We are pleased to announce the release of ABViewer 15! Our team has been working hard to make ABViewer better, faster, and more reliable. We also added some great new features and improved the existing ones — keep reading to know more about this major upgrade.
New 3D Kernel
We completely revamped 3D functionality in ABViewer and decided to replace Open Cascade Technology with our own 3D kernel. This makes us independent of any third-party and allows to respond swiftly to your requests. In this new version, we have already:
- speeded up opening of 3D files;
- improved reading of SAT, SLDPRT, X_T, X_B formats;
- added support for FSAT, SAB, SMT, IPT, IFC formats;
- added export to SAT and SAB formats;
- improved export of STEP, DWG, DXF formats.
Better Performance
ABViewer 15 brings great performance improvements. It is especially noticeable if you work with large files.
Up to
60%
faster opening of 3D files
and interaction with their structure
Up to
25%
faster PDF to DWG/DXF conversion
Navigation around a drawing or model using the Pan and Zoom tools became smoother and quicker.
Improved PDF to DWG/DXF Conversion
In addition to making the conversion faster, we added new useful settings that you can find on the Loading/Saving tab of the Options window. The most important one is Layers. If it is turned on, ABViewer will save the original layers of your PDF file.
You can also set up conversion in a such way that texts and images from your file won’t be converted.
Improved G-code Generation from DWG/DXF Files
We continue to expand G-code generation capabilities and now it is possible to:
- convert entities only from visible layers;
- generate a G-code compatible with the dispensing CNC machine (Skyglass);
- generate a G-code compatible with the Grbl controller.
By the way, our team created a video tutorial explaining all the ins and outs of G-code generation in ABViewer: https://cadsofttools.com/products/abviewer/tutorials/how-to-generate-g-code-from-2d-dwg-or-dxf/
Layout Detector
Sometimes we get files with several drawing sheets in the model space. Such files can cause difficulties, for example, when you need to print the sheets separately. That is why we decided to add the Layout Detector feature. Its button can be found on the Advanced tab.
This feature defines automatically the sheets drawn in the model space and allocates them to layouts. Just in few clicks!
New Editing Tools and Features
With the aim to improve your editing experience, we added new tools and features to ABViewer 15.
The Auto Dimension tool adds automatically parallel dimensions to an entity.
Using the Cloud tool, you can create a revision cloud with a freeform polyline.
We also added the Autosave feature to prevent you from losing any changes you make. You can activate it on the Loading/Saving tab of the Options window. And new settings that enable to turn on/off:
- selection of OLE objects and images by their contour;
- selection of entities on locked layers.
Improved Interaction With 3D Model Structure
We have already mentioned that interaction with structure of 3D models became faster. Besides this, now it is possible to switch between the selection modes of 3D model elements.
On the Visualization tab of the Options window, there is the Extended structure setting enabling to see all the elements of the 3D model structure. If you turn it off, the structure will be built up to solids.
Other Improvements
- Improved import of DWG and DXF formats:
- improved support for МTexts and Texts;
- improved support for Hatches;
- improved display of SHX fonts;
- improved support for ACIS objects;
- improved support for Dimensions and Multileaders;
- improved reading of VPort and drawing extents.
- Improved export of DWG and DXF formats:
- added saving of ACIS objects;
- improved saving of VPort.
- Improved display of vector formats (DWF, HPGL, CGM, SVG).
- Improved export and printing of PDF format:
- added print styles for setting lineweight and color by color.
- Improved export of SVG format:
- improved export of texts and hatches.
- Automatic check for the software updates.
- Bug fixes.
