Rubberbanding

[Anonymous]

I am considering getting AutoCADelectrical and would like to know how well auto-routing and rubberbanding work. I am not sure it even has these features or least I cannot find it in the sales gloss.

[Jay Mackey]

I figured someone would answer this by now, but I think I can help you out:

Auto-routing: ACADE doesn't have any routing capabilities. It's auto-capabilities are limited to automatically placing a rung on your ladder in-line with your ref. numbers, cutting wires if you place a component fairly close to on-top of an existing wire line, properly terminating a wire on a component or other wire if you click fairly close to where the termination should go when placing new wires, and reconnecting the gap in a wire if you delete a component using the Erase Component command. (As far as auto-termination goes, it is fairly unforgiving, so it generally helps to work in snap-mode, in my opinion. And I sometimes enable O-snap mode to guarantee an object or wire goes exactly where it needs to.)

As far as rubberbanding, it is limited to using specific 'move' and 'scoot' commands that will allow you to move a component, label, or wire-branch 'along' an existing wire-segment, within the limits of that specific segment. So you can't just grab a component and drag it all over the drawing and have everything else intelligently conform to the new placement. All of these entities are regular AutoCAD entities, meaning you can use the standard Stretch command to move a set of entities vertically or horizontally, and there are many times when this is the most efficient way to re-organize your layout.

If there is anything I've missed, please correct me, because I'd like to know.

- Jay

[Anonymous]

I am disappointed but not surprised. This should be a basic feature of an electrical drafting package but then AutoCAD never really did stay up-to-date and lost the 3D market also Are there any other AutoCAD addins that do this well?

[Jay Mackey]

From my experience, AutoCAD Electrical is the best 'AutoCAD add-on'. It used to be called Via Wiring Diagram before AutoCAD bought it. Now that it's being updated by AutoCAD, it may have access to program hooks that 3rd-party add-ons will never have, so I wouldn't expect any 3rd-party add-on to be able to compete in the long run.

If you can accept an 'add-on' type program, or are truly locked into AutoCAD for some reason, then AutoCAD Electrical is probably your best choice, warts and all. My last company refused to use an AutoCAD add-on and we found something that was better conceived, worked like you are wanting, provided considerably more value in terms of major features, and cost less than a seat of AutoCAD Electrical (unless you really hold a vendor's feet to the fire and make them give you the best possible price, maybe).

[testsubject]

At one point in time, Wiring Diagram was the best bang for you buck. When I first bought it in 1998, (it was called CIMLogic ToolBox WD then) I think it cost around $1800. The nearest competitor was Via at around $2800. Now that you have to buy a full seat of AutoCAD to get ACE at $5200 a seat (list), I am not sure how much of a bargain it is anymore.

Do not get me wrong. I will stay with it because Nate has provided amazing support over the years. I really love what it is capable of doing; how customizable it is. I would never have been able to maintain the amount of work that I put out through this office without it. But, if I was coming at this fresh though, with no established CAD program in house, I would have to look at what some of the others have to offer before deciding. Cost is a big issue for me.

I am essentially a one man diagram shop and my boss is very cost conscious. I practically had to pull teeth to get the latest upgrade. It was worth it but now he cannot eat corn on the cob anymore...;)

Robert Hanrahan
Weigh Right Automatic Scale
ACE user since 1998