AutoCADderWednesday, June 10, 2009
No postings because of illness - but I am not alone
This is to apologize for not updating this blog for a couple of weeks and leaving your valuable comments unmoderated (hidden). I was ill and now I am recovering. But it is a lot better now.
It seems that I am not alone in my illness - AutoCAD has a light headache as well. It errs in one of the basic operations any engineering software should perform - integer arithmetic.
Try yourself - open the QuickCalculator (Ctrl+8) in AutoCAD 2010 and throw him one of the most complicated mathematic problems that mankind should solve, the calculation of the difference: 120-62.
I know, I know, some smart brains among you would claim this makes 58. But think again. And look at the result AutoCAD invents: 57. You can even verify it with the 'CAL command - the same. And now who is right?
I wish AutoCAD 2010 (and myself) a speedy and full recovery...
It seems that I am not alone in my illness - AutoCAD has a light headache as well. It errs in one of the basic operations any engineering software should perform - integer arithmetic.
Try yourself - open the QuickCalculator (Ctrl+8) in AutoCAD 2010 and throw him one of the most complicated mathematic problems that mankind should solve, the calculation of the difference: 120-62.
I know, I know, some smart brains among you would claim this makes 58. But think again. And look at the result AutoCAD invents: 57. You can even verify it with the 'CAL command - the same. And now who is right?
I wish AutoCAD 2010 (and myself) a speedy and full recovery...
Labels: AutoCAD 2010, bug, calculator
Monday, May 04, 2009
Plain vanilla or another AutoCAD flavor?
When you say "AutoCAD", most people think about the only Autodesk software they know - the basic plain AutoCAD. Quite a lot of people do know also the most popular mechanical and architectural flavors - "AutoCAD Mechanical" and "AutoCAD Architecture". GIS experts may also know "AutoCAD Map 3D". But in fact this patisserie offers much more flavors (including a couple of exotic ones) you can enjoy.
Here is the list of AutoCAD flavors I know (by name, I have never seen some of them) - and maybe there also other ones:
Here is the list of AutoCAD flavors I know (by name, I have never seen some of them) - and maybe there also other ones:
- AutoCAD - the plain vanilla version
- AutoCAD LT - limited version (2D, no API customization)
- AutoCAD Architecture (ADT)
- AutoCAD Mechanical
- AutoCAD Electrical
- AutoCAD MEP (building systems)
- AutoCAD Map 3D
- AutoCAD Land Desktop
- AutoCAD Civil
- AutoCAD Civil 3D
- AutoCAD Structural Detailing
- AutoCAD P&ID
- AutoCAD Plant 3D
- AutoCAD Raster Design, AutoCAD Inventor, AutoCAD Visualization Suite, AutoCAD Revit Suite, ... - not AutoCAD flavors, only bundles (packs) or addon applications
Labels: AutoCAD, AutoCAD Architecture, AutoCAD LT, AutoCAD Mechanical
Thursday, April 02, 2009
AutoCAD for Apple Mac - please no!
I have somehow hoped that this an April Fool's joke only - Shaan Hurley has published a AutoCAD & Mac OSX Survey on April 1st.
Unfortunately it seems to be meant seriously. Why unfortunately? Well, I am sure that Mac users will be happy about some AutoCAD 2011 for Mac but what about the 99% percent of the rest of us? With any software development, the pace of the development depends on the resources dedicated to it. And I think that Autodesk resources are not unlimited. This means that all efforts of porting AutoCAD to Mac (or Linux, or whatever) will eat resources which would be otherwise dedicated to adding new functions to AutoCAD, fixing its bugs, making it faster, nicer, better.
I cannot see any CAD designer using Mac OS in my neighbourhood. Maybe it is different in the US but in Europe, there are only about 1% of Mac users (the log data of major web portals) and only a small portion of them would eventually use AutoCAD. Is this really a market which is worth slowing down the future development of AutoCAD?
Unfortunately it seems to be meant seriously. Why unfortunately? Well, I am sure that Mac users will be happy about some AutoCAD 2011 for Mac but what about the 99% percent of the rest of us? With any software development, the pace of the development depends on the resources dedicated to it. And I think that Autodesk resources are not unlimited. This means that all efforts of porting AutoCAD to Mac (or Linux, or whatever) will eat resources which would be otherwise dedicated to adding new functions to AutoCAD, fixing its bugs, making it faster, nicer, better.
I cannot see any CAD designer using Mac OS in my neighbourhood. Maybe it is different in the US but in Europe, there are only about 1% of Mac users (the log data of major web portals) and only a small portion of them would eventually use AutoCAD. Is this really a market which is worth slowing down the future development of AutoCAD?
Labels: AutoCAD Mac Apple Linux
Monday, March 30, 2009
AutoCAD 2010 commands and variables
If you need a list of the new commands and variables introduced in AutoCAD 2010, there is a README file displayed at the end of the AutoCAD installation. Traditionally, this Readme doesn't list all of the new commands nor variables. And traditionally, a more complete list can be found on Hyperpics and CAD Forum (and variables).
This time the Readme doesn't list any obsoleted commands in version 2010, but still I have found one - the JOGSECTION command (now as SECTIONPLANEJOG).
In terms of the number of new commands (and especially variables, AutoCAD 2010 is one of the major releases (see also my older post for A2009) - with 55 new commands and 67 new variables (using the CAD Forum database numbers).
Here is the graph with the number of new commands in the latest AutoCAD releases:
This time the Readme doesn't list any obsoleted commands in version 2010, but still I have found one - the JOGSECTION command (now as SECTIONPLANEJOG).
In terms of the number of new commands (and especially variables, AutoCAD 2010 is one of the major releases (see also my older post for A2009) - with 55 new commands and 67 new variables (using the CAD Forum database numbers).
Here is the graph with the number of new commands in the latest AutoCAD releases:
Labels: AutoCAD 2010, commands
Thursday, March 26, 2009
New free viewers for DWG and DWF CAD data
A good book writer (author) has many readers - and similarly a CAD designer (good designer) has many consumers (viewers) for his CAD data.
That's why it is important to have applications capable of reliable viewing of CAD formats. Autodesk has two of them, both of them free, and both were just released in a new "2010" version.
Autodesk DWG TrueView 2010 is a free DWG viewer. It is basically a cut down version of full AutoCAD so you can be sure that it displays, plots, measures and converts your DWG and DXF files exactly the same way as AutoCAD. The downside of this is that the installer is huge - 180MB, and also running TrueView takes quite a lot resources.
If you prefer lightweight applications and lightweight data, you will like Autodesk Design Review 2010. This a viewer for DWF and DWFx design files which can be easily published from any Windows application. And not only a viewer. In Design Review you can print, measure and first of all markup (redline) CAD data. And the markups can be brought back into AutoCAD. Version 2010 introduces ribbons and the ability to open DWG, PDF, DGN and JT files. DWG files are not viewed directly but they are first converted to DWF (in the background, with DWG TrueView). The added support for PDFs is quite surprising but it goes in line with the PDF support added in AutoCAD 2010.
You can download these two new applications from www.autodesk.com/dwgtrueview-download and www.autodesk.com/designreview-download
That's why it is important to have applications capable of reliable viewing of CAD formats. Autodesk has two of them, both of them free, and both were just released in a new "2010" version.
Autodesk DWG TrueView 2010 is a free DWG viewer. It is basically a cut down version of full AutoCAD so you can be sure that it displays, plots, measures and converts your DWG and DXF files exactly the same way as AutoCAD. The downside of this is that the installer is huge - 180MB, and also running TrueView takes quite a lot resources.
If you prefer lightweight applications and lightweight data, you will like Autodesk Design Review 2010. This a viewer for DWF and DWFx design files which can be easily published from any Windows application. And not only a viewer. In Design Review you can print, measure and first of all markup (redline) CAD data. And the markups can be brought back into AutoCAD. Version 2010 introduces ribbons and the ability to open DWG, PDF, DGN and JT files. DWG files are not viewed directly but they are first converted to DWF (in the background, with DWG TrueView). The added support for PDFs is quite surprising but it goes in line with the PDF support added in AutoCAD 2010.
You can download these two new applications from www.autodesk.com/dwgtrueview-download and www.autodesk.com/designreview-download
Labels: AutoCAD 2010, DWF, DWFx, DWG, viewer
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
AutoCAD 2010 has landed
The 24th version of AutoCAD - AutoCAD 2010 - was released today, March 24th.
There are lots of smaller enhancements and a couple of big ones in ACAD 2010. The biggest are 1) 3D modeling and 2) parametrics.
The 3D modeling capabilities now available in AutoCAD are better (and easier to use) than 3D tools of many specialized "3D" CAD software applications, including the existing versions of Autodesk's own Inventor and Revit. The same applies to parametrics - it is similar to the dimensional and geometric constraints available already in Inventor, but now in AutoCAD parametrics is available to "masses", to much wider audience. Most of other new functions was covered in my previous post. I am waiting for the localized German version.
To support AutoCAD users and let the communicate better, Autodesk has launched its new community web site - AutoCAD Exchange.
There are lots of smaller enhancements and a couple of big ones in ACAD 2010. The biggest are 1) 3D modeling and 2) parametrics.
The 3D modeling capabilities now available in AutoCAD are better (and easier to use) than 3D tools of many specialized "3D" CAD software applications, including the existing versions of Autodesk's own Inventor and Revit. The same applies to parametrics - it is similar to the dimensional and geometric constraints available already in Inventor, but now in AutoCAD parametrics is available to "masses", to much wider audience. Most of other new functions was covered in my previous post. I am waiting for the localized German version.
To support AutoCAD users and let the communicate better, Autodesk has launched its new community web site - AutoCAD Exchange.
Labels: AutoCAD 2010
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
AutoCAD 2010 gets more power from your CPU
The new AutoCAD 2010 should use the SSE2 extended instruction set in modern CPUs. This instruction set allows hardware-assisted (read: faster) computations of some mathematical functions and transformations which are quite frequent in CAD applications. Software source-code compilers have usually a simple switch for support of the SSE2 set.
The SSE2 set is supported in Pentium 4, AMD Athlon 64, AMD Opteron and higher processors. There is little chance you install AutoCAD 2010 (or any other 3D CAD) on a PC older than that.
I haven't seen any benchmarks on how much faster will a CAD software run with SSE2 enabled but this is one of the good ways to make a software faster.
But remember - if your AutoCAD installation is refused or you get "The application could not be initalized" erros, make sure you have a CPU with the SSE2 set supported and enabled.
The SSE2 set is supported in Pentium 4, AMD Athlon 64, AMD Opteron and higher processors. There is little chance you install AutoCAD 2010 (or any other 3D CAD) on a PC older than that.
I haven't seen any benchmarks on how much faster will a CAD software run with SSE2 enabled but this is one of the good ways to make a software faster.
But remember - if your AutoCAD installation is refused or you get "The application could not be initalized" erros, make sure you have a CPU with the SSE2 set supported and enabled.
Labels: AutoCAD 2010, CPU, SSE2
