Data CAD 8.5 excels at architectural work: long-lived CAD program combines speedy performance with productivity tools

摘要

DataCAD has long enjoyed an international following among architects, interior designers, planners and civil engineers. Indeed, it's one of the most widely used of all CAD packages Its interface is DOS-like, but it remains easy to use andpowerful. This latest version sweetens the pot with an estimating program, terrain digitizing module, and Visual Reality rendering engine. The route to 8.5 has indeed been tortuous. DataCAD was one of the first CAD programs for DOS-it first appeared in1984. When it went 3D a few years later, it sported an innovative cursor-centric interface and the first 3D objects in a DOS CAD program. Reviewing it then, I marveled at its speed, versatility, and the small files it created-and complained about itspropensity to crash. In 1996, DATACAD LLC purchased rights to the product in the United States. DATA CAD LLC released DataCAD 8 early this year and 8.5 in June. The company plans to collaborate on future versions with a German developer, softTECH, whichsince 1986 has used the DataCAD source code in a program called SPIRIT.