Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 1999 - 66

Product

New

7?eviews

Elbin Cleveland

AutoCAD 2000
Windows 95 was a major step forward in the power of
Microsoft·s ubiquitous operating system. It was also the beginning of software updates which use the year of the release in
the name rather than a sequel1lialnumbering system. Autodesk
has dubbed tlle latest release of its flagship CAD sofurare
"AutoCAD 2000" ratller tllan the expected "Release 15" thus
begging the question, does tlus release incorporate sufficient
improvements and innovations to justify such a conspicuous
shift in nomenclature-especially when it takes on the moniker of the new miUennium? Lers take a look.
At first blush the new and refurbished feahtreS of
~'~,,~,~~~~~~~~~~~xl AutoCAD 2000 seem to be
,.,.. largely responses to advances
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ages such as Visio's IntelliCAD
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98 and Diehl Graphsoft's Min~ Lao"",
iCAD (nO'r called VectorWorks).
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For exanlple, AutoCAD 2000's
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new DesignCenter closely re~81ods
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sembles the Drawin"o Explorer
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feahlre of LntelliCAD 98 and the
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new Properties dialog box bears
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a
striking resemblance to
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52
..:.l MiniCAD's Object Properties dialog box. However, a closer exanUnation of AutoCAD 2000's
advancements quickly dismisses
that initial impression. Autodesk
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has responded to these and
AutoCAD 200'5 new Design Center
many other enhancements of
other packages with even more expanded feahlres. 10re importantly, this release is a strong move away from keyboard
dependence to a new world that Autodesk refers to as a
"Heads- p Design" environment. With dozens of significant
ne\r features, a multimde of revamped and streamlined dialog
boxes, context sensitive right-click cursor menus, and Microsoft IntelliMouse support, tlus new environment allows the
user to concentrate on the design task at hand by making the
commands and features of the program much more accessible
and inhlitive.
These intelface improvements are just a small fraction of
whars new in AutoCAD 2000. It would be impossible to even
list all of the improvements to this CAD package within the
confines of this review. Autodesk was only able to scratch the
surface of this new release with a thirty-sLx-page guide to the
new and enhanced features. I will discuss a few of the new features that I found most intriguing.
The new AutoCAD DesignCenter (ADC) is similar to the
Windows 98 Explorer. With it you can explore the contents of
all local or network drives and more significantly, explore inside drawing files for named components such as blocks, lay-

TO&T

ers, dimstyles, layouts, line~"iJes, texts~'les, and vel's. Any of
these named components or entire dra\\~ng files can be
dragged and dropped into other dral\ings within the
DesignCenter or open files in the AutoCAD session. There is a
find feature which \rill search for any of these nanled components on any accessible drive. You can even access drawings
and components on the Internet.
AutoCAD users have long asked for the ability to open
and edit multiple draWing files simultaneously witlun a single
AutoCAD session. The new Multiple Design Environment
(MOE) more than fulfills tlus long standing wish. Naturally you
can copy, cut, and paste between open drawings. In addition
you can drag and drop objects between open drawings or use
the Property Painter to paint the propel1ies such as color,
layer, line!)"iJe, etc. from an object in one dra\ving onto objects
in another drawing. The concurrent editing feature of the MOE
allows you to switch between open draWings \\~tl1out canceling
the current command. You could be in tlle nuddle of a dimensioning command in one drawing, switch to another drawing
and work \\~th it for hours, and when you s\vitch back to tlle
first drawing it will still be in the dimensioning command.
The Properties dialog box is another big time saving enhancement tllat greatly simplifies and combines the functionality of a number of proper!)' editing commands and dialogs
into a single, resizeable, modeless (always available until disnussed) dialog. Tlus powerful dialog allows you to easily
change any or all of the properties of an object or of an entire
selection set of objects.
Like most Windows programs, AUloCAD 2000 generates
context sensitive menus with a click of the right mouse button.
Unfortunately tlus means that the right mouse button no longer
issues the command wluch in previous releases of
AutoCAD recalled the last command used. Tlus will take some
getting used to by experienced AutoCAD users. Fortunately, the
top choice on context-sensitive menus is always tlle nanle of
the previously used command.
I lughly recommend using a Microsoft IntelliMouse \vith
AutoCAD 2000. Spin the mouse wheel down and the display
zooms out, spin it up and the display zooms in. Hold the
mouse wheel down and you can pan the display. Double clicking the wheel causes the display to zoom to the extents of the
dmring. The coolest thing of aU happens when you single
click the wheel. The display goes into a dynanuc joystick-like
panning mode. It's a bit like moving about in a computer
game. Speaking of fun features, the new 3D Orbit command
allows you to rotate your 20 and 3D model (drawing) to view
it from any direction in 3D space and it does it in real time.
Plotting in AutoCAD has been completely revamped. The
good news is that you can now set up multiple layouts to genel~
ate different plots of a drawing. Each layout can use a different
plotter and/or paper size as weU as a vast array of plot settings.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 1999