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


The minimum installed module set that doesn't do any of the fancy math
for design work.



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.

Yep


... It's far too generic to be truly useful as a design tool in
the sense that you're alluding to.

That depends what what you're designing. Certainly no engineer is going
to sit down in front of AutoCad and whack out the parameters for
whatever he's thinking about. That's a job for pencil & paper at first &
then some specific math-heavy program.

But the bottom line is that AutoCad *does* include the tools to both
ensure that a given design is within design parameters, that it's
physically possible, and tweak it into better shape.


... 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.


Sure. Did I say that AutoCad was for designing circuits? But it can be
used to design all sorts of other stuff.

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).


That's true, too... and it's a difficult program to work IMHO. Probably
because I'm too old and finicky, and not enough interested to do the
hard work of learning it thoroughly.

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.


It's AutoCad, not AutoCam or AutoCAE.

I still say that it includes some design tools but I understand your
objections. You get full credit for making much more intelligent &
meaningful contribution to the subject than Mooron.

DSK