TurboCAD CAD Software Review
Features:
Turbo CAD offers mechanical and practical tools, and it’s fully compatible with nearly 40 other CAD and graphic formats.
1) Advanced Drawing tools include over 40 line, arc, curve, and spline tools plus over 50 modification tools. They aren’t organized exactly like Auto CAD, but they are still easy to find.
2) What if analysis is provided to streamline your design process. Being able to plan ahead and see if your ideas would work out without spending a lot of time designing them.
3) Select, copy, and editing tools allow you to edit more than one component at a time and can save you time by copying similar objects and editing them to create a new object.
4) Parametric design allows you to create objects and components that you can reuse throughout your project. For those of you who are experts there is also a scripting function to design your parts.
5) The Light works rendering engine has been updated to allow illumination to be added anywhere in your design. This is a nice wow feature for when you’re doing “the sell” presentation.
6) You can connect to any ODBC database and define bill of materials, field reports, and part lists.
7) With the Arch and Platinum edition you can add sheetrock, wiring, etc. Also a nice wow feature, but also a good way to keep building costs in mind.
8 ) Doors and windows parametrically designed can be dragged and dropped into place and yes they’re self healing.
9) Stairs, railings, and slabs have all been improved and there are tons of options.
Con’s:
1) Turbo CAD has lots of save as options, but some work better than others.
2) Text, multi-lines, poly-lines, and various other areas mess up when importing from Auto CAD.
3) When you save as a DWG or any other file it changes your TCW file into a group of pictures that is no longer self healing. (TIP: always save a TCW before saving as any other file. That way you can still make changes without losing data.)
4) There aren’t as many standard keyboard shortcuts so you have to customize them. It takes a little longer to set up, but in the long run saving you time.
Review:
Turbo CAD is very similar to Auto CAD, both having different options and similar options. It’s hard to say one is better than the other. Some people are raving about the improved ability to import and export from Google sketch, and being able to connect to an off site or network database are two extremely helpful improvements. Because Turbo CAD isn’t a market leader they are offering more options than Auto CAD who is the market leader; so although the programs are similar, Turbo CAD software is the way to go since they are offering more functionality and features.