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Software > AutoCAD LT®
Streamline your day-to-day tasks with AutoCAD LT® 2008 software, the world’s number-one-selling 2D drafting and detailing product. For design professionals who require full DWG native file format compatibility without 3D capabilities or advanced customization, AutoCAD LT makes daily work simpler because it’s designed with the drafter in mind. Minimize time-consuming workarounds with annotation scaling and layer properties per viewport while refining your aesthetic precision with text and table enhancements and multiple leaders. You’ll also work smarter with existing features like dynamic blocks and express tools. Your work goes quicker. Your day goes smoother. And your tools just keep getting better.
Key Features:
Drawing Annotation
Annotation is a crucial part of your design drawings and creating annotations can consume a considerable amount of your workday. Fortunately, new and improved functionality in AutoCAD LT 2008 enables you to annotate your drawings with greater flexibility and efficiency than ever before.
Controlling Annotation Scale
The frequent need for you to view the same design data at different scales can require you to produce multiple sets of annotation objects, such as text and dimensions, and multiple layers. New annotation scales, enable you to automate the process of scaling drawing objects that are typically used for annotation. Annotation objects, including Text, MTEXT, Dimensions, Leaders, Multiple Leaders, Tolerance, Blocks, Attributes, and Hatches, have a new Annotative property. When the annotative property is enabled you can assign annotation scales to that object. For example, you might use MTEXT objects for room labels in a floor plan. If you want to represent the floor plan, and subsequently the room labels, at different scales such as 1”=1’, ¼”=1’, and ½”=1’ (or 1:10, 1:20, and 1:50), you can assign those scales to the selected objects. By using annotative scales you can define the size/height of annotative objects at the size they should appear on the sheet, as opposed to having to figure out how big the object must be created in model space so that it scales down to the correct size when viewed or plotted on a sheet. For example, if the text needs to be 1/8” on the sheet, you create them with a text size of 1/8”. If that drawing then needs to be scaled ¼”=1’ to display on the sheet, you simply add an object scale of ¼”=1’ to those text objects. You don’t have to figure out and apply a model space text height of 6”. Furthermore, if the text also needs to be displayed in a different viewport or sheet at a scale of ½”=1’, you simply add an additional object scale of ½”=1’ to the text objects. You don’t have to create copies of the text on a new layer with a new text size of 3”. You can apply the annotative property to supported objects in various ways depending on the type of object. Objects that are created with a graphical user interface, including MTEXT, Hatches, Attribute Definitions, and Block Definitions, enable you to apply the annotative property upon creation. For example, the Text Formatting toolbar has an Annotative button and the Block Definition, Attribute Definition, and Hatch dialog boxes have Annotative controls.
Annotative Styles
When you redefine a style or definition to be annotative or non-annotative, existing objects that reference that style or definition are not automatically updated to reflect the annotative property of the style or definition. Instead, a new ANNOUPDATE command enables you to update the annotative properties of selected objects to match those of the object’s style or definition. When you enable the Annotative property for an object, the object automatically takes on the current annotation scale and a cursor icon indicates that the object is annotative. Once the Annotative property has been enabled for an object, you can add as many annotative scales as you want. However, to optimize the drawing file and performance, you should only add scales that are necessary. It is most helpful to consider at what scale you will represent the drawing and then set that as the current annotation scale when you create new annotative objects. This process will enable you to quickly create annotative objects that are size appropriate and it will minimize the number of additional annotative scales you need to create. For example, if you know a drawing will need to be displayed at ¼”=1’ and ½”=1’, you can set the current Annotation Scale to ¼”=1’ before creating the annotative objects. The new annotative objects will automatically include the scale ¼”=1’. You can then edit the annotative objects to add the ½”=1’ scale. You add or remove the annotative scales using the Annotation Object Scale dialog box, which is accessible from the Properties window or from the right-click menu for a selected annotative object. You can also access it box using the OBJECTSCALE command.
Annotative Scale Representations
New controls on the status bar enable you to control the annotative scale of the current viewport (or modelspace). When you select or activate a viewport, the status bar includes two scale lists; VP Scale and Annotation Scale. These scale lists are inaccessible if the viewport is locked. However, a Lock/Unlock Viewport button enables you to quickly toggle viewport locking on or off. The VP Scale and Annotation Scale lists display the same set of scales that you will find in other locations in AutoCAD LT including the Plot dialog box and the Viewports toolbar. You can add or remove the scales displayed in these scale lists using the Edit Scale List dialog box, which is accessible using the SCALELISTEDIT command or by selecting Custom from the list of scales. The scales list is now stored in the drawing file so it can vary per drawing. When drawing files are externally referenced, any named scales (referenced by annotative objects in the Xref file) that do not appear in the host drawing are temporarily added to the scales list.
Annotation Scaling panel on the Dashboard
Annotation scaling is not available in earlier releases of AutoCAD LT. However, an option in the Open and Save tab of the Options dialog box enables you to maintain the visual fidelity of your annotative objects when saving to earlier file formats. When you save an AutoCAD LT 2008 drawing with this option selected, each scale representation of every annotative object is saved as a normal (non-annotative) object on its own layer. The appropriate layers are automatically frozen in each viewport to match the visibility of the original annotative objects in the AutoCAD LT 2008-based drawing. If you choose not to maintain the visual fidelity for annotative objects, all annotative objects will be saved based on the annotation scale of the Model tab or its last supported scale.
Using Multiple Leaders
New Multiple Leader tools enable you to create leaders with more control and flexibility than ever before. You can easily access the Multiple Leader tools from the new Multileader panel on the Dashboard. Using the Multiple Leader tool (MLEADER command) you can create a leader head first, tail first, or content first. A right-click menu provides easy you to each of these methods and the method you specify remains persistent for subsequent Multiple Leaders.
Multileader Style Manager
Overrides for some of the Multiple Leader properties are available from the Options selection when creating a multiple leader. And you can use the Properties window to modify properties of existing multiple leaders. Additional tools, available from the Dashboard or right-click menu enable you to add or remove leader lines; creating a single leader object that points to multiple locations in the drawing! And, you can easily grip-edit different parts of the leader while maintaining associativity between the leader and text.
Multileader with multiple leader lines
The Multiple Leader Align tool (MLEADERALIGN command) and enables you to quickly align a set of leaders along a line and you can control the spacing between them.
Text Formatting toolbar
New column controls enable you to wrap an MTEXT object across multiple columns. You can specify dynamic or static columns and adjust the number of columns as well as the column and gutter width and height. Grips and the text formatting ruler provide visual editing options.
Column controls
A new Paragraph dialog box enables you to specify tabs and indents as well as paragraph alignment and spacing. Spell checking has been enhanced in AutoCAD LT 2008 to further automate the spell checking process. When you launch the spell checker, the Check Spelling dialog box is immediately displayed without first requiring you to select objects. The Check Spelling dialog box has a new drop-down list from which you can choose where AutoCAD LT should check for spelling errors. The default is to check the entire drawing enabling you to simply choose Start to begin checking the entire drawing for spelling errors. Alternatively, you can choose to check only the current space/layout or specific objects that you select. When AutoCAD LT detects a spelling error, it automatically highlights and zooms to the word in the drawing.
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