18.4 What Have We Learned?

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Items covered in this lesson include:

• Working with groups

• Folder & Template libraries

• Block creation and insertion

• Using iDrop, the ADC, and tool palettes to share blocks between drawings

• AutoCAD Commands:

  • Block

  • BMake

  • Explode

  • WBlock

  • Insert

After 17 lessons of learning How, we've begun to answer the question Why. Why is CAD a better design tool than paper and pencil? Why should I spend thousands of dollars to do on a computer what I can do for a lot less on a board? Why must I educate myself (or in many cases, reeducate myself) to work with a computer?

Hopefully, the answers began to dawn on many of you in this last lesson.

We'd already seen throughout this book that CAD drawings are neater and easier to read than many pen or pencil drawings. But up to the beginning of Lesson 17, it all seemed like a lot of work – often more than a comparable board drawing might require.

Then in Lesson 18, we found ways to manipulate large numbers of objects at once. We also found the CAD equivalent of drawing templates – Blocks. But with blocks, once created (or purchased), no further drawing is necessary! Additionally, a project (often a company and occasionally an entire industry) can expect standard symbols!

But believe it or not, we've only begun to scratch the surface of what we can accomplish using blocks. Wait until you see what we do in Lesson 19!

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