ZWCAD 2011's Remarkable Improvements to Object Snap

by Wesley Baechler

I have been using ZWCAD for several years, and so was wondering what the new ZWCAD 2011 might bring us. Some days ago, I learned that ZWCAD 2011 had been released, and I checked it out. After experiencing some of the new features, I can't help sharing with you the amazing improvements to object snap.

The first improvement to object snap in ZWCAD 2011 is that it now highlights objects over which I hover the cursor. You can see the effect in the figure below. When I move the cursor over an object, the object highlights automatically with another line style. This really useful feature makes my work more efficient.

I found that I can change the value of system variable Highlight to turn this function on or off. I leave it turned on, because when the object highlights, I think that it is saying "Hi" to me, like a good friend welcoming me for a visit.

The second improvement I found in ZWCAD 2011 is the new magnet feature. Even though it seems minor, I found it to be very useful. Smartsnap with magnet helps me make better use of the object snap function. When I move my mouse towards a geometric feature, such as an end point, the screen reports information in these three ways:

* A marker appears. Each kind of object snap has its own shape of marker.

* The Smartsnap tooltip appears. It displays the name of the geometric feature being snapped to.

* The magnet acts. The cursor feels like it is being tugged towards the geometric feature.

The figure below shows the marker and Smartsnap tooltip for endpoint object snap.

To me, the new added magnet feature seems like a GPS that tells me the way to travel around an unfamiliar city. There is no doubt that it will help me a lot in my design work.

I have come to love it so much that I am going to share with you a video I found on FaceBook that shows these improvements: http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=148843268501592

The following figure shows where the Magnet option has been added to the Drafting tab of the options command.

After a few days experiencing ZWCAD 2011, I have found that the object snap function is much more accurate, especially for large drawings. I really appreciate these improvements, because they really make my design work much more efficient and convenient.

Now I am eager to try other new features in ZWCAD 2011, and I will share them with you later. Hopefully, you can share with us your experiences with ZWCAD 2011, as well. Let's get ahead, together.

About the Author

An architect and ">CAD software user

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