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review AEC software
Software delivers amazing array of design and project management tools. By Steven S. Ross
With each new upgrade, Allplan becomes easier for drafters to use. Allplan FT vl 6.2, released this summer, continues the trend. It is faster than its predecessor (more on this later) and has a cleaner on-screen look with more room for drawing. But its feature-laden, not-quite-Windows interface and its comprehensive file handling system remain barriers to the casual CAD user--the designer who spends only 10% to 15% of his or her time in front of the tube. Allplan can convert a scanned sketch into a vector drawing, and add-on hardware lets you sketch directly on the screen with a wand. But opening a clean screen for drawing and opening a drawing file from a project require special non-Windows commands. Setting up drawing files and layers can require some classroom training, or at least a close read of the tutorial.
One example of how things can be easier and harder at the same time: I quickly fell in love with the new mouse navigation commands. The moves you make most are now just a click away, especially with a three-button mouse. To pan, click the middle button when no tool is active. The screen window moves in the direction you drag. Double-clicking the middle button zooms to the drawing extents (that is, sets the view so that all of the drawing is visible on the screen). Clicking on an element when a drawing-element tool is active sets the linear snap points. When the tool for selecting elements is active, middle-- clicking in two corners of an imaginary box on-screen selects all of the elements within the box. You can then use Allplan's filter assistant to pick the elements you want. Click with the middle button, then the right button, to select items with the same pen thickness or linetype as what you clicked on.
A single mouse click is all it takes to back out of full-screen mode to standard control mode. But let's face it-- the casual user is not going to know those commands. I'll forget them myself once I'm no longer immersed in the program's features. Standard scroll bars at the edges of the...