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By Ranjit S. Sahai
Though both Imagineer Technical and AutoCAD LT are 2-D CAD packages, each has a very different personality.
AutoCAD LT offers sheer drafting power with a plethora of commands; Imagineer's usability innovations greatly simplify the creation and modification of design drawings.
Imagineer Technical incorporates a technology mix not found in any other single CAD program. Its Snap hints and dynamic axis alignment offer such an intuitive drawing environment that other packages will surely follow.
Imagineer's SmartSketch feature automatically invokes a snap mode or axis alignment, depending on the cursor's proximity to a drawing element. You don't have to explicitly enter snap mode as you would in AutoCAD LT. Move the cursor close to a line's endpoint and an endpoint glyph appears at the cursor, indicating that the next click will snap to the line's endpoint.
If your cursor location lines up with the vertical or horizontal axis in relation to existing points in a drawing, Imagineer Technical dynamically displays the alignment with a temporary dashed line. This keeps you from having to invoke an orthographic drawing.
Imagineer's FreeSketch feature converts sketches to precise geometric shapes on the fly. Simply doodle your concept on the screen while depressing the mouse button. Release it, and Imagineer transforms the rough profile to a shape made up of geometric elements. There's nothing comparable in AutoCAD LT.
AutoCAD LT implements commands in exactly the same way as its big brother, AutoCAD R13. That means LT is a great, inexpensive way to learn AutoCAD basics, which is a boon to any technical artist's resume. LT's full-featured drawing and editing commands give you Break, Copy, Extend, Lengthen, Mirror, Move, Offset, Scale, Stretch and Trim commands. Imagineer lacks Break and Stretch. LT offers virtually all 2-D drafting commands you might expect in a high-end CAD software. Imagineer skimps on the quantity of drafting tools, although what it offers may be sufficient for many. You can exploit its programming interface to extend it with third-party tools or Visual Basic modules.
Both programs offer an interface of menus, toolbars and dialog boxes, but the resemblance stops there. Graphical interface aside, AutoCAD LT is at heart a command-line driven program. Choosing a command actually enters text commands; options are displayed procedurally and must be answered in sequence. Imagineer, on the other hand, is truly graphical. Its command options appear as buttons, and pop-down or text fields on a property bar that changes dynamically depending on the tool selected.
LT offers separate icons for every command, while Imagineer offers a single icon for multiple functions. LT has seven different arc-drawing icons. Imagineer gives the same level of power with only three.
An Imagineer drawing file, called a SketchBook, operates in much the same way as a Microsoft Excel workbook. Each SketchBook can contain several drawing sheets divided by sheet tabs. This way, you can save several drawings related to the same project in a single file, instead of in the separate drawing files AutoCAD LT requires.
Even better, you can overlay drawings within the SketchBook with other drawings in the same file. AutoCAD LT drawings support only two modes: model space and paper space. You typically create your drawing's line work in model space and arrange views in paper space.
Dimensioning tools are standard fare for a CAD package. Both AutoCAD LT and Imagineer Technical offer associative dimensioning, so changing an element's size with an associative dimension will automatically update the dimension's value. Imagineer offers parametric dimensions, which it refers to as "driving" dimensions; AutoCAD LT does not.
Whereas an associative dimension updates its value when geometry changes, a driving dimension also updates the geometry when you change a dimension's value, an important distinction. Thus, changing the value of a driving dimension's text from six to nine will also update the length of its geometry. Imagineer also lets you assign geometric relationships (tangent, parallel, concentric and so forth) between elements.
Both packages allow you to attach external files as references to your current drawing file. AutoCAD LT uses its XREF command to attach the contents of another AutoCAD LT file for display within your current file. Imagineer uses Intergraph's Object Linking and Embedding for Design and Modeling (OLE for D&M) technology to attach the contents of another Imagineer or even an AutoCAD or MicroStation file. You can display attached files within your current Imagineer drawing. Unfortunately, attached AutoCAD and MicroStation files can depend on external support files to show accurate fonts and custom line styles.
You can create new AutoCAD LT toolbars or modify existing ones by creating new icons or changing the key-ins associated with existing icons. You can also edit existing line types and hatch patterns or create new ones from scratch.
Imagineer does not offer tools to create or edit its line styles or hatch patterns, but it comes with an external program to import AutoCAD hatch patterns. It includes a powerful programming interface you can exploit through third-party compilers such as Borland Delphi, Microsoft Visual Basic 4.0 or any other OLE Automation Controller tool. Intergraph supplies nearly a dozen useful sample macro programs (such as the missing Offset command), with full Visual Basic source code, in the box.
AutoCAD LT's documentation and support materials, such as online help and tutorials, are excellent and include extensive step-by-step instructions. There are some minor errors, such as an index entry for MLINE command instead of the actual DLINE. Imagineer Technical's documentation is short but good.
If AutoCAD compatibility and a robust drafting feature set are important to you, AutoCAD LT is hard to beat, even with the lamentable lack of programmability.
AutoCAD LT is a drafter's tool; Imagineer is an engineer's tool. If sheer drafting power is relatively unimportant, Imagineer's innovations form a very productive, creative environment.
Info File
Imagineer Technical 1.0
Price: $495
Pros: Outstanding usability; programmability
Cons: Few hard-core drafting tools
Platforms: Windows 95, NT (Intel)
Disk Space: 70MB
RAM: 16MB
Intergraph Corp.
800-692-8069, 205-730-2000
WinMag Box Score: 3.5
Info File
AutoCAD LT
Price: $489
Pros: AutoCAD compatibility; tools; documentation
Cons: Underlying command technology; little programmability
Platforms: Windows 95, NT (Intel)
Disk Space: 70MB
RAM: 16MB
Autodesk
800-228-3601, 415-507-5000
WinMag Box Score: 3.5
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