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| Improved Interoperability |
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MicroGDS 10 allows you to work seamlessly with all parties involved in a project through its extended file format support. You can now import Google SketchUp concept documents, collaborate with other teams using AutoCAD® 2007 files, output drawings to PDF for distribution to clients and the wider community, all from within MicroGDS 10.
This greater interoperability aids accurate communication, helps to manage the information and results in more effective collaboration.
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Create PDF files - MicroGDS 10 is now delivered with built-in support for the PDF file format. Sharing of MicroGDS drawings is made much easier and drawings can be viewed and printed by clients, sub-contractors and the larger community involved in the design project.
MicroGDS 10 provides native support for PDF Version 1.6. This allows for transparent linestyles to be created and improves on the quality of output when compared with using a Postscript® printer. Significant cost savings can be recognised by using MicroGDS built-in PDF creation, rather than expensive deployment of Adobe® Acrobat® licences.
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Read Google SketchUp files - MicroGDS 10 speeds up the process of taking conceptual models and converting them into accurate CAD drawings and models. Google SketchUp models and textures can quickly be imported into MicroGDS 10.
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AutoCAD® 2007 support - MicroGDS 10 now makes it even easier to work with teams using AutoCAD 2007 by providing new support for AutoCAD 2007 file formats: MicroGDS 10 can export to DWG/DXF Release 2007 format and DWF™ 6 is now supported.
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| Enhanced 3D Modelling and Rendering |
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MicroGDS 10 introduces new features for creating impressive rendered images more quickly. Successful bid winning could come down to the quality of the presentation material: MicroGDS 10 now utilises photorealistic rendering based on the LightWorks® rendering engine. Improved navigation facilities help to accelerate the process of creating 3D models making it easier for all skill levels to quickly create and render photorealistic images needed for successful presentations.
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Rendering - Richer and more photorealistic images can now be created from within MicroGDS 10 using the new LightWorks® rendering engine. This combines with the new features added to accelerate the creation and handling of 3D models resulting in a more complete tool for generating impressive rendered images.
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Rendering improvements include: new rendering mechanisms (using Radiosity and Final Gather technologies); reworked Render and Quality commands; new Environment shaders; new Light shaders; enhancements to positioning of lights; real world light intensities; new material shaders
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3D Surface Commands - Apply more realistic and accurate lighting effects in your 3D models with MicroGDS 10’s new extended mesh functionality. New commands have been added to rapidly mesh a surface, face or entire clump. Continuing to apply mesh increases the degree of triangulation of the faces and is very powerful when wishing to improve the rendering of complex surfaces.
Patch and Rule surfacing is also provided to allow a 3D modeller to create a mesh clump from three or four bounding line primitives.
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Global Illumination - MicroGDS sees the introduction of sophisticated technologies for the rendering of more realistic lighting environments. Global illumination is a term for rendering with light processed for the whole model, rather than just the visible pixels. Specifically, for MicroGDS 10, it deals with the reflection and re–reflection of diffuse light: rendering internal and external spaces is now more realistic.
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Face Materials - More control and flexibility has been provided for the application of materials to a 3D model. In MicroGDS 10, 3D modellers can now apply materials to faces, surfaces and clumps allowing more precise material rendering to be created. New face commands include: Per Surface; Solid to Faces; Faces to Solid.
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Radiosity - Radiosity is a solution to the inter–reflection of light, by dividing modelled faces into triangles. Light from the primary light sources is shot from the sources to all triangles that it can reach without being blocked. Each triangle then re–radiates its diffuse reflected light, and this process iterates.
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| Optimized Performance and Usability |
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MicroGDS 10 provides key tools for productivity improvements and efficiency gains in the practice of 2D and 3D computer aided design. Common and repetitive CAD tasks have been collated into accelerator features and made more accessible to the end user. Focus has been placed on new features in MicroGDS 10 to help the design team to produce more output, more quickly resulting in more profitable projects:
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New paste functions - When copying graphics in the 2D drawing or 3D model options are now provided to paste into the same or alternative layers and selections can be made for whether to paste as bitmap, metafile or the source primitive form. The user is given a choice over whether to retain the linestyles when pasting or to discard them and use the default linestyle settings for the new application.
This feature helps to improve the efficiency of the user by allowing them to group multiple selections and move them to new layers en masse.
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Repeat last command - To speed up the process of handling repetitive tasks it is now possible in MicroGDS to press ‘Enter’ after a command to repeat the same command. This simple device to shortcut the process of reselecting commands can save significant time and results in a more intuitive method for executing the same command many times.
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Automatic text regeneration - Properties which are referenced from text objects (such as date, document name, author etc.) are now automatically updated when the property or field changes. This avoids the need to regenerate the text and further helps to improve efficiency by automating this common task.
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Inclusion list editor - New to MicroGDS 10 is a much simplified inclusion list editor (used in Set Edit and Phase Filters), changes to the tool simplifies the way in which filters are constructed since it removes the need to write the complex syntax required to achieve the desired effect. New filters can now be constructed by a user using the following constraints: Active; Action; Wildcard/schema; Match; Advanced.
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Model navigation - This manipulation of the model can occur during the execution of drawing commands which provides a powerful device for 3D modellers to create and manipulate in tandem. New navigation features have been introduced in MicroGDS 10 to provide an intuitive environment for handling, viewing and navigating through a 3D model.
New DirectX® support is provided to allow a smoother and more intuitive 3D navigation experience (a graphics card that provides hardware support for DirectX 9.0 is required).
Navigation functions available: Advance/Zoom; Field of View; Slide; Orbit; Pan/Tilt; Walk/Run.
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Multiple saved views - For users who work with large 3D models it is now possible to create multiple saved views of the model at mixed scales. Different angles and zoom levels can be applied to the views, these user-created views can be named and quickly restored with just a click of the mouse.
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New viewing facilities changes - Selecting, moving and copying graphics is made easier by allowing standard behaviours to apply, common shortcut keys can be used to accelerate the model creation process. Drag and drop behaviours are also available to help simplify the process. Drag and drop to: Window Editor; Mini Window Editor; Document Organizer.
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Microsoft® Windows® standardisation - New drag and drop features allow for the simple and rapid movement of objects across layers.
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Easier entity selection - In complex 2D and 3D models it can be difficult to select objects when their snapcodes overlap; MicroGDS 10 overcomes this by providing a toggle to step through all of the snapcodes available at a pre-defined point. This makes it possible to choose, for example, between an inside snap on a closed–line primitive and a line vertex at the same location.
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Check for updates - You can now check the MicroGDS web site to see if there are updates available from within your copy of MicroGDS . To avoid complications with deployment of products this is not an automatic process and has to be manually invoked and managed.
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| Extended Configurability and Customization Options |
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MicroGDS 10 provides many new enhancements specifically targeted at increasing the flexibility of the tool. Both organisation wide and user specific configurations can easily be set up to allow each individual and team to work with consistent interfaces and application standards, making MicroGDS configured to their needs.
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Photo features - Using snapshots of MicroGDS drawings for placement in larger layouts or presentation pieces is a common practice and improvements have been made in MicroGDS 10 to help make more flexible the handling of these photo primitives. Raster, OLE and MicroGDS photos can now be easily handled. The user can now change the boundary of the photo, add effects to photos (such as scotia and fillet), and rotate and align.
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Dimension formatting - MicroGDS 10 introduces new flexibility for the dimensioning of drawings specifically to cater for scenarios where multiple accuracy levels, fonts and units of measurement are required in a single drawing or model. The user now has the ability to switch between the low or high accuracy dimensions across units.
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Mnemonic definitions - New window level definitions and three new computed attributes have been added to allow for more flexibility when creating drawings that dynamically refer to window variables. For example, entities within a drawing can have an attribute of ‘Maintenance Date’ set, this can be compared with the current date of the window, linestyle, colour and other properties can be dynamically changed to highlight maintenance issues.
This powerful new feature allows for a single drawing to automatically change its visual state depending upon pre-set parameters within the data of the entities, excellent for quickly understanding the impact of new job phases on the drawing or model.
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Extended API - Recognising that many software tools are used in the design process, MicroGDS 10 provides more configurable components and offers flexibility for each customer to adapt the interface and features to best suit their needs. Alongside this, the ability to customize applications using the Application Programming Interface has been extended. MicroGDS 10 can both drive, and be driven, by other applications to seamlessly integrate into your workflow.
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