Opinion
During neXt 2024's brief keynote, company CEO Wilfried Graebert told us that his ARES DWG editor has the second largest installed base, after AutoCAD. As well, the company last year opened a new Graebert Brazil office. A new Graebert Academy offers free training in English and German at https://www.graebert.academy/.
Next up: A user case study of Toa of Japan, which replaced an unknown (to me) number of AutoCAD licenses with 170 licenses of ARES to help reduce the expensive cost of licenses. Two-thirds of Toa’s civil engineering department use ARES, because it handles 2D and 3D.
AI in ARES
A3 is the nickname for ARES AI Assist, and is Graebert's version of AI. It is multi-lingual, and runs in a detachable palette. One capability is to assist with drawing, such as how to do a task: "Where is PDF import?" This is useful for learning functions that are found in ARES, but not in other DWG editors. Other examples are to have it do conversions between units and to provide industry-specific answers.
The narrator warned us that AI responses are suggestions and should be checked. Get more info on A3 at https://www.graebert.com/blog/general-news/introducing-ares-ai-assist-a3-your-personal-cad-assistant/
User Interface Changes
A few years ago, Graebert changed the user interface so that all of the colors in icons became monochrome. The reasoning at the time, as I recall, was to make the UI uniform across the desktop, browser, and tablet versions of the software. But I found it harder to distinguish between icons. This year, Graebert adds the color orange to icons to highlight differences between similar-looking ones.
Here’s a nice update: Entering a term in the Options dialog box's Search field drops a list of all the places the term occurs in the dialog box. As well, all options are in the Options dialog box, unlike other DWG editors that sometimes scatter settings among several places.
The new "Take over editing" function lets a second (view-only) user of a drawing take over editing for a time. Or, use the chat panel to get assistance from other users in the same session, and to send comments. This works in ARES Commander for desktop, Kudo for browsers, and Touch for tablets.
In the Comments panel, photographs and voice notes can be added.
Updates to Blocks and Tables
ARES last year got dynamic blocks, and can work with ones created by AutoCAD. The reason it took something like 16 years for dynamic blocks to appear in DWG editors is that Autodesk had patented the technology.
Graebert has written 450 dynamic blocks, and you can add more. We were shown examples of using dynamic blocks to construct parking lot and roadways. Useful also for sales people customizing products for customers.
In ARES, dynamic blocks can be synch'ed with other users over the network. Dynamic blocks (called "custom blocks" by Graebert) also work in ARES Kudo for Web browsers, but you cannot create new ones there. Dynamic blocks are not dynamic in ARES Touch for tablets and smartphones.
Unique to ARES is the ability to edit nested blocks -- which are symbols inside of symbols. This is easier than AutoCAD's approach of exploding nested blocks to edit them, Graebert tells us. Editing is accessed through the new Block Structure palette (Ctrl+8), and then performed through the block editor. The new Block Structure panel can also be used to highlight one or more selected blocks in the drawing, whose visibility can be toggled.
Tables now support auto-fill of data and formulae thru the new diamond Fill handle. The new TableBreak function splits long tables into multiple ones.
Import and Export
To help ensure that printed and PDF outputs are the most up to date ones, a QR code is printed in the corner. People in the field can scan the code to see if a newer version exists. It's not clear to me, however, how the field worker sees what has changed, if anything.
ARES Commander already imports and places Microstation DGN files. With 2025, ARES now exports DWG drawings in DGN format. There is an option to bind external references. You will need to adjust layers, linetypes, lineweights and colors to match Microstation's format, which can be done with rules.
As well, ARES 2025 now reads and edits entities from Autodesk's Civil3D program. Also imports and export Corel Draw and Designer files; useful as Corel no longer sells Graebert's relabeled CorelCAD.
BIM Updates
BIM automation in ARES already generates floor plans, section, sheets, dims, and labels with one command. New BIM functions include dimension chains and split drawings, to place different parts of too-large-scale drawings onto smaller sheets.
BIM Geometry Edit command corrects representations of imported Revit symbols, such as doors that are shown both open and closed. Changing one block like this changes all blocks in the drawing, after you click the Refresh button. Entities can be added to details in plan and section views.
Comments