Bricscad is like AutoCAD. But it doesn't require the huge memory or CPU power like AutoCAD. The main thing is that it is fully compatible with the AutoCAD .DWG files. So, this is quite convenient when the same project is done by more than one people who know AutoCAD.
Bricscad is a small program. But it includes amost all the features required for a CAD program. One advantage is that it is really more user friendly and easy to study compared to AutoCAD. The interface is quite neat.
It supports some file formats for importing, like Adobe Acrobat, MS Office objects, etc. But the 3D file formats supported are less. Well the problem is that there are a lot of formats which are quite different, created by different softwares. Also, different versions of the software create files not compatible with the other.
It also provides additional tools with advanced CAD features than AutoCAD.
The price is very less, compared to similar programs (AutoCAD $4,445).
One advice for Windows Vista users. You must run the program with administrative privileges (means, by running the program each time as an administrator, or disabling the UAC or the User Account Control).
v12.2 [May 11, 2012]
Improvements
TEXT EDIT DIALOG: most recently used position and size are memorized and restored.
SR30903 - VIEW command: added support for Orthographic option, as well as for hidden options Top, Bottom, Front, Back, Left and Right.
SR33947 - EXPORT: added a warning when too big values are used for the PictureExportScale setting.
Fixes
LAYER FILTERS: modifications were not stored.
TOOLBARS: the small flyout arrows were not displayed (regression since V12.2).
SR33815 - IMAGEATTACH: command did not take the UCS into account.
SR34922 - TEXT: when switching to a new style, a mixup of settings from this new style and overrides matching the previously used style was applied (regression since V12.2).
SR34936 - LAYER FILTERS: no layers were shown in the Layer Explorer icon view.
SR34952 - RASTER IMAGES: incorrect path handling of Raster Images could lead to a crash when editing the path in the Drawing Explorer.
SR34991 - ETRANSMIT: an exception occurred when etransmitting a drawing with an invalid Raster Image path.
SR34996 - DRAWING EXPLORER: when a panel was made floating and dragged outside the Explorer frame, a crash occurred upon reopening the Explorer.
SR35006 - PDFFRAME: value 0 and 2 were not obeyed, pdf frame remained displayed.
SR35028, SR35059, 35066 - LOCALIZATION: several translation issues were fixed for Toolpalettes, Layer Filters and Block Explorer.
SR35045, SR35071 - CURSOR: when a crosshair cursor axis is parallel to the view direction it should not be displayed. Also suppressed display of undesired radial line in case of extremely large view sizes.
SR35054 - FIELDS: a crash occurred when an object field was added to an mtext using the Mtext Editor.
SR35078 - TEXT: the previously placed text entity remained highlighted during creation of multiple text entities.
SR35094 - XSOLIDS: edit operation triggered error messages: "Screen update was interrupted because of unknown error" (since V12.1.10).
Application Development
LISP VLE: "msg" and "title" arguments were swapped for function (vle-alert title msg flags).
LISP: "mode" string argument in (open file mode) had become case sensitive (regression since V12.2).
SR32391 - XCLIP compatibility: processing of multiple block references was not supported when running unattended.
IMPORTANT: this implies that existing scripts that use XCLIP will need to be modified, an extra Enter has to be inserted.
SR33815 - COM: IAcadBlock.AddRaster method did not take into account current UCS when processing insertion point and rotation angle.
SR33947 - COPYCLIP: did not work properly when objects from a layout were pasted into MS Word.
1. The image pasted into MS Word had an empty background.
2. The Paper Background color in Bricscad was switched to red, as well as in Bricscad content subsequently pasted into MS Word.
SR34883 - LISP, SDS, BRX: when a keyword string in a PromptMenu, initialised by (initget) or (getXXX), is a true number (integer or double), the PromptMenu only sent the first character to the commandline, instead of the entire number string.
SR34917 - LISP: optimized (vl-sort) performance. Added type-cast from "long long" to "long" for COM data conversion, to suppress warnings.
SR34938 - REACTORS: "sysvarWillChange" event was not sent for CTAB, i.e. when activating a layout tab.
SR34995 - LISP, SDS, BRX: (entget) / sds_entget() / acedEntGet() could cause an exception, when used with an AcDbBlockBegin/OdDbBlockBegin object of an erased BlockTableRecord (i.e. after _PURGE command).
SR35019 - LISP: a problem occurred when loading "on_doc_load.lsp", in case a new drawing was opened/created using a particular Lisp VB/VBA code combination.
SR35030 - LISP: (vla-get-plotstylename) resp. (vlax-get-property obj 'PlotStyleName) returned a garbage string for Layer Objects.
SR35068, SR35070, SR35079, SR35085, SR35086, SR35092, SR35115, SR35117 - LISP: syntax (member item NIL) was rejected with an error message (regression introduced in V12.2.7).
SR35084 - LISP: improved feedback for errors related to "xxx:name" symbol naming syntax.
SR35116 - LISP: data were not correctly placed into the array by (vlax-safearray-put-element) and (vlax-safearray-fill) for SafeArrays of type VT_R8 and VT_BSTR (regression introduced in V12.2.7).
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