August 1997 Vol.2 Issue 12
SoftSource is a company well known in AutoCAD circles: it was the first third-party developer to decipher AutoCAD's DWG drawing file format and the first to release a stand-alone program capable of viewing and redlining DWG files. When SoftSource set out to build its own CAD program, it therefore made perfect sense to base that program's drawing file format on AutoCAD-drawing-based CAD system not sold by Autodesk.
Your first inclination might be to compare Vdraft, and AutoCAD clone, to FelixCAD, the AutoCAD work-alike reviewed above. But unlike FelixCAD, which sets out only to duplicate AutoCAD features (including AutoLISP), Vdraft expands on AutoCAD, offering an interface that behaves much like AutoCAD could be if it were redesigned.
Vdraft feels comfortable as soon as it starts up. Below the menu bar you'll find a collection of toolbars for standard file commands. The draw, coordinate entry, coordinate settings, colors, layers, linetypes, text styles, and blocks/xrefs toolbars are also arrayed here. Additional toolbars are aligned down either side of the screen. In fact, virtually all of Vdraft's commands appear on its various toolbars, and every toolbar can be rearranged or undocked and floated anywhere on the screen. Of course, in true AutoCAD-like fashion, commands can also be selected from pull-down menus.
Across the bottom of the screen you'll see a status bar and the screen coordinates readout. What you won't find anywhere is a command line, but don't let that stop you. Vdraft accepts most AutoCAD commands and command aliases as if the AutoCAD command prompt were staring right out at you-you simply type. You will need to glance back at the status bar to see what Vdraft expects you to do, but even this process is helped along by the program's cursor tips. Vdraft extends Windows ToolTips by displaying on-screen prompts to guide you through many commands. When you're drawing, cursor tips also provide precise dynamic readouts, such as displaying the line length and angle when drawing lines or the radius when drawing circles.
When you start a new drawing, Vdraft activates a New Drawing dialog box from which you can select predetermined layouts including title blocks, layer settings, styles, and so on. If you prefer, you can also open a blank drawing and then use the program's Drawing Setup Wizard to choose your own settings.
Like AutoCAD, Vdraft uses the concepts of model space and paper space. You generally work full-size in model space, using paper space to compose the finished sheet when it's ready to be printed. The program's default templates automatically create model space viewports in a paper space drawing sheet, however, easing the transition to this dual-mode concept.
Since Vdraft uses AutoCAD drawing files, it also matches most of AutoCAD's commands and features. For example, Vdraft supports an unlimited number of layers, which can be named using up to 31 characters. Layers determine linetype and color, which can be overridden on a per-entity basis, and layers can be visible or frozen (but not locked, since this capability didn't exist in Release 12, the version of DWG format used by Vdraft). Vdraft also uses the same linetype, text font, and hatch pattern files as AutoCAD; but again, these capabilities seem somewhat limited. For example, since R12 does not support complex linetypes, neither does Vdraft, and Vdraft cannot make use of TrueType or PostScript fonts. Although Vdraft displays drawings in 3D and matches AutoCAD's ability to view drawings from various three-dimensional vantage points, it does not match R12's 3D-entity creation capabilities. The only 3D commands you'll find in the program is 3Dface, although you can extrude two-dimensional objects and specify x,y,z coordinates when drawing lines and polylines.
Vdraft does improve on AutoCAD in other areas, however, notably in its ability to open multiple drawing files. You can even open multiple drawing files by dragging them from Windows Explorer directly into Vdraft, opening each in its own window. Once in Vdraft, the Block/Xref Manager lets you view the individual blocks and external references contained in your drawings-not just their names-and you can cut and paste between drawings.
Clicking the right mouse button displays a context-sensitive pop-up menu that provides more extensive tools than AutoCAD's standard cursor menu. Although Vdraft lacks AutoCAD's grips, its quite at home using noun/verb editing-you can select entities using standard AutoCAD selection methods such as windows or crossing-polygons and then select the command you want to perform. It's a bit more difficult to use AutoCAD's older verb/noun style of editing-selecting commands first, such as Move, then the objects you want o move, then clicking on the Move button in a pop-up menu, and finally specifying the two points that define the distance over which to move the objects). Most people will likely prefer the noun/verb method.
While Vdraft provides astounding AutoCAD compatibility, there are some serious limitations. As mentioned, Vdraft is based on AutoCAD's R12 drawing file format, not the newer R13. Although R13 and R14 can save drawings in R12 format, if you haven't done so in advance, Vdraft will simply refuse to open your drawings. Unlike AutoCAD, Vdraft lets you save drawings to earlier AutoCAD formats (e.g.,R10 or even version 2.5) should you need to do so. Digitizers are supported only via WinTAB drivers, and then only as a relative pointing device; you can't digitize existing hard-copy drawings. On the customization side, Vdraft does not support AutoCAD's AutoLISP, ADS, or ARX programming extensions, but it does provide its own programming capabilities using scripts, ActiveX Automation, or Vdraft's own API.
In other areas, Vdraft goes well beyond AutoCAD's capabilities circa R12 most notably in its support for the web. The Vdraft package includes SoftSource's DWG/DXF plug-in, which lets you view AutoCAD drawing files as well as cut and paste over the web. Vdraft can also save files as SVF (simple vector format) files, which gives you the ability to include Internet hyperlinked information or text-based annotations in web-enables files. Vdraft also lets you send and receive drawing via e-mail, export text to the Windows clipboard, export the current Vdraft view as a Windows metafile, or embed or link drawings into other documents (e.g. word processor files). You cannot link or embed other documents into Vdraft drawings, however.
Vdraft comes on either a CD-ROM or six disks. A free 30-day trial version is available on CD-ROM or as a download from SoftSource's web site. It comes with three manuals; (1)the users guide, while containing everything you'll need to know about the program, is a complex document with far too much information on each page ; (2)by comparision, the AutoCAD users guide to Vdraft provides a concise tutorial, illustrating both how to use Vdraft and how it differs from AutoCAD; while (3)the Customization and Programmers Guide explains everything you need to know to customize Vdraft using Visual Basic, C++, or other Windows-based programming evironments. The program's on-line help is excellent and extensive.
SoftSource bills Vdraft as a "better AutoCAD drawing editor". With a few notable exceptions, you might agree. At a price comparable to AutoCAD LT, Vdraft is a viable alternative.
By David Cohn