New features, improvements, and fixes, organized by the date they became available
Latest ·
Site Plan is now available in Beta
Plan your gate equipment layout with Site Plan, now available to accounts with active app access.
New feature
Gate equipment site plans
Save your gate in Designer, then open Site Plan to place gate operators, access controls, safety devices, loops, concrete pads, and conduits. Add measurements and labels, save your layout, and download PDF or PNG plans.
Improvement
Help improve the Beta
Use How to use Site Plan for instructions. If you find an issue or have an improvement request, use the Contact us link on the Site Plan page.
Handrail slope direction and mirroring
Draw handrails rising to either side or mirror an existing handrail in the Designer or through Tig.
New feature
Handrail slope direction
In Handrail Layout, use Slope Direction to choose Up to Left or Up to Right. You can also ask Tig to make your handrail slope up to either side.
New feature
Mirror an existing handrail
Use Mirror Handrail in Handrail Layout to flip the complete assembly while preserving its sizes, posts, mounts, and infill. Dimensions follow the mirrored drawing. You can also ask Tig to mirror your handrail.
Wood and Pickets infill and individual section colors
Combine wood panels with pickets and choose a separate fill color for each section of your design.
New feature
Wood and Pickets infill
Choose Wood and Pickets in Section Fill to place a wood panel behind the pickets. Apply it to individual sections or use Set all sections to fill the whole design.
New feature
Fill colors for individual sections
Use Fill Colors in Section Fill to choose a color for each filled section. Give wood, solid panels, mesh, or chain link different colors—even when two sections use the same material. Colors appear in the drawing and 3D view without changing pickets, frames, trim, or hardware.
Artwork, shapes, and lettering with Tig
Ask Tig to add catalog artwork, shapes, and lettering, then refine your design with follow-up requests and improved drawing controls.
New feature
Artwork support in Tig
Ask Tig to place artwork from your available catalog, then resize, move, center, rotate, recolor, or remove it through follow-up requests. Tig asks which item when a catalog match or placed artwork is ambiguous.
New feature
Text and shape support in Tig
Ask Tig to add lettering or a new shape, including a separate backing shape behind placed artwork. Change shape dimensions, position, fill, and fill color, or adjust lettering fonts, size, and color. Object color requests stay separate from the overall gate or door finish.
New feature
New custom artwork in the library
Explore new custom designs in the Artwork library. Add them through Components → Artwork or ask Tig to place a matching catalog item in your design.
New feature
Plasma Fill for artwork cutouts
Choose Plasma Cut in the artwork Fill controls to cut artwork through a solid backing shape or directly through available solid section fill. Cutouts are shown in 3D. No bridges are added automatically, so enclosed details may be separate pieces.
Improvement
Independent text editing and Recenter
Select and move lettering independently of its shape, resize and curve its text box with editing nodes, and use Recenter to reset its position. Deleting selected lettering preserves the backing shape.
Improvement
Whole-letter splitting on double gates
Keep the center gap from cutting through letters. Use Split after to choose a word or character boundary, drag each half sideways independently, or move the entire inscription up and down together.
New feature
Drawing-wide Undo
Use Undo in the Designer to reverse the last drawing action, including moves, edits, and deletions.
Curved handrails and 3D views
Design radiused handrails, inspect your projects in 3D, place editable 3D designs on customer photos, and download the view on your screen.
New feature
Curved handrails (Beta)
Turn on Curved in plan (radiused) in Handrail Layout for level, stair, or ramp handrails. Enter the straight distance between mounting endpoints and the sideways midpoint bulge, or use a known centerline radius. The measurement guide and Tig explain the controls. Use 3D or Plan to inspect the bend.
New feature
3D rendering
Switch from Drawing to 3D in the Designer to inspect your gate, fence, or handrail. Rotate the model, zoom in, and pan with the scrollbars. Front and Plan views help you check member depth, post sizes, and curved layouts.
New feature
Download Current View
Save the visible canvas as a PNG directly from the Designer, Annotate, or Photo Mockup, including 2D and 3D views. Downloads use your project name and the tool name. Download Builder remains available for full export packages and other formats.
New feature
3D photo mockups
Open a 3D design in Photo Mockup and position it over a customer property photo. Adjust the live model view on the photo, combine it with other drawing layers, and save or download the finished mockup.
Drawing Studio (Beta)
A freeform vector workspace for the details, logos, and artwork you want to draw by hand. Included with ODP Full Access and open now as a Beta, so tell us what goes wrong, what feels awkward, and which features would help.
New feature
Drawing Studio
Open Drawing Studio from the Design menu. Draw with lines, rectangles, circles, curves, and freehand paths, entering exact lengths and angles or working at free angles. Edit nodes, line thickness, and fills, align and skew objects, and repeat a selection in a grid or around a circle. The Drawing Studio Guide is one click from the toolbar, and Tig can explain any control.
New feature
Scaled drawings and 1:1 artwork
Choose a sheet and drawing scale to draw measured details, then add dimensions, text, leader notes, and tables with your choice of rows and columns. Or switch to Artwork to draw logos, decorative shapes, and graphics at 1:1 in inches, millimeters, or pixels, and resize them proportionally.
New feature
Export it, or keep it in your library
Export PDF, SVG, PNG, JPG, or supported DXF geometry. Artwork exports can crop to the content, set exact pixel dimensions, and keep a transparent PNG or SVG background. Save selected artwork to your component library, with its colors and text, to reuse in gate designs.
Equalize picket spacing
One switch spaces every picket bay evenly, with the ends matching the middle, without ever going over the spacing you set.
New feature
Equalize Picket Spacing
Turn on Equalize Picket Spacing in the Pickets section and the picket spacing becomes the maximum clear gap. Every opening in each section, both ends included, is solved to one equal gap as close to that number as possible without exceeding it. The panel shows the solved gap and picket count so the shop has the real layout number, and the cut list, dimensions, and Tig all use the same solve.
Improvement
Equalize by default and by chat
Set equalized spacing as a default for gates, fence panels, and handrails in Drawing Defaults, or ask Tig to "space the pickets evenly".
A more reliable Tig
Tig reads your request in one pass and builds the drawing from what it understood, so shop shorthand, missing units, and mixed-up wording land where you meant them.
Improvement
Improvements to Tig
More reliable understanding of prompts: member sizes bind to the right parts, unitless shop shorthand like "2x2 posts" and "a 25 gate" is read the way a fabricator would, and every Designer control can be set or changed from chat.
New feature
Dimensions toggle in the homepage preview
Turn dimension lines on or off in the preview window on the homepage Tig designer, opposite the zoom controls.
Improvement
Heights measured from grade
A stated height is now the finished height from the ground: gates and fence panels sit above a 3 in ground gap, and handrails measure from the bottom of the post plate. The grade line is shown on new drawings.
Designer measurements and wheel plates
New drawing tools and component options make slide-gate and masonry designs easier to detail.
New feature
Wheel box and plate components
Browse the new Wheel Box / Plate component category and add Shut It, Hardcore wheel plates to slide-gate drawings.
New feature
Snap measurements in the Designer
Snap measurements between drawing points directly in the Designer preview and keep them attached as the design changes.
New feature
Solid concrete masonry columns
Choose Solid Concrete alongside brick, cultured stone, and river rock for masonry column drawings.
New feature
Adjustable grade line
Add and adjust a grade line directly in the Designer preview for clearer site and installation reference.
Corrugated panel infill
Corrugated metal panels are now available as a distinct section fill in the Designer.
New feature
Corrugated section fill
Add tight-rib corrugated panels to individual gate and fence sections, with the panel shown in drawings and carried through to material lists.
Security door designer
Design complete security doors with a moving Door Frame inside a configurable Fixed Frame.
New feature
Dedicated security door type
Create standard-size or custom security doors with purpose-built drawing, dimension, and material-list support.
New feature
Configurable Fixed Frame
Configure the hinge jamb, latch jamb, header, optional bottom frame, member profiles, and clearances independently.
New feature
Security door profiles and hinges
Use flat or continuous arched tops, select catalog-backed hinges, choose the hinge side, and set hinge positions.
Dedicated slide gate settings
Slide gate controls are now easier to find and manage in the Designer.
Improvement
Slide controls separated from Panel Basics
Slide style, direction, track, wheel box, and tail controls are now grouped together under Slide Settings directly beneath Panel Basics.
Company workspaces and team seats
Your team can now work together under one company workspace.
New feature
A shared company workspace
Everyone in the workspace shares company projects, private components, and workspace access.
New feature
Separate sign-ins for each team member
Invite additional people to use their own email and password instead of sharing one company login.
New feature
Team roles and member management
Owners can invite team members, assign admin or member access, and manage the people in their workspace.
R-panel infill
R-panel is now available as an infill type in the Designer.
New feature
R-panel section fill
Add R-panel infill to gate and fence sections and choose the panel orientation needed for the job.
Telescoping V-track gates
Design, review, and export telescoping slide gate systems.
New feature
Telescoping gate designer
Create telescoping V-track gates with coordinated leaves and a dedicated plan view.
New feature
Panel views and exports
Review individual panel elevations, zoom the plan view, and export both gate and plan drawings.
Designer infill patterns
Add ornamental infill patterns to individual sections of a design.
New feature
Designer infill patterns
Add patterned section infill and place it behind pickets for layered panel designs.
Chain-link privacy slats
Show privacy slats directly in chain-link gate and fence drawings.
New feature
Privacy slat infill
Add chain-link privacy slats with the spacing represented in the finished drawing.
More control over pickets
Configure pickets by section instead of treating every area the same.
New feature
Per-section picket settings
Use different picket coverage and settings in individual sections of a design.
New feature
Picket shape and material
Choose round or square pickets and set the stock material used in the drawing.
Independent handrail posts
Configure each handrail end post separately when the job calls for different details.
New feature
Separate left and right post settings
Set each end post’s size, extension, cap, and mounting details independently.
Balusters in material lists
Selected handrail balusters now carry through to purchasing and fabrication documents.
Improvement
Accurate baluster quantities
Library balusters appear with their total quantity in the material list and purchase summary.
Clearer annotations and fence layouts
New controls help drawings communicate more clearly in the shop and in the field.
New feature
Dimension font size
Adjust dimension text size on annotated drawings to suit the page and drawing scale.
New feature
Intermediate fence posts
Add intermediate posts to fence panels for more accurate multi-section layouts.
Improvement
Clearer handrail annotations
Handrail annotation layouts are simpler and easier to read on exported drawings.
Handrail picket connections
Show how handrail pickets connect to the rail and steps.
New feature
Picket connection controls
Choose connection details for handrail pickets, including mounting them to the steps.
New feature
Handrail shoe components
Add correctly sized handrail shoes at picket connections and show them level on stair treads.
See what's new for yourself
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