PHSCAD Application Ported to Bricscad

Bricys India, in cooperation with Pipe Hangers & Supports Pvt. Ltd announces the successful porting of the PHSCAD application on the Bricscad platform.

Pipe Hangers & Supports Pvt Ltd. (PHSPL) [www.pipehangers.in], based in Chennai is India's leading manufacturer of spring hangers, pipe supports and accessories. Over the past 25 years, their products have been supplied to major power plants, refineries, nuclear installations & process industries in India and overseas.

Bricys India, in cooperation with PHSPL announces the successful porting of the PHSCAD application on the Bricscad platform. This was crucial to the endorsement of Bricscad as a viable CAD platform by PHSPL.

When Bricsys India (Coordinate Systems) suggested Bricscad as the alternative .DWG CAD platform for PHSPL, the first question that was asked was "Will PHSCAD work in Bricscad?." Today, we have made it happen.
PHSCAD is a comprehensive CAD application created by them for creating pipe supports, spring hangers, joints, fixtures and accessories. The entire design process of the company is captured in this software and automated using the PHSCAD application, which was running as an add-on application in AutoCAD.

PHSCAD also provides a vast library of structural steel fittings like angles, beams, channels etc conforming to various standards like Indian, BS, ASTM, JIS and European standards.

Bricscad offers 99%+ compatibility with AutoCAD at the API level. PHSCAD is an application written entirely in Lisp and there was no problem in ensuring that the same ran in Bricscad also. The whole effort of ensuring that the code loads in Bricscad, displays the same user-interface, and creates the same output took not more than a couple of days of testing.

Today, PHSCAD application runs in Bricscad just as fine as in AutoCAD and PHSPL use Bricscad alongside with AutoCAD.

"We purchased 2 licenses of Bricscad on a trial basis and our experience has been very good so far. Bricscad is able to work seamlessly with .DWG data created by itself as well created by AutoCAD. We have exchanged drawings with clients and contractors and there have been no problems. PHSCAD is offered free of cost to all our clients.

Going forward, I see a good possibility to lower CAD budget significantly by deploying Bricscad seats instead of AutoCAD. A Bricscad license is cost-effective, easier to justify and above all, we are happy with the personalized support provided by Bricsys India, represented by Coordinate Systems. The other advantage is that Bricscad is a fully enabled CAD platform, including the ability to run Lisp/VBA etc , unlike an AutoCAD LT. That makes it all the more attractive.", said Mr. M Rajagopal, Director, PHSPL.

Coordinate Systems in based in Bangalore, and has been in the business of CAD since 2004. It is a reseller for Bricsys products in India since 2008. Coordinate Systems is the developer of the GeoTools add-on software for Bricscad and has executed a large number of high-end CAD customizations for a number of clients world-wide.

Bricsys Releases Bricscad 11.3

Bricsys has announced the release of Bricscad version 11.3, an intermediate upgrade with big features that provide users with increased drafting efficiency. In addition, Bricscad announced a new features poll on Facebook, where customers can now request and vote for new features.

New in Bricscad 11.3
This update adds support for text fields and tables, the subject of many user requests. Users can now create and edit text fields and tables in drawings created by Bricscad and other DWG-based CAD systems.

The new SolProf command projects selected 3D solids onto 2D planes. This is a key element towards the interaction between 3D models and 2D drawings.

The PEdit command can now convert splines to polylines.

For application developers, the final release of the new .NET application programming interface and sample files are found in the folder named “Bricsys API.”

New Features Poll on Facebook
Bricsys takes its commitment to users seriously. Together with users, it seeks to prioritize lists of new features, and dedicates 30% of its development time to the most-requested features.

In this regard, the Bricsys Facebook page has now launched a poll for anyone to enter requests for new features, and then vote on them. Bricsys sees this as a transparent way in which to interact with the user community.

“Bricscad has now reached a new level of great stability and performance,” said Erik De Keyser, CEO of Bricsys. “And so it is now entering the next stage: internally, we have a long list of exciting new feature we want to add to Bricscad.

“It is important that we listen to our user community and involve them in prioritizing functions. And so we want to report on the implementation of users’ choices transparently on a regular basis. Facebook is seen as an excellent and widely accepted communication platform for this.”

People can participate in the wish list poll at http://apps.facebook.com/my-polls/bricscad.

Bricsys Releases Beta Version of Bricscad V10 for LINUX

GENT, Belgium - Bricsys NV, the developer of Bricscad, announced today that the beta version of Bricscad V10 for LINUX is now available.

Bricscad V10 is recognized as the number 1 alternative CAD platform for the DWG file format. Until now, the software was available only for the Windows operating system. Since January 2010, a select number of users have tested several alpha releases of a version native to LINUX. Today, Bricscad V10 for LINUX is sufficient stable and has enough functionality to be released to the public as beta software.

Bricscad V10 for LINUX is the most advanced CAD platform available on the LINUX market. The beta version of Bricscad V10 for LINUX contains the complete DCL and LISP APIs. Existing applications and customizations written for Windows-based Bricscad and/or AutoCAD® using these APIs can run on Bricscad V10 for LINUX without modification.

"This release opens the door to LINUX for the engineering community," said Erik De Keyser, CEO of Bricsys. "This is the result of well-considered strategic steps and years of hard work in the overall development of Bricscad. The strong demand and enthusiasm on our forum has been a drive for our team."

Initially, Bricscad will support two LINUX flavors, Red Hat and Ubuntu. Those wishing to try out Bricscad V10 for LINUX can download the software for test purposes from www.bricsys.com. The first commercial version will be released at the end of June, 2010.

Bricsys Announces Conference for Application Developers 2010

Gent, Belgium - Bricsys today announced its second annual international Conference for Application Developers using the DWG file format. The conference will be held on June 8 and 9, 2010 in Bruges, Belgium. Bruges is one of the most beautiful and historic cities in Europe, and the conference will be held in the quiet of the brand new Concertgebouw concert hall.

Bricsys will present a full technical overview of the current status of its DWG-related APIs (application development interfaces), and will provide a strategic roadmap for the platform. In addition, Bricsys will provide information on how to join its community for marketing and selling Bricscad-based applications.

A select group of guest speakers will present a number of unique topics, each a specialist in their domain. Testimonials will be given by application developers on how they effortlessly ported their applications from other CAD systems to Bricscad. Several international corporations will describe how they successfully implemented Bricscad into their whole organization as their primary CAD platform.

Starting today, interested application developers can sign up for the two-day conference at www.bricsys.com/conference, where they will also find an outline of the agenda.

Open Design Alliance and Bricsys Cooperate to Enhance the ODA Platform

Phoenix: Bricsys and the Open Design Alliance (ODA) announce the synchronization of the ODA platform with improvements and enhancements made by Bricsys and a cooperation to further improve the ODA platform.

Development teams from both companies are working together to incorporate modifications made to the ODA platform code by Bricsys back to the ODA, with modifications to be included in the base code delivered by the ODA to its member companies. The first phase of the joint development efforts are expected to take three months to complete.

Moving forward the ODA and Bricsys have agreed to collaborate and work closely on additional contributions towards the improvement and increased performance of the ODA platform.

The ODA develops and delivers platform technology to its members for inclusion and use within technical graphics applications that members further develop and customize into their own solutions for market. The ability to incorporate a streamlined core base of source code is essential to the success of the ODA and its members.

Arnold van der Weide, ODA President, stated, “The ODA is promoting tight relationships with its members to enable the creation of technologies for the technical graphics industry. The cooperation with Bricsys, a long-term ODA member, is an example of such a relationship — the positive effects will benefit all ODA members who rely on the ODA platform to deliver their own technical graphics solutions.”

Erik de Keyser, Bricsys CEO, added, “When Arnold van der Weide urged, last year at the ODA World Conference in Leiden, ODA members to return their modifications and enhancements in the original ODA code, he convinced us. We hope our initiative will be followed by other members too. I'm pleased that we mutually agreed to work closely together on the ODA code in order to speed up the overall development, which serves both the objectives of the ODA and Bricsys.”

Vondle Live integrates Project and Data Management into IBM LotusLive

Orlando, Florida US : Bricsys, the company that developed Vondle, a cloud-based Project and Data Management System, today announced the integration of Vondle Live into IBM LotusLive. This integration will be available in two versions: Vondle Live Basic and Vondle Live Pro.

“This is an excellent opportunity for us to bring our cloud technology to the largest professional platform,” said Erik De Keyser, CEO of Bricsys. “This integration brings a whole set of new functionality to our customers, and at the same time, gives the new functionality of project and data Management to IBM LotusLive users.”
Vondle Live Basic

The Basic version adds the Vondle Live Viewer and Vondle Repository to the already extended feature set of IBM LotusLive, without modifying the social computing paradigm of IBM LotusLive. The Vondle Live Viewer enables users to view very large files (>50Mb) in just a few seconds, and annotates the files in a user-friendly way.

Additionally, Vondle Live Viewer adds more then 50 file formats that can be viewed in IBM LotusLive Meetings. The Vondle Live Repository can connect with other databases and exchange data via a secure Internet connection. The Data Repository allows users to create tables, create forms with a drag and drop GUI, create SQL queries with a special wizard, as well as generate reports. Data in the Vondle Live Repository can be visualized in IBM LotusLive Charts.
Vondle Live Pro

Vondle Live Pro includes the full Vondle functionality and adds the Project –Centric approach needed for project and data Management. Access rights are managed by the Vondle administrators and sub administrators. Version control, logging of actions and keeping track of full history, are standard functions. Additionally, workflows can be created by drawing the workflow chart. Vondle Live Pro uses ODEP technology (Orchestrated Data Exchange Processing). The combination of Vondle Live workflow and Repository and connectors with other databases allows users to automatically update dynamic reports that were created with live data in the repository and external databases.

All features of Vondle Live are accessible by the Open Standard SOAP API. Third party application developers can now use this API to create new applications and add them to the LotusLive platform.

Vondle Live Basic and Vondle Live Pro have very generic features and address a broad range of markets such as Construction, Legal, Healthcare, Transport and Government, to name a few.

IBM, Bricsys and Fresh T Limited Collaborate to Integrate Vondle Live into IBM LotusLive

Orlando, Florida US – On the 18th of December 2009, Bricsys NV and Fresh T Limited signed an agreement with IBM to integrate Vondle Live into LotusLive.

Vondle Live is a cloud-based Project and Data Collaboration tool set provided by Bricsys NV and Fresh T Limited. It is based on Vondle, a suite of collaboration software developed by Bricsys.

“The integration of Vondle Live into LotusLive is the result of a long standing relationship between two teams of dedicated professionals,” said Erik De Keyser - CEO of Bricsys. “Bricsys has a proven record of bringing cloud technology to the market, while Fresh T Limited has more than 20 years of excellent sales and marketing experience.” Vondle Live brings additional functionality to LotusLive in the form of document viewing and annotation, graphical workflow, automated data processing and an on-line data repository with dynamic reporting.
Vondle Live in action at IBM Lotusphere 2010

You can see Vondle Live in action at IBM Lotusphere 2010 - Booth 532. For more information go to www.bricsys.com/vondlelive or visit our YouTube channel.
About Fresh T Limited

FreshTL specializes in LotusLive and SaaS technology for Project Collaboration.

Bricsys releases Bricscad V10

Gent, Belgium - Bricsys announced the release of Bricscad V10, a milestone version for the DWG based CAD market. With Bricscad V10 Bricsys confirms its strong determination to further conquer the DWG CAD market.

“Bricscad V10 shows that Bricsys is not just a slavishly follower for DWG CAD but has the intention for innovation while continuing our strong support for the DWG legacy investments of the CAD community.”, says Erik De Keyser, CEO of Bricsys. “eBridge is just the start of integrating new team-collaboration tools into CAD. At the same time we continue to extend our technology offer for application developers and let them use and integrate these new technologies in their software via a SOAP API. And this is just the start.”

Bricscad is recognized as a leading DWG CAD alternative by offering a complete and recognizable feature set to professional users. The combination of DWG compatibility, a recognizable interface, real day-to-day support and a reasonable price for new licenses and upgrades were key to its success so far. Bricscad V10 now adds innovation by introducing eBridge for teams.
Bricscad eBridge

eBridge starts where eTransmit ends. Instead of just collecting file dependencies in a folder or a zip file to be emailed, eBridge gives the user file versioning, file history, sharing files with others, control on access rights, the fastest online viewer with annotations history, workflow processing and much more. eBridge is a SaaS service integrated in Bricscad V10 and extends desktop CAD with online CAD management. It makes Bricscad V10 the perfect CAD-platform for teams. Bricsys will soon release a plug-in for AutoCAD®. Companies using both AutoCAD and Bricscad side by side can implement it in their day-to-day job.

Besides eBridge it offers a whole range of performance improvements and enhancements. Smooth and fast view panning, smart selection highlighting, cycling through entities during selection, snap tracking with parallel alignment to Z-axis, gradient hatches, PDF export using plot style tables are just a few of the many enhancements.

All previous versions of Bricscad are upgraded to V10: Bricscad Classic, Bricscad Pro and Bricscad all-in. A new top version is introduced as Bricscad eBridge, including all features of Bricscad Pro + 1 year eBridge service + 1 year updates and upgrades + 1 year next business day response time email support + the e-book “Customizing Bricscad” by Ralph Grabowski. Existing Bricscad users can subscribe eBridge as a separate feature, available in the Bricsys e-store.

Bricsys releases Bricscad V9 and enables now professional DWG based engineering applications

Gent, Belgium - Merrimack NH, US: Bricsys announces the release of Bricscad V9, the latest version of its flagship product. Already since a while, Bricscad is the preferred 2D and 3D CAD platform for those users who want to extend their number of professional CAD seats or just want to replace other expensive CAD seats.

Bricscad V9 is a milestone version in several ways. First of all, there are a ton of improvements on existing features and many new added features like the in-place WYSIWYG MText editor, REFEDIT, Associative Dimensioning, Wipe-out, Transparency, support of ECW images - just to name a few of a long list. The performance as well is boosted again.
Bricscad V9 is offering now a complete and recognizable feature set to the professional CAD users.

But Bricscad V9 is certainly a milestone version because it can support for the first time all DWG applications, including those applications developed with ARX®, thanks to the Bricscad BRX Software Developer Kit. Developers of DWG based applications can now port their CAD and engineering applications to the code compatible platform of Bricscad V9.

Bricsys - together with more than hundred application developers - is now bringing applications for AEC, GIS, Civil and Mechanical Engineering to a huge DWG community that is looking for more affordable engineering solutions without giving up functionality.
Thanks to the extended list of available compatible API's (LISP, SDS, COM, BRX), Bricscad V9 is now the preferred platform for application developers to port their AutoCAD based application to. Each application extends the Bricscad V9 feature set to a new level.

By enabling DWG based solutions in every engineering domain, Bricsys now finally can offer freedom in the decision process. From Bricscad V9 onwards, the DWG world does have a real choice: Bricscad V9 combines professional engineering solutions with a fair and transparent pricing model and a user-friendly upgrade policy.

Bricscad V9 uses the DWG-direct libraries of the Open Design Alliance (ODA), reads and writes the native DWG format and offers compatibility with AutoCAD® 2009.

Bricsys will announce more details about BRX later this month.