I'd like to chime in to agree with Messrs. Goodman, Cary, Lurie, Wronsky, Frantz and Thomson's posts regarding DataCad. We've been using it since 1991 in my 4-to 6 person practice, and everything the above gents said is true--it's a relatively inexpensive program, requires little training, boasts all the features of AutoCad we need [and then some], and the translation interface is better then most. As I understand it, DataCad was the brainchild of Autodesk folks who saw that AutoCad was designed to be all things to all disciplines [AutoCad's a fabulous program that can be tailored for many disciplines by adding modules, albeit
at great expense], but this group peeled off and created DataCad specifically oriented to architecture and how architects do things.
The company always knew DataCad would be in the shadow of AutoCad, the gorilla in the market. Yet, we have used successive versions of the program, always impressed by how responsive the company is to user input to improve the program and to stay even with the competition. I do not hesitate to recommend DataCad to any architect who's seeking a better way. I have hired AutoCad-trained people, who quickly move out of the dark side once they get used to the program. We also use SketchUp extensively for studies.
Some time ago I spied an editorial letter in one of the professional journals in which the architect wrote incidentally that he used a little secret called DataCad to make his firm more productive. I chuckled when I read it, because I knew what he meant.
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Gary Spreng AIA
Spreng Associates
Anchorage AK
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