TurboCAD LTE Pro V8 Ships

IMSI/Design LLC describes version 8 of its full-featured, low-cost TurboCAD LTE Professional 2.5D CAD solution as a major update. TurboCAD LTE Pro V8 sees numerous enhancements across all areas of operation including drafting and detailing, rendering and visualization. Among the advancements in V8 highlighted by IMSI/Design are a new Conceptual Selector, improved file sharing with AutoCAD and SketchUp, enhanced BIM (building information modeling) support and new tools for its architectural users. V8 also extends support to Windows 10 and offers improvements to its productivity, usability and interoperability features.

TurboCAD LTE Pro, says the company, works like AutoCAD LT. It uses a similar UI (user interface) and command line, and it supports opening and saving DWG, DXF and DWF formats. Version 8 debuts DWG/DXF read/write filters for AutoCAD 2013-2015 and dynamic blocks can import as simple blocks. TurboCAD LTE Pro also now offers import/export of SketchUp 2015 files.

Leading off V8’s productivity and usability enhancements is the new Conceptual Selector for manipulating and modifying 3D objects. With it, users can customize any visual and editing parameters available in TurboCAD LTE Pro, such as move, scale or rotate. New Contact Manager and File Sharing capabilities let users create and maintain contact lists and send files to individuals or groups from within TurboCAD LTE Pro.

V8 introduces a new default option that automatically saves any modified documents users have open when users close the application. The document then reloads when users next open TurboCAD LTE Pro. Additional productivity and usability features include a new option to save the Undo/Redo buffer when users close a file. The buffer reloads when users re-open the file.

TurboCAD LTE Pro’s Drafting Palette works with solid or surface models, turning 3D designs into associative 2D views and detailed sections in a single click, even when working on an Xref. Image courtesy of IMSI/Design LLC.

Productivity and usability enhancements of note to existing TurboCAD LTE Pro users include improvements to the Nudge function and block/group editing. The Nudge tool now provides for more efficient pick-up and placement of a selected object or objects using the numbers pad. In block/group edit mode, users can now snap to objects outside the block or group. Additionally, users can now resize dialog boxes as needed for a given design environment.

For rendering and visualization, V8 deploys an update of the RedSDK rendering engine from REDWAY3D and a new displacement shader for more realistic materials. TurboCAD LTE Pro V8 also offers a dynamic cutaway plane for looking inside a 3D model. This functionality works in draft mode, in mixed draft and wireframe as well as in mixed draft and hidden line modes.

For drafting and detailing, TurboCAD LTE Pro V8 sees improvements to its Format Painter, Trim and Join Polyline tools. Users can now select Format Painter to transfer custom properties and property set definitions from one object to another. The Trim tool has been enhanced with the ability to trim hatched or closed objects while maintaining the hatch or closure. The Join Polyline Tool now works on Beziers and splines without requiring conversion to a polyline. This maintains the original curve status, explains IMSI/Design.

The TurboCAD LTE Pro Page Layout Wizard is intended to help users create 2D layouts from an existing 3D model rapidly. Layout preferences can also be saved for later use. Image courtesy of IMSI/Design LLC.

New for drafting and detailing is the ability to globally define dimension units at the drawing level. Dimension Text can now be set to non-rotatable, meaning that, when users select this property, dimension text will always face the user no matter the orientation of the drawing.

TurboCAD LTE Pro V8’s new and improved features for architectural users include the ability to import intelligent walls, doors, windows, slabs and roofs saved in ICF (industry foundation classes) format, the industry standard for BIM information. Also, V8 offers new slab roof object types and new mitering of roof slabs.

TurboCAD LTE Pro gives users the ability to import a vector PDF drawing and use it as a tracing layer with snaps. Image courtesy of IMSI/Design LLC.

“TurboCAD LTE Pro continues to be a robust CAD alternative or companion product for professionals, especially those users familiar with AutoCAD products and looking for common architectural and mechanical design features,” said Bob Mayer, president of IMSI/Design in a press statement. “This is our first TurboCAD release since the release of Windows 10 and we believe customers will find LTE’s performance is really optimized under the new operating system.”

In addition to Windows 10, TurboCAD LTE Pro V8 supports Windows 8, 7 and Vista operating systems. The suggested retail price for TurboCAD LTE Pro V8 is $299.99. A lighter version, TurboCAD LTE, has a suggested retail price of $149.99. The company also offers upgrade pricing for current owners of TurboCAD LTE.

For more information on TurboCAD LTE Pro V8, visit IMSI/Design.

Watch a video introduction to TurboCAD LTE Pro V8.

Learn more about TurboCAD LTE Pro’s drafting and detailing tools.

Get a trial version of TurboCAD LTE Pro V8. 

See why DE‘s editors selected TurboCAD LTE Pro as their Pick of the Week.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.