AutoCAD 2005 Features and Benefits
AutoCAD® 2005 software provides powerhouse productivity tools that help you create single drawings as productively
as possible, as well as new features for the efficient creation, management, and sharing of entire sets of drawings.
Note: AutoCAD 2005 introduces some new terminology, as follows: a drawing is a single DWG file; a drawing
contains a layout. A layout is referenced as a sheet in the Sheet Set Manager, and a sheet set is an organized collection
of sheets.
The New Standard in CAD Productivity
Productivity always has been and always will be a cornerstone in the profitability and viability of any industry that
creates, consumes, or manages design information. With the new standard in CAD productivity from Autodesk, you have
the tools you need to always go further than the competition and ensure maximum speed, power, and efficiency throughout
your process.
The new standard began with the AutoCAD® 2004 software release, giving users measurable efficiency gains, like file sizes
averaging 52 percent smaller and productivity increases of up to 70 percent.* AutoCAD 2005 software builds on the dramatic
productivity gains of AutoCAD 2004 with new tools that free you from tedious drafting tasks and help you efficiently
manage sets of drawings. For example, enhanced tool palettes simplify and even eliminate repetitive tasks, and the Sheet
Set Manager enables you to create, share, and manage entire sets of related drawings from a single location-all of which
translates into better-coordinated documentation, lower risk, and higher speed and accuracy.
From creating single drawings, to managing entire sets of drawings, from sharing design information over the web, to
creating compelling, graphics-rich presentations that market your work-AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT® help you go further with
the new standard in CAD productivity.
Introducing Sheet Sets
AutoCAD users need to create, manage, and share drawing file information related to a project. Organizations using AutoCAD
and AutoCAD-based products may have hundreds or even thousands of drawing files for a specific project, each having
multiple layouts depicting different views or scales of project data. Most organizations manage sheet sets using a file
and folder structure on local disk drives and network servers. This manual method is labor intensive and susceptible
to error.
AutoCAD 2005 enables you to go beyond single drawing productivity by providing new tools that make it easier to manage
entire sets of related drawings or sheet sets.
Sheet Set Manager
Problem
Throughout the duration of a project, team members may rotate in and out and drawing file content may change frequently.
Such variables can introduce workstyle inconsistencies. Team members can spend a significant amount of time collating
sheet sets, renumbering sheets, and updating sheet index information.
Solution
The new Sheet Set Manager in AutoCAD 2005 provides an easy way to collate drawing sheets into logical sets and subsets
that you can define by company, project, or other industry standards. You can quickly assemble sheet sets using
existing drawings, propagate sheet standards over multiple projects, and provide simultaneous access to sheet sets
within your local area network. You can then easily add or remove sheets from a sheet set or any subset by using
the Sheet Set Manager tool palette or the context sensitive menu.
Benefit
Using the new Sheet Set Manager in AutoCAD 2005, organizations can more efficiently manage their sheet sets. Organizations
can use sheet sets to quickly communicate current project status or easily retrieve information from an earlier
point in the project. The Sheet Set Manager also helps to eliminate confusion and reduce time spent referencing
and cross-referencing individual drawings. Adjusting page numbers and sheet index information is now effortless.
Sheet Views and Viewports
Problem
Some projects require extensive documentation to accurately communicate design information, resulting in sheets
with many layouts and views. These views may use dimensional scales that provide support for greater detail. Organizations
must then track all references and cross-references for each detail drawing, reference tag, callout, and label.
Managing and updating these sheets manually requires close attention to detail.
Solution
AutoCAD 2005 enhancements can dramatically reduce the time required to create layouts (named views) and reuse viewport
settings. The Sheet Set Manager automatically places and updates reference tags, callouts, and labels throughout
an entire sheet set, and changes to drawing files are automatically reflected in the views on each sheet. Viewport
enhancements also enable you to associate a layout with specific layer settings.
Benefit
Automatic updating of tags, callouts, and labels reduces the risk of error. You can quickly restore specific settings
for one or more viewports anywhere in a sheet set. And because changes are automatically reflected in all views,
you know that your sheet sets are always up-to-date.
Publishing and Sharing
Problem
Most organizations that use AutoCAD software need to publish sheet sets for distribution throughout various phases
of a project. Whether you are preparing hard-copy plots for a client meeting, distributing partner-specific sheet
sets to team members, or sending Design Web Format™ files (DWF™ files) to suppliers, you need to know
that the correct information is being collected, published, and shared. Currently, plotting to hard copy or publishing
to DWF requires the user to navigate through a complex set of dialogs and occupies the application while it is being
performed (sometimes for hours at a time).
Solution
The Sheet Set Manager enables quick and easy identification and access to individual sheets in a set by using the
intuitive, tree-structured folder hierarchy common to many Microsoft® Windows® applications. You can create
an unlimited number of named sheet sets for any project. With AutoCAD 2005, you are now able to perform plotting
and publishing as a background process on their workstation, freeing you to continue working. The new simplified
plot user interface also makes it easier to setup and publish your drawings. The new plot log file creates a history
of any problems that occurred during the plot operation making it easier for the you or the CAD manager to diagnose
and fix them. The Sheet Set Manager supports the publishing of data-rich DWF files as individual sheets or as a
single multisheet set. If project participants are using Autodesk® DWF™ Composer software to mark up or
redline sheet sets, they can simply send back the marked-up DWF sheet set. AutoCAD 2005 guides you directly to the
correct file so that you can make the documented changes.
You can easily share sheet sets by using the Sheet Set Manager to create an electronic transmittal package. The
eTransmit command has been enhanced in AutoCAD 2005 to support publishing of sheet sets.
Benefit
Plotting from the Sheet Set manager allows you to easily plot a complete set of drawings without the effort of tracking
down where the individual DWG files reside on file servers. This helps save you large amounts of time. The new user
interface gives you an easier and less-error-prone way to set up plot jobs, and background plotting allows you to
continue working even when a job is plotting.
Archiving
Problem
To archive project documents, organizations typically must copy individual drawing files from one folder to another.
Storing multiple versions of drawing files increases the risk of using incorrect or out-of-date project information.
Solution
The Sheet Set Manager produces and stores copies automatically, providing a more dependable method for archiving
project data.
Benefit
Automatically archiving the sheet makes it easy to revisit project milestones. In addition, it ensures that you
work with pertinent data and minimizes the chance for mistakes caused by storing multiple versions of drawing files.
Annotating and Composing Drawings
An AutoCAD drawing consists of text and graphical information. The creation, placement, and editing of textual information
can be tedious, time-consuming, and prone to error. Many drawings also use industryspecific symbols or special characters
that must align correctly with other characters and symbols in your drawings.
The following sections highlight powerful, new AutoCAD 2005 commands that provide flexibility for inserting and manipulating
annotated information.
Tables
Problem
Tabular data such as lists, schedules, and legends is a fundamental part of many sheet sets. This table data is
created using basic AutoCAD objects such as lines and text. Manually creating or updating table data requires many
steps and time-consuming attention to detail, and the risk for error can increase as the project progresses.
Solution
The new Table command in AutoCAD 2005 streamlines the process of creating tables and controlling their properties
so you can focus on content. You can predefine table styles that control elements such as border properties (grid
visibility, line weight, and color), cell properties (text style, height, color alignment, and background fill),
the location of headings, and more. Use an existing table style to create new tables that inherit all the defined
style properties. Change any property of any table element or apply a new table style in seconds. AutoCAD 2005 also
supports complex changes, such as merging cells, matching cell properties, and inserting or deleting columns or
rows. If a table or cell is not the correct height or width, simply use the grip edit functionality to make the
necessary adjustments. To paste textual information from a Microsoft Windows application such as Microsoft®
Excel into an AutoCAD 2005 drawing, simply specify an insertion point. If the OLE (object linking and embedding)
object contains text, AutoCAD 2005 automatically approximates the point size to an equivalent size in AutoCAD units.
In addition, when you paste an OLE object into paper space or model space, AutoCAD automatically establishes the
scale of the OLE object.
Benefit
AutoCAD 2005 makes it easy to change any table property and to create table data with a variety of formatting options.
You can quickly create accurate tables using predefined table styles and a single command or import a table or schedule
that you have already created.
Fields
Problem
Text-based information in a set of drawings is constantly being updated and revised. In addition, much of the information
is repeated throughout the entire drawing set (e.g., the project name, client information, etc.). Updating or entering
this information by hand is a tedious and time-consuming process. CAD managers spend hours or days at the end of
every project matching up and verifying callout blocks, label blocks and title blocks before sheet sets are finalized,
printed, and distributed. They know that each inconsistency will generate a request for information from on-site
personnel that will cost them and the project time and money to correct
Solution
In AutoCAD 2005, the new Field command simplifies the task of creating, placing, and editing text. A field can be
used as an object placeholder for content that may change during the project. AutoCAD 2005 includes a wide selection
of commonly used fields. For example, you can use the new Field command to insert current time and date information
into a title block. AutoCAD software automatically updates the date and time when the drawing file is opened. You
can also use the Field command with the new Table command to automatically update table data. Additional functionality
helps you maintain backward compatibility with older versions of AutoCAD software, including the ability to convert
fields to text objects.
Benefit
Automatically update text as your designs and documentation progress, helping save time and avoid costly mistakes.
Enhanced Tool Palettes
Problem
Most AutoCAD users have invested time customizing their software for industry-, business-, or projectspecific needs.
Some organizations have created toolbars as a way to make custom functionality accessible to staff. Tool palettes,
introduced in AutoCAD 2004, are proven time-savers over their predecessors’ toolbars.
Solution
AutoCAD 2005 significantly increases the flexibility of tool palettes; now you can assign any type of content—
including commands, macros, and calls to LISP and ARX routines—to a tool palette. You can take full advantage
of toolbar customization work, thereby eliminating the need to maintain and manage toolbars. AutoCAD 2005 supports
any number of tool palettes and makes it easy to organize them into logical groups for efficient access.
Benefit
Standardize drawing content and store customized commands on space-saving, project-specific tool palettes that you
can distribute to the entire team. Customize and organize your tool palettes.
Layers
Problem
Because AutoCAD software supports an unlimited number of layers in a drawing file or sheet, some organizations have
sheets that contain hundreds of layers. Using layers in this way provides flexibility for organizing drawing information,
but managing all the individual layers can be difficult.
Solution
In AutoCAD 2005, you can now define groups of layers to quickly and easily adjust layer settings, and you can change
layer properties for many layers at a time. The new Layer Properties Manager takes up less screen space and is easier
and more flexible to use. Plus, you can see the results of changes immediately.
Benefit
Manage layers more efficiently with filters that uniformly apply property changes to all layers in a group.
Object Draw Order
Problem
It’s not always easy to place a 2D object precisely where you want it. You must often use a multistep, time-consuming
trial and error process to get the results you want.
Solution
AutoCAD 2005 provides predictable draw order results that you can establish quickly and easily.
Benefit
This feature gives you the confidence of knowing that what you see on the screen is what you get on hard-copy prints
and plots.
Learning and Migration Tools
All of the new capabilities in AutoCAD are of little use to a you if you can not easily upgrade from an older release.
To help with this, we have added migration tools to help you automatically migrate your customizations from older version
of AutoCAD to AutoCAD 2005, and we have enhanced the New Features Workshop, to help get you started with the new features
as quickly as possible.
New Features Workshop
Problem
You have the new AutoCAD 2005 software. Now you need a quick and easy tool to learn about what’s new in the
product – but only what you need to handle the job at hand.
Solution
The interactive New Features workshop helps you access information about new functionality and enhancements in AutoCAD
2005 when you need it. It provides a short introduction to the features and a small ‘hands on’ tutorial
to get started quickly. In addition, both AutoCAD 2004 and AutoCAD 2005 can be temporarily installed on the same
workstation to ease the transition.
Benefit
This visual tool makes it easy to learn the new and enhanced functionality in AutoCAD 2005 and put your knowledge
to immediate use. Interactive animations, exercises, and descriptions get you up and running fast. Move over to
the new release at your own pace while still having your AutoCAD 2004 version at your fingertips.
Migration Tools
Problem
Customization within AutoCAD—such as menus, quick key settings, linetypes, and hatch patterns—is very
common. When you move to a new version of AutoCAD you must recreate these customizations, before beginning productive
work.
Solution
In-product and stand-alone migration capabilities in AutoCAD 2005 transfer your files, settings, preferences, and
customized menus and routines, and have you up and running quickly.
Benefit
AutoCAD 2005 migration tools smooth your transition and limit downtime.
Conclusion
AutoCAD 2005 enables organizations to efficiently and accurately create, manage, and share information. The Sheet Set
Manager provides a better way to compose, publish, update, and distribute vital project information. The Sheet Set Manager,
used with the new Table and Field commands, can help you to increase your organization’s productivity by improving
collaboration and reducing the time spent referencing and cross-referencing individual drawing files.
Productivity directly impacts your company’s profitability and position in the marketplace. AutoCAD 2005—the
new standard in CAD productivity—keeps you competitive no matter what industry you work in, giving you maximum
speed, power, and efficiency throughout your design process.
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