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FastCAD, an AutoCAD Shadow


If they had never heard of FastCAD ... they should.

I know, it is possible that for the first time they know that this program exists, but I want to take some time from this ice cream night with Oreo cookies to show a tool that we have something to learn even in the last paragraph.

Why FastCAD is Important

Well, the creator of FastCAD is the one who developed INTERACT, that program that was the prototype bought by the founders of AutoDesk to launch AutoCAD.

However, beyond the heavy humor of my North American friend, this program gained some important merits in the early nineties; Also Riddle was nominated by Design News as Engineer of the Year in 1992 and in 1999 Engeneering News-record included him in the Top125 of the most influential people in the construction industry of the last 125 years.

Then founded Evolution Computing Which 1985 launches its first version of FastCAD, of course for DOS.

  • At 1987 the version included "tight" buttons, icons and dialog boxes before it did -Windows.
  • Also at that time I already had Plot essambly With layout management, a predecessor of what became AutoCAD in the Paperspace.
  • Currently the latest version of FastCAD is the 7.56, whose last changes began in the year 2007 and that involved the change to format of 32 bits.

The good thing about FastCAD. First of all, my respects to Riddle when it comes to user-driven innovation. I was testing it for a long time over the weekend and although it is software that was launched 10 years ago, it surprises in some aspects of practicality that are hidden there; although I must warn that learning to use many of its functionalities implies changing the way of doing some things in programs that we have used. And although I think that this program has already given what it should, on the current platform, it is worth recognizing how it has made a good impression on me; who knows if some competing shows should keep an eye on it.

  • Reads dwg formats up to the most recent version (2010 which uses AutoCAD 2012). The FastCAD format is fcw, but it can be opened and saved as dwg formats from R12 to 2010).
  • Read Microstation DGN V8 formats, in this and the above have their limitations Many programs Paid and open source (we understand why, but we respect investigate how Riddle did.
  • Fastcad autocad You have the option to insert a dynamic view within the same model (the Newness of AutocAD 2012 and Bentley V8i), with buttons above much more practical than setting view options in Microstation. The tricks to operate the zoom between windows is very good, because the mouse scroll, depending on the key that we press, can make normal, dynamic zoom, rotate on a different axis or in isometric; This keyboard shortcut handling is very creative in different FastCAD tools.
  • The best, interactive work with files. Apart from saved views it includes shortcuts to files and has an option called references Overlay files, Similar work xref, but with the option to edit them on the fly (the xref are read only) and even with a functionality called Part in which it is possible to create associations of objects and arrays even though they are in different files, these can be partially loaded from the outside.  Impressive.
  • The functionality of the tables is a luxury, as they are dynamic. An autonumeric column can be created, including importing data from an excel (csv) or txt file. Once the file is converted into a dwg it loses the dynamic as it is exploited.

Fastcad autocad

  • There is a tool path Which, among other things, creates walls, similar to Multiline, With the variant which is a dynamic object, in which, when joining the walls, it automatically creates associations (Without having to use break, trim and other malavares), you can draw and vary the width of the walls without losing the command, also you can insert cuts for door holes and ends for the end of a wall. Luxury with a practical Popmenu, Passing it to 3D is a matter of saying it, it seems very simple.

Fastcad autocad

  • There are also several quite practical things at the interface level such as the color bar on the left in the CorelDraw style, just by clicking, the combobox above to see in which conditions we are working: type of line, coordinates, thickness, layer, etc. The user interface seems very practical, very well distributed, without many toolbars and new panels appear at the ends to manage the block libraries (cells).
  • It has some simple things that the competition has been slow to take, such as a Zoom to a search text (in a click), zoom to the saved view, the dimensioning is very practical and includes a tolerance factor that solves many problems.
  • It does not have everything, but boy did they smoke it to include what is most occupied. Looks like me AutoCAD course When teaching 25 commands; The basic building tools are all (although some with logic change) and in editing focus on 8 commands but with necessary variants such as Copy includes drag, dynamic scale, rotated and symmetric options.
  • Holds scripting, macros and digitizer table. 3D looks so easy and the rendering doesn't look bad even though it was like that 10 years ago; but it has its flats when importing ACIS objects from outside.
  • There is a version called EasyCAD for US $ 300 and FastCAD walks US $ 600 makes it an economic alternative rather than pirate, although in my opinion at this point I would opt for an IntelliCAD type BitCAD o ProgeCAD Or inclusive GstarCAD Which up to the Ribbon included.

Fastcad autocad

The bad thing about FastCAD

Well, to begin with, it is a version that although it has been updated in recent years, its graphics engine is I think the same as 10 years ago, I suppose it was the best when Riddle developed FastCAD 7. That creates a tremendous limitation compared to competition tools Recently users have been accustomed to finding interaction by hovering the mouse over objects or looking for a snap. That part of snaps and transparency management is like AutoCAD R13 or Microstation J, to get an idea.

This previous weakness makes much of what we have mentioned before as advantages look deteriorated, little current and anyone without much criteria could underestimate its potentialities. In Windows 7 there are serious difficulties with some graphic cards, especially in Windows 7 installations on older machines, as in Windows Vista with fonts based on bitmaps. All for being an outdated graphics engine.

Then it has some kind of ambiguity with the handling of continuous commands, especially between the command line and the right button and some routines that open in a blue console, I think there is a trick that takes time to understand. Also at the level of usability, the management of layers is not very practical, in these times we have many layers and we occupy in a click to be turning off, on or freezing not only the file in use but those that are in reference.

It is clear that the program has problems of interoperability, because it does not natively read the files dgn, dxf, dwg but imports it to a file fcw, which brings disadvantages to him when exporting it again, especially in the quality of visualization in The sizing, so it has an option that exploits them -What seems fatal to me- The same happens in some cases with the text width factor. I looked for it and did not find a way to load raster files, just embedded bitmap, nor does it handle georeference systems.

While they were innovative in handling print layouts, I think it falls short on multi-sheet control and the pdf generation seems bizarre to me.

Understandably, FastCAD is for 2D and 3D CAD design, and it does it well. But nothing more; there are no complementary programs for Engineering, Architecture, GIS or other with which it interacts. That is not bad, that is the way it is and as long as it is said "this is FastCAD" there is no sin, but it takes away the advantage because now almost nobody does pure CAD but uses that to edit data of a specific discipline.

And finally, there are no signs of a new version; not this one. If the company is thinking of making a FastCAD 8, surely it is a new development (the current one seems to have been worked in Visual Basic and in the C ++ language). Wanting to go to a newer graphics engine would mean working on .NET compatibility and… I'm not sure if Riddle is thinking about that.

Moral

Finally, the lesson does not stop learning unless we read Riddle's Thoughts, that in a blog with few entries we loose some confessions between the lines. Reading we cannot avoid a halo of nostalgia, some helplessness due to the injustices of good software that perishes before the popular and, we also understand that Mike is more than a technology entrepreneur, he is an innovator thrown into a technological poet that is needed today in day in the right place.

We also know that it is behind a new software, more or less we understand of what type, who knows if a rebuilt version of FastCAD, with a more inclusive strategy of alliances that now are very necessary for Survive more than 10 years.

My respect for the man who set guidelines for the way many programs make CAD today, materializing ideas on assumptions that did not exist. Chances are, if Riddle had visualized what he was selling, he would have insisted on being an AutoDesk partner (Although he was one of the 18 co founders) Instead of selling your product and staying out of what is now that emporium that is difficult to shade you.

An American friend -Heavy grouper for jokes- He told me one afternoon at Café Colombiano that Riddle stayed out because at the time that Walker founded AutoDesk he was buying a razor, and not precisely to cut his beard ...

Golgi Alvarez

Writer, researcher, specialist in Land Management Models. He has participated in the conceptualization and implementation of models such as: National Property Administration System SINAP in Honduras, Management Model of Joint Municipalities in Honduras, Integrated Cadastre-Registry Management Model in Nicaragua, Territory Administration System SAT in Colombia . Editor of the Geofumadas knowledge blog since 2007 and creator of the AulaGEO Academy that includes more than 100 courses on GIS - CAD - BIM - Digital Twins topics.

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