Drawing Express is a

CAD software Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of computers (or ) to aid in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design. This software is used to increase the productivity of the designer, improve the quality of design, improve co ...

application Application may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Application software, computer software designed to help the user to perform specific tasks ** Application layer, an abstraction layer that specifies protocols and interface methods used in a c ...

for 2D and 3D design and drafting. It is used primarily by

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

s and

builder Builder may refer to: * Construction worker, who specializes in building work * Carpenter, a skilled craftsman who works with wood * General contractor, that specializes in building work ** Subcontractor * Builder (detergent), a component of moder ...

s, but the tools and commands present on the system can be adopted for use by

landscape design Landscape design is an independent profession and a design and art tradition, practiced by landscape designers, combining nature and culture. In contemporary practice, landscape design bridges the space between landscape architecture and garde ...

ers,

surveyor Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. A land surveying professional is ca ...

civil Civil may refer to: *Civic virtue, or civility *Civil action, or lawsuit * Civil affairs *Civil and political rights *Civil disobedience *Civil engineering *Civil (journalism), a platform for independent journalism *Civilian, someone not a membe ...

and

construction Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Press 2009 and com ...

engineers. The software is developed, sold and supported by the British company 'Trial Systems Ltd' based in

Burton-upon-Trent Burton upon Trent, also known as Burton-on-Trent or simply Burton, is a market town in the borough of East Staffordshire in the county of Staffordshire, England, close to the border with Derbyshire. In 2011, it had a population of 72,299. The d ...

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

. The software was first released in 1994, developed by Peter Boyce & Steven Pearce in conjunction with Anton Heymann. The software is based around a tablet and pen interface. A graphics tablet, pen and overlay are used to select, use and manipulate commands thus mimicking the

draughtsman A draughtsman (British spelling) or draftsman (American spelling) may refer to: * An architectural drafter, who produced architectural drawings until the late 20th century * An artist who produces drawings that rival or surpass their other types ...

's drawing board. This differs from the traditional

‘drop-down’ menu structures on-screen as the menu system is laid out in front of the user. The method of drawing in this way is aimed at being intuitive allowing the user to create and amend drawings as quickly as possible.

Versions and 3D

Versions

There are two separate versions of the software aside from the standard Drawing Express package: * Drawing Express Timber Frame - In-built module for Drawing Express which produces panel detail drawings and cutting lists for timber frame buildings. * Drawing Express Underfloor Heating - In-built module for Drawing Express which aids in designing water and electrical based systems. Automatic commands within Drawing Express create these systems. Cable lengths are automatically calculated and layouts can be modified.

3D

3D model In 3D computer graphics, 3D modeling is the process of developing a mathematical coordinate-based representation of any surface of an object (inanimate or living) in three dimensions via specialized software by manipulating edges, vertices, an ...

can be created while displaying it in rendered mode in 'real time'. The

is automatically created from the 2D plans including all walls, openings, and roof. Other information can be added to the model such as sky, landscaping, people and cars for detail. The model can be exported to POV-Ray and rendered off inside the

raytracer In 3D computer graphics, ray tracing is a technique for modeling light transport for use in a wide variety of rendering algorithms for generating digital images. On a spectrum of computational cost and visual fidelity, ray tracing-based rend ...

software Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. At the lowest programming level, executable code consists ...

giving more resolution and detail.

Platforms and license types

Supported platforms

Drawing Express is

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

based

which runs on

Windows 2000 Windows 2000 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft and oriented towards businesses. It was the direct successor to Windows NT 4.0, and was Software release life cycle#Release to manufacturing (RTM), releas ...

, XP,

Vista Vista usually refers to a distant view. Vista may also refer to: Software *Windows Vista, the line of Microsoft Windows client operating systems released in 2006 and 2007 *VistA, (Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture) ...

Windows 7 Windows 7 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was released to manufacturing on July 22, 2009, and became generally available on October 22, 2009. It is the successor to Windows Vista, released nearly ...

Windows 8 Windows 8 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was Software release life cycle#Release to manufacturing (RTM), released to manufacturing on August 1, 2012; it was subsequently made available for downl ...

and

Windows 10 Windows 10 is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. It is the direct successor to Windows 8.1, which was released nearly two years earlier. It was released to manufacturing on July 15, 2015, and later to retail on J ...

. The software works on

32-bit In computer architecture, 32-bit computing refers to computer systems with a processor, memory, and other major system components that operate on data in 32-bit units. Compared to smaller bit widths, 32-bit computers can perform large calculation ...

and

64-bit In computer architecture, 64-bit Integer (computer science), integers, memory addresses, or other Data (computing), data units are those that are 64 bits wide. Also, 64-bit central processing unit, CPUs and arithmetic logic unit, ALUs are those ...

versions of the

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also in ...

. Drawing Express can be run on a Mac with

installed. This is possible on any Intel based Mac running

OS X macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lapt ...

10.5, 10.6, 10.7 or 10.8 versions of the

Mac OS X macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. Within the market of ...

, through the use of

VMware Fusion VMware Fusion is a software hypervisor developed by VMware for Mac computers. VMware Fusion allows Macs with Intel or the Apple M series of chips to run virtual machines with guest operating systems, such as Microsoft Windows, Linux, or macOS, ...

or Parallels Desktop-

virtual machine In computing, a virtual machine (VM) is the virtualization/emulation of a computer system. Virtual machines are based on computer architectures and provide functionality of a physical computer. Their implementations may involve specialized hardw ...

. Drawing Express can also be installed on a Bootcamp

partition Partition may refer to: Computing Hardware * Disk partitioning, the division of a hard disk drive * Memory partition, a subdivision of a computer's memory, usually for use by a single job Software * Partition (database), the division of a ...

License types

Drawing Express requires a

USB Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard that establishes specifications for cables, connectors and protocols for connection, communication and power supply (interfacing) between computers, peripherals and other computers. A broad v ...

dongle A dongle is a small piece of computer hardware that connects to a port on another device to provide it with additional functionality, or enable a pass-through to such a device that adds functionality. In computing, the term was initially synonym ...

to be present on the system it is running on. This is the license for the software and without a

present on the system, the program will not open or save drawings.

Data interchange

Drawing Express drawing files use a .EXP file extension. The

can import and export DWG and

DXF AutoCAD DXF (Drawing Interchange Format, or Drawing Exchange Format) is a CAD data file format developed by Autodesk for enabling data interoperability between AutoCAD and other programs. DXF was introduced in December 1982 as part of AutoCAD ...

files amongst others. In version 2021, PDF files can be imported as drawings. Drawings can also be saved to

PDF format Portable Document Format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe Systems, Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, Computer hardware, ...

using any available

PDF Portable Document Format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems. ...

converter.

Image An image is a visual representation of something. It can be two-dimensional, three-dimensional, or somehow otherwise feed into the visual system to convey information. An image can be an artifact, such as a photograph or other two-dimensiona ...

s can be imported and exported. Importing works with most mainstream image file formats.

Version history

* 1994 - Drawing Express ( DOS) * 1998 - Drawing Express for

* 2000 - Drawing Express 2010 * 2001 - Drawing Express 2011 * 2003 - Drawing Express 2012 * 2004 - Drawing Express 2013 * 2005 - Drawing Express 2014 * 2007 - Drawing Express 2015 * 2008 - Drawing Express 2016 * 2009 - Drawing Express 2017 * 2011 - Drawing Express 2018 * 2013 - Drawing Express 2019 * 2015 - Drawing Express 2020 * 2017 - Drawing Express 2021 * 2019 - Drawing Express 2022 * 2021 - Drawing Express 2023

References

External links

Drawing Express WebpageTrial Systems LtdCAD Essence
{{DEFAULTSORT:Drawing Express Computer-aided design software Computer-aided design software for Windows 3D graphics software 1994 software