Recently in interiorcad 2008 Category

In interiorcad it is possible to define arbitrary spacings between the hinges. The desired values simply get entered into an edit field.

There are three types of values:

• Positive values will be measured from the bottom of the door
  
• Negative values will be measured from the top of the door
  
• Values of zeros will cause equal spaces between the neighboured cups
  

Examples for valid values look like the following:
100 0 -100
100 0 -50
100 200 -100
100 -200 -100

Here are some example values and what you will get in the part layout:

We hope these examples can shed some light how you can use this feature for your own designs.

We are pleased to announce the International English version of the interiorcad 2008 manual. It covers all aspects of interiorcad and should give you a better clue how to get more out of interiorcad to support your business.

The manual is available in PDF format via the main interiorcad documentation page. The interiorcad installer has placed a link to this page on your desktop. If you deleted this link, you can find it in the folder VWHelp of your VectorWorks interiorcad installation.

Any comments or feedback are much appreciated.

Thanks to the flexibility of interiorcad, it is possible to change the appearence of the opening triangle in the front design dialog. The default behaviour shows the base of the triangle at the hinged side. To swap it, visit your "XG Resources" folder. Open the file "Unit.txt" in a text editor. Check whether the parameter DoorTriangle:0 exists. If not simply add it. DoorTriangle:0 is the default. You can change it to DoorTriangle:1 if desired:

interiorcad 2008 SP2 provides new as well as improvements over existing features.

New features and enhancements

• Via the front design preferences it is now possible to configure default connectors for newly created front design elements ("Always create partitions with connector X")
  
• Proper mapping of image based textures on front panels (e.g. to map a dishwasher front onto a door panel)
  
• Rebates on drawer bottoms are now possible even in case of underfloor slides
  
• Ability to drill handle borings from either the inner or outer side of a door
  
• Progress dialog for Part Layout on MacOS
  
• Dowels for imperial measurements
  
• Progress dialog when copying XG Resources to the user's DataFolder
  
• Autocreation of workpieces when converting a VectorWorks object to a VectorWOP object accepts
  • Polygons
    
  • Polylines
    
  • Circles
    
  • Arc Segments
    
  • Rectangles
    
  • Rotated Rectangles
    
  • NURBS-Curves
    
  • Extrudes
    
• Ability to output a supplier ID (boards, edges, coverings) during NC-Export
  
• Support for "CASE...OF" expressions in VectorWOP'S NC output configuration files
  

Fixes

• Some interiorcad plug-in objects didn't trigger copying the XG Resources folder to the user's DataFolder
• Many fixes to (non-rectangular) frames
• Unit name was sporadically disappearing when editing a unit
• Double-doors messed up the front design under certain circumstances
• Second handle on drawer front panel couldn't be removed
• Costing didn't honor "per unit" cost centers
• Lot's of improvements & fixes in part layouts

We are very pleased to launch interiorcad 2008 SP2. It is a free update for all interiorcad 2008 users, providing lots of bug fixes and new features. As a user of versions prior to VectorWorks 2008 please contact your local distributor.

As interiorcad 2008 requires an unlock code, please send your full address information and VectorWorks 2008 serial number to interiorcad@extragroup.com. We will then provide the download link and credentials as well as your unlock code.

For more details please pay attention to the entries preparations before updating interiorcad 2008 and the interiorcad 2008 SP2 fixes & features.

Enjoy interiorcad 2008.

All interiorcad installers install interiorcad completely. There's no need to install a previous version first. It is strongly recommended to install it on top of a plain vanilla VectorWorks 2008 installation though

If you want to install an interiorcad 2008 update on top of an existing interiorcad 2008 installation, please do the following steps before running the installer:

• Visit the VectorWorks 2008 installation folder
  
• Locate and open the folder "Plug-Ins". Locate and remove the folder "xg". This will wipe out all interiorcad 2008 plug-ins. Do not simply rename this folder as VectorWorks 2008 will scan all plug-in folders recursively.
  
• In the VectorWorks 2008 installation folder, remove the folder called "interiorcad". This will not affect any of your personal settings. It's simply a template folder.
  
• In the VectorWorks 2008 installation folder, locate and open the folder "Templates". Remove the "interiorcad (Imperial).sta" resp. "interiorcad (Metric).sta" files.
  

You can now run the installer which will recreate the files and folders you just deleted. Due to files and settings in your user folder, you will still get dated template, workspace and interiorcad configuration files. If you want to benefit from all the fixes the update provides, do the following additional steps:

• Visit the VectorWorks 2008 app data folder. The path differs depending on the platform:
  • Mac OS X: /Users/Your Username/Library/Application Support/VectorWorks/2008/
  • Windows Vista: C:\Users\Your Username\AppData\Roaming\Nemetschek\VectorWorks\2008\
  • Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\YourUsername\AppData\Nemetschek\VectorWorks\2008\
• To get the updated template files, backup the folder "Templates" and rename it as "Templates old"
• To get the updated workspaces, backup the folder "Workspaces" and rename it as "Workspaces old"
• To get the updated interiorcad database, backup the folder "xg" and rename it as "xg old"

Now start VectorWorks 2008. We hope you enjoy the interiorcad update!

Since interiorcad 2008, the location and configuration of the XG Resources and Data folders (which contain all of your interiorcad settings) have changed.

• In the folder where interiorcad 2008 got installed, you'll find a folder called "interiorcad". It contains a folder called "xg" which contains two folders called "Data" and "XG Resources". Additionally, there's a file called "XGResourcePath.txt":

  

  Unlike interiorcad 3.x, the folder "Plug-Ins" does not contain a folder called "XG Resources".
  

• To fully support the user concepts of modern operating systems, none of those folders gets used while running interiorcad 2008. Instead the complete folder "xg" gets copied to the user folder of your operating system at the very first attempt to use an interiorcad 2008 plug-in:

  

• If you need to adjust interiorcad 2008 settings, do not edit files in the application folder but the files in your user folder exclusively.
  
• The paths to your user data depends on your operating system and user name. If your user name is foo, you should find the user folder in the following locations (Windows and Mac OS X):
  
  
  
  • c:\Users\foo\AppData\Roaming\Nemetschek\VectorWorks\2008\xg\
    
  • HardDriveName:Users:foo:Library:Application Support:VectorWorks:2008:xg:
    
  
  
• The file "XG ResourcePath.txt" contains the path to your configuration files. Simply open it in a text editor. It contains two entries, containing a variable to automatically determine your user folder:
  
  
  
  • ResourcePath:%APPDATA%/xg/XG Resources
    
  • DataPath:%APPDATA%/xg/Data
    
  
  If you want to share the "XG Resources" over a network, move them from your user directory to a fileserver. Leave the folder "Data" locally, as it contains machine dependent settings. Adjust the "ResourcePath" in the file "XG ResourcePath.txt" accordingly:
  
  
  
  • ResourcePath:\\Filesever\XG Resources\
    
  • DataPath:%APPDATA%/xg/Data
    
  
  If you have mounted the network share as a drive letter in Windows, you also can configure it from within interiorcad. In the menu "Workshop" point to "Preferences" and select the entry "Preferences Shop...". On the tab "Preferences" choose the desired drive and folder.
  
• If you have more than one user configured on the machine and all users shall access the shared files, configure each user folder accordingly.
  

Please note that you do this at your own risk. Due to the many dependencies we cannot support installations which make use of the above hints, except extragroup configured your machines. if you get the following message, it is likely that your installation is messed:

Please check the folder "xg" in your user folder and the contents of the file named "XGResourcePath.txt".

Coinciding with the relaunch of the interiorcad website, we've posted a series of screencasts for interiorcad 2008. Check them out here and here (Use the language popup in the upper left corner to switch between English & German).

Check out our press release. And watch out for an all new web-site for interiorcad in the upcoming weeks.

We experience some delay in the German interiorcad 2008 release and plus fight with a few remaining bugs concerning imperials in the international version.

Hold out for a few more days and you can get your hands on interiorcad 2008.

"Assign Cutting List Information" was re-written from the ground-up for interiorcad 2008. Here are the highlights:

Associating object dimensions with width/height/depth

If using "automatic mode", users are able to define which of the three dimensions should be associated with width/height/depth. Resizing an object along the given axis triggers automatic update of the cutting list information.

Transparency

Some object types are not yet fully supported in automatic mode (or, even worse, can't be supported due to technical limitations). Assigning cutting list information is still possible, but users are warned that dimensions of the object cannot be updated automatically.

Ability to link a custom VW object to an interiorcad unit

Combining a parametric cabinet builder with an industry strength CAD-system is one of interiorcads great assets. With interiorcad 2008, VW objects with cutting list information can be linked to interiorcad units. For example, if you create a custom finished top for a unit (e.g. by using a tapered extrude), the custom top can be linked to the unit so outputting a cutting lists lists the custom as part of the linked unit.

It looks like there is some confusion about interiorcad 2008s shipping date. We fully intend to ship interiorCAD 2008 in late October 2007.

interiorCAD 2008 supports editing multiple unit plug-in objects with the buttons found in the Object Info palette:

• Case
• Back
• Plinth
• Finished top
• Material
• Scribes

thus allowing to change the design of multiple units with a few clicks.

With interiorcad 2008, you will get placement of the borings for screws attaching the back to the unit both in part layout and NC export. BTW, please be patient with us as we post some German language screenshots over here - we think you'll do just fine. We promise to post a screenshot of the English verison with the next post :-)

Use any VectorWorks 3D-object to define the placement & rotation of a unit, e.g. NURBS, 3D-Polygons, Walls etc. Select a 3D-object and use "Unit from polygon..." to create a polygnal unit exactly where the 3D-object is located (please forgive us the German language popup menu, the screenshot was taken with the German version):

Additionally. Unit 3D now honors the Z-component of the insertion point, thus allowing units to be stapled easily:

interiocad frames can be found in two places

• Frames integrated in the unit plug-in object - fully integrated with the unit, cutting lists, NC export etc. but, let's face it, they could use some help in the "looks" department
• Frame plug-in object - While having strong skills in the "looks" department, they can't be used as doors or drawer front panels for unit plug-in objects. Plus, the options for customizing the looks were hard-wired, there's no way for users to define their own panels or profiles.

For interiorcad 2008, we started laying the foundation for a new frame plug-in object which, while being exceptionally strong & customizable in the "looks" department, will be fully integrated with the unit plug-in objects.

These new frames are defined by two 2D sections stored as plain VectorWorks symbols:

• The frame 2D section defines the design of the stiles and rails
• The panel 2D section defines the design of the frame panel

Both 2D sections are combined in a frame object (either rectangular or polygonal), which can be used standalone or as a unit's door or front panel of a drawer.

All the standard ways of creating a unit are available for frames, too:

• Create rectangular object in 2D
• Create rectangular object in 3D
• Create object from polygon

Plus, the standard "Save as symbol..." and "Replace..." options can be found in the info palette, too.

Again, a picture should be worth a thousand words. With interiorCAD 2008, the workpieces generated by "Part Layout..." can be viewed as 3D objects. Additionaly the final placement of the workpiece on the machine is visualized (and can be customized anytime).

With interiorCAD 2008, face-frames can overlap the unit side, thus functioning as a "pseudo scribe". The overlap is defined for each part of the face-frame individually.

interiorCAD 2008 visualizes hinges which potentially collide with shelves in the front design. Users will be able to go to the hinge dialog to change the hinge placement & details right from the front design dialog.

Congratulations to NNA for shipping VectorWorks 2008. It rocks!

Well, a picture is worth a thousand words.