The office is filled with people who only occasionally need to work with CAD data or create technical drawings. CorelCAD is now also available on mobile devices.
This week Corel Corporation introduces its 2018 version of CorelCAD, its CAD-based office software for technical illustrators and other who need to occasionally work with CAD data. In our view it is more suitable as a general CAD tool for the office than competing products, because it is designed for wider use than the low-cost drafting products from traditional CAD vendors. Using the same CAD tools as the engineering team is overkill for technical illustrators, graphic designers, and others in the organization who reuse CAD data for corporate communications or marketing.
Corel creates CAD in partnership with Graebert GmbH, the Berlin-based CAD developer who also provides CAD technology to Dassault Systemès (DraftSight), Onshape (Onshape Drawings), Ersi (Ares Map), and others. The vendors who rely on Graebert technology are becoming increasingly willing to go public with the relationship, based on the reputation Graebert is earning in the marketplace as a reliable vendor with cutting edge technology.
The most important new feature of CorelCAD 2018 is the separate mobile version. CorelCAD Mobile Powered by Ares (iOS/Android) will be released as soon as some details are settled with the two app stores involved. (Developers who have ever dealt with the Apple or Google app stores know the agony.) There will be special subscriptions for mobile users. Corel is also introducing subscription licensing as an option for the desktop with the 2018 edition. Subscription licensing is controversial in some places right now (like the Autodesk community), but Corel says it is only an option for desktop CAD. The nature of CAD on a mobile device makes a perpetual license problematic; all the CAD vendors with a commercial mobile app offer it by subscription.
CorelCAD is fully compatible with the ubiquitous .dwg CAD format, including the R2018 version published by Autodesk. The .dwg technology in CorelCAD is from the Open Design Alliance.
New features in CorelCAD 2018 include:
- Increased 3D design functionality, including a easy-to-use Helix tool
- EntityGrips and the Properties palette now allow for 3D editing
- The use of formulas in tables
- An overhaul of its custom coordinate command, adding Dynamic setting (such as aligning to an object)
- Faster overall performance, from a reoptimization of the CAD engine supplied by Graebert.
More information: CorelCAD 2018.
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