Faster Smarter and More Powerful Than Ever
Experience major performance boosts new productivity tools and advanced BIM AEC and 3D features in the latest SilicaCAD release.
From speed and precision to smarter workflows and deeper customization this update is built to elevate professional CAD work.
Performance
🖊️ Updating drawings is up to 2x faster
📂 Opening drawings with 3D solids is up to 10x faster
🔄 Regenerating drawings is up to 1.5x faster
🖥️ New high-performance control on Windows Power Management
🧭 Faster view changes, view cube, section planes
🟦 Faster Hatch command and boundary specification
🌐 AI Translator improved up to 100x on large drawings
📜 Improved LISP performance
⚙️ Faster entity creation for IcARX applications
👁️ Improved BEDIT preview speed
✋ Removed lag when starting PAN
➡️ Faster MOVE, COPY, PASTE dragging
⚡ Faster opening of OPTIONS & SETTINGS dialogs
🖱️ Improved smoothness of mouse movement with grips
New Features
🧱 AEC Module
Walls, windows, roofs, slabs, stairs, and roof slabs infill according to the section fill settings if they are sectioned using the Section Plane command.
🧮 Quick Calculator (Properties Pane)
Use the calculator with the Properties palette to change the objects’s properties. The QuickCalc calculator includes geometric functions, unit conversions, and variables, in addition to the basic features found in scientific calculators.
🎯 ESNAP Precision
Increased precision of ESNAP intersection working with large coordinates.
🖼 Transparent PNG Printing
Print to .png files with a transparent background.
♻️ Smart Regen
New Smart Regen. This feature enables Automatic Regen in drawing with less than 100.000 entities. The value can be customized by the user to obtain the best useful result, based on the type of working drawings.
📐 3D Positioner
Use an interactive dialog box with the 3D Positioner command to accurately input distances and angles to move or rotate entities along one or more axes, calculate values, and apply them or undo them as you work.
EDITING & PRODUCTIVITY
✂️ Trim / Extend Improvements
Choose between manually or automatically selecting entities for cutting edges and boundary edges when using the Trim and Extend commands.
Added Quick Mode: All objects automatically act as cutting edges.
📋 ADDSELECTED Enhancement
Clone command ADDSELECTED extended, now compatible with more entities: ellipses, splines, infinite lines, rays, points, wipeouts, 3D polylines, tables, images, and tolerances
SHAPES, LINES & PROFILES
📦 MKSHAPE Command
Creates shape files (.shp) and compiles them into compiled shape files (.shx) by using the Make Shape command (or use the Compile to SHX command to compile .shx files manually).
📏 MKLTYPE Command
Creates a linetype definition from selected entities and saves it to an .lin file by using the Make Linetype command.
📐 Solid Profile
The Solid Profile command creates a projection of profile lines of three-dimensional solids in a layout viewport.
SURFACES & 3D
🌐 SURFNETWORK
Creates three-dimensional surfaces between networks of open curves, including surface and solid edges in the U- and V-directions.
↔️ SURFOFFSET
Creates parallel surfaces at a specified distance from a source surface or region.
🟢 Surface Fillet
Use the Fillet command for surfaces to create surfaces that fillet an area between two existing surfaces or regions.
📏 Surface Extend
Use the Extend command for surfaces to extend surfaces to a specified distance.
✂️ Surface Trim
Use the Trim command for surfaces to trim surfaces and regions where they meet edges of other entities.
🔺 Truncated Solid Cones
Create truncated solid cones.
IMPORT, BLOCKS & LOCATION
📊 Advanced Block Lookup Tables
View and modify lookup tables for advanced block definitions.
↩️ Reset Advanced Block
Reverse all changes made to one or more advanced block references by using the Reset Advanced Block command.
📍 GEO Command
Look up an address when setting a geographic location.
VISUALS & MATERIALS
🖨 Print Preview
Preview print jobs using visual styles.
🔤 OpenType Fonts
Use OpenType Fonts.
🎛 Custom Icons
Use .ico files for custom buttons located on the ribbon, menus, and toolbars.
🎨 Materials with Artisan
Drawing Materials work with Artisan (e.g. Importing a Revit with materials, now Artisan reads the material data).
🧱 Material Dialog
Material dialog to create and edit drawing materials.
TERRAIN & CONTOUR TOOLS
🗺 AUTOSEZ
It is now possible to use contour lines formed by 2D Polylines and 2D Splines as a model.
📈 AUTOCURVE
The utility allows you to generate elevation contour lines from 3D DTM triangular faces. The produced curves are composed of 2D polylines that are placed on the CURVE layer.
🔢 POINTTEXT
On the current layer the utility inserts the height of the selected points (zeta coordinate text). Text uses the current style.
📍 TEXTPOINT
The utility draws points at the insertion point of selected text entities but with the zeta coordinate taken from the text string.
📐 POLYSEZ
The terrain profile is created with elevations calculated along a multi-point section polyline.
User Interface
⚙️ Modern Options
New AutoCAD®-style Options dialog
The new Options dialog is available by typing OPTIONSNEW.
🧮 Smart Calculations
New Quick Calculator
Performs a full range of mathematical, scientific, and geometric calculations, creates and uses variables, and converts units of measurement. You can use the calculator with the Properties palette to change the properties of objects or directly in the command line.
📑 Layout Management
Layout Tabs Selection
Ctrl+click to select multiple layouts or Shift+click to select a range of layouts.
Layout Tabs Reordering
Drag and drop the layouts tab to reorder them.
🎯 UI Control Settings
SNAPUIDISPLAY System Variable
Control how various UI elements work with running and one-time entity snaps.
STATBARMENUMODE System Variable
Control the behavior of status bar menus that support multi-selection.
🧰 Tool Palettes
New Tool Palette Tabs Added
AEC Arch with the main commands of the architectural module.
Raster Draw for the new image management system.
“2D Cars” tab with new car blocks for plans and elevations.
Bim Features
🔁 File Conversion
Convert .rvt and .rfa files to .ifc files
by using the RVT to IFC command.
✅ Model Validation
Check .ifc files for errors
by using the IFC Validate command.
🧱 IFC Layer Management
Manage layers for .ifc underlays
in the BIM Properties pane.
📂 Underlay Control
Unload BIM underlays
in the Xref Manager dialog.
🎛️ AEC Styles Manager
Use the AEC Styles Manager to manage styles for:
dimensions, spaces, structural members and structural member shapes,
roof slabs and roof slab edges, AEC polygons, list definitions,
mask blocks, mass elements, materials, multi-view blocks, and profiles.
🪟 Architectural Tools
Corner Window command
Draw a corner window at the intersection of two linear walls.
🚧 Stair Components
Attach railings to stair components.
📊 Data Extraction
Extract data from .ifc, .rvt, and .rfa files.
Data Extraction Command
⚡ Performance Upgrade
The Extract Data command is completely refactored to improve performance.
Scanning, sorting, and reporting from large data sets for data extraction is much faster.
📄 Detailed Reporting
Report on the properties of drawings
(such as file size, path, etc.), system variables stored in drawings, and the number of entities in drawings (such as total circles).
🧹 Column Control
Refine report data
Hide and unhide columns, and drag and drop columns to reorder them.
🔍 Smart Filtering
Entity selection filtering
Filter the list by displaying only blocks with attributes when selecting entities to report on.
⚙️ Editable Extraction Settings
Linked table control
Right-click a linked table in the drawing and choose
Data Extraction > Data Extraction Settings
to change the report template, entities, columns, filters, etc. that are used to generate the table.
📁 Expanded Data Sources
Extract data from
external references, advanced blocks, attributes, and AEC entities.
Use the Corner Window command to draw a corner window at the intersection of two linear walls.
🌐 Multi-Format Support
Extract data from
.dgn, .ifc, .rvt, and .rfa files, depending on the program version.
🎯 Advanced Controls
Create filters
to extract data that meets specified conditions.
Preview entities
when choosing which entities to extract data from.
API
🟣 LISP
Completely refactored to improve performance and increase compatibility with AutoCAD®.
🔵 .NET
Support for advanced blocks,
🟢 IcARX
Enhanced support for user interface development and improved performance for entity creation.
🟠 Layout Tabs
Drag and drop the layouts tab to reorder them.
🟡 VBA
Use the table.setformula method, use formulas with the table.SetText method, and use new methods related to multileader styles.
🔴 Load Application
Load .arx, .crx, and .dbx files by using the Load Application command.
System Variables
🔧 New system variables
BACTIONBARMODE, BGRIPOBJCOLOR, BGRIPOBJSIZE, BPARAMETERCOLOR, BPARAMETERFONT, BPARAMETERSIZE, BPTEXTHORIZONTAL, DRAWORDERCTL, FILLETRAD3D, OLEACCURACY, PRESELECTIONEFFECT, PRESELECTIONEFFECTCOLOR, SELECTIONAREAOPACITY, SELECTIONEFFECTWIDTH, SURFU, SURFV, PDFSHX, SMOOTHMESHCONVERT, SNAPUIDISPLAY, STATBARMENUMODE, TRIMEXTENDMODE, ISAVECOUNT.
⚙ Updated system variables
PICKDRAG, REGENMODE, BKGEDITTEXTCOLOR, BKGEDITTEXTTRANSPARENCY, and POINTCLOUDPOINTMAX.
📋 New system variable defaults
ATTDIA default is 1, FILEDLGSTYLE default is 1, FILETYPEASSOC default is 0, OLEQUALITY default is 3, POINTCLOUDPOINTMAX default is 10000000, SELECTIONEFFECTCOLOR default is 161.
🔄 Renamed system variables
RASTERPREVIEW renamed to THUMBSAVE, REGENTOOLTIP renamed to REGENNOTIFY.
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