? Making multiple Web and paper plots with PUBLISH
? Viewing and plotting drawings without AutoCAD
? Protecting drawings with passwords and digital signatures
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past five years, you know that the Internet is causing major changes in the way that people work. (And even if you have been living under a rock, someone probably is offering broadband service to it by now!) Because of the Net, most of us communicate differently, exchange files more rapidly, and fill out express delivery forms less frequently.
AutoCAD users were among the online pioneers, well before the Internet burst onto the public scene. Despite this early adoption, the CAD world has been relatively slow to take the full-immersion Internet plunge. Exchanging drawings via e-mail and using the World Wide Web for CAD software research and support are pretty common nowadays. But it’s still uncommon to find drawings incorporated into Web pages or Web-centric CAD applications. That’s partly because CAD drafters have traditionally been somewhat insulated from the general computing community — they spend most of their time cranking out drawings and leave all that new-fangled Web design stuff to people who don’t have real work to get done, thank you very much! Even the more forward-thinking CAD users tend to display a healthy, and often reasonable, skepticism about whether any particular innovation will help with the pressing job of getting drawings finished on deadline.
Many of the features described in this chapter have undergone frequent tinkering, revision, and refocusing in recent AutoCAD versions. AutoCAD 2005 adds new ETRANSMIT and PUBLISH capabilities to keep up with the new sheet sets feature, which is described in Chapter 14. The Standard toolbar includes a new Markup Set Manager for those who receive drawing markups from users of Autodesk DWF Composer. (DWF Composer is Autodesk’s newest effort to draw more people into using the DWF format. The idea is that architects, engineers, and others who don’t themselves use AutoCAD can mark up drawings by using DWF Composer and then transmit those markups to an AutoCAD drafter, who incorporates the changes into the DWG files.)
This chapter shows you how — and when — to use AutoCAD’s Internet features. I also cover how the Internet features can connect with traditional CAD tasks, such as plotting. The emphasis of this chapter is on useful, no-nonsense ways of taking advantage of the Internet in your CAD work.
Your ticket to most of the features described in this chapter is an account with an Internet service provider (ISP). You probably already have Internet access through work or a private ISP account — or both; but if not, now is the time to get connected. Other CAD users will expect to be able to send drawings to you and receive them from you via e-mail. Software companies, including Autodesk, expect you to have Web access in order to download software updates and support information. Dial-up modem access to the Internet is acceptable, but if you’re doing much drawing exchange or want to be able to download software updates without waiting all day, consider springing for broadband access, such as DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) or cable modem.
The Internet and AutoCAD: An Overview
As with all things Internet-y, AutoCAD 2005’s Internet features are a hodgepodge of the genuinely useful, the interesting but still somewhat immature or difficult to use, and the downright foolish. I steer you toward features and techniques that are reliable and widely used today. I warn you about “stupid pet trick” features that may impress a 12-year-old computer geek but leave your project leader wondering what planet you come from. On the other hand, a few of today’s questionable features are likely to become the reliable, commonplace ones of tomorrow. I give you enough context to see how everything works and where it may lead. Table 16-1 summarizes the AutoCAD 2005 Internet features and tells you where in this book to find more information.
Table 16-1 AutoCAD 2005 Internet Features
| Feature | Description | Comments | Where You Can Find More Info |
|---|---|---|---|
| ETRANSMIT command | Package DWG files for sending via e-mail or FTP or posting on the Web | Useful to most people | “Send it with eTransmit” in this chapter |
| Reference Manager | Report on and modify paths of referenced files | Useful for people who send drawings and use complex, multi-folder xref schemes | “Help from the Reference Manager” in this chapter |
| File navigation dialog box | Can save to and open from Web and FTP sites | Potentially useful for people who routinely work with files on Web or FTP sites | Chapter 2 |
| DWF files | A lightweight drawing file format for posting drawings on the Web or sharing them with people who don’t have AutoCAD | The recipient must have Autodesk Express Viewer installed; potentially useful for sharing drawings with people who don’t have AutoCAD | “Drawing Web Format — Not Just for the Web” in this chapter |
| PUBLISH command | Create DWF files, plot (PLT) files, or paper plots in batches | Can help automate the traditional plotting procedure; if DWF files ever catch on, will streamline their creation | “Making DWFs (or Plots) with PUBLISH” in this chapter |
| Publish to Web | A wizard that builds and publishes a Web page containing drawings | Like most wizards,fairly easy to use, limited; possibly useful as a quick-and-dirty Web publishing approach | “PUBLISHTOWEB command” in the but AutoCAD online help system |
