An interim review of the upcoming General CADD Pro version 2.1

… by Noel H. Browning, Updated September 21, 2003
A copy of this review is posted at http://www.genericcadd.com/GCPreview2.0.32.htm

What’s New in the General CADD Pro v2 beta
… or plenty of good reasons to replace your Generic CADD & LT programs with General CADD Pro

1. Better Quality Drafting with the Fastest 2D professional design/drafting program available.
2. Very Short Learning Curve [Generic users 1-day, other acomplished CAD operators 1-week of study maximum.]
3. Familiar Generic CADD style 2-Letter Native Commands.
4. Save time & hassle (with your next system upgrade) re-installing Generic CADD.
5. Many useful new Native Commands. [Over 62.] Plus many improved commands. [Over 20.]
6. Runs well on any Windows 98SE, or XP, Operating System. [PC with 128 Mb RAM minimum.]
7. Uses standard Windows printer drivers. [No special proprietary plotter drivers are required.]
8. Later versions of DWG and DXF files are supported plus Generic friendly DWG and DXF output.
9. Incredible Technical Support that may be the best the Software Industry has ever known.
10. The GCP Annual Software Maintenance Agreement (ASME) offers a Significant
Software Cost Advantage for the thrifty delineator:

AutoCAD LT 2004 is available for $659 US.
General CADD Pro v.2.01 is expected to sell for $499± US.
Generic 6.1 was priced at $495 US for the July 1993 release. (Has it really been 10 years?)
The upgrade to AutoCAD LT’s next release is expected to be $300± US.
The GCP 2.0.1 ASME is expected to be $149± US and includes quarterly updates to
2.02, 2.03, & the 3.00 beta, plus the 3.01 upgrade.  
     This is as if the Generic CADD 6.0 users could have received 6.1.x, 6.2.x, 6.3.x, the 7.0.x betas, 
     plus an upgrade to 7.1.0 
     for the same amount that the so called upgrade to Generic CADD 6.1.0 cost them in 1993.

Only Useful Windows Features are provided in General CADD Pro:
Mouse Scroll Wheel to Zoom [plus Shift key to Pan]
     Scroll mouse input devices also support menu and list picks
Mouse left click on Status Bar Buttons to change settings.
Mouse right click on third line of Status Bar display settings list box.
Windows Drop-Down Menus supplement the customizable Side Menus.
Windows Explorer style drag & drop file folder options for Thumbnail settings.
Windows pop-up box for most all the [on/off] Toggle settings.
Windows GUI Clipboard Commands (Cut, Copy, Paste), and selected Icon buttons
     aid new users.
Windows Toolbars [on/off] toggle commands.
Windows command Button Pallets can be relocated or hidden.

New CADD Features added to General CADD Pro:
Improved GXM Macro Programming Language [Runs GC6 MCR batch files]
Improved GXV Video Menus [Runs GC6 native & custom video MNU menus]
All Menus include the, easy to learn, 2-Letter Mnemonic Native commands.
     Side menu & custom side menus can be hidden to increase screen space.
GCP stores Floating Point numbers in 8-byte variables, GC6 stores them in 4-byte.
A Text Editor is included plus the new Quick Edit command.
Printing utility allows simple, direct use of the Adobe Acrobat 5.0 PDF Distiller program.
Unlimited number of Components may be placed in drawings, up from 256 in GC6.
     Visual scaling and rotation of component blocks may be done on the fly.
Number of Layers increased from 256 to 1024.
Additional Line Type patterns added for GCD, DWG, and ISO file compatibility.
     Device and World line types include a total of 80 different patterns.
     Custom line types may be added by the user. [File conversions create custom patterns for non native line types].
Drawing File Size has been greatly reduced using self-compression.
Optional Thumbnail image selector used for loading drawings and placing hatches or components.
Faster command line direct entry for Length + Angle using the optional Polar Coordinates command
     modifier ( ` ). [The grave accent symbol replaces < for angle and decimals replace the colons].
     The new shift free entry format is r'a.b or r'a.b.c [Where radius = length & angle = deg.min.sec].
Use the @ command modifier for Direct Entry of x,y coordinates.
Use [Shift] + right mouse button to edit Text, Dimensions or Components.
Use [Tab] key for PenUp, Enter, or to Browse file lists. [Windows scroll bars are only used in selection list boxes].
Use the Arrow Keys to Pan and Zoom.

New Native Commands include:
A1 Aligned linear dimension
A5 Arc 5 tangent arcs [draw]
AB Arc to Bezier curve [utility]
AU AUto save [utility]
BA Bezier curve to Arc [utility]
BD Batch/macro De-bugger [utility]
BQ B-spline Quadratic curve [draw]
CQ Component Query [list & place]
CT ConverT [ATB, CMP, FNT, SHX, GCD, HCH, PAT & TTfont files to GCP format]
DK Drawing Kleen [removes double & zero length objects from file]
DQ Dimension Query settings [dialog box]
EC Edit Configuration [Acces & revise program .cfg files directly from the program]
FB File Bug report online [E-mail]
FV Fraction Value [setting]
H1 Horizontal linear dimension
HE displays the extensive HElp [utility]
HG Hatch chaGe
HO Hatch Origin [relocate]
IF Insertion Fill [seed fill]
IG ImaGe object [Place, scale & rotate BMP, JPG, PNG, TIF & WMF files in drawing]
IH Insertion Hatch [seed hatch]
IM Import: [.gcd, .dwg, dxf, .ai, .wwf & .emt files plus the HPGL .dpf, .txt, .plt & .hpg files]
LF Load Font to edit an existing or create a new GCP .gxf font [utility]
LM Layer Manager [list box]
LP Last Point snap
M1 Measure area
M2 Measure 2-point angle
M3 Measure 3-point angle
MC Multi Copy [edit]
OX Object eXplode
P1 Path 1 to .gxd vector files [was to .GCD]
P2 Path 2 to .gxc component block files [was to .CMP]
P3 Path 3 to .gxf font files [was to .FNT]
P4 Path 4 to .gcd vector files
P5 Path 5 to .dwg vector files
P6 Path 6 to dxf vector files
PP ProPerty settings [dialog box]
QC Query Commands [list box]
QE Quick text Edit [also works on leader text]
QT Query Toggle [on/off] settings [pop-up with More & Close buttons]
RN Restore eNvironment saved settings [select saved drawing configuration style from list]
RS Re-Sort drawing by entity order [dialog box ]
S1 Save as GCP version 1.0x format
S2 Snap mid point between 2 points
SF Save Font after edit or creation
SU Snap Universal [to pre-established snap points]
TB move selected objects To Back of RedrawDisplay order
TF move selected objects To Front of RedrawDisplay order
TN ThumbNail [on/off] settings [for Drawings, Components & Hatches]
TQ Text Query [settings & editing dialog box]
TY Text laYer [settings for specific or current layer]
UP Universal Points [set reference points coordinate locations]
UY aUto dimension laYer [settings for specific or current layer]
V1 Vertical linear dimension
WK Window Kleen [removes double & zero length objects from file]
WO Window sOrt [utility]
WV Window conVert lines to arcs
XA eXport Attribute data
XC restrict Cursor to drawing area
XP eXPort Bitmap [jpg, bmp, tif, png files] & Vector Drawing files [R-11/12 & R-2002 files]
YU laYer Un-name by: [Selected, Unused or All layers]
ZE Zoom bird's Eye view

Improved GC6 Command Features include:
CG ChanGe [All properties, pick object to match added]
DC Display Coordinates [Manual entry, Absolute, Relative, & Basepoint added]
DG Drawing chanGe [All properties, pick object to match added]
DI DIsplay screen settings [Background, rubberbanD, Grid & Highlight color, menu Font,
Menu tips, pOint size, cursor Prompt & Rotate cursor to ortho angle settings added]
DP Drawing Print or Plot HPGL/2 [Date & Time Stamp on DP output & set custom plotter page size added]
EN Environment [save current & name multiple drawing configuration styles]
FP File Paths [GCD, Plot files, Image & aTtributes added]
HS Hatch/fill Settings [Origin change & display fIll added]
LO LOad file GCD, CMP, MCR, ASCII and DWG/DXF
     [GXD, Read GCD Header, Unit settings for DWG/DXF, Image files & ATtribute files added]
LV Load Video side menu runs GC6 MNU or native GXM files [improved menu selection list box]
OG Object Change [All properties, pick object to match added]
OI Object Information [additional geometric data is listed]
SA Save As [screen Image, gxd v.1, generic friendly dwG & dxF files added]
SE Selection [select by Allow right/left crossing, Invert & coNnected added]
TS Text Settings [Bold & laYer added]
WG Window chanGe [All properties, pick object to match added]
YG laYer chanGe [All properties, pick object to match added]
YN laYer Name [Longer layer names are permitted]

Online Features for All Versions of General CADD Pro:
Frequent updates of the Help file with downloads.
Bug fixes are available promptly as downloads.
Send bug reports from the program directly to the developers by E-mail.
Contact on-line support directly from within the program.
Plus an Internet bulletin board system (BBS) that provides the best technical support in the industry

Only three significant GC6 features are still missing from the v.2.0.032 beta:
Digitizer Support, View ports, and the BIll of material utility.
These features are expected to be included before, or shortly after, the release of GCP version 2.1.

CONTACT:
James Faliveno, support@generalcadd.com

General CADD Products, Inc.
1 Railroad Avenue
Cherry Valley, New York 13320

Download your very own Free Trial Copy of General CADD Pro 1.0.3 and the latest 2.0 beta at:
www.GeneralCADD.com and also be sure to download the latest HTML Users Manual while you are there.

Author’s Disclaimer:
This review represents my knowledge of the current 2.0.032 beta program.
The program (when shipped) will likely be subjected to some emendation
plus additional basic & useful features.

Copyright©2003 Noel H. Browning
E-mail: noel@cirs.com or visit www.GenericCADD.com
Permission is granted to reprint this complete review, providing that the Author is credited.

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