DWG

5 Quick Tips for AutoCAD WS

Mar 22

Some of these may be familiar to you, but it never hurts to revisit ways to improve your CAD experience.

1. Shortcuts Are Your Friend

Even without the familiar Command Line from AutoCAD, you can still rely on the typed shortcuts you already know. As you type each letter there will be no indication until the shortcut is complete and the cursor changes to prompt your next click to begin the action you selected.

For a comprehensive list of AutoCAD WS shortcuts, look here. These are a few that we use regularly.

F8 – Ortho Mode. You can easily toggle Ortho mode on and off with one key to make sure your lines are always at a right angle. Alternative shortcut: ortho
ma – Match Properties. Like Format Painter or any other similar function, Match Properties captures the defining properties of one object and allows you to copy them to another selected object. Alternative shortcut: matchprop
t – Insert Text. Define the size and placement of your text box and start typing. Alternative shortcuts: dt, dtext, text, mt

2. Contextual Toolbar

Whenever you click on an object or block a toolbar will appear with a number of context sensitive options ranging from Move and Rotate to Mirror, Offset and Explode. Contextual toolbar is great for newcomers to AutoCAD…

3. Pan and Zoom by Mouse

You can scroll the mouse wheel to zoom in and out of your drawing. Click and hold the mouse wheel to switch the cursor to the hand symbol and pan by moving the mouse. You can achieve the same effect by holding down the Space bar to switch the cursor and then hold down the left-click and move the mouse to pan.

4. Sharing Multiple Drawings

Sometimes you want to share multiple drawings from the same project or send multiple files to a colleague. Instead of sharing each individual file, you can create a folder for all the files you want to share and then simply share the entire folder.

When you share a folder it’s like using an FTP destination. You can add more drawings to the folder and they will be automatically shared according to the sharing permissions you decided.

5. Right-Click for Convenience

Your trusty right-click can help you reach a number of useful commands such as repeat or undo the last action and zoom and pan.

How would you improve productivity in AutoCAD WS?

Apart from the Command Line and a version of the app for Android (we know!), what else would you add to improve the usefulness of AutoCAD WS?

Save Time With The New Brush Tool

Feb 24

One of the editing upgrades we just added to the new release of AutoCAD WS (available now on the app Store) was the introduction of the Brush Tool in a variety of widths. To encourage you to explore and begin using this tool, I am posting five great ways you can save time with the new Brush tool:

Add a personal touch. Combine technical precision with your artistic skills.
Get them involved. Hand your iPad to your clients and let them get their hands dirty.
Respond quickly. Scribble on and markup the drawing and email it straight back.
Export to DWG. Save markups back to DWG with the WS web app or AutoCAD plugin.
Draw your own symbols. Personalize your markups in your own unique style.

That’s five great reasons for using the Brush tool, but perhaps the most important one of all is, unlike working on paper, with the new Brush tool you can always Undo any of your doodles or markups.

The new AutoCAD WS Brush tool combines the precision of CAD with the freehand creativity of our users. Let us know how you use the Brush tool.

5 Ways AutoCAD WS Makes You Look Good at Work

Feb 04

Whether you’re an engineer or consultant, an architect or a product designer, AutoCAD WS can significantly improve the way you do business. There’s nothing more annoying than going into a meeting and asking the other participants to hold down the corners of your giant print out.

Here are our top five ways that AutoCAD WS makes your working life better.

1. AutoCAD WS makes your Designs look Better

Turn up to your meeting with an iPad with your DWG drawing already open and everyone will lean forward to watch you show off your design. Making changes or responding to suggestions on the fly using your fingertips makes you look responsive and flexible. Your drawings will always look sharp in AutoCAD WS wherever you access them and anyone can join in and make suggestion even if they have never used AutoCAD before.

2. AutoCAD WS makes you Green

Think of all the paper you save by not printing multiple versions of every version of every drawing. AutoCAD WS helps you manage your design’s versions without the need for drawers and filing cabinets filled to bursting with sheets and sheets of old diagrams. Show your colleagues and clients that you are serious about your commitment to the environment.

3. AutoCAD WS makes you Available

It doesn’t matter where you are when your client calls you with questions. As long as you have AutoCAD WS installed on your mobile device you can call up your plans and address all questions and concerns. You can even make changes and add markups. When you’re out of the office, you can always access old drawings and use them as references for your current project spontaneously.

4. AutoCAD WS makes you Collaborative

Using AutoCAD WS you can share your work with anyone who needs to see it. They don’t need to be registered users of AutoCAD WS. All they need is a web browser. It’s so much more elegant sending a link once than sending a heavy email full of attachments.

You control permissions deciding when they can see it and whether or not they can make changes or even download it. You can invite people to join you in an online meeting where you can work together in real-time. At the end of the meeting all participants will receive a full meeting summary detailing all the changes that were decided.

5. AutoCAD makes you… ?

I’m leaving this one blank for you to fill in. If you work with AutoCAD WS, tell us why. The best reason will be added as the definitive fifth way that AutoCAD WS makes you look good at work.

AutoCAD WS 1.1 FAQ

Jan 11

Now that the latest version of the AutoCAD WS has been available for a month, we thought it was time to bring together the most frequently asked questions about the release and address them again in one place.

Q: How Does Offline Support work?

When your mobile device is connected to the internet, it will sync the drawings in your AutoCAD WS online directory and save them locally on your device. After that you are able to open AutoCAD WS, view and edit your drawings even when you are not connected to the internet.

Q: What happens to the edits I make when I’m working offline?

Your offline edits are saved locally as you make them. The next time your device connects to the internet, your version of the drawing will be uploaded to your AutoCAD WS account and saved as the latest version on the file’s timeline.

Q: How do I know if my file is saved locally or not?

Once a file has been saved locally it will be clearly marked “Downloaded” with a date and time stamp indicating the exact moment it was synced. You can initiate a manual sync at any time by tapping the sync button. All time stamps will be refreshed even if saved file was the most up-to-date version of the drawing.

Q: I can’t open the file from my email. What’s happening?

Once you have AutoCAD WS 1.1 installed, your device’s email client will recognize DWG files that you receive as email attachments. Tapping on the attachment will allow you to select AutoCAD WS as the right program for viewing the file. The file is also uploaded to your online account so that it will be accessible in the future from AutoCAD WS without having to find the email again.

Please note: Opening a DWG from email is only available in iOS 3.2 or better.

Q: How do I delete a file from my account.

Currently, you can only delete a file from your AutoCAD WS account using the web client. Login at www.autocadws.com, select the drawing you wish to delete and click the Delete button to remove it from your account.

Q: Will AutoCAD WS be integrated with iTunes to transfer files without ever connecting to the internet?

At the moment we are not planning to integrate with iTunes although we are always exploring ways to make the lives of our users easier.

Q: When will you release AutoCAD WS for Android?

There is no launch date, but we have heard the many calls for an Android version of AutoCAD WS and we consider it our goal to reach as wide an audience as possible. Rest assured as soon as there is something to announce, you’ll hear it directly from us.