DeltaCAD

[Rick8]

I'm a cabinetmaker and have been trying to find a good, inexpensive and user friendly CAD program to create my furniture drawing with. I've used Turbo Cad previously, but I found it to be not very user friendly!

I downloaded DeltaCAD's free trial about a week ago and have spent 20-30 hours working with it since. I really like what I see!

The only problem I've run into is when I change the "Status Bar Mouse Display Mode to "Feet and Inches", it displays the fractions of inches in decimals. I can't locate a decimal tape measure, so the decimal part makes no sense to me. Ie...I can't build a piece of furniture if I can't decipher the decimal after the inches that represents a fraction!

Is there a way I can change this to resolve my problem? Or maybe I need to creat a Macro?
PLease help!

Thanks!

 

[metal_twister]

DeltaCad is absolutely GREAT.

Dimensions are controled with length precision setting, not mouse display.


menu up top "OPTIONS"

OPTION ----> DIMENSION... -----> length precision

That will setup length precision as default, so everytime you start DCad up, it is set as you want.

As you are dimensioning, you can flip though anytype of length precision.

On the Dimension tab, you will see a pull down tab with length precision settings.
If you change it here, the changes are not global, so the next time you startup DCad, the length precision will change back to whatever was chosen using the "OPTIONS" method above.

You made a great choice with DeltaCad.

Don

 

[Rick8]

Many thanks, Don!

I'll try that out and see how it works!

I'm hoping when I change the length precision settings, it will display the dimensions in feet, inches and fractions of inches, also. (That is as I move my mouse along a line over the object I'm creating on the screen.) TurboCAD's worked that way and I'm hoping DC will too.)

One other question...how have you found DC's support to be? Whether you call in, or just email them...are they fairly quick to respond?

Thanks again, Don...your help is greatly appreciated!

Rick

 

[Rick8]

WOW!! That really works cool!! Even better than I expected!

What I meant in my last message was:
As I move my mouse over the object I'm creating, the X,Y coordinates in the Mouse Status Bar show the coordinates in decimal form. Is there a way I can change that so they show up in inches and fractions?

Many thx!

Rick

 

[metal_twister]

Rick,
I see what you mean. That is goofy for sure.

I never pay attention to the coordinate display on the bottom status bar. It only tells you where your cursor position is.

You can enter fractions as you draw.
For example when it prompts for a line length, and you want to draw a line 39.5", simply enter it as follows.

3' 3 1/2

To me the sign of great software is how quick the software company responds to questions and offers help and support.
DeltaCad has ALWAYS blown me away at how responsive they are to e-mail questions.

I suggest you e-mail midnite software your question about the cursor display / fraction issue.
Just use the contact us option on the web site.

They may not always have an immediate fix, but my experience is they are very honest, and generally implement the change on the next revision if they cannot fix it right away.

Pretty amazing support for a piece of $40 software.

I am not affiliated with DeltaCad at all, just a very satisfied user for the last 8 years.
We use it for very complex machined components.
By far the best / easiest 2d software I have ever used.


Regards,
Don

 

[Rick8]

Thank you, Don.

Well, the coordinate issue regarding my mouse position isn't a big problem.

The reason I asked about DC's support, is that I tried emailing them twice about my questions to you, at "contact us option on the web site" of DC and heard nothing back from them either time. It covered a span of 1 week. (That's why I found this forum and asked the questions here!)

Thx for your feedback, Don...and yes...I too agree about the program and the price!!

Have a great day and thx again for all your help!

Rick

 

[metal_twister]

hmm I wonder if the lack of support is due to it being demo'd. Lets hope not.

I will ask them myself and see how the responce is....

 

[Rick8]

That is my guess, too. I tried one more time emailing them, after I emailed you, but nothing yet. I think it's kind of poor if you're demo-ing their product and you have a question about it...that they don't respond. (I'd think if they didn't plan on responding...they wouldn't give a non-registered user the option to email them in the first place!) However, after your recommendations, that won't stop me from buying their software, as I really do like it!

And, I do recognize the coversion of fractions from 8th's to 1/2's. It's just those that are 16th's, 32nd's and 64th's that I haven't memorized. I did go online and print out a table showing all the conversions I'll be using to help me.

FYI: I was notified by this forum that they don't like my username of Rick8, so I'll try to change it to "happy_repairman". So in the future if you don't see Rick8, look for that. (I haven't figured out how to do it yet to make it work with this forum.)

Let me know how you come out re. my question to DC. I've really appreciated your time in helping me resolve the issues I've had with DC!

Thx again!

Rick

 

[Rick8]

Don,

FYI: They haven't required me to change my user name yet.
Have you heard anything back from DC re. my issue yet?

Thx,

Rick

 

[Rick8]

Don,

Whatever message you sent to DC must have done the trick! I recieved an answer to all my questions and resolutions today!

Thanks for all your help!

Rick

P.S. I'm close to retirement and am trying to "bone up" on my cabinetmaking design and construction skills. That's why I'm testing DC.
If you ever need any computer help, let me know. I've spent the last 10 years of my career doing computer support for HP and a local school.

 

[Sophiedoc]

When you order the CD of Delta Cad is it complete or must they give you a password later to continue using?I want to use it where I don't have internet access?

 

[bikebuilder2]

Sophiedoc,

I don't believe internet access is required.

Question for anyone:
Is there a website dedicated to the sharing of DC files (symbols, drawings, etc)? If not, does anyone know of a place were one could be created for free? TIA.

 

[metal_twister]

There is no DeltaCad user group that I am aware of.

It would be a great idea to have a forum of some sort.
Maybe start a yahoo group?

I'd pitch in.

Thanks,
Don

 

[bikebuilder2]

Don,

I didn't think there was. That's how I found this forum.

I had thought of that too. Yahoo would be okay but, I'm not keen on Yahoo groups as they usually don't show up too prominently(sp)on a Google search. I'd want it to be found fairly easily. I was thinking more in the lines of a dedicated web page with a forum and storage for files. I guess one has to start somewhere. We'll see. Strange, though, that noone has done it yet. Great, easy to use and inexpensive program that it is.

If I do set something up I'll let you know here.

Thanks,
Chris

 

[bikebuilder2]

Don (or anybody else),

I had contacted Midnight Software, Inc and asked them if they would be willing to sponsor a file sharing site for DC files.

Their response was that they have never done that becuase of the possibility of users uploading copyrighted material.

I wrote them back and told them I understood their position to not do so. But I also ask them if we could have permission to use their DC logo and a link to their DC website if we use a disclaimer statement. I am awaiting a response.

Chris

Addendum:
Permission granted. However they reserve the right to cancel that permission at any time. WHOO-HOO!

I'll look for some options this week and update ASAP. Yahoo might be our best bet though.

 

[bikebuilder2]

FYI:
I have found a provider offering a good amount of space, text ad supported, of course. I've been working on the website for a couple of days. I didn't want to 'officially' announce it here until I had some functionality on it. The forum is up and running, submissions can be made (to be approved by me, "The Boss" as it were, before availability on the site - rules are on the site and they may change. Here is the address to the site:

http://dcaduser.itrello.com/

I hope to see you, Don, and others there soon. (give me a week to tweak)

Chris (known on 'dcaduser' as "The Boss")

 

[bikebuilder2]

The "DeltaCad Users Group" is fully operational. You can use the link in the previous post to go there. See you all there!

 

[metal_twister]

Hey this is great news!

I went to register and it gave me an error.

Can you add a macro's upload button?

I have tons of stuff to put up there as I have been diddling with DCad for eight years now.

Don

 

[bikebuilder2]

Don,
I changed the registration function from "self registering" to "register by admin". You can try to re-register or send the requested info I sent to you via email and I can manually register you.

It appears there is an issue with an email server, or lack there of, that is out of my control. I'll speak to itrello.com and see if this can be resolved.

There is and never has been a specific "macro upload button". I did, however, add a macro download page. All files go thru me, "The Boss", for approval via the "submit files button". This is becuase of the possibility of third party (i.e. employer) copyrighted material being submitted for posting on the site. This is strictly not allowed by the hosting service, itrello.com, in their user agreement which I did agree to. I don't need a lawsuit, or want the site shut down becuase of someone posting unauthorized, employer owned, third party copyrighted material.
The portion of the agreement I am refering to above will be posted on the site for all to read, soon.

Chris

 

[AlwMVMO2]

If anybody wants to know, Midnight Software has discontinued selling and upgrading DeltaCad.
Chris ( bikebuilder2 ) who started DeltaCad User's Group in September 2007 unexpectedly left DCUG in 2015.
Some of the co-administrators has been trying to keep the forum and website going but it has been a struggle.
If somebody who has web and forum experience would like to take over DCUG let us know, otherwise we might be shutting it down too.