Tables:
This one has to be met with open arms, unless you've been using a third party app for the past few years. It is a new AutoCAD object that is can be created and customized by the user. Start the command TABLE or the Draw > Table... menu option. The icon looks like this: . And when you invoke the command, you will see this dialog box:

The labels look pretty straightforward - you can define the number of rows, columns, row height, column width and press OK. Or......you could press on the button circled below to open up the Table Style dialog box.

This allows you to create your own table style - sorry, just had to state the obvious. Give the new style a name and press "Continue".

Here, I can define the parameters (color, text height, borders, etc.) in my new custom style. This preview is used in the other dialog boxes as well.

So now that I have defined my table style, I can insert one into the drawing and enter data using the Mtext editor and tabbing through the cells. Anyone who has used a simple spreadsheet will be able to use this. One major drawback is that there is no formula function in the table.

Once the table is in the drawing, I can double-click in any cell to edit it.

Fields:
Fields are variables that you can put inside of any text object (except tolerances) and it's as easy as pressing CTRL+F.

Start the Mtext command (as above) and when you want to insert a field, press CTR+F and the dialog box appears that lets you select from a plethora of fields. Once the text is finished, you can double-click on the field at any time to edit it.

Other New Tools:
The tools listed above were my 2 favourites, but here's a run-down on some of the others that don't really need much explaining.

Background Masks for Text.

You can now trim a hatch.

You can set a tolerance for hatch area gaps (HPGAPTOL) you can set this in the hatch dialog box.

Zoom Object - takes you straight to the selected object.

New Osnap "Midpoint Between 2 objects" - it's not in the Osnap dialog box, but can be invoked when needed by typing "MTP" or "M2P":
Specify next point or [Undo]:
Command: l LINE Specify first point: mtp
First point of mid: Second point of mid:
Specify next point or [Undo]: m2p
First point of mid: Second point of mid:

There's more listed in this Autodesk PDF showing the differences between versions.

<< Back to AutoCAD 2005 Home