Thanks to Michael Thomas again for another great blog post on the Vault line of products. Without further ado...
We had a gentlemen phone in the other day looking for
something to help him manage his AutoCAD drawings and the hundreds of images he
is using. The first thought…. what about
Vault?
Many people associate
Vault with Inventor and perhaps even with Civil 3D, but forget about AutoCAD. I
think this has to do with Autodesk’s marketing and positioning of the Vault
product line but the truth is that Vault is very well integrated into AutoCAD.
One of the strengths of Vault is how well it manages files
and file references. This is very true with
the Vault and AutoCAD data as Vault will manage any of the external reference
attachments that AutoCAD uses. This includes
XREFS (DWG), raster Images (like .bmp, .jpg, etc), DWF underlay, DGN underlay,
and the new 2010 option for PDF underlay.
So what’s in it for you to use Vault with your AutoCAD? Here are a few reasons.
- Check-in / Check-out: This helps stop inadvertent changes as you are
prompted to check out the file before you are allowed to make changes and save
the file. If someone else is working on
the file you will not be able to make changes until they have completed their
changes have checked the file back into the Vault. You will also know who is working on the
files.
- Where Used: Pick on a
file within Vault and instantly see each and every location that file is used
- Reference Management: Move or rename drawings, images, pdfs, and any
other attachments and the Vault will automatically correct all references where
that file is used
- DWF Visualization: As
an AutoCAD drawing is checked into the Vault it can automatically generate a
DWF which can be viewed within the Vault client without having to use AutoCAD
or some other CAD product.
- Searching: Vault uses
a SQL database to store meta data (title, subject, author, part number, etc)
and as it is SQL based searches are extremely quick making it easier to find
files and reuse designs.
Here are a couple shots of an AutoCAD drawing being checked
into the Vault. Notice how it
automatically detects all attachments, even the nested attachments, and checks
in the entire collection into the Vault.
Once checked into the Vault neither the drawing nor any of
the attachments can be modified as they will be set to read-only until checked
out.


Files stored in the Vault can also be directly attached to a
file right from within AutoCAD, including a find option. The find function is
Vault wide and extremely quick meaning if it’s in the Vault you will find it.

When checked back into the Vault a DWF is also created for
others to view
Once stored in the Vault you can use the Vault Explorer to
view information about the files like “uses” information to see which files are
attached to a drawing and “where used” information so you can see EVERY single
place a drawing, image, or underlay is used within the Vault. So if you’re
considering changing something why not check what the change will impact first?
Renaming a file within Vault auto-corrects the reference in
each file it is used… that’s right I said automatically so if you rename something
or move it there are no worries about your drawing not finding the references
in the future. An extremely powerful tool!
In the images below the file “FoundationDetail_16b.tif” was
renamed to “FDetail.tif” using the Vault Explorer. When the main drawing is
reopened in AutoCAD there is no prompting or repathing as the AutoCAD drawing
is already aware of the changes.

What about some of the other AutoCAD based products? Outside
of AutoCAD LT (which has no Vault support) any of the AutoCAD “flavored”
products can use Vault (for example AutoCAD Electrical, AutoCAD Mechanical).
Some have their own additional integration with the Vault
For example… AutoCAD Mechanical has the extra bonus that AutoCAD
Mechanical structure components and part references that are used to build the
AutoCAD Mechanical Bill of Material (BOM) and Parts List integrate completely
with Vault Manufacturing and its item master. Although you have a single AutoCAD drawing
Vault Manufacturing can extract the BOM components.
The following image shows an AutoCAD Mechanical Parts List. This was built using the data of the drawings
part references and structure components. Notice how Vault Manufacturing can extract
this information from the single AutoCAD Mechanical drawing and build the
corresponding items.
Wrapping up, the issue for the gentleman considering Vault
to help manage his AutoCAD and raster data is not really about using Vault but
what is the best approach to get it. Vault
is included with AutoCAD Mechanical, AutoCAD Electrical, Civil 3D, and the
Inventor suite of Products…. not AutoCAD. It’ll
probably be the easiest for him to upgrade to AutoCAD Mechanical (and if he
chooses run it as a “vanilla” AutoCAD) which will not lose any functionality that
he currently uses and will even allow him to continue using his Raster Design.
If you are considering Vault don’t forget about your AutoCAD
data. If you are using AutoCAD or some flavor
of AutoCAD why not take a look at Vault to manage that data for you. And remember IMAGINiT is always available to
assist.