New to iCad & AutoCad user for 22yrs

#1
I decided to try iCad after my old desktop with AutoCAD LT 2006 died. I'm retired but do occasional projects and like having something I can use to draw on.

I have a project that I'm trying iCad on. I have probably spent 12 hours using it so far. I read a bit of the user manual. I have the following problems or need assistance.

1. The biggest thing is the snap to an entity doesn't' work very well. For example if I hover at the end of a line a red box appears for a fraction of a second and then it turns into a diagonal X by the time I click the mouse. Same thing on the other entity if I'm doing a 'move'. It's close but if I zoom in there is a gap and it didn't move completely to the other point. Sometimes it's taken 3, 4 or 5 tries. It's very frustrating. In AutoCAD if you hover anywhere near the entity it locks right on it.

2. I would like to clean up the command icons and just have the ones I use most on one side on toolbars (I think). Right now I've managed to get most of them on a pallet but I don't like having to use a tab to go from draw to modify. I'd like to get rid of a lot of the stuff at the top as well. I just want the basics, the ones I use.

3. I have saved my drawing to AutoCAD 2004 (using a borrowed desktop with 2005 version) and tried to look at it in AutoCAD and is says 'invalid drawing file' or maybe it says type.

4. Even though I'm using the old ctb table that I use in AutoCAD the print results don't look crisp and clear. The lines are somewhat fuzzy and the line-weights off a bit.

Any help would be appreciated.

Re: New to iCad & AutoCad user for 22yrs

#4
Hi Robert,

Here is one of my setups, for 3Dwork, but the principle still applies.
As you can see I too use toolbars, I feel the use much less screen area.
On the right is the 'snaps' toolbar.
On the left is 'Draw', 'Modify'
Image
.

To display the toolbars, place your mouse over one of the toolbars you have displayed, right click and then select 'Toolbars...', then select Icad and you should have the list of toolbars on screen, just 'tick' the ones you want.

I suspect your 'snapping' issue may be due to the snaps preset and the pickbox size.
How are yours setup?
My settings are shown in the middle dialog.

If using the toolbars is not to your liking we can create a custom toolbar of just your commands.

Steve

Re: New to iCad & AutoCad user for 22yrs

#5
That's exactly the way I want it to look! I'll give that a try. Thanks so much.

Any thoughts regarding the "save as AutoCAD 2004"? I've tried it again and still says 'drawing file invalid'. Unfortunately I opened one of my previous drawings which I did not save in iCad, but I'm afraid it won't open in AutoCAD now.

Re: New to iCad & AutoCad user for 22yrs

#6
Hi Robert,

Not sure what the problem is re SaveAs.
I just saved a 2018 file to 2004 (and renamed at the same time)
Then I opened it in Icad 7.1 and on the command line:
"Command: _OPEN
File Version: R18 (2004) release
Command: '_PMTHIST
"

So it works for me.

I trick i learnt a long time back, try saving the problem file to DXF , Use SAVEAS and select the Acad format you want say 2000 and then try to open that in Acad 2005.

Might be worth setting the default file type (in Tools/Options....Genral.. Saveas in the middle of the dialog) to Autocad 2004 (dwg)

Steve

Re: New to iCad & AutoCad user for 22yrs

#7
Ok some success. The problem wasn't opening the ACAD2004.dwg in iCAD but opening a drawing done and saved in iCAD in ACAD.

I saved a test drawing as dxf and it will open in my old AutoCAD version. I tried making a pdf to print from there and there is a difference in the prints from ACAD and iCAD. The line weights look pretty close but the text is quite different. I don't print that much but I guess I'll have to do it through ACAD.

On setting up the toolbars. I have the ones I want to use. How do I remove the various commands that I'm not going to use? I tried right clicking and clicking and moving them out but neither worked.

iCAD for dummies! Thanks again for your assistance. I'll get it yet.