Help ::: Will LT be suitable for me??

[tomdick]

I was using Acad 2009 at my previous work. I'm now freelancing designer and use other freelance draftsmen to do my drawings. I occassionally need to open and view their drawings and maybe make little changes here and there. All my work in the foreseeable future is gonna be 2D ... construction (architecture) drawings.

Will LT be a suitable software for me (for use on a little Dell Mini laptop) ??

More specifically, if someone could list the things LT CANNOT DO .... I've checked many websites & forums, they all talk about what LT CAN do ... if I know what it CANNOT DO, then that may give me an idea if this software is going to suit me.

Appreciate any help. Thanks.

[markdoel]

LT can not do 3D and has limitations when it comes to using tools which are useful for mass production work such as:

XREF (limitations on what file types you can XREF)

Sheet Set Manager

Publishing

LISP routines (most lisp routines will not run in LT)

Express Tools (not included in LT)

LT 2011 has less limitations than the previous LT versions so some of the above such as Publishing may not be correct.

LT should be ok but its inevitable that if you get LT you will be doing something one day and think if only i had full AutoCAD I could do this much quicker....

BTW do a google search for LT Comparison Matrix - there is an Autodesk matrix comparing LT to full AutoCAD which clearly shows what the difference is between to two

[keithc03]

2010 comparison that may be of help

k

[keithc03]

and 2011

[tomdick]

Thanks guys ... that was quick and helpful.

Yes, I agree, at some point in the future, I may want more bells & whistles and may need the full Autocad, however, I just cannot see myself be able to spend the big bucks that is required for that.

My work is more supervisory and checking what the draughtsmen do (which is all outsourced).  If it involves 3D, then for that small purpose, I'll have to see/check the work on their machines.  The economies just dont warrant (and justify) spending that kind of capital outlay for those couple of times a year instances.

Infact, I am also investigating other compatible softwares that will read (and occassionally write to) Autocad DWG files.  I hear that there are a number of such software in the market, some priced at about 20% of what an LT box costs.

Anyone can recommend some of the good packages, their pros and cons and any real life experiences?

Appreciate your help. Thanks.

[pendean]

If all you do is supervise and review/markup, two free software packages from Autodesk do just that:

http://www.autodesk.com/dwgtrueview

http://www.autodesk.com/designreview

$0 is the cheapest price out there and guaranteed 100% compatible.

You seem to be fuzzing that fine line between supervision/review and actual drafting: no offense about your previous cad experience, but if you are reviewing CAD drafters work you should NOT be drawing or editing their files directly, that muddies the waters and opens you to the sort of liability/responsibility/ownership of a drawn line/intent you may not be financially or legally able to, well, recover from.

Decide what your role truly is before you buy anything: consult with a legal advisor.

[tomdick]

Thanks for the $0 alternative.

Like I said in my very first post, I'm a designer. Most of the CAD drawings are outsourced. But you can never get 100% correct drawings from these guys. Sometimes, there is a wrong dimension here or a misspelt word there. I see no reason (logically as well as legally) why I should not amend that drawing. Afterall, its my design and - no matter the drawaings are outsourced - I do take responsibility for the design.  Maybe its a bit different in your part of the woods 😉

Thank you for the info.

[markdoel]

if thats all your doing its a no brainer......LT will more than suffice

[Charles_Shade]

Let's see. I've been creating architectural plans with LT since, well, since LT didn't have a year designation. Other than creating elevations while drawing the floor plan I can't imagine that LT would not have a capability that you would miss.

[Charles_Shade]

BTW; reads like you need a competent CAD monkey...

And someone that knows what they are doing...

Just sayin'...

I'm on the Web...

[Modman_4]

Me too! Me too! Lol....j/k

OP I agree with Charles. And back from 1996 through 2001 I was using LT, had customized menu and buttons that I created (as opposed to LISP), was doing stuff I was apparently not supposed to do because it wasn't supposed to be something LT would do (such as multiple sessions and copy/paste, and reorienting the UCS), AND drawing in 3D!!!

LT will read 3D, and you can explode a 3D object and copy and stretch the bits like paper maché. Lt also draws wireframe 3D and does a pseudo-3D by taking a closed polyline and giving it a thickness (property manager). Thanks to my work, 2 of us guys were handling what our competition was using 5 guys to do. You'll be fine with LT, but get it onto subscription would be my advice -- you may even want to consider Inventor LT Suite (which comes with LT) if you ever want to take on machine part modeling at an entry level price. Good luck!

[Kate_LT]

Hi there,

Just out of curiousity, did you visit the AutoCAD LT site when you were looking for its comparison with AutoCAD?

[tomdick]

Charles, you can say that bit about a competent CAD monkey again .... and again maybe. Trouble is most of these monkeys (sorry, dont really mean it in a nasty kinda way, you know!) are only competent in CAD skills (oh sure they can draw lines and array them a thousand times in a jiffy) but they have no training, knowledge and little experience in the domain skills (in my case, architectural drawings).Unlike say you, who started holding a hammer, went on to being a builder for decades befoer turning to drawing .... the majority of these guys are fresh out of school, do a 3 months CAD drafting course and call themselves CAD technicians!

And that's where the problem lies in.  Their knowledge of architectural / building detailing is near zero and their desire to learn is pretty low, especially when the demand for their drawing services is there. 

At times, I feel I should do all my drawings myself, but then again when I see there are only 24 hours in a day, that option is not realistic.  To run a biz, I also have to be out there meeting clients, etc to get the work in. Therefore not delegating is not an option.

My apologies for digressing. But that's how things are here.

To all the people here, Dean, Charles, etc, I say a big thank you for your kind, generous and quick responses. Yes, I have checked the AutoCAD comparison pages. I'm also gonna try to download the DWGTRUEVIEW program and see if that suffices (and save me a few bucks!).  If only the dealers would not be so bent on selling you some air-filled boxes with a CD enclosed inside!  Would you believe, I have dealers here telling me that I really need an ACAD Architecture full pack (ofcourse they don't realise that I've been using (on and off, never full time) AutoCAD since rel 2.5 on a NEC PowerMate 8088 PC)!!!

Cheers guys!

[Charles_Shade]

I should have said "Knows-The-Home-Business-Monkey" because CAD monkey is limited, is it not?

Thanks for going and checking out the website. Sounds like the Design Review software will do you some good. An architect that I work with communicates that way with me on design revisions. It works well.

One summer I had an out of High School fellow who took Architectural drawing in school. It took a while to convince him that since doors are 80" tall the framing needed to be larger to accomodate theshold and jamb (His teacher had not known any better!). Alas, underdstanding how a wall goes together is something that is not taught well, if at all.

[pendean]

IMHO, hiring an Architectural Intern or recent graduate to be your drafting source pays for itself: CAD drafters do have their place, but not in specialized fields where a line drawn can have so much impact later on.

Basically, you get what you pay for, cutting cost at the start always costs more later.

[Charles_Shade]

Well said.

(That boss that can't see the value in LT 2011 ought to read this too)

[engineerPJV6A]

I am new to LT after having used full blown AutoCAD. I miss XLIST and DVIEW twist.

[WarrenGeissler]

@engineerPJV6A, DVIEW - if you are doing this for layout printing then you can ROTATE the viewport to do the same thing.

[pendean]

You can change the user coordinate system (UCS) to the angle you want, and then use the PLAN command to rotate the viewport: or did you forget about UCS command already 🙂

Here is a post with two LT options to replace DVIEW https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/autocad-lt-forum/dview-for-autocad-2016-lt/td-p/6333426

XLIST is an Express Tool: there are no Express Tools in LT, all part of the discount pricing that is LT.

[steven-g]

Many of the tools in Autocad are just a single button that then performs a string of commands in the background, so, for example, the xlist command could be split down into(refedit/bedit) (select item list/show properties turn on quick properties) (refclose/bclose), so for something you do regularly you could setup a couple of macros to automate it as much as possible.

Doing it manually refedit,select,refclose is perhaps 6 to 10 clicks to get at the properties, creating your own toolbar could reduce this to possibly 2 or 3 clicks, it's up to you to decide if you use it regularly enough to invest the time in creating the macros, or whether it is better value for money to go with Full Autocad, or just live with taking a bit longer to get things done and enjoy the money you are saving.