The latest genus of CorelCAD fits into the family of products based on Graebert’s ARES engine. This update offers interface improvements and new features for ease of use.
With this update, Corel has updated to the latest ARES Commander platform, which features a new ribbon user interface, it has improved the layer tools, and is making Design Resources available to users. It also is extensible via LISP and VSTA.
A quick rundown of the new features
Ribbon interface: Ironically, CAD users railed against the ribbon interface when it first appeared in CAD programs, but they came around. Now it’s a matter of modernizing the interface to add the ribbon. It’s optional however for those who just will not surrender. The Design Resources palette enables easier sharing between files—browses the computer or network for useful contents including blocks, reference drawings, images, layers, sheets, styles, etc.
The Mac interface has also been upgraded but no ribbon, thank you very much. The Mac version features floating user interface elements. Graebert says is is proud of the work it has put in to the Mac interface to make it as comfortable for Mac users as possible. Print and layout configuration has been updated to meet Mac standards. Standards
Verification: CorelCAD 2014 enables drawings to be verified for compliance with established standards, the verify standards command can check the current drawing against industry standards or standards set by the company. Using a Drawings Standards File (DWS), the verify command looks for matches in naming conventions, layer properties, line styles, dimension styles, and text styles.
Quick Group and Ungroup: the latest CorelCAD 2014 enables drawing entities to be grouped for easy manipulation. This could normally be done by grouping them in a block, but that might not always be the intent. Sometimes, you just need to deal with a chunk of drawing temporarily but they don’t really have the relationship of entities in a block.
Layer Manager: There are several improvements in the layer tools designed to make it easier to work with drawings with lots of layers and especially in cases of layers being created by different people. CorelCAD adds transparency for layers and entities including for locked layers. In addition, the new version has a layer preview tool and adds the ability to group and filter layers. Corel is carving out its own market and developing tools for that market.
Corel is forging links to its other products for design and illustration, CorelDraw and CorelDraw Technical. Corel has a strong customer base in sign making, apparel, raster to vector conversion, etc. The market is made up primarily of people who work in 2D technical fields. They are a group whose needs span technical illustration, design, and CAD and Corel tries to fit into this niche in ways that its competitors don’t. The challenge for Corel, of course, comes from DraftSight and other products that are less expensive and/or free. It’s edge comes in its inclusion of customization tools like LISP. CorelCAD 2014 is now available for $699 and upgrades are available for $199.
