button starts the Erase command Command Compatibility In figure 4, I composted screen grabs of the mouse movement with the resulting command. For instance, when I drag the mouse to draw the letter E, the Erase command starts I drag to the left, and Copy starts.
ZWCAD+ takes the user interface lead over AutoCAD with something it calls SmartMouse: by holding down the right mouse button and dragging the cursor in the shape of a letter of the alphabet (or in a specific directions), I activate a command. There is no block editor environment, nor are there the related dynamic blocks. There is, however, no dynamic input for me, that’s fine, because I don’t like it in AutoCAD.Īmong palettes, there is Tools, Design Center, and Properties of other palettes found in AutoCAD, you can use dialog boxes for accessing layers, external references, and so on. When I start to type a command name, ZWCAD+ presents a list of similar names. It has command history, and so I can press the up arrow to recall earlier commands. Power users tend to as much as possible employ the keyboard to enter commands and options, and here ZWCAD+ matches AutoCAD in command bar functions. After I activated Classic mode, I found the menu bar to be very similar to that of AutoCAD, the only differences being those that relate to ZWCAD+’s extra and missing commands. In AutoCAD I need only enter a system variable to toggle the menu bar on and off. One curiosity is that to switch between the ribbon and menu bar (aka the “Classic” interface), I have to restart ZWCAD+. (In contrast, AutoCAD has awkward drawing switching systems involving toolbar buttons or the application menu.) The Ctrl+Tab keyboard shortcut works in both CAD systems.įigure 3: Document tabs switch instantly between open drawings Right-clicking one of these tabs presents a menu of common file-oriented commands. My favorite feature is the “document head,” those tabs that let me switch instantly between open drawings.
#AUTOCAD 2013 AND AUTOCAD LT 2013 COMPARISON MATRIX SKIN#
(See figure 2.) While ZWCAD+ does not have workspaces, clicking the adjacent button lets me switch skin colors. I found that menus are always available in ribbon mode by clicking the Menu button in the upper right corner. ZWCAD+ does come with toolbars, but they appeared when only I switched to Classic mode, which replaces the ribbon with the menu bar. (Because Autodesk uses the year+1 method for release numbers, the current version of AutoCAD is 2013 even though the current release of ZWCAD+ is 2012.) User Interface Compatibilityįigure 1: ZWCAD+ 2012 looks in many areas like AutoCADĪs you gaze around figure 1, you’ll find (clockwise from upper left) the application menu (under the big Z), quick access toolbar, ribbon, palettes, scroll bars, layout tabs, command prompt area, and a status bar that’s not quite a feature-packed as AutoCAD’s.įigure 2: Secret button for accessing menus in ribbon mode
#AUTOCAD 2013 AND AUTOCAD LT 2013 COMPARISON MATRIX SOFTWARE#
(See figure 1.) Indeed, ZWSOFT claims their software “has the closest user experience as AutoCAD, compared to alternative products.” Let’s take a look at how ZWCAD+ compares with AutoCAD in the areas of user interface, commands, drawing display, and customization. When AutoCAD users fire up ZWCAD, they will find it similar to that with which they are already familiar. ZWCAD+ is a cost-effective AutoCAD workalike. Today, its line of CAD software is sold by dealers in 80 countries to 320,000 customers. More recently, the company release ZWCAD Mechanical, an add-on for doing 2D mechanical design.
#AUTOCAD 2013 AND AUTOCAD LT 2013 COMPARISON MATRIX UPGRADE#
ZWSOFT renamed VX “ZW3D,” and then put it through an aggressive upgrade schedule. The company made in 2010 the surprising move of purchasing VX of Florida, USA, a firm best known for its CAM (computer-aided manufacturing) software.
#AUTOCAD 2013 AND AUTOCAD LT 2013 COMPARISON MATRIX CODE#
And so in 2012 they delivered ZWCAD+ 2012 – the ‘+’ indicating the new code base.Īll along, ZWSOFT emphasized ZWCAD’s compatibility with AutoCAD – the subject of this article. Like many other reasonably-priced CAD packages, ZWCAD was for a time based on IntelliCAD, but then the company rewrote the code to make it faster. ZWSOFT has been over the last decade working diligently to produce a respectable AutoCAD workalike.