Jul 20 - Holistic City Releases CityCAD 1.7 Urban Design Tool

NewsBreak

Get news delivered to you. Sign up for TenLinks Daily. Free!!

Holistic City Releases CityCAD 1.7 Urban Design Tool

LONDON, UK, Jul 20, 2009 - Holistic City Software has released a new version - CityCAD 1.7 - which includes significant new features such as a new route and tree type manager, improved visualization and a new 'outline-DXF' export feature. It also includes several other minor improvements and usability enhancements.

New Route Manager

Managing your library of route types is now much easier with a new dedicated Route Manager window. The library includes a thumbnail sketch section to make it quicker to choose street types, and while editing each one you can view a larger sketch section and plan on the right.

From the Route Manager you can also print out a 1-page summary of each route type for reference, or to include in masterplan design code documents.

Your custom route types are stored in an xml file in the configuration directory, making it easy to share your route library with colleagues.

New Tree Manager

You can now create and edit your own library of tree types, and keep track of them in the new Tree Manager. A small library of embedded types is included with Version 1.7 to get started.

In the Environmental analysis tab, you can now keep track of the numbers of each type of tree, whether standalone trees or trees spaced evenly along a street.

Your custom tree types are stored in an xml file in the configuration directory, making it easy to share your tree library with colleagues.

Improved Visualization of junctions with Boundary Lines

This is an improvement to the way that CityCAD visualizes the junction between 'normal' routes (with pavements, vehicle lanes etc) and boundary routes (lines with no thickness). Now, if you connect a boundary route to a normal street, the visualization of the pavement at the edge of the street is now uninterrupted.

This will make it easier and quicker to draw convincing block layouts out of CityCAD blocks.

If you subdivide a block with boundary routes (shown in red), adjacent pavements are not interrupted

Export DXF Outlines

In the DXF Export window, you can now export a simplified 3D model of your CityCAD model, which includes only:

Route Centerlines
Block boundaries
Highway Boundaries

This is recommended once your conceptual design process is finished, and if you want to export your CityCAD model to another application - for example Autodesk Civil 3D - to continue design work in more detail and prepare tender/construction drawings.

New 'Export DXF Outlines' feature

Other Minor Changes We have fixed a few obscure bugs that have come to light since the last release, and have introduced a couple of minor new features. These include:

New variables in the City Grid - you can now keep track of the total area of vehicle lanes, shared surfaces, pavements etc, as well as number of trees.
As an alternative to the mouse wheel button, you can now orbit around your CityCAD model by holding down Ctrl-Shift and dragging with the right mouse button.
The Product Activation window has been redesigned to make it simpler and more intuitive to use.

For more information, visit http://www.holisticcity.co.uk.

-----------

If news like this is important to you, sign up for our TenLinks Daily at http://www.tenlinks.com/NEWS/sub_unsub.htm.

See also

Holistic City website
AEC product and companies - list by TenLinks.com

Source: Material used in press releases is often supplied by external sources and used as is.