IMSI Packs Even More Into TurboCAD for 2021

Update adds an already incredibly capable CAD program.

We're going to need a bigger box. TurboCAD 2021 adds even more functions and capability to a program that is arguably the most capable of all. (Picture courtesy of IMSI.)

We’re going to need a bigger box. TurboCAD 2021 adds even more functions and capability to a program that is arguably the most capable of all. (Picture courtesy of IMSI.)

Rendering and lighting capability have been enhanced in TurboCAD Platinum 2021, which makes use of multi-threaded faceting for rendering of ACIS solids. (Picture courtesy of IMSI.)

Rendering and lighting capability have been enhanced in TurboCAD Platinum 2021, which makes use of multi-threaded faceting for rendering of ACIS solids. (Picture courtesy of IMSI.)

TurboCAD is the most capable CAD program—and one that perhaps gets the least respect. Around for over 20 years, it has more features and capability than market-leading CAD software—and costs far less. The latest version, TurboCAD 2021, bursts the box by adding even more functionality.

Several versions of TurboCAD are available across a spectrum of cost options (see “How Much?” below), but for this article, we will refer to the top-of-the-line TurboCAD Platinum.

Bob Mayer, president and CEO at IMSI/Design.

Bob Mayer, president and CEO at IMSI/Design.

There are many bug fixes and 30 “new and improved” features in TurboCAD 2021. We called up Bob Mayer, IMSI’s CEO, all-product manager and cover-all-bases executive, including head of PR, to find out what we had missed after several years of covering the market leaders.

[Full disclosure: The author worked at IMSI and managed the TurboCAD division but currently retains no business interest in IMSI.]

Lighting options are set in the Drawing Setup dialog box. (Picture courtesy of IMSI.)

Lighting options are set in the Drawing Setup dialog box. (Picture courtesy of IMSI.)

We asked Mayer what are his favorite enhancements. He was quick to mention IMSI’s expanded use of ODA’s Visualize SDK.

What Is ODA?

ODA, or the Open Design Alliance, is a consortium that develops and maintains design software code modules for its members. Initially called the Open Drawing Alliance, it was at first a hedge against Autodesk’s alleged CAD monopoly and sole ownership of the DWG format. ODA’s first business was to publish and convert the proprietary DWG format for its members, making it public enemy No. 1 for Autodesk. ODA has grown and expanded over the years to offer more than DWG conversion, including the Visualize software development kit (SDK) mentioned here, and tempers have subsided on both sides. Autodesk and Bentley are now members of ODA.

ODA’s Visualize SDK is available to all its members (IMSI is one) and offers a graphics engine that helps visualization of different kinds of the data, tweaks performance, adds rendering, optimizes collision detection, uses the GPU for lighting effects like real-time shadows, imports native graphics properties and supports multi-threading and 2D and 3D PDF export.

20 times faster than before, says IMSI in a video demo. The use of ODA Visualize SDK for large model handling provides an improvement over the IMSI’s proprietary graphics routines in TurboCAD 2020. This affects panning, zooming and changes to viewpoint or camera angles.  (Picture courtesy of IMSI.)

20 times faster than before, says IMSI in a video demo. The use of ODA Visualize SDK for large model handling provides an improvement over the IMSI’s proprietary graphics routines in TurboCAD 2020. This affects panning, zooming and changes to viewpoint or camera angles. (Picture courtesy of IMSI.)
Now you see them … Hidden line removal in TurboCAD 2021. Use of the Visualize Rendering Type with both hidden line and draft render (including Gouraud Shaded and Flat Shaded) modes has been added to the Camera PropertiesRendering page. (Picture courtesy of TurboCAD 2021.)

Now you see them … Hidden line removal in TurboCAD 2021. Use of the Visualize Rendering Type with both hidden line and draft render (including Gouraud Shaded and Flat Shaded) modes has been added to the Camera PropertiesRendering page. (Picture courtesy of TurboCAD 2021.)
Color, texture, transparency map and bump maps rendered with LightWorks or RedSDK can be imported into TurboCAD 2021.  (Picture courtesy of IMSI.)

Color, texture, transparency map and bump maps rendered with LightWorks or RedSDK can be imported into TurboCAD 2021. (Picture courtesy of IMSI.)

Users will see faster hidden lines and renders and will be able to recognize and import materials from TurboCAD files rendered with LightWorks or RedSDK renders.

TurboCAD 2021 supports line smoothing and fast approximate anti-aliasing (FXAA) types of anti-aliasing. (Pictures courtesy of IMSI.)

TurboCAD 2021 supports line smoothing and fast approximate anti-aliasing (FXAA) types of anti-aliasing. (Pictures courtesy of IMSI.)

TurboCAD 2021 takes advantage of the ambient occlusion of ODA’s Visualize, the shading and rendering method used for global background or indirect shading of objects that adds a touch of realism to a rendering by creating soft shadows.

Transparency. TurboCAD 2021 adds support for images with alpha transparency. All pixels of a certain color will become 100% transparent. (Picture courtesy of IMSI.)

Transparency. TurboCAD 2021 adds support for images with alpha transparency. All pixels of a certain color will become 100% transparent. (Picture courtesy of IMSI.)

Interoperability

Mayer also emphasized interoperability, which seems to be all the fashion with the other CAD vendors.

“Our interoperability is second to none,” said Mayer proudly.

When saving to another format, a progress meter is displayed in TurboCAD 2021. (Picture courtesy of IMSI.)

When saving to another format, a progress meter is displayed in TurboCAD 2021. (Picture courtesy of IMSI.)

TurboCAD 2021 improves import and export of AutoCAD DWG, DXF, DWF and SketchUp formats. Mechanical CAD file format import/export improvements have been made with CATIA, Inventor, NX, Parasolid, Creo, Solid Edge and SOLIDWORKS, and 3DXML support has been added. A progress meter now shows how the import/export is doing.

What Else Is New?

You can see much of what’s new here by IMSI site, but here are some highlights of a CAD application that, while our backs were turned, seems to have grown taller than others in the CAD family.

IMSI has always sold its product on the basis of matching AutoCAD while selling it at the price of AutoCAD LT, but one look at its user interface—seemingly more decorated than a Russian general—will convince you that TurboCAD has surpassed any of its competition. The sheer number of icons and commands is immense. Surely, TurboCAD has every possible weapon for every type of battle.

“We have a better 3D solution,” said Mayer. “A better architectural solution and a better mechanical solution. Autodesk can’t put too much into AutoCAD because it would detract from sales of their vertical products [Revit and Inventor, respectively].”

Obviously, IMSI has no such restraints.

However, TurboCAD Platinum does not have the BIM capability of Revit, or the history-based parametrics of Inventor. Still, it can make walls and roofs, like Revit, and use a geometry kernel (ACIS) for true solid modeling.

Keeping up with AutoCAD's drawing functions is hard. Here, TurboCAD 2021 tries to fix problems with leader lines. (Picture courtesy of IMSI.)

Keeping up with AutoCAD’s drawing functions is hard. Here, TurboCAD 2021 tries to fix problems with leader lines. (Picture courtesy of IMSI.)

One area where AutoCAD is still considered the standard is its in its drawing features and capability. AutoCAD’s reason for existence was to replace the drafting board and its superiority in drafting functions continues to this day, setting a high bar for the competition. As unglamorous as 2D drawing and drafting may seem in our fast-moving tech-oriented 3D world, 2D remains persistent and is still required by a significant portion of CAD users.

“But in the past few year, it has actually been much easier  to keep up with AutoCAD’s drawing features,” says Mayer. “In addition, Autodesk has stopped making large changes to the DWG file format every three years, so promoting DWG compatibility has become easier.”

TurboCAD strives to maintain feature compatibility, if not superiority, with AutoCAD. Its programming team, ensconced in Saint Petersburg, Russia, includes some of the best the author has ever known, and some who are rumored to be descended from the elite scientists and developers of the Soviet post-Cold War military arms race. So, why is TurboCAD only an also-ran in the CAD race?  

Mayer agrees the reason is not TurboCAD’s technical prowess and gives a few reasons.

“We chose to keep our own format,” said Mayer, referring to the TCW native format of TurboCAD, when the competing AutoCAD-like programs settled on using DWG as their native format (Graebert, for example). “Also, we never developed a third-party program. And then, we don’t really do much marketing.”

Indeed, it was Autodesk’s emphasis on marketing that is credited with making it (just a few exits south on US 101 from IMSI) a billion-dollar company.

How Much?

TurboCAD has always been available at a range of list pricing, from TurboCAD Deluxe at $230 to the Platinum version that sells for $1,500—or for $500 by annual subscription. An even less expensive version (TurboCAD Designer, priced at $70) only does 2D. IMSI also offers a Mac version of TurboCAD, but it is a different code base than the Windows version—making it essentially a different program. Even though these list prices are lower than those for  better known, professional CAD programs, IMSI is known for running promotions that drop prices even further.