Chapter 7 Computer-Aided Drafting and Design 155
on the project. If the fi le is sent via electronic
mail to a client, the client can typically down-
load the viewer software needed to display
the file. fi
Regardless of the drawing and production
methods used, CAD programs offer a variety
of ways to manage projects from design to
completion. The following sections discuss
the basic features, tools, and commands used
to generate CAD drawings.
File Management Functions
As is the case with most computer soft-
ware programs, CAD programs include
typical fi le management commands for
common tasks. Commands such as New,
Open, Save, and Plot provide basic func-
tions for creating, opening, saving, and plot-
ting fi les. Other commands are available for
similar fi le management tasks.
The New command allows the user to
create a new fi le, such as a drawing (DWG)
fi le. The fi Open command is used to open an
existing file. The fi Close command is used
to close the currently active file. The fi Save
command allows the user to save the latest
changes in the fi le from RAM storage to a
more permanent location, such as the hard
drive or a portable media device. When first fi
saving a fi le with the Save command, the user
is prompted for a fi le name and location.
The Save as command is similar to the
Save command, but it allows the user to
save the current fi le under a different fi le fi
name. In effect, this saves a “copy” of the file fi
and preserves the original file. The fi Save as
command can also be used to save a fi le as fi
a different fi le type, such as a drawing stan-
dards (DWS), drawing template (DWT), or
Drawing Interchange Format (DXF) file. fi
The Export command allows the user to
“export” the fi le to additional fi le formats. This
command is often used when it is necessary to
“share” data in the drawing fi le with users of
other programs. The Export command can be
used to create a fi le in the Windows Metafilefi
(WMF), bitmap (BMP), or stereolithography
(STL) fi le format. Additional commands
similar to the Export command are available
for generating other types of fi les, such as
Portable Document Format (PDF) files. fi
The Page setup, Plot, and Publish
commands are used for common plotting and
drawing distribution tasks. The Page setup
command is used to specify a plotting device
and page layout settings prior to plotting. The
Plot command is used to confi device figure
settings, specify the desired media, and plot
the drawing. The Publish command is used
for advanced plotting tasks, such as creating
and“publishing”multiple-sheetdrawingsets.
Publishing drawing sets is common in archi-
tectural building projects, where multiple
sheets representing different plan drawings
can be organized into a single document.
Documents of this type can then be plotted
or “published” to hard copy. Another option
is to “publish” the document to a file, such fi
as a PDF fi le or a Design Web Format (DWF)
file, so that it can be viewed outside the native fi
program. DWF fi les are compressed versions
of drawing fi les that can be distributed to other
users or posted on the Internet. DWF fi les can
be opened and reviewed using special viewer
software that provides viewing and markup
tools.
Figure 7-5 Plotters produce hard copy from CAD
drawing fi les. (CalComp)