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AutoCAD

From a software point of view, the latest version of Autodesk's core CAD solution certainly adds more significant capability to a package that is already stuffed with features. The emphasis this time, however, has been on adding improved drawing management, introducing the concept of Sheet Sets, enhancing Autodesk's DWF to facilitate the design and review process, and changing the way AutoCAD handles tables.

AutoCAD 2005 marks the beginning of a yearly release cycle for Autodesk, which will be supplemented by a SE (Subscription Edition) of AutoCAD every six months, available only to subscription customers. To me this yearly revision cycle does seem a little excessive for a CAD package that already seems to be bursting at the seams. From a business perspective Autodesk clearly sees it as a move in the right direction; only time will tell if its customers, particularly those not on subscription, will welcome having to pay for frequent updates. This will become even clearer when Autodesk decides the time is right to retire previous releases, cutting off the upgrade path from previous versions of AutoCAD.

Managing complete sets of sheets provides other benefits. Changes can be made across entire sheet sets - to title blocks, sheet names and other universal information, with the Sheet Manager automatically updating each sheet in the set. A title sheet can be set up that indexes the whole set, creating hyperlinks that allow users to access each drawing.

Sheet Sets are designed to improve the workflow of designers by re-organising the management of drawings, bringing all related drawings, layouts and views into a single set or project folders. This extends Autodesk's previous handling of multiple layouts in DWG files that had limited access to the data, requiring users to work with each file in the set on an individual basis before they could be printed or sent to co-collaborators and clients.

From the outset it was clear that Autodesk has been focusing its development resources in the area of Drawing Management, or as Autodesk more generically describes it, “workflow.” Central to this concept is the introduction of Sheet Sets, which are designed to help users organize their drawing sheets into subsets that represent different types of drawings and manage drawings more efficiently.

This release of AutoCAD is focused on providing the necessary tools to help you communicate, distribute and share information. No matter what industry you might be in, AutoCAD 2005 has productivity enhancement tools that you will appreciate. Please feel to contact your local Hagerman representative with any questions.

Elsewhere, Autodesk has overhauled the way in which AutoCAD deals with tables; users now have access to a utility that pretty much works like an embedded spreadsheet application. This will make AutoCAD’s handling of data much more capable, and the physical creation of tables more automated and efficient.

As it has done several times in the past,
Autodesk has revised its DWG file format. This time, the changes yield smaller files, built-in security, and a host of other enhancements. The new format saves drawing files in compressed form, using a compression algorithm similar to WinZIP. The new DWG files are 50% smaller than previous versions. Users no longer need to compress files outside of AutoCAD prior to sending them via e-mail and files decompress on the fly when opened inside AutoCAD. The new format also enables drawings to display a preview image when viewed within Microsoft Windows Explorer, making it easier to find drawings without first opening them in AutoCAD.

Autodesk continues to extol the virtues of DWF (Design Web Format) as its principal means of publishing documents. It has now been integrated within AutoCAD 2005 to enable AutoCAD documents containing design data to be distributed to engineers and other designers within the project team to enable them to view, mark-up, review or print the design information.
A new facility, DWF Composer, is available for team members that don't use AutoCAD. It can take DWF format files published in AutoCAD 2005, and allows them to mark up, measure and annotate design data which can then be returned in DWF format to the originator. Once it has been returned the designer can access the DWFfile with its mark-ups, and display both files simultaneously overlaying the marked-up version, and reviewing it whilst referring to the superimposed DWG file, which has the mark-up displayed.

Though it may not be sexy to talk about plain old AutoCAD in a market filled with complex 3D modeling products, many CAD users are still in the 2D-only mode of operation. For these users, AutoCAD is far and away the market leader in desktop CAD. So why talk about 2D AutoCAD? Simple. A lot of people out there are using it.

Creating a single drawing efficiently is obviously important, while delivering a group or set of drawings quickly and accurately can be critical. With AutoCAD® 2005 you can do both. Everyday tools like the new table object and tool palettes enhancements will definitely increase your productivity. The new Sheet Set Manager will help you control content across entire sets of related drawings creating sheet sets and then share them with your project team using plots, eTransmit, or DWF (Design Web Format) files.

The basic concept behind Sheet Sets is to provide users with a powerful means of managing their drawings more effectively by project, and providing a deliverable item to communicate project information. While Autodesk introduced the ability to organize a Sheet Set as a series of layouts in a DWG file a few releases ago, this restricted members of a project team from simultaneously editing different layouts. As a result, the primary method of managing DWGs is still to group them into folders and assign appropriate files names, and if users need to print, archive, or email a complete drawing set or part of set to a client, they must find, open up and work with each file on an individual basis.

The big news in AutoCAD 2005 is the new Sheet Set Manager function that actually allows rudimentary grouping of drawings into an electronic drawing set that mimics how many AEC and mechanically oriented offices already work. The fact that Autodesk obviously took the time to understand how people work and speak in their offices and make its software mimic these concepts speaks volumes. After all, what better way to design a CAD interface than to imitate a physical concept like a multisheet drawing package?

AutoCAD 2005 lets you plot the entire sheet set in order with collation and copy controls so that large-format plotters and laser printers can be controlled with ease. In addition to controlling the plot operation, AutoCAD 2005 performs plotting in the background so your workstation is not tied up. In short: AutoCAD worries about the plotting while you keep working. Plotting to DWF files or even PDF files can be controlled in sheet set batches as well.

The benefits here are immediately obvious: the ability to plot or create an electronic transmittal set of an entire sheet set or a specified set of sheets, or publish a sheet set to a DWF (Design Web Format) file with hyperlinks that provide one-click navigation through the sheets. However, this “packaged drawings” approach to DWG management offers benefits for the user on a much finer level.

Inclusion of the digital signature icon on AutoCAD’s status bar is just one of many changes made to the AutoCAD user interface. The first change users are likely to notice is the absence of the AutoCAD Today window. This combination startup screen and web-based link to Autodesk’s Point A web site was often disabled by users of the previous version. It’s been eliminated from AutoCAD 2004. Instead, when you start AutoCAD, the program immediately opens a new drawing. Depending on how you configure the program, starting a new drawing simply displays a standard Windows dialog box (from which you can select a drawing template), or a Create New Drawing dialog box identical to the one that displayed in the previous version when the Today window was turned off. If you preassign a default drawing template, however, a new command lets you immediately create a new drawing based on that template without any need for a dialog box.

Other areas of AutoCAD that have been improved include the ability to specify tool palettes that relate to individual projects, and which can be distributed and used by all members of the project team, simplifying and standardising the use of the software.

Layer management has been improved, enabling users to group layers using filters to apply property changes throughout a group, or for groups of layers to be turned on and off at the same time. Using the View command, layer settings can be changed when a named view is called.

I believe that AutoCAD 2005 has enough compelling new features to merit taking a look. Even if you didn't budget for a new AutoCAD release, you may be able to realize real time savings and error reduction by taking advantage of new sheet set features. At a minimum, CAD managers should do whatever they can to attend seminars or product launch events so they can get their hands on the new product for a real world evaluation.

All Autodesk products that are normally integrated with the core AutoCAD software package are also being upgraded to take advantage of the new capabilities - AutoCAD LT 2005, ADT 2005, Autodesk Building Systems 2005, Autodesk Map 3D, Autodesk Land Desktop 2005, Autodesk Civil design 2005, Autodesk Survey 2005, and Autodesk raster design 2005. It appears, therefore, that the AEC elements of AutoCAD are being better served than the Mechanical, as Autodesk Mechanical and Electrical, as well as MAP Guide 2005, are still to be announced.

Features:
Access sheet sets for an entire project from a single interface.
Fields automatically update placeholder text—such as callouts, labels, and title blocks— so that you can be sure that your information stays up to date.
Organize sheets into logical sets and subsets that you can define by company, project, or other standards.
Archive sheet sets using automatically generated and stored copies to work only with pertinent data, minimize mistakes, and easily revisit project milestones.
Markup review enables you to overlay DWF markups created in Autodesk DWF Composer, streamlining review and editing processes.
Tables can be created and modified in one error-free step; you can even import Microsoft® Excel spreadsheets as table objects that preserve the original formatting.
eTransmit groups and delivers multiple DWG and related files to multiple recipients—with all the information (including xrefs and fonts) needed.

autodesk