About Moving from AutoCAD to AutoCAD Mechanical

If you are familiar with AutoCAD, but are new to AutoCAD Mechanical, these tips can help make the transition smoother.

AutoCAD Mechanical Commands

AutoCAD Mechanical provides commands purpose built for typical mechanical engineering drawing operations. They can accomplish these tasks faster than general purpose AutoCAD commands. We have provided a command map to give you the ability to look up AutoCAD commands and locate the corresponding AutoCAD Mechanical commands.

AutoCAD Mechanical Workflows

In order to make the most of AutoCAD Mechanical, we recommend several workflows, which are different to the workflows typically employed in AutoCAD. These workflows are described in the topic AutoCAD- AutoCAD Mechanical Workflow Comparison.

AutoCAD Commands and System Variables

Some AutoCAD Commands do not work well on AutoCAD Mechanical Objects. The topic "AutoCAD Features that Behave Differently in AutoCAD Mechanical" lists such commands. This topic also discusses AutoCAD Mechanical commands don't work well in environments such as the Block Editor.

AutoCAD Mechanical uses several AutoCAD system variables to automate worflows. If you modify these system variables you can negatively impact the behavior of the AutoCAD Mechanical commands that rely on them. Hence, we have restricted the ability to modify some system variables. The topic "AutoCAD Features that Behave Differently in AutoCAD Mechanical" lists these as well. We have also listed some system variables that you are allowed to modify but may interfere with AutoCAD Mechanical commands under special circumstances.