Why Buy Vdraft?

• 100% compatibility. Vdraft reads and writes AutoCAD DWG/DXF formats directly--no translation required.

• Run one Vdraft--work with one, a dozen, or 101 drawings at the same time!

• Easy copy/cut-and-paste between drawings and/or to AutoCAD.

• Use what you already know: Vdraft understands AutoCAD commands.

• Use AutoCAD, but can't afford to buy it? Vdraft costs only $250.

• Read the testimonies of others.

• Vdraft reads and writes AutoCAD DWG/DXF file formats--directly, without translation.

• What's more, even AutoCAD/AutoCAD LT read DXF with translation--not Vdraft!

• Find things fast with graphical preview/management for drawing files, blocks, and Xrefs.

• Be productive pronto with Vdraft's intuitive, easy-to-use interface.

• At $250, Vdraft is affordable, "turbo-charge" power for any workstation.

• Read the testimonies of others.

• Vdraft comes with the DWG/DXF and SVF plug-ins, the premier CAD tools for the Web.

• Create net hyperlinks and SVF files directly from within Vdraft.

• Copy-and-paste from drawings displayed in your Web browser directly into Vdraft.

• Share CAD drawings with anyone on the Web (no CAD system required for other viewers).

• Read the testimonies of others.

Why Buy Vdraft? Here are Some Other Reasons!

• Extensive backward compatibility with AutoCAD 2002, 2000, R14, R13, 11/12, 10, 9, and Versions 2.6 and 2.5.

• Fully utilizes the native, 32-bit architecture and performance of Windows 95/NT.

• Easily integrate your CAD drawings with Microsoft Office applications.

• Get the full benefit of working with multiple drawing files while running just one Vdraft.

• Use what you know: type in AutoCAD commands--Vdraft understands them!

• Read the testimonies of others.

• Easily integrate your engineering drawings with Microsoft Office, including Excel.

• Comes with powerful, built-in engineering spreadsheet applications.

• ActiveX Automation lets you customize your own integrated solutions easily.

• Read the testimonies of others.

• Develop fully AutoCAD-DWG/DXF-compatible add-ons the easy way.

• Beat the AutoLISP/ADS learning curve with the ActiveX Automation advantage.

• Vdraft's easy programmability drastically cuts development time and cost!

• Pass along dramatic development time and cost savings to your customers.

• At $495, Vdraft is easy to bundle affordably with your custom application.

• Read the testimonies of other developers.

• Designed from the ground up with a modern, intuitive, graphical user interface.

• Dynamic visual feedback assists you as you draw.

• Context-sensitive pop-up menus give you instant mastery--no guesswork or memorization.

• Pop-up "screen tips" on dialog box items give you detailed help right when you need it.

• Context-sensitive Help system provides a complete reference right at your fingertips.

• Powerful Undo/Redo List helps you graphically step back through recent commands/actions.

• Read the testimonies of other CAD novices.

What Others are Saying About Vdraft

Comments from Editors and Reviewers

• Unparalleled compatibility: ". . .Most recently, Visual CAD, Visio, and Imagineer have shown promise. Each one of these failed to produce a completely compatible DWG file. At this time, I own all three and more but have not been able to produce even the simplest DWG that would conform to my customers' CAD standards. . .Vdraft is the first CAD system in ten years that let me meet customer standards without using AutoCAD. . .Vdraft creates a completely compatible DWG file. . . . Period, end of discussion, no exceptions!"
  

  Bill Plummer, President, GMP Company

• More about compatibility: ". . ."Number one, with any AutoCAD-compatible system, file format is the biggest issue, and one big way that Vdraft 'gets it.' The DWG/DXF file formats take preeminence; thus, users can keep their current file base. The fact that Vdraft handled my [1200] fonts without a problem was the first indication that the other usual compatibility indicators were probably also OK. . .I opened one of my monster drawings with all kinds of .shx fonts into Vdraft, and it ran flawlessly. Vdraft even handled the big 150K fonts that can choke some CAD systems."
  

  Dave Edwards, President, TC Fonts for AutoCAD

• Vdraft's Web tools: ". . ."Vparametrics is designed to work via the Internet for automatic drawing creation 24 hours a day from remote users," says Paxton. "This means that using the plug-ins that come with Vdraft, you can generate new AutoCAD drawings for sales over the Internet. For example, you can create a design front-end in Access, Excel, or Word, convert it to HTML, and your customers can now make custom drawings over the Internet. Use SoftSource's DWG plug-in to view or print your new AutoCAD drawings. This is great for mass customization, e-commerce, product configuration, and making new sales 24 hours a day!"
  

  Tim Paxton, President, U.S. Parametrics

• Easy transition from AutoCAD: ". . .Another nice thing is that Vdraft's user interface supports AutoCAD commands, allowing an easy transition for an experienced AutoCAD user."
  

  Bill Plummer, President, GMP Company

• More about easy transition from AutoCAD: ". . .First of all, Vdraft understands that it has to be a 'legacy product'--i.e., an AutoCAD user has to feel comfortable with it. This extends to a number of aspects: the file format base, the training base, and the user interface base."
  

  Dave Edwards, President, Dave Edwards Consulting

• A great teaching tool: "I received the Vdraft software yesterday. I will be installing it here at Rick Hansen Secondary School, and using it in my programs starting in September. Thanks for providing this application to us. It will be an excellent program to introduce students to CADD drafting!"
  

  Ron Vague, Rick Hansen Secondary School, Abbotsford, B.C., Canada

• Making CAD approachable for new users: "We are new users of AutoCAD LT. We were quite shocked and dismayed at how steep the learning curve was. I have just downloaded your 30-day trial version of Vdraft. In the 30 minutes that I have just spent with it, I must say that I am encouraged. I am able to do more with Vdraft than I was with AutoCAD in this short learning time."
  

  Henry Leparskas, Astronomy Group, University of Ontario

• Paths to productivity: ". . .Vdraft is a truly easy-to-use program that also has built into it an optional 'learning curve' to advanced techniques that any user can take advantage of and become much faster and much more productive. . .Vdraft has a whole slew of productivity techniques in addtion to the right-click pop-up menus. For instance, there's a neat, advanced technique called a flick. And, the keystroke-driven interface is fantastic. . .no one else understands how productive single-key zooms and pans are!. . .If you've ever watched anyone doing manual drafting, you notice that they keep the pen poised steadily in one hand and reach for various drawing tools with the other. In the hands of a capable drafter, this approach makes for great speed and productivity. . .[By offering its optional keystroke-driven interface] Vdraft in a way kind of transforms or evolves the traditional, two-handed drafting technique into a new dimension-and, one that capitalizes on the unique features of the computer. Thus, I can keep the mouse in one hand and enter keystrokes with the other hand. It allows me tremendous speed."
  

  Dave Edwards, President, Dave Edwards Consulting

• Cutting development time and cost dramatically: ". . . "Programming time for VParametrics was less than 6 months, compared to the 2-3 years it takes to develop the typical AutoCAD add-on. . .ActiveX Automation also allowed us to quickly test our software along with making it link up to MS Office applications with ease. In the past, our technical support had to wrestle with AutoCAD environment settings, ACAD.PGP files, paths, batch files, et cetera, et cetera. . .All things considered, Vdraft is much easier to get up and running. And, we're able to deliver a solid, well-tested, CAD automation product to market all the sooner."
  

  Tim Paxton, President, U.S. Parametrics

• More about cost and time savings: ". . .We looked at doing it [developing HP-GL/2 input filters into a CAD system] for AutoCAD, but the learning curve was too great. I am sure you could do it with ADS, but I could never spare the weeks to learn it. . .Obviously, we learned some with each new system we wrote, but it was largely a matter of how easy it was to program in the CAD system that made the difference in how long it took to write the translator. With Cadvance, it took four months, largely because their programming environment was not set up to do translators easily. With TriDraft, it took four weeks. With Vdraft, it took two days! "
  

  Scott Taylor, President, Tailor Made Software

• Offering affordable custom solutions to customers: ". . .[A] key point to understand is that, at $495, Vdraft is less expensive to the end-user in price. We can bundle VParametrics together with Vdraft for $995, or, for users who already own Vdraft, we can supply VParametrics as an add-on to Vdraft for $595. In other words, we can offer our customers top-level parametrics plus a 100% compatible AutoCAD-drawing-based CAD system for under $1,000! Vdraft is also faster than AutoCAD and less expensive to the end-user in terms of the hardware needed to run. You can run it on an 8 MB RAM machine. Vdraft opens up the world of CAD to anyone with a laptop machine."
  

  Tim Paxton, President, U.S. Parametrics

• More about affordable custom solutions: ". . .At $695, I can offer my customers a P&ID package that includes Vdraft. Vdraft's price [$495] is low enough to allow all designers and engineers to have a copy on their computer. . .I'm giving the user the full functionality of Vdraft plus anything I add to it in my third-party add-on package, and making it as functional as I can to aid the designer. Everybody's getting it at a price that's affordable in today's environment. To me, this a giant leap forward from where a lot of other CAD packages are right now."
  

  Bill Plummer, President, GMP Company

• On Vdraft's easy programmability: ". . .The Vdraft Automation classes were well laid out and followed the DXE library closely. Since I have been using DXE for a couple of years, the transition to Vdraft ActiveX Automation was easy. However, even without DXE experience, Vdraft would be easy to program since it just makes sense. For instance, if you want to know where a circle (or most other entities) is located, you call GetWhere(). If you need to know how many linestyles there are, you call GetCount(). Very logical and easy to remember. . .[Vdraft's ActiveX Automation implementation] is much faster than other ActiveX implementations I have used. . ."
  

  Scott Taylor, President, Tailor Made Software

• Program integration: ". . .The thing I especially like about Vdraft is, number one, it is written in Microsoft Visual C++, which is also true of the Vdraft API. I'm using Visual Basic 5.0 for my customizing. Now I can't quite get to all the same 'guts' that the Vdraft developers can get to. But at the same time, I still feel I can get close enough that there's very little I can't access and manipulate. Consequently, I feel that the integration will be much better than the integration I can get with AutoCAD. Here again, AutoCAD's going this same direction. They're opening up their interface. One of the things I looked into last year was doing the AutoCAD OEM program for a project at Hoechst Celanese, but their interface to their product just wasn't as refined as Vdraft's."
  

  Bill Plummer, President, GMP Company

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