Copyright: Copyright © 1997 SoftSource                                   Vdraft Quick Tour Version 1.01
Citation: Copyright © 1997 SoftSource


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This AutoCAD drawing is being edited in SoftSource Vdraft. It’s included in the sample drawings that come with Vdraft.

The “Empire State 999,” pictured here, held the world speed record of 112.5 m.p.h. from 1893 to 1926.

Click anywhere on the screen to close this pop-up window.


What’s behind the Vdraft guarantee of total AutoCAD compatibility and risk-free drawing data integrity?

•	Native file formats. Unique among AutoCAD-compatible drafting systems, Vdraft reads DWG/DXF files directly without translation. How? Vdraft uses DWG/DXF as its native file formats.

•	Internal engine. Underlying all, Vdraft uses DXE (Drawing eXchange Engine) as its internal engine. DXE is the industry-standard AutoCAD read-write API (Applications Programming Interface), with over 500,000 users worldwide, including the world’s largest CAD companies. DXE was pioneered by none other than SoftSource, creators of Vdraft.


Need to work with drawings created in earlier AutoCAD releases or make them available to others using earlier versions? Just use  Vdraft’s Save As Release command on the File menu, which allows you to save a drawing in AutoCAD Release 11/12, 10, and 9 or Version 2.6 or 2.5 formats.


By the way. . .

Yes, all your block libraries work with Vdraft!

One more example of Vdraft’s No Translation Required guarantee: Vdraft’s direct read/write of AutoCAD DWG/DXF files extends this compatibility to your block libraries. If you’ve developed or acquired dozens or hundreds of block libraries, they’ll all work with Vdraft. And, with Vdraft’s graphical block preview, you’ll be able to use them more efficiently than ever before. (More about this feature later in the Quick Tour.)


Here’s what one AutoCAD user who was seeking alternative solutions had to say:

“. . .Most recently, Visual CAD, Visio, and Imagineer have shown promise. Each one of these failed to produce a completely compatible DWG file. At this time, I own all three and more but have not been able to produce even the simplest DWG that would conform to my customers’ CAD standards. . .Vdraft is the first CAD system in ten years that let me meet customer standards without using AutoCAD. . .Vdraft creates a completely compatible DWG file. . . . Period, end of discussion, no exceptions!”

Bill Plummer


If you’re an experienced AutoCAD user, you can hit the ground running and get right down to productive work with Vdraft:

•	Command compatibility. For example, you
don’t have to learn a new command set. While in Vdraft, just type in AutoCAD commands, and Vdraft executes the equivalent commands or actions.

•	Common terminology. In addition, Vdraft uses the terms you’re already familiar with from AutoCAD. Blocks in AutoCAD are blocks in Vdraft. Lines, polylines, layers, and attributes in AutoCAD are just that in Vdraft. In other words, you understand Vdraft’s language right away.


Vdraft’s AutoCAD Help is an online quick reference that provides fast access to complete information on the AutoCAD commands supported in Vdraft.	Vdraft’s AutoCAD Help displays the AutoCAD-Vdraft command equivalents with jumps to the related Help topics for each item.


The AutoCAD User’s Guide to Vdraft is a separate, printed manual included with Vdraft. In addition to an overview/comparison of Vdraft and AutoCAD, it provides a parallel tutorial that illustrates the specifics of key drafting techniques and procedures in the two programs.	The parallel AutoCAD-Vdraft tutorial in the AutoCAD User’s Guide to Vdraft will help you make a swift transition to Vdraft.


Most CAD projects consist of multiple drawings. Ever wanted to view or edit more than one AutoCAD drawing at the same time? With Vdraft, you can! This means that Vdraft is also a superb file viewer (reason enough to own Vdraft—especially if you own AutoCAD.)


•	Between Vdraft drawings: Since you can work with multiple drawings open in Vdraft, copy/cut-and-paste between drawings becomes the quick and easy task it should be! (One more reason to own Vdraft even if you own AutoCAD.)

•	From Vdraft to AutoCAD: Yet another example of No Translation Required: Try copy/cut-and-paste from one of many drawings open in Vdraft’s window to the single drawing you can open in AutoCAD’s window. . .yes, it works! All drawing information—including layers, dimensions, linetypes, etc., and data integrity of the original—is preserved in the copy. (Yet another reason to own Vdraft—especially if you own AutoCAD.)


Finding the drawing(s) you want is easy with Vdraft’s open and preview capabilities. The OPEN dialog box contains a convenient preview window.


By the way. . . Check out Vdraft’s Blocks/Xrefs Manager! Vdraft’s handy Blocks/Xrefs Manager has the same convenient preview feature! In addition, this dialog box organizes block- and Xref-related tasks such as inserting blocks and Xrefs; writing blocks out to disk as files; presetting options for scaling, rotating, and exploding blocks upon insertion; and binding or detaching Xrefs.


As you work, you can right-click at any time to display a context-sensitive pop-up menu with a variety of additional options for the current command or task. No need to memorize commands or puzzle about what to do next!

Take another look at the pop-up menu on the main screen. This menu is available as you draw a polyline. Notice the array of options for directly manipulating and modifying the object as you draw.


By the way. . . Check out Vdraft’s Undo/Redo List! Make a mistake or change your mind? It’s easy to reverse or re-execute a single command or action or step backward or forward through a series of actions. Vdraft tracks commands and actions and displays them in the Undo/Redo List dialog box.


Cursor tips include context-sensitive read-outs of measurements such as length, angle, or radius or prompts for the next step in a task. Vdraft also gives you feedback by displaying a ghosted, rubber-banding image to show the results of a drawing or editing procedure.


Vdraft’s well-designed user interface makes time-consuming tasks like maintaining or updating drawings a snap!  For example, you can access colors, layers, linetypes, dimension styles, text styles, blocks, and named views via intelligent toolbars.	With objects selected, the Layers, Linetypes, Colors, Text Styles, and Dimension Styles toolbars display the selected objects’ properties. (Otherwise, the toolbars show the current default for new objects.) You can use these toolbars to change properties of currently selected objects.


By the way. . . Here’s another convenient tool: Object Properties Boxes! Each object you create has its own associated Properties dialog box that allows you to easily view and edit the properties of that object. The easiest way to access an object’s Properties box: select the object, right-click for the context-sensitive pop-up menu, and click Properties.


Vdraft Help includes a host of overviews and quick references plus in-depth information about Vdraft commands, tasks, and concepts. Vdraft Help augments the information found in the carefully integrated and coordinated printed Vdraft User’s Guide. The QRefs (quick references) toolbar at the top of most Help windows provides ready access to a quick quide for using Help, a drafting techniques quick reference, an alphabetical command reference, and an extensive glossary.	For example, pressing the Drafting button accesses the Precision Drafting Quick Reference, as shown above.


You can directly access detailed help on a dialog box option right where and when you need it—as a screen tip linked to the dialog box you’re currently working with. To display a screen tip, simply click the question mark icon (circled in red at the right), and then click on the dialog box option you want to learn about. Many screen tips also link to helpful reference tables to further assist you in responding to dialog box options.


Customization Help builds onto the overview of programming Vdraft provided by the printed Vdraft Customization and Programmer’s Guide. This Help component provides in-depth assistance with programming Vdraft in either Visual Basic or C++ and includes a wealth of code examples that you can copy and adapt for your own code.


Using Vdraft’s “quick dimensions” feature, you can rapidly dimension a drawing and fine-tune it later if you want.

Below, a quick horizontal dimension in progress: Simply select a line, click the appropriate dimension tool (circled in red below), and drag to place the dimension. Vdraft automatically calculates where to place the extension lines of the dimension. You can override these choices with options on the context-sensitive pop-up menu.


Of course, you also have the flexibility to draw the different dimension types by picking individual points on objects. Here again, context-sensitive pop-up menus provide an array of extra options, giving you power and control as you draw.


Vdraft makes it easy to preview a print from modelspace or paperspace. You can specify whether you want to print/preview the drawing extents, a named view, or the current view. Print preview for CAD has never been simpler or more flexible! (Just one more reason to own Vdraft even if you own AutoCAD.)


Vdraft makes the whole process of printing/plotting a drawing to a precise scale clear and straightforward. And, for quick print-outs and check plots, you can use a scale to fit option to have Vdraft print/plot the drawing at the maximum scale to fit your paper size.


Vdraft was designed from the ground up to look and feel like your other Windows applications. Robust, 32-bit architecture delivers maximum performance, compatibility, and network connectivity with Microsoft Windows 95 and Windows NT.

Vdraft supports these options for sharing data with other users and other applications:

•	Copy/cut-and-paste to other Windows applications.

•	E-mail drawings to other users from within Vdraft.

•	Drag-and-drop Vdraft files into other Windows applications.

•	Export Vdraft text and Windows metafiles and bitmaps from Vdraft to other applications.

•	ActiveX (OLE) linking/embedding.


Vdraft is seamlessly integrated with SoftSource’s popular Web plug-ins for CAD graphics, the Vdraft Internet Tools. With these tools, you can share CAD drawings and other complex graphics across the World Wide Web and Internet: • DWG/DXF Plug-in features single-download navigational capabilities and scaleable vector graphics. You can pan and zoom a drawing, hide/display layers, and load drawings or copy/cut and paste from drawings directly into Vdraft. • SVF Plug-in (SVF is an acronym for Simple Vector Format) features the same capabilities as DWG/DXF Plug-in (minus cut-and-paste to Vdraft) plus the ability to include Internet hyperlinked information.	The Vdraft Internet Tools offer dynamic viewing capabilities of CAD (such as zoom, pan, and layer visibility control) to anyone with a compatible Web browser. No CAD system needed!


You can program Vdraft with tools like Visual Basic and C++, the same programming tools you use to drive other Windows applications like Microsoft Access, Excel, and Word. (For more about customization, see the next screen.)


Using ActiveX Automation (OLE Automation), you can create sophisticated applications that streamline and automate steps that might otherwise take hours, or even days, if executed manually.

ActiveX Automation also allows you to create highly compact code. For example, the following Visual Basic code example starts a new drawing using a built-in Vdraft template and inserts the text Hello World at the specified coordinate location:

Private Sub Command1_Click()
    Set Vdraft = CreateObject("Vdraft.Application")
    Set Drawing = Vdraft.Documents.New("ansiah.vs")
    Set MyText = Drawing.Entities.AddText
    MyText.Text "Hello World"
    MyText.Where.Set 9, 5
End Sub


The learning curve for customizing CAD just got a whole lot smoother! Vdraft’s versatile, easy programmability helps you accomplish the most with the least amount of time and effort.

No need to learn a host of program-specific tools. You can program Vdraft with tools like Visual Basic and C++ (in other words, the same tools you use to customize other Windows applications). And, if you like, you need only use ONE programming tool of your choice to cover all customizing needs.


•	Full-featured, AutoCAD-drawing based CAD in a streamlined toolset.

•	New Drawing Setup Wizard to simplify drawing setup.

•	Easy toolbar manipulation (hide/unhide toolbars and toolbuttons).

•	Graphical preview of drawings, blocks, and Xrefs.

•	Complete compatibility with your existing block and symbol libraries.

•	Superior block/Xref management capabilities.

•	Full suite of grid, angle, and object snaps.

•	Built-in tools for creating custom linetypes.

•	Easy cut-and-paste between drawings.

•	For key tasks, “non-modal” dialog boxes that you can keep open as you work and experiment.

•	Undo/Redo List to easily reverse/re-execute commands and actions.

•	Properties boxes for easy viewing/editing of object properties.

•	Group properties box for easy viewing/editing of multiple objects.

•	Innovative precision drafting techniques (“auto-enter” coordinates and cursor tips values).

•	Scripts capability for setting up drawing templates, custom keyboard commands, and user-defined pop-up menus.

•	Distance/Area measurement tool.

•	Easy management of dependent symbols with DRAWING DEPENDENCIES command.

•	ZOOM SCALE command to plot views at varying scales in multi-view layouts.


$495.00 is all it takes to turbocharge your CAD workstation with Vdraft!


“Every AutoCAD user must buy Vdraft. It’s a no-brainer.”

                                          Joel Orr


Table of Contents

 Introduction

 1. Total AutoCAD compatibility

 2. Easy transition from AutoCAD

 3. Superior multiple document handling

 4. Easy-to-use, graphical user interface

 5. Complete online Help system

 6. Easy dimensioning

 7. Easy printing or plotting

 8. Sharing data with other users and applications

 9. Customizing Vdraft

 10. Value and cost-effectiveness