What's new in 0.3

This is what changed in CadCraft 0.3, compared with 0.2, the version Try ran before. The 2D drafting tools work as they did in 0.2.

New

• A 3D tab. The 3D tab beside Model shows the drawing lying on the ground, and the solids you make from it. The 3D view loads the first time you open the tab. See Model in 3D.
• Solids. In the 3D group of the toolbar: Extrude (EXTRUDE) turns closed shapes into solids, Press/pull (PRESSPULL) pushes or pulls a face, and Box, Cylinder and Wedge make solids from corners or a center and a height.
• On the 3D tab, MOVE, COPY, ROTATE and ERASE work on solids. Every 3D change is one undo step in the same history as the drawing, so ⌘ZCtrl+Z undoes the last thing you did on either tab.
• Looking around. Orbit, Views (Iso, Top, Front and the other sides, Perspective or Parallel) and Style (Shaded, Shaded with edges, Hidden line, Wireframe, X-ray).
• 3D export. Export in the 3D group downloads the solids as GLB, OBJ or STL (GLBOUT, OBJOUT, STLOUT, or EXPORT3D to choose).
• View cube and corner indicator. A view cube sits at the top right of the 3D tab: click a side to look from there, or drag it to orbit. Corner indicator in CadCraft settings chooses the view cube, the axis icon or nothing. With View cube, the Model tab shows one too, and clicking a side opens the 3D tab looking from there.
• Movable panels. The Layers and drawing panel and the Properties panel each have a grip at the top. Drag one to dock it on the left, the right or the bottom, or drop it over the drawing to float it. The ⋯ menu does the same from the keyboard. See Arrange the panels and use a second monitor.
• A second monitor. Move all panels to a new window (or Move panels to a new window in Settings) puts the panels in their own window, so the drawing can have the whole main screen. Reset layout puts every panel back.

Improved

• CadCraft's own DWG reader. DWG files from AutoCAD R13 to 2018 are now read by a reader built into CadCraft, and read faster. There is no separate reader to download first, so the "Loading the DWG reader" wait is gone. See Open a DWG, edit it and save a copy.
• More of a DWG comes in. Tables are drawn as the other program drew them in more files, on sheets too. Arc dimensions are drawn from the file.
• Objects CadCraft cannot draw yet, such as regions, polyface meshes and lights, are now listed in "About this file" instead of being left out without a word.
• The saved offline copy is smaller, because it no longer carries a separate DWG library. See Files: what opens, what saves.
• Library items from drawings. Files… in the library now reads DXF R12 files too. In older DWGs, dynamic blocks are listed under their real names, and attribute defaults are read. See Insert from a file or the library.
• Changing the drawing's Units scales the solids with it, so they stay on the drawing. One ⌘ZCtrl+Z undoes both.

Fixed

• In DWGs saved in the 2000 format, the last point of each polyline was lost, so two-point polylines disappeared. They now come in whole.
• Library items made from DWG blocks now close the polylines that are closed in the file, and no longer close ones that are open.

Since 0.2's notes

These came in 0.2, but its release notes left them out:

• Geometric and dimensional constraints, with the Parametric group. See Constrain a drawing.
• Named parameters and equations in one table. See Use parameters and equations.
• A macro for SolidWorks (SWBOUT) that rebuilds the drawing as a constrained sketch, and opening a sketch exported from a part. The macro has not been run in SolidWorks yet. See Move sketches to and from other part modelers.
• Saving as DWG in the AutoCAD 2000 format. See Files: what opens, what saves.

Files and compatibility

• Saving keeps the solids, in DWG and in DXF: each face as a 3D face on the layer CC-3D, which other programs show, plus CadCraft's exact copy, which it reads back. CadCraft 0.2 opens such a DWG with the 3D faces as flat outlines, and counts them in a DXF without showing them.
• 3D faces in model space from other programs now open on the 3D tab, kept together as one group. In a DWG, 0.2 drew them as flat outlines on the Model tab. 3D faces inside blocks or on sheets are left out, and "About this file" says how many.
• A saved DWG is still the AutoCAD 2000 format, and a saved DXF is still R12.
• Constraints saved by 0.2 open the same way in 0.3, and the other way round.
• The panel layout is a setting of this browser, not part of any file.

Known gaps

• There are no booleans (union, subtract, intersect), fillets, sweeps or revolves for solids yet.
• Solids from other programs (3D solids, regions, bodies and meshes) are counted, not shown.
• The 2D drawing lies flat on the 3D tab: elevation and thickness are not read.
• Solids do not appear on sheets or in plotted PDFs. Export GLB or STL to share the 3D model.
• Multileaders and wipeouts in opened files are still counted, not shown.
• The 3D camera is not saved in the file.
• What is not built yet