Punch! Software Releases Versatile 2D/3D Design Software for $99

Kansas City, MO. January 9, 2007 -- Punch! Software, LLC, developers of the #1 best-selling retail home and landscape design software, today announced the launch of ViaCAD™, a high functionality, low-cost 2D/3D design product that revolutionizes the way everybody creates designs in 3D. The product will be released for both Mac OS X and Windows platforms starting in March 2007, and will retail for $99.

ViaCAD delivers a powerful new way of designing, delivering a surprisingly easy system for creating 2D and 3D designs using its patent-pending adaptive user interface and LogiCursor™ technology. In ViaCAD, 3D designs automatically create 2D details, plans and elevations with a single mouse click. The software also delivers industry standard interoperability including Google® SketchUp®, AutoCAD® 2007, Adobe Illustrator® and other common 3D formats.

The product supports 2D, 3D, surface, and solid modeling tools with a wide array of features to allow precision illustrations while keeping the process of design simple. Accuracy is ensured by ViaCAD’s ACIS®-based kernel. The new release creates section and detail views, Bill of Materials lists, and includes complete 3D editing tools, annotation, and dimensions, among many other practical features for the designers of every scale and level.

“ViaCAD has been created with a laser beam focus on ease of use, so that it’s now fun being effective and highly productive with design software,” said Tim Olson, VP Development, Punch! Software, LLC. “We anticipate that designers, engineers, and actually everyone who is curious about 3D, will find ViaCAD a great way to continue using 2D, while experimenting with 3D in an unbelievably simple way that can be understood by everyone.”

A Full Array of Features
Key features to ViaCAD comprise a powerful array of features not normally seen in retail products:

--Innovative patent pending interface that makes 2D and 3D design easy
--LogiCursor that anticipates your moves
--Data entry windows for precise creation of geometry
--Unlimited undo and redo histories
--Sketching functions
--Support for multiple monitors
--Easy Switching between 2D and 3D functions

Part of the interface tools comprise the LogiCursor technology that ‘thinks’ while you draw and sketch, anticipating your next move and providing an easy way to snap to elements, and find intelligent locations of centers and endpoints. This simple, easy, interface also provides the ability to create 3D on the fly from 2D line profiles.

Fast, unique 2D and 3D design: The unique automated 3D to 2D procedures in ViaCAD allow the designer to create 2D drawings automatically from 3D models, as well as create scalable views, section and detail views. The easy toggling between 3D and 2D design means that users can visualize in 3D and then make quick, precise edits to the design in 2D, and then continue working in 3D.

Advanced CAD tools: Both the 2D and 3D design functions provide a complete set of tools for professional and precision designers that include:

NURBS-based creation
Complete set of line, arc, circle, polygon, ellipse and spline tools
The ability to create tangential lines, fillets, chamfers, bosses, shells, variable radius blends
Boolean operations in solids, extrusions, healing and repair, parametric features and associativity at high precision.
Parts Libraries as a standard: A 26,000-plus parts library enables the rapid creation of 2D and 3D designs with existing parts, using drag-and-drop functions and dynamic positioning. Ready-to-use models include HVAC networks, kitchen elements, posed figures, office furniture, mechanical parts, home elements and more. These parts libraries are delivered as a standard part of the product.

Rendering 3D views for clarity in ViaCAD is easy, with options for lighting from ambient, point, distant and spot locations.

Industry-Standard Interoperability: ViaCAD has been developed to include professional industry standard interoperability including format support for: SketchUp (.skp), AutoCAD 2007, Adobe Illustrator, DXF/DWG, ACIS SAT, IGES, Rhinoceros®, STL, 3DS Max®, TurboCAD® for Mac, Punch Objects and more.

Availability
ViaCAD will be released in March 2007, and will be available at major retail stores as well as direct from Punch! Software’s web site at: http://www.punchviacad.com/

About Punch! Software
Punch! Software was founded in 1998 with the premise that home design software should be as fun to use as it is productive. With more than 2 million seats of its Mac and Windows products sold via retail stores across North America, Punch! Software has consistently been the best-selling home and landscape design retail software brand in the US for the last 6 years. The company excels in providing highly productive but very affordable software that appeals to users everywhere.

Products developed and marketed by Punch! Software include: Professional Home Design Suite®, Home Design Studio™, Home Design Architectural Series®, Master Landscape™ series, the Interior Design Suite™ and ViaCAD™. All products are available at major retailers as well as direct from the company via its web site. Punch! Software is based in Kansas City, MO. More information on Punch! Software products can be found at www.punchsoftware.com .

Professional Home Design, Home Design Studio, Home Design Architectural Series, Master Landscape series, the Interior Design Suite, LogiCursor and ViaCAD are trademarks or registered trademarks of Punch! Software LLC. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Company contact:
Tim Olson – Vice President of Development
Punch Software LLC.
(262) 691-3563
[email protected]