Autosketch® is computer-aided design software for two-dimensional drawings. It is intended to allow professional drafters to create precision, two-dimensional drawings in Microsoft Windows®. Autosketch® is from the same family of software products and produced by the same company as AutoCAD® and Autodesk®.
Autosketch® is meant to be simple enough for entry-level computer-aided design users. Though experience in drafting is assumed, the manual dedicates a chapter to the transition from paper to software. The primary advantages this type of software offers over manual drafting, even for the newly initiated, is the elimination of repetitive tasks through the automation of processes and an ease of correction not possible in manual drafting. The computer-aided design of Autosketch® also simplifies alteration of drawings, allowing objects to be copied, mirrored, resized, rotated, stretched or scaled rather than redrawn. In addition, elements of an object, such as line width, can be altered after the drawing is created.
The nature of computer-aided design means Autosketch® allows for greater assurance of accuracy and scale than manual drafting. Scale is maintained by working with the actual measurements of the item being drawn and letting the computer take care of the scaling when a finished draft is generated. Increased accuracy is possible through the use of grids and the ability to specify exact coordinates and dimensions of objects.
Autosketch® maintains some of the functionality of manual drafting through software equivalents. The computer-aided design software mimics the use of transparencies in manual drafting by allowing the drafter to work in "layers," essentially the software equivalent of transparencies, but with a few more options. Autosketch® also allows the user to zoom in and move around the drawing so as to offset any limitations in resolution or viewing area of the computer monitor.
As with other computer-aided design software, Autosketch® allows the use and creation of symbols for common objects to be used throughout the draft. These symbols can be resized or otherwise altered in the same way as any other object. The greatest advantage over manual templates or stickers, aside from altering the symbols on the fly, is that the user can change or update every instance of the symbol in a draft simply by redefining the original.
Autosketch® also allows for the inclusion of text in drafts. The text allows for the normal variation of a word-processing software, such as font, size and justification. Autosketch® also has additional options not found in normal word processing to allow the user to properly indicate standard dimension types.