Articles and Press Releases

CMS IntelliCAD 9.0 includes support for working with BIM .ifc and .rvt/.rfa files, viewing mechanical entities, drawing construction lines, resetting and re-associating dimensions, and more.

CMS IntelliCAD 9.0 Premium Edition is a major release from ITC member CAD-Manufacturing Solutions. It is based on the IntelliCAD engine.

To learn more about CMS IntelliCAD 9.0, see the CMS news.

To learn more about how CMS benefits from ITC membership, see the ITC website.

New! ActCAD 2019 Rail Road Sections is a new product for accurately drawing rail road sections, including automation for banking and cutting by taking coordinates from auto-levels in spreadsheet format. Precise points are drawn in the CAD drawing with one click.

ActCAD 2019 Rail Road Sections is based on IntelliCAD and is produced by ITC member ActCAD. 

For more product details, including videos and step-by-step intros, see the ActCAD website.

At the ITC it's not just the co-op business model or the access to IntelliCAD source code that makes the organization open, it also runs through company culture.

A few examples observed in Prague at IntelliCAD World 2018:

• Systems. In-house systems are open for member taking. Scale your own in-house systems by re-implementing the ones used by the ITC: installer, crash reporting, build management, product quality, localization, documentation.
• Hierarchy. The hierarchical structure at the ITC is relatively flat, and even if someone has "Lead" or "Manager" or even "President" behind their name, they are accessible to discussions ranging from new ideas to knowledge sharing to coffee. 
• Focus. The ITC team focuses on the technical details of CAD technology, but just as important is their focus on member needs. Need a feature implemented? Need a focus on a whole new area of development? Let them know to get the discussions started.
• Collaboration. ITC developers collaborate with ITC members on features and fixes, and members even donate their own features back to core IntelliCAD. The open atmosphere also extends to members collaborating with each other, and in some cases even new member products. Some members are competitors, and yes, they collaborate too.

With all of this openness, direct communication is a necessity. It's only then that the openness can thrive, promoting clear objectives that work for a collective — not just one company.

IntelliCAD has always — since its first release twenty years ago — been based on technology that is now governed and advanced by the Open Design Alliance (ODA). In the beginning the focus was on .dwg, but over the years, both technologies have seemed to outgrow their initial aim on replicating the .dwg file format (ODA) and replicating its end-user capabilities (ITC).

This point was not necessarily highlighted in Prague, but the link between ITC and ODA technology was mentioned throughout the conference with the nonchalant transparency that is commonplace among the IntelliCAD community.

• IntelliCAD — Uses the latest ODA libraries.
• BIM — Attach Autodesk® Revit® files as underlays, based on the ODA BIM component. 
• Mobile — Based on ODA libraries. 
• Walls, windows, doors, slabs — Draw and edit architectural entities (new in IntelliCAD 9), based on the ODA Architecture component. 
• Smart meshes — Draw and edit lightweight 3D meshes (new in IntelliCAD 9), based on the ODA Facet Modeler. 
• Custom objects — Work with custom architecture, civil, and mechanical objects, based on ODA Architecture, Civil, and Mechanical components.

The ITC employs many components of ODA technology (including ODA source code), then customizes that technology according to the needs of their members. And that's exactly what ITC members do: they employ many components of ITC technology (including ITC source code), then customize that technology according to the needs of their end-users. It's a consistent business model from start to finish.

Two decades of IntelliCAD has built a solid foundation for blending CAD with new technology that wasn't around twenty years ago. Like smartphones.

At IntelliCAD World 2018 in Prague we got an update on all things IntelliCAD Mobile. The mobile app is currently a viewer that runs on Android, iOS, macOS, and Windows (desktop app). You can do all the navigation that you'd expect and also toggle layers and measure with a tape line. A variety of file types are supported, not just one or two: 

• .dwg: Open or view as external reference; includes architecture, civil, and mechanical objects.
• .dxf: Open.
• .dwf: Open or view as external reference.
• .dae (COLLADA): Open.
• .pdf: View as external reference.
• .png, .jpeg, .tiff, and more: Open or view as external reference.
• .dgn: Coming soon for open and external references.

IntelliCAD Mobile, like IntelliCAD desktop versions, is built with libraries from the ODA. IntelliCAD continues to be intertwined with ODA technology after twenty years of growth by both organizations. And partnerships are what the ITC is all about. We'll be posting soon about ITC members and their technologies presented at the conference. Impressive technology. Impressive partners.

IntelliCAD 9 was released earlier this summer — twenty years after the initial version of IntelliCAD was released in 1998 by Visio Corp.

At the conference we learned about IntelliCAD 9's new features, most of which we saw during a live demo:

• The .dwg file format continues to be heavily used after 20 years. IntelliCAD 9 includes support for the most recent 2018 .dwg version.
• The .dgn file format also continues to be heavily used. After focusing for nearly twenty years on .dwg file support and editing, IntelliCAD 9 also supports opening, editing, and saving .dgn files in their native format. 
• BIM! Work with rvt.rfa files and .ifc files.
• Mechanical! Open and view Mechanical entities. (The ability to work with Architecture and Civil entities also continues.)
• Attach a new format for point clouds: .rcp/.rcs.
• Draw construction lines.
• Draw and modify 3D meshes using the new Facet Modeler for lightweight 3D drawings.
• Use a camera to view drawings.
• Use new express tools for blocks, external references, text, and editing.
• Reset dimension text and reassociate dimension text.
• And more.

For more details:

• Watch the IntelliCAD 9 highlight video >>
• Read about the IntelliCAD platform >>

Who would have guessed that IntelliCAD — first released as an Autodesk® AutoCAD® clone twenty years ago by Visio Corp. — would some day support .dgn editing? Probably no one.

At IntelliCAD World 2018 in Prague this week we got an update on the ITC's DGN initiative.

The goal is to open and edit .dwg and .dgn files using one application: IntelliCAD. 

A choice in .dgn editors is exactly in line with IntelliCAD's roots as a choice in .dwg editors. Not only that, but soon users will be able to use one application and choose their file format according to their needs. More choice.

Here's the current status for working with .dgn files:

• Draw and edit .dgn entities. 
• Select .dgn entities and use grips and snaps.
• Assign layers, colors and properties to .dgn entities. 
• Re-use .dwg-based scripts, LISP, SDS, and IRX code with .dgn. (Some function coverage is still under development.)

For more details about the ITC and DGN:

• Website >>
• Highlight video >>

One big change in the last twenty years since IntelliCAD was first released is use of Building Information Modeling (BIM) drawings, which usually contain 3D models of buildings that can be used for visualization, design, analysis, and to generate building construction documents.

At IntelliCAD World 2018 we learned which BIM files IntelliCAD works with and what you can do with them:

• RVT/RFA format — Drawing and family files from Autodesk® Revit®. Attach these files as underlays in IntelliCAD, then control visibility of floors and categories, snap to entities, and explode the underlay into primitives and meshes.
• IFC format — Drawing files in the IFC (Industry Foundation Classes) format. Attach these files as underlays too, or import them in IntelliCAD to retain entities and convert construction and architectural entities to AEC entities.

There was a lot of talk about BIM at the conference. Some ITC members are attaching BIM underlays, exploding them, then retracing primitives to get walls and other building elements as data for their custom applications. More members are interested in the BIM Special Interest Group, and with more collaboration, development will advance at a faster pace. Members want access to BIM files, and like all things IntelliCAD, members drive the development direction.

For more details about the ITC and BIM:

• Website >>
• Highlight video >>

ITC continues celebrating 20 years of IntelliCAD at IntelliCAD Word 2018 in Prague. Here's what was happening right around the time IntelliCAD was first released on March 16, 1998:

• 02/1998 — Visio Corp. forms a non-profit cooperative, OpenDWG Alliance (aka ODA, Open Design Alliance). Visio provides a perpetual license for AUTODIRECT libraries/source to the ODA.
• 03/1998 — Visio Corp. releases IntelliCAD 98.
• 12/1998 — Visio Corp. announces licensing IntelliCAD as a solutions development platform.
• 07/1999 — Visio Corp. announces creation of a CAD platform cooperative, IntelliCAD Technology Consortium (ITC). The established bylaws were similar to those established for ODA.
• 09/1999 — Microsoft Corp. acquires Visio.

That's how IntelliCAD came to the ITC. 

Just like IntelliCAD, the ITC was established to provide alternative, open access to .dwg data and design. The ITC continues to promote open access to .dwg and provide its co-op members with the technology they need — including source code — to deliver products and custom CAD technologies in the marketplace based on IntelliCAD.