64 Bit PowerCADD - Coordinate System changes

[Jsgeorgo]

Good Morning. Before I ask my question I'd like to say I recognize that this may come across as heresy but please know I have been a die-hard PCADD user going way back to the PowerDraw days..mid 1990s. As a civil engineer, many of my projects cover large areas and over the last 10 years I migrated to using Microstation and now more recently ACAD with Carlson Civil. I still use PCADD for structural work though. The reason for the migration has been primarily because of the Design Model/Layout Sheet concept but also because of the ease in which survey data can be easily brought into and out of the system and maintained on State Plane Grid, etc.. While ACAD's drafting overall productivity is still a joke when compared to PCADD and Wildtools, PCADDs coord system and lack of design model/layout sheet capabilities has become a hinderance to me in my work.

So with that said, I have been wondering if the new 64 bit version of PCADD can include changes to allow for the design model/layout sheet production concept as an option and will the coordinate system allow for multiple grid systems such as State Plane grids?

Would this capability benefit anyone else..civil engineers, landscape architects, etc...?

Thank you..

[Matt_A]

Just wondering if you think there's any chance your perceived productivity advantage is related to the *lack* of modelspace/paperspace overhead?

[Alfred Scott]

Jim,

We had a number of ways to import Shapefiles, survey data, DXF in WildTools but it was a prerelease feature that expired.

Right now I’m working on a version of WildTools that will bring this stuff back. This will run with the current shipping version of PowerCADD.

You will be far better off dealing with these issues in WildTools. It’s been a number of years since I worked on this so it’s not fresh in my memory, but as I remember you can do all this in WildTools.

We didn’t get to it, but I also had a cut and fill concept going that would colorize cuts and fills. I’m looking forward to getting back into this.

We also had some export things going as well.

I’ve been working on all this for a few months, and I’m well down the road with it now. The difficulty is that I’m having to wind the software back to where things were when the current shipping version was compiled.

This is also related to the OpenClip concept and I can do things on the side in little utility programs like OpenClip Viewer and OpenClip Bridge. These things are 64-bit apps, so they provide a convenient way to move between the different worlds.

Alfred

[Jsgeorgo]

Matt:
If I have a simple project where I do not have to break it into too many sheets then PCADD is definitely the way to go productivity-wise. That advantage starts to diminish when I have to break it up into multiple sheets and if I need to bring in survey data on State Plane Grid and then export on grid for field stake-out. I do a lot of over-the-water and waterfront projects including dredging projects. For example, if I have a navigation channel that is several miles long and I need to break the plan up into individual (ledger sized) sheets at 1"-50' or even 1"-25' scale it can get very cumbersome. The model space/paper space concept, while I agree does bring overhead, is still advantageous for very large or linear projects.

[Jsgeorgo]

Good Evening Alfred:
Greetings from the Norfolk bunker. I hope all is well with you and yours. I am not familiar with the Open Clip tools that you mentioned. Perhaps you can explain? Thx..

[Alfred Scott]

Jim,

Please check out OpenClip.net.

Alfred

[Paul H]

Hmmm, OpenClip is very very interesting and a well written intelligible document. I'm not a programmer and am not interested in becoming one but the potential of OpenClip that you folks are working on would be extremely helpful for this architect, especially if it was implemented in SketchUp.

Thank you Alfred.

[Drew]

I second that. I feel I am going to need to use SketchUp a lot more these days and being able to do what you demonstrate in FormZ would be a HUGE benefit. In fact I am getting quite excited by the propsect :0)

[RTCool]

Alfred already knows I'm in the SketchUp user camp wanting better interaction. I wonder if we could do a poll of how many people use what 3D software along with PowerCADD?

[RRichards]

Alfred already knows I'm in the SketchUp user camp wanting better interaction. I wonder if we could do a poll of how many people use what 3D software along with PowerCADD?

SketchUp 2020

Ralph