UPDATED FOR V16 BRICSCAD® FOR AUTOCAD® USERS Ralph Grabowski BRICSYS Payment Information This book is covered by copyright. As the owner of the copyright, upFront.eZine Publishing, Ltd. gives you permission to make one print copy. You may not make any electronic copies, and you may not claim authorship or ownership of the text or figures herein. By Email Acrobat PDF format: $31.40 Allow for a 15MB download. PayPal Check or Money Order To pay by PayPal, send payment to the account We can accept checks from the following of [email protected] at www.paypal.com. regions of the world: • US funds drawn on a bank with address in the USA. PayPal accepts funds in US, Euro, Yen, • Canadian funds drawn on a bank with a Canadian Canadian, and 100+ other currencies. address (includes GST). • British funds drawn on a bank in Great Britain. • Euro funds drawn on a bank located in the EU. 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This is the 9th edition and is based on BricsCAD V16 17 December 2015 Technical Writer Ralph Grabowski All brand names and product names mentioned in This book is sold as is, without warranty of any kind, either this book are trademarks or service marks of their express or implied, respecting the contents of this book and respective companies. Any omission or misuse (of any disks or programs that may accompany it, including but any kind) of service marks or trademarks should not not limited to implied warranties for the book’s quality, perfor- be regarded as intent to infringe on the property mance, merchantability, or fitness for any particular purpose. of others. The publisher recognizes and respects Neither the publisher, authors, staff, or distributors shall be all marks used by companies, manufacturers, and liable to the purchaser or any other person or entity with re- developers as a means to distinguish their products. spect to any liability, loss, or damage caused or alleged to have been caused directly or indirectly by this book. Table of Contents AutoCAD-BricsCAD Dictionary ...................................................................................................................................xii 1. BricsCAD for AutoCAD Users .....................................................1 THE BRICSYS BENEFIT ...................................................................................... 2 The Agony of AutoCAD .................................................................................................................. 2 The Business of Bricsys .................................................................................................................. 3 Chapoo Project Management .....................................................................................................................4 BricsCAD is Not IntelliCAD .............................................................................................................6 THE BRICSCAD ADVANTAGE ........................................................................... 8 Near-identical User Interface ........................................................................................................8 More Commands and System Variables .....................................................................................................9 3D Direct Modeling and Constraints...........................................................................................................9 APIs and Customization ............................................................................................................................ 10 Examples of Add-ons .................................................................................................................................. 11 No-charge Developer Network ..................................................................................................................12 Support for Multiple Operating Systems .....................................................................................12 Lower Purchase and Maintenance Pricing ..................................................................................13 It Makes More than Cents ..........................................................................................................................13 All About BricsCAD Bulk Licenses .............................................................................................................................. 14 What is Missing from BricsCAD? ...................................................................................................15 What’s Missing from AutoCAD ..................................................................................................................15 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS ................................................................................16 Recommended Hardware ............................................................................................................16 Supported Operating Systems ..................................................................................................................17 What’s New in BricsCAD V16 ..................................................................................................................................... 18 2. Comparing User Interfaces ..................................................... 29 Comparison of User Interfaces ..................................................................................................................................30 Summary of User Interface Elements ....................................................................................................................... 32 BricsCAD for Mac and Linux ...................................................................................................................... 33 START SCREENS ............................................................................................... 34 VARIATIONS IN USER INTERFACE ..................................................................35 ‘:’ vs ‘Type a Command’ ...............................................................................................................36 Prompt Menu (BricsCAD Only) ....................................................................................................36 Controlling the Prompt Menu ................................................................................................................... 37 More Command Options ........................................................................................................................... 37 The Quad Cursor (BricsCAD Only) ...............................................................................................38 DIFFERENCES IN OPTIONS & SETTINGS ....................................................... 39 Brief Tour of Settings Dialog Box ................................................................................................40 Opening and Closing Nodes ...................................................................................................................... 41 Accessing and Understanding Values....................................................................................................... 41 Using Realtime Search ..............................................................................................................................42 Exporting Settings .....................................................................................................................................43 VARIATIONS IN PALETTES ............................................................................. 43 Differences in Properties Palettes ...............................................................................................44 Differences in Tool Palettes ......................................................................................................... 45 Differences in Sheet Sets ............................................................................................................. 45 Mechanical Browser vs Parametrics Manager ........................................................................... 47 Parts Library (BricsCAD Only) ...................................................................................................................48 STATUS BAR & OTHER UI DIFFERENCES ...................................................... 49 Differences in Status BarS ...........................................................................................................49 Working Sets (BricsCAD Only) ......................................................................................................51 Tips Widget (BricsCAD Only) ........................................................................................................51 Differences in View Cubes ..........................................................................................................