progeWALK

Walkthrough and flyaround videos of your 3D drawings, made inside progeCAD 2027 Professional. progeWALK moves a camera along a path you draw, renders every frame in the visual style you choose, and saves the video.

Getting started

Open your 3D drawing in progeCAD.
Draw the walking path in plan view with PLINE (a polyline along the floor where you want to walk). Lines, arcs, circles, splines and ellipses work too.
Start progeWALK: Add-On ribbon tab → progeWALK, or Add-On menu → progeWALK, or type PROGEWALK.
Pick the path, then press Enter to look ahead along it. Press Enter at the other prompts to accept the defaults (shown in < >).
progeWALK renders two test frames, tells you how many frames, how long and how much disk space, and asks Render now? Answer Yes.
A small progeWALK window shows the progress. When it says Video ready, click Open video.

Until progeWALK is registered, every video carries a moving progeCAD USA watermark. See Registering.

Samples

The installer puts ready-made sample drawings in Documents\progeWALK Samples. Each one has its camera path (red), its target (green) and step-by-step notes beside the model; the paths and notes are hidden in the video.

To see a result at once, open a sample and type PWRUN: it renders with the settings saved next to the drawing (drawing.progewalk.ini).
To learn the prompts, follow the notes in the drawing and run PROGEWALK yourself, picking the red path and the green target.

Each sample shows one kind of animation: a walkthrough looking ahead, an orbit around a model, a fly-by with a moving target, and a walkthrough with materials. The sample drawings come from progeCAD's own samples folder.

Commands

Command	What it does
`PROGEWALK` (or `WALKTHRU`)	Makes a walkthrough or flyaround video. Also on the Add-On ribbon tab, the Add-On menu and the AddOn toolbar.
`PWRUN`	Renders the open drawing with the job file saved next to it (drawing.progewalk.ini), without prompts. The samples use it; you can save your own job file the same way (see job files).
`PWREGISTER`	Opens the registration window: enter your unlock code, or buy progeWALK.
`PWHELP`	Opens this help page.
`PWRESTORE` (or `WTRESTORE`)	Puts the view, visual style, ribbon and settings back if progeCAD was closed or a run was interrupted unexpectedly. Normally not needed: progeWALK restores everything itself.

Every prompt explained

Distances are in drawing units. The defaults follow the drawing's units (INSUNITS): 1.6 m eye height, 3 m look-ahead, 0.5 m corner smoothing and 1.4 m/s walking speed, converted to inches, feet, millimetres, centimetres or metres. Unitless drawings are treated as inches.

Prompt	Meaning
Camera path: select a path or [Point/Last]	Pick the path the camera travels along. Point keeps the camera in one place (for a pan); Last uses the last object you drew.
Target: select a path or [Point/Ahead/Last] <Ahead>	Where the camera looks. Ahead (default) looks along the camera path, like walking. A Point gives an orbit or a fixed look-at; a second path moves the target too — both paths are travelled at the same percentage of their length.
Eye height above the camera path	Added to the path's height. Draw the path on the floor and enter the eye height (e.g. 1.6 m).
Raise the camera point by	Only for a camera point: lifts it above the picked point.
Target height above its path	Height of what you look at, above the target path (or above the camera path for Ahead). For Ahead the default is three quarters of the eye height, so the camera looks slightly down and the floor stays in view.
Look-ahead distance	How far ahead along the path the camera looks. Longer = calmer turns.
Corner smoothing distance	Rounds off sharp polyline corners over this distance so the camera turns smoothly. 0 = follow the path exactly.
Lens length in mm	24 mm (the default) is the usual walkthrough lens and shows a whole room; 18-20 mm is wider for small rooms; 35-50 mm is narrower, for orbits and details.
Speed in drawing units per second or [Duration]	Walking pace along the camera path; or choose Duration and enter the video length in seconds. With a camera point, you always enter the duration.
Frame rate [10/12/15/24/30]	Frames per second. 24 or 30 is smooth video; 10–15 is quicker to render and fine for GIFs. The limit is 9,000 frames per video.
Video size [360p/480p/720p/900p/1080p]	640×360, 854×480, 1280×720, 1600×900 or 1920×1080. See sizes.
Visual style	See visual styles.
Graphics device [Advanced/Current]	Advanced switches progeCAD to its Advanced 3D Styles graphics for the run (better lighting and styles) and back afterwards. Current keeps your setting (faster).
Video format	MP4, WMV, WEBM, GIF, AVI or PNG (a folder of images). See formats.
Output file	Where the video goes. Default: next to the drawing, drawingname-walk.mp4. Frames are kept in a folder next to it (name_frames) while rendering.
[Resume/Overwrite]	Appears when frames from an earlier, stopped run exist: Resume renders only the missing frames.
Render now? [Yes/No]	After the time estimate. No puts everything back without rendering.

Visual styles & graphics

Style	Look
Realistic	Materials and lighting; the presentation look.
Conceptual	Soft cool-to-warm shading; good for design reviews.
Shaded / Edges	Shaded faces; Edges adds the outlines.
Gray	Shades of gray.
Sketchy	Hand-drawn lines.
Xray	See-through.
Hidden / Wireframe	Line drawings.

The difference between styles shows best with the Advanced graphics device, which needs a graphics card with OpenGL ES support. Without one, progeCAD uses its basic graphics and several styles look alike.

Video sizes & formats

A frame can be only as large as progeCAD's drawing area. For bigger sizes progeWALK hides the ribbon, Properties palette, command line and status bar during the run and puts them back afterwards. On a 1920×1080 monitor the largest exact size is 1600×900; for 1080p, frames are rendered at the largest size that fits and scaled up (a larger monitor gives true 1080p).

Format	Use it for
MP4 (H.264)	Everything: email, web, PowerPoint, phones. The default.
WMV	Older Windows software.
WEBM (VP9)	Web pages.
GIF	Short loops in email or chat (large files; keep them short and small).
AVI (MJPEG)	Video editors that prefer frame-accurate files.
PNG	A folder of numbered images for your own editing.

While it renders

The progeWALK window (bottom right) shows the frame, the percentage and the time left. Stop ends the run within about 10 frames and puts your view and screen back. Run PROGEWALK again with the same output file and choose Resume to continue.
Esc does not stop a run — progeCAD does not read the keyboard while progeWALK renders. Use Stop.
Leave progeCAD on screen and the computer awake: progeCAD only draws frames while its window is visible.
Disk space: frames are stored as BMP images until the video is made (the estimate shows how much), then deleted.
The paths you picked are hidden during the run so they do not show in the video.

Registering (unlock)

An unregistered progeWALK works fully, but every video carries a moving progeCAD USA watermark. To remove it:

Type PWREGISTER (or click Buy / enter code in the progeWALK progress window) and click Buy now, or buy from your progeCAD reseller (Find a reseller). Your unlock code arrives by email.
In progeCAD type PWREGISTER (or click Buy / enter code in the progeWALK progress window), enter the code and click Register.

Registration needs an internet connection once; afterwards progeWALK stays registered without internet. One code registers one computer. You can register the same computer again with the same code (for example after reinstalling Windows). Videos made before registering keep their watermark — render them again.

Tips for good videos

Draw the path in plan view and keep it a little away from walls and furniture; the camera can pass through objects.
Smooth paths (arcs, splines, or polylines with corner smoothing) give calmer videos than sharp corners.
For an orbit, draw a circle around the model as the camera path and pick a point in the middle as the target.
Put your own paths and notes on layers named PROGEWALK-… (for example PROGEWALK-PATHS): progeWALK hides everything on those layers while it renders.
Try a short 360p run first to check the path and speed, then render the final size.
Walking pace (1.4 m/s) is a good default inside buildings; fly-arounds of large sites look better slower relative to their size.

Job files & automation

A job file keeps the PROGEWALK answers so a video can be made again, or by a program, without prompts. Save it as a text file next to the drawing, named drawing.progewalk.ini, and type PWRUN in that drawing (each sample comes with one), or run any job file from LISP or a script with (progewalk-job "C:/jobs/walk.ini"). One key=value per line (# starts a comment):

# camera: handle:<entity handle> | point:x,y,z | last
camera=handle:2A3F
# target: ahead | handle:<handle> | point:x,y,z | last
target=ahead
eye=160
lens=24
duration=12
fps=24
size=720p
style=Realistic
device=advanced
format=MP4
output=C:\Videos\lobby.mp4
resume=yes

Other keys: target_height, lookahead, smoothing, speed (instead of duration). Missing keys use the same defaults as the prompts; without output the video is saved next to the drawing. The job renders without asking. To find a path's handle, select it and type LIST.

To follow a job from another program, watch output_frames\progress.txt (frames done, total and seconds left, then finished or stopped) and output_frames\encode.log (a done in line when the video is ready, failed on an error). One job at a time.

Through COM

Programs that drive progeCAD through its COM interface (VBA, VBScript, PowerShell, C#, Python) start a job by sending the LISP call to the active drawing. progeWALK must be installed and progeCAD 2027 running with the drawing open. For example, in PowerShell:

$cad = [Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal]::GetActiveObject('Icad.Application')
$cad.ActiveDocument.SendCommand('(progewalk-job "C:/jobs/walk.ini")' + "`n")
# then wait for C:\Videos\lobby_frames\encode.log to contain "done in"

VBA inside progeCAD: ThisDrawing.SendCommand "(progewalk-job ""C:/jobs/walk.ini"")" & vbLf. SendCommand returns at once; the job runs in progeCAD and the video is ready when encode.log says so. Use forward slashes (or doubled backslashes) in the job file path.

Troubleshooting

Problem	What to do
Frames are blank or black	progeCAD must be visible on screen while rendering (not minimized, screen not locked).
Styles look the same	Your graphics card does not offer Advanced 3D Styles. Check progeCAD's `GRAPHICSCONFIG`; update the graphics driver.
The camera looks at the wrong place	Check the eye and target heights and the drawing units; draw the path at floor level.
Video is smaller than chosen	The screen is too small for that size; progeWALK used the largest that fits and scaled the video.
Ribbon or palettes are missing after a crash	Run `PWRESTORE`.
"This unlock code is already registered on another computer"	Each code unlocks one computer. Buy a code for the other computer, or contact [email protected].
Registration cannot reach the service	Check the internet connection and any firewall, then try again.
The PROGEWALK command is unknown	Restart progeCAD; if it is still missing, run the progeWALK installer again.

Files & uninstall

progeWALK is installed for the current Windows user in %LOCALAPPDATA%\progeWALK and loads automatically in progeCAD 2027. Remove it from Windows Settings → Apps → Installed apps → progeWALK (close progeCAD first); this also removes its menu, ribbon and toolbar entries. Your videos are never touched.

IT deployment: after installing, "%LOCALAPPDATA%\progeWALK\progeWALK.exe" activate --code PW-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX --quiet registers progeWALK without the dialog (exit code 0 = registered).

progeWALK includes FFmpeg (LGPL); see THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.txt in the progeWALK folder.