Who Needs MicroStation?

Chris Hannukainen of Pangaea CAD Solutions reminds me about their free DualCAD editor that reads and writes design files in MicroStation format.

It views, draws and edits elements, measures, and prints V7 and V8 DGN files in 2D. The included PDL lets you write macros.

(It used to also handle DWG files, hence the "dual cad" name, but Pangaea found the ODA libraries too cumbersome, and dropped DWG. As a result, the size of Dual CAD fell from 10MB to 2MB. With Dual CAD no longer dual-CAD, what to do about the name? Keep it, for it refers now to the dual uStn formats, V7 and V8. AutoCAD 2008/9 users can export their drawings to DGN, and then use DualCAD.)

It runs on Windows, but has been coded to work with the WINE Windows emulator on Linux. Download it free from here.

With DualCAD being a free MicroStation, who needs the $4000-MicroStation? Everybody else. Those who run vertical apps, need 3D, do programming, import AutoCAD drawings, and so on.

Think of Dual CAD as the AutoCAD LT of the MicroStation world. With one important difference: DualCAD is free.

Comments

[DF]

All V8 DGNs no longer being equal (e.g. the PDF attachment, colour gradient capabilities of V8 DGNs created with 'newer' V8 releases) I'd have to be wary of recommending this, or even of using it myself.

That the licencing information up on the website makes no mention to a 'free' version is also quite worrying!

At the heart of DualCad is Pangaea's ActiveX programming control (cadd engine) known as PcsCustom. I have been using PcsCustom for 10 years in a commercial engineering application. It's used by hundreds of users daily. My app is written in Visual Basic v.6 with over 190,000 lines of code and employs the PcsCustom fuctionalality (drawing elements, manipulating levels, reference files, etc) throughout. I am a one-man-show and there is no way I could have put together such a large and complete application using MicroStation and it's developement language. Microsoft's Visual Vasic and Pangaea'a PcsCustom is a powerful combination that I highly recommend.

[DF]

Actually, the more I look around for licencing information on that website, the more sceptical I get.

From http://www.pcscad.com/downloadframe.htm:

Notice: All products can be downloaded for free by anyone and are fully functional other than for batch processing. Commercial users can still use the products for evaluation purposes. A notice will appear in the product stating not for commercial use. Educational and non profit institutes may freely use the products at will. Educational and non profit institutes may request a free license file so that the "not for commercial use" message does not appear. Commercial users with a support package should visit the commercial users updates page.

It's as clear as mud as to what licencing and support goes with this package. If I were in charge of a commercial operation, I'd give this product a wide berth.

[Chris Hannukainen]

I can assure you that DualCAD is freeware since I wrote it and I own it. DualCAD drives the development cycle of other products that do make money so it costs me nothing to offer it for free.

[Tim]

As a casual cad user I have to say that this dualcad is no joke. It opened my my microstation files with no problem. It also appears to be a pretty easy transition from microstation to dualcad. Thanks for the tip.

[noreply]

I doubt I'll ever use Bentley, but reading the dualcad lic. excerpt, i don't see any pitfall (other than the multiple v8 file versions? are there cheap/free converters?)
Even comm'l users should investigate the commercial dualcad product, to decide whether to try this as an pre-eval eval version. i assume the full ver (w/batch,,, and 3d??) is then avail as time-limited eval?

[RICHARD COHEN]

Does a manual exist for DualCAD that experienced MStation users can easily access? Thank you.

[Ralph Grabowski]

DualCAD is an abandoned software project.