Power of

DraftSight
Power of Table of Contents

DraftSight PowerTrim..............................................................................................1

Dimension Tools..................................................................................2-3

Mechanical Toolbox................................................................................4

DraftSight, brought to you by Dassault Systèmes, Toolbox Layers........................................................................................5

the 3DEXPERIENCE company, has been trusted
Mouse Gestures.................................................................................6-7
by millions of users worldwide. DraftSight provides
a familiar, intuitive 2D drafting experience with 3D ContentCentral.................................................................................8
options for advanced productivity tools, 3D design
3D Modeling...........................................................................................9
capabilities, parametric constraints, and flexible
licensing options including perpetual licenses and Parametric Constraints.........................................................................10
network licenses for organizations with multiple
users or sites. Draw Compare..................................................................................... 11

Power of DraftSight is a guide to make the most Drawing Standards.......................................................................... 12-13

of DraftSight tools and productivity features. Customize with API’s...........................................................................14
DraftSight offers multiple product options with
differing levels of functionality. To see which Design Resources................................................................................15
features are available in each, visit DraftSight.com
Associative Patterns........................................................................ 16-17
or see our Feature Matrix.
Additional Resources...........................................................................18
 PowerTrim
Save time by using the PowerTrim command to efficiently edit your geometry.

Found only in DraftSight, the PowerTrim tool allows you to

quickly and accurately trim multiple entities by simply
dragging your pointer across them.
Since PowerTrim automatically considers everything in
your drawing to be a cutting plane, you can save time and
lessen your frustration by not having to identify and
select those entities individually.

You can even change the behavior of PowerTrim to

make it Extend entities in the same manner, simply
by holding down the shift on your keyboard.
PowerTrim is found in the Modify panel of
the Ribbon’s Home tab.
By selecting individual entities, you can also use
PowerTrim to extend or shorten them along their
current paths, or let it do the work of finding and
extending to an inferred intersection point.

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 Dimension Tools
Increase your productivity by utilizing time-saving dimension tools.

In addition to the traditional individual dimensioning commands, DraftSight adds two powerful tools that can save you time by
automating your tasks. Both can be found in the Dimensions panel of the Annotate tab.
The Smart Dimension tool inserts the proper type of Dimension by detecting the type of entity you select.

By using Smart Dimension, you no longer have to stop your

command and select a new one just to use a different type of
Dimension. In our example, the Linear, Aligned, Radial and
Angular Dimensions were all made by running the Smart
Dimension tool once.

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 In many cases, the Auto Dimension tool can eliminate the extra work of adding dimensions to your design.

Auto Dimensioning is a two-step process. First, you

must create a Bounding Box which is also found in the
Dimensions panel.
Then you select the entities within the Bounding Box that
you want to dimension. You can set various options in the
Auto Dimension palette, preview and apply the
Dimensions when you’re satisfied with the result.

3
 Mechanical Toolbox
Tap into the power of the mechanical toolbox to create designs faster and with more accuracy.

DraftSight contains robust mechanical tools and symbols that will help you standardize your mechanical drafting needs.
You don’t need to purchase a third-party program add-on, or worse, different CAD software, as this industry-proven suite of
tools is built right in.

The Mechanical Toolbox allows you to choose

which industry standard you want to use (or
create your own custom standard).
Continue your design by accessing your
symbols from the extensive library included in
the Toolbox. Choose hardware such as bolts,
nuts, and washers, or from various screw and
hole configurations.
Finally, DraftSight can automate the task of
creating and tracking a bill of materials, and
even help with tracking your drawing revisions.

4
 Toolbox Layers
Maintain your drafting standards by setting the layer for the type of entity.

The Toolbox Layer Settings feature allows you set which layer a specific entity is placed upon. It helps you maintain your
layering standard and removes the need to change the active layer prior to adding different entities.
You can access the Layer Settings from the Manage panel of the Mechanical tab in the ribbon.

By default, it uses its own set of layers (prefixed with

TB_ ), but you can also access your own layers that
are in the drawing. In addition to the Mechanical Tool-
box specific entities, you can also assign a layer to any
other standard entity that DraftSight creates, which
makes Toolbox Layers a valuable tool even if you
don’t need the other Mechanical Toolbox functions.
Mapping your layer settings is easy. From the Toolbox
Settings dialog, simply find the entity type you want
to use, then select the Layer it will be placed on from
the pulldown. Should you choose, you can also specify
the LineColor, LineStyle, or LineWeight as well.
Make sure the Enable Predefined Layering box is
checked, and you’ll no longer have to worry about
changing your active layer whenever you draw
those types of entities.
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 Mouse Gestures
Increase your productivity by accessing your most frequently used commands with mouse gestures.

Mouse Gestures provide a fast and convenient way to speed up your drafting technique, saving you time and increasing your
efficiency and productivity.
When it’s enabled, you can access various commands by simply holding down the right mouse button and moving the mouse in
the proper direction. The gestures are easy to set up. You can access them from the Customization panel of the Manage tab.

DraftSight allows either four gestures, which

correlate to moving the mouse forward, back,
left, or right, or eight gestures, which add the
diagonal directions. This example shows
default values, which you may like, but setting
up your own most frequently used can signifi-
cantly increase your speed and production.

6
 Simply uncheck the currently assigned
commands, then search for the command you
want. Once found, use the Gesture Selection
Pulldown to choose your direction. In our
example, we’re changing the default down
gesture from Save to PowerTrim.

When you execute a Gesture, DraftSight will

display a Gestures Navigation Guide when
you keep the right button depressed. It will
show you which command you are about to
begin. You can release the mouse button to
accept it, move the cursor over the icon, or
even choose a different command to execute.

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 3D ContentCentral
Access free content from the integrated 3D ContentCentral palette.

DraftSight lets you easily search for and automatically download both
user contributed and supplier-certified 2D parts & assemblies,
2D blocks, library features and macros.
After creating your free account and logging in, simply enter your
search term, and the 3D ContentCentral palette will display all the
matches from its huge library of content.
In our example, we’ve searched for “Chair”, and quickly found a
block to use in our design.

Simply drag and drop the block into your

DraftSight drawing, and set the scale,
rotation, and its location.
By joining millions of other CAD users in the
3D ContentCentral community, your access
to the blocks, parts, or models you need
has never been easier.

8
 3D Modeling
Take your designs to a new dimension with all the 3D tools you need.

DraftSight Premium and DraftSight Enterprise Plus include the 3D Modeling Workspace, where you can access the full suite of
powerful 3D modeling and editing tools.

Create 3D solids, such as Boxes, Cones, Cylinders,

and Spheres. Make Faces and Meshes or transform
2D shapes into 3D solids to use for 3D printing, laser
cutting, or in other Dassault Systèmes solutions and
services.
The 3D Modeling Workspace also contains a feature
rich set of editing tools, which will allow you to create
complex shapes from your 3D primitives.
Navigating your 3D model has never been easier. Choose
from pre-configured orthographic or isometric views or
view your design from any direction you want with the
various Orbit commands.
Finally, display your model however you like with display
options such as 3D Wireframe, Hidden, Flat with Edges
or Gouraud. Or use DraftSight Premium’s powerful
Animated Rendering tool to see how it will look after
construction or manufacturing.
9
 Parametric Constraints
Ensure your design intent by utilizing the power of 2D parametric constraints.

DraftSight Premium and DraftSight Enterprise Plus allow you to apply both Geometric and Dimensional Constraints
to your design.
Constraints can make sure certain entity relationships are maintained during and after the design phase. Typically, Geometric
Constraints are applied first. You might want to make sure certain elements are always Parallel, Perpendicular or Concentric.
Once your geometry is properly constrained, you can apply Dimensional Constraints, such as Linear, Radial or Aligned distances.
DraftSight’s Constraint tools are easily accessed from the Ribbon. From here, you can control their icon’s visibility, which
Constraints you want to use, or even define your own Constraint Parameters.

In the example, the design has been constrained

with Parallel, Concentric, and Tangent Constraints.
Attempting to move the circle will also move the
entities constrained to it. Attempting to stretch the
bottom line affects all the others as well.

10
 Draw Compare
Compare drawing revisions to quickly identify and track changes.

The Draw Compare tool allows you to quickly identify the differences between two drawing files. You can find it in
the Powertools tab of the Ribbon.

Draw Compare will graphically depict anything from the

first drawing that’s not in the second in blue, and anything
not in the second in green.
You can customize the colors to match your preferences,
and you can also instruct it to show only entities that have
been added, or only those that have been removed.
Should you need to refer to them later, you can even save
an image file of the differences.

11
 Drawing Standards
Audit and fix non-compliant entities with the drawing standards tool.

DraftSight makes it easy to ensure your company or department CAD Standards. The first step is to create a drawing that
has all your proper Layers, Linetype, Text, and Dimension Styles. Save it as a Drawing Standards file (.dws).
Next, apply your Standards File to your drawing. You can find the interface from the Standards panel of the
Manage tab in the Ribbon.

Add one or more .dws files. Depending on

your environment, you may want to have a
separate file for each discipline. The order of
the files in the configuration manager
determines the priority.
Other options include the ability to choose
which categories will be checked, and how
to handle notifying the user of standards
violations.

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 Standards verification can be either an active or passive process. If you’ve disabled Alert Messages, you’ll need to run
the Verify Standards tool to check the drawing. You can find it next to the Drawing Standards tool in the Ribbon.

If you choose to notify the user with a

popup message, any time a violation is
encountered, a message box will appear,
giving the user the chance to continue
with the verification, where they can
either fix or ignore the violation.

13
 Customize with API’s
Extend the power of DraftSight by automating tasks through various API’s.

DraftSight makes it easy to load and use your favorite AutoLISP® or Visual LISP® code to automate tedious or repetitive tasks.
Use the Load Application interface found in the Manage tab of the Ribbon.
In addition to LISP based files, you can also load Dynamic Link Libraries (.dll files) that might have been created in the
C# language.

Once loaded, you have the option to have them load every time you open a drawing
by checking the Start Up option in the Add-Ins interface.
If you’re not well versed in the external API’s DraftSight uses, you can still easily
automate repetitive tasks with the powerful Macro Recorder feature. Also found in
the Manage tab, just click on the Record tool when you’re ready. Perform whatever
commands you want to repeat, then simply Stop the recording. Play back the Macro
whenever you need to reproduce your drawing tasks.

14
 Design Resources
Quickly access and re-use design elements from other drawings with the design resources palette.

Save time and effort by accessing content that’s

already been created by using DraftSight’s powerful
Design Resources Palette.
With Design Resources, you can navigate to any
accessible file to find your desired content, or simply look
through any files you may have currently open.
Just highlight the file you want to access, and you’ll be
able to easily import Blocks, Layers, Styles, Sheets,
or even Reference Files from that file.
Right click on the item in the Content Pane to add it to
your current drawing, or just drag and drop. Whichever
method you choose, DraftSight makes it easy to quickly
find the resources you need.

15
 Associative Patterns
Take control of the repeatable geometry in your design with associative patterns.

The Associative Pattern tool groups the entities within your Patterns, allowing you to easily edit their spacing, relative location,
and size using Pattern specific EntityGrips. The Associative Pattern tool is found in the Modify panel of the Ribbon’s home tab.

The dialog box will guide you through your object selection and Pattern Settings. In addition to Linear style Patterns, you can
also make them Circular, or along a defined Path. You can even add levels to define your Pattern in 3D.

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 Once created, edit your Associative Pattern with
its special EntityGrips. Using these grips, you can
dynamically change the row and column counts,
change either one’s spacing, or just move the entire
Pattern.
Simply click the EGrip you want to use and pull
your mouse in the direction to change. You’ll see a
preview of any rows or columns added based on
your new location, or any change in spacing –
depending on which EGrip you choose.

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