AutoCAD

General-purpose CAD, and the format most venue drawings, ground plans and structural drawings arrive in. Often the common denominator between a venue, a scenic shop and a production office.

CAD and draftingAutodeskproprietarySubscriptionWindowsmacOSWebReported

What to watch for

DWG version compatibility is a real workflow tax. Ask which version a venue or shop needs before sending a file.

A venue drawing is not a survey. Structural steel, rigging points and sightlines on an old DWG are a starting point to be verified, not a fact.

Vectorworks and AutoCAD exchange via DWG with loss. Symbols, classes and layer structure rarely survive intact in either direction.

Typical use

Reading venue-supplied ground plans and sections
Producing drawings for a scenic shop
Exchanging drawings with architects and structural engineers

Sources

AutoCAD — Autodesk primary

Understand the mechanism

Drawings, models and BIM

Something wrong, or missing?

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