Editor’s Pick: ZWCAD 2010 Released

By Anthony J. Lockwood

Dear Desktop Engineering Reader:

You’ve probably been hearing more and more about ZWCAD from ZWSOFT as of late. Kind of hard not to, actually. ZWCAD is a lower-cost CAD package based on IntelliCAD technologies, which means it offers a native format that’s DWG-compatible. The company just came out with its 2010 version, and says this is the fastest ZWCAD ever. This might be the time for you to learn more about this AutoCAD competitor that is gaining notice all over the place. And we have gathered the resources for you to make up your own mind about it.

The 50-cent tour is that ZWCAD 2010 is an AutoCAD-compatible 2D and 3D application. It offers efficient and easy-to-use drafting, drawing,  and plotting features as well as a set of APIs to customize the program as you are wont. Version 2010 has been optimized with new compressed processing and new algorithms that are said to improve the efficiency of commonly used commands and boost speed all around, but particularly when you are working with large drawings.

Drawing features include a newly developed In-Place MTEXT Editor and additional enhancements that make your workflow simpler and easier. A new SplinEdit feature lets you change the shape of spline objects, and ZWCAD’s AutoTrack feature combines polar tracking and object snap tracking,  which means you can draw objects at specific angles or in exact relationship to other objects.

You can take a more complete tour of the new features in today’s Pick of the Week write-up. But what you really want to know are two things.

First, what resources have we pulled together? OK. From today’s report you can find links to a video, case studies, and a complimentary 30-day trial version in addition to the ZWSOFT website. You should make it a point to check out ZWSOFT’s website, by the way. It goes into great granularity on commands and features of the program.

Two, and what you really want to know most, is what do I mean by “lower-cost”? I meant ZWCAD sells for roughly $500-$800, according to legwork done by DE‘s Kenneth Wong in his Virtual Desktop. The latter by way—I shamelessly say—is the best blog a design engineer is going find anywhere. And yes, you’ll find a link to Kenneth’s quick review of ZWCAD 2010. It has a video on ZWCAD embedded right in it.

So, there you are. A lot of people are talking up ZWCAD 2010 as a reasonably priced, DWG-compatible application. From today’s Pick of the Week, you can see for yourself what all the fuss is about.

Thanks, pal.—Lockwood

Anthony J. Lockwood
Editor at Large, Desktop Engineering

Read today’s Pick of the Week.