VidCAD Phoenix FAQ

Currently VidCAD Phoenix will run on the latest release of BricsCAD Pro V21 and V22, and on full versions of AutoCAD 2021 – 2023. Please note that VidCAD Phoenix is not able to run on licenses of AutoCAD LT or BricsCAD Lite. Compatibility with Microsoft© Visio is now available, and VidCAD Phoenix will run on Visio Professional (64 bit) 2016 or 2019, or the desktop version (64 bit) available with Visio Online Plan 2.

As VidCAD is currently compatible with both BricsCAD and AutoCAD, and these are both .dwg based platforms, all CAD drawings are currently in .dwg format. Drawings created in Microsoft© Visio are .vsdx format.

Please note that once a drawing is created in VidCAD Phoenix, it is either a .dwg or .vsdx, and this file type cannot be changed for that particular drawing.

VidCAD offers two licensing models:

• Perpetual licenses that are permanent licenses with optional plans for receiving the latest software updates and technical support (either Diagram or Integrate)
• Subscription licenses that are available annually, and include the license for VidCAD Phoenix (either Diagram or Integrate) and all software updates and technical support for the duration of the subscription

For full licensing details, please see VidCAD Products.

VidCAD Phoenix licenses allow for 1 simultaneous user per seat of software purchased. Users may share licenses, but only 1 user can connect to a license at a time.

Absolutely! Your drawing program will work like it always has outside of the VidCAD Phoenix interface. One thing to note, though, is that if you make any manual changes to a VidCAD Phoenix drawing outside of the VidCAD Phoenix interface, those changes will not be made in the VidCAD Phoenix database. For example, if you change a cable number outside of the VidCAD Phoenix tools, that cable number will not change in the reports and other drawings until it is updated through the VidCAD Phoenix tools.

Of course! As long as you install a drawing engine that is compatible with the version of VidCAD Phoenix you are using, you can switch between drawing engines as needed. The VidCAD Phoenix Explorer should automatically detect compatible drawing engines and make them an available option.

Please note that once a drawing is started either as a .dwg or a .vsdx, it is not currently possible to switch that particular drawing to another format. But a VidCAD Phoenix project can contain drawings in both drawing formats.

VidCAD Phoenix creates and tracks data for each piece of equipment, connector and cable in every drawing. Therefore, an existing diagram or schematic cannot simply be opened for use in VidCAD Phoenix because it would not have the data that the VidCAD tools require. However, architectural drawings can be used inside of VidCAD Phoenix for placing floorplan symbols, etc.

Definitely! Many of our VidCAD users choose to run VidCAD Phoenix perpetual licenses via a network setup on a local domain. Please contact the VidCAD Team to discuss your preferred network setup options.

VidCAD Phoenix is a completely separate application from previous VidCAD products, and can absolutely run side by side with an older version of VidCAD SQL.

VidCAD Phoenix is natively developed in Windows 10. VidCAD Phoenix is no longer supported on either Windows 7 or Windows 8.

VidCAD is a suite of tools that work together for design and documentation automation, and the most resource intensive tool is typically the drawing engine of the user’s choice. Therefore, we recommend that each user consult the hardware requirements/recommendations for the drawing engine selected. BricsCAD System Requirements and AutoCAD System Requirements Please contact the VidCAD Team to discuss server requirements for a network install of VidCAD Phoenix.

VidCAD Phoenix can also export data in .csv format to integrate with other software. We continue working on integration with other software, and are always open to suggestions and requests.