General Information

Introduction

nanoCAD is a professional grade CAD tool. It has a familiar interface, powerful drafting and design tools, native DWG compatibility, and an open API. nanoCAD has been built to deliver design and project documentation for all industries. nanoCAD includes a full suite of basic and advanced tools, for creating industry-standard DWG-compatible CAD files. nanoCAD provides innovative, collaborative and customizable features to enhance your efficiency. nanoCAD includes several API’s, allowing anything from routine task automation to complex CAD application development.

nanoCAD implements a very efficient, and easy to learn, classic-style CAD user interface. It offers a command set and UI elements appearance that will be familiar and comfortable to users of many other compatible CAD applications. The drawing space, command line, and position of the menu items and icons on the toolbars are readily recognizable. Any person with AutoCAD experience will feel at home using nanoCAD, right from the start.

nanoCAD uses the industry-standard DWG (*.dwg) file format natively. Drawings created or edited in nanoCAD can be used by almost any other popular CAD system, without conversion or data loss. If you can’t open a drawing from another system due to damage, or you want to audit an opened drawing for errors, or you need to reduce file size, nanoCAD provides Audit, Recover and Purge commands. Be assured you will not lose document data due to software or hardware failures thanks to nanoCAD’s autosaving and backup functions.

nanoCAD includes an extensive set of tools for creating and editing 2D/3D objects. There are often multiple drawing methods available for creating most of geometric elements. It’s well-thought-out object editing commands allow you to modify drawings with minimal mouse clicks. Reusable blocks and references to external drawings simplify and speed up the drawing process. Advanced dimensioning features enable you to create any kind of dimensions by several means.

nanoCAD has a powerful Excel-style table editor, with an extensive set of capabilities, including the ability to create tables containing cells with embedded macros and formulas.

Tool Palettes allow you quickly and easily use your favorite commands and blocks. Organizations that use their own set of blocks, hatches and scripts can now load and use them in one click.

You can import point clouds in drawing in five formats: Bin (TerraSolid), LAS (ASPRS), PTX (Leica), PTS (Leica) and PCD (Point Cloud). Powerful import dialog allows you to import only the required parts of clouds. You can create and modify sections and clips of loaded clouds, tune visualization parameters.

The nanoCAD scripting engine allows average users to automate everyday routine tasks. Users can write macros using Visual Basic Script, Java Script or any other scripting language supported by Microsoft Windows as well as built-in LISP.

nanoCAD has several types of APIs for building CAD applications on top of its core functionality. NRX is a C++ and .NET API very similar to AutoCAD’s ARX. It allows the translation of AutoCAD-based applications to nanoCAD with ease. It is an object-oriented, compact and robust programming interface. It is field proven, and has been used to create a large number of commercial CAD applications.

nanoCAD also features the MultiCAD API™ for C++ and .NET, a revolutionary development tool to create binary compatible applications for different CAD platforms. Applications developed with the MultiCAD

API will be able to run not just in nanoCAD, but also in other compatible CAD systems—including AutoCAD.

nanoCAD’s plot settings dialog allow you to set multiple plot areas, and create multi-page plots. This can be especially useful for printing large drawings on printers with smaller output format. The Batch Plot command creates and prints drawing sets without requiring you to babysit the process. It is convenient when you need to print existing projects. It also supports outputting drawings to single or multi-sheet plot files.

Modular Program Configuration

In addition to the main functionality, nanoCAD includes several independently licensed built-in modules:

• The Construction module. The module allows you to quickly and accurately draw up design documentation in accordance with the general technical requirements of regulatory documents used in the construction industry. Plans, elevations, cuts, sections, views, units and other drawings are made “on-the-fly” using tools that create dynamic “smart” drawings.
• The Mechanica module. The module is intended for the design of engineering products and execution of design and technological documentation in full compliance with the requirements of major international standards. The availability of parametric objects and middle-level computeraided design tools make this software solution one of the most convenient tools for creating and designing drawings.
• The Raster module expands the capabilities of the work with various raster images, including scanned documents – drawings, plans, diagrams, etc. Basic configuration of nanoCAD provides the possibility to use such kind of data only as an underlay, accompanying it with a set of several tools for 4-point correction, alignment, cropping and setting the parameters for displaying raster images. The Raster Editing module includes a wide range of tools for improving the quality of images, their transformation, intellectual analysis and editing, extracting semantic information (vectorization), semi-automatic tracing of vector entities and text recognition, as well as rasterization of an arbitrary type of data supported by nanoCAD.
• The 3D module on the C3D core, which includes the functionality of 2D and 3D Constraints. The module allows using 3D design tools to form complex 3D scenes of any geometric shape. Using the section function, you can get automatically updated 2D views.
• The Topoplan module is designed to create a digital terrain model and prepare a drawing for the release of topographic plans.
  • The module includes support for Civil 3D objects. If you open a drawing containing such objects, they will be displayed as drawing objects (and not as proxy graphics), their properties will be displayed, styles can be switched, and style elements can be controlled.

During the trial period, all modules are available. At the end of the trial period, to activate any module, you should obtain the appropriate license.

Installment of external applications

In addition, external applications designed for a specific version can simply be installed additionally to the already used nanoCAD.

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System Requirements

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Program Installation

You must have administrator rights to install the program and to launch it for the first time.

You do not need to be an administrator to work with the program; it can be launched by a user with reduced authority.

Program Registration

The registration process is used to assign a serial number for your copy of the software. This serial number is used to generate a license file, and activate the software.

If the software can be used without registration or activation, it will run in Demo mode, and may only be used for educational or training purposes. You must register and activate the software to use it for commercial, professional, or other for-profit purposes.

If you originally downloaded the software from www.nanocad.com,  you will already be registered, and will have been sent your serial number by email. (You may also find your serial number under “My Account”, at www.nanocad.com .

If you have not registered, and do not yet have a serial number, run the Registration Wizard and follow the instructions to get one. You may run the Registration Wizard when installing the software, when starting the software, or by launching it from the Windows Start > All Programs > Nanosoft AS > nanoCAD en 25.0 folder.

After you have received your serial number, run the Registration Wizard again, and follow the instructions for activation.

The registration and activation processes are described in the Installation Guide, available at www.nanocad.com .

Launch of nanoCAD

To launch the program:

• Double click nanoCAD shortcut on the Windows desktop

or

• On the taskbar select Start > All Programs > Nanosoft AS > nanoCAD en 25.0 > nanoCAD en 25.0

On the first start after installation, if any previous versions were installed, nanoCAD will prompts to copy settings from these versions. In Migration of settings dialog all available profiles will be shows:

To use the Database functionality when storing point clouds, the PostGIS extension for the PostgreSQL DBMS is required. If there is no this extension on the user’s computer, the following window will appear during the installation process:

If you do not plan to work with point clouds, you can skip this step by excluding the PostGIS Bundle for PostgreSQL parameter.

Licensing and Launching the Program

nanoCAD, as well as its modules, can be activated with the appropriate license.

The nanoCAD trial license contains licenses for all modules. This means that during the trial period, all modules are available for use. After the trial period ends, the modules become unavailable. Access to the modules is resumed after purchasing the license.

You can manage disabling/enabling modules in the Licensing section of the Options dialog.

Modules can be disabled even if you have a license to use them. Such disabling can be useful in case of using network licenses for modules with a limit on the number of users.

By default, all modules are enabled. If you disable the module flag, it will no longer be available in the program, even if you have a license for this module: it will no longer load when the program starts and will no longer request a license.

Program Launch

As a result of installing nanoCAD with a full set of modules (including Construction and Mechanica), three shortcuts are created that allow you to run nanoCAD in three different configurations:

nanoCAD. When you select this shortcut, the functionality of the nanoCAD and all other modules for which you have a license (except for Construction and Mechanica) will be loaded.

Construction. When you select this shortcut, the functionality of nanoCAD, the functionality of the Construction module and all other modules for which you have a license will be loaded.

Mechanica. When you select this shortcut, the functionality of nanoCAD, the functionality of the Mechanica module and all other modules for which you have a license will be loaded .

When nanoCAD is launched, the Default.dwt template is used by default. You can change the template in the Options dialog box (OPTIONS): Template usage section > For new documents > Default Template File Name.

For launching each configuration, a corresponding license is required.

After the program is launched, the name of the working configuration appears in the program header, and tabs with the functionality of the modules of this mode will appear on the ribbon:

When the program is launched, a welcome window (STARTSCR, WELCOMESCREEN) is displayed, containing three tabs:

• Files allows you to create a new document or open an existing one, and displays the last opened files (their opening time, size and location paths). It is possible to customize the user-friendly file viewing by changing the type of icons (list, small icons, large icons), adding separators, selectively pinning files to the top of the list, and flexibly sorting files by name, opening time and size .
• What’s New displays new features of the program version, as well as the latest corrections and improvements.
• Resources contains links to Nanosoft company resources.

If the AutoClose box is checked, the welcome window will automatically close if the user has not performed any actions in it. If at least one click is made in the window area, it will remain on the screen regardless of the value of this setting.

Construction and Mechanica Adapters

It is possible to use Construction and Mechanica shortcuts even without a license for these modules.

If you have a license only for nanoCAD, the Co nstruction and Mechanica configurations switch to the nanoCAD with Construction and Mechanica adapter mode, respectively. The adapter technology allows nanoCAD to recognize objects created in the Construction and Mechanica products in DWG files.

So, when you launch the Construction shortcut without a license for Construction, nanoCAD with the Construction adapter will be launched.

The essence of the adapter technology

Using the adapter technology allows users who do not have a license for Construction or Mechanica to change some parameters of objects previously created in these applications.

If in previous versions of nanoCAD the user was forced to work with objects of the Construction or Mechanica modules as proxy objects, without the possibility of even slight modification, then in the adapter mode the program will perceive them as full-fledged objects with limited editing capabilities. In this case, creating new objects is not available.

Using the adapter with a limited number of network licenses

If a license for the Construction/Mechanica workstation is present, but is unavailable at the time of loading, nanoCAD with nanoCAD Construction/Mechanica adapter will be loaded. Such a situation may arise in the case of multi-user network licensing, if by the time the program is launched all Construction/Mechanica licenses have been taken by other employees.

Migration of settings from previous versions

When you first launch the program after installing it, you will be prompted to transfer settings from one of the previous versions of the program, if they were previously installed on the PC. The Migration of settings dialog displays all previously installed versions of nanoCAD available for transferring settings:

For more information, see Migrating settings from previous versions of the product section.

Help System

Command line: HELP, HELPCONTENTS

Note

To get help from dialog boxes, use the corresponding buttons. To open context-sensitive help for the active command, press F1.

Online help with the updated description of the program functionality is also available at: https://online help.nanocad.com/NC25\_Help 

The License agreement command shows the license agreement of using nanoCAD in PDF file format. The About command opens the About nanoCAD 25.0 dialog with information about the version and build of the installed program and copyright.

The About dialog box shows the license number, who registered the program, a link to the developer’s website – www.nanocad.com  and an email link for support – support@nanocad.com

If you have an internet connection, you can load the links from nanoCAD.

Clicking on the arrow button on the right side of the program window title also provides access to this information data.

The user also has access to a PDF user manual, which is located in the folder: C:\Program Files\Nanosoft**Ошибка! Неизвестное имя свойства документа.** 25.0\help.

When Malfunctions occur

Malfunctions in nanoCAD may occur for various reasons, including technical failures, software conflicts, or incorrect settings.

If problems occur while working with a file, we recommend using the following tools:

• if the file does not open, use the Document Recovery utility (RECOVER), which allows you to check the document for errors and fix some errors;
• if the file contains errors or was received from an unreliable source, check the file using the Document Check utility (AUDIT), which allows you to identify and correct problematic drawing objects;
• if the file contains geometry problems, check the file using the Audit Geometry utility (AUDITGEOMETRY), which allows you to check and correct Z-axis coordinates and hatching. The first time a file is opened, the geometry of the objects is checked automatically. If geometry errors are detected, a dialog box is displayed asking whether to correct the errors or cancel the corrections. If errors are not corrected, when reopening files (after resaving), geometry audit should be started manually. Hatching is not checked automatically;
• if after auditing geometry there is still a scatter in the z-coordinate, use the Convert to 2D (FLATTEN) utility, which allows you to make all the objects in the drawing completely flat. Converting to 2D destroys the design objects, so you should use it with extreme caution;
• to make sure that the file does not contain objects in very large coordinates (on the order of hundreds of thousands), analyze the cursor coordinates. If the drawing geometry is very far from the origin, select everything (SELECTALL) and move the data (MOVE) to the coordinates 0, 0, 0. Another problem is possible when only part of the drawing is far from the origin. Then use the Zoom All (ZOOMALL) command and delete the “flown” objects or move them closer to the coordinate origin.
• to reduce the file size and remove unused block definitions, dimension styles, layers, text styles, line types, etc., from it, use the Purge Document utility (PURGE, PU);
• to clear annotative scales, delete registered applications, and empty entries in the sorting table, use the non-dialog version of the Purge Document command (-PURGE). When a document is opened, a check is performed to see if annotative scales and empty entries in the sorting table need to be cleared. Depending on the check result, the command line (or a warning message) displays recommended cleanup actions;
• to delete all custom and unused scales and restore the list of standard scales, use the Reset button in the Edit Drawing Scales dialog (SCALELISTEDIT);
• if there are problems with text encoding in the document, use the Text Decoder (TEXTDECODER) utility, which allows you to decode objects manually or by automatic selection;
• if the file contains Civil objects, use the CLEARCIVIL command;
• to delete proxy objects with or without a graphical representation, use the Removing Proxy (RMPROXY) command with the appropriate options;
• to delete duplicate or overlapping objects, use the Delete Duplicates (DELETEDUPLICATES) command.

When following all the recommendations, it is recommended to save file versions sequentially, so that in the event of an error you can return to the previous file version and not perform all the cleaning operations from scratch.

If you need to automatically check and clean a large number of files, it is recommended to use the Batch File Processing (BATCHPROCESS) utility. When using the default profile, the commands for cleaning files (PURGE), cleaning from Civil objects (CLEARCIVIL), checking files (AUDIT), auditing geometry (AUDITGEOMETRY) and saving the corrected file (SAVE) are executed sequentially. You can add, delete or change the order of the commands.

If cleaning and auditing do not help to fix a particular defect, you can try to insert the problematic drawing into a new open file (NEW) as a block (INSERT). In the Insert Block window, uncheck the Specify on-Screen box to insert the drawing directly into the zero coordinates. You should also check the Explode box so that the inserted drawing does not have to be split after insertion. After inserting the drawing in this way, the entire database of the dwg file will be regenerated. But keep in mind that with this method, all formatted sheets will disappear from the drawing, and all proxy objects of the drawing will be lost.

If errors occur in the program, including those that cause the program to crash, it is recommended to:

• restart nanoCAD, reboot the computer, this may solve temporary problems related to memory or processes;
• repeat the actions and, if the problem recurs, write down the sequence of actions that lead to the error;
• contact technical support or the nanoCAD user community:
  • create a request:https://lk.nanocad.ru/support/ 
  • forum: https://forum.nanocad.ru 

Suggestions for letters sent to technical support:

• indicate information about the version and build of the program (Help About);
• indicate the version of the operating system, the language used and the presence of installed updates (service packs);
• in case of problems with installation, send the program installation log file, indicating whether the installation was successful. Log files are stored in the temporary folder C:\Users\User_name\AppData\Local\Temp. A separate log is created for each installer launch. Log file name: nanoCAD Platform Setup (<YEAR.MM.DD> <HH.MM>).log For example, Ошибка! Неизвестное имя свойства документа. 25 Setup (2025.01.16 22.51).log;
• in case of errors leading to the program crash, send log files containing statistics and a chronology of events. Log files are stored in the temporary folder C:\Users\User_name\AppData\Local\Temp. File names: blackbox.log, blackbox.mdmp, et_crash.log;
• if there is an error in the program’s operation, send a step-by-step description of the actions that lead to the error;
• if there is an error in a particular document, attach this document to the letter, having collected an archive using the ETRANSMIT command.

These instructions will help to solve the problems that have arisen more quickly and efficiently.

Exit from nanoCAD

Menu: File – Exit

Hotkeys: CTRL+Q

Command line: EXIT, QUIT

Just like any Windows application, nanoCAD can be closed by clicking on the icon in the top right corner of the program.

If all changes in opened documents were saved, no additional messages are shown.

If changes were not saved, nanoCAD shows a warning message:

where a user can save changes, decline to save changes or select the Cancel button and continue to work in the program.