LazCAD – First Release!

[maurog]

Hello everyone,

I am excited to introduce the first version of LazCAD, a CAD project based on FPC/Lazarus and CADSys4.2.
It’s still a work in progress, but I wanted to share this milestone with you and am eager to hear your feedback!

Current Status:
The basic functionality of LazCAD is in place, and you can already create simple models.
There are still many things to address and open questions – for example, the RuntimeScripter is completely missing.
I’m unsure whether to integrate PascalScripter, Python, or maybe both as scripting languages.
The Undo/Redo engine is also still on the to-do list.

What’s Next?
In future versions, I will work on grouping the properties of entities in the Object Inspector to improve clarity.
Additionally, I will develop the script integration and Undo/Redo functionality further.

More Insights:
A brief introduction to the LazCAD user interface can be found here:
https://www.hackcad.com/maindownloads/LazCAD_UI.mp4
Another video shows the compilation process for 5 different platforms, demonstrating the power and cross-platform capabilities of FPC/Lazarus:
LazCAD cross-platform compilation – https://www.hackcad.com/maindownloads/LazCAD_Compile.mp4 Man, how powerful FPC and Lazarus really are!

Downloads:
Source code: https://github.com/mdadali/LazCAD
   Linux 64-bit: https://www.hackcad.com/maindownloads/LazCAD-x86_64-linux-gtk2.zip
Windows 64-bit:  https://www.hackcad.com/maindownloads/LazCAD-x86_64-win64-win.zip


Support Welcome!
The project is still under development, and I would be thrilled if the community could provide feedback, ideas, or even support in development. Any contribution is welcome – whether ideas, bug reports, code contributions, or discussions about future features.

Note:
Before running the binaries, you should adjust the LazCAD.ini.
I have compiled and tested it under Linux (Debian 12) and Windows (Wine). 🙂

Components Used:
CADSys4 (I have modified the library, please take it from the src/components directory).
All other used components can also be found in that directory.

Best regards,
Maurog.

[Hansvb]

Hi,
The first thing you notice is that the downloads is an http site. My browser doesn't like that. (FireFox). Downloaded it anyway and took a look at the program. It looks very neat.
I think a help file would be nice. Now I haven't drawn with a CAD program in 20 years, but I had to try all the snap buttons before I got the right one 

[zamtmn]

Excellent project! We need more CADs, good and different))

[maurog]

@Hansvb:
So, regarding the download: The project is hosted on a domain called “www.hackcad.com”. Naturally, every browser/AI will be alerted by that. “Hack/Hacking” actually signifies a spirit of experimentation. The browser wants to confirm whether you really want to proceed with the download.

Regarding the help file, it will be done. As for the snap functions, you just need to hover the mouse pointer over a snap button for a few milliseconds, and a hint will appear...

Best regards.

[veb86]

Hello
I am an internal power supply network design engineer. Every day I use ZCAD (open source) in my work. Every day it simplifies and speeds up my work.
ZCAD is written entirely in FreePascal (Lazarus). My hobby is programming, I joined ZCAD programming in 2016. The author of ZCAD (zamtmn) will always help, tell, he is a very strong programmer!
ZCAD has a lot of things implemented. Undo-redo, degradation when zooming, huge or very small coordinates on the drawing, printing to a printer, many objects, specialized things (devices, cable, etc.). Many automation elements. And I always say that ZCAD is almost 2D BIM (2d revit).
There are still a lot of things I want to do, for example:
- now there is only support for DXF 2000 and it would be great to integrate LibreDWG, we would be able to open dwg files. - correct calculation of huge GDI coordinates is not implemented
- no paper space and model
- no 3D objects
- no basic commands for cropping, stretching, rotating by 3 points.
- other, you always want more.
I am currently implementing an electrical CAD component in ZCAD. I want to speed up and improve the quality of my work.
If you decide to open ZCAD, you will notice that we have problems with localization, but it is implemented very flexibly in the code and allows you to translate the program into any language without any problems. There is no time for this
You have done a great job, but there is work ahead that tends to infinity. I ask you to think about combining our efforts on ZCAD. Why should we invent different unfinished CADs if we can make one full-fledged CAD together (in the future, BIM)
ZCAD: https://github.com/zamtmn/zcad
ZCAD nightly build: https://ci.appveyor.com/project/zamtmn/zcad/build/artifacts
Test Files: https://disk.yandex.ru/d/PZjj4cID_1IEKw
PS. For us, ZCAD is a program in which we make real projects with a large number of objects. And at the same time, ZCAD is a hobby. My main source of income and the author's source of income is working as a design engineer. The author has been writing ZCAD for over 20 years, work, family, children, everything like everyone else.

[wp]

@Hansvb:
So, regarding the download: The project is hosted on a domain called “www.hackcad.com”. Naturally, every browser/AI will be alerted by that. “Hack/Hacking” actually signifies a spirit of experimentation. The browser wants to confirm whether you really want to proceed with the download.

Sorry, but hosting a project on a domain with such a name does not look very trustworthy and will scare users. No advertisement for Lazarus...

[maurog]

@wp:
You are right, but when I chose this name, all the good names like eazycad, smartcad, PowerCAD, etc., were already taken.

[zamtmn]

Try github/gitlab?

[verasan]

but ...only for Windows???!!!!!!....uhmmm what happends with Linux users?

[maurog]

@zamtmn
Thank you, I will look into it.

[wp]

You are right, but when I chose this name, all the good names like eazycad, smartcad, PowerCAD, etc., were already taken.

LazCAD was not available?

[dbannon]

....
based on FPC/Lazarus and CADSys4.2.
.....
My goal is to integrate a 2D CAD program based on Lazarus/FPC into Debian,
.....

CADSys4 as in https://github.com/michalgw/CADSys42 ?

Maurog, that CADSys4 has a DIY license attributing copyright to a Piero Valagussa ? Piero does not seem to be involved in the Github project, is he/she available for you to discuss this matter ?

Debian will push back very, very hard against any DIY license. The reason being that they will require a legal opinion about whether or not its acceptable to Debian. And such legal opinions are expensive and slow and need to be constantly reviewed.

When I was first approach by Debian to submit tomboy-ng, I needed to abandon my DIY license and get Tomas (author of KControls) to change his license. Amazingly, he did so.

I now use the MIT license and KControls uses the BSD-three-clause. Will Piero be willing to change his license ?

Might well be a good idea to think this through before you put too much effort in.   


Davo

[ALLIGATOR]

We can unite all CAD developers under a single topic and discuss common issues and share experience )
💪😁💪

[veb86]

I haven’t fully understood your concerns. Could you please clarify?

The concerns are simple.
CAD is a large and complex program, within it there are many directions of development. Today you have time for programming, tomorrow you may no longer have it (changed jobs, got married, had children). Therefore, each programming language has its own small CAD, but it is impossible to work on this CAD. Programming in a team of like-minded people is more pleasant and interesting. Megalithic projects like CAD should be done together.

[maurog]

@verasan: but ...only for Windows???!!!!!!....uhmmm what happends with Linux users?

LazCAD can be compiled for almost any platform thanks to FPC/Lazarus, so it is not limited to Windows. Please check out the compilation video for more details. The Linux-AMD64 version is available.