AutoCAD 2006® Everyday drafting will never be the same Lynn Allen Autodesk Technical Evangelist 1 20th Release “I thought AutoCAD was pretty much at the end of its life… I think Autodesk is now proving that there’s plenty to be added.” Martyn Day, Editor AEC Magazine and MCAD Magazine AutoCAD 2006 2 © 2005 Autodesk Drafting Productivity is Crucial 10 Hours per week 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Mtext to annotate drawings Create and organize drawings Manipulate blocks Manipulate hatch patterns Insert and update drawings Text masking • Saving users over 15 hours per week from 2002 to 2005 * 2002, 2004, 2005 Productivity Studies from Design Practice Group of the College of Environmental Design, University of California, Berkeley * AutoCAD 2006 estimated by Autodesk Usability Testing AutoCAD 2006 3 © 2005 Autodesk AutoCAD 2006 Tips & Tricks booklet AutoCAD 2006 4 © 2005 Autodesk AutoCAD 2006 is faster! • Faster operations over a network • Opening files 30% faster than in AutoCAD 2002 • Saving files 66% faster than in AutoCAD 2002 • Smaller DWG files • DWG files 52% smaller than in AutoCAD 2002 Example: A 6.5MB file in AutoCAD Release 14 = 5.2MB in AutoCAD 2000/2000i/2002 = 2.9MB in AutoCAD 2004 AutoCAD 2006 5 © 2005 Autodesk Changes in the UI since AutoCAD 2002 Look and Feel of Toolbars Status Bar and Tray customisation Palettes roll up New Toolbars (Styles, Workspaces) Sheet Set Manager All the UI changes in AutoCAD 2006: Window selection Rollover highlighting AutoComplete Smooth Transition Zoom Tool Palettes Communication Center Right Click Enter + Shortcut menus AutoCAD 2006 6 © 2005 Autodesk Dynamic Input Command Prompt can follow cursor Traditional command prompt optional (Ctrl+9) Direct input for drawing and editing (Tab to toggle) System variable TOOLTIPMERGE displays command and OSNAP Arrow key for recent input F12 – toggle Dynamic Input AutoCAD 2006 7 © 2005 Autodesk Sheet Set Manager Simplified: Drawing organization Plotting & publishing Transmittal sets Archiving Easy Sheet Indexing Standards compliance Multi-user access to sheet set information AutoCAD 2006 8 © 2005 Autodesk Everyday Commands (2004) • • • • • • • • • • • • Multiple Undo/Redo Revision clouds QDIM is now associative Create Raster Files (JPEG,TIFF,PNG) Draworder permanence Design Center Online (thousands of symbols) Fillet and Chamfer command can now repeat PEDIT command is smarter (PEDITACCEPT) Greater control over the display of hidden lines for 3D models Properties palette has attribute information Render window can now be closed (finally!) Mirrtext set to 0 AutoCAD 2006 9 © 2005 Autodesk Everyday Commands (2005) Multiple Copy now the default Match Properties now matches Polylines, Viewports and Tables New OSNAP (keyboard modifier) – Midpoint between two points (M2P/MTP) Zoom to Object(s) Pan and Zoom in 3DClip DIMTMOVE sysvar – position text of new dimensions XREFTYPE sysvar – set attachment or overlay as default New objects retain their Draworder status No need to exit to see results of Draworder Control whether or not object snaps work on hatch patterns Open drawings displayed on the windows taskbar (TASKBAR to 1) AutoCAD 2006 10 © 2005 Autodesk Everyday Commands (2006) Undo options in Copy, Offset, Fillet and Chamfer, Trim, Extend Rectangle Area/length option Rotate option Stretch Multiple Crossing Windows Standard Object Selection = Move Rotate/Scale include Copy Options Reference permits any two points Remembers last value Offset erase the source object specify whether the new object is created on the current layer or the same layer as the source object Trim/Extend Select All default Crossing option added for objects to trim/extend Erase Option added (Trim only) Shift in Fillet/Chamfer to square off corners AutoCAD 2006 11 © 2005 Autodesk Dynamic Blocks Multiple definitions in one Cycle through Insertion Points Automatically align with existing geometry Edit blocks without exploding AutoCAD 2006 12 © 2005 Autodesk TimeSavers! SCALELISTEDIT – Plot, Page Setup, Vport toolbar, Properties, etc. New Join Command (Glue) Join works on plines, lines, arc, elliptical arcs and splines Previous View (Options dialog) Combine Zoom and Pan for Undo/Redo Replace Z Value with Current Elevation for Osnaps (OSNAPZ system variable) Mlines now support Trim/Extend New Block options Preview in INSERT command AutoCAD 2006 13 © 2005 Autodesk Step Savers! New Filters command LAYERFILTERALERT (Set to 3) Preview merged objects Imageframe displayed but not plotted Find permits wildcards AutoCAD 2006 14 © 2005 Autodesk The AutoCAD Express Tools All 9 volumes of the Express Tools are now included and part of the install program. Nearly 100 productivity tools Reset Dim Text Value SuperHatch Text to MTEXT Make Linetype Overkill (Deletes Duplicate Objects) Layer Delete and Layer Merge Change Space/Align Space EXPRESSMENU to load menus and toolbars AutoCAD 2006 15 © 2005 Autodesk Fields Automatically fill in: Sheet numbers Project names Client information Drawing dates Any other custom data Create tables or text labels using object data Can be used with text, Mtext or attributes Automated plot stamping AutoCAD 2006 16 © 2005 Autodesk Tables Simple: Table creation Text editing Adding rows and columns Table styles Insert symbols/formulas into tables Import/Export Tables with formulas AutoCAD 2006 17 © 2005 Autodesk Hatching Hatch boundaries don’t need to be closed Trim to a hatch pattern Assign draworder to hatch Add/Remove/Recreate existing boundaries Create separate hatch objects Control the Hatch Origin Entire boundary no longer needs to be visible Calculate Area of a hatch (and cumulative areas) 18 © 2005 Autodesk Layers With the Layer Properties Manager, you can: Provide a description for each layer Apply changes to layer properties (without exiting) Filter layers based on external references (automatically) Filter layers based on layer properties Filter layers based on layer groups AutoCAD 2006 19 © 2005 Autodesk XREF improvements New XOPEN command Automatic notification when changes are made Simplified xref management and sharing New Reference Manager for existing XREF issues New Relative and NoPath Options AutoCAD 2006 20 © 2005 Autodesk Tool Palettes (easy and powerful) With Tool Palettes you can: Create command tools Apply tool properties from existing geometry (dimensions, text, gradient fills) Drag and drop content from Windows Explorer (raster images, DWGs) Include macros, LiSP and ARX Organize tool palettes into palette groups Auxiliary scale factor for Hatch patterns and Blocks – use the Dimscale or Plot Scale Notes and Separators in Tool Palettes (Great for task based activities) Edit multiple tool properties at a time Export Palette Groups AutoCAD 2006 21 © 2005 Autodesk QuickCalc (Ctrl+8) Derived from the Geometric Calculator (‘cal) Units Conversion Perform a full range of calculations Scientific panel for more advanced functions Pass values to Command or Properties Set Variables for use across AutoCAD drawings and sessions AutoCAD 2006 22 © 2005 Autodesk Text Improvements MTEXT now supports tabs and in-place editing, bullets, numbering Text masking (also on dimension text) MTJIGSTRING Symbols Draw Order settings for all text and/or dimension text (TEXTTOFRONT) Word Documents now maintain proper formatting True in-place text editing DTEXT is also WYSWYG Set DTEXTED to 1 for legacy behavior AutoCAD 2006 23 © 2005 Autodesk Dimensioning Improvements: Varying dimension linetypes Fixed-length extension lines Dimension arc lengths (DIMARC) Jogged dimensions (for large radii) Flipping dimension arrows AutoCAD 2006 24 © 2005 Autodesk Powerful Table Enhancements Enhanced Attribute Wizard outputs to a Table object Works across an entire sheet set Right click to sort Text in table linked to attribute data Tables can contain formulas 25 © 2005 Autodesk Customizing has never been easier! One filetype (CUI) still have a .mnr and .mnl files Simple migration of existing menus Easy to customize menus, toolbars, mouse buttons, keyboard shortcuts, etc. Edit the Custom menu for easy migration AutoCAD 2006 26 © 2005 Autodesk AutoCAD 2006 is Subscription Aware! Now it’s easy to take advantage of your subscription benefits… AutoCAD 2006 27 © 2005 Autodesk Drawing Recovery is More Efficient (hopefully you’ll never find out!) Easy to rename backup (BAK) and automatic Save file (sv$). AutoCAD 2006 28 © 2005 Autodesk DWF and Composer! Now supports 3D! Precision Display DXF File Format Support Custom Symbols for markups Completed markups change to yellow New Snapshot Tool AutoCAD 2006 29 © 2005 Autodesk AutoCAD 2006 will make you more productive than ever! lynn.allen@autodesk.com www.autodesk.com/lynnallen www.autodesk.com/au Lynn Allen AutoCAD 2006 Autodesk Technical EvangelistC © 2005 Autodesk 30