SPIRIT What's New

SPIRIT - What's New

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SPIRIT - What's New
-----SPIRIT 12.1 to be released New Pen Table and Color Palette Editor PolySlab 3D Entity Apple Quicktime VR export from FrescoII VRML export from FrescoII Dynamic View update in FrescoII Layer menu options DWF output enhancements PRONTOReporter options Drawing Purge, external option -----SPIRIT 12.0* Double Precision Database New File Formats Room Stamps Pronto Reporting Lightworks Rendering SketchUp 4.0 Support Layer Manger Goto-Views	-----SPIRIT 11.4 Transparent Image Backgrounds Bitmap Transparency Transparent Color Fills New Printer Output New PDF Output for Adobe Reader 6.0 Directory Dialog Enhancements Symbol Transparency 3D Entity Stretch Automatic Drawing Purge AutoCAD 2004 DWG/DXF Support -----SPIRIT 11.3 Layout/Standard Display Modes SketchUp 3.0 Reference Files Copy Data to Excel Multiline Section Cuts Toolbar and Keyboard Macro Editor Reference File Enhancements Spell Checker	-----SPIRIT 11.2 Text Blocks Direct Display of ZAC Detail 2D Boolean Operations Zip and Go Layer Filter Enhanced Dialog and Folder Options DWG/DXF Updates -----SPIRIT 11 Building Component Browser Modify Roof Construction Reference Files Drag and Drop TIN Modeler (Triangular Irregular Network) Ruled 3D Mesh Surface New Style Menus New Style Toolbars True Type Fonts Solid, Hatch and Bitmap Fills Bitmap Import Mouse Wheel Support Layer Manager Context Online Help Door and Window Designer ZAC Database Smart Walls Surface Materials Auto Trim of Walls to Roof Contour Search

What's New in SPIRIT 12
Double Precision Database - SPIRIT 12 calculates to 15 digit precision, which means you could measure a distance from Earth to a site on Mars accurate to within a millimeter.
New File Formats SPIRIT drawing file S12, working file S$$, autosave file SSV, backup file SBK, layer file L12, and building component file (symbol) B12 are all double precision files. Spirit 12 is fully compatible with previous versions of SPIRIT. We have added the option in the File pull-down menu to save a SPIRIT 12 drawing as a previous single precision dc6 file. DC6 files can be opened directly in SPIRIT 12 and can also be referenced. So SPIRIT 12 offers a comprehensive roundtrip solution, avoiding the pitfalls of incompatibility with previous versions. However, some enhancements of version 12 cannot be transferred to the old file format. Example: imported DXF and DWG data in double precision will be rounded off to single precision. Symbols in B12 format are also not downwards compatible as far as precision is concerned. This also applies to views with more than 8 characters or the new room stamp.
Room Stamps Use a SPIRIT S12 drawing with various inserted tag options for use as a Room Stamp within ZAC Rooms. The stamp can be designed to your office standards and can include a variety of drawing entities such as color fill, bitmap fill, selected fonts & more, in addition to the room stamp tags that you select to use. The room stamp provides place holders for values that can be entered in the integrated Pronto Reporter, such as wall, floor and ceiling finishes. You can even create all the room names to be inserted within Pronto Reporter and simply drag and drop them into the rooms in the drawing. A room stamp is automatically generated and populated with the respective values. The following values can be used in the room stamp as variables: Length, width, height, area, perimeter, volume, room index, room name, comment, wall finish, floor finish, ceiling finish... The room stamps inserted into the drawing can be edited with standard SPIRIT functions, such as: * move * enlarge * rotate. We have also added an additional option to Path settings in the Program preference dialog for specifying a unique path for the Room Stamps.
Pronto Reporting The Pronto Reporting feature introduced in SPIRIT 12 is an immensely powerful and necessary component of the Building Information Network. It is now possible to get immediate quantity feedback to not only intelligent ZAC building components, but virtually every SPIRIT entity from 2D lines to Spheres and all other 2D and 3D entities. The Pronto Reporting is directly integrated in SPIRIT 12, which means that it runs parallel to the current drawing, so that no evaluated data needs to be exported. Pronto Reporter directly accesses the drawing database and automatically calculates the required quantities and values. This makes the reporting process considerably fast. The Pronto Reporting window will automatically sort all drawing entities into an organized tree structure for easy evaluation and analysis. For example walls, doors, windows, roofs etc will be organized as nodes of the main Building Structure. Each of these nodes will then be divided into their respective building zones in which the components are located. Selecting the Zone node, will select all components within that zone. You can further select each individual component within the Zone to be viewed. You can even get direct visual feedback from the SPIRIT drawing when selecting nodes by activating the highlight feature. The specific entity/component will be highlighted in the SPIRIT drawing in the color and line type specified in the Identify menu. A print preview of the evaluated quantities is available for itemized or summary reporting. Reports can be printed or saved to an RTF file for insertion in SPIRIT
Fresco II Lightworks Rendering - Fresco II is based upon the award winning and industry standard Lightworks rendering engine. FrescoII is now tightly integrated with SPIRIT 12, such that the production of sophisticated, professional photorealistic images from your ZAC and/or 3D models is an easy task and very effective process. Materials are assigned once for each color within each layer and these material assignments can be used in conjunction with your drawing defaults to further enhance the speed of the rendering process. You can load various material definition files that you create to test variances in material assignments. Materials are assigned via a drag and drop operation from the FrescoII Material Editor. The extensive architectural materials list consists of proprietary Lightworks Shaders that offer endless material possibilities. All materials are seamless (no tiling) in their application, unlike bitmap materials, which are also supported by one of the shaders. An Archive Editor provides the means by which you can create and edit your own material libraries and also import many of the extensive free user libraries available from the Lightworks User web site, which include Sherwin-Williams Paint libraries and Benjamin Moore colors and finishes. http://www.lightworks-user.com. Modifications to the project or geometry, even changes and new building components, are automatically considered by the visualization. A new option for inserting light sources has been provided via the Insert pull-down menu. There are 3 basic light types, spot, point and parallel. All light definitions can be edited in the Light Editor in FrescoII. Default light sources include the ambient and sun light. Sun light position is determined by the selection of country (longitude and latitude) and date and time. All drawing views that have been defined in SPIRIT are available for selection in FrescoII, as is the ability to turn on/off all transfered layers via the FrescoII Layer Manager. But most notably the rendering results achieved with Fresco II are of a very high caliber, dramatically boosting your presentation capabilities and assuring better design communication with your clients.
SketchUp 4.0 Support SPIRIT 12 delivers unsurpassed support for your SketchUp 4.0 models. Import or reference your skp files directly in SPIRIT 12. With file referencing any changes or updates made to your SketchUp models are automatically reflected in SPIRIT 12. There is no limit to how many skp files can be imported or referenced in SPIRIT 12. SPIRIT 12 adds a new dimension with the ability to produce high end rendering output for your SketchUp models with our new integrated FrescoII Lightworks rendering engine. All applied textures in your SketchUp models are retained when loaded into FrescoII. Add a variety of light sources and establish a series of camera defined views. Drag and drop high quality seamless procedural textures onto the surfaces of your model and render high quality images to screen or for printer output. Use SPIRIT 12 to generate all the building elevations, plans and sections for construction documentation and quantity estimation. You can also export your skp models to the highly compressed O2C format for integration in your web site.
Layer Manager Goto-Views Goto Views have been added to the Layer Manager. Select the drop down list of Goto Views, select the view to make active and see the layer list in the Layer Manager update accordingly. You can manually make changes to the On/Off status of layers in the Layer Manager and then either update an existing view, or create a new view with the add view and rename view options. Goto Views are no longer restricted to the 8 character naming convention, however when saving your drawing in a previous version format, the view names will automatically be truncated. You can also delete Goto Views from within the Layer Manager.
Bezier and B-Spline Curves SPIRIT 12 now supports up to 36 nodes for Bezier and B-Spline curves. This gives you a greater deal of control and far greater compatibility with dxf/dwg translation.
Open AutoCAD 2004 DWG files directly With the improvements and changes in the SPIRIT 12 drawing database, it is now possible to open DWG files directly. You can however still import or reference AutoCAD 2004 DWG files as well.
Create or open symbol files directly You can now open sm6 and B12 (double-precision) symbol files directly, as you would any standard dc6 or S12 drawing file. You can also save any dc6 or S12 drawing file as a sm6 or B12 symbol file. When saving the symbol simply ensure that the insertion point you wish to use is located at the absolute zero location (use one of the absolute insertion modes for this purpose). We have also updated the context popup menu to open symbols inserted in your drawing for direct editing (Ctrl + Right click mouse on symbol and select File and the symbol name).
ZAC Enhancements The display of curved walls in ZAC have been enhanced by setting the wall segment length in the ZAC Settings menu. 3D Generation is no longer necessary when visualizing the model or when creating sections. The symbols are automatically generated and are not retained in the drawing.

What's New in SPIRIT 11.4
Transparent Image Backgrounds - allow you to insert bitmap images with transparent backgrounds into your drawings. These images can include anything from trees, cars, people and other entourage that you can use to embellish your 2D drawings, to a level previously unattainable. Use the interactive color picker in the transparency options dialog to select the background color to remove. You can also access the background transparency option from the color fill menu, to change background transparency to images that have already been inserted into your drawings.
Bitmap Transparency - assign a transparent percentage value to any bitmap inserted into your drawings. You could take a wood grain bitmap with an assigned transparency value of 30% and place it on top of a color fill with 20% transparency to achieve a new wood lighter wood grain bitmap. Much like mixing stains on wood patterns.
Transparent Color Fills - assign a transparency factor to any color fill. You can also overlay color fill areas to attain additive color mixing. Import high resolution GIS maps and overlay transparency regions over the inserted map to designate areas of varying use or zoning. Another application for transparent color fill is in the application of glass in a rendered elevation, where background images show through. When you identify a color fill, the color and transparency factors are now available for selection, so that matching transparency color is a snap.
New Printer Output - In addition to previous support for graphics output, support has new been included for transparencies of images and color fill. There is essentially no further difference now between the screen display (Layout Mode) and the printer output. The new printer routine adheres to Windows standards for paper setup and orientation, so selecting landscape or portrait modes from within the printer settings will now affect printer output orientation, in addition to the rotation option in the settings dialog. We have added the ability to save your current plot layout directly as an image (based upon currently selected printer resolution),to PDF as outlined in the New PDF output and to the Windows Clipboard.
New PDF Output for Adobe Reader 6.0 - directly from SPIRIT 11.4. New in this format, is the support for SPIRIT layers. All layers that are currently turned on, will be output when using the new To PDF option in the plotter menu. In addition to layer support there is complete support for writing out transparent Images, Fills and Backgrounds, which are new features in this release.
Directory Dialog Enhancement - the Directory Dialog (from the File pull-down menu) has been enhanced to manage inserted bitmaps. Each unique bitmap is listed, together with the number ofinstances the bitmap has been inserted. The Available column indicates if the current path or image name are correct (check mark) or incorrect (X mark). If incorrect, select the ellipses icon .. to open the Image File Browser,and navigate to the location where the bitmap resides. All instances of this bitmap will be changed. If you do not wish to change all instances, you can use the Bitmap Fill menu to select the individual bitmap image to change.
Symbol Transparency - you can now save symbols with color fill transparency, bitmap transparency as well as background image transparency. This way you can create custom libraries of your entourage such as cars, people and trees and simply insert the symbol at the correct size into your presentation drawings, without having to locate, size and insert bitmaps.
3D Entity Stretch - it is now possible to stretch 3D Cylinders (vertical and horizontal), Truncated Cones and Cones. These entities can be stretch in a 2D or 3D View and retain their 3D Object integrity. To constuct a slanted column, simply use a truncated cone with equal diameter top and bottom. This whay when you stretch the truncated cone, the top and bottom surface remain horizontal, but the object is drawn angled.
Automatic Drawing Purge - As you work in a typical SPIRIT drawing, you constantly add and remove drawing data, therby bloating the actual drawing size. Use the new Drawing PUrge option from the File pull-down menu at any time in the drawing process, to clean, rewrite and reorganize the drawing database. You can check the options under the General Category in Program Preferences (Tools pull-down menu) to automatically purge your drawing upon an Automatic Save (ASV) or a forced save [Ctrl + S]. The purge feature will retain all reference files, color palettes, pen tables, layout sheets, Goto Views, Layers etc. A log file (drawing name.log) is generated everytime the purge function is activated and stored together with the drawing file in the folder inwhich the drawing is saved.
AutoCAD 2004 DWG/DXF Support - you can now read AutoCAD 2004 DWG/DXF files. The import filter for the DWG/DXF version being read is automatically handled by the translator.

What's New in SPIRIT 11.3
Layout/Standard Display Modes - Layout mode provides a working environment of the file as it would appear when plotted or printed. It is a "real time" display of the mapped entity colors, widths and densities as set out in the current Pen Table dialog. To switch to Layout mode, click Layout on the View menu. Standard mode provides the working environment for drawing entities to appear in the colors in which they were drawn, as defined in the current color palette. Standard mode is the default display mode. To switch to Standard mode, click Standard on the View menu.
SketchUp 3.0 Reference - SPIRIT 11.3 has been updated to fully support the referencing of SketchUP 3.0 models. Also you can assign unique reference reference clips, to turn layers on/off and to highlight the inserted reference file by changing line type or color. The SketchUP entities Lines, Colors, Faces, Voids, Components and fully supported.
Copy to Excel - The extraction of data from your ZAC model in SPIRIT 11.3 is now easier. Select the model that you wish to extract data from by using the Clipboard Select function Ctrl+E. Only the selected data will be copied, so if only the data for one room needs to be extracted, area select that room only, using the clipboard select function. Now select the new menu option, CopyEstim and the data will be copied to the Windows Clipboard. Open Excel and start an new workbook. From the Edit pull down menu select Paste. All the component parameters are now stored in their respective columns for easy cost analysis and take off.
Sections/Elevations - You can define a single line or multi-line section cut and even unfold the multi-line section cut to get a continuous elevational section. When the cut line encounters a "smart" ZAC component, such as a wall, door or window, it will search the respective databases for the associated component, at the selected level of detail to use for the section cut. As changes are made to the ZAC model, sections can be regenerated, added to, or simply updated.Section lines can be permanent or temporary and section cut markers can use custom symbols of your choosing.
Toolbar/Keyboard Macro Editor - now easier than ever to create you own custom icon toolbars and keyboard macro key sequences. Simply drag and drop commands onto a new or existing toolbar. Richt click existing toolbar icons to change their position, group icons or edit their command sequences.
Reference File Enhancements - You can now insert a circular reference of the existing file into the current drawing. It does not require the extra baggage of a temporary file created for every circular reference. You can refresh a circular reference file by simply pressing the U key (regen) or by using the refresh reference file option as for regular reference files. A Goto View selection has been added to facilitate the display of layers on/off in the inserted reference file. A new toggle button has been added to the Insert Reference menu to enable you to place inserted reference files by any of their corners. Continuously pressing the Corner toggle will change the reference insertion point to the next corner.
Spell Checker - a new spell checker has been added in the Text Editor, much like the ones found in word processing programs. You have the option to spell check on the fly as you type, or spell check after you have completed the document. There are an abundance of dictionaries available for use with this new spell checker in numerous languages. Add custom words to the dictionary as and when required.

What's New in SPIRIT 11.22
Creating a Text Block - which allows you to create multi-line text to a specified width and unlimited height. The Text Block Editor provides a quick way to transform the properties of the entire Text Block, or individual text or characters within the Text Block. You can Ref to Block which converts all Text reference files (RTF, TXT or HTML) to a Text Block. You can select/deselect, cut/copy/paste, search, search/replace, change fonts/alignment/colors, change bold/italic/subscript/superscript/font size, change linespacing, change max text length, and use a spell checker.
Direct Display of ZAC level of Detail - when drawing ZAC components, such as walls, windows and doors. It is no longer necessary to use the Generate 2D option to display the data on screen. You can display hatch, color fill, bitmap fill, and line type definitions.
2D Boolean Operations - have been added to the Clean-Up menu, Polyline Edit menu and the Edit pull down menu. You following funtions are supported: Union of Polylines, Ellipses and Circles; Intersection of Polylines, Ellipses and Circles; Subtraction of Polylines, Ellipses and Circles; Checkbox for deletion of original entities; Cleanup of crossing voids; and Cleanup of crossing polylines. 2D Boolean Operations have also been added to ZAC menus - Floors and Rooms. After generating the master Room or Floor polyline, additional polyline definitions can be added to or subracted from the master polyline using the new 2D Boolean feature. Areas and perimeters will be updated automatically.
Zip and Go - has been added to the file pull down menu, to Zip the current drawing with all it's associated component files, including the current drawing file, the reference files (dc6, dc5, dc+, dc3, SKP, RTF, TXT, HTM, HTML, DXF, DWG), image files, color palettes and pen tables.
New Reference File Support - for RTF, TXT, HTM or HTML files. Update the original document in the program used to create it and simply refresh the reference in SPIRIT 11.2 to update.
New Layer Filter - in Layer Manger with support for *, ?, "no" (to exclude chosen keycodes), "or" (to combine several keycodes). You can now have 9999 layers.
Enhanced Dialogs for Folder Options, Enhanced Previews, and Resizable Windows.
DWG/DXF Updates - a checkbox has been added to the Export Translator to inable Text Block entities to be exported as Multi-Line text to AutoCAD. A checkbox option has been added to the Import Translator to retain the status of locked layers upon import.

What's New in SPIRIT 11
Building Component Browser - that allows you to organize your database components into categories in a tree view like structure. A graphical display of the selected component is available for the varying 2D levels of detail as well as a 3D display, for Windows and Doors. The new Browser allows you to rename, delete, edit and create new building components.
Modify Roof Construction - you can now edit roof planes dynamically in 3D. Incorporating an O2C Viewer the user selects the wall associated to the roof plane to edit. Change a hip to a gable, specify the slope (rise and run option has been added), change the overhang, eave height or outer height, or specify a multidefined roof slope. Changes can be made to roof planes individually or globally. Multi defined roof slopes can be saved to XML for reuse in other roof models.
Reference Files (XREFS) - insert an unlimited number of reference files in a variety of formats. Reference AutoCAD .DWG & .DXF files, SketchUp .SKP files, Spirit .DC6 files, DataCAD Plus .DC+ files, and DataCAD .DC5 files. A Reference File Manager offers full layer control within the reference file, highlighting, binding, deletion and refreshing of the reference files. Reference files can now be clipped independently of the Spirit drawing.
Drag and Drop - Open Windows Explorer. Locate the file(s) that you wish to insert into your Spirit drawing and simply drag and drop the file onto the drawing screen. The following file formats are currently supported for Drag and Drop (Spirit .DC6 & .SM6 files, AutoCAD .DWG & .DXF files, SketchUp .SKP files, Bitmap .BMP & .JPG files, DataCAD .DC5 & .SM3 files, DataCAD Plus .DC+ & .SM+ files, Arcon .ACO files & O2C *.O2C files).
TIN Modeler (Triangular Irregular Network) - an all new terrain modeler, more precise and taking into consideration all the dips and ridges of a site. You can create the model from contours or from raw point data from a surveyor (point data is simply the XYZ coordinates of measured points by a surveyor). Create instant polyline contours based on the vertical distance between contours selected by the user. Display the TIN polygons in varying colors between elevation heights with the Color Slice feature. "Cut out" the terrain with roads and paths, lakes and building footprints. Display the horizontal and vertical surfaces of these cut outs in selectable colors.
Ruled Surface - connect 2 polylines with varying Z-Values with triangulated polygons to create a mesh 3D surface.
New Style Menus - now supports bitmap graphics, tooltips, radio buttons and toggle switches where applicable and also supports "Menu Skins". In addition an option has been added to lock the position of the menu bar. Context sensitive Online Help can be invoked by pressing the middle mouse button on any menu option. The menu bar can also be locked to a specific position. For those users who still prefer the old "classic" menu style, you can use the fast key [Ctrol] + [D] to revert back, from within your drawing.
New Style Icon Toolbars - with icons that support 24-bit color depth.
TrueType Fonts - in addition to single and multi-stroke, vector-based Spirit .CHR fonts, Spirit adds support for Windows TrueType Fonts. TrueType fonts support Outline and Fill in varying colors or int he current layer color. A new independent, context sensitive Text Toolbar has been added to facilitate the input of text into the drawing. Create SPIRIT Style files for different types of drawings, with an unlimited number of styles that contain your favorite font settings for notes, titles, annotations etc. TrueType fonts can be converted to 3D Objects for display as signage in 3D models.
Solid, Hatch and Bitmap Fills - you can now associatively fill any enclosure with either a Solid color, or a Bitmap (bmp or jpg) Fill. In addition SPIRIT vector based Hatch patterns can now be used in combination with Solid or Bitmap Fills for some very innovative effects. Circles and Ellipses can be filled by selecting them as entities. The order of Filled enclosures can be controlled with the new "In Front" and "Behind" options. The On/Off display of Solid, Hatch and Bitmap Fills can be controlled withthe toggles on the new Switches toolbar.
Bitmap Import - an unlimited number of Bitmap images may now be imported directly into your SPIRIT drawing. Supported formats include Windows (.BMP) and JPEG (.JPG) files. Bitmaps can be rotated and enlarged. New menu options "In Front" and "Behind" allow control of the order of imported bitmaps in the drawing.
Mouse Wheel Support - use the mouse wheel to zoom in and out of the drawing. Zooming is centered on the location of the drawing cursor. Use [Ctrl] and the mouse wheel to pan the drawing left and right. Use [Shift] and the mouse wheel to pan the drawing up and down.
Layer Manger - allows you to manage the layers.
Context Online Help - a new context help system has been implemented in SPIRIT 11. To get help on any menu option simply click on the menu button withthe middle mouse button. From Dialogs select the help button, and for pull down menus, move the cursor over the menu option and press the F1 key

SysCon Technology, Inc.

Lake Elsinore, CA 92532

Glenn Osborne

951 674 5081

Revised 5/9/07