User manual AUTODESK AUTOCAD 2008 PREVIEW GUIDE

[. . . ] AutoCAD® 2008 Preview Guide www. autodesk. com/autocad AUTOCAD 2008 PREVIEW GUIDE Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Configuration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Installing AutoCAD. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Participating in the Customer Involvement Program. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [. . . ] The Annotative option has been added to the Text Style, Dimension Style, and Multileader Style dialog boxes. If the Annotative option is enabled for a style, that style name will be preceded by an Annotative icon helping you identify which styles are annotative when viewing them in a style list. The annotative object property is automatically enabled for objects, including Text, MTEXT, Dimensions, Tolerance, Leaders, Multiple Leaders, which use an annotative style. However, you can override the annotative property on a per-object basis using the Properties Window. Figure 34. 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. 25 AUTOCAD 2008 PREVIEW GUIDE Figure 35. Annotative Scales. AutoCAD automatically creates a representation of the annotative object for each of the specified scales. When you select the object, you can see the multiple scale representations. If you prefer not to see all the supported scale representations when the objects is selected, you can use the SELECTIONANNODISPLAY to display only the current representation. The current scale representation, the one AutoCAD displays even when the object is not selected, depends on the annotation scale of the current viewport (or modelspace). For example, if the annotation scale of the current viewport is 1:4, the 1:4 scale representation of the annotative object is displayed. You can select and grip-edit the current scale representation without affecting the other scale representations. [. . . ] Materials palette. In the Material Editor panel, you can specify the type of material and select from a wide range of pre-defined templates. The pre-defined templates include appropriate values, such as shininess, opacity, and translucency, for common materials. Using these templates, you can quickly create realistic materials without being a "materials expert. " 45 AUTOCAD 2008 PREVIEW GUIDE Figure 75. Material Editor Panel. The Maps panel enables you apply diffuse, opacity, and bump maps to a material and you can synchronize any or all of the maps with the material. [. . . ]