Mike Charek is an architect in Portland, Maine. (207) 761-0556 [email protected]
I got my first Mac, an SE, back in 1987. I wanted to use it for drawing in my architectural practice, and researched every CAD program I could find that ran on the Mac. I tried MacDraw, MacDraft, MiniCAD, MGMStation (an Israeli product whose sample drawing was of a military tank), VersaCAD, and EZ-Draft (a mechanical drafting package from Bridgeport Machine — it wasn’t EZ at all). Finally I ran across PowerDraw (now PowerCADD) and felt my search was over. It was then, and continues to be through each subsequent upgrade, a fast, accurate, easy-to-use, no-nonsense drawing tool.
Engineered Software then started selling something called Advanced Drafting Tools. Here was a supplemental set of tools that did things the main program couldn’t. I was especially fond of the deceptively simple, but extremely helpful isometric drawing tools. Using those tools, I did some illustration work for an architect friend, Carol Wilson, two of whose projects are shown here.
The Advanced Drafting Tools eventually coalesced into WildTools, which greatly expand the functionality of PowerCADD. I think it’s fair to say that using the combination of WildTools and PowerCADD has enabled me to be twice as productive “on the board” as I used to be using parallel rule, triangle, and pencils. I can not only get more done, but I can put more information into the drawings. I can do better presentations, and more complete working drawings, and have fun doing it.
Mike Charek
