FastCAD Europe Ltd, the Watford, Hertfordshire-based computer-aided design company, is touting its Visual CADD software as the first two-dimensional drafting package for personal computers to cost less than $500 although, needless to say, it will cost ú500 if you but it in the UK. Visual CADD 1.2 can be customised using standard Windows languages such as Visual Basic or C++ rather than proprietary macro languages. This will make customised computer-aided design applications faster, easier and cheaper to develop, the company says. Version 1.2 can use AutoCAD DWG Drawing files and DXF, Drawing Exchange Format files, as well as already drawn symbols included in Generic CADD software. A bundled version will ship with Microsoft Corp’s Microsoft Office from April. FastCAD has also released RoboCAD 3000 solid modelling software, which enables developers to see a computer representation of the internal or external view of a model. The product, which is aimed at engineering and plastic manufacturers, i s estimated to offer 90% functionality of an equivalent workstation package when run on a 90MHz Pentium machine, however the drawback is it takes up 16Mb of RAM. Designers can calculate properties such as volumes and moments of inertia, with RoboCAD and it enables simultaneous visualisation of views in wire frame and quick shaded modes. It also supports parametric editing, enabling one piece of a design to be changed and then filtered through the rest of the design. RoboCAD is available for ú4,750.
