Claris CAD

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Claris CAD is a computer-aided design application for Macintosh. It was developed by Claris Corporation in 1988^{[citation needed]}. Macintosh System 6 or later is required to run the software.

[edit] Features

Like most Claris software, the application is quite simple to use. Claris, itself, related the interface to MacDraw, though it has far more options.

It is capable of creating two-dimensional drawings and other complex geometry like double lines, arcs, fillets, splines, perpendiculars, and tangents. Claris CAD can also display colors, but they must be manually added to the pattern bar.

One of the more useful features is Claris CAD's ability to create automatic dimension labels with witness lines. It can instantly display point-to-point, chain, datum, angle, radius, diameter, and circle center dimensions.

Predefined ANSI Y14.5, ISO, DIN, JIS, and BS-308 drawing standards templates are also included with the software.

A special Claris version of Microspot Ltd.'s MacPlot plotter driver was also part of the package, which then enabled Claris CAD to plot to Hewlett-Packard and Houston Instruments plotters. A utility application called MacPlot Configure also allowed a plotter model to be specified and for pen colors to be assigned to carousel positions.

The entire physical software package provided a reference, tutorial, and a VHS videotape tutorial.

[edit] Limitations

Claris CAD development halted in June 1991 with the release of version 2.0.3.^{[citation needed]} Though the program was excellent for creating floor plans and orthographic projections, three-dimensional drawing capability was becoming an absolute requirement among CAD applications in the early '90s. Its usefulness was further crippled by its inability to export to IGES and DXF formats without purchasing the extra (and expensive) Claris Graphics Translator package.

Currently, Claris CAD can run on virtually any Macintosh using the "Classic" operating system (not Mac OS X).

Microspot's MacDraft provides a good replacement for Claris CAD in Mac OS X.