1. The first reason a native AutoCAD application in a Mac environment works is because of all the Apple fans out there. Love their products or not, you have to admit there are some pretty big Apple fanboys that will purchase anything manufactured with a fruit logo on it. Phone, music player, and portable multimedia device? Check. Laptops, workstations, and mini computers? Check. Backup storage and TV accessory? Check. I’m pretty sure if Apple made toasters, they would sell a million of them in the first weekend.

2. Reason #2 stems from item #1. There is undoubtedly a huge following for Apple within the Autodesk world already, otherwise they wouldn’t have put forth the effort to research and develop this software. It is more than just an assumption, though. Log on to any Autodesk related forum or discussion group and you’ll find at least a few threads about running the software on a Mac. The same goes on Mac forums about running Autodesk software on there hardware. People have been feverishly installing and running AutoCAD, Revit, and the AutoCAD vertical software on Macs over the last few years in whatever way they could possibly find.

3. Apple’s hardware is gorgeous. Some argue their systems are too expensive given the internals they employ, but you’ll be hard pressed to find someone that doesn’t think their products are esthetically pleasant. Now combine beautiful hardware with architects, engineers, and other CAD professionals that in-arguably have an appreciation for well designed products and you’ve suddenly found the sweet spot of Apple’s target audience.

4. There are going to be different features available for AutoCAD on the Mac than on Windows. Okay, so this is both good and bad. The Mac version of AutoCAD will lose some features and that is never a good things. Without knowing exactly what those features will be, though, I’d be willing to go out on a limb and say the new Mac-only options will far outweigh the losses. I’ve got 3 words for you: Multi-touch Graphic Interface. It is in my honest opinion that this alone will be reason for many to adopt AutoCAD on Mac OS X.

5. Apple has gained a legitimate percentage of the PC market to validate Autodesk (and many other companies that have historically ignored Macs) exploring and developing products specifically for it. For far too long, Apple was simply too small to warrant the time and expense necessary for some companies to see any substantial return on their investment. Apple still only has about 4% market saturation in desktop and mobile PCs, but it has been on a rising trend for quite some time. A trend that doesn’t appear to be lifting any time soon. This isn’t just the theme for individual consumers either, as corporate and government purchases of Apple products has been rising dramatically as well.

6. Autodesk has been doing their due diligence on this software. The information Autodesk is releasing about AutoCAD for Mac OS X revolves around their Sledgehammer Preview, which is in it’s 3rd phase of Beta testing. For anyone familiar with Autodesk’s testing cycles, one could deduce this is pretty early on for a 3rd beta. This is all speculation, of course, as I haven’t beta tested any Autodesk product on a Mac and am not familiar with how long they have been doing so.

7. This will get plenty of coverage by the press, twitter, and bloggers alike (as I’m sure you’ve already seen and are currently reading!). If there is anything to be said about Apple is that any company on the face of this planet should be so lucky to get the instant flood of coverage and fanfare. That said, there will surely be detractors and naysayers to the need for AutoCAD natively on a Mac or there being any benefit to the Mac version. That crowd could be in the right, but that won’t be enough to stifle the roar of the Apple news freight train.

8. This isn’t the first software Autodesk has offered on a Mac. No, I’m not talking about applications from 1992. Autodesk has for a long time and still currently offers many programs native on Mac OS. Software such as Autodesk Alias, Maya, Mudbox, and Stitcher make up some of the products already on tap within the Mac environment. Adding AutoCAD to this list is much needed and opens the door for many more products in the future. It’s easy to envision, at a minimum, the AutoCAD vertical software such as Civil 3D and AutoCAD Architecture becoming available natively on a Mac in the near future.

9. AutoCAD WS. How can AutoCAD become more portable? Autodesk answer is by offering on the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch through iOS. I’ll argue, as I think many would, there won’t be much merit in viewing and editing AutoCAD drawings on a device as small as the iPhone or iPod Touch. However, the iPad just screams to be used as an drawing viewer/editor. Would it be the most efficient and productive way to get your CAD work done or to knock out that next detail sheet or demolition plan? Definitely not. It would be a very convenient way to get some quick edits knocked out while on a flight or during a bus ride. Also, in my role as an Application Expert and trainer on Autodesk products, I can very quickly see myself and others utilizing AutoCAD and other Autodesk software on an iPad during a class in order to be extremely mobile around a training room and still constantly connected to a projector via WiFi or Bluetooth. Don’t forget that Autodesk already has had a lot of success with Sketchbook Pro as an app for the iPhone and iPad. Also, don’t discount the iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch’s hardware being able to handle CAD software. As more and more applications are moving to the cloud or SaaS, they hardware will merely need to be a “window” into the application from the web.

10. Did I mention that AutoCAD WS is going to be available for FREE! That’s right. You’ll be able to download and use AutoCAD WS on your iOS devices to view and edit AutoCAD Drawings for FREE! That sets a pretty low cost of entry point, doesn’t it?

Bonus: AutoCAD for Mac will be able to fully utilize all standard AutoCAD .dwg files. That means whether you’ve been drafting in AutoCAD 2011 or still have some R.14 files sitting around, they’ll all work on AutoCAD within Apple Mac OS and iOS. This is something that should have been expected for AutoCAD on a Mac to have any level of success, but it is definitely worth mentioning.

11. I have a lot more thoughts rolling around in my head about what other reasons AutoCAD software on Mac OS X and iOS products will be successful, but I want to know what your ideas are. Aside from what I’ve already mentioned, what will motivate you to go Mac for your next CAD purchase? What about all this makes you want to scream bloody murder that Apple sucks? What are you hoping for or expecting out of this new AutoCAD software that will be distanced from Windows versions in at least a few ways? Please comment below and get the discussion going!

So why is this happening and how can you speed up your process? Well the reason this happens is because you probably have several hundred or even thousands of Layers in your drawing and/or several Layer Filters which are compounding the issue further. When working on any operations in AutoCAD (or any of the vertical products such as Civil 3D or AutoCAD Architecture) that require an “update” of the view within model or paper space, the program will attempt to reload and recalibrate all of these layers and filters in the drawing.

So that was the “why” this is happening, so now let’s explore the “how” to resolve the issue. The over abundance of layers and filters is the cause, but you likely don’t want to go sifting through your CAD Standards and start paring down layer names. That would be absurd. However, there is a simple way to control how AutoCAD handles this process. Within AutoCAD there is a system variable called SHOWLAYERUSAGE. By setting SHOWLAYERUSAGE to “0″ (zero), the program will stop trying to reprocess all the layers and filters every time you zoom, pan, regen, or any other “update” process. A simple solution to a very annoying problem.

To be thorough, however, I must mention it is always a good idea to PURGE your drawings of extraneous layers, blocks, dimension styles, etc. in order to keep the file size as small and workable as possible. Going another step further, utilizing the Command Line prompt for -PURGE and cleaning the REGAPPS (or Registered Applications) will also help your drawings process much better. There are dozens more operations for maintaining your files such as AUDIT, RECOVER, RECOVERALL, etc. which all have their place as well. So as you can see, SHOWLAYERUSAGE is just one of many commands and system variables you should have in your AutoCAD tool box for improving speed and productivity in your drawings.

Please leave any drawing maintenance tips and tricks you might have in the comments section!

What are the first thoughts that comes to mind when confronted with this issue? Is your first action to run a REGEN or REA command in the drawing? Text size, color, boldness are also likely culprits. You’ll probably move on to checking the AutoCAD Text Style of the text entities to see if one of them is different. Not different? No big surprise there, because you probably couldn’t figure out why one or a couple instances of text entities would have ended up on a different text style anyway. How about some of the text being standard DTEXT and others being MTEXT? Eh, probably wasn’t the solution either. Run as many commands as you’d like, but there is only one that will help you (though there are multiple methods to to perform the same fix).

So, why do you have some AutoCAD Text entities displaying slightly bigger, bolder, or darker than others when the are on the same Text Style, height, color, layer, font settings, and were created in the exact same function (DTEXT vs. MTEXT)? The answer is simple, but equally bewildering. Select the AutoCAD Text object that looks different. Using whatever means you prefer, check the elevation of that text object. Now compare the resulting elevation to another instance of text. What did you discover? They were created or moved to different elevations, weren’t they?

Well, it doesn’t matter how or why it happened, but the solution to your problem is easy. Select all the text in your drawing and set it to an elevation that makes sense for your purpose. You can select the irregular text entities and MOVE them or select all of them and adjust/correct all text via the Properties Palette. I would like to say that elevation would be 0 (zero), but that won’t always be the case as we move more and more into designing within a 3D world. As long as all your AutoCAD Text entities get moved to the same elevation, you will have consistency in the size, boldness, and darkness that you want and need. I really hope this helps solve one of the AutoCAD mysteries you’ve come across!

Go to the subscription account and login with the “contract manager” information provided when the software packages were initially purchased. Once in the account, you can download the installation files for all the programs you have purchased. Before installing the software onto any machine, you should update your Autodesk Network License Manager and make sure you understand the importance of Understanding and Managing Autodesk Licenses.

Once you have downloaded the installation packages and understand the licensing policies and practices, it is time to finally load the programs on your machines. I’m going to borrow some links from Autodesk on this as well, since they currently have the most comprehensive guides and instructions on installation:

AutoCAD Based Installation (Generally accepted for AutoCAD vertical software)
System Requirements
Standalone Install
Network Install
Post-Installation Tasks
Creating Installation Deployments
Troubleshoot Common Install Problems
Troubleshoot Common License Problems

Inventor Based Installation
Standalone Install
Network Install
Post-Installation Tasks
Creating Installation Deployments
Windows 7 Specific Issues

Revit Based Installation
Revit Architecture Standalone Install
Revit Architecture Network Install
Post-Installation Tasks
Creating Revit Architecture Installation Deployments
Troubleshoot Common Install & License Problems

I’m sure there are a lot more information videos like these around and even more to come, but this should get you started. If you have any questions regarding installation and licensing that these videos don’t answer for you, your best bet for getting them answered is referring to your Autodesk Authorized Reseller and/or the product discussion groups on the Autodesk website. Good luck to you. I think you’ll enjoy this new, lighter, and more stable software release.

The first thing you must do is make sure that absolutely no one on the network has that .dst file open or loaded on their “recent” list of sheet set projects in the SSM.  Once you have confirmed this, go to the drop-down menu of the SSM and right-click the project associated with the .dst file you are attempting to delete (this can also be done from the sheet list if you already have the project open within the SSM). After right-clicking, select “Close Sheet Set” from the short cut menu.  Now you can go to the .dst file on your PC or server and delete it without it “magically” returning to haunt you.

If you, or anyone on the server is referencing a .dst file, it cannot be deleted. It is not necessary to remove the sheets from the sheet set, only that everyone be out of it and have it removed from their lists within the SSM drop-down menu.  Once the .dst file is erased, you are free to re-associate the layouts to any existing or new sheet set.

If someone has a drawing(s) from the set open while you are attempting to publish, the publish job will not send that specific drawing(s) and may actually stop all-together because of it.

It is easy enough to tell when someone is in a drawing from the set by simply looking at the SSM.  If someone has a drawing open for editing, a small symbol representing a lock will be displayed by that layout in the sheet list.  However, I like to perform a “Resave All Sheets” action from the SSM short-cut menu before publishing as it updates the Sheet Set Manager display to remove the “locked” icons that are inactive.  Doing this will also prompt you with a window containing all layouts that are open for editing and who has them open.  The last thing that the “Resave All Sheets” action does is absolutely guarantee that all the external references are updated in your layouts.  If you’ve done this and no one but you has any of the drawings open, you can proceed to Publish with one less concern of what could go awry.

If you work in an office where many users could potentially work on a project together, you don’t want to create a sheet set  and place the .dst file on your PC.  If you do this, and others attempt to create a sheet set on their machine or on the server, it will be impossible for any of the layouts referenced in your .dst file to be included in theirs.

Before you know it, users are copying drawing files in order to include the layouts in their version of the sheet set and people are working on different copies of the same drawing. Not Good.  Long story short, create sheet sets and place the .dst files where they are accessible to everyone in the office.  Better yet, come up with a company standard on where the .dst files are to be located on the server (I always suggest in the same project folder that the drawing files are located).

One of the first and most common issues people have had with the Sheet Set Manager and, specifically, publishing, is the system variable PUBLISHCOLLATE.  The PUBLISHCOLLATE system variable was discussed earlier this month in this post, but as a quick review:  PUBLISHCOLLATE controls whether sheets are sent to a plotter individually or as a whole and whether or not plots by others can be sent between yours.  When applicable to plotting PDFs, it controls whether a separate file is created per sheet or a multi-sheet file is written containing the entire set.  Many people have experienced issues with PUBLISHCOLLATE when it is set to “1″. As I said, this is a quick review.  Go to the original post to understand the concepts behind the PUBLISHCOLLATE system variable fully.

My first suggestion for creating a sheet list table is to first organize your layouts within the SSM.  Drag and drop the layouts in the order they will be displayed on the table.  You can see an example of a simple, yet very organized project below.

The next tip I’ve got is to rename and renumber your sheets.  The information contained within this data set is going to be exactly as it displays on the sheet list table.  The easiest way to do this is by right-clicking a layout and selecting “Rename & Renumber…” from the short cut menu.  An example of this is represented below.

Bonus Tip: Selecting “Next >” will proceed to the next layout instead of jumping in and out of the Rename & Renumber dialog.

Super Bonus Tip:  Try using the CTAB system variable in a Field for your title blocks on all your sheets.  This way, when you update the Layout name in the Rename & Renumber dialog, the sheet numbers will update in your title blocks.

When all of your layouts have been organized and rename properly (as you can see in the image below), it is time to insert the sheet list table.  To do this, open the drawing that you wish to place the sheet list table and make sure that it is a drawing within the same Sheet Set Manager project.  With the layout open that you want the table to be placed in, right-click on the project within the SSM and choose “Insert Sheet List Table…” from the short cut menu as seen below.

Now you will be presented with the Sheet List Table dialog box.  This dialog works similar to the Insert Table dialog and shares many of the same options, but it is specific to inserting a sheet list table and offers properties that the Insert Table dialog does not.  Start by selecting the ellipses (“…”) button next to the “Table Style name” drop down.

This will take you into the Table Style dialog.  There are three standard options available, of which I’m going to modify the “Index” style.  You can create a new one for a company or client standard, however.  Select the desired style and then pick the “Modify…” button.

You are now in the Modify Table Style dialog.  Now, I know there’s quite a few dialogs here, but once you have your settings created, you shouldn’t have to worry about this again.  Continuing on…you can modify the “Title”, “Header”, and “Data” cell styles as well as any additional styles you wish to create.  For the purposes of a sheet list table, those should be all you need.  Go through the “General”, “Text”, and “Borders” tabs of all three styles (which can be chosen via the “Cell styles” drop down menu).  Once you have your preferences made and confirmed through the preview pane, select “OK”.

Back in the Table Style dialog, you are given the opportunity to preview your table style again and choose to modify and create other styles or close the dialog and return to the Sheet List Table dialog box.  When you’re done, select “Close”.

Okay, now just fill in the title of your sheet list and tell AutoCAD what data to pull into each of the columns as well as what the header should be for those columns.

Switch over to the “Subsets and Sheets” tab to confirm that all of your layouts are included within the selection set.  Pick “OK” when you’re finished.

Note:  If you have subsets and need a cell to divide and notate them, you’ll need to create a cell style for that.

Once out of the Sheet List Table dialog, just select the insertion point for the table (which will be the upper left corner of the title cell).

Your finished product should look something similar to the image at the right.  You’ll likely notice that the text in the cells are AutoCAD Fields.  AutoCAD uses those Fields to dynamically update the information in the cells with any changes made to the Sheet Set Manager.

Keep in mind that you may not get everything right the first time.  If you paid really close attention to the images in the walk-thru, you may have noticed that I altered the sheet number “NO.” column from being middle left aligned to middle center.  You may have to settle with the fact that some things you just won’t be able to do within the dialog boxes either.  As a whole, though, it’s a lot better than continuously modifying it to match your individual sheets.

A:  Unfortunately, Fields aren’t supported in your situation. A list of Field-supported features in AutoCAD 2005 are as follows:

-Use field to count AutoCAD blocks.
-Use field to calculate the area of multiple AutoCAD objects.
-Use field to calculate the length of multiple AutoCAD objects.
-Create the AutoCAD field based on the specific cell of AutoCAD native table.
-Import the specific cell of the Excel worksheet as the AutoCAD field.
-Import the text format text as the AutoCAD field.

So in all actuality, AutoCAD Fields couldn’t be used in conjunction with the Sheet Set Manager in the 2005 release at all. That functionality wasn’t released until AutoCAD 2006.  To give a more complete answer to the post above, Fields and the Sheet Set Manager aren’t fully compatible in AutoCAD LT 2009 either. So even if you updated to a newer version of LT, it wouldn’t fix the issue you’re having.  Also if you have AutoCAD LT 2006 or later, you can build objects with Fields in them from a “full” version of AutoCAD that will then work when used in LT 2006 or later.