I found it interesting that ZWCAD+ produced files that in some cases were smaller than AutoCAD’s, and in some cases much larger. Table 3: Comparing file sizes of exported DWF files Here is the comparison for the pairs of files I created (Table 3):
It is not possible to compare entities (due to the stripping process), but I decided I could at least compare DWF sizes of files exported using the same DWF plot configuration in AutoCAD and ZWCAD+. Stripping out some drawing data and also safeguard intellectual property. By reducing the size, DWF files don’t take as long to load in Web pages. They are meant to be shown in Web pages or shared with clients. DWF File SizesĭWF files are a compressed drawing file with some data stripped out. As the numbers are well within what I’d call acceptable, I infer that ZWCAD+ is saving the data in a way very similar to that of AutoCAD. It’s reasonable to have some degree of variance, because data can be saved in different ways. ZWCAD+ tends to make larger files than AutoCAD, but it is a close match. The table below shows sizes of the same four files when saved by AutoCAD vs being saved by ZWCAD+ (Table 2). DWG File SizesĪnother way to see if ZWCAD+ is doing things differently with files from AutoCAD is to compare file sizes. While this test is very basic, it indirectly tests quite a wide range of features, and so is a good way to establish compatibility of the fundamentals in one simple process. ZWCAD+ matched AutoCAD exactly, which was a good start. Table 1: Results of counting entities in test drawings Below, the table shows the results: entity types and the count of each (Table 1). My four test drawings each contain various entity types.
If parts of the file are structured in a way that the receiving software does not understand, then entities might be omitted, drawn incorrectly, or converted to generic types.įor this first test, I opened several drawings, and then simply counted the entity types that they contained.
The software needs to be written in such a way that it can cope with – and understand – all the possible ways in which a valid DWG file can be structured. From my experience as a software developer, I know that reading data from a format such as DWG can be fraught with obstacles. The first thing I did was to check that DWG files opened in ZWCAD+ contained the same list of basic entities that are created by AutoCAD. With the origins of DWG and DWF file formats firmly rooted by Autodesk in AutoCAD, I will use AutoCAD as the benchmark. When talking about file format compatibility, it is important to understand exactly what ZWCAD+ is trying being compatible with.
I’ll also review their cloud offering and their. ZWSOFT positions its ZWCAD+ software as a strong alternative to AutoCAD, and so in this review I will look at how compatible it is with DWG and DWF files. DWG compatibility: does it read AutoCAD entities? Does it support a cloud-based workflow? And will 3rd-party AutoCAD programs work? But how many can really step in and do the same job? An AutoCAD user takes ZWCAD+ to the test in 3 crucial areas.
By William Forty The CAD world is full of competitors to AutoCAD.