TurboCAD Professional 12 - Architectural

Power, precision and performance are the hallmarks of TurboCAD® Professional v12. With integrated 2D drafting, 3D surface and solid modeling, and photorealistic rendering, TurboCAD delivers unparalleled design productivity and dramatic visual results.

All new and improved tools for 2D drafting and 3D modeling, deliver new possibilities in mechanical and architectural design. Advancements in rendering and the inclusion of all the latest image creation tools result in phenomenal visual capabilities. And the new adjustable tool palettes, context sensitive tools and intuitive work flow, combine to increase productivity and deliver time savings.

New Interface options

TurboCAD's customisable tool environment now lets you select to display only those tools you want and need, freeing up your valuable screen space for designing. Choose from a variety of collapsible, drag and drop menus with tools that are intuitively grouped and organised, and offer display options ranging from simple icons, to icons with full explanations. Plus, TurboCAD's all new, context sensitive tools eliminate unnecessary prompts and steps by making intelligent assumptions about you desired outcomes, resulting in increased speed and productivity in all aspects of drafting and design. And if you're not ready to make the switch, there is even an option to remain in the "classic" interface.

Advanced Architectural Drafting

Create parametric doors and windows, and drag and drop them directly into the walls of your 3D drawing. Define the exact parameters of these objects by choosing from dozens of window and door types. Plus, select the specific properties of each object, including frames, hinges and knobs. Easy to use drop-down menus and a properties editor make this a snap. TurboCAD will even automatically generate the appropriate symbol for the 2D version of the drawing. And, architectural drawing is a cinch with these latest additions:

New: Point Marker tool lets you automatically number objects such as rooms, doors or windows and is great for creating legends, call outs, or simply mapping points and adding notes to your drawings

New: Auto generated symbols of chosen door or window for 2D version of drawing

New: LightWorks Archives of brand-name interior and exterior materials

New: Three options for displaying fractional dimensions (stacked, diagonal, in-line)

New: Create parametric walls, doors, and windows, and choose from dozens of architectural and material properties to create thousands of style combinations. Plus choose different materials for frames, hinges and knobs.

New Architectural add-on Pack includes;

New: Edit Profile tool. Create custom Doors and Windows from any 3D object

Additional: Parametric Window and Door types and shapes. 18 door types, 6 door shapes, 13 window types and 13 window shapes make your design possibilities limitless!

Improved: TurboCAD Architectural Tutorial teaches you how to design a home from scratch to finish.

Drag and drop Parametric doors and windows into your walls

Superior Mechanical Design

With our latest release, you can now apply material properties to individual facets of the same object and preview blends before committing to them. More geometric constraints have been added that improve the relationship between 2D constraints and the resulting 3D derived designs. And a rebuilt Part Tree now gives you a more complete view of your part's history and parameters. Plus, mechanical drafting is even easier with these advancements:

• New: Ability to define horizontal and vertical constraints
• New: Hover cursor over an object to preview a blend, before committing to it
• Improved: Redesigned "part-tree" for quick, easy parametric modeling and editing
• Improved: Create automatic and precise tangencies where splines meet other objects
• Improved: Define constraints for objects in parallel planes with just one click.
• Improved: Apply different materials to different facets of the same object

More constraint options with D-Cubed's latest Constraint Manager

Packed with more than 15 constraints for 2D lines, arcs, circles, splines and dimensions, you can now also apply horizontal and vertical constraints to lines located on the same plan, as well as lines located in parallel planes. Plus, quickly and easily locate and even delete existing constraints within a drawing via an easy to use constraints palette. You can even generate spline tangents with just one click and TurboCAD automatically calculates the precise spline connection points. Plus, powerful new Pattern Constraints enable repeated geometries to be fully constrained within 2D primitives. This tool is especially powerful when 2D entities are used with different transformations.

Simplified Text Editing

Offering a newly simplified approach, TurboCAD's text editing tools now mirror those found in other graphic applications. Simply select the text box you want to edit and the text editing palette is automatically called up. Extrapolate text to create 3D text for effects such as embossing. And make edits to 2D and 3D text, directly on screen. Plus choose from thousands of colors for text and background.

New and Improved 3D Tools

Newly integrated 3D tools now offer rigid and normal sweeps, including options for doing simple extrudes where the extrude originates bi-directionally from a user defined central point.

All new visual possibilities

Hundreds of brand name and custom designed, interior and exterior materials andeffects are now available through LightWorks Archives. Or create your own custom materials and effects through our enhanced Materials Editor that lets you overlay multiple materials and transparencies on top of each other to create amazing custom surfaces. Plus, choose custom density levels for scattering mediums, and go even further with all new Decal Reflectance filters. And enjoy all new flicker free drawing and fluid camera views.

• New: Access hundreds of brand name and custom designed, interior and exterior materials and effects through LightWorks Archives
• New: LightWorks 7.5 with real time render and "pre-cache" rendering for faster previewing of 3D models and rapid editing while in render mode
• New: "Flicker Free" rendered views while moving, rotating and zooming.
• New: "Reflected" gradient brush for 2D rendering (similar to "Cylinder" in AutoCAD)
• New: Saturation parameter for Simple Environment Luminances
• New: Set custom density levels for scattering mediums such as fog
• New: Layer multiple materials and effects on top of each other (Decal)
• New: Scaled image backgrounds including "stretch", "preserve", "letterbox", "view" and "center" for scaled image backgrounds
• New: Export to GIF and PNG files with transparent areas (Alpha Channels).

Revamped PDF Features

The redesigned PDF file export features now let you export paper spaces, customize PDF fonts, True Type, SHX, paper widths, and paper heights sections.

Expanded Interoperability

TurboCAD now supports 28 of the most popular industry-standard file formats, including DWG, DXF, IGES, STEP, DGN, STL, 3DS, and DCD. Plus, you can now export you 3D files into DWF format or publish your designs into HTML, JPG and now newly supported PNG and GIF file formats with included Alpha Channel for transparencies.

Added Programmability

TurboCAD Professional Version 12 even includes a complete software development kit. (SDK). And, TurboCAD's Software Development Kit now offers XML-based definitions.

...and there's more

Full of industry's leading tools and options not found even in higher priced software, TurboCAD gives you more features per pound than any other CAD programme on the market. With significantly advanced parametric modeling, superior artistic and visual options, comprehensive and time saving drafting tools, intuitive and customisable user interface, and the most cross-compatible file publishing options on the market, TurboCAD Professional Version 12 is the tool that CAD professionals worldwide have turned to for significant productivity and dramatic results.

hat's new in version 12?

• Rebuilt Part-Tree that rivals the likes of tools found in Inventor® Context sensitive tools that eliminate unnecessary prompts and options
• Fully customisable user interface with countless user preferences Properties palette, for editing using data entry and menu options
• LightWorks 7.5 Rendering Engine
• LightWorks Archives of brand name and custom designed, interior and exterior materials
• Constraint tools for objects in parallel planes.
• New horizontal and vertical constraints, over 15 in total
• "Flicker free" rendered views while moving, rotating and zooming
• "Pre-cache" rendering for faster 3D previews
• Blend previews
• 28 supported file formats, including DXF, DWG and DGN from Open Design Alliance®
• Improved PDF output for publishing, editing and printing
• One click selection for edge blending
• Drag-and-drop, parametric doors and windows
• Hundreds of style and material combinations for doors, windows, frames and hardware
• Simplified, on screen, text editing of 2D and 3D text
• 3D exports of DWF files
• New PNG and GIF File export formats with transparency support
• Improved Rigid and Normal sweeps, including simple extrudes
• Improved Materials Editor for creating custom, photo-realistic materials and surfaces

• Pentium III class PC or higher
• 128 MB RAM
• 55 to 260 MB of free hard disk space depending on accessory applications installed
• 64 MB of swap space
• SuperVGA (1024x768) display
• High Colour (16bit) graphics card
• 4X CD-ROM Drive
• Mouse
• Windows® 2000/XP Home Edition/XP Pro

Click here to see a comparison between TurboCAD Pro 12 and AutoCAD 2006

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