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ConceptDraw - Drawing and Diagramming Program Review

Geoff Harrod

ConceptDraw is a cross-platform and multi-purpose drawing and diagramming program for quick creation of professional-looking business diagrams, software flowcharts, web-site maps, technical drawings, home and office layouts and family trees. Powerful yet easy-to-use drawing tools, 80+ task-related libraries containing over 1800 objects, and an intuitive interface will make you enjoy using the program. ConceptDraw is available for Windows, Macintosh and Mac OS X, in several languages. 

ConceptDraw follows a similar paradigm to that pioneered by Visio. It was created by a programming company called Computer Systems Odessa, based at Odessa, in Ukraine, on the Black Sea, established in 1993. They invite you to see something of their company and its location on their website at Odessa. ConceptDraw has its own website for promotion, sales and support in English, French, German and Spanish.

Free Downloadable Demo Version

The software can be downloaded and installed as a demo version that will run for a limited time so that you evaluate it at no cost before deciding if it will suit your needs. To keep it operational, you can register your copy on their website and pay for a licence number, which unlocks the time limit on your installed software. It installs to about 27Mb of disk space. The download file is about 6Mb for Windows and 9Mb for Mac. Versions are offered in English, French and Spanish, and German. An Italian version is also offered through a dealer in Italy.

System Requirements & Compatability

Unlike Visio and its other rivals, ConceptDraw is offered in a version for the Macintosh as well as for Windows. The Windows version requires Windows 95, 98, NT4, 2000 etc, a Pentium processor and at least 16Mb memory. The Mac version requires a PowerPC processor, 32Mb memory and MacOS8 or later. From the manual illustrations the two versions appear to be identical except for cosmetic differences between Mac and Windows displays, and for Microsoft's OLE system for hot-linking objects to other Windows programs that is provided in the Windows version only. They say the data files are interchangeable between the two versions.

Excellent Manual!

The manual is provided as an Adobe Acrobat PDF file. It is formatted as a 180 page book that is profusely illustrated and very thorough - rather better than the latest Microsoft Visio manual in fact. There is, as may be expected, also a Windows on-line Help system. This uses the latest type of HTML-based Windows help and quite closely parallels the Acrobat book.

Drawing Objects

The basic drawing objects of ConceptDraw are 'Figures' which is the name given to open-ended line objects, and 'Geometry', which are shapes made up from connected figures.

The basic Figures are shown in above diagram.

The Spline curve is notably well implemented. You can 'sketch' a curve by dragging the pointer, but it creates as a properly formed spline curve with control points and node vector handles to control the strength and direction of mathematical 'pull' at the node points. The two right-hand figures illustrate the use of node handles. The length of their 'lever' controls the strength of influence and hence sharpness of curvature. Node points can be added or deleted as desired.

If geometry forms enclosed spaces, those interiors are by default infilled with colour. In any case the interior of a closed geometry is never vacant space but is a defined element of the shape. All drawing objects have a table of properties linked to them behind the scenes. You can view those tables and can affect the graphic shapes by changing the numeric or text values of the table cells, which are presented on-screen like mini-spreadsheets.

Another basic object type is 'Connectors', which are mainly lines of various forms that can hook onto features of other objects to connect them, as in block diagrams. If the connected objects are subsequently moved around, the connectors will automatically extend and re-route themselves quite intelligently to maintain the connection.

Drawing objects can be Grouped, so that all elements in the group stay together. However, it is possible to edit components within a Group without having to completely un-group and re-group afterwards.

Editing Objects

Editing of objects is mainly done with the help of Handles that appear on objects when they are selected. There are more varieties of editing handles in ConceptDraw than is common in vector drawing programs, and although their use is a bit complex to explain, it is very easy to grasp and use. The types of handles are indicated by shape (square, diamond, circle) and colour (blue, green and magenta).

Compatible File Formats

In addition to the native vector-based drawing elements, you can insert raster images or vector elements from various file formats, such as BMP, JPG, WMF, EMF, PICT. ConceptDraw naturally has its own private data file format (type CDD) but can import and export to and from many common formats. Of course, the intelligence associated with its graphic objects and their hidden properties tables is lost when exported.

Symbols Libraries

You can of course also build up drawings using pre-drawn symbols. The system includes quite a number of ready-made Libraries of symbols. ConceptDraw calls them Library Objects. When you load a Library it appears in a palette beside the work area. The icons depicting the library objects can be dragged and dropped into the work to insert the symbols. Depending how their properties tables are defined, a dialog box may pop up to request more data before the object can be placed. Library objects can be parametric, so that one library object can have its dimensions defined at time of insertion to produce many variants. This is all a function of the linked properties tables.

The cells of the table are linked to named properties of the graphic shape, as can be seen in the composite illustration of a curve figure and its table.

As well as controlling the numeric dimensional values of features, the table can hold formulae that control certain features as a mathematical relationship to other features. You can create your own smart objects for libraries by drawing them and defining the associated table for them.

You can load several Libraries at the same time. They appear in the palette area 'stacked' with their title bars offset so that all are visible. By clicking on a title, that library comes to the 'top' and its objects can then be accessed.

Screen capture illustrates several libraries stacked with their title bars visible

This library system with its drag-&-drop insertion, parametric objects and self-routing connectors, is an ideal environment for drawing diagrams - far quicker and more convenient than using a conventional CAD product. Regrettably though, symbol libraries are not included for common diagramming work such as electronic circuits. There are a few circuit symbols but not enough. It is not that hard to create a library of such symbols, but it would take some time to do. I don't know whether Odessa offer additional Libraries for sale. There are some Libraries for free download on the web site, but they appear to be the ones I received.

Extra Downloadable Items

Other extra items that can be downloaded are a Visio-to-ConceptDraw convertor and a completely free ConceptDraw viewer for Mac and Windows that enables anyone to view and print their work without needing to buy the full program. I think the convertor only works if you have a copy of Visio on the computer as with other Visio convertors. To get around that difficulty, CS-Odessa offers a conversion service. You upload your Visio VSD file and they send back the converted CCD file.

Summary

I was very favourably impressed with ConceptDraw. The registration fee is US$125 or Euro135. But the best part is that you can determine if it absolutely serves your needs without committing any money, because you download the time-limited evaluation version first.

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