Review

From CAD User AEC Magazine  Vol 17 No 03 - MARCH/APRIL 2004

Drawing Management is the focus of some of the most important improvements being introduced in the latest version of AutoCAD

The only issue I have with Autodesk is its need to advance the date on all of its software releases! Every time a new version comes out, I have to perform a quick reality check and wonder whether I have somehow slept through the preceding year - and we really are in the midst of 2005! Is it some form of subconscious desire to appear to be forward thinking and totally up to date - and beyond - with the technology?

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.

Sheet Sets
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.

Now, multiple drawings can be grouped together in a single project folder, organised by a Sheet Set Manager, which displays both drawing sheets and sheet subsets in a simple tree structure, showing the current status of each. Subsets would relate to specific disciplines within a project - electrical, HVAC - and could be extracted and delivered to each contractor. Alternatively, the complete set of sheets could be sent as a single file to the client. Sheet sets can also be published in DWF format containing hyperlinks that connect all of the sheets.

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.

Although sheet sets are ultimately easy to set up using the Sheet Set Manager - allowing users to assemble sets quickly from existing drawings and enabling common standards to be applied across a project, or merely adding and deleting individual sheets from the set - the user is faced with a powerful tool that introduces a wide range of new options and terms that will need some study before they become completely familiar with them.

The Sheet Set Manager contains dozens of new commands and actions in menus, submenus, dropdowns and dialogue boxes and uses terms such as 'nested subsets, sheet lists' and so on. The benefits, however, once the new methods have sunk in, are obvious, giving users the ability to handle their projects more effectively.

DWF and Design Review
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.

Table Commands
Creating and managing tables in earlier versions of Autodesk was a pain. They had to be built up piecemeal. Modifications to the tables, such as the inclusion of new rows and columns, incurred much manual shifting around of the elements. In AutoCAD 2005, this has been dramatically improved, providing the same sort of functionality that you find in Word - automatic creation of spreadsheets using a new Create Table dialogue box, and using the Table Style command.
Users merely specify the number of rows and columns that they need, and the height and width of each - or they can let AutoCAD specify these if a table size is inserted. Entering data is also the same as Word, using the tab key to move across the cells, and the tables can be modified using the same familiar methods.

Tables can also be brought in from other applications - notably Microsoft Excel, which can be pasted as a table object - or exported from AutoCAD 2005 as CSV files. Spreadsheets other than Excel can be imported as OLE objects.

Project Palettes and other Enhancements
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.

Field text, another feature that is common in Microsoft Word, has been introduced in AutoCAD 2005, adding information about drawings, such as current date, drawing name, circle radii, etc., and identifiable by its grey background. The addition of text to the drawing has also been enhanced, as it now includes a multi-line text editor that can actually use indents and tabs, or apply background colour to improve its legibility. Access to symbols has been improved, and the range of fonts increased.
Other enhancements have also been introduced that affect background plotting, drawing ordering, hatching, tool palettes and viewports.

Autodesk 2005 Family
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.

Conclusion
Drawing Management is a significant enhancement in this latest version of AutoCAD. It comes at an opportune moment, as Autodesk has just released the results of a recent survey that revealed that 80% of its customers still use Microsoft Windows Explorer to organise their projects, files and drawings. Too many of us are resistant to change, and will take some convincing to adopt the new functionality - especially on first viewing the powerful, but complex, new Sheet Set Manager. CU
www.autodesk.com

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