• Some Useful Advice for Experienced CAD Users - things to look for
• ArchiCad vs. Domus.Cad
• VectorWorks vs. Domus.Cad

Some Useful Advice for Experienced CAD Users As is the normal procedure to help introduce programs to local markets, our international contacts and distributors often send NFR's to the press for review. While the publicity raises consumer awareness it presents other challenges, especially in the CAD sector where there are already several products on the market. Differentiating a new program from those already known becomes difficult. We believe the problem derives from the fact that at first glance Domus.Cad greatly resembles other more widely known programs, such as its competitors ArchiCad and MiniCad, when in reality it is quite different and innovative in several respects. There were similar problems several years ago when Domus.Cad was first introduced here in Italy. Those reviewing the program tended to search for only those features present in programs they already knew, either underestimating new and different features or overlooking them completely. With time the situation has changed. So much so, in fact, that Domus.Cad was awarded 1996 CAD program of the year (beating out both MiniCad and ArchiCad) by the readers of Applicando, Italy's most widely distributed computer magazine. In an effort to help reduce confusion, we're presenting here a list of "things to look for" specifically aimed at those with experience using other CAD programs to help guide an introduction to Domus.Cad. The following points highlight specific areas and draw attention to what makes the program unique compared to others. We will include a similar guide in the future with any NFR sent to the press, hopefully making Domus.Cad's introduction to an already crowded CAD market more successful. Separate Drawing and Selection Modes A user familiar with other CAD programs may at first be disoriented by Domus.Cad's use of two separate operative modes, activated individually by the Arrow and Pen icons. Programs with interface derived from MacDraw (such as MiniCad and PowerCad) do not follow this principle. In these programs, if the Arrow icon is not selected the user is automatically in Draw mode. Domus.Cad uses two different tools to allow "selective" selections. When making selections therefore, the Arrow icon must be activated along with the appropriate element icon. Likewise, when inserting elements, the Pen icon must be activated along with the correct element icon. Having two working modes - Drawing mode and Selection mode - allows the user to operate with greater flexibility and speed. For example, if all the doors of a particular floor of a large project must be selected for modification, the user does not have to click them all individually. They may be selected all at once - without including other unwanted elements - by simply activating the Arrow (Selection) and Door icons and tracing a rectangle encompassing the desired area. When necessary, the selective option may be disactivated by holding pressed the Command key while tracing the rectangle, allowing selection of all the enclosed elements. Clearly, having separate operative modes makes sense only for programs such as Domus.Cad that work with constructive elements (where the ability to select only walls or stairs makes sense) and is much less advantageous in programs based on the use of geometric elements such as lines and polygons. Automatic wall fusion At first glance Domus.Cad's automatic wall fusion may seem nothing other than a simple procedure to connect wall extremes, much like in many other programs. In reality, however, it is very different, both practically and conceptually, permitting the user to freely move and divide walls, delete extra pieces, and create complex elements (such as several walls converging on the same vertex) quickly, representing them as a single element. It also fuses walls having different thicknesses or lying on different axes and permits the easy creation of wall niches, various window openings, and curvilinear and irregularly-shapped walls. Walls can be moved or modified while still maintaining the project's correct geometry. No other program on the market has this feature. A moving walls sequence with automatic fusion Other examples of walls fusions A little test. Try to do the exemples above with Domus.Cad and other CAD programs Immediate creation of a 3D model. Design elements are created from the outset in their full 3D form. Although they are drawn on plan in a 2D workspace (like other CAD programs), they have 3D characteristics from the moment they are created. A wall, for example, is not a series of lines drawn in plan, then elaborated later into an object having a width and a height. It is a dynamic three-dimensional element from the moment it is drawn having a two-dimensional REPRESENTATION in plan. It is an important difference to note - Domus.Cad does not separate 2D and 3D modes and work in them separately. If the program is used in its full capacity as an interactive design tool, the user will see the full three-dimensional wall with all its assigned characteristics (including material) appear in the QuickDraw 3D window the moment it is created. 3D view updated in real time The CAD user familiar with other programs might assume Domus.Cad's 3D View window to be simply a place where static images are displayed upon choosing a specific command. With the Interactive option activated, however, the window may be left open to visualize a rendered, continually updated view of every design addition or modification in real time. This allows the user to work naturally in plan while having complete SIMULTANEOUS control of the three-dimensional space. No other CAD product incorporates Apple's QuickDraw 3D and QUESA - Open Gl technology in this way. Walkthroughs in real time The 3D view window is interactively updated in REAL TIME moving the position of the view point and observed point, allowing the user to enter every angle of the design. This is very different than viewing a movie because it reaches another level of interactiveness. The generation of a movie following a predetermined path requires more time to produce and once generated it may not be changed. If changes are made, a new movie must be generated. No other CAD product offers the ability to do walkthroughs in real time with this degree of control. Interactive 3D sections Moving the 3D sectioning plane on the plan cuts immediately the 3D model on the 3D view. Direct paging Domus.Cad's internal paging may escape notice completely simply because it is not expected - no other CAD program includes a paging procedure so easy to use. ArchiCad, for example, requires plans and views to be exported to PlotMaker, meaning that the operation must be repeated after every design modification. MiniCad cannot easily print or plot a three-dimensional multilayered project. The various layers must be moved on the sheet so that they are not superimposed, losing the integrity of the original model. In Domus.Cad, any part of the design may be paged without moving elements from their original position. Drawings are also updated automatically while on the paged sheet and don't need to be repaged. Paging is at the same time separate and integrated. Double monitors support Domus.Cad supports double monitors on both Mac Os and Windows platforms. The plan on the left and the interactive 3D view on the right Apply objects This exclusive and revolutionary function allows you to apply a library object to any selected elements, like a Window frame to window elements or a 3D forniture to selected 2D shapes (see below). Break out parametric limits Some programs,offer a list of frames automatically linked to door and window openings, but more often than not, the very frame you want is not there and you end up using frames which do not correspond to reality. A little experience of such programs - and you soon come to recognise them by the drawings of the frames used – always the same old ones! Other programs (but not Domus.Cad) have come up with a totally different programming language to define the new parameters. Domus.Cad could do this too, because it can be programmed in C and C++, but this is a solution developed for programmers - not for architects. Break out of your parametric limits! The parametric elements of Domus.Cad are powerful, fast and creative design tools, but we do not believe that simply adding more parameters is the correct solution to architects’ difficulties. We believe that, at any given moment, you should be able to break out of parametric limits, in order to create freely and introduce a variety of elements into any one project. Several Architectural modeling functions More about Domus.Cad ...

ArchiCad vs. Domus.Cad There are some similarities between ArchiCad and Domus.Cad and many differences. The most evident similarity between the two programs is the manner in which they are generally used when designing. That is, beginning in plan and progressing to other two-dimensional, and eventually, three-dimensional representations. It may be easier, however, to point out differences. A very important Domus.Cad feature is automatic fusion. At first glance, it may seem a simple joining of lines but it actually does much more. It allows the user to freely move, attach, detach, or combine elements, as well as the possibility to look at a group of elements as a single object. Another important difference is the philosophy concerning the implementation of other software for completion of the various phases of architectural and engineering work. ArchiCad's combines many phases of the work in one monolithic program. While it includes certain characteristics of many of the more sofisticated elaborations (quantity estimates, 3D modeling, technical views, and photorealistic rendering), at the same time, it requires another program, PlotMaker, for basic, necessary functions such as 3D view modification, paging, and plotting. Domus.Cad, on the other hand, includes all the basics, containing within itself all the necessary tools for completing construction documents and drawings, then serves as the central point of an entire series of specialized programs, created by Interstudio and other companies, each producing their own state-of-the-art elaborations. Below are some of the differences between ArchiCad and Domus.Cad. This is only a partial list; we plan to improve the table with more items in the future (updated 01/01/2000).

VectorWorks vs. Domus.Cad VectorWorks is a general purpose CAD. VectorWorks Architect is a special version of VectorWorks with extra modules and extra libraries for architecture. Domus.Cad is an ARCHITECTURAL 3D CAD, it has very special functions and characteristics for architectural and civil engineering fields. In Domus.Cad elements like walls, floors, windows, doors, stairs, are software primitives that are used with the same simplicity as lines or circles, in VectorWorks there are methods for drawing elements that SEEM to be walls or a windows, but that are in reality just groups of 3D faces, NOT true architectural elements, making things much more complicated and harder to control. Below are some of the basic differences between Vectorworks and Domus.Cad (updated 01/01/2000)

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