There have been thousands of custom programs created for the AutoCAD program over the last 30+ years. The majority of these custom programs were created using the AutoLISP programming language and saved as files with an .LSP extension. AutoLISP programs are relatively easy to create and maintain. Custom programs can also be developed using other programming languages such as C++ and VB.NET.
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Is it really possible to know every capability that AutoCAD offers? I’m sure that there is someone out there has written their own programs for AutoCAD and have fully optimized the program. But sadly this is not me. Just yesterday I learned yet another feature in AutoCAD that was foreign to me. That great thing about AutoCAD that I really like and that is mentioned in this article is the ability to post your custom programs. This open source type platform that AutoCAD has achieved really allowed for every user to optimize the program in their own individual way. The reality about any CAD software is that every single user is going to have a different application or use for it. SO having the ability to cater the software to your needs is really where the value lies. For someone that is designing might need a completely different set of tool opposed to someone that is using the program to make CNC layouts.
Chris really hit the nail on the head with his comment on how every person in the office is going to use autoCAD differently and take advantage of different capabilities of the application. I usually help the people in the office who are new to autoCAD with tricky draw orders or new keystrokes and functions when they get stuck, and even when I was TA-ing I saw the same kinds of things that I see in the office: no two people draft the same thing the same way. It’s kind of amazing to see how some people think in a completely different step-wise process than somebody else just to do something as simple as drafting a rectangle or finding a specific point on a circle. Custom programs are definitely the route to go for templates and other functionalities that could affect the drawing type or project at hand, the only question I have is how do you know exactly what everyone is going to be comfortable using?
Customizing AutoCAD is a great way to maximize workflow, create shortcuts for custom routines and to extend the power of AutoCAD. The article says that you don’t have to be a master programmer to use LISP programs, which may be so. To create one, however, it does take a bit of knowledge of programming and how AutoCAD works. There are LISP programs to help with style and formatting, which are great, but that can also be done with a template. The biggest issue I have with these is that some of them don’t run on AutoCAD for Mac. The main reason why I TA’d the AutoCAD class last year was because so many of the students were using AutoCAD for Mac. I don’t know if this is a trend, but I’ve been using a Mac for years, and so have others and I don’t have any plans of switching anytime soon. AutoCAD really needs to work on getting these LISP programs to run cross platform.
Well that was information the I most definitely was not expecting. So you can work with your own custom programs when ever you are working with Auto CAD that simple fact alone makes this article pretty damn interesting to me at least. While the article does do a pretty good job of explaining where to find, save, and eventually load custom programs in to Auto CAD I wish it provided a little more information on the why. By this I mean the article does a good job in getting you all the tools but never really states why it might be a good idea other than a few vague words about it helping speed up the process of draft. This sounds like it would be worth it I just wish they have an example or two in the article. That being said I guess I'm going to have to find more Information on custom programming for CAD on my own.
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