In traditional MCAD, one part is modeled per drawing (or tab), and then multiple parts are joined into an assembly. Additional industrial parts are available free from online sites, such as Traceparts. They see the built-in ease-of-use suitable for sales people, so they can put together a preliminary design while seated with the customer. In fact, the company is making the design intelligence in Flexible Shapes available to users other than designers. Unfortunately, not all IntelliShapes are Flexible Shapes, but IronCAD representatives tell me they are adding more to catalogs as customers request them. When you place the next tube, IronCAD uses the same stock and cuts 45 degrees off the new item, automatically. Here’s an example of the intelligence in IronCAD: Model a tube and then cut 45 degrees off. Flexible Shapes are a more convenient version of IntelliShapes as you place them, they cut automatically through parts and – if necessary – prompt for a size. IronCAD 2018 retains all the UI functions from that first release and has gained more in the following two decades, naturally. Well before Siemens PLM launched Synchronous Technology for doing both history-based and direct modeling in one model, IronCAD was the first to combine the two modeling systems. manipulator) interactively edited solids.įigure 2: IronCAD drawings can include multiple states of a mechanism shown in different colors SmartRender adjusted rendering modes to maintain speed and the TriBall cursor (a.k.a. It had 3D Illustration to generate 2D drawings of 3D models that remember they are 3D. TriSpectives introduced us to interactivity in MCAD, such as dragging-and-dropping 3D IntelliShapes from catalogs onto models, complete with mating (a.k.a.
(Note that there are many other unrelated systems named “XCAD”.) Nevertheless, it pioneered the idea that MCAD software could cost a trivial $500 or even $0, and that a vendor could sell a million copies or more. Last I heard, it was being sold only in its native Hong Kong. It also failed when it couldn’t update the software quickly enough.
Then, the upstart CAD package made the eye-raising claim it would sell a million copies worldwide – at a time when 100,000 was considered a really big number. XCAD was launched at a jaw-dropping price of $500 in an era when MCAD was supposed to cost $5,000 or even $50,000 per seat. Figure 1: Zooming and panning a large assembly model in IronCAD 2018
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