I have just uploaded a new copy of WildTools 10.6.
In PowerCADD, select WildTools Updates from the Help menu.
This will take you to a web page for WildTools 10.6.
Click on Download
WildTools Development Version link.
Recent changes:
MattTools and DerekTools
I have included for you to look at MattTools and DerekTools.
MattTools some interesting ideas that Matt Arnold wanted to pursue on evaluating Architect schools in the Rect Chart Wing Chart Tool.
In the dialog for the Wing Chart find a design of a resource allocation program for a Home Owners Association that a friend of mine developed in Excel, and he asked me to work on an interactive interface design. You look out for 30 years on the maintenance costs, etc.
DerekTools is nothing but a collection of vector icons for inclusion in PowerCADD. These icons have been included at pdf images but not a vector icons the way they are done in WildTools.
Doors & Windows—Window Pane/Muntin Tool
There is a new Window Pane/Muntin tool included with a concept from Matt Arnold. The idea is that you can create window panes and muntins by drawing an enclosing rectangle. It’s important to set the scale of the drawing to something sensible for the size of windows.
I’m sure you are all aware of the announcement of the collaboration between Engineered Software and PowerCADD and AutoDesSys and FormZ. This is a wonderful development. Ten years ago, working with David Kropp at AutoDesSys we developed the ability to Copy in PowerCADD and Paste in FormZ with the OpenClip format that we worked out, and I’m encouraging and hoping that the ability to Copy in FormZ and Paste in WildTools can be hooked up again. This was working once and the programming is still in PowerCADD and WildTools to handle this, and you can experiment with these capability with the OpenClip Viewer App which you can find at
www.openclip.net where all of this is discussed.
You may be amused to check out Bozo Technology which you can turn on in the WildTools preferences. It provides a mechanism to ‘encourage’ you to update to a new version of PowerCADD that might be offered at some point in the future. It is harmless and annoying and you can simply delete the silly extra objects placed in the drawing.
Picture Frame Tool
Added photo of Phil Loheed.
Text Tool—WildTools
Eliminated ‘classic’ Text tool, which placed obsolete text objects in the drawing.
Nuts & Bolts
Fixed Canadian square tube error.
Fixed depictions of flat and oval head 3D screws.
Changed drawing of 3D threads from polygons to Beziers.
Thicken Tool—WildTools
3D Thicken Tool—WildTools 3D
Perspective Thicken Tool—PerspectiveTools
Now produces Beziers from circles, arcs, rotated ellipses, etc.
Plan Title Tool—Doors & Windows
Fixed crash.
Expiration Dates
Expiration dates for new features pushed out into the future.
*****
SimpleTools
At this point I’ve essentially run out of ideas for new tools and my next step is to produce a new tool palette for PowerCADD. It doesn’t make sense to me for a software company to have such a limited and incomplete set of tools as part of the basic program. The tool palette hasn’t changed in about 20 years, and it’s hard to keep from laughing when you look at the Mechanical Tools and some of the tools in the tool palette.
What I have in mind is a basic set of tools, with about the same number of tools as now. The tools will be simple, easy to learn and easy to use, and they will not have power user features and shortcuts such as shift-toggling, Zoomer integrated with the tools, etc. The tools should be complete, so that a Trim tool should trim anything to anything but with a simple click-drag interface and without finger-technology and multi-click interfaces. WildTools is a feature-filled set of tools, like PhotoShop, and this will be more like iPhoto. I’m just going to work on it, and I’ll be happy to hear any suggestions you may have as we go along.
Alfred
Alfred P. Scott
5407 Patterson Ave, Suite 202B
Richmond
VA 23226
(804) 353-1713
cell (804) 690-4591
[email protected]
[email protected]
www.seqair.com