London, 26 January, 2001 - MediaGold today announced the release of TurboCAD 7, a major upgrade to the award winning CAD software from IMSI. With state-of-the-art rendering, complete 3D modelling with shelling and lofting, AutoCAD® 2000i file sharing, Internet capability and new courseware, TurboCAD v7 Standard and TurboCAD v7 Professional mark a new standard in computer-aided-design for the professional and home user, rivalling AutoCAD® 2000i and surpassing AutoCAD 2000LiT® in depth and power.

Jo Wood, Chief Executive Officer, MediaGold, comments: "We are delighted to be offering this major upgrade to existing TurboCAD users and introducing new users to this level of CAD sophistication. With its high functionality and intuitive interface it is very competitively priced - TurboCAD 7 Standard is down £30 on the previous version and TurboCAD 7 Professional remains the same. These are prices that should attract both novices and engineers."

With over 75 improvements and new features, TurboCAD v7 is the single largest upgrade to the software in its history and brings TurboCAD to the forefront of integrated 2D and 3D desktop CAD. Features include:

• Intuitive user interface - completely customisable, Microsoft® Office compatible and streamlined to put the most commonly used tools at your fingertips while maximising valuable workspace.
• Over 250 2D & 3D tools - work simultaneously in 2D and 3D with simple 2D drawing and construction tools, and sophisticated 3D modelling and rendering tools grouped logically for user productivity.
• Industry standard, handle-based drawing and editing techniques make using TurboCAD easy to learn and intuitive to use.
• Multiple drawings and floating shaped viewports all fully supported for total flexibility in design and presentation.
• Unique FloorPlan Bridge for import of designs created in IMSI's FloorPlan®3D.
• Incorporates the latest facilities for output to printed, electronic or Internet-based media.

TurboCAD v7 Professional's 3D Modelling and Rendering engine incorporates Spatial Technology's® ACIS 5.3 solid modelling kernel. The new Shelling tool will allow the creation of shells to the inside or outside of ACIS based 3D models, while the sophisticated new Lofting tool allows multiple profiles to create complex 3D objects using NURBS. Both TurboCAD v7 Standard and TurboCAD v7 Professional deliver additional rendering improvements including Hidden Line Rendering in Perspective (HLRP). This rendering capability can clip objects behind the camera to create inside views of houses or mechanical parts. Additionally light objects with properties such as ambient, point, directional and spot light can be part of groups or blocks of light objects requiring changes in one quick step. TurboCAD v7 includes LightWorks photo-realistic technology for superb visualisation of 3D objects and includes support for acceleration cards.

The new and improved drafting features in TurboCAD v7 include new 'attachable' Camera Objects that allow the definition of a precise view of 2D and 3D models and as the attached camera moves, so does the view. New dimensioning features include dual units in one dimension, geometric tolerancing and surface roughness options from pull-down menus, multiple dimension units on one drawing and user defined text strings. Additional enhancements include support for Multiple Paper Space, allowing for multiple independent pages per drawing, Regions for creating "island" profiles, Floating and Shaped Viewports with shape changes and editing on-the-fly, and a host of new Snap tools, Drawing Construction tools, and single-click Format Painter and Property Palettes.

TurboCAD v7 continues to integrate Web browsing technology, linking users to dynamic content via the Internet. TurboCAD v7's new "Publish to HTML" and "Save As JPG" tools allow users to automatically create HTML pages for Web publishing with a choice of format: JPG, DWF or 3D VRML. In addition, TurboCAD v7 allows users to access millions of drawings available on the Internet, create symbol libraries, and share drawings with other CAD products by utilizing the new AutoCAD® 2000i DWG/DXF File Sharing feature using the OpenDWG Alliance toolkit.

As with previous versions, TurboCADv7 Professional's programming and development tools include a comprehensive Software Development Kit (SDK) and full support for Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications (VBA).

Pricing and availability
Distributed exclusively in the UK and Europe by MediaGold, TurboCAD 7 Standard has an RRP of £69.99 incl. VAT and TurboCAD Professional has an RRP of £299.99 incl. VAT. Both versions will be available in retail outlets from the end of February. For further information, contact MediaGold on +44 (0) 20 7221 4600.

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IMSI is a registered trademark of International Microcomputer Software, Inc. All other products are the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

About IMSI
IMSI owns and operates three business divisions: Design Software, ArtToday.com and Design.NET. The company's Design software division is based on award-winning TurboCAD computer aided design software (winner of PC Direct Editor's Choice - visit TurboCAD.com) and FloorPlan3D home design software (winner of PC Magazine Editor's Choice - visit FloorPlan.com). The company has sold over 2 million units of these software products to date and has invested 15 years in the development of this technology. ArtToday.com, is a wholly owned subsidiary of IMSI and offers 1 million images, photos, fonts and other digital content over the Internet. Design.NET's charter is to offer home design online with 3D viewing and editing.

About MediaGold
MediaGold International manages the development of consumer and business software (and associated products). With offices in London, Munich and Paris, MediaGold has over 15 years' experience providing business development services on a pan-European and International basis, to clients such as Intuit, Prima Books and Macmillan Software throughout retail, e-tail, corporate, OEM, distribution, re-publishing, catalogue and direct sales channels.

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