TurboCAD 2021 New and Improved Features
Performance, User Interface & Usability
Find Control in Custom Ribbon Page - New
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The Find feature allows users to search or find Command/Group/Pop-ups/Tabs in the Ribbon tree.
Interactive Startup Splash Screen - New
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Splash Screen has been added as Startup Screena when Launching TurboCAD for a better interactive user interface.
The interactive screen displays recently created files and ability to open/create new file via Create tab, shown as point 1 below,
Allows user to learn about TurboCAD basics, including new feature videos, via Learn tab, shown as point 2 below, and get access to the latest information about TurboCAD, via News tab, shown by point 3 below.
Snap Improvement: Highlight Hit Graphic
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This feature highlights edges for snaps when you move a 3D object or connect two 3D objects together. This option has been added to both the Drawing Aids window and the related settings have been added to the Program Setup/Preferences dialog box as Visual Effect Settings, selected – Visual Effect Settings.
Resize Previews in Blocks Palette
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Tools | Palettes | Blocks
A new slider has been added to the Blocks Palette which allows the user to resize previews of blocks within the Blocks Palette.
Slider shown by arrow at minimum preview
Slider shown by arrow to resize individual block preview
Mouse Wheel Support within the Blocks Palette
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Using the mouse wheel, the user can now scroll through block previews within the Blocks Palette. First set the slider to the preferred preview size, then use the mouse wheel to scroll through the Blocks.
Find Block in Blocks Palette
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Tools | Palettes | Blocks
A new search bar has been added to the Blocks Palette which allows user to find a block by its name in the Blocks Palette.
Currently Available On - New
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A new feature has been added to the Commands section in the Customize menu, which allows the user to see the position of a particular command available in the menu, UIs and toolbars.
Viewport Hidden Line Performance Improvement
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A new option Use Hidden Line Cache has been added to the cache section of the Viewport properties window. If this is turned on, Paper Space viewport processing (redraw, move, zoom) becomes significant faster for large drawings.
2D Drafting and Editing
Automatic Updating of Xrefs
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When using a file with Xrefs, if any of those external files are updated, then TurboCAD now asks if you want to regenerate the file with the updated Xref.
Load/Unload Xrefs
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A New option Status, with two values: Loaded and Unloaded has been added to the Edit Xrefs dialog box. When a referenced drawing (Xref) is Unloaded from the current drawing, the drawing opens much faster and uses less memory.
When the Xref definition is unloaded from the drawing file, the internal pointer to the referenced drawing remains. You can therefore restore all the information by Loading the Xref. In order to maximize the performance of TurboCAD, it is recommended that you Unload any referenced files if they are not needed in the current drawing session but may be used later for printing/plotting.
Leader Dimension Improvements
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Leader dimensions in DWG files are now displayed correctly, shown below right, with TurboCAD v2021.
.Edit Selected Block command
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Now user can edit the selected block directly within the TurboCAD drawing without having to select the Edit Content option from the Blocks Palette. This can be done by simply selecting the block and clicking “Edit Selected Block”, now added to the menu.
Select by Block command
| PLATINUM |
A new entry Block has been added to the 'Select by' commands which displays the list of blocks in the drawing and allows user to select block(s) via one click.
Architectural
Railing improvement
| PLATINUM |
Railing by Path now works for arc segment created by a 2D polyline.
Architectural Grid - New
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The Architectural Grid is a new tool that makes it easy to align other architectural objects in the drawing, such as walls and columns. Users can also import rectangular grids from DWG drawings and can change the properties of the grid and bubble representation, via the Selection Info palette.
3D Design and Modeling
Apply to Pattern - New
| PLATINUM |
A new local menu option “Apply to Pattern” has been added to the Pattern tools. User can now apply solid operations for all pattern elements simultaneously.
New option is available for the following operations which can be applied on the pattern objects simultaneously:
Fillet Edges,
Chamfer Edges,
Face offset,
Shell Solid.
3D Mapping Tools - New
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Two, 3D mapping tools: Face UV Representation and Surface on Face have been added to TurboCAD. Face UV Representation is used to get a UV representation of the selected ACIS® face as a separate object. Surface on Face is used to get a 3D surface from a selected UV representation, and 2D contour, which lies on the UV representation.
Imprint improvement
| PLATINUM |
The Imprint tool has been improved such that it can use a block insertion that contains set of 2D contours, as a profile for performing the imprint. This can be useful for creating holes in Sheet Metal designs. Association between the block insertion and the hole is also supported.
Rendering and Visualization
Multi-threaded faceting for rendering
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A new option has been added to the ACIS® section in Drawing Setup. In this mode, rendering is done faster for drawings containing ACIS solid bodies.
Visualize Render Mode – New
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A new render mode “Visualize” has been added to the TurboCAD 2021. Visualize supports several device modes: OpenGLES2, OpenGL and GDI, out of which OpenGLES2 is the most advanced and the most productive device mode.
Visualize Hidden Line and Draft Render Mode
Visualize’ Rendering Type with both Hidden Line and Draft Render (including ‘Gouraud Shaded’ and ‘Flat Shaded’) modes has been added to ‘Camera Properties\Rendering’ page.
Visualize Wireframe vs Hidden Line vs Draft Render:
Visualize Import LightWorks® and RedSDK materials
The Visualize rendering technology includes the ability to import materials contained in TurboCAD files that have been rendered either by LightWorks or RedSDK. The Visualize renderer does not currently include its own native materials for TurboCAD. Currently, Visualize rendering supports color, texture, transparency map and bump maps, these parameters can be imported from LightWorks or RedSDK materials.
Visualize Anti-Aliasing
The Visualize renderer supports two types of Anti-Aliasing: Line Smoothing and Fast Approximation Anti-Aliasing (FXAA).
Visualize Ambient Occlusion
An Ambient Occlusion option is included in Visualize. Options for these are set in the Drawing Setup dialog box, and include the following parameters: Loops, Focus, Power, Blur Radius, Blur Power.
Visualize Lighting
Lighting options are included in Visualize. Options for this are set in Drawing Setup dialog box, and include the following parameters: Default Presets, Intensity. This could get enabled with OpenGLES2 device type.
Visualize Support images with alpha transparency
Support of images with alpha transparency is included in Visualize. When the Opaque Background option is disabled (it is enabled by default), it makes all pixels of a certain color transparent (100% transparency). In Visualize mode, the transparency of each pixel corresponds to the alpha transparency value for the given pixel, specified in the alpha channel.
Visualize Settings
Visualize Settings have been added to the Program Setup window.
Interoperability
Progress meter for Interop Filters - New
| PLATINUM |
A new progress meter has been added to read/write STEP and VDA files.
Updated DWG and DXF support
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Updated Read and Write support of DWG and DXF files.
Part Names from Interop
| PLATINUM |
A new option to select Object Name in the Selection Info Palette Options dialog has been added.
Export Support of Professional Mechanical CAD Formats - New
| PLATINUM |
Support of Export file filters from the leading, professional mechanical CAD products, including: CATIA and VDA-FS.
Publish to PDF - New
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Publish to PDF Combine functionality of 2D and 3D PDF filters have been integrated into a single tool “Publish to PDF”, which has been added to the File menu.
STL Import Performance Boost
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TurboCAD 2021 (Platinum, Professional, and Deluxe)
STL file import performance has been boosted up to 10 times.
SKP filter updated
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TurboCAD now supports Import and Export of the SketchUp 2021 file format.
New Export 3DXML - New
| PLATINUM |
TurboCAD now supports Export of the 3DXML file format.