STATUS: Released 05/11/2021
DOWNLOAD: https://www.ilexsoft.com/downloads/index.html
New Features, Improvements and Changes
| macOS Monterey & Windows | Added support for macOS Monterey. Implemented UI changes for Windows 11. |
| Shadows | Added a new Shadow graphic attribute for all objects. Shadows have a color with transparency support, angle, offset in graphic (1:1) or project units, and blur amount. |
| Graphic Attributes Panel | The new Graphic Attributes panel shows all the stroke, fill and shadow attributes. |
| Color & Gradient Panels | Completely redesigned pop-up menus for color and gradient selection. |
| Gradient Presets | Added the ability to add gradient presets to the project. Every project includes new default gradient presets for skies, grass, water and glass. |
| Multiple Color Palettes | Multiple color & pen palettes: it is now possible to create and use at the same time multiple color palettes with different pen sets. The Colours panel in the Resource Manager has been completely redesigned. |
| Arrange Panel | Added new Arrange panel with buttons for all the Arrange Order, Align and Distribute objects commands. |
| Improved Viewports | [Pro] Viewport title marks can now be displayed outside the viewport frame. |
| File Safety | [Pro] New file safety options in Preferences include the ability to define a default backup folder for all HighDesign projects and automatic archiving of older backups as zip files. |
| Enhanced Splines | Spline objects now have “Closed” property accessible from the Object Info panel. Splines are now 3x faster than before. |
| Simplify Spline | Added a new Simplify Spline tool in the Tools menu that reduces the number of points and calculates the best profile. |
| Direct Attribute Input | Symbol attributes and title block entries can be edited directly on screen by double-clicking the item. |
| Continue Shape | Added “Continue” option to the Polyline, Freehand, Bezier Path and Spline tools. Clicking on one endpoint of an open profile will enable the optional Continue mode that merges the new object with the clicked object. |
| New Patterns | Added new patterns for concrete, grout and sand. |
| New Tree Symbols | New tree symbols in the Trees & Shrubs library. |
| Margins in PDF | [Pro] Publish to PDF now includes a Margins field to define a uniform margin value around the drawing. |
| Origin of Scaling | The Drawing Scale command now includes the definition of the origin of the transformation relative to the overall bounding box of the selected sheets. Resize Drawing: added the ability to define the origin of the transformation relative to the overall bounding box of the selection. |
Misc. Improvements and Changes
- Symbol attributes and title block entries can be edited directly on screen by double-clicking the item.
- Improved the appearance of colour selection buttons.
- The View > Redraw command now completely rebuilds the current view and does a better job at resetting the graphics status.
- Spline curves are now 3x faster.
- The internal components of a compound wall now automatically calculate the best intersection with similar components of connected walls, even when these are of a different type and size.
- The start and end colour of gradients can now be moved to different positions, no longer limited to 0% and 100%.
- Redesigned the option panels for editing tools such as Multiply, Rotate, Resize, Divide Into
- Column tags can now be anchored to one corner of the shape.
- The Freehand tool now creates Spline objects.
- Moved the Freehand settings from the Preferences window to a pop-up panel that is accessible from the Methods/Properties bar when the Freehand tool is activated.
- [Mac] Radial gradients no longer use the end centre point and the start radius. The control points for radial gradients are now the start point and the end radius, which allows simplified construction and editing.
- Detail areas are now always displayed on top of other objects.
Bug Fixes
- Fixed a situation with the Paste Properties command that could corrupt objects.
- Snap to intersections works correctly when the Hide Other Sheets option is active.
- Filled circles were not rendered correctly in printed detail areas.
- Multi-line annotations had and incorrect line order when exported to PDF.
- Circular text frames did not show the border when filled with a solid colour
- Custom unit precision in dimensions incorrectly reverted to the project defaults when set to 0.
- Fractional Feet and Inches no longer display a double “-” sign under certain circumstances.
- Rectangles moved by their centre point did not update their gradient geometry.
- Palette colours and gradients could occasionally be altered by object editing operations.
- Switching to an empty drafting sheet could set the view to an incorrect zoom value.
- Fixed wall nodes with three walls where two walls are aligned.
- Windows now fully support the Fill color attribute.
- Zooming in and out with the scroll wheel now correctly centres the view when the main window is not active.
- Improved DXF/DWG import.
- Fixed situation with the Auto-save feature that could potentially lead to loss of data.
- Pop-up menus would open in the main screen when multiple monitors were stacked vertically.
- It is now possible again to drop a panel above a sidebar group, and specifically above the first group when the group has three tabs.
- Line-types manager: fixed minor issues.
- Patterns now render correctly in viewports.
- The caret (text insertion cursor) in the Text tool field is now visible when the system theme is dark and the canvas background is light.
- Fixed some rendering issues of textures.
- Fixed editing of annotations.
- Improved snap to annotations and leader lines.
- Corrected a situation where a click on horizontal or vertical lines could result in the wrong insertion point.
- Improved auto-stacking of floating panels.
- Fixed a situation that would prevent some floating panels from resizing properly.
- Floating panels did not update their appearance correctly after switching the system theme.
- The buttons for Divide Into and Break commands can now be switched on and off to activate or cancel the operation.
- Fixed regression that would cause the Point object to render with the wrong colour.
- Tag markers now highlight with the proper colour when hovered by the mouse cursor.
- Fixed Merge All Sheets and Merge Visible Sheets.
- Polylines with many segments did not redraw correctly at small zoom levels.
- Project Information: the project time tracker did not work correctly
- Improved the profile of the first and last segments of open Spline curves.
- The Resize by Measure feature did not work in the Edit Symbol workspace.
- Filled splines are now drawn with better accuracy.
- The Area field in Object Info for Polylines, regular polygons and arc/circles showed the Area value in the current linear units instead of using the correct area units.
- Fixed regression bug with drag and drop of text: it is now possible again to insert a Text object by dragging and dropping a text onto the drawing area.
- Elevation Dimensions: fixed inconsistencies of the Settings panel.
- Elevation Dimensions: fixed appearance of spot elevation markers.
- [Mac] Publish to PDF now uses the correct font styles if the font family is available.
- Edit Pattern workspace: reintroduced the ability to paste objects copied from the drawing.
- Edit Pattern workspace: resizing the pattern tile did not work correctly.
- Fixed visual consistency of the Polygonal Selection tool.
- Export to PDF: the Current View item did not retain the visible sheets.
- Fixed potential crash when opening the Print Preview window without previously defined printer and page settings.
- Improved snap and click accuracy on spline objects.
- Improved the arrows & markers menus.
- Fixed text encoding issue that prevented the correct export of some DWG files.
- Resource files from libraries were not loaded in alphabetical order.