DSK wrote:

Well, you're both wrong... or maybe it's just that you've been using
the cheap set of AutoCad tools.

What, exactly, is "the cheap set of AutoCad tools"?


AutoCad will do a large number of
design calculations including area, volume, centers of mass, and
moments of inertia.

AutoCAD is a drafting tool - it's used to produce drawings so that people
can make things. It's far too generic to be truly useful as a design tool in
the sense that you're alluding to. Contrast it with the software that's used
to simulate electronic circuits - they are true design tools because they
allow you to test and iterate complex designs to the point where the result
can be manufactured and pretty-much function as intended. You draw a
schematic, and it does output analysis and PCB routing for you.

To acheive the same in AutoCAD requires a far greater degree of effort and
input from the user, and stock AutoCAD just isn't used in that way in any
proliferate sense at all. For AutoCAD to reach similar effectiveness in a
real-world situation, it needs to be enhanced with the various AutoDesk and
3rd-party add-ons that do far more sophisticated calculations and procedures
(ie, vertical enough for their intended purpose).


It will also extract a bill of materials

Generating a BoM has nothing to do with designing something - design is when
you start with the problem and come up with a solution. The BoM comes after
you have the solution designed and want to build it. I've never met anyone
who actually uses AutoCAD's BoM - it's too cumbersome and requires the user
to draw in a specific way that's conducive to making the BoM work. AutoCAD
is a great drafting tool, but it's a **** database and a **** scheduling
tool. By and large, people just don't draw like that, mainly because they
don't have time to - it's less hassle to schedule semi-manually
(spreadsheets and the like), or to generate BoMs from vertical tools
designed for the purpose.

For instance, I could use AutoCAD to find out exactly what size the windows
are in a building, but to get a parts list, those sizes are entered into a
BoM tool provided by the maker of the particular window system - tell it the
size, how many panes, opening lights, etc, and it'll spit out a list of
everything to the last nut and bolt, inlcuding a cutting list to be fed
straight to the saw that chops up the extruded ally profiles that will
become the window frames.


--
Wally
www.artbywally.com
www.wally.myby.co.uk