Claris Cad 2.0v.3 - Advice

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Claris Cad 2.0v.3 - Advice

I have been using and still am using Claris Cad since 1997 as a patent illustrator. I am working on a 1.5 Ghz PowerPC G4 with MAC OS X version 10.3.9. It has been working very nicely. Unfortunately, I cannot go beyond 10.3.9 as I need the Claris CAD drawings to print to pdf and it wont on anything over 10.3.9. I would stay on 10.3.9 forever but I am starting to have problem "seeing" things on Firefox, can't update my browser, can't use a new MAC, etc. So, I am finally being forced to leave the best illustration software ever. I have been saving Claris Cad drawings to pdf and then bring them into Adobe Illustrator (I can manipulate them there and save them as .ai files), but when it comes to hatching...Illustrator is terrible compared to Claris Cad's hatching capabilities. I downloaded Autocad Lt for the MAC... I am getting my money back as that software program just ...terrible...can't figure out how to even make an arrowhead out of a line and the constant floating x-y coordinates were driving me crazy. So two questions: (1) is there anyone out there that has figured out how to print to pdf in Claris CAD on a OS 10.4+; or (2) what is the next best software next to Claris Cad? I did like that $25.00 iDraw, but it has no hatching capabilities and no distribution in the align area. If it did, I think I would just opt out with that! I had read that Claris CAD ended over a patent dispute and it is correct! Over that stupid command i function (snaps the cursor to a point where the lines crossed)...why they gave up an entire program over that?? I had always thought that some reverse computer engineer genius would come by and start up Claris CAD again and just leave that feature out. I would be willing to pay for a usable Claris CAD software that runs on the new MACs.

PowerBook G4 (15-inch 1.5/1.33 GHz), Mac OS X (10.3.x)

Posted on Sep 28, 2013 6:36 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Jeff Shenk

Level 4

2,993 points

Oct 7, 2013 5:00 AM in response to ClarisCadLover

I use CADintosh from Lemke Software for my drawings. It does pretty much everything I need and it is kept up to date with modern operating systems. I suspect that you would find anything other than ClarisCAD unsatisfactory, because that is what you are used to. I have the same problem with other drawing programs that I have tried, because I have become accustomed to CADintosh.

For that reason, I haven't been willing to jump through the hoops to try it, but ClarisCAD is reported to work in the emulator Basilisk II, which works in modern OSX versions, right up to Mountain Lion. There are a number of options available to print from Basilisk to the modern operating system, most of which involve going through PDF.

I am not sure why your best option wouldn't be the same as that used by other people committed to using older software; keep and maintain the old computer for the old software and move up to a new computer for everything else.

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Answer 2

Oct 9, 2013 9:46 AM in response to Jeff Shenk

Thank you Jeff! I can't believe my MAC guy never mentioned basilisk to me. I will ask him to put it on, upgrade my OS (finally!!) and see how Claris Cad does...especially printing to adobe writer. I really appreciated the time you took to answer my question!

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Answer 3

Nov 4, 2013 6:02 PM in response to ClarisCadLover

Great news! I needed a Claris CAD file that I originally drew in January of 1992 on a Mac SE30. Needless to say, I have upgraded a couple of times since then. I installed Basilisk II on my MacBook Pro running Mavericks by carefully following the instructions posted here:

http://www.emaculation.com/doku.php/basiliskii_osx_setup

After installing System 7.5.3 (which Apple is now making freely available, albeit as a series of 19 disk images), I also installed PrintToPDF which I downloaded from here:

http://www.jwwalker.com/pages/pdf.html

Fortunately, I had saved the Claris CAD executable on one of my backup disks. (I'm such a pat rack.) The only "trick" in getting this to work was telling PrintToPDF to use a bitmapped version of the GD&T font. I was then able to "print" everything to pdf with only minor page-posititioning tweaks.

The whole process was easy enough that I am now wondering whether I should try to rescue my old Canvas and MiniCAD files this way.

Hope this helps,

Melissa

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Answer 4

Nov 5, 2013 5:47 AM in response to Melissa_H

Thank you Melissa! But what do you mean by minor positioning tweaks when you print to PDF? The margins had to be readjusted in Claris Cad?

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Answer 5

Nov 5, 2013 5:50 AM in response to ClarisCadLover

Yes, there was a problem with the margins. The pdf output was clipped slightly on the left hand side in portrait mode. I just did a "select all" and hit the right arrow key 3 times. I am sure there is a more elegant solution if you have to do this day-in and day-out. I just had 12 diagrams that I needed to resurrect.

Melissa

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