QCAD - QCAD Features

QCAD Professional

This feature list applies to the current version of QCAD Professional.

Features in blue italic are available in QCAD Professional only.

Supported file formats:
- DWG and DXF: read and write support for format versions:
  - R2.5 (read only)
  - R2.6 (read only)
  - R9 (DWG read only)
  - R10 (DWG read only)
  - R11
  - R12 (LT2)
  - R13
  - R14 (LT98/LT97)
  - R15 (2000/LT2000, 2000i, 2002)
  - R18 (2004/LT2004, 2005/LT2005, 2006)
  - R21 (2007/LT2007, 2008/LT2008)
  - R24 (2010, 2011, 2012)
  - R27 (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017)
  - R32 (2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026)
- DGN V8 (Microstation)
  - read only
- DWF (read and write)
  - DWF binary
  - DWF ASCII
  - DWF XPS V60
- DXF version R15 (2000) [QCAD Community Edition]
- Shift-JIS encoded DXF files from JW_Cad
  - read
- SHP (ESRI Shapefile)
  - read
- CXF font format
  - reading for use as font
  - opening and editing
  - saving
- BMP, JPEG, PNG, TIFF, ICO, PPM, XBM, XPM
  - import bitmaps into drawing
  - export drawing as bitmap
- SVG
- PDF
  - import vector data and images from PDF
    - not available on 32bit Linux, legacy Windows (XP) and macOS < 10.10
  - export drawing as PDF
  - export drawing on multiple pages
  - PDF/A-1B
Multi-document interface with tabs
Layer support
Block support (grouping)
Default template to use for new drawings
24bit Colors

(available in all editions but not writable to DXF
in the QCAD Community Edition due to DXF 2000
format restrictions)

24 different line widths (mm):
- 0.00, 0.05, 0.09, 0.13, 0.15, 0.18, 0.20, 0.25, 0.30, 0.35, 0.40, 0.50, 0.53, 0.60, 0.70, 0.80, 0.90, 1.00, 1.06, 1.20, 1.40, 1.58, 2.00, 2.11
47 built in linetypes

includes 9 complex linetypes with text / shapes
extendable through .lin files, .cxf files

35 CAD optimized line fonts

extendable through .cxf files

ISO 3098 font (osifont)
All installed scalable system fonts (e.g. TTF) available for texts
Unlimited undo / redo
Clipboard functions (copy, cut, paste, duplicate)

rotate, scale, flip while pasting
paste multiple instances along entity (with distance or number)

Font substitution
Supported units

Metrical: Nanometer, Millimeter, Centimeter, Decimeter, Meter, ...
Imperial: Inch, Foot, Mile, Microinch, Mil, Yard
other: Angstrom, Micron, Astro, Lightyear, Parsec

Keyboard navigation
- Two-letter shortcuts to start tools
- Tab to move keyboard focus to first input field in options toolbar
- Typing a number types into first input field in options toolbar
- Shortcuts for tool options in options toolbar
- Ctrl+Enter / ⌘+Enter to confirm (left-click)
Printing

printing to scale (e.g. 1:2, 1:100, ..)
print preview with paper selection
individual printer settings for every individual block / layout block
print drawing on multiple pages (poster)
print crop marks
print page tags
printer calibration
print window

Construction
- Points
  - single points
  - N points on a line
  - array of NxM points
- Lines
  - with two points
  - given absolute angle
  - horizontal / vertical
  - parallels
  - bisectors
  - tangents
  - orthogonal
  - orthogonal to line and tangential to arc, circle, ellipse
  - given relative angle
  - freehand lines
  - Infinite lines (construction lines, XLines)
  - Rays
- Arcs
  - center, radius, angles
    - entry of parameters in options tool bar
    - direct entry of values
  - three points
    - two points and radius
  - two points and angle
    - two points and length
  - two points and height
  - concentric
  - adjacent to existing entity
- Circles
  - center, circle line point
  - center, radius
  - center, diameter
  - two points and radius
  - two opposed points
  - three points
  - concentric
  - tangential to one entity, through two points
  - tangential to two entities, through one point
  - tangential to two entities with given radius
  - tangential to three entities
  - center, two points (minor and major axis)
  - center, two points, start angle, end angle
- Ellipses
  - center, radii
  - center, diameters
  - parallel curve to ellipse
  - inscribed in quadrilateral
- Splines (NURBS)
- Polylines
  - line and arc segments
  - add / delete nodes
  - trim segments
  - delete all nodes between two given segments
  - create polylines from existing segments
  - create polylines from selected segments
  - create polyline along selected entities
  - create equidistant polylines (offset)
    - miter join
    - round join
  - morph between two polylines
    - apply easing curve for interpolation
    - interpolate Z linearly
- Shapes
  - rectangle from two points
  - rectangle from size
  - regular polygon from center and corner point
  - regular polygon from two corners
  - regular polygon from center and middle of side
  - regular polygon from two opposite middles of sides or corners
  - star shape
- Rings
  - ring from inside and outside diameter
- Texts
- Dimensions
- Hatch
  - 68 patterns (extensible by the user supplied .pat files)
  - adjustable pattern scale and angle
  - solid fill (color fill)
  - create hatch from selected, trimmed boundary
  - create hatch from segments (untrimmed boundary)
- Raster Images (bitmaps)
  - insertion of bitmaps
  - adjustable scale, rotation angle
  - adjustable transparency
  - trace images (vectorization)
    - preprocess bitmap to monochrome
      - based on alpha
      - based on brightness
- Block Inserts
  - insert array of blocks
- Viewport
  - add viewport
  - manage viewport layers
- Wipeouts
  - rectangular
  - polygonal
  - from polyline
Modification
- move / copy

rotate
scale
- interactive scaling in one direction
mirror
move and rotate
rotate and counter-rotate
align reference points
offset
- to lines, arcs, circles, ellipses
- to multiple polylines
- to polylines
  - miter join
  - round join
trim to entity
trim by amount
bevel
round
divide
break out segment
- of lines, arcs, circles, ellipses
- of polylines and splines
break out segment manually
break out gap
auto trim (trim / extend to closest intersections)
stretch
explode
- ellipses into polylines with arc segments
- splines into polylines with tangentially connected arc segments
- multi-line or formatted text into simple, single line text blocks
- texts into polylines with line and arc segments
- dimensions into lines, texts
- block references
- hatches
edit texts
scale text heights
delete
move to background / foreground
align
detect duplicate entities
detect zero length entities
split entities into equal parts
search / replace in text entities
clip selection to rectangular area / clear rectangular area of selection
modify properties of single or multiple entities with property editor
property painter (copy properties between entities)

Selection

selection modes
- replace selection
- add to selection
- remove from selection
- intersect with current selection
all / nothing
single elements
rectangular areas
polygonal areas
connected elements (contours)
elements intersected by a selecting line
invert selection
select layer
select all visible entities
select entities based on type and / or properties
select desired entity from multiple overlapping entities using alt-click

Snap (used to position the mouse cursor to an exactly defined location)

free
snap to grid
snap to endpoints
snap to points on entities
snap perpendicular
snap tangential
snap to center points
snap to middle points
snap to middle between two given points
snap to reference points
snap to points with given distance to end point
snap to intersections
snap to intersection point of two selected entities
auto snap
location defined by entered co-ordinates
relative/absolute/cartesian/angular, surveyor (N12D34'56"W)
restrict snap location horizontally, vertically, orthogonally
lock current snap

Block tools
- block list as dockable widget

add new empty block
create block from selection
edit block
copy block
hide individual blocks
insert block into drawing
nested blocks
remove block
rename block
purge unused blocks
block attributes
- adding attribute definitions to blocks
- editing attribute definitions in dialog
- creating attributes when block with attribute definitions is inserted
- editing attributes in dialog
- editing attributes in property editor when block reference is selected
- synchronize attributes of selected block references / all block references with attribute definitions

Layer tools

layer list as dockable widget
add layer
edit layer attributes
remove layer
show only active layer
hide individual layers
purge empty layers
hierarchical layers
select multiple layers to delete or edit
move selection to current layer
Layer states
- add layer state
- activate layer state
- rename layer state
- remove layer state

View tools

view list as dockable widget
save current view with a name
update view from current view
delete saved view
Overlays
- Direction overlay
- Startpoint overlay
- Order overlay

Measuring tools

position
relative position
polar position
relative polar position
distance between two points
distance between an element and a point
angle between two lines
total length of selected entities
polygonal area / circumference
arc, circle, ellipse area
optionally add measured results to drawing

Zoom tools

auto zoom
zoom in / out (mouse wheel or buttons / hotkeys)
panning (middle mouse button)
window zoom
zoom to selection
back to last view

QCAD Library Browser
- over 5000 CAD parts available as free add-ons (screws, nuts, symbols, ...)

insert parts into the drawing
- adjust angle and scale
- flip
extensible with user defined drawings and symbols
supported format:
- DXF
- DWG
- PDF
- Bitmaps (PNG, JPEG, ...)
- CXF
- SHP

ECMAScript interface
- creation and modification of entities

create new, interactive CAD tools to integrate into QCAD
create command line or GUI tools based on QCAD technology
script shell
almost entire Qt API available
- SQL database connectivity
- networking
- WebKit
- Multimedia
- XML
- user interface (Widgets)

Command line tools
- bbox
  - print minimum and maximum extents and size of a given drawing to stdout
- bmp2dwg
  - trace bitmap files with polylines
- dwg2csv
  - extract information from a DXF/DWG file to a CSV spreadsheet file
  - extract given properties of given object / entity types
- dwg2dwg
  - batch convert between different releases of DXF / DWG
  - options:
    - list supported format release versions
    - set dimension font
    - change DXF header variables (DIMTXT, DIMEXE, ...)
  - convert PDF to DXF / DWG
    - choose page
    - option to import images from PDF
- dwg2pdf
  - batch convert CAD drawings (DXF, DWG) into PDF
  - options:
    - print given block
    - list paper sizes
    - set paper size
    - set paper orientation
    - substitute fonts
    - grayscale
    - monochrome
    - export given list of layers
    - auto fit to paper
    - center drawing on page
    - list available printer names
    - set offset of drawing
    - print to a given or the default printer directly
    - set drawing scale
    - set point size
    - set minimum line weight
    - auto page orientation
    - output PDF/A-1B
- dwg2svg
  - batch convert CAD drawings (DXF, DWG) into SVG
  - options:
    - export given block
    - set page margins
    - export points as circles or crosses
    - set decimal places for output
    - substitute fonts
    - export given list of layers
    - open SVG after conversion
    - set scale
    - set minimum line weight
- dwg2bmp
  - batch convert CAD drawings (DXF, DWG) into bitmaps (PNG, JPEG, TIFF, ...)
  - options:
    - set background color
    - antialiasing
    - export given block
    - export given list of layers
    - color correction
    - substitute fonts
    - set quality (JPEG)
    - set resolution
    - set width / height
    - grayscale
    - monochrome
    - set margins
    - zoom to given window
    - draw origin
- dwgmapconvert
  - batch convert CAD drawings (DXF, DWG) from one coordinate reference system (CRS) to another
  - options:
    - input CRS
    - output CRS
    - segment length (when splitting up lines and arcs to maintain correct curvature)
    - retain texts (don't split up texts and only transform text label position)
  - support for pipelines
- dwg2maptiles
  - batch convert CAD drawings (DXF, DWG) into map tiles for use with online map software such as leaflet.js
  - options:
    - set background color
    - antialiasing
    - export given block
    - export given list of layers
    - color correction
    - substitute fonts
    - set quality (JPEG)
    - set resolution
    - set center
    - set width / height
    - grayscale
    - monochrome
    - set margins
    - zoom to given window
    - draw origin
    - Y=0 at top (WMS) or bottom (TMS)
    - only create sub section of tiles (for parallel processing)
    - zoom levels
    - skip generation of empty tiles
    - add red border to tiles (for debugging)
    - transparency for output tiles
    - generate high-res (retina) tiles with posfix (e.g. [email protected])
- svg2dwg
  - batch convert SVG files to CAD drawings (DXF, DWG)
- dwgexplode
  - explode complex entities in drawings
  - explode splines
  - explode circles to polylines
- dwgnest (QCAD/CAM)
  - automatic nesting of parts into sheets
- merge
  - batch merge multiple CAD drawings into one CAD drawing based on XML input
Misc features
- importing points with labels from CSV
- store and reuse positions (Misc > Information > Store Positions / Use Positions)
- projections
  - isometric projections (pseudo 3d)
  - Planometric projection
  - Dimetric projection
  - Cabinet projection
  - Cabinet projection 30°
  - Cavalier projection
  - user defined projections
  - isometric projections onto cylinder
  - orthographic projection onto cylinder
  - 2D matrix transformation
- adjustable dimension unit format and accuracy

integrated user reference manual
- English
- German
- Japanese (incomplete translation)
clipboard widget
- display current content of clipboard
projections
Assign custom properties to entities
Context Menu
- show / launch last used tools
- clipboard tools
- insert nodes into polylines
- remove nodes from polylines
- insert fit points into splines
- remove fit points from splines
- convert segments to polyline
- select connected entities

User interface translations
- Tier 1 (up to date and proof read):
  - Dutch
  - English
  - German
- Tier 2 (up to date):
  - French
  - Italian
  - Portuguese
  - Spanish
- Tier 3 (partial, contributed and automatic translation):
  - Chinese (Simplified)
  - Croatian
  - Czech
  - Finnish
  - Hungarian
  - Japanese
  - Korean
  - Norwegian (Bokmål)
  - Polish
  - Russian
  - Slovak
  - Slovenian
  - Ukrainian

QCAD/CAM

The following features are available in QCAD/CAM only (in addition to all the QCAD and QCAD Professional features above):

Nesting:
- Automatic nesting of selected parts into chosen sheets
- Support for islands in parts and sheets
- Support for polylines, loose entities, splines, text entities
- Part-in-part placement
- Align part angle to X/Y axis
- Mutithreading
- Treat texts as bounding boxes (faster)
- Sort solutions by
  - Discovery
  - Quality
  - Width
  - Height
  - Size
  - Non-placeable parts
- Quantity:
  - Define quantity for each part
  - Define quantity multiplier when nesting
GERBER import
Tool management:
- Tool list
- Add tools
- Edit tools
- Remove tools
Toolpath management:
- Toolpath list
- Edit toolpath parameters
- Remove toolpaths
- Regenerate toolpaths from selection
Creating toolpaths from selected entities:
- Drill toolpath:
  - Cutting Depths:
    - Safe Z
    - Start Z
    - Cut Z
  - Passes:
    - Single pass
    - Multiple passes
- Profile toolpath:
  - Cutting Depths:
    - Safe Z
    - Start Z
    - Cut Z
  - Passes:
    - Single pass
    - Multiple passes
  - Cutter radius compensation:
    - Side:
      - On
      - Outside
      - Inside
    - Direction:
      - Climbing (left)
      - Conventional (right)
  - Lead in / lead out
    - None
    - Normal
    - Extension
    - Half circle (calculated offset only)
    - Quarter circle (calculated offset only)
    - Eighth circle (calculated offset only)
    - Half circle [from center] (calculated offset or G41/G42)
    - Quarter circle [from center] (calculated offset or G41/G42)
    - Eighth circle [from center] (calculated offset or G41/G42)
  - Overcut
  - Add tabs to hold cut out pieces in place
CAM Export:
- Tool radius compensation:
  - as G41/G42
  - computed coordinates
- Entity conversion:
  - Splines as tangentially connected arcs
  - Ellipses as arc segments
  - Arcs as line segments (optional)
  - Other complex entities as lines and arcs
- Postprocessors:
  - G-Code (generic)
  - DXF (output toolpaths in correct order to DXF)
    - output splines as splines or arcs
    - output ellipses as ellipses or arcs
    - optionally flatten output
    - optionally open output after conversion
    - configure DXF version
  - EMC2
  - LinuxCNC
  - Mach3
  - TNC145
  - TNC430
  - HP-GL (PLT)
  - ... (more can be added)