Editor's Pick: ARES Commander 2015 Released

Graebert recently released the 2015 edition of its ARES Commander 2D and 3D CAD package. This is notable in a bunch of ways. For one, ARES Commander is available as a stand-alone application for 32- and 64-bit Windows and Mac systems as well as a variety of Linux platforms. It’s also the engine that drives a bunch of applications including DraftSight from Dassault Systèmes and Corel Corp.’s CorelCAD. In all, Graebert estimates that more than 7 million designers in over 100 countries and 14 languages work with ARES Commander or one of its many OEM (original equipment manufacturer) partner solutions.

Still, what might be the most notable aspect of the 2015 edition is that Graebert also released the beta version of a platform called ARES Touch 2015. Graebert says that ARES Touch is the world’s first DWG-based CAD solution for Google Android. Then again, there’s also a new licensing scheme that makes ARES Commander portable. More on both of these in a second.

ARES Commander is a low-cost DWG-compatible design system. Low-cost means about 250 bucks for the core package. It has the CAD tools you expect and a fully customizable API (application programming interface) for creating your own functions, routines and plugins. It has workgroup collaboration features like the ability to mark up drawings with free-hand sketches as well as VoiceNotes to add voice messages, reminders or instructions directly in your drawing. It has optional, low-cost plugins and add-ons to extend the main platform for design disciplines like mechanical or electrical engineering and HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) design. There’s also a rendering module for Windows operating systems.

The 2015 edition sees the introduction of a bunch of new model editing tools. Among these are PowerTrim and Dynamic Blocks. PowerTrim lets you trim or extend multiple entities all at once. How it works is that you describe a path with your mouse and ARES does the trimming or extending as you move your mouse. Dynamic Blocks editing lets you edit dynamic blocks inserted into a DWG drawing by a CAD tool like AutoCAD.

On the usability front, ARES Commander 2015 now provides a QuickModify command. This command lets you combine multiple actions that use the Move, Rotate, Scale and Copy commands into a single command. There’s also a new DiscardDuplicates command for deleting duplicate entities and an ExplodeBlockX command for exploding blocks or tables and converting attributes in text.

Also new in version 2015 is functionality for modifying the ribbon interface to group together the tools you use most often. Additionally, you can create your own workspaces.

Another cool capability debuting in ARES Commander 2015 is neither a traditional feature nor a command. It’s called LicenseToGo. What this means for you is that you can move your product key to another computer — say, from your Windows-based workstation to your Mac at home — then activate your license on the new system. This lets you use ARES Commander on a secondary computer for up to five days. After that, you can renew the license on the same PC, a different workstation or go back to your original platform.

ARES Touch 2015 is the sleeper that might be the most interesting part of Graebert’s announcements. The program is a beta of a Graebert CAD solution for Android tablets and smartphones. Graebert says that it provides all the power of 2D and 3D CAD through an intuitive touch interface. It syncs files through Dropbox or Google Drive. Users of ARES Commander 2015 receive an ARES Touch subscription to give it a try for a year. You can also apply to participate in the final beta phase of ARES Touch. You’ll find a link to that application form at the end of today’s write-up.

Speaking of links, when you get to the end of today’s Pick of the Week write-up, make sure to click to access the 6-minute 30-second video overview of the new features in ARES Commander 2015. But the link you might really want to hit is the one that takes you to where you can download a complimentary 30-day evaluation copy. There’s no registration to download the evaluation unit, and all versions of ARES Commander 2015 from 32- and 64-bit Windows and 64-bit Mac OS X (10.5.8 or higher) through to Linux seem to be available. Good stuff.

Thanks, Pal. — Lockwood

Anthony J. Lockwood

Editor at Large, Desktop Engineering

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