CAD Software Forum

I have just purchased CMS IntelliCAD 5.1 and there appears to be a serious bug in the rendering of arcs in paperspace. While I await a reply from CMS tech support I thought I would see how many others have the same problem.

Typically I produce a drawing and then use a VB program to pull database information and automatically run a LISP program in IntelliCAD that fills in the layout template and generates a PDF file via Ghostscript. It is these PDF files that I send to manufacturers, etc. when asking for quotes.

However, I have noticed that the latest version of IntelliCAD can not seem to render ARCs in paperspace, they are OK in model space but they appear only as lines in paperspace. This was not the case in the earlier, version 3, of IntelliCAD that I was using; giving REGEN and ZOOM commands does not help.

Is this a known bug? Obviously, since this is one of my main uses for the program it is essentially useless to me at the moment.

timg,

Do you have IntelliCAD version 5.1.5?

Are you having a problem with Paperspace or with pdf files?

The latest version I have seems to handle arcs fine in paperspace. I did a test file and printed to a pdf file.

Do the arcs display fine in IntelliCAD?

If the problem is with the pdf files try a different printer for Ghostscript. I have had good success with HP 2500CSeries PS3.

ssc

Set viewres to 2000. After that, if you have your arcs turn out looking bad in your viewport, go into floating model space and do a regen, switch back to paperspace and it should look right.

The version of IntelliCAD that I am using is 5.1.5.0

The problem I am seeing occurs long before the QPRINT command is issued and Ghostscript produces the PDF, that has nothing to do with the problem. I had hoped that while it displayed wrong it might print correctly, but that is not the case. I just happen to like Ghostscript, the whole free PDF creation thing works much better for me than Adobe's ridiculously high charges for distiller.

CW - I tried your suggestions, but they didn't work either.

Manually switching between model and paperspace I occasionally get a work window that isn't properly redrawn, so I suspect an underlying display problem. I tried the program on a completely different machine - different make of video card, different everything - and got the same result; everything works fine on the old IntelliCAD 3.1 version that I have.

The speed with which the commands are issued or the display is required to work may be a factor. Putting a (getstring "\nPress Enter to continue...") in the LISP seemed to allow the program to work - doesn't help me, I want an automated process...

What I did notice with VIEWRES is that it's actual max size is only 5000, beyond that there was no difference in the appearance of the arcs or the PDF file size. When I compared the version 5 file to the version 3 file I noticed the max VIEWRES gave a file size of 8820 Kb in 5, where as the version 3 file was 9615 Kb and much smoother. I wouldn't want to send the v5 file to a supplier.

Does anyone have any further ideas or suggestions?

viewres has a maximum value of 20000. If you only have 5000 then that could be your problem. I know in recent previous versions there were problems with the proper display of circles and arcs especially during plotting.

Have you tried turn fast zooms off (option in viewres)?

NOTE: There also appears to be a viewres setting for ModelSpace, and each Layout tab. This means changing the setting for each space.


ssc

[This message has been edited by ssc (edited 03-16-2005).]

I think I expressed myself badly with regard to the VIEWRES value. I can set it higher than 5000 and all the way up to 20000, but setting it beyond 5000 has no effect. This appears to be a program bug.

Quite correct about the multiple settings for VIEWRES, but setting them all to maximum and turning off fast zoom in all sections had no effect.

SSC - You appear to be confirming my fears, it seems that IntelliCAD has introduced bugs in the window redrawing, arc and circle drawing and plotting areas of the program. These worked perfectly for me in version 3.1 and until a bug fix is issued I will have to return to using that version.

My experiences with IntelliCAD have been very positive up until now, so finding major bugs in a new release is very disappointing.

Interesting, I do not appear to have a problem with arcs displaying properly. If I change the viewres the differences are noticeable in the representation. Could it be video card???

ssc