DesignCAD 3D MAX is an easy-to-use 2D/3D CAD software suitable for users new to CAD,hobbyists,makers and DIYers. DesignCAD allows you to create high-quality designs, simple renders and animations. The latest release of this award-winning software supports AutoCAD drawing files, includes new 2D Drafting enhancements, 3D printing and expanded interoperability.
DesignCAD 3D MAX is a versatile, easy-to-use 2D/3D CAD tool that's perfect for novice designers, but powerful enough to create high-quality designs, models and animations. It's everything you need to design anything, from simple hobby projects to professional precision drawings.
NEW! Features of Version 2022 include:
New Selection Tool
User can now select the whole drawing just by selecting any portion. Select right to left updated to select the entire object if any portion is selected. Select left to right stays as it is, i.e., select the entire object if and only if the whole object is inside selection box.
New Icon Size
A new medium icon size (24x24) has been introduced using Icon slider inside View Option dialog. Previously, only small(16x16) and large(32x32) icon sizes were available.
Pre-Defined Views
9 different pre-defined views have been added to the DesignCAD 2022 version, that can be applied on the drawing window. Those 9 views are: Front View, Top View, Bottom View, Right View, Left View, Perspective View, Isometric View, Parallel View, and Trimetric View.Option to select pre-defined views is added in View tab inside Classic and Ribbon Menu.
Block Editor Mode in Ribbon
Just like classic menu, we can use Ribbon menu to save edits while in block editor mode.Separate group for Block Editor/Insert Manager is created in File Tab of Ribbon which contains options to save and exit the block editor mode once the block is edited.
Design everything from furniture, decks, floor plans and architectural drawings to engineering layouts, electronic schematics, plats, maps, elevations and even toys for hobbies.
- Architects
- Engineers
- Illustrators
- Builders
- Contractors
- Hobbyists
- Educators
- Students
Features include:
Versatile 2D/3D CAD Solution
DesignCAD 3D MAX is a general purpose CAD tool for easily creating precise, high-quality 2D designs, 3D models, renders and animations. Design everything from furniture, decks, floor plans and architectural drawings to engineering layouts, electronic schematics, plats, maps, elevations and even toys for hobbies.
Easy to Use 2D Drafting & Design
Intuitive yet sophisticated editing tools, advanced geometric construction capabilities, drawing short cut keys and complete layer management make 2D drafting a breeze.
- Usability Tools
- Workspace Tools
- Macros
- Drawing Tools
- Editing and Measuring
- Dimension Tools
- Groups, Blocks, Symbols and more!
Precision 3D Modeling
Access a full range of powerful 3D modeling primitives, including box, sphere, hemisphere, pyramid, cylinder, cone and torus. Utilize Boolean operations, including solid add, solid subtract, and slice, to shape your 3D parts. Add materials to your model to create presentation ready designs.
- 3D View Settings
- 3D Primitives
- 3D (Solid) Editing Operations
- 3D Visualization
Realistic Visualization and Lighting
Apply a variety of colors, materials, textures and texture maps. Render your 3D models with transparency, fogging, shading, and light effects for added impact.
- Shadows – render with shadows enabled to 'ground' your objects in their environment.
- Procedural Textures - add marble, wood, cement, grain, patch, perlin noise, brick, cells or wood extended textures to your designs.
- Image Fills - Use an image as a fill pattern
Animations and Walkthroughs
Create animated presentations with a moving view of your 3D model.
2D/3D Symbols
DesignCAD 3D Max comes with more than 10,000 2D/3D symbols to quickly drag and drop into your design.
3D Model Content for Easier Architectural Design
Access 600 editable 3D models to quickly drag and drop into your architectural designs. Each colorful, fully texture-mapped symbol can be modified to your exact specification.
- 129 structural models – doors and hardware, windows and window treatments, fireplaces, wood moldings and more
- 234 kitchen items – cabinets, appliances, faucets, sinks, counters and more
- 52 bath items – tubs, faucets, sinks, vanities and more
- 134 residential items – furniture, lighting fixtures and home décor
- 51 office items – desks, file & storage cabinets, tables, shelving and more
Layers
DesignCAD utilizes layers that can be independently switched on and off in order for users to have a better visibility of the drawing. For example, if you just need to see the outline of a component, switch off other layers containing center lines, dimensions, etc. DesignCAD can also lock layers, so that they are visible but not editable, in order to prevent accidental changes to the locked layer. Some features of objects, such as color or linestyle, can also be controlled on a per-layer basis.
Group Editor in Info Box
View the internal structure of a group and any subgroups, and simply reorganize contents without having to explode it. Group editing options include:
- Move highlighted group members or entire subgroups to a different layer.
- Remove individual objects or an entire subgroup from the topmost group (Extract).
- Move objects between sub-groups of the topmost group (Move To).
- Collapse an entire group hierarchy to a single-level group (Unnested).
Windows 64-bit & 32-bit Compatible
DesignCAD can be installed as either a 32-bit or 64-bit application. The 32-bit version has always been limited to using 2 GB of RAM, even when running on 64-bit versions of Windows with 4GB or more of RAM. The 64-bit version can access the larger amounts of RAM that are usually available on 64-bit systems, enabling you to create, edit, and render much larger drawings than you can with the 32-bit version.
Drawing Compare
Select two DesignCAD drawings or .BMP images, and Drawing Compare will perform a visual comparison of the two. It’s an invaluable aid when working collaboratively on a project, or when picking up an older project and looking to see the status of updates. Use it to compare a design and an As Built drawing to see where changes have been implemented.
Added Flexibility when Sharing Your Work
- Print Section - Print only a specified region of the drawing.
- Print Scale Options - Select from a standard set of print scale options or create your own.
- Enhanced Print to PDF - Print multiple panels to PDF format to create a multipage PDF file.
- User Notes – Add notes to any drawing
- Save for Sharing - When you save a drawing, all files referenced externally (textures, symbols, images) are saved to a subfolder with the host drawing’s name.
- Paper Space Mode – Create a view frame and choose a specific scale or enter a custom view frame scale.
AutoCAD® DWG/DXF Compatible and More
Work with the latest AutoCAD® files. Import/Export AutoCAD® files from R12 through 2020 and enjoy excellent compatibility with AutoCAD® layouts and PaperSpace, plus support for AutoCAD® layers, linestyles, views, and blocks in both DXF and DWG file formats. DesignCAD even offers limited support for architectural objects, which are recognized and exploded to DesignCAD equivalents.
Import/Export SketchUp Files
DesignCAD 3D MAX is now able to both import and export drawings to/from the .SKP format for use with SketchUp versions 3.0 to 2020.
Triangulate Surface Command
Reduce all faces of a Solid Surface object to triangles, helpful when converting the drawing to a different drawing format like OBJ, DWG, DXF, STL, SKP. In addition to those listed above, DesignCAD can also import WMF, HPGL, and XYZ and export or save to WMF, HPGL, RIB, VRML, WPG and PDF.
Extendable
Use the built-in BasicCAD scripting language, or OLE Automation, or both, to add new tools and enhancements to DesignCAD.
