Corel and Dassault Systèmes both use the Ares CAD platform from Graebert Software as their foundational technology, enhancing it for their respective user bases.
CorelCAD, one of two drafting products based on the Graebert Ares CAD platform, has released its 2015 update. Among the new features are dimensional constraints (parametrics), and a new user interface that uses the Windows Ribbon format (not applicable to the Mac version).
The Graebert Ares CAD platform is a leading .dwg-compatible CAD engine primarily sold through OEM partners. In addition to Corel Software, Dassault Systèmes also offers an Ares-based drafting program, DraftSight. Graebert says that between CorelCAD and DraftSight, as well as their own retail product Ares Commander, there are more than 3 million active users of Ares technology.
In addition to supporting the .dwg data format popularized by AutoCAD, CorelCAD also supports CorelDraw graphics. Although it is drafting software and not a solids modeling solution, it does have 3D capabilities. CorelCAD is available on both Windows and Mac.
Key new features in CorelCAD 2015 include:
New Drawing Constraints (Parametric Drawing) for Windows: Increases drawing precision by applying dimensional constraints to ensure 2D designs meet exact proportion, angle and size requirements by forcing a geometric shape to perform in a specified way.
New 2D Editing Tools: ExplodeBlockX maintains attribute values while exploding blocks to editable shapes; DiscardDuplicates simplifies geometry; and the new interactive trim path precisely trims curves and corners on screen.
Pop-Up Dimension Palette: Displays dimension text formatting and property settings on screen for quick editing and easier control of frequently-used settings.
Enhanced In-Place Text and Table Editing: Creates or modifies existing text with the ability to stack text and paste formatted text from Microsoft Word within a project. Inserts, deletes, merges or resizes cells, rows and columns within existing tables to include important text or instructions into any drawing.
Enhanced Windows Ribbon User Interface (UI): Allows users to easily transition from other CAD programs with customizable Windows ribbon UI workspaces (not applicable to the Mac version).
CorelCAD 2015 is available in English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Brazilian-Portuguese, Czech, Polish, Russian, Turkish, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanese and Korean. North American pricing is $699 (USD and CAD). Registered CorelCAD users of any previous version of CorelCAD, CorelCAD 2013 and CorelCAD 2014 are eligible for an upgrade price of $199 (USD and CAD).
YouTube video: Using dimensional constraints in CorelCAD 2015.
