TurboCad or AutoSketch

Discussion in 'AutoSketch' started by Jesper Kristiansen, Feb 10, 2005.

  1. I'm currently using TurboCad 8.2 and am thinking of upgrading, but
    should I upgrade to TurboCad 10 (not professional) or should I spend my
    money on AutoSketch ?

    I read another post where the person complained about a missing command
    line interface, does AutoSketch have easy shotcuts to often used
    commands or is it a painfull "move mouse around menu drop down and
    click" thing everytime you want to e.g. snap a line to an object ?

    Any previous TurboCad users on this group who can advise ?

    Thanks
    Jesper
     
    Jesper Kristiansen, Feb 10, 2005
    #1
  2. Jesper Kristiansen

    Allan Hickey Guest

    Jesper,
    Use both
    I do
    Allan
     
    Allan Hickey, Feb 11, 2005
    #2
  3. Jesper Kristiansen

    Gadget Guest

    OK, try this...
    - Click the text box icon ("A" with a dotted box round it rather than the "A" with a dot on one corner)
    - Drag a rectangle on screen
    - When you release the mouse button, you should just see the box with a thick grey outline and you can start typing
    -* IF you get a pop-up box that says "Text Editor" for you to type in, then you are not in "in-pace edit" mode: click the button on the right that says "Inplace Edit".
    - type in lots of stuff
    - move the mouse cursor over the grey edges untill it changes to a sizeable pointer
    - drag the edges.

    Note that you have to actually be editing the text for this to work; if you are just on the selection tool, it will streatch.

    If you have a text box already on the screen, you can edit it by simply double clicking, or selecting the text and clicking on the 'edit text' button from the interactive toolbar.

    The only limit to trying to re-size the text box is the length of your words: it will not split words or hyphenate for you - the minimum width it can be is the length of your longest word.

    If this dosn't work, then I really am confused.
     
    Gadget, Feb 11, 2005
    #3
  4. Jesper Kristiansen

    Gadget Guest

    No-one can tell you if it's worth it if we don't know how you use your existing package and what you are loking for out of a new one.

    No command line interface? Correct. But what do you need one for when you can click one button or hit one key rather than type in stuff. If you are used to a command line interface, it's a pain. If not, it's fairly intuative.
    eg To add a line from x to y you could click the start point, then input the position for the end point.
    A command prompt you type it in, In ASketch, you have two main ways; input a point through a pop-up dialogue or just click in roughly the right place then change the length/angle (or x,y)

    Snaps are snaps and toggle with keystrokes or clicks. Trims, joins and offsets work well. There is really nothing wrong with the lack of command line except if you are used to having one you need to learn new ways to do things.

    Hope this helps.
     
    Gadget, Feb 11, 2005
    #4
  5. I'm sorry if I was not clear, I guess I was just asking if it has
    shortcut commands for commonly used commands, and after reading more in
    the group I can see that it has. I once tried a drawing app where you
    could NOT select anything with the keyboard, but you had to move the
    mouse to the top main menu, drop down the menu and then select, it was a
    real royal pain.

    I will only be using it for 2D drawings and floor plans, and I think
    this app should be perfect for that, my concern was the ease of use
    (once you have learned it), and to shortcuts are important.

    Thanks
    Jesper
     
    Jesper Kristiansen, Feb 11, 2005
    #5
  6. Hi Jesper
    I use still mainly use TC 9.2 Pro, but have started using AS9 for 2d. I haven't reached the point of mastering it like I have with TC.
    There are some definitive features of AS that are worth buying it for. Keyboard shortcuts is not one of them.

    Although there are some built-in ones that speed up the workflow, any new ones you assign are CTRL+SHIFT+(key), not the Single Entry Keyboard Equivalents (SEKE's) that we are accustomed to. They exist for Snaps but cannot be reassigned.

    Also, I really miss the Inspector bar, where the Position, Size and Scale of any entity can be modified by Tabbing into them, entering a new value, and Entering out of them. Sketch does have an Edit Bar, mostly for Lines, Circles, and Text. It also has an Enter 2D Coordinate dialog box that lets one enter any 2d point of any vertice. You can use a numeric expression for coordinate input if it is preceded by an equal sign (=). In fact one can use numeric expressions in any input box of any dialog, where as TC only uses the Expression calculator directly from the Inspector Bar Boxes(F2)

    The Database Fields has some great features also.
    As well as entering a constant value in a field, you can assign it a calculated value. For example, the calculated value "%Length" returns the length of a line, arc, circle, polyline, or polygon and stores the length in the field. This is good for reporting a Bill of Materials on the dimensions of an entity including area.
    I found this very useful for creating a Trigonometry Report for Line Lengths and Angles.
    Text entities can contain formulas or strings that instruct AutoSketch to insert text automatically into a text entity. That is good for creating TitleBlocks with AutoText in the fields.

    It is a great little technical drawing program that is worth buying, but it is not like TC, and takes some getting used to.

    Hope this is helpful to you, and if anyone can support or repudiate these observations then please chime in.
     
    crag_dolomite, Feb 13, 2005
    #6
  7. Jesper Kristiansen

    Allan Hickey Guest

    You are there.
    Autosketch database is brilliant and is the reason for using it.
    Turbocad 10.5.1 Pro with its constraints and 3D is also great value.
    Spread the message
    Allan
     
    Allan Hickey, Feb 13, 2005
    #7
  8. Jesper Kristiansen

    jkristia Guest

    Crag,

    I appreciate you input. Friday I purchased it online, downloaded it and started playing with it, and I immediately noticed the missing short cuts, no way easy way to go to the edit field etc, so after a couple of hours of play, I finally decided that this program is not for me (for the price), so I asked for a refund, and upgraded my TC to TurboCad 10.2 Deluxe (not Pro) for half the price instead.


    Jesper
     
    jkristia, Feb 13, 2005
    #8
  9. Jesper Kristiansen

    Gadget Guest

    Also, I really miss the Inspector bar, where the Position, Size and
    R-click: Entities...

    Also the "=" can be used in *most* (not all) numeric entry fields and is normally used for entering calculations like =(1243/4)*50 to get a single numeric answer.
    I use it sometimes for surveys where I can't be bothered adding up numbers (=123+456+789) or want to get a specific length without using the 'jump to' snap (=1234/4) or want to enter something to a specific scale other than the drawn one (=567*25)
     
    Gadget, Feb 14, 2005
    #9
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