DWG

AutoCAD WS 1.1 – Available Now on the App Store

Two months after the original release, Autodesk is proud to announce the release of the latest version of the mobile app – AutoCAD WS 1.1

Download the latest version of AutoCAD WS from the App Store now.

Changes to the app were inspired by feedback  from people who started using the app in their professional lives to make AutoCAD WS a truly mobile experience.

The user interface has been upgraded to make it even more intuitive. Two key features have been added to help you work with your iPad, iPhone and iPod touch, wherever you find yourselves.

  • Upload from Email
  • Offline Support

Upload from Email

You can now open drawings that you receive as email attachments directly into AutoCAD WS. Simply tap on the attachment and the app will open automatically. At the same time, the drawing will be uploaded to your online account and saved to your mobile device so that you can access it offline. You can download it as a DWG file

Offline Support

AutoCAD WS now lets you sync your online files with your mobile device allowing you to view and edit your drawings even when you’re not connected to the internet. Any changes you make when you are offline can be uploaded back to your account when you reconnect. Now you can take your drawings with you whether you’re at the office or a construction site.

Tutorial

You can read a tutorial with a detailed explanation of the new features here.

Start working today with the new version of AutoCAD WS and let us know what you think of the new features by writing to us at feedback@autocadws.com.

Collaboration in AutoCAD WS

When I first came across this post, I could tell that the author, Alex Lyapin, had put a great deal of effort into it. It was only after I had it translated from the original Russian that I realized just how useful it could be to other AutoCAD WS users. So I wrote to Alex and asked for his permission to translate and reprint his article for this blog.

Alex is a structural engineer from Kharkov in Ukraine. He works for a company that designs high-rise buildings and he specializes in reinforced concrete. Alex told me, “I have always been interested in any kind of innovations in the sphere of structural design. That is why I decided to use Autocad WS to simplify communications between client and engineer.”

Thanks Alex!

This is the translation of Alex’s post.

Collaboration in AutoCAD WS

I have started using a very handy tool for collaborative viewing and editing of drawings from the developers of AutoCAD. In this post I will write about real-time interaction between the designer and the customer, and how the customer can leave  comments for the engineer without installing any special software his computer. I wrote previously about Project Butterfly. Now that Project Butterfly has been released as AutoCAD WS (www.autocadws.com), there have been a lot of interesting tweaks and features that will be of interest to professional users of AutoCAD.

I’ll talk about how to consult with the “designer-client”  in real time. All you need is for the engineer and the customer to be connected to the internet which shouldn’t be too difficult :-)

Upload and Open

The engineer needs to go to his profile on the website, upload the file and open it for editing

View and edit DWG files online

Share Drawing

Select the Share tab and click on the Share button. It opens a dialog box where you enter the email addresses of your colleagues or clients to share the file with them.

Enter an email address to share the file

Setting Permissions

Don’t be in a rush to press the green Share button on the bottom right of the dialog box. First you want to set the permissions for the drawing you are sharing. There are two types of permission to consider:

  • EDIT – This allows the people you share the file with to make changes – adjust the size, remove lines, etc. I usually allow the people I share files with to edit them.
  • DOWNLOAD – This allows the people you’re sharing with to download and save this file onto their own computers and work on it offline.

Set permissions

Once you have selected the appropriate permissions click the Apply and Close button. Now, when you click Share, the service automatically sends an invitation to the addresses you chose, to view (and edit) the drawing.

Working Together

Your colleague or client will receive an email invitation with a link to the drawing inside:

Email invitation

Clicking the link will open the AutoCAD WS app in his browser, where he will sees the open file. He will also see two cursors, one for him and one for you, displayed in different colors with a name identifying each one. Now the engineer and the customer can make and see changes simultaneously in real time.

Collaborating with colored cursors

Now, you can use phone, Skype or chat to discuss the project at the same time that you are both looking at it in your browser, creating the effect of discussion in the office or in person.

Meeting Summary

Now the fun part! After you have finished working together on the drawing and closed the browser you will receive an email with a link to a Meeting Summary. Clicking that link at any time will take you back to the application and show you each step and every change that you performed. This is great if you forget one of the points you discussed (of even if you weren’t paying attention!).

Meeting summary

On the bottom right you can see two notes: the number of changes in green and a description of each change in red.

Thanks again, Alex. Great post. If you want to write something, in any language, and be featured as a guest poster on this blog, drop us a line at feedback@autocadws.com.

AutoCAD WS and the AutoCAD Verticals

Over the past few weeks we have written about the integration of AutoCAD WS into AutoCAD. The AutoCAD WS plugin is already available for AutoCAD 2011 here and it will soon be available for AutoCAD 2010 and the range of vertical products. We know that many of our users are working with AutoCAD verticals and so this post is aimed at you.

Let’s have a look at the following verticals:

  • AutoCAD Architecture
  • AutoCAD Mechanical
  • AutoCAD Civil 3D
  • AutoCAD Map 3D

In each instance, the AutoCAD plugins for 2010 and 2011 can be installed to work with each of these vertical products enabling you to upload DWG and DXF files to AutoCAD WS and share them online and to view them on your mobile device.

What about objects that were created in an Autocad vertical?

Each of the vertical versions of AutoCAD enables users to work with specific objects that have their own rules and properties. Within AutoCAD WS, these objects will appear exactly as if they had been opened within AutoCAD. In most cases AutoCAD WS will not allow you to interact with the objects that have been created in the vertical product. You will still be able to delete such an object, but you may not be able to edit it.

Architecture/Mechanical

Many users are already using the plugin with these verticals. AutoCAD WS for web already fully supports the use of imperial measures (feet and inches).

This is something I’m curious about. Why not let us know in the comments whether you use imperial or metric measures in your work.

Civil 3D

At the moment AutoCAD WS works only with 2D drawings so you need to make some slight adjustments when uploading your work from AutoCAD Civil 3D.

Our colleague Dana Probert, wrote an excellent blog on the subject here: http://bimontherocks.typepad.com/my_weblog/2010/10/can-you-use-autocad-ws-with-civil-3d.html.

One of the key takeaways here for uploading your Civil 3D files to AutoCAD WS is to save your drawings first with PROXYGRAPHICS set to 1, but you should really read the whole article.

Map 3D

If you’re working with AutoCAD Map 3D you should save your drawing as a DWG or DXF file before uploading it to AutoCAD WS if you want to work with it online. You can upload MDB files, but AutoCAD WS will not be able to open them either online or using a mobile device.

One of the coolest features in AutoCAD WS for web is the Google Maps overlay that you can now apply to your drawings. Working with Google Maps allows you to place your designs in context and see exactly how each potential construction fits into the real world. It also looks fantastic!

Your Stories

That’s a few tips from us, but now we’d like to hear from you. Let us know which of the AutoCAD verticals you use and how you plan to work with AutoCAD WS. Leave us a note in the comments or write to us at feedback@autocadws.com. We’ll turn the best stories into a blog post all of their own.

1 … 5 6 7 Scroll to top