New in ARCHLine.XP 2020
Smoother, more powerful design, documentation and visualisation from start to finish, including tighter integration with ARCHLine.XP LIVE, and new & renewed commands for greater productivity guided by user feedback.
ARCHLine.XP 2020 has been released!
ARCHLine.XP 2020 has been released!
INTRODUCING: MEP TOOLS
The ARCHLine.XP MEP tools make it easy for engineers to model and visualize mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems in 3D, along with the architectural model.
Import your MEP parts, fixtures and fittings in IFC format, connect your elements using ducts, pipes, etc.
Have full control over when and how to represent your MEP elements in order to have clean and professional layouts.
Feature available in ARCHLine.XP Professional only
AUTO-ROUTING
What's better than having the ability to build MEP systems? When you do not have to do it by hand.
Meet "Auto Routing": ARCHLine.XP connects up your MEP parts to each other by itself, so that you don't have to worry about collision or missing connections.
Feature available in ARCHLine.XP Professional only
CREATING LIGHTING PLANS
Create lighting plans by organizing and ordering your switches and lamps together.
With the schematic representation of your electrical items, a unified 2D appearance is made possible.
The method is as follows:
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Define the type of your lamps: ceiling, wall, desk, pendant, spot, etc.
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The lamps are "turned" into a symbolic 2D representation
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The switches and lamps are linked up together
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The connection between the items is checked: are there any non-connected elements? Are there any switches that have ways that are not yet taken?
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Eventually, we yield necessary data, such as the needed wattage of a room.
Feature available in ARCHLine.XP Professional only
CREATING SEAMLESS PATTERNS
Turn your imported textures into seamless ones. A seamless pattern means that its vertical and horizontal repetition is without breaks, therefore resulting in a natural and realistic outcome.
No need for an external image manipulation software to achieve this result - you can do this in ARCHLine.XP directly. Process your textures, define their boundaries manually, and use them as seamless patterns.
Flexible Stair Design
While drawing your staircases, you can use detailed support systems that can be further edited. Moreover, you can create stairs with slanted riser boards.
TILING WITH RANDOMLY ROTATED TILES
When a surface is tiled in reality, the contractor lays the tiles randomly rotated. This results in a natural outcome, and this you can also achieve on your design.
ARCHLine.XP 2020 allows a randomized placement of tiles, so that the individual tiles will be rotated arbitrarily. With the repeated use of this tool, the end result becomes even more lifelike.
Feature available in ARCHLine.XP Professional only
Google Drive
Backup your projects to the cloud, using Google Drive. Not only can you access your work on other computers, but older versions and safety backups are always within reach, wherever you go.
IMAGE TRANSPARENCY: ALPHA CHANNEL
Making certain parts of an image transparent has multiple uses - this is how we create wall decals, or a lamp shade with pattern, through which light should shine.
Such result we can achieve with Alpha Compositing, or, "adding an Alpha Channel".
Select colors on your image, which you want to turn transparent. The result is an intricate pattern, created in seconds.
MORE GEOMETRIC FREEDOM FOR ROOF WINDOWS
Complex roof windows? No problem.
Design customized roof windows, even if you have more windows linked up, or if the roof window reaches the roof plane's edge.
CURTAINS AND SHADERS ON SLANTED SURFACES
You can use the curtain tool on roof windows, too - the curtain will always follow the roof plane's inclination.
Feature available in ARCHLine.XP Professional only
CONSIGNATION WITH YOUR OWN DOCUMENT TEMPLATES
Create material consignations and take-offs, using your own custom templates you have created in Microsoft Word.
It works as follows: ARCHLine.XP adds its XML export data into an RTF template. Such templates are created when a MergeField code is ordered to an RTF document.
As a result, you can fully customize how your exported documents will look like.
ROTATING YOUR DRAWING: TRUE NORTH AND PROJECT NORTH
By rotating your drawing, you can align the main walls of your building with the horizontal and vertical axes. This results in easier design, where you can snap to orthogonal directions.
The drawing can be set back to its original orientation anytime, and you can toggle between the True North and Project North.
Switching between these modes will not affect the 3D model or the print layouts.
TAGS
A tag is a label, which helps you to identify certain elements on your drawing, by showing data, which has been assigned to that item.
You can create and place tags at any stage of your work - place them onto your floor plan, or save them into Excel tables.
Tags can be customized, meaning that the values ordered to the item can be re-organized, and changed anytime.
What's more, the tags will always refresh, and follow the changes on your project.
CONTROLING VISIBILITY OF INACTIVE FLOORS
There are 3 ways to represent visible, but inactive floors on your floor plan:
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With substitute colors
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With halftone
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With original colors
Also, you can now switch between visible floors by using the CTRL + arrow hotkeys.
COLORING MATERIALS AND TEXTURES
Coloring materials
As an additional material property, we have introduced Adding color. This can be switched on/off at will, and it will only affect the appearance of the material, while leaving the original texture intact.
As a result, you can try several color schemes of the same material, with the result instantly showing.
Coloring textures: adding color correction
The image patterns you import into your projects can be re-colored, and saved as an additional material. Contrary to the "coloring materials" feature, here you'll end up with textures, which are re-colored.
CUSTOM BUMP MAPPING
Bump Mapping results in a highly realistic appearance of surfaces by simulating bumps and wrinkles.
For this end, we can use textures which we call Normal Maps.
Normal Maps you can simply procure from the Internet, or you can create your own, by using textures.
Import them into ARCHLine.XP, and see your materials coming to life.
RENDERING ENHANCEMENTS - FASTER RENDERS, DEPTH OF FIELD
With our revamped rendering engine, you can create high-resolution photorealistic images in shorter time.
Meet Depth of Field, an effect, borrowed from professional photography, enhancing and highlighting the main focus of your images. You can define where the photo should be the sharpest, while blurring out items located in the foreground or background.
Feature available in ARCHLine.XP Professional only
TEXT WITH POINTER LINES
This tool links up a selected element with a single- or multi row text with a pointer line.
If the text is moved, the line will follow it.
You can add arrowheads to either end of the lines, and you can modify the linetype, too.
You can add arrowheads to either end of the lines, and you can modify the linetype, too.
SIZE-BASED LISTING OF YOUR OBJECTS
Every now or then, we need to purge the objects we do not need anymore.
In order to make this easy, you can easily filter your objects in the Design Center based on their sizes, complexity or date, so that you can single out the items you want to get rid of.
LICENSE MIGRATION MADE EASY
You can easily migrate your license between computers. You can deactivate the program on your old workstation, and activate it on a new one with a few clicks.
There are three ways to activate/deactivate your license:
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With internet connection between your computer and the Cadline servers: simply deactivate the program on your old workstation, and activate it on the new one.
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If there is internet connection, but the computer is unable to connect to the Cadline servers: this might be caused by firewall settings, admin settings, etc. If this happens, you can log into your ARCHLine.XP account on our website, where you can deactivate your license online.
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Offline license migration: if there is no Internet connection, your license data has to be sent to us, along with a request for license migration.
Please note:
Once your license has been migrated to another computer, you will no longer be able to use the program on your original workstation.
CHANGING THE MATERIAL OF PICTURES FROM THE DESIGN CENTER
The frame material or even the picture itself can be changed directly from the Design Center. When we change the picture, the frame size will update, too.
PANORAMA 360 ENHANCEMENTS
Create elaborate 360 walkthroughs of large buildings. You can connect cameras - even if they are on different floors.
SKETCH MODE - TURNING ONE MODEL INTO SEVERAL ITEMS
It happens frequently that we need to edit the models we have downloaded into ARCHLine.XP. In Sketch Mode, we can tell the program to only store the selected items of a model. Once those items are saved, you can keep on selecting further items of the model, and save them in batches, or one by one.
As we work, we can delete, move or even rotate the elements we are working with.
NEW CABINETRY FUNCTIONS
1. DXF export for CNC machines
The panels making up your cabinet can be saved one by one into DXF files. These files then can be easily passed onto CNC machines.
2. CSV export for panel cutting optimization software
The CSV file will carry the dimensions, amount, material information of your cabinet panels - based on this data, the relevant software products can easily calculate the optimal cuts, minimizing loss and redundancy.
Features available in ARCHLine.XP Professional only
RECESSED OR IN-FLOOR OUTLETS
In addition to positioning electrical outlets vertically on walls, you can now recess them into worktops, into the bottom or top surface of slabs - or on any kind of flat surface.
Feature available in ARCHLine.XP Professional only
WITHDRAWAL OF DEPRECATED USER INTERFACE
The Ribbon bar appeared in 2018 as the default user interface and for two years the traditional “classic” menu and toolbar also remained available to allow enough time to transition to the new feature.
In the 2020 version, the traditional “classic” menu and toolbar have been withdrawn and permanently replaced by the Ribbon bar.
In the 2020 version, the traditional “classic” menu and toolbar have been withdrawn and permanently replaced by the Ribbon bar.
NEW FEATURES IN ARCHLINE.XP