I have been asked by my company (Standard engineering components LTD) to investigate the advantages and disadvantages of purchasing some computer aided design software

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Computer aided design

(assignment 3)

Background into assignment

        I have been asked by my company (Standard engineering components LTD) to investigate the advantages and disadvantages of purchasing some computer aided design software.  The main points I need to find out are: -

  1. If, and how the company will benefit from the software
  2. If it will pay the company back from the initial out lay.

Background into computer

CAD software is commonly used for drafting architectural and engineering drawings and for making technical illustrations of any kind. For us, a professional company associated with design and drafting then CAD applications is a must in this day and age.

CAD enables you to prepare fast and accurate drawings. It provides flexibility to change drawings with minimal effort. In recent years, most large companies have made the switch to CAD to enjoy the benefits of this precise and creative tool. Today, many educational institutions include CAD as part of their academic curriculum. As a result, CAD knowledge has become very important to all professionals involved in the field of design and drafting.

AutoCAD 2002 (Probably the choice of most companies)

2D Drawings only

AutoCAD is probably the most appropriate choice of computer aided design software, it is the package that is used by most companies ranging from small to large it is available worldwide and made by Microsoft, there are all types of add ons and it has been around for a very long time.  For the foreseeable future, it looks like AutoCAD users are in for more frequent, incremental upgrades than for any more of those highly disruptive major upgrades that used to come along every 24-30 months. What has slipped by many users is the fact that AutoCAD 2002 (released 20 June) is the second new release of the program since the groundbreaking AutoCAD 2000 just over 2 years ago; between the two came AutoCAD 2000i, released in July 2000.

Autodesk's accelerated release cycles have already been noted in the Inventor mechanical product, which is now in its fifth release since 1999; it looks like AutoCAD is also in for more frequent releases, with the last two coming almost annually. Along with AutoCAD 2002, 20 June also saw the release of CAD Overlay 2002, Architectural Desktop 3.3, AutoCAD Mechanical 6, Mechanical Desktop 6, Land Desktop 6, and Map 5 (all built on AutoCAD 2002), as well as

AutoCAD LT 2002.

What's New?

While nowhere near as dramatic as the changes between Release 14 and AutoCAD 2000, AutoCAD 2002 has some very welcome new features. And most of those new features reflect the use to which most users put AutoCAD: 2D drafting.

Other new features in AutoCAD 2002 include Internet-based collaboration tools; some are brand new, and some are enhanced versions of AutoCAD 2000i features.

Before we look at what is new, we should make a brief mention of what is not new, and that's the file format. AutoCAD 2002, AutoCAD 2000i and AutoCAD 2000 are all compatible with one another. Only once before in AutoCAD's history has the DWG format not changed between releases (Release 11 could open Release 12 drawings), and AutoCAD 2000 users are able to open drawings created or last saved in A2K2.

So, what's new in AutoCAD 2002? The majority of new features can be slotted into two broad areas: 2D drafting enhancements, and tools for aiding in collaboration amongst different users on a project.

New drafting features include:

- True associative dimensioning

- Dialogue boxes that take most of the mystery and frustration out of editing and extracting attributes from drawings

- Text scaling features that allow for easy adjustment of text height and justification

- Collaboration features (both Internet- and non-Internet-based) include:

- A Layer Translator that helps convert a drawing from one layering standard to another

- New Publish-to-Web, I-Drop, transmit, and Meet now features

- The first implementation of DesignXML

- A Standards Manager that allows checking drawings for conformity to CAD standards

This list is not exhaustive; it merely includes the new features that struck me as particularly worthwhile.

Join now!

 

Ancient history

Paper space dimensioning is a reality in AutoCAD 2002. You can now select model space objects from paper space, and dimensions no longer rely on defpoints. In fact, there are now three levels of dimension :

-  what used to be called non-associative dimensions (i.e., individual lines, text and arrows) are now called exploded dimensions (the now-obsolete dimension variable DIMASO was Off).

-  what used to be called associative dimensions in AutoCAD 2000i and earlier (DIMASO = On) are now called non-associative dimensions; these still update when you scale or stretch objects, as long as ...

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