Evolution Computing

We’ve been making CAD products for over 20 years, starting with Interact for the Marinchip 9900 released back in 1979, one of the first PC-based CAD programs available. Interact went on to become the architectural basis for the early versions of AutoCAD^®.

In the 30 years we’ve been in business, we’ve seen a lot of CAD companies come and go, and some of them change owners several times. We’re still around, and we’re still treating the writing of CAD programs as a work of craftsmanship.

The founder of Evolution Computing, Mike Riddle, wrote the first CAD software for micro-based computers. Since that time, our powerful FastCAD and easy CAD programs have literally revolutionized PC CAD performance. They work as fast as you think. Our programs cut through the excessive commands and interminable seconds of waiting that sidetrack the creative process and slow down productivity. We significantly close the gap between learning CAD and using CAD.

No wonder FastCAD, FastCAD 3D and EasyCAD2 have earned numerous Number One and Best Buy accolades from national and international publications, including PC Magazine, PC World, Personal Computing, Design News, Software Digest and others. Our software has even won the award that we appreciate most – First in User Satisfaction from PC WEEK.

In 1985, we introduced one of the first under $500 CAD programs, EasyCAD^® for DOS. This program set new standards in ease of use and ease of learning in a field not then known for these attributes. EasyCAD became available bundled with the Microsoft Mouse, a deal that continued for an unprecedented two years, due to the ease with which our program was supported.

In 1987, we introduced the world’s first CAD program written entirely in highly optimized assembly language, FastCAD for DOS. This product set performance standards that are still hard to match on the Intel-based hardware on which it runs. Available before Microsoft Windows^®, this program featured pull-down menus, icons, and dialog box interfaces, much improving the ease of use of CAD. It also introduced never-before available features like plot assembly, (the predecessor to solutions such as AutoCAD’s paper space and our current product’s enhanced sheets and viewports), designed to ease the difficulty of preparing multiple-view, multiple-scale plots. These features were available in FastCAD almost a year before they were introduced in AutoCAD release 9.

In 1989, we introduced FastCAD 3D for DOS, which set new standards in both performance and high-level intelligence of the program’s underlying database. It featured entities such as coons surfaces and conic sections with thicknesses and holes, tabulated curved surfaces, and smooth surfaces of revolution.

In 1994, we introduced EasyCAD for Windows, a low-cost, easy to use assembly language-based CAD program that was Windows-compliant and still offered advanced features such as a programmable macro language, custom menus, and the XP toolkit which allowed third parties to write assembly language high-performance add-ons. This product was introduced at the price of $250, demonstrating our commitment to lowering the cost of viable CAD tools.

In 1997, Evolution brought to market FastCAD 32 for Windows 95 and NT, a highly optimized assembly language based CAD program. It features multiple simultaneous active windows, user-defined bitmap, hatch, and symbol fills of complex shapes, including polygons with holes and curved edges, and third generation XP-programming capabilities, in a professional-level CAD program for less than $500 per copy.

In 2000, Evolution released FastCAD Version 7, incorporating full double precision object oriented programming, with XP support for C++ as well as assembler. It uses multiple-buffering techniques together with tight assembly code, resulting in some of the fastest CAD graphics ever available under Windows. With a greatly enhanced user interface designed in response to customer feedback, 3D support, and literally hundreds of customer-requested improvements, it is a complete ground-up rewrite of the program designed to keep FastCAD development in high gear for the forseeable future.

In 2001, Evolution released EasyCAD Version 7, a 2d subset of our full-featured FastCAD product, that includes more capability in a low-cost product than ever before, continuing our tradition of giving you more for less.

While all advanced programs face the challenge of combining advanced functionality with ease of learning and use, we address it by designing our program’s user-interface by interacting with our users, designing it so features can be naturally combined to get the job done. The real measure of a program’s usefulness is its agility as a productive tool. Improving this has been the central design goal for our products for 30 years.

For those 30 years, we’ve been pushing the envelope of PC-based CAD, adding features months or years before our competition, leading the way in designing CAD solutions. We do not try to do everything – just what our customers tell us they need, and we try to do it well.

Don’t just take our word for it — listen to what the experts say: EasyCAD 2 was rated #1 in the PC Week Corporate User Satisfaction Poll two years in a row. Software Digest rated FastCAD the #1 computer-aided design package in their poll. PC Magazine called FastCAD 3D “the shape of CAD to come.” Machine Design honored Evolution Computing with their 1992 CAD/CAM leader award and Design News nominated Michael Riddle as a finalist for their 1992 “Engineer of the Year” award. Mike was also honored as one of the “Top 125 people in the construction industry in the last 125 years” in 1999 by Engineering News-Record.

We’ve been doing CAD, and we hope, doing it well for over 30 years. That is a lot of real world experience. We keep our focus on our users, not reviews – and it shows in your productivity. Scan our BBS for an uncensored look at what our users have to say.