1. Do you work at small business company? It means less than 300 employees.
2. Is your company based in US or Canada?
3. And do you use outdated Autodesk software? It means version 2008 or older.

If all of the answers above it yes, then you are eligible to join Autodesk and Lenovo technology makeover contest.

Join the contest, and you can win five Lenovo ThinkStation workstation and five Autodesk suites licenses (you even can choose which suite!).

If you are interested, see the details in this Business Wire news. Or see in this AutoCAD facebook page. I think the facebook page is limited to US and Canada visitors only, I only see restricted warning :(

So go ahead. You might be the lucky one!

© Thomas Perkins – Fotolia.com

But we were just trying to get the job done quickly. It was pain when we need to modify the drawings. When we need to create schedules and drawing list we had to do them manually. Of course they were prone to mistakes. I remember our team failed to meet the deadline because we sent wrong drawings. Those were our pain when we were just trying to get the drawings done.

Yes those CAD software are impressive

Have you ever seen Revit, Inventor, or other vertical products demonstration? OK vertical products sounds so Autodesk, you might know them as BIM or PLM software. They were pretty impressive, weren’t they? Why they look very fast when working with those products?

1. They have many reusable components specific for your design. You can just place walls, doors, and windows in Revit. You can quickly add standard components from Inventor content library. Of course if you use them, you will need to create some of your own custom components. But after you created them once, you can quickly reuse them later.
2. Those objects are intelligent. You can create Bill of Materials in Inventor in seconds. You can quickly create various building component schedules in Revit. It’s because they have information. You also provide more information when you’re doing the design.
3. They are easy to modify. You can replace one standard component with another. You can change building components just by selecting other type from drop down menu.
4. The drawings are also intelligent. You can have orthogonal drawings and sections quickly. There are a bunch of information automatically placed on the title block.
5. And many more impressive features.

Sometimes we just use what we have

Not all companies can invest and purchase those sophisticated CAD software. It’s not always about budget. Sometimes you have to use software that project owners ask you to use it. There are several reasons that make us stay with what we use today: AutoCAD. Some of the reasons are pretty good reasons.

As a user, of course we just use it. And we do our best to improve how we work. Those software can give some ideas to imitate them in AutoCAD. Remember the wall in our dynamic block tutorial? It’s kind of look like Revit in 2D, isn’t it?

That’s why we are here on CAD notes, aren’t we? We’re looking for ways to complete our job, efficiently. Become more productive.

So we do these

That’s why I started this blog. We launched work better with AutoCAD program. It’s our framework, and we want to go to bit size tutorials and tips from it. Unfortunately we don’t get as many responses as we expected.

Your feedback is very important to improve our future articles. We need your experience and discuss with us in each topic.

If you’re interested, you can also share your experience in an article. Write for us.

We also launched e-books to improve your productivity.

AutoCAD Block Best Practices should help you to work with reusable contents. Not just placing common components, but also giving them information. And automate some process in your design.

Document management with AutoCAD sheet set should help you to manage your drawings. You can group all sheets in a project. You can get common information from that project to place them on title blocks. You can create sheet list quickly, and batch plot all drawings in your projects quickly.

You can help

You can help us to provide articles to help all readers. The easiest thing to do it is by actively involved in discussion. And you can write great articles for us.

What’s your opinion about CAD notes so far? Tell it in one word!

Of course you can write in a whole sentence or paragraph. But we can accept a word like ‘boring’ too.

Do you like what we’re doing here?

Today I get the great news: Our own AutoCAD Block Best Practices e-book is approved an can be purchased from AutoCAD exchange store!

The payment is available through PayPal only, with the same price as we offer here.

If you want to purchase it from app store, you can find it under learning tools and productivity tools category. You have to open AutoCAD Exchange from within AutoCAD, you can’t do it just using regular browser.

I also have problem with search tool, so you might need to navigate to the last page of the app list. (Is it just me, or the app have problem with the search engine?)

Here is the sales page on the app store:

I’ve seen people comparing AutoCAD and MicroStation. How they love it, and don’t understand why would people choose the other one. So which one is the best? Which one should you use?

This article is my personal opinion, you are welcome if you want to write yours on comment section below.

It’s not an apple-to-apple comparison

To me, it’s not really apple-to-apple comparison. They are not really competing each other.

Really? Aren’t they both can do about the same thing? Well yeah, but it doesn’t mean they are competing on the same area.

AutoCAD was designed as drafting tool

Yes. AutoCAD was designed as drafting tool. It was the best ever, and still is. If you mainly work with detailed drawings, I think most likely you will say AutoCAD is better than MicroStation. Later, many applications use AutoCAD as platform. Autodesk puts many tools to AutoCAD, even change the rendering engine to mental ray. The same rendering engine for 3ds Max. But still, the AutoCAD strongest point is its drafting capability.

MicroStation was designed as platform

MicroStation was optimized as a CAD platform. Bentley is working hard to make almost all of their products run on MicroStation. It makes MicroStation has the ability for drafting/detailing, 3D modeling, rendering, and even animations. I’m not talking about simple walkthrough here, but complex animation like I found here on YouTube:

Here also some sample tutorial how you can create traffic animation in MicroStation, and this is a result from Bentley Civil channel.

Yes, Bentley can create great renderings too.

Image copyright: Vincent

So MicroStation is better than AutoCAD? As a CAD platform, yes. But not as drafting tool.

Of course you can create detailed drawings in MicroStation. MicroStation has tools for drafting, but I find AutoCAD is much more convenient than MicroStation.

I believe that’s why Autodesk acquire Revit, replace AutoCAD Mechanical Desktop with Inventor, and bundle their products as suite. Because AutoCAD is not enough.

In the end, it’s about solution

So Bentley is better than Autodesk? Not really.

Today, 2D drafting probably is still dominating many industries. So it makes sense if more people use AutoCAD than other CAD software. But today, many industries emphasize to move further. In building industries, they have BIM. In manufacturing, they have digital prototyping or PLM. Not sure what are other terms in different industries.

Autodesk already have AutoCAD as the most powerful drafting tool. They have the most powerful visualization tools in their portfolio too. The reason why I didn’t put Autodesk rendering samples is because you must have seen them. Almost every computer graphics in Hollywood movies used their solution.

The problem is they need more power in their arsenal, because AutoCAD can’t handle more than what it can handle now. So now they have Revit for BIM. They have Inventor for manufacturing. Each of them are good.

Bentley won’t have many problem because they already have good CAD platform. Autodesk needs to create interoperability between their products. Bentley doesn’t have to. They all use the same CAD platform and file format.

Yes, Autodesk has the best drafting and visualization tool. But MicroStation offers enough capabilities. By using it, you can avoid steep learning curve because basically it’s the same tool.

But do you really need to master that many software?

So what do you think?

Above is just my two cents. I believe there are many of you who use both AutoCAD and MicroStation.

You probably want to share yours?

Do you realize that there are hundreds of CAD applications out there? If you’re currently planning to purchase new CAD application, I mean not only purchasing additional seats, but trying to catch up with all those new technology… aren’t they confused you?

One interesting thing about choosing a CAD application, it’s often not because it’s feature. Not because it’s better than its competitors.

I’ve seen an international company decided to switch to other CAD package here, because it’s not easy to find people who can use theirs. So their HQ still use CAD A, here they use CAD B.

I also see people chose a CAD application because their project owner told them to use it. I’ve seen people chose it because of its price.

You probably have your own reason that I probably never knew before. Would you care to share it here?

I’m also wondering… how many of you actually chose a CAD program because you think it is better than its competitor?

There are a couple of active participants (thank you PepaR and Neaton) who encourage me to finish the series. These are the topic we discussed. Feel free to read and share your opinion if you have spare time.

Image copyright: Yuri Arcurs – Fotolia.com

What is ‘Work Better with AutoCAD’ all about?

It’s a framework. A checklist. You can use it as a guide to improve your AutoCAD workflow.

1. Many new users learned AutoCAD then don’t know where to go from there. Practice makes perfect, but it would be better if we have a guide and learn from others mistakes. Not our own.
2. If you are good in AutoCAD, you have to improve your system regularly. We have to improve it because our team size change. Because we work on projects with new/different requirement. Or because simply there are new features we can take advantage of. Hopefully, these list can help you to improve it.
3. And other reasons (Feel free to add your reason in comment section below this post).

There are 10 tasks posted. You can do one each day and complete them in 10 days, or you can set your own pace to complete them.

Part 1: Working with Templates

Image copyright: Redshinestudio – Fotolia.com

Template can set starting point for you and your team. Creating a right template can increase your productivity significantly. Brian Benton covers why we should use templates in AUGI here. Good reading if you haven’t used templates.

Here are some steps you can do to create right templates for your company.

Task 1: Examine our typical drawings

First thing you can do is to find settings and element you can add to your template. Each industry may require different template. So what you need to add to your template maybe different with the others.

If your company is a multi-discipline engineering company, you may need to create several templates. Find common drawings and settings that you can add to your templates.

Read and discuss what kind of settings and elements we usually add to our template here.

Task 2: Add layers information to our template

The most common setting we have in templates is layers information. You can use standard layer naming, or using standard you’ve been using in your company. If you use layer filters and layer states, you can consider to add them too.

Read and discuss how we usually create new template and add layer information to the template here.

Task 3: Add styles to our template

Another common settings we add to our template is styles. Styles control many annotations appearance. They can be text styles, dimension styles, table styles, etc. There are some (relatively) new features that can affect your styles setup, like annotation scale.

Read and discuss what kind of styles we add to our template here. Also discuss how many styles you usually use in a drawing.

Task 4: Setting up plot styles and page setups

Using page setups can help us to quickly setup sheets/pages to plot. Your can save all your plot setup here, so you don’t need to set them up every time you plot your drawing.

Read and discuss how to setup page setups and plot styles here.

Task 5: Saving and using the template

After configuring your templates, now it’s time to save it and using it. Here we discuss where you can save it. If you want all your colleagues to use them, then you need to place them in networked location.

We also cover how to set it as default template and how to choose template when creating new drawing.

In addition, we also can set CAD standard using our template. It can be a good reminder when anyone creating styles or layers that are not ‘standard’ as configured in your template.

Read and discuss how you save and use AutoCAD templates here.

Part 2: Reusable Contents

Image copyright: Gene Gable | creativepro.com

Many objects in our drawings are typical. Instead of creating them over and over again, we can save our typical objects so we can use them later.

We’re already using reusable contents in the old days, using dry transfer. Because today reusable contents are digital contents, we should be able to get many benefits from them.

Task 6: Working with reusable contents

In this task we examine which objects we need to create as reusable contents. We also cover block benefits, so you can make better decision. Blocks in AutoCAD is not only to reduce drawing objects repetitively. Blocks can provide information and smarter.

We can use blocks not only to speed up the drawing process, but they’re also can help for revisions.

Read and discuss about using reusable contents here.

Task 7: Creating your reusable contents

In this task, we discuss what are common reusable contents. We usually create common objects and some annotations as blocks. We also cover some benefits of creating blocks for those objects. And some tricks we can apply to blocks.

Read and discuss about common objects we can make as blocks and the benefits here.

Task 8: Manage and share reusable contents

After we created our blocks, now we need to manage it. We can share those blocks so everybody can use it. The simplest thing to do this is by sharing them on shared folder in your network.

You can then access the blocks using several methods, the easiest way is using tool palettes. Or you can create some AutoLISP or customization if you have experience with it.
Read and discuss about managing and sharing your reusable contents here.

Part 3: Drawing Management

© Vladislav Kochelaevs – Fotolia.com

We also need to manage and share drawing files to collaborate with the others. To allow you work simultaneously, you need to break the files to several files and combine them using reference files. This practice is common, but managing and sharing the files maybe tricky.

Task 9: Managing and Sharing AutoCAD drawings

Sharing and collaborating with AutoCAD drawings is similar with sharing reusable contents. However, there are tools that you can use to manage files further.

AutoCAD provides Sheet Set to compile your drawings in a folder, to let the team easily access latest drawing. If you want to go further, you can consider to use Autodesk Vault or other CAD data management applications.

Read and discuss about drawing file management here.

Part 4: Customization

© Kirsty Pargeter – Fotolia.com

The last topic in this framework is using customization. Why do we need customization? Because we have different ways to work, different requirement. Sometimes we need to customize AutoCAD just to work faster. Or to do something vanilla AutoCAD can’t do. AutoCAD is very general CAD software, many industries use it. So it’s very likely you will need some specific tools it doesn’t have.

Task 10: AutoCAD customization

Customization isn’t necessarily creating complex program or plugins. It can be simple tweak or finding the right plugins for you. You can consider to customize your command alias, add new command to ribbon (or toolbars), or creating simple to complex program.

Read and discuss about customizing AutoCAD here.

Keep it simple, don’t overdo it

Those tasks cover many things you can consider to work better with AutoCAD. It doesn’t mean you need to do all of them. If it works well for others, it doesn’t mean it works well for you. We need to keep it simple and easy for everybody.

© Michael Brown – Fotolia.com

Our system is supposed to make things simple. If we work in large company, when new people come, they should be able to use it without too much confusion.

Project Storm

Project Storm is a cloud application for structural analysis. You can use it with Revit Structure.

I haven’t tried it because it’s not available for my country. But if you can try it, it’s worth to try.

You can analyze your model on the cloud, and continue working using your Revit. The result can be displayed and explored in Revit views.

To give it a try, download it here: http://labs.autodesk.com/utilities/revit_storm/

Project Spark

Project Spark is also not available in my country (yes, I know… poor me).

You can consider it as LT version of Revit, Revit with basic functionality. A teaser for you to implement BIM in your company.

There are many limitation, compared to Revit.

Read detailed review of Project Spark by David Light in his blog here.

If you want to try it, download it here: http://labs.autodesk.com/utilities/spark/

Project Vasari

Project Vasari has the conceptual modeling capability like in Revit. It also has integrated carbon and energy analysis.

We covered it before, now it has more capabilities like Ecotect wind tunnel analysis.

David Light have fun with it, creating Millennium Falcon and analyze it in Project Vasari.

You know Millennium Falcon, don’t you?

Project Neon

Have you tried Project Neon? We covered it before here. It’s a cloud rendering service. You can render your Revit (and AutoCAD) model online now, using Autodesk render farm. Then you can download the final result. It’s fast, free (at least for now) and you can use your valuable hardware and software while it renders your model.

If you’re interested to try torturing their servers, try it here: http://labs.autodesk.com/technologies/neon/

It’s good to see how fast this industry is growing. In several years, we will be able to invest at minimum cost and have so many options. Even if we have to pay for the services above, it will be much more cheaper than how many it cost us now. Isn’t it?

There are wide range of products from viewers and markup tools, data sharing, to conceptual tools. Not all of them available as desktop applications. Some of them are cloud services. Some are for your mobile device. However, they’re great products that help for collaboration and productivity.

Note: Some of the products are technology preview. It means they’re still in beta. After they are considered mature, it may no longer available as free products. They may be bundled in other products like Inventor Fusion. But they’re also a chance they’re still free, like AutoCAD WS.

Let’s see the products.

Viewer and markup

If you need to see files that are created with Autodesk products, download these application for free. Some of them also allow you to do markups. So you don’t have to plot your drawings. Save some papers and less mess.

1. DWG TrueView

DWG TrueView is a free DWG viewer. Many of us need to review a drawing, but never need to actually using AutoCAD. So this is a right tool for you. We’re able to measure objects in your drawing, and plot it if necessary. Unfortunately, no markup tools.

The biggest advantage of using this tool is we can open and convert the file format to any version. I’ve seen how people get frustrated when they receive DWG files created in newer version, and they can’t open it. They need to convert those files to older version. It’s not always possible to ask the companies you work with to save to older version.

It was DWG TrueConvert that has this ability. Now it’s included in TrueView. Just keep updating your TrueView version to the latest, and you’re saved. Of course, you will miss many new AutoCAD features. But at least this is very helpful when you can’t upgrade.

Download your free copy of DWG TrueView here.

2. Design Review

Design review, like it’s name, can be used to review your design. It opens DWF or even DWG files. It also has markup tools.

The problem is when you open DWG files, it will convert the file to DWF. There is no way you can save the drawing back to DWG after reviewing it. So your markups is only on DWF file.

However, it’s still a good tool if you want to markup your drawing, but you don’t use AutoCAD. Send the drawing as DWF to your engineer, then can underlay it to original drawing, as reference to modify their drawing.

This application is included in almost all Autodesk installation media. If you don’t have it, download your free copy of Design Review here.

3. DWF Writer

Do you wonder if there’s a way to create DWF from other than Autodesk application? Yes there is.

You can create DWF by installing Windows system driver, DWF writer. As it’s a Windows system driver, as long as your program can plot, it can produce DWF.

This application also has plugin for SolidWorks 2006, CATIA V5, Or Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 2.0. By using this plugin, you can export 3D model with the design information.

Download your copy of DWF Writer here.

4. Navisworks Freedom

Navisworks is a great project review software, especially in AEC. Now after you put all your model in Navisworks, created the visualization, schedules, and all… how you can share it to the others that don’t use Navisworks? Sure you can capture your screen, save the animation… but that’s not fun! Let them experience it in Navisworks too!

Send your Navisworks file and ask them to download Navisworks Freedom. It’s the Navisworks free viewer.

Download your copy of Navisworks Freedom here.

5. Inventor Viewer

What about Inventor files, can we see those files with free viewer? Sure. This viewer opens Inventor files for viewing, and plot them with Inventor View.

Download Inventor View here.

6. Revit Viewer

If you’ve never heard Revit Viewer before, because officially there is no Revit Viewer.

In the past, we can install Revit as 30 days trial. After the trial period is over, we can use Revit as viewer, but can’t use it to save or print your project. There’s a small change in Revit 2012, the Revit viewer/demo mode has a separate icon.

Download Revit Architecture free trial here.

Conceptual Design and 3D modeling

Autodesk also provides several design and 3D modeling tools. Many of them are great, and I never thought these kind of applications are available for free! Let’s hope they’ll still be free after come out from beta.

7. Project Vasari

Autodesk labs release many great technology previews. And the best thing about it, they’re available for free. At least when they’re still in beta.

Project Vasari is one of their technology previews. Basically it’s a building conceptual modeling tool. It pretty much can do what we can do in Revit conceptual design here. But it also has energy and solar analysis.

You can then save the model and finish it in Revit. Very nice teaser for those who new to BIM.

Go and download Project Vasari in Autodesk labs here.

8. Project Photofly

Photofly is also a technology preview. It’s a cloud computing application that converts your photo to real 3D model. Yes, really… Have you seen Shaan Hurley’s head in his post? And the best thing is we can use any kind of camera.

You also need to download a desktop application called Photo Scene Editor to compile your photo and upload them.

Why do we want to create 3D model from photograph?

1. For renovation design.
2. To create surrounding for visualization and rendering.
3. We need to create 3D model to do energy analysis and create surrounding environment.
4. Because we can, and it’s fun!

Download Photo Scene Editor and try Photofly here.

9. Autodesk 123D

This is a new one. Just released last week. It’s pretty much like Inventor Fusion, but intended for ‘makers’. You can make any model, as your digital prototype.

In the application website, you can download free or paid 3D contents to start working with. So you don’t have to start from scratch.

See this review by Roopinder Tara for details. It’s still beta, but already listed as free download in Autodesk products list.

If you want to give it a try, go to 123D website: http://123dapp.com/

10. Autodesk Homestyler

Homestyler probably not a ‘serious CAD’ program like AutoCAD, Revit, or Inventor. But it can help you to design your interior by placing real world products from it’s library.

I like the idea. You can create your design online (yes, it’s a web based software), place items from library. Make sure it fits, and it’s available in the market. It’s easy to use and fun. I tried it here.

On the other side, manufacturers can use it to promote their products, right?

If you want to try it, go to Homestyler website here.

11. Sketchbook Mobile Express

Sketchbook is not really a CAD application. But you can use it for sketching and painting, to create your concept. Imagine that you have a tablet or mobile phone, and need to show your concept quickly to your customer. Instead of drawing on tissue paper, you can draw on your tablet.

Sketchbook mobile express is free, but if you want more features, you can consider to use Sketchbook mobile for a very low price. I purchased it from Android market, and even my 3 years old boy like it.

You can download Sketchbook Mobile Express on Android market or on App Store.

Online data sharing and collaboration

Collaboration is a big issue lately. We are looking for an efficient and save way to share our drawings and work with our partners on different part of the world. You may want to see these.

12. AutoCAD WS

AutoCAD WS allows you to upload your AutoCAD drawings, and share it with your colleagues. The idea is for collaboration. You can open one drawing and discuss with your partners online.

There is a chat feature, and you can see the others mouse pointer so you can review the design together online. There is also file history, so you can track the design changes. All you need is to open it in a browser and login with your account. Creating your

It also has mobile application for iOS and Android. So you can open the drawing from server when you’re on site. You can create some drawing markups and update it to server, so engineers at your office can quickly see your reviews.

Try AutoCAD WS here: https://www.autocadws.com/ and download the mobile application from App Store or Android Market.

13. Autodesk Freewheel

Freewheel is also a way to share your design. You can upload your DWF files and let your colleagues see it. Sometimes people just don’t want to install Design Review. Or probably they are not at the office when they need to access the drawing. They can see it online if you share it using Freewheel.

You can also embed your 3D model on Freewheel to your website. Very cool if you have a blog or website, and want to show it off on your portfolio pages.

See Freewheel here: http://freewheel.autodesk.com/

Visualisation

Autodesk is well known for their visualization applications. Most of the box office movies use 3ds Max or Maya. But rendering capabilities are not only for 3ds Max or Maya users. We can render in many Autodesk applications, for example in AutoCAD. But the problem, it takes too long.

14. Project Neon

If you think rendering your AutoCAD models take a life time, then you will like this very much. This is also a technology preview, a cloud service.

We can upload our model, let Autodesk server render it for us. This should take less time without we have to invest expensive software for rendering.

I’m not sure how it’s going to be. But my wild guess is it’s going to be built-in plugin like AutoCAD WS. So you can upload your model directly from AutoCAD, render it online, and then download the rendering image.

Probably it will be available for free for anyone, or probably only for those who are on subscription. Or we may have to pay to use it. It’s free now, so go ahead… give it a try.

If you are interested to give it a try, visit Project Neon here.

Entertainment and fun

Autodesk is not only about design applications. They also have stuff for entertainment too!

15. TinkerBox

This is not related to CAD at all, but you can play an engineering game from Autodesk. A game? Yes it is. It’s available for iOS device.

Have fun with this mechanical riddles here.

16. TimeFX

If you have iOS device and want to have a clock with cool special effects, then you’ll have fun with it. I don’t have iPhone, so I can’t try it. But sounds cool.

See TimeFX here.

More applications

I believe there are more free applications from Autodesk that I miss. Now if you know more free helpful applications from Autodesk, please share it here!