AutoQuotes just announced the release of the new 2018 AQ Designer Plug-In, AQ Designer and AQ Designer Deluxe – which together make up AQ Design Solutions (AQD).
For those of you not completely familiar with the AQD products, they are each CAD-based commercial kitchen design software developed by AutoQuotes specifically for the FES industry, under licensing through Autodesk to utilize their AutoCAD design software. AQD Plug-In connects a user’s existing AutoCAD software to AQ; both AQ Designer and AQ Designer Deluxe are separate software products that utilize AutoCAD functionality.
For AQ subscribers who design but do not currently use any AQD solutions, the initial value of an AQD product comes from the ability of users to automatically populate their drawings with CAD blocks from the AQ Catalog, choosing from more than 165,000 CAD blocks. Without an AQD solution, they would have to import CAD blocks one at a time into their AutoCAD designs. In addition, with AQD solutions, quote and design are integrated – when a user makes changes to either their quote or their design, a change notice is automatically sent to the other. Users no longer have to manually keep track of changes or worry whether their latest quote and design versions match.
For current AQD users, they’ll see that the new 2018 products include a more intuitive interface for quicker navigation, with simplified images and illuminated functionalities on a newly designed ribbon; the ability to tag new items without clearing or adjusting tags already in place; and the ability to create macros for repeating actions in multiple drawings. The 2018 AQD Plug-In provides the change notification function, in which changes to a quote or design automatically inform the other – a feature already previously available in AQ Designer and AQ Designer Deluxe.
The new AQ Designer Deluxe goes even further, adding the “wow” factor of 3-D functionality. This includes going from a 2-D to 3-D drawing with one click (an FES industry exclusive of AQ Designer Deluxe 2018); aligning, rotating and auto-placing multiple 3-D blocks all at one time with the AQ Designer Deluxe AutoCAD snap feature; and adjusting object height with a Z-axis editor. Users are able to present a stunning 3-D tour of a kitchen floor plan to their customers before it’s built.
For more information, take a look at our new AQD webpage.