ILEXSOFT Releases HighDesign R7

PERUGIA, Italy, Oct 27, 2022 – ILEXSOFT announced the immediate availability of HighDesign R7, the latest release of its HighDesign drafting and architectural design software featuring a new trace reference tool and performance and efficiency improvements.

HighDesign’s extensive set of graphic and parametric tools, the powerful built-in features for project management and the attention to user experience make it an unique design software that combines the precision of traditional CAD with the intelligence of BIM processes.

HighDesign includes tools for drafting, documentation, design and presentation.

What’s new in HighDesign R7

The R7 release fully supports Apple’s new macOS 13 Ventura and the latest Windows 11. This version was developed from the start on these systems so that it feels at home with the latest technologies.

Architects, designers and engineers will benefit greatly from the new Trace References, a complete tool to display, review and trace drawings and pictures on a drafting sheet. Trace references are used to place a view of another drawing on a sheet with different coordinates, scale, clipping and rotation without altering the original drawing. With adjustable opacity and rendering filters, trace references can also be resized by a known measure to set to scale any imported drawing or scanned image.

The developers promise that with Trace References, comparing drawings, creating elevations and cross sections from floor plans, or setting to scale and tracing a scanned floor plan or city map is now easier than ever.

Trace reference in HighDesign R7 Pro.

Smarter Drafting

A great deal of attention was devoted to enhancing the familiar drafting tools so that they incorporate more intelligence and interoperability.

Hatches and textures can now be applied with a single click on shapes made of lines, poly-lines, curves and walls. The same method can now be used to create openings inside a larger hatch, so that opening holes in components or doors and windows on building elevations is now easier and faster. Vector patterns were also optimized and are now up to 5x faster than before.

Poly-lines and curves now offer the ability to change a node’s geometry with the push of a button. Bezier paths support straight, mirrored, asymmetric and disconnected nodes; Poly-lines support straight, convex and concave arcs. In this new release, bezier paths are also twice as fast as before.

The enhanced Join command is now capable of combining two paths, splines or poly-lines into one object.

Documentation & Visualization

Essential phases of a HighDesign project are the documentation and presentation of the drawing and the information contained. In R7, all the annotation and dimension tools were improved to offer more integration and robust performance.

Page sizes can now also be defined in pixels and the Present Drawing tool now offers updated size presets for common social media posts.

Viewports are faster and easier to use. Printing and publishing to PDF have been improved for higher quality results.

HighDesign Pro includes layouts with title blocks.

Quality & Stability Improvements

This new version of HighDesign includes over a hundred improvements, speed optimizations and fixes in all areas of the software: drafting, documentation, architectural design, photogrammetry, drawing presentation, walls and windows, DXF/DWG compatibility, and many more items were improved for added stability and efficiency.

Pricing and Availability

The HighDesign product line includes HighDesign LT, priced at 99.00 USD; HighDesign SE, priced at 299.00 USD; and HighDesign Pro at 449.00 USD. HighDesign is available in English, French, German and Italian and is compatible with macOS from 10.13 to 13 Ventura included running on both Intel- and M-series Macs, and with Windows 10 and 11.

Licenses are perpetual and include one year of maintenance which gives access to any updates released during the year of validity. When the license expires, the user can freely choose to continue using the last version installed, or renew for another year and stay updated.

A free 30-day trial is available on the ilexsoft website and the Mac versions are also available on the Mac App Store.

Free educational licenses and volume discounts for corporate purchases are also available.

About HighDesign

HighDesign is the modern parametric design software that combines the directness of 2D drafting with powerful BIM-like project control and processes. Features include vector design tools, precision drafting, documentation and annotation tools, architectural design tools like parametric walls, doors and windows. The project structure is organized in specialized sheets and layouts. Special tools include photogrammetry, image editing and drawing presentation.

Available for macOS on both Intel- and ARM-based machines and for Windows 10 & 11, HighDesign R7 comes in three editions to best suit the needs of design professionals. To learn more about the latest release and download a free trial, please visit https://www.ilexsoft.com/highdesign/.