Graebert Ares Commander update includes new Android 2D CAD

With more than 6 million active users, Graebert has become a considerable force in DWG-compatible drafting.

Graebert GmbH today announced its 2015 product line-up, which extends the triple-OS Ares Commander desktop CAD platform to the Android mobile OS.

Graebert sells Ares Commander as a dwg-compatible alternative to AutoCAD on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. Graebert also offers an OEM edition sold most notably by Dassault Systemes as DraftSight and Corel Software as CorelCAD. Graebert claims its Ares CAD software is used by more than 6 million designers. Within that total Dassault claims more than 3 million activated licenses of DraftSight.

Graebert Ares Commander is now available on Windows, Mac OX S, Linux, and Android. (Source: Graebert)

To promote both the new version of Ares Commander and the new Ares Touch for Android, Graebert will offer a year-end promotion bundle of Commander for the desktop, the Android version, and a Samsung Galaxy S 8” tablet or equivalent, the specific model depending on the buyer’s location.

Major new features in this update include:

Ares Touch for Android: Ares Touch is the first DWG-based full CAD software for Android tablets. It includes a user interface specifically adapted for touch-based input. Files are synchronized via Dropbox or Google Drive or shared by email. Ares Touch is free with any single-user license of Ares Commander. Graebert expects to ship Touch in November 2014.

New Aras Touch for Android can switch quickly between Pan for 2D drawing movement and Orbit for 3D drawing movement. (Source: Graebert)

PowerTrim: Trim multiple entities by moving the mouse around and simply clicking to trim up lines. This is a feature that got the “ooh” and “aww” response from the crowd at the Graebert Developers Conference in Berlin today.

The new Power Trim feature in Area Commander makes quick work of otherwise tedious trimming. (Source: Graebert)

LicenseToGo: A new licensing scheme in which a product key can activate a license on another computer; eventually Graebert will extend this to other supported OS’s (Windows, Mac OS X or Linux) without having to buy its Flex (network) license or connecting to the user’s first computer. The Graebert LicenseToGo will be active for up to 5 days, renewable on the same PC or another one.

Dynamic blocks, Grips editing: Edit dynamic blocks inserted in a DWG drawing by other CAD software such as AutoCAD, then use the grips to dynamically and interactively modify intelligent blocks and eventually reinsert them in the drawing.

Dynamic blocks from other software can now be edited in Ares Commander without breaking the interactive nature of the block. (Source: Graebert)

2D Constraints: This edition adds the Constraints Design Solver (CDS) from Spatial Corp. (a Dassault Systèmes company). Geometric constraints define selected entities that should remain parallel, perpendicular, or tangent. Dimensional constraints lock a length, define a scale factor between entities or enter a formula to define a length. After defining such constraints, the CDS solver will dynamically update a drawing whenever there are modifications.

Tables: Click inside a Table cell or launch the command EditTableCell for a toolbar with all the options to insert, resize, merge or delete cells, rows and columns.

Dimension palette: Create or click on a dimension to summon a contextual toolbar to change its formatting and properties. One of several examples of new technology in Ares Commander from working with DS SolidWorks as a technology partner.

Advanced in-place text editing: The Notes (MText) command has been improved with a new Paragraph options dialog to define advanced formatting as in a word processor but inside a drawing. The new Stack dialog helps create fractions and tolerances in text.

QuickModify: Use only one command to perform multiple actions on the same selection of entities: move, rotate, scale and/or copy without leaving the command.

Free plugin – OnlineMaps powered by Esri: This free plugin can download geo-referenced images from any address entered in the search bar. Satellite images, street maps, topographical maps, and more are available.

Free plugin – Cadenas: Instant access from a panel inside Ares to millions of free parts from hundreds of manufacturers and insert them as blocks in drawings.

Support for Linux 64 bits versions: Support for 32 bit versions is now extended to 64 bit Linux distros. Ares Commander is tested for Ubuntu, Debian, Suse, and Fedora Linus distributions.

CustomPaperSize: Add or remove custom paper sizes for the Ares virtual printers in order to export to PDF, JPG, DWF and other formats.

Customizable Ribbon: Customize the tabs and panels of the Ribbon to group specific tools or to crate new workspace.