NOVATO, Calif., October 27, 2010 – IMSI/Design, maker of the #1 best-selling CAD in retail and the market's leading alternative to AutoCAD LT® (NASD: ADSK), announced today that it has significantly increased the performance of its flagship AutoCAD work-alike product, 2.5D DoubleCAD™ XT Pro v3.

"DoubleCAD XT Pro v3 now blazes," stated Royal Farros, CEO of IMSI/Design. "Thanks to the powerful Redway rendering engine, Pro v3 now takes advantage of GPU-based graphics cards. We're seeing display speed increase up to 60x -- simply exceptional performance."

In addition, DoubleCAD XT Pro v3 now supports scripting, something also missing in AutoCAD LT. "Pro v3 users have the ability to create customized scripts and commands," added Farros. "Most importantly, we chose a Ruby implementation because it's the modern alternative to LISP, is much easier to use, and has a monster following in the Google™ SketchUp™ (NASD: GOOG) world. Anyone familiar with AutoLISP® or VB scripting will feel at home with Ruby."

DoubleCAD is based on IMSI/Design's award-winning CAD code with over two million copies sold worldwide. DoubleCAD Pro v3 works like AutoCAD LT but goes beyond with a host of new features and enhancements, including:

Improved Speed and Productivity

• Performance up to 60 times faster. A new drawing engine takes advantage of GPU-based graphics cards so speed increases dramatically. Larger files will pan, orbit, and zoom in and out smoothly.

•  Easier, more powerful layer management. Design Director simplifies layer management, and new layer filter support (.DWG compatible) lets you manage large, complex drawings with ease.

•  Fewer clicks. Double-click on text or M-text to enter edit mode. Edit blocks and groups in place.

• Less setup. New and improved templates set default values to more commonly used settings. Paper space layouts can be copied with all settings from one drawing to another.

Robust Architectural Design

• Floor plan design is faster than ever. An improved Wall tool now allows for definition of intelligent relationships between walls to link or not link, clean or remain separate, in any combination.

•  Create any style of door or window easily. ACA compatible Door and Window Muntins expand options for parametrically creating the exact object types for your design.

•  Create precise shapes for walls. A new bottom wall modifier gives you even greater control over the look and design of your structure’s walls.

Added Specificity

• Geometric Tolerances enable precision in communication. The completely rewritten tolerances tool provides specific instructions on production tolerances and is .DWG compatible.

• Parametric Parts can be easily created. Drawn parts can be made into reusable parametric parts with a more robust part wizard. Parts may also be scripted using even more commands and mathematical functions than before.

• Better communication with multi-leaders. Use one callout for multiple parts.

Customization

• Ruby Scripting. Create customized scripts to automate tasks and work more efficiently.

Greater Interoperability

• Work with the latest AutoCAD® files. Added support for .DWG 2010/2011.

• Better Google™ SketchUp™ workflow. Support for Google SketchUp v8 and significantly improved COLLADA (.DAE) export feature that includes instances so that blocks and architectural objects will be read by SketchUp as components.

• More powerful Xrefs. We’ve added Xref clipping for dozens of file formats and allow binding of Xrefs, which can then be exploded and edited. Xref layers are easier to manage with layer filters.

Availability and Pricing

DoubleCAD XT Pro v3 is now available for $695. Upgrades from previous versions are available for $199.99. For more information or to upgrade online, please visit www.DoubleCAD.com or call IMSI/Design at 1.800.833.8082 (+1.415.483.8000).


About DoubleCAD XT PRO v3

2.5D DoubleCAD™ XT Pro is an AutoCAD LT work-alike that goes beyond AutoCAD LT in terms of 2D and 2.5D CAD capabilities, especially in the area of drafting and detailing. Most significantly, DoubleCAD XT Pro takes advantage of GPU-based graphics cards for increased performance of up to 60x. Pro v3 also includes powerful scripting and an innovative Drafting Palette that expedites the drafting-to-detailing process by creating fully associative, 2D views and hatched sections (even from xrefs) from 3D models. Other unique features include geometric and pattern constraints (lightning-fast "what if" design scenarios), drawing compare, hatch pattern creator, clip 2D detail sections, a range of intelligent (parametric) architectural objects, design director, and parametric parts manager, as well as self-healing walls, self-aligning blocks, advanced handle-based editing, snap prioritization, transparent fills, draw order by layer, hide objects regardless of layer, ability to imbed image files, revision cloud, batch file conversion, smart dimensions, and viewport exploding. DoubleCAD XT Pro v3 also has a number of useful 2D CAD tools not found in AutoCAD LT or AutoCAD, including special line, arc, and circle tools, enhanced command line, bezier curves, fixed ratio ellipses, and bisector line tools. The product has a fully customizable interface and includes one of the widest varieties of file filters in the CAD industry, including support for .DWG (AutoCAD R14 to 2011), .SKP, .DAE (Collada), .SAT, .3DS, .OBJ, .IGS, .STEP, and more. DoubleCAD XT Pro v3 includes premium customer support and is $695 ($199.99 for upgrade). For more information, including SDK (Software Developers Kit) information, please visit http://www.DoubleCAD.com. Visit user forums at http://forums.DoubleCAD.com.


About DoubleCAD XT (free CAD software application; 5-Star rating from CNET)

2D DoubleCAD™ XT is a free AutoCAD LT work-alike that also contains many new, innovative features such as self-healing walls, self-aligning blocks, modern handle-based editing, snap prioritization, brush editor, and smart dimensions. DoubleCAD XT is free for commercial and personal use and was awarded 5-stars from the CNET review editors (CNET's highest rating). For more information, visit http://www.DoubleCAD.com. Visit user forums at http://forums.DoubleCAD.com.


About IMSI/Design

IMSI/Design is the global leader in retail CAD (Computer Aided Design). With over 15 million products sold since 1988, IMSI/Design products include the award-winning TurboCAD®, TurboFLOORPLAN™, DesignCAD™, and IDX® Renditioner families of precision design applications. Please visit www.IMSIdesign.com for more information.

CONTACT:
IMSI/Design
Pam Volpe
415.483.8025
pr (at) imsidesign.com

© 2010 IMSI/Design, LLC. All rights reserved. DoubleCAD™ and IMSI/Design® are registered trademarks and/or trademarks of IMSI/Design, LLC. All other identifiable marks are the property of their respective owners.