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- Apex IV version 3 now has multi-level Undo for the most
serious mistakes like deleting an Area or some other portion
of a sketch. There’s even a Redo feature to allow you to
Undo your last Undo if that was a mistake!
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- Auto-Save now saves
after every event, such as drawing a line or adding a symbol
or text. You can also save your sketch at anytime even when
an area is still open.
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- Now when you move an Area,
everything contained within the Area will automatically move
as well. No more redrawing Free Form Lines or repositioning
Text Labels & Symbols!
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- You may now draw an Area as normal, but if you wish to
start another Area before closing the current one, simply
select the Define Area command. The original Area will
automatically go into a “suspended” state, allow you to draw
the new Area, and then automatically resume drawing the
original Area when it is closed.
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- If you’ve ever run into
a situation where you’ve came to a problem area in your
sketch and wished you had drawn the other direction, now you
can! Simply select the Swap POB function and you will be
able to continue drawing from the Area’s original Point of
Beginning back the other direction.
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- Begin sketching immediately without
having to “define” the Area first. Why worry with what the
Area type will be until you’re finished with it? Now you can
define Areas before or after you draw.
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- Apex has always had a grid, but it was more cosmetic than
functional. Now, not only does it look more like real graph
paper by default, but users can draw on the grid, snap to
the grid as well as use it for a visual aid when aligning
items.
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- Do you have a library of Brand
X sketch files you need to convert to Apex format? Apex will
read you’re Winsketch™ and Sketch It™ files so you can still
access all your legacy data!
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- Not only does this information
display in the tracking port, but now intermittent
“construction lines” show in the sketch area when drawing
angles and curves!
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- Apex IV version 3 gives you
visual cues to confirm that you are drawing Horizontally
and/or Vertically by “highlighting” the lines to a
user-configurable color.
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- Users can now configure the
color of the animation as well as the speed at which it is
drawn so they can actually see what common wall lines have
been traced!
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- Auto-Jump is a combination of two features in one - Jump
and Auto Trace! This is a very handy feature when tracing
multiple common wall lines between the current point and the
Area’s Point of Beginning.
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- You can now select a point in an
Area and delete it. This is particularly helpful when you
want to combine two line segments into one and only display
one dimension.
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- Simply select a line,
Right-Click, choose Adjust Line Length, and Enter in the new
line length.
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- Advanced users can
now select a line, Right Click and reopen the Area at that
point immediately for re-edits, such as room additions or
other corrections.
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- When you draw 2 sides of the bay
Window you can use this feature to complete it, saving you
unnecessary keystrokes while drawing.
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- You may now draw more conveniently on the Full Page form!
As you approach the edges of the form, the page will
automatically scroll for you removing the need to move your
sketch each time you run out of screen area.
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- If you’ve learned how
to draw using “Brand X” sketcher and have become accustomed
to drawing in a certain fashion – you may now configure Apex
to draw in this “mode” so you’re not forced to change old
habits!
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- Apex has always
allowed you to press R to rotate the dimension and H or V
for Horizontal and Vertical orientation. Now you can press P
to orient the dimension to the same angle as the line it is
associated with.
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- For easier Area
selection, you can now make changes to which Area is in the
front or back.
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- You can now edit the list of
Previous Areas Drawn by Area type on the Name Tab.
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- We’ve implemented a special line type that allows you to
draw stairs by dragging this line the length of the stairs
and it will be created accordingly!
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- Need to add a note, symbol or free Form line(s) while
drawing? This was not possible in previous versions, but now
it is. In version 3, just select what you want to do at
anytime and the Area you are working on will automatically
suspend and resume when you have completed the function you
have chosen.
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- Drawing curves has never been
easier. Now you can use the reference points you’ve gathered
in the field and roll your mouse wheel to “grow the curve
into position.
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- If a symbol is not the appropriate
size you can now roll your mouse wheel forward or backwards
to make it larger or smaller.
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- As with symbols, you can
use your mouse wheel to resize Text Labels and Line
Dimensions.
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- Each symbol has been
optimized to increase drawing speed for those drawings that
contain many symbols.
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- In previous versions of Apex, if you
cloned an Area and posted it directly on top of another
Area, the overlapping dimensions would “blank” each other
out. This condition has been eliminated for cloning, moving
and other similar functions.
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- The new
calculations summary shows just the facts, and by clicking
on the details button you can view the detailed view that
was available in previous versions.
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- Many changes were made to accommodate configuration
settings for Stand Alone versus when integrated. Now you can
have your settings the way you like them regardless of how
you use Apex.
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- We’ve made Print Preview
more useful now when you want to see how your sketch will
appear when printed. Now when you access Print Preview, Apex
will display it so you can view the entire page more easily
and zoom in if you feel it is necessary.
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- When placing Text Labels you can now
stack the text labels giving you the ability to add multiple
text labels all at once. This is also helpful with those
labels you would like to separate into two lines!
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- Polygon drawing has been
improved to allow you better control with the mouse. Now
when you move the cursor, you will see the polygon responds
better with mouse movement making it easier to draw the
shape intended.
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- We’ve removed the TABS
in the fill pattern dialog to make selecting fill patterns
easier than before. You no longer have to “hunt” for the
fill pattern you wish to use.
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- Fill Patterns has been
added to the Filter List! Now fill patterns can be hidden
from view/print until you turn it back on through the toggle
feature. To turn the filter on you can access it by clicking
on the Filter Icon and making the appropriate selections. To
turn off the filter for only a portion of what you have
filtered or “hidden”, you can access it from the View Menu.
Otherwise, to turn filter off for all hidden items, simply
click on the Filter button again.
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- Version 3 now
retrieves MobileSketch files just as they appear in
MobileSketch. You also have the option to use the Code Table
setting to automatically apply the version 3 attributes to
each area as specified in the desktop configuration.
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- We’ve made several
enhancements to the alignment settings to make it more
useful when coming in alignment with other points in your
sketch. Not only have the alignment indicators changed to be
more visible, but now you can also include “hot spots” in
symbols to use as jump points.
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- We’ve added a
tolerance for those of you who prefer to draw with a mouse.
As you move closer to the POB or a handle of a highlighted
item – if your mouse is within the tolerance setting your
pointer will jump to the POB or select the handle it’s
closest to.
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- We’ve made Center
Sketch a toggled state so you can choose which form of
Centering works best for you. When the toggle is activated
every time you center the sketch it will Center it on the
page. Otherwise, every time you center the sketch it will
center in the viewable area.
-
- Apex will now auto-save files for
every event instead of only every area.
-
- Unlock access to the Apex Video
Library, which is designed to teach you the key elements of
the program as well as “Power User” tips and techniques.
