Can TurboCAD Get Respect?

TurboCAD has been around a long time, as measured in CAD years, being part of the second wave of desktop CAD that followed the AutoCADs and CADKEYs of the early 1980s. I recall seeing TurboCAD at Comdex '86 or '87. It was called "Turbo"CAD becuase it was written using TurboPascal; its original developers were located in South Africa.

There's a whole story of how IMSI (short for "International Microcomputer Software, Inc.") over-marketed the software, selling it for US$29 through glossy mail compaigns and even giving away one million copies free. That the company nearly went out of business confirms my postulate that CAD software cannot be cheap.

The switch from DOS to Windows was rough, as it was for many other CAD vendors. But TurboCAD survived, and provides remarkable value for its less-than-AutoCAD-LT pricing. Programming has shifted to Russia, and IMSI still (unfortunately) resorts to exclamation marketing -- "TurboCAD Professional Version 10 is offered at an amazingly low upgrade price of ONLY $99.95 (regularly $795)! That's a savings of $695! -- you'll also get $100 in BONUS GIFTS—FREE! (Offer not valid in Australia/New Zealand and parts of Europe.)"

Can your copy of AutoCAD (never mind LT) do this?

* 3D dimensioning.
* Convert existing lines, polylines, circles and curves into walls; intelligent roofs.
* Creation of solids from surfaces, and surfaces from solids.
* Deformable modeling using NURBS; axis scaling of all ACIS objects.
* STEP and IGES import/export filters.
* Facet editing of ACIS 3D objects and surfaces.

Not that TurboCAD is for everyone. Some don't like its user interface; others have had problems with its quality. Still, here is CAD package that does a heck of lot.

Comments

[Joe]

About your statement that IMSI almost went out of business: it had nothing to do with TurboCAD. In fact, it was pretty much TurboCAD that kept them afloat! Their business woes were based entirely upon a lawsuit on one of IMSI's other business divisions (now sold off: arttoday.com).

Joe Tilman
(I don't work for them, but I am a fan of TurboCAD)

[Paul Tracey]

I work for Avanquest and represent TurboCAD for the UK market. Two weeks ago I gave a demo to a chap that AutoDesk had quoted £15,000 as a solution to his requirements. After a demo he bought TurboCAD professional Platinum for £800 and he told me that it did everything he needed.
Paul Tracey

[Archie Chipps]

I found IMSI TurboCad version 4 on a $9 rack at Staples. At the time there was a lot of programs to build houses, and all the 3D looked flat. I created a room with a window with the glass material and a pool full of water. I put a flood light in the pool to light up the water and it looked good. The colors were better with the lighting. I noticed the light would not go through the glass window. I didn't like that. I quit using it for a few years thinking it was not a good 3D program, but after all the 3D house building program were no better, and TurboCad could do a lot more. I could use a 3D line to make things, that other programs had things, not make furniture like TurboCad, so I went back at TurboCad to make a light that would pass through glass, and with the ability to add lighting in the materials I started with a sphere, and put a light in it. I used every kind of light while no light could get through the transparent material, and then it was just a very low light getting through with the flood light. I worked with it with very high setting to make a light bulb, because the light inside had to get outside the glass. I didn't leave any light untried, even the sun light was tested to pass through glass. I set up an inner glow light with the same settings the flood light used, and managed to make a light bulb that could light a room after passing through the glass around the light bulb. Then all the renders looked real. I tested it to see if the light could bounce with a mirror and it did. But the light could not light up 360 all around. I had 2 flood lights going in two directions and as wide as they could go, but there was a ring where both lights could not fill.
I called the company, they said I needed to talk to the lighting company that made ray trace, and I did. They didn't feel anyone would know how to make a light pass through glass, and they were doing everything to the sun light to make it happen, and grew sarcastic when I said they can not make the sun light pass through glass, because I tried. They just thought I was stupid, while I offered them my model with the light I created in it, and I wanted a point light with the same lighting ability as the flood light. They thought they were going to make the sun do it, so I was wasting my time, so I sent them a copy of my scene, and a year later they used it, and found the light they could not make work. I was offered TurboCad 8 for $50, and going from version 4 to 8 sounded good to me, but the light I needed was not in it. They offered me version 9 for $50 and I didn't see the light listed that I wanted, and I asked them, and no new light was added. Then version 10, and I thought it should be in there, because I saw they claimed to have created a light that passed through glass, but it was not in there, and I bought version 11 for another $50 just to see my light was in there, but it was not setup. I used my settings and the light was way too bright in the thousands, and 1 was the default, for an 80 watt light I used 80, and it looked like a 75 watt. So I had my light and I saw version 12 go up in price to over $500, and then version 13 was $1500. It was a good thing I had the light I wanted, and even today I get out IMSI TurboCad 3D and design anything I am told to build or things I want, and everything ends up in real life just like the 3D model, even a big cabinet for expensive band equipment. They wanted a light in the top like a black light, to light up all the controls and equalizers, so they didn't need light to make adjustments. It was in a cabinet that rolls and had handles and a grab whole on the back to pull it out of a van. The finished version matched the model I created to even put a little light on a microphone drawer in the bottom, with the front even with the light on top, and the wood inside reflecting more light on the drawer. Very accurate for the lighting effect I needed to do in the cabinet.
I made the light years after I bought version 4, and created the light and testing it in 2002 into 2003 with version 8, and then I stopped with version 11 and the date on the disk says 2005. It has a Serial Number that I need to enter when I install it, and I saved the Activation Code, so I add I will call for the activation code so I can put in my saved code, and it still works.
I liked was not easy to figure out but my brother al ready did it, and that is to create a screw with flights. I didn't know there was so much in it until then, because everything I did was work on the lighting. I could care less if they took credit for creating the light, I just didn't like them back dating the creation to 1983. I didn't discover the flood light could do it until a made a little pool of water in the base of a sign and a little light passed through the water, using glass in 2003. I just bough a house, and if was not finished until October, then an Ice storm cup power lines, and I was without power for a month. I warmed the house and cleaned to red clay mud off the white carpet, and then started working on the light in TurboCad. One thing I didn't think to mention is all the upgrades for $50 totaled to $150, and each version was a Professional version, and I am looking at version 11 right now with the cover TurboCad Professional Version 11 and a 4 block window of wood and a compass on top.
I know this webpage is old, but I wanted to share this.
Options before the light I created was to not use any glass in the windows so the light goes through, and add light on the other side to great a glow. I used this on drapes, to make them look light they glow where the light hits them, and I really don't need to anymore. I create anything I want with Hexagon 2.5 and render it in Daz Studio with Uber lighting, and I sell my models. I liked the accuracy of TurboCad and it was hard to work with out it in Hexagon, so I created a yard stick and measure everything in 3D with that. I can be pretty accurate with it do make anything actual size to the Daz Studio models. Most models are 5'8" resent one are shorter. I create a living space that looks real, and not void of things you would normally have in a clean house, including food in the pantry. I guess I evolved and not looking back, but getting the most out of what I make in TurboCad. I made a copy of my new house in IMSI TurboCad, and I have seen things that looked strange, but with everything being accurate, the light from the laundry room makes a loop shadow on the refrigerator from the handle the same as in real life, and I just wanted everything to be in place, while everything is very accurate. I converted the cabinets into Max Studio format that is in the save formats, and open them in Hexagon and Daz Studio. Going through Hexagon to improve the details helps them look smoother and not have a lot of extra lines in the wireframe.