2. Fast and easy to use

ARES® is built from scratch, based on current technologies, incorporating the DWG engine of the Open Design Alliance (ODA). Constructed on three decades experience in CAD business Graebert is committed to providing CAD users an open software architecture. This altogether makes ARES® a CAD product that ensures speed, ease of use, and reliability.

3. Intuitive interaction

The Qt® based user interface with dockable toolbars, right-click shortcut menus, and a Properties palette lets you feel at home quickly in ARES®. Fully customize the user interface (UI). No programming knowledge needed. Store individual UI configurations in user profiles. Use aliases for frequently used commands.

4. Smart drafting tools

Speed up drafting and constructing using ARES® smart tools such as entity snap, entity snap guides, and polar guides. Create custom coordinate systems to align the construction plane to drawing objects.

5. Easy edits - Time savers

Quickly reposition, align, copy, or resize entities using entity grips. Use filtered selections to modify a specified set of entities. Use the Properties palette to directly manipulate the appearance of entities such as layer, color, line style, and line weight, or other properties of one or more selected entities. Use the Property Painter tool to copy properties from one entity to apply them to other entities. Dimensions as well as hatches and gradient color fills are related to their associated entities and update automatically.

6. Efficient reuse of objects and styles

Create and insert blocks to reduce and avoid repetitive work. Attach drawings and images as references to share work and participate in workgroup environments. Set up and manage styles for dimensions, text, tables, and RichLines to assure conformity with industry and corporate needs and standards.

7. Annotate with value

Enhance the information value of geometry with notes and tables, leaders and geometric tolerances, or text attributes of block insertions. Record and play VoiceNotes to add messages, reminders, or instructions directly in your drawing. Mark up drawing items with freehand sketches. Mask portions of the drawing to exempt them for annotations. Clip referenced drawings to display only what is needed.

8. View your design simultaneously in different shade modes

Use tiled views to view the model from orthogonal or isometric views. Use RollView to rotate the model in 3D space. Choose from different display modes for individual tiled views: wireframe, hidden lines removal, flat or Gouraud shading. Render the model fullscreen or in a separate window. Add light sources to view results in a realistic state.

9. Organize multiple layouts with tabbed sheets

Create numerous tabs each representing a sheet to design a layout from which to print. Place view tiles on sheets to arrange different views to
the model, or details of the design at different scales. Place frames, title blocks, part lists etc. on the sheets. You can switch between paper space and model space on Sheet tabs to adjust the representation of the model and even edit the model. Organize sets of layers to be displayed in each view tile individually as needed. Clip view tiles on layout sheets with rectangular or irregular shapes.

10. Manage individual options settings

Use the Options center to manage all drafting and system preferences in one place and store them as user profiles to restore them as needed. Create page layouts to reuse print settings when sending your design to the printer or plotter.

Enhanced ARES® Commander Edition functionality

11. ACIS® based solid modeling

ARES® Commander Edition includes a 3D Solid Modeler based on ACIS®, the industry standard. Add 3D solid primitives to your design and use Boolean operations to unite, intersect, and subtract bodies. Extrude or revolve 2D entities, sweep 2D entities along a path, or loft between 2D entities to create solid objects. Slice and intersect solids. Edit the edges, faces, and bodies of 3D solids. Use regions, created from closed boundaries, to transform areas into 3D solids and to perform Boolean operations on 2D entities.

12. Gain maximum productivity with programming interfaces

ARES® Commander Edition lets you gain maximum user productivity by taking advantage of the Lisp, C/C++, Visual Studio for Applications (VSTA), Delphi, COM, and DRX programming interfaces to create your own functions, routines, and plug-ins. Add active content from other application using OLE objects in drawings. Easily define and manage user interfaces elements such as menus and toolbars in XML resources.

13. Geographic Information Data

ARES® Commander Edition reads and writes ESRI® Shape files, allowing you to visualize maps and geographic models created by GIS applications.

Languages

2. Fast and easy to use

ARES® is built from scratch, based on current technologies, incorporating the DWG engine of the Open Design Alliance (ODA). Constructed on three decades experience in CAD business Graebert is committed to providing CAD users an open software architecture. This altogether makes ARES® a CAD product that ensures speed, ease of use, and reliability.

3. Intuitive interaction

The Qt® based user interface with dockable toolbars, right-click shortcut menus, and a Properties palette lets you feel at home quickly in ARES®. Fully customize the user interface (UI). No programming knowledge needed. Store individual UI configurations in user profiles. Use aliases for frequently used commands.

4. Smart drafting tools

Speed up drafting and constructing using ARES® smart tools such as entity snap, entity snap guides, and polar guides. Create custom coordinate systems to align the construction plane to drawing objects.

5. Easy edits - Time savers

Quickly reposition, align, copy, or resize entities using entity grips. Use filtered selections to modify a specified set of entities. Use the Properties palette to directly manipulate the appearance of entities such as layer, color, line style, and line weight, or other properties of one or more selected entities. Use the Property Painter tool to copy properties from one entity to apply them to other entities. Dimensions as well as hatches and gradient color fills are related to their associated entities and update automatically.

6. Efficient reuse of objects and styles

Create and insert blocks to reduce and avoid repetitive work. Attach drawings and images as references to share work and participate in workgroup environments. Set up and manage styles for dimensions, text, tables, and RichLines to assure conformity with industry and corporate needs and standards.

7. Annotate with value

Enhance the information value of geometry with notes and tables, leaders and geometric tolerances, or text attributes of block insertions. Record and play VoiceNotes to add messages, reminders, or instructions directly in your drawing. Mark up drawing items with freehand sketches. Mask portions of the drawing to exempt them for annotations. Clip referenced drawings to display only what is needed.

8. View your design simultaneously in different shade modes

Use tiled views to view the model from orthogonal or isometric views. Use RollView to rotate the model in 3D space. Choose from different display modes for individual tiled views: wireframe, hidden lines removal, flat or Gouraud shading. Render the model fullscreen or in a separate window. Add light sources to view results in a realistic state.

9. Organize multiple layouts with tabbed sheets

Create numerous tabs each representing a sheet to design a layout from which to print. Place view tiles on sheets to arrange different views to
the model, or details of the design at different scales. Place frames, title blocks, part lists etc. on the sheets. You can switch between paper space and model space on Sheet tabs to adjust the representation of the model and even edit the model. Organize sets of layers to be displayed in each view tile individually as needed. Clip view tiles on layout sheets with rectangular or irregular shapes.

10. Manage individual options settings

Use the Options center to manage all drafting and system preferences in one place and store them as user profiles to restore them as needed. Create page layouts to reuse print settings when sending your design to the printer or plotter.

Languages

PowerCAD has over 350 AutoCAD compatible commands that require virtually no relearning, allowing for a shared AutoCAD/PowerCAD workplace. The software has all of the drawing and editing commands CAD professionals expect. Advanced 2D drawing commands (i.e. trim, fillet, or chamfer) are complemented by sophisticated functions (associative dimensioning and hatching).

Additionally to FLX (native PowerCAD file format) we have added a feature to recover DWG and DXF files in all format versions. You are now independent from AutoCAD recover and audit commands.

PowerCAD supports Windows Vista and we have added the ability to run with different user configurations. Desktop settings, print configurations, alias files etc. are now saved for every user.

PowerCAD can define dimension style overrides for the current dimension style. This is useful when you want to create overrides to suppress or change only one or two settings of current dimension style (e.g. use only a different arrow head or dimension text size) without creating a different dimension style. It is the quickest and best way to use override dimensions. The new dimension dialog reflects the new capabilities of the dimension system.


ACIS Integration and 3D Solid Modeller

PowerCAD Pro includes a 3D Solid Modeler based on the ACIS-library, the industry standard. Rendering and line/face hiding is based on the latest OpenGL standards, reducing the time needed to perform complex imaging tasks. You can add 3D solid primitives such as boxes, spheres, cones, cylinders to your drawings. We have implemented the standard Boolean- functions union, intersect, subtract, etc. for 3D solid editing. 2D regions are created with the region command and use the same solid edition commands. Finally, solids can be edited by directly accessing faces and edges.


ACIS Developer Interface for LISP and C/C++ Objects

PowerCAD includes an Advanced Programming Interface (API), supporting system customization using Lisp, Visual C++, or Delphi to directly access our 3D solid programming functions for your application development. PowerCAD allows quick and painless "porting" of existing code written in AutoLISP, ADS or script files. Menus, dialog boxes, and palettes created for AutoCAD use are automatically converted, saving end users thousands of euros per license for each CAD system purchased.

For developers PowerCAD Pro includes the complete DCL Dialog language support. AutoCAD Dialogs can be imported into PowerCAD without further adjustments or editing. The Lisp and C/C++ interface has been reworked in Version 7 and is now compatible to AutoCAD.


New HTML based Help System

PowerCAD contains a completely renovated help system using the Microsoft CHM help files.

Languages

PowerCAD has over 300 AutoCAD® compatible commands that require virtually no relearning, allowing for a shared AutoCAD®/PowerCAD workplace. The software has all of the drawing and editing commands CAD professionals expect. Advanced 2D drawing commands (i.e. trim, fillet, or chamfer) are complemented by sophisticated functions (associative dimensioning and hatching).

Additionally to FLX (native PowerCAD file format) we have added a feature to recover DWG and DXF files in all format versions. You are now independent from AutoCAD® recover and audit commands.

PowerCAD supports Windows Vista and we have added the ability to run with different user configurations. Desktop settings, print configurations, alias files etc. are now saved for every user.

PowerCAD can define dimension style overrides for the current dimension style. This is useful when you want to create overrides to suppress or change only one or two settings of current dimension style (e.g. use only a different arrow head or dimension text size) without creating a different dimension style. It is the quickest and best way to use override dimensions. The new dimension dialog reflects the new capabilities of the dimension system.


New HTML based Help System

PowerCAD contains a completely renovated help system using the Microsoft CHM help files.

Languages