Intellicad-Autocad compatibility

Discussion:

(too old to reply)

Kerry C

2007-02-01 09:48:13 UTC

Hi Folks,
My apologies in advance as I'm sure this sort of question has come up
before. I haven't used Autocad since about R14 and will have to get back to
it soon. But rather than the latest Autocad, which will no doubt still be
extremely pricey (for my pocket), I'm thinking of looking at one of the
versions of Intellicad.

I've heard that Briscad and Cadopia do a good job with compatibility and are
reasonably priced, but would like to know the differences between these two
and how each rates in the compatibility stakes with big brother Autocad. Are
any differences so great as to make a drawing non-usable/viewable if it has
to be amended/viewed in Autocad? Any other comments about Autocad & various
versions of Intellicad would be most welcome. How about the 3D aspect?

My area is mostly mechanical design with a heavy dose of plant layout when
required. Occasionally I get into 2D architectural stuff, but not often.

Many thanks,
KerryC

Karlheinz Boehme

2007-02-01 16:33:48 UTC

Permalink

Why don't you download the evaluation from www.bricscad.com
and find out yourselve if it siuts you? It'll run 30 days.

If you start the online help, it usually brings up the page
that describe the differences between AutoCAD and BricsCad,
si you have a fast overview and can start immediately.

Best regards,
Karlheinz

--
The UNIX Guru's view of Sex:
look; join; chat; nice; whois; ident; trap; unzip; strip; touch; finger;
mount; fsck; more; yes; umount; logout; sleep; exit

2007-02-01 18:15:47 UTC

Permalink

Post by Karlheinz Boehme

Why don't you download the evaluation from www.bricscad.com
and find out yourselve if it siuts you? It'll run 30 days.
If you start the online help, it usually brings up the page
that describe the differences between AutoCAD and BricsCad,
si you have a fast overview and can start immediately.
Best regards,
Karlheinz

I left Acad about R14 for Icad and there have been a few difficulties
handling Acad dwgs in Icad, that is entities like zombies causing some
instability. Never insurmountable, but I haven't had that sort of
trouble for a long time now. I don't have compatibility problems at all
now and as far as I know Acad users have none with my dwgs. Occasionally
text & mtext are slightly different lengths. Whatever incompatibilities
there may be, they will probably be consistent across all brands of Icad
because differences are mainly in working features and perhaps stability
(although all I can comment on that is, Bricscad v6/v7 is/are very
stable). The actual reading and writing of files I don't believe varies
across brands - that would be part of the "core code" which they all share.

Kerry C

2007-02-02 08:47:11 UTC

Permalink

Thank you very much for the replies.
KerryC

Post by jg

Post by Karlheinz Boehme

Why don't you download the evaluation from www.bricscad.com
and find out yourselve if it siuts you? It'll run 30 days.
If you start the online help, it usually brings up the page
that describe the differences between AutoCAD and BricsCad,
si you have a fast overview and can start immediately.
Best regards,
Karlheinz

I left Acad about R14 for Icad and there have been a few difficulties
handling Acad dwgs in Icad, that is entities like zombies causing some
instability. Never insurmountable, but I haven't had that sort of trouble
for a long time now. I don't have compatibility problems at all now and as
far as I know Acad users have none with my dwgs. Occasionally text & mtext
are slightly different lengths. Whatever incompatibilities there may be,
they will probably be consistent across all brands of Icad because
differences are mainly in working features and perhaps stability (although
all I can comment on that is, Bricscad v6/v7 is/are very stable). The
actual reading and writing of files I don't believe varies across brands -
that would be part of the "core code" which they all share.

F. George McDuffee

2007-02-04 22:33:34 UTC

Permalink

On Thu, 1 Feb 2007 22:48:13 +1300, "Kerry C"

Post by Kerry C
Hi Folks,
My apologies in advance as I'm sure this sort of question has come up
before. I haven't used Autocad since about R14 and will have to get back to
it soon. But rather than the latest Autocad, which will no doubt still be
extremely pricey (for my pocket), I'm thinking of looking at one of the
versions of Intellicad.
I've heard that Briscad and Cadopia do a good job with compatibility and are
reasonably priced, but would like to know the differences between these two
and how each rates in the compatibility stakes with big brother Autocad. Are
any differences so great as to make a drawing non-usable/viewable if it has
to be amended/viewed in Autocad? Any other comments about Autocad & various
versions of Intellicad would be most welcome. How about the 3D aspect?
My area is mostly mechanical design with a heavy dose of plant layout when
required. Occasionally I get into 2D architectural stuff, but not often.
Many thanks,
KerryC

================
also see
http://www.intellicadms.com/

I finf cms ine-tellicd will run any lisp basic program that
autocad will and this may be a consideration for your indicated
uses.

Kerry C

2007-02-06 19:49:18 UTC

Permalink

Post by F. George McDuffee
On Thu, 1 Feb 2007 22:48:13 +1300, "Kerry C"
================

--snip--

Post by F. George McDuffee
also see
http://www.intellicadms.com/
I finf cms ine-tellicd will run any lisp basic program that
autocad will and this may be a consideration for your indicated
uses.

Very good point.
Anyone know if Briscad &/or Cadopia have probs with Lisp routines originally
written for Autocad, or any other comment on this aspect?
TIA
KerryC

2007-02-09 03:32:49 UTC

Permalink

Post by Kerry C

Post by F. George McDuffee
On Thu, 1 Feb 2007 22:48:13 +1300, "Kerry C"
================

--snip--

Post by F. George McDuffee
also see
http://www.intellicadms.com/
I finf cms ine-tellicd will run any lisp basic program that
autocad will and this may be a consideration for your indicated
uses.

Very good point.
Anyone know if Briscad &/or Cadopia have probs with Lisp routines originally
written for Autocad, or any other comment on this aspect?
TIA
KerryC

I originally migrated all my lisps from Acad and very little trouble.
Can't remember what trouble I did have. Can't speak for vba, sds etc.

ramana

2007-02-09 05:01:26 UTC

Permalink

Mr.kerry,

Greetings

i am working with 4M intellicad in 6 system for all my drawing needs,
i am very comfortable.

the interface, toolbars, menubars are same of your requirement ie
looks like autocad. i am using autolisp programs for my requirements.

use the following link to download the 30days evalaution version.

http://www.4msa.com/Demos/intellicad-download.htm

Ramana

Kerry C

2007-02-10 06:22:11 UTC

Permalink

Thanks ramana and again thanks jg

Post by ramana
Mr.kerry,
Greetings
i am working with 4M intellicad in 6 system for all my drawing needs,
i am very comfortable.
the interface, toolbars, menubars are same of your requirement ie
looks like autocad. i am using autolisp programs for my requirements.
use the following link to download the 30days evalaution version.
http://www.4msa.com/Demos/intellicad-download.htm
Ramana

Jerry G

2007-02-12 13:26:50 UTC

Permalink

One incompatibility I've seen (with Progecad and Progecad LT) is DText
from dxf. We use proprietary software that exports to dxf. When I import
the dxf into Progecad, all the text ends up with the same y-coordinate,
ie all in one line with multiple items on top of each other. It's not a
UCS problem as far as I can tell, and if I convert it to a dwg first,
the problem disappears, but that necessitates running a converter prior
to every block insertion, which is a real pain. Autocad doesn't have
this problem, so I stay with an out-of-date version of Cad. I can only
assume that the dxfin function is with the Intellicad core. If it isn't,
I would like to hear about it.

Post by Kerry C
Thanks ramana and again thanks jg

2007-02-12 18:05:48 UTC

Permalink

Is that plain text? I have never had that, but occasionally mtext
appears with big spaces between lines. It comes good after saving back
to R14.

Post by Jerry G
One incompatibility I've seen (with Progecad and Progecad LT) is DText
from dxf. We use proprietary software that exports to dxf. When I import
the dxf into Progecad, all the text ends up with the same y-coordinate,
ie all in one line with multiple items on top of each other. It's not a
UCS problem as far as I can tell, and if I convert it to a dwg first,
the problem disappears, but that necessitates running a converter prior
to every block insertion, which is a real pain. Autocad doesn't have
this problem, so I stay with an out-of-date version of Cad. I can only
assume that the dxfin function is with the Intellicad core. If it isn't,
I would like to hear about it.

Jerry G

2007-02-13 13:26:24 UTC

Permalink

They are item labels. Truss software in which I label each individual
truss with a name 2 - 8 characters in length. Not being a dxf expert I
assume that they are simple dtext items, and that the dxf output of our
software contains some specifics that are read fine by Autodesk, but
Progecad misreads or cannot handle.

Funny thing is that I can convert it from dxf to same version dxf with
AcmeCAD converter and then it works fine.

Experienced a similar issue with automated saws where our software
generated a file where a number was 1.000 but saw was expecting an
integer. When it saw the decimal point it switched to floating point,
but the saw software could not handle the data as floating point and
crashed. We had invested big bucks trying to get saw running, but with
this and other problems we eventually just put it into the junkpile (we
bought it used as-is.)

Post by jg
Is that plain text? I have never had that, but occasionally mtext
appears with big spaces between lines. It comes good after saving back
to R14.

Post by Jerry G
One incompatibility I've seen (with Progecad and Progecad LT) is DText
from dxf. We use proprietary software that exports to dxf. When I
import the dxf into Progecad, all the text ends up with the same
y-coordinate, ie all in one line with multiple items on top of each
other. It's not a UCS problem as far as I can tell, and if I convert
it to a dwg first, the problem disappears, but that necessitates
running a converter prior to every block insertion, which is a real
pain. Autocad doesn't have this problem, so I stay with an out-of-date
version of Cad. I can only assume that the dxfin function is with the
Intellicad core. If it isn't, I would like to hear about it.

2007-02-13 20:41:37 UTC

Permalink

It should be easy to list the text and check what it is in the dwg file
after dxfin-ing. dxf's are not very hard to decifer except they are very
big to find anything in. If it is only the label text that would be a
good clue. If you want to email a file I would be interested to have a look.

Post by Jerry G
They are item labels. Truss software in which I label each individual
truss with a name 2 - 8 characters in length. Not being a dxf expert I
assume that they are simple dtext items, and that the dxf output of our
software contains some specifics that are read fine by Autodesk, but
Progecad misreads or cannot handle.
Funny thing is that I can convert it from dxf to same version dxf with
AcmeCAD converter and then it works fine.
Experienced a similar issue with automated saws where our software
generated a file where a number was 1.000 but saw was expecting an
integer. When it saw the decimal point it switched to floating point,
but the saw software could not handle the data as floating point and
crashed. We had invested big bucks trying to get saw running, but with
this and other problems we eventually just put it into the junkpile (we
bought it used as-is.)

Post by jg
Is that plain text? I have never had that, but occasionally mtext
appears with big spaces between lines. It comes good after saving back
to R14.

Post by Jerry G
One incompatibility I've seen (with Progecad and Progecad LT) is
DText from dxf. We use proprietary software that exports to dxf. When
I import the dxf into Progecad, all the text ends up with the same
y-coordinate, ie all in one line with multiple items on top of each
other. It's not a UCS problem as far as I can tell, and if I convert
it to a dwg first, the problem disappears, but that necessitates
running a converter prior to every block insertion, which is a real
pain. Autocad doesn't have this problem, so I stay with an
out-of-date version of Cad. I can only assume that the dxfin function
is with the Intellicad core. If it isn't, I would like to hear about it.

Jerry G

2007-02-14 13:28:19 UTC

Permalink

I have attached a small dxf (64kb) with that problem. It's not a case of
can it be fixed, I know I can fix it by using AcmeCad converter, but
rather why go the extra step when I already have an older version of
Autocad that handles it fine. The problem may eventually be eliminated
as the company that writes our software has been pointed to the
Intellicad consortium so that they can offer a more complete package
that would not require us, and their other customers, to have to buy a
3rd party program like Autocad or Intellicad to finish drawings.

Post by jg
It should be easy to list the text and check what it is in the dwg file
after dxfin-ing. dxf's are not very hard to decifer except they are very
big to find anything in. If it is only the label text that would be a
good clue. If you want to email a file I would be interested to have a look.

2007-02-14 19:08:04 UTC

Permalink

It comes up ok in Bricscad v7. I noticed the text font is called arial
although it uses the txt font. TTF's have caused problems in older Icad
versions, but I don't think they do now. Could it be looking for Arial
and substituting txt in your system?

Post by Jerry G
I have attached a small dxf (64kb) with that problem. It's not a case of
can it be fixed, I know I can fix it by using AcmeCad converter, but
rather why go the extra step when I already have an older version of
Autocad that handles it fine. The problem may eventually be eliminated
as the company that writes our software has been pointed to the
Intellicad consortium so that they can offer a more complete package
that would not require us, and their other customers, to have to buy a
3rd party program like Autocad or Intellicad to finish drawings.

Post by jg
It should be easy to list the text and check what it is in the dwg
file after dxfin-ing. dxf's are not very hard to decifer except they
are very big to find anything in. If it is only the label text that
would be a good clue. If you want to email a file I would be
interested to have a look.

Jerry G

2007-02-15 18:34:45 UTC

Permalink

So it appears that it is a Progecad problem? When you viewed it, were
the text items aligned in a single row or were they in various locations
on the page with all having their own y coordinate, being adjacent to
lines in the rtrusstc layer? When I use Progecad I get all the text, but
the y-coord becomes the same for all text in the inserted dxf.

Post by jg
It comes up ok in Bricscad v7. I noticed the text font is called arial
although it uses the txt font. TTF's have caused problems in older Icad
versions, but I don't think they do now. Could it be looking for Arial
and substituting txt in your system?

Post by Jerry G
I have attached a small dxf (64kb) with that problem. It's not a case
of can it be fixed, I know I can fix it by using AcmeCad converter,
but rather why go the extra step when I already have an older version
of Autocad that handles it fine. The problem may eventually be
eliminated as the company that writes our software has been pointed to
the Intellicad consortium so that they can offer a more complete
package that would not require us, and their other customers, to have
to buy a 3rd party program like Autocad or Intellicad to finish drawings.

Post by jg
It should be easy to list the text and check what it is in the dwg
file after dxfin-ing. dxf's are not very hard to decifer except they
are very big to find anything in. If it is only the label text that
would be a good clue. If you want to email a file I would be
interested to have a look.

2007-02-15 18:46:49 UTC

Permalink

Looks like a steel marking plan with a number for each member, on or
above the member in each case... it looks right. It still be caused by
the version of Icad rather than the brand (which ver?) or possibly have
something to do with fonts in your system, that's why I asked about Arial.

Post by Jerry G
So it appears that it is a Progecad problem? When you viewed it, were
the text items aligned in a single row or were they in various locations
on the page with all having their own y coordinate, being adjacent to
lines in the rtrusstc layer? When I use Progecad I get all the text, but
the y-coord becomes the same for all text in the inserted dxf.

Post by jg
It comes up ok in Bricscad v7. I noticed the text font is called arial
although it uses the txt font. TTF's have caused problems in older
Icad versions, but I don't think they do now. Could it be looking for
Arial and substituting txt in your system?

Post by Jerry G
I have attached a small dxf (64kb) with that problem. It's not a case
of can it be fixed, I know I can fix it by using AcmeCad converter,
but rather why go the extra step when I already have an older version
of Autocad that handles it fine. The problem may eventually be
eliminated as the company that writes our software has been pointed
to the Intellicad consortium so that they can offer a more complete
package that would not require us, and their other customers, to have
to buy a 3rd party program like Autocad or Intellicad to finish drawings.

Post by jg
It should be easy to list the text and check what it is in the dwg
file after dxfin-ing. dxf's are not very hard to decifer except they
are very big to find anything in. If it is only the label text that
would be a good clue. If you want to email a file I would be
interested to have a look.

Jerry G

2007-02-16 13:37:28 UTC

Permalink

So it is a progecad error, full version and lt version of latest
releases have same error. Maybe upcoming release of Progecad will fix
it. Software that generates the dxf uses ttf fonts only, but exports shx
type fonts for compatibility with older versions of cad that may not
work with ttf. It keeps the label of the font so that you can select by
font or use a template or font translation table.

Post by jg
Looks like a steel marking plan with a number for each member, on or
above the member in each case... it looks right. It still be caused by
the version of Icad rather than the brand (which ver?) or possibly have
something to do with fonts in your system, that's why I asked about Arial.

Post by Jerry G
So it appears that it is a Progecad problem? When you viewed it, were
the text items aligned in a single row or were they in various
locations on the page with all having their own y coordinate, being
adjacent to lines in the rtrusstc layer? When I use Progecad I get all
the text, but the y-coord becomes the same for all text in the
inserted dxf.

Post by jg
It comes up ok in Bricscad v7. I noticed the text font is called
arial although it uses the txt font. TTF's have caused problems in
older Icad versions, but I don't think they do now. Could it be
looking for Arial and substituting txt in your system?

Post by Jerry G
I have attached a small dxf (64kb) with that problem. It's not a
case of can it be fixed, I know I can fix it by using AcmeCad
converter, but rather why go the extra step when I already have an
older version of Autocad that handles it fine. The problem may
eventually be eliminated as the company that writes our software has
been pointed to the Intellicad consortium so that they can offer a
more complete package that would not require us, and their other
customers, to have to buy a 3rd party program like Autocad or
Intellicad to finish drawings.

Post by jg
It should be easy to list the text and check what it is in the dwg
file after dxfin-ing. dxf's are not very hard to decifer except
they are very big to find anything in. If it is only the label text
that would be a good clue. If you want to email a file I would be
interested to have a look.