We are proud to release MudShark version 10, now available to all our customers within Software Assurance, and those with an active MudShark Subscription.
We have created a video alongside this blogpost that covers some of the most important new features. Please take a look at what has changed.
Stitch Plan Tool
The new Stitch Plan tool, located in the Plans tab allows the user to scale, rotate, and move a plan using a reference line on a plan that has already been scaled correctly.
The tool was developed to help speed up the process of appending plans together on large projects, especially roads which are usually made up of multiple plan files.
To use the new tool, first import and scale a plan correctly, then select another plan that needs to be aligned or stitched to that plan. Select the Stitch Plan tool from the plans tab, draw a reference line first on the plan that you wish to scale, and draw that same line (ensure the direction in which you input the line starts and ends from the same point) on the plan with correct scale. You should now have two plans scaled correctly. Repeat this process for as many plans as you need.
Calculation Engine Improvements
A large focus for Version 10 was calculation improvements. As projects become larger and more complex, we felt the need to improve our Calculation engine to keep up with demand. Expect much shorter calculation times and improved robustness on complicated projects. While this is something we are always improving, significant strides have been made between Version 9 and Version 10.
We’ve also added a new checkbox when calculating. The “Proposed Structures Cover Working Area” can be enabled when your project’s proposed site is covered in structures. This allows us to optimize calculation in these situations, further speeding up calculation times.
Plan Management Improvements
Locating plan layers in Version 9 could be time consuming. In Version 10 you can simply select one or more entities from the viewport and all layers that contain those selected will be highlighted in the Plans pane. Great for quickly isolating important layers and disabling ones that you don’t need.
We’ve also made multiple general improvements to DWG plan processing. For example, in the past, when importing multiple plans, the alignment would sometimes be inconsistent, requiring manual readjustment to align correctly. The algorithm has been improved so that now when importing multiple plans everything should align, as they were in the CAD software they came from.
And more!
Here are some other new features and improvements that aren’t quite large enough for their own section, but will greatly improve the MudShark user experience.
- The ability to transmute plan layers that contain both XREF and regular data.
- Improved DWFX plan reading and layer explode.
- Made selecting boundaries easier in cases where multiple boundaries meet each other.
- MudShark now displays boundary points without selection, useful for banking / batter input for example.
- Performance and stability improvements for Trench calculation.
- Transmuting points from a TIN mesh is now much faster. Version 9: 3 hours | Version 10: 3 minutes
As previously mentioned, MudShark 10 is available now for any customer with an active Subscription or Software Assurance agreement.
If this does not include you, and you are interested in updating, email us at: support@brightboxsoftware.com and we will arrange a quote.