| Ian Mankowski  | A Best of 2001 Award Winner! | December 1, 2001 Graphite is a professional CAD program from Ashlar-Vellum that is cross platform compatible. Though simply enough said, Graphite has quite a lot going for it to make it stand out in the 2D drafting crowd. My initial impression of Graphite was one confusion. Graphite is marketed as a professional 3D CAD program, and at $995, is not quite in the consumer market. My previous experiences with drafting software, AutoCAD 98, and the consumer market program from the dark ages of computer history, Key CAD, had left one lesson imbedded in my mind; CAD software needed a lot of tools and checkboxes to clutter the screen if it was a "pro" program. Indeed, AutoCAD with it's boxes and options all over was easy enough to use, but it left a permanent impression of what a CAD program should look like. Comparatively when I opened Graphite, I thought I was looking at a joke, the interface was way too clean and simple looking for Graphite to actually be a professional program, much less a professional CAD program. 
That initial impression quickly faded however, as I walked through the tutorials and uncovered the hidden power in this deceptively simple program. Breaking out the Tools The tool interface to the left side of the screen is simply and well engineered, multi-line tools, circle tools, polygon tools were all easy to find via the tool sub-palettes. Using them was also a simple and innovative process, allowing one to go entirely freeform or with the ability to enter the numeric values for precise drawing. Fillets were a particular delight to work with. My previous history with AutoCAD had been somewhat troublesome. Though I utilized the fillets with little problem, it was always a mental exercise. Implementing fillets in Graphite was a simple process however that I got right the first time and every time there after. Sure it might be a little thing, but it's the little things that tickle this reviewer pink. As I was walking through the tutorials I looked ahead to notice that some more complex alignments of shapes was coming up, so I was looking forward to seeing how the tutorial led me through this potentially challenging exercise, but also with a little hesitancy as AutoCAD had popped out a huge window of align options that served to intimidate my weak CAD skills. Graphite however, stunned me. It featured a brilliant alignment system where you simply moused over to lines of other objects that could possibly give you alignment options and allowed you to toggle them on. Think of it this way. Every line and shape has a ton of alignment options and construction lines inherent to them, however, Graphite keeps it all under the hood under the label of "Drafting Assistant" A simple mouseover a previously drawn line highlights its alignment options, pick the one you need and drag over to the line you're drawing and draw! No clicking, to click and drag, no popup windows, no checkbox of options, just a simple mouseover and it works! After sitting in stunned silence for a few minutes then tearing around the apartment in glee (I get a little euphoric over brilliant engineering) I returned to go mad with construction lines, circles and fillets and polygons all over the place, all perfectly aligned with each other. Now, if you need a construction line that the Drafting Assistant doesn't give you inherently, it's a simple matter of clicking on the point/object you're aligning to and dragging a perfect construction line from it. Dimensioning is precise and allows you to adjust the levels of precision, measurement units like any good CAD program should. Graphite has an excellent set of trim tools which allow you to trim exactly the way you like. Arraying and rotating was nothing special, simply and easily used, it followed the rest of my experience in Graphite; what I wanted, when I wanted it. CAD software has probably updated since my days with AutoCAD 98, but a feature in Graphite really stood out. Parametrics is what they're called. This allows you to draw the shape of an object, and then let Graphite redraw your object precisely according to whatever measurements you might give it. Variable parametrics are great because you can make a shape change in relation to the values you give it. If the width of a beam is inversely proportionate to it's thickness, simply define it as a parametric variable and Graphite will draw the beam correctly regardless of what values you throw at it. More exciting to me then the actual feature, was my ability to utilize it with such simplicity. Truly a slick little job. NURBS are a part of of Graphite as well, my experience with NURBS however is with organic objects and Graphite isn't really made for that. I suppose NURBS are used for some creative industrial design, but it isn't my world. Let's just say that Graphite's NURBS are simple and easy to use if you need them and move on to some more exciting things. Smart Walls This one is great, draw a wall, draw another wall, it connects up without me having to do a ton of trimming. Cut a hole in the wall for a door, the walls automatically trim and I simply add the door. Fillet two walls and get a perfectly rounded wall (and if I catch you architects doing this in a residential home I'm going to strangle you.) It's ridiculously easy.  Don't want your walls to join? Throw the other walls on a new layer, it's that simple. If CAD had been this rewarding when I was a youngster I might have actually perused that architect dream I had as a kid. Drawing in 3D Drawing in 3D AutoCAD 98 was a product of ton of construction lines drawn from each perspective to create a isometric view. Now, granted, I could have drawn an isometric view from the start, but the exercise was so imprecise and difficult that it usually wasn't worth it, even for simple objects. Graphite however is again proving that the standard doesn't have to be. A simple menu command to inform Graphite that I was drawing in a trimetric view and off I went drawing perfect 3D shapes with a construction grid and alignment lines that behaved properly in a 3D environment, it was mind boggling. Revolves and extrudes, it happened when I told it to, no second guessing the program, no hunting for obscure commands and options. I have never created drawings in a CAD program so fast. Especially on my first try. 
It got better though. As soon as I was done drawing the model, Graphite allowed me to instantly create the three 2D drawing views. Where previous CAD programs were beefed up drawing programs, Graphite has a true 3D core underneath the drawing program cover. That means that the other views were entirely customizable, I could rotate or zoom in on the front to show detail while leaving the other views in scale with each other. Printing Architects have remarkably little use for stuff on the computer, they always buy these huge plotters and spread paper across 4-5 tables when they're showing off what they've done or what the engineers need to do.  And printing could not possibly be easier in Graphite, select from a library of standard CAD borders and setups, enter the data relevant to your personal drawing and print! It's sick, prepping my drawings in the past was an exercise of careful alignment and scaling and and and... In Graphite, it's there and done. Documentation Underlying any truly great program is a set of excellent instructions. Graphite comes with two, a tutorial manual and a reference manual, both spiral bound. The documentation isn't full of bells and whistles, but it's a solid piece of work which gets to the point simply and assumes the user knows nothing. Something that many manuals I've come across recently is that they assume you have a certain level of knowledge in the program that you're learning. Graphite assumes nothing, sometimes it seems overly simplistic, the tradeoff is that misinterpretation of the author is virtually impossible. It's simple, clean and effective documentation. Perfect? Almost, I have only two little gripes, and they're really really little. The first one is that for how slick and simple the user interface is, some windows remind me of a throwback to the Mac OS 6 days. Some things look old. A little update would be great, but never the less, functionality is not harmed either way. The second is that this excellent program has no OSX support. Great OS's scream for great programs, and Graphite needs an OSX showing. 
As Ashlar-Vellum knows, it's not about figuring out the program, it's about using it to create what you want now. "Graphite, software that works the way you think." Ashlar Incorporated
12731 Research Blvd.
Bldg. A
Austin, TX 78759-4383
U.S.A
http://www.ashlar-vellum.com Strengths: - Easy
- Powerful
- Clean
- Innovative
Weaknesses: Ashlar-Vellum knows what they're doing, and more importantly, they know what you should be doing, creating and drawing. You want power and ease of use? Look no further. Minimum System Requirements Macintosh
Power Macintosh G3 or better
32 MB of RAM
150 MB free hard disc space
Mac OS 8.6 or better
CD ROM drive PC
Pentium based processor or better
32 MB of RAM
150 MB free hard disc space
Windows NT 4.0 or 98/2000
CD Rom Drive | Copyright © 2001, Ian Mankowski, All Rights Reserved |