TurboCAD 2023 Professional + Lightworks Upgrade from TurboCAD Deluxe, LTE, LTE Pro, or Expert
TurboCAD 2023 Professional + Lightworks Upgrade from TurboCAD Deluxe, LTE, LTE Pro, or Expert
Comprehensive 2D/3D CAD Software
TurboCAD® 2023 Professional is a comprehensive 2D/3D CAD solution, able to handle most drafting and modeling design needs. Includes hundreds of tools, an optional AutoCAD®-like 2D drafting interface with command line and dynamic input cursor, 3D modeling tools and extensive file support. LightWorks enhances the lighting, luminance and photorealistic rendering.
Data Sheet
More Info
Overview
Comprehensive 2D/3D CAD Software:TurboCAD 2023 Professional includes 2D drafting, 3D surface modeling, photorealistic rendering, and additional professional features to enhance productivity and interoperability. Users already familiar with AutoCAD® will find it to be a powerful and affordable alternative. It includes a customizable Ribbon Interface with 4K monitor support to optimize productivity and readability on higher resolution displays. |  |
TurboCAD 2023 Professional can help you design projects such as:• Architectural drawings• Remodeling plans • Inventions and patent designs • Prototyping with 3D printers • Mechanical drawings • Furniture design, woodworking, and cabinetry • Musical instruments • Graphics and technical illustrations • Product and Packaging design • 2D drafting, diagraming and schematic drawings |
 |  |
We will help you learn:TurboCAD includes set up wizards, context-sensitive help, snaps, alignment aids, handle-based editing, and a flexible user interface. These will shorten your learning curve, and improve your productivity and design efficiency. Your purchase includes 6 months of free technical support, as well as access to our training tutorials, so you will not have to learn through trial and error. We are experts at creating CAD software and our tutorials will help you to become an expert user quickly. Plus, Context Sensitive help and a choice between using offline PDF manual and our Online help portal. |
Simple and flexible pricing:We offer TurboCAD 2023 Professional in two different pricing models to best suit your needs.Permanent LicenseDownload once and own it forever. Ideally suited for users who need a single license or users who feel they may not need to upgrade each year.Annual SubscriptionsThis is ideal for multiple user seats. With an active subscription, you will always be receiving the latest enhancements and new functionality. |
Key Features
Comprehensive 2D/3D CAD Software:TurboCAD 2023 Professional is comprehensive 2D/3D CAD software that can handle most drafting and modeling design needs. We include hundreds of tools; a suite of intelligent, parametric architectural objects; Sections, and Elevations. |
2D Design and Editing:TurboCAD is rich in professional 2D/3D design tools and drawing aids that speed design. Create views and viewports of any size and shape. Access extensive paper space and printing options. Multi-select drawing tool, dimension tools, and more. |
3D Surface Modeling:TurboCAD Professional includes a complete set of 3D surface modeling and editing tools making it ideal for both single part and small assembly mechanical designs. Read more about 3D Surface Modeling in TurboCAD |  |
Architectural & GIS Tools:An integrated suite of architectural tools are included, such a parametric architectural objects that are AutoCAD® Architecture (ACA) compatible so that .DWG models with ACA extensions may be read, modified, and documented as needed. Read more about TurboCAD Architectural Tools. Read More about TurboCAD Architectural Tools |  |
Powerful Drafting Palette:Create associative views, 2D sections, and detailed views that can be updated in real-time – even from an Xref. Works with both ACIS® Solids and Surface models. Read More about the Drafting Palette |  |
Photorealistic Rendering & Visualization:TurboLux is a state-of-the-art rendering technology which exploits Physically Based Rendering (PBR) techniques. PBR models light and materials based on the laws of physics, accurately simulating the flow of light, resulting in eye-popping images of photographic quality. Support for PBR-compatible Materials for TurboCAD is included in the 2023 release, with over 800, fully-editable TurboLux materials in the TurboCAD Materials Palette. PBR Materials extend the traditional color mapping with normal, metallic, roughness, and height maps. Combined with shaders for matte, glossy, glass, car paint, and metal, these new materials enable renderings to look more realistic by simulating real world imperfections such as scratches, roughness, smudges, or noise. Read more about TurboLux Rendering |
Compatibility and File Sharing:Whether you’re a team of one or many, you’ll have the interoperability needed to collaborate. We’ve ensured that TurboCAD is compatible with a wide variety of popular CAD and Graphics formats. You will be able to deliver files that can be opened and edited by users of AutoCAD® and other popular design software. Your team will be running like a well-oiled machine. • TurboCAD provides compatibility with AutoCAD® DWG and DXF files, from R12 to 2023 |
New Features
Overview of TurboCAD 2023 New Features |
Performance, User Interface & UsabilityUpdate Thumbnails in Blocks PaletteA new option “Update Thumbnails” has been added to the local menu of the blocks in the blocks palette. Blocks Thumbnails can be updated in terms of rendering and views. All views list and rendering types with rendering modes are available in the Update Thumbnail dialog box. |
Library Palette – Update Thumbnail dialogUpdate Thumbnail dialog in the Library Palette has been improved. Previously, the dialog used to open in classic UI despite of being in default UI. Now, the Update Thumbnail dialog opens up in default UI. |
Blocks Palette – Block Insertion ParametersBlock insertion parameters have been improved in TurboCAD 2023. Now user can define the blocks insertion parameters before inserting the blocks into the drawing. The parameters include rotation and scaling along X, Y, and Z axis. |
Blocks Palette – Block PreviewBlock Preview option has been added to the Blocks Palette options. Now user can preview the block without inserting it into the drawing. Blocks can be previewed in all views and render modes. |
.png)
Isolate/Hide ToolsA couple of improvements in Isolate/Hide tools have been made in TurboCAD 2023. |
Inverse Isolation ToolA new tool “Inverse Isolation” has been added to the Edit menu. Clicking this tool makes the hidden objects visible and vice versa. |
Isolate/Hide Tools improvementPreviously, End Isolation tool remained activated even without using Hide/Isolate Tool. Now, End Isolation tools gets activated only if its pre-requisite tools are activated. Also, it is possible to show the hidden objects in Selection Information Palette in “All Drawing” mode. |
| Objects’ hidden state can now be saved when saving a .tcw file. |
Library Palette – Preview Render ModesNew preview render modes have been added to the symbol preview dialog for library palette in TurboCAD 2023. Now, it is possible to preview symbols in different render modes in Library Palette. |
Tools Palette – Resizing icons when changing Toolbar icon sizeIcon sizes in Tools palette can now be resized when scaling the toolbar icon sizes in Customize window. |
Style Manager Palette – Search Option addedA new Search bar has been added to the Style Manager Palette, which allows user to find the various options contained in the properties. The search bar makes it easy for the users to search for different options available in the palette rather than finding them manually. |
Selection Information Palette – Search Option addedA new Search bar has been added to the Selection Information Palette, which allows user to find the various options contained in the properties. The search bar makes it easy for the users to search for different options available in the palette rather than finding them manually. |
TC Explorer Palette – Selected Layout Selection Improvement in Default UIA new improvement in the selected layout dialog box has been added to the default UI. Radio buttons have been added to the Layout and Visibility sections of the TC Explorer Options dialog box. Previously, the selection of the layouts was not clear in the Default UI. |
Render Manager UpdateRender Manager has been updated for TurboCAD 2023. Following changes have been made to the Render Manager. |
|
Materials and Luminances Palette – New local menu itemsNew local menu items have been added to the Materials and Luminance Palette. |
|
Save/Load Engine and Scene PreferencesTurboCAD 2023 has made it easy for the users to copy TurboLux and Visualize settings from one computer to another. Ability to save and load render engine and scene preferences to/from a text file has been added to this version. This allows the user to edit the settings manually in the text editor. |
2D Drafting and AnnotationFind and Replace TextA new Tool “Find and Replace Text” has been added to the Edit menu. User can find a specific text in the drawing and replace it with another word with one click. With a wide number of advanced search and text options, user can search for the specific text easily and replace it with less effort. |
Automatic CalloutsA new tool “Automatic Callouts” has been added to the Dimension menu in TurboCAD 2023. The purpose of this tool is to automatically add callouts (leader dimensions) to the drawing in just a few clicks. These callouts can be arranged in circular formation or along a polyline. After callouts are generated, a BOM table is created with callout details. |
Hidden Line removal for Block insertionA new option “Remove Hidden Line” has been added to the Block insertion properties. On enabling this property, the removal of the hidden rows is applied to the block content. Two other properties, “Show Invisible Lines” and “Show Intersections”, become available on activating “Remove Hidden Line”. |
Drafting Object dimension improvementA new property, “Show actual dimensions” has been added to the drafting object properties. This property gets enabled if drafting object has break lines. Previously, dimensions for a Drafting object with break lines used to be specified without taking into account the break line. For showing the actual size with no break lines, this property is checked. |
Join Polyline ToolA new local menu item “Unmatched connections” has been added to the Join Polyline tool. This tool provides an ability to join polylines that do not have exact connections i.e., the ends of the adjacent polylines either have an intersection or a gap between them. On enabling the option, the maximum distance between the polylines in the Tolerance field need to be defined for connection. |
3D Design and ModelingExploded ViewA new menu item “Exploded View” has been added to the Format menu. This tool creates exploded view for a layout. User is able to pull apart the component along defined axes, X, Y and Z. In case of two axes, then the exploded view will be created along a plane, whereas, in case of 3 axes defined, the exploded view will be created in a 3D space. As a result, a block of the view is created in the blocks palette. |
Exploded View – Visualize Render SupportExploded View is now supported in Visualize Render. The exploded view can now be rendered in Visualize Render mode. |
Rendering and VisualizationAll Renders |
Unification of option names for all types of rendersThe names of the menu items for all types of renders in 'Program Setup' and 'Drawing Setup' have been updated to the correct names. In Program Setup, 'Visualize Preferences...' has been updated to 'Visualize Engine...'. In Drawing Setup, 'RedSDK...' has been updated to 'RedSDK Scene...', and 'Visualize...' has been renamed to 'Visualize Scene...'. |
Render Palettes |
Show and edit Luminance/Materials/Environments with non-active providers |
| TurboCAD 2023 has updated Luminance, Materials, and Environments Palette for showing and editing their relevant attributes with non-relevant providers. Following new menu items have been added to the palettes: |
|
Dynamically Update Render Palettes after Native Draw Switching –TC2023 update render palettes dynamically after Native Draw Switching. Previously, application restart was required to update materials set in the palette after native draw switching. Now these changes are applied dynamically while switching in native draw. Also, scalable render engine icons have been added to the flyout palette./td> |
LightWorksLightWorks PluginTurboCAD 2023 now supports LightWorks plugin as an additional render mode option. LightWorks is activated using the IDRM via Install Shield custom action. The LightWorks Plug-in for TurboCAD Deluxe enhances the program’s lighting, luminance, and photorealistic rendering capabilities for more robust, high-powered renders. This plug-in integrates directly with the TurboCAD material editor and Design Director. |
Visualize |
Static Linking with Visualize SDK LibraryTurboCAD 2023 uses static linking with Visualize. Static linking provides faster loading and unloading of Visualize. Older TurboCAD versions used dynamic linking with Visualize, which required more than 60 separate files (modules) to be loaded for Visualize to work. This slowed down the start of the render. |
| Whereas static linking requires only one file to work, the size of which is two times smaller than with dynamic linking. Reducing the number of required modules and their size speeds up the loading of Visualize by several times. |
Materials DatabaseA couple of new changes have been made to the Visualize materials database. Visualize root category and Visualize Material Settings have been added to the Render Manager. 743 new materials have been added to the materials database. Additionally, visualize render has been added to the render list in graphic Properties/Materials page. |
Use Visualize MaterialsA new option “Use Visualize Materials” has been added to the Visualize Engine dialog. If this option is switched on, the Visualize materials will be used in Visualize Draft render mode. If Visualize materials is not assigned to an object, then the color of the object will be used. If this option is disabled, then the color of the graph will be used, or if options “Use LightWorks Materials”, “Use RedSDK Materials” or “Use TurboLux Materials” are switched on, then appropriate materials will be used. |
Use TurboLux MaterialsA new option “Use TurboLux Materials” has been added to the Material Options in Visualize Engine dialog. If this option is switched on, the TurboLux materials will be used in Visualize Draft render mode. Visualize materials support parameters like color, transparency value, texture map, transparency map, bump map, which can be imported from TurboLux materials. |
TurboLux, RedSDK, and LightWorks Materials to Visualize Materials converterA converter for converting TurboLux, RedSDK, and LightWorks materials to Visualize materials has been added to TurboCAD 2023. “Porting Options” dialog has been added to TCW 'OpenSetup' dialog. All parameters related to render attribute converter have been moved to ‘Porting Options’ dialog. New section ‘Porting materials to Visualize’ added to ‘Porting Options’ dialog. |
Luminance Support & “Use Luminance” optionThree types of visualize light shaders have been added to TurboCAD 2023, i.e., point, spot and directional. |
| New option “Use Luminance” has been added to “Visualize Scene” property page. When this option is turned on, it enables using the drawing luminance. |
Environments SupportFour types of environment shaders have been added to Visualize in TurboCAD 2023. i.e., Plain, Image, Environment Map, and Gradient. Visualize root category has been added to the Render Manager. |
| Visualize Environment library with 7 categories and 66 environments has been added to the new version. Visualize environments settings have been added to the Advanced Options in Render Manager. Also, Visualize Render has been added to the Render Scene Environment page in Drawing Setup. |
| Visualize environments support gradient shader. A gradient background is a blend of 3 different colors, bottom, middle, and top colors. Environment map shader is supported in Visualize now. An environment background is a type of background with a raster image on a static background and material reflections in a graphics scene. |
Add Material LibraryBrick |
| - 10 materials |
| - Category: Brick |
| - Render engines: TurboLux, Visualize |
| - Model units: mm |
| - ReadMe file: Brick_Read_me.txt |
| - TurboLux Metal |
| - 36 materials |
| - Category: Metal |
| - Render engines: TurboLux |
| - Model units: mm |
| - Default Colors |
| - 66 materials |
| - Category: Matte Colors |
| - Render engines: Visualize |
| Model units: In |
Light Support – New OptionsSupport for regular light sources has been added to TurboCAD 2023. The light types include Distant Light, Spot Light, and Point Light. New option “Use Lights” has been added to the “Visualize Scene” property page. This enables using drawing lights when switched on. |
| New light property page, “Visualize specific” has been added to the light properties dialog. |
| New option “Shadow” has been added to the Camera Properties dialog. This option, when checked, enables shadow in the view. |
New Visual StylesNew visualize visual styles, “Realistic”, “Gouraud”, “Sketchy”, and “Shaded” have been added to the render modes in the Camera Properties dialog box. Realistic visual style is for the most realistic rendering including lighting and shadows. Gouraud and Shaded are with the middle lighting quality, whereas, Sketchy is used to extend geometry edges during rendering. |
ArchitecturalRoof – New type of Cut Edge: HorizontalNew roof cut edge type, Horizontal, has been added to the roof properties page. |
Multi-Level Roof (Gambrel Roof)New roof properties have been added to TurboCAD 2023. Now, every roof is a Gambrel roof with roof levels. Roof level has two properties, “Angle” and “Height”. User can edit levels, angle, and height. Gambrel roof properties can be accessed from properties page and selection Information palette. |
Interoperability/Data Sharing |
Ability to control drawing units when opening a dwg/dxf fileTurboCAD 2023 now has an ability to control units when opening a AutoCAD file. Previously, TurboCAD did not understand the original scale of the drawing and used to assume units in English|Architectural with a strange scale. As a solution, a new option “Use plot units as drawing units” has been added to the dwg/dxf import setup dialog. |
AutoCAD 2023 SupportODA has been updated to 23.8 version in TurboCAD 2023. |
Lightworks Overview
LightWorks Plug-in
It includes a powerful rendering engine for quick and easy presentations of your design. For customers looking for more rendering options, the LightWorks Plug-in for TurboCAD 2023 enhances the program’s photo-realistic rendering capabilities with even more robust, high power rendering.
- Integrates directly with the TurboCAD material editor
- Ability to create customer color, materials, and effects
- Both bitmap based textures and procedural materials
- OpenGL based lights that can be adjust in the TurboCAD Design Director
- Luminances with advanced lighting properties
Lightworks Materials
Materials
The LightWorks Plug-in for TurboCAD 2023 integrates directly with TurboCAD’s material editor. It also provides numerous shaders to create materials and their finishes with a real-time preview. This is available even on a selection from the model instead of just a simple cube or sphere (also available). When creating or altering materials, there are extensive descriptions of each shader in the dialog window to simplify each step.
There are over 500 materials included, with the ability to create hundreds custom Colors, Materials, and Effects to extend your rendering capabilities. Some LightWorks materials are bitmap based textures, others are procedural materials, which means that the pattern is calculated so that it does not repeat in a tiling manner.
Bitmap textures may be brought into TurboCAD and used as material textures, including support for objects with alpha channel transparency. This can be useful for entourage, or landscaping and a 2D image of a tree can render much faster than a high-polygon 3D modeled tree with each leaf being calculated separately.
Lightworks Lighting & Luminance
Lighting & Luminance
The LightWorks Plug-in for TurboCAD 2023 offers robust support for lighting and luminances. Lights are OpenGL
based, are quick to add and use, but are more limited in their options than Luminances (see below). Lights may be added with a click, and their properties adjusted in the Design Director, which also enables creating light sets that can be turned on or off as a group.
Light types include:
- Ambient
- Directional Light — has an origin and a direction, providing an infinite light that does not fade with distance.
- Headlight — provides a Directional Light sourced at the camera source sot that it is always illuminating from the user's vantage point.
- Point — provides light equally from all directions.
- Spot Light — provides a directional light eminating from a point and projecting in a cone.
- Sky Light — a simple directional light source that simulates outdoor sunlight
Each light has many different properties that can be managed, including the color; intensity; fall-off; shadow softness; and more. Some that are directional specific may include properties such as the beam sharpness, penubra and umbra (the angle of the cone of light and the darkness in the center of the beam, useful for flashlights).
Luminances include advanced lighting properties that can be assigned to the whole model, or to specific objects within the model. Any number of lights may be combined, so that an Ambient luminance may be used, then augmented by other lights and luminances.
Luminances include:
- Ambient – Illuminates all surfaces equally, regardless of orientation.
- Area – Simulates a luminous surface.
- Area Goniometric – Combines both area light and goniometric properties.
- Area Sky – Limited Sky light covering the light that passes through portals such as a window or door.
- Distant – Illuminates consistently, is directional and parallel.
- Eye — sourced at the view point.
- Goniometric — directed light defined by an .ies file (a text-based file) often provided by lighting manufacturers for their bulbs or fixtures.
- Point — emanates from a single point in all directions.
- Projector — projects a graphic image onto a solid object based on a raster image file, and which is often combined with environmental dust or fog to catch the beam as at the cinema.
- Simple Environment — lights a scene based on an environmental map such as an HDR image, or even a .jpg or .png file.
- Simple Sky — lights the model based on a uniformly bright hemispherical dome.
- Sky — light that simulates a sky light providing soft and natural shadows and is modeled as a hemisphere of infinite radious and positioned above the center of the model.
- Spot — provides directional light that is constrained to a cone.
- Sun — projects a spot light from a very distant point to simulate outdoor sunlighting, and which, when combined with Sky lights provides a realistic rendering effect./span>
With each light and luminance there are numerous properties. Combine them effectively and the possibilities are endless. Create natural lighting for various conditions, artificial lighting to simulate any environment necessary, or mood lighting to emphasize elements of a design and provide an impact. Lighting is a very powerful element in the design communication process.
System Requirements
TurboCAD Pro is delivered in a 64-bit version to take full advantage of your hardware’s available computer memory to load, process, and render CAD files.CPU Type1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor64-bit System Requirements:Microsoft Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8* 64-bit, Windows 7 (64-bit) - 8 GB RAM.Recommended:Your experience with TurboCAD Platinum will be greatly enhanced with a newer generation, higher speed CPU, 8+ GB RAM.GPU Support:The TurboLux™ Rendering engine is now included in all 2D/3D versions of TurboCAD 2023. When running TurboLux, the OpenCL (GPU-based) modes require an NVIDIA graphics card or GPU that supports either OpenCL 1.2 or later, or NVIDIA’s CUDA version 10.0 or later. It is recommended that you install the latest driver updates before using TurboLux rendering. |
Compare New Features
| New & Improved Features (includes over 500+ bug fixes) | Platinum | Professional | Deluxe | Designer |
 |  |  |  | |
| Performance, User Interface and Usability | ||||
| Update Thumbnails in Blocks Palette | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Library Palette – Update Thumbnail dialog | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Blocks Palette – Block Insertion Parameters | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Blocks Palette – Block Preview | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Isolate/Hide Tools | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| 'Selection Information Highlight Improvement | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Library Palette – Preview Render Modes | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Style Manager Palette – Search Option added | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Selection Information Palette – Search Option added | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Clash Detection Tool | ✓ | |||
| Render Manager Update | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Materials and Luminances Palette | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Save/Load Engine and Scene Preferences | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| 2D Drafting and Editing | ||||
| Find and Replace Text | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Automatic Callouts | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Hidden Line removal for Block insertion | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Drafting Object dimension improvement | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Join Polyline Tool | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| 3D Modeling and Design | ||||
| Exploded View | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Shell Tool Improvement | ✓ | |||
| Facet Offset Tool Improvement | ✓ | |||
| 'Updated ACIS® Solid Modeling Engine (Booleans, blends, shelling) | ✓ | |||
| Rendering and Visualization | ||||
| Render Palettes | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| LightWorks Support | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Visualize SDK (v24.2) Update | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Static Linking with Visualize SDK Library | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Materials Database | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Use Visualize Materials | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Use TurboLux Materials | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Environments Support | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Material Library | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Light Support | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| “Shadow Receive” and “Shadow Cast” Options | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| New Visual Styles | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Ambient Occlusion Improvement | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Interoperability | ||||
| Support R2023 Interop from Spatial | ✓ | |||
| IGES, STEP, SAT/SAB | ✓ | |||
| CREO 8, SolidWorks 2023, ParaSolid 34, SolidEdge 2023, NX 1980,CATIA v5-5 | ✓ | |||
| Architecture Tools | ||||
| Roof – New type of Cut Edge: Horizontal | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Multi-Level Roof (Gambrel Roof) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |