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AutoDesk Autocad 2004 LT Electronic Manual PDF Download
The most significant new feature in AutoCAD 2004 is the revamping of the DWG file format, which enhances the speed of the application, reduces file size, and provides the ability to represent true colors. The interface has been redesigned to make it more contemporary and attractive, but the guts of it remain the same, including the command-line interface. There are several significant improvements in operations such as creating multiline text, using external references, working with blocks and applying hatches, drawing security, electronic publishing and viewing, and undoing and redoing operations. Various other features have been enhanced as well. Those looking for the much-needed improvements along the 3D front, however, will be disappointed, as they have been completely untouched in this release.
Let us now look at each one of the changes in detail, starting with what you see: the interface.
Interface Makeover
The interface of AutoCAD 2004 has undergone a makeover, and looks distinctly more modern compared to its predecessors. The tool icons have a newer, more sophisticated look and feel, as shown in Figure 1. The same is true for modeless dialog boxes (which remain open while you work with other tools and commands), such as the Command Line, DesignCenter, and Properties dialogs. In addition, these dialogs have been enhanced with useful options such as auto-hide, transparency, docking, and tabs. The auto-hide ability automatically minimizes the dialog until you move the cursor over the title bar, thus helping to free up valuable screen real estate; the transparency ability achieves the same result by not obscuring objects under the dialog. (Both options are illustrated in Figure 1.) Overall, these interface changes make AutoCAD 2004 much more pleasant to work with than its predecessors.
Figure 1. The interface of AutoCAD 2004 includes redesigned tool icons and modeless dialogs. Here, the command-line dialog has been made transparent so that drawing objects under it are still visible, and the DesignCenter window is set to Auto-Hide so that only its title bar is visible. |
These changes in the interface, although pleasant and useful, are mostly cosmetic. AutoCAD still relies heavily on the command-line for performing operations, selecting options, and manipulating system variables, something that long-time AutoCAD users have become accustomed to and will appreciate. However, newcomers unaccustomed to typing in commands in other modern software will find the command-line interface confusing. Recall the intensely debated command-line discussion in Issues #63 and #64 of my AEC Tech newsletter (www.cadenceweb.com/newsletter/aec/index.html) in response to my earlier review of AutoCAD 2002 (CADENCE, December 2002, pp. 20-24 or www.cadenceweb.com/2001/1201/fr1201.html).
Revamped DWG File Format
The new AutoCAD 2004 DWG file format has resulted in many benefits, such as smaller file size, faster speed, true color, higher resolution, and better drawing security. Autodesk estimates that the new DWG files are up to 50 percent smaller, and the files located on a network drive can be opened 30 percent faster and saved 66 percent faster, compared to working with AutoCAD 2002 DWG files. I had both versions of the application running simultaneously and found that file opening and saving was significantly faster even for drawings stored locally on my computer. I also found that the speed at which dialog boxes were invoked and operations got performed had noticeably improved in AutoCAD 2004.
| AutoDesk Autocad 2004 Lt Electronic PDF Manual Book Download |
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| This download has 1 files and is 17 Mb |
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