1. WHAT’S NEW IN ZWCAD 2018
ZWSOFT Product Team

2. CONTENT
Performance
UI & CUI New Features API Interface

3. Stability on tough drawings
OVERVIEW 11 UI
709
New features
Freshly re-designed
Fixes
33%
146%
100%
New features:
CUILOAD, Customize, QuickCalc, MVSetup, OOPS, SHADE, Solprof, 3DOPEN, aidimfliparrow, -imageadjust, ImageQuality
Efficiency improved
(vs )
Efficiency improved
(vs. 2017)
Stability on tough drawings

4. PERFORMANCE

5. 33% ↑ 36% ↑ 146% ↑ GREATLY IMPROVED DRAWING EFFICIENCY
Including copy, move, scale, rotate, array, copyclip, select all, layout switch, layer lock/unlock/freeze/unfreeze, etc.
33% ↑
36% ↑
146% ↑
Compare with ZWCAD 2015+, the efficiency has been improved by 33%.
Compare with AutoCAD, the efficiency has been improved by 36%.
Compare with ZWCAD 2017 SP1, the efficiency has been improved by 146%.
Compare with ZWCAD+ 2015
Compare with AutoCAD
Compare with ZWCAD 2017 SP1

6. Drawing Efficiency
(seconds)

7. STRENGTHENED STABILITY ON OPEN/SAVE
Test on 1266 tough drawings, which may make CAD software hang or crash,
open and save in ZWCAD 2018.
100%
(drawings)
99.1%
98.8%
98.3%
97.0%
96.4%

8. UI & CUI

9. INSTALLATION PROCESS No extra folder generated while installing.
After double-click on the EXE file, the folder will be generated to C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Local\Temp

10. INSTALLATION PROCESS 1 2 3 All-in-one-step installation setup. Before
After ① ② ③ 1 2 3

11. HELP CENTER More friendly and convenient HELP center.
More readable contents
Improved data structure, easier to maintain

12. User Interface Brand-new designed UI Relieve visual fatigue
The best ZWCAD appearance ever in every detail

13. Drawing Grid
Customize your grids
(Not supported in 2015+)

14. CUI Support CUSTOMIZE Full Customization Workspaces Ribbon Menus
Classic Menus
Toolbar
Accelerator Keys
Shortcut Menus
Partial CUI
What’s Missing?
Quick Properties, Rollover Tooltips
Double Click Actions
Mouse Buttons
Transfer
(Partially supported in 2015+)

15. Partial CUI For both Ribbon and Classic One-way-compatible .cuix file
Create Ribbon menus for your own app
Automatically generates .cuix from .mnu
CUILOAD
MENULOAD
(Not supported in 2015+)

16. Combination of Ribbon and Classic.
WHAT’S MORE IN THE FUTURE
Combination of Ribbon and Classic.

17. NEW FEATURES

18. QUICKCAL Mathematical, scientific, and geometric calculation
Creates and uses variables
Converts units of measurement
(Not available in 2015+)

19. MVSETUP Sets up the specifications of a drawing
Different prompts for model and layout space
Rotate view
(Partially supported in 2015+, without “rotate view”)

20. SOLPROF Creates 2D profiles of a 3D solids Used in layouts
(Supported in 2015+)

21. AIDIMFLIPARROW
Flip over arrows in dimensions
(Supported in 2015+)

22. OTHERS OOPS SHADE IMAGEQUALITY 3DOPEN Shade mode IMAGEQUALITY
(Supported in 2015+)

23. MORE ENHANCEMENTS
4k Screen Support FIND command optimized Apparent Intersect Snapping Instant preview for block attribute edit Grip edit for OLE
(1 and 2 are not supported in 2015+)

24. API INTERFACE

25. API ENHANCEMENTS Keep enhancing API interface quickly
144 API issues fixed in ZWCAD 2018
909 API issues fixed in the past one year

26. MORE THAN FIXES LISP Compiler (.lsp to .zelx) ZRX Self-Compatibility
Method: (compile-zelx "C:\...\zw.lsp" "C:\...\zw.zelx")
Faster and more secure
ZRX Self-Compatibility
Support to load ZRX compiled on former ZWCAD releases (starting from 2018)
No need to re-compile ZRX for every ZWCAD release
APP+
List popular applications in ZWCAD

27. FUTURE PLAN FOR ZWCAD 2018

28. UPCOMING SCHEDULE Plan in 2018 SP1 2018 Official 2018 SP1
2018 Mac & Linux
2018 SP2
30 Aug 2017
Nov 2017
Dec 2017
Jan 2018
Plan in 2018 SP1
BEDIT (step 1)
Tool Palettes (full)
Mirror3D
Dynamic Input
Design Center
Helix

29. FAQ Q: How to answer customers’ need for DESIGN CENTER now?
A: DESIGN CENTER is going to be presented in SP1. But we can provide it now as a ZRX add-on for those who need it urgently.
Q: Will ZWCAD 2018 support DWG 2018 format?
A: Not supported now. We are all waiting for ODA to do the compatibility work like everyone else, once they get it done, ZWCAD can support DWG 2018 soon. We estimate that it could be possibly in 2018 SP2 or later.
Q: There is only dark-colored skin in ZWCAD 2018, will you add a light-colored one?
A: No plan to add more skins in 2018 at the moment, since it’s quite time-consuming and few people really use it in practice. We will consider it later if many real users ask for one.

30. FAQ Q: Is 2018 license compatible with ZWCAD 2017 and ZWCAD Classic?
A: Yes, after activate ZWCAD 2018, 2017 and Classic will be activated automatically. But it is not able to activate a 2018 key in 2017 license manager(stand-alone version only).
Q: When will ZWCAD Mechanical and Architecture 2018 be released?
A: For ZWCAD Mech and Arch, now we are working with the development and adaption, we estimate that they will be done and released in October.
There are some known issues with license manager of 2017 version, which may cause stability problem. In ZWCAD 2018, we have repaired these issues, so there are some problems between 2018 license key and 2017 license manager(stand-alone version only).
1. On the same pc, after activate ZWCAD 2018, 2017 and Classic will be activated automatically.
2. Not able to activate a 2018 license key with 2017 license manager.
3. After activate ZWCAD 2018, when open the license manager of 2017, it will pop up a message box with warning. But it will not affect the normal usage of license manger, we can close it.
4. After activate ZWCAD 2018, we can return 2018 license with 2017 license manager.

31. Q & A