TurboCAD 3D Macintosh has all of the feature article and tools of its 2 - D first cousin , TurboCAD 2D (; September 2006 ) , including the same easy - to - use interface . In addition , TurboCAD 3D has an extensive curing of 3 - D pecker and command that CAD ( electronic computer - assist design ) user will immediately find familiar , such as 3 - 500 primitive , extrude , lathe , sweep , as well as surface and upstanding Boolean operations .
In most 3 - D applications programme , using all of these 3 - D prick on an inherently 2 - D interface ( your monitoring equipment ) can be disorienting for novices . Sometimes it ’s knockout to recount which workplane you are make in . For instance , when you disembowel an physical object , such as a rectangle , it is tailor relative to a specific plane , as a slab might be parallel to the ground . When make in 3 - 500 , it is not always obvious where that rectangle is located in all three dimensions without rotating your view of the aim . TurboCAD 3D has made deciphering which plane you are currently draw in easy to determine with a number of workplane presets — top , front , and side — uncommitted in its WorkPlane bill of fare . These give up you to quickly switch back and forth between planes . In addition , you’re able to specify custom workplanes base on exist objects and surfaces or defined points .
TurboCAD 3D can also enforce non - destructive filet and chamfers to 3 - D physical object . In mechanical drawing , filleting and chamfering are common edits to an aim where a corner or an border of an object has a radius utilise to it . In TurboCAD 3D , the filleting and chamfering attributes can be well changed and adjusted at any sentence because they are applied to the aim without changing its inherent geometry .
TurboCAD 3D comes with a 2 - 500 and 3 - 500 symbolization and parts library that includes over 11,000 items , any of which can easy be added to a good example via a drag - and - drop curtain interface . The app also support an extensive list of file formats for importing and exporting , admit design industriousness standards like DWG , DXF , IGES , and ACIS SAT . TurboCAD 3D can import files from other CAD program — AutoCAD and ProE , for example — then export those file in Illustrator format with 3 - D views translated into 2 - D elements , making TurboCAD 3D a honorable bridgework between Illustrator and CAD . TurboCAD 3D can also spell from and exportation to Adobe Illustrator format , spend a penny it a great software for architect who involve to produce scaled , precise drawings with professional CAD instrument that are not include in Illustrator .
A downside to TurboCAD is that all units of measurement must be infix into the software in denary formatting . designer , who typically work out in fundament and inch , may find this hard to work around . However , attribute can be displayed in fractional units .
In oecumenical , the 3 - D capabilities of TurboCAD 3-D seem more applicable to mechanical engineering or product design than to the field of architecture . There are none of the architectural building cube — wall , doors , roof — that you see in programs like VectorWorks (; October 2004 ) orArchiCAD . Rendering is also jolly basic and is limit to Phong and Gouraud shading , which give rise good 3 - D views , but will not develop photorealistic images . Nevertheless , ease up the $ 495 price , TurboCAD 3D is a good note value for a full - featured 2 - D drafting and 3 - calciferol modeling lotion .
Macworld’s buying advice
If you are looking for an easy - to - consumption , basic 3 - five hundred dog program for a comparatively sane price , TurboCAD 3D is a good choice . However , if your projects are architectural in nature , you should consider other CAD programs shoot for immediately at architects .
[ Greg Miller hold a Master ’s level in computer architecture and is chief technology ship’s officer of RDC Interactive , which specify in new medium for the AEC ( Architecture , Engineering , and Construction ) and publishing markets . ]
