About Authoring Content (AutoCAD Mechanical Toolset)

Although AutoCAD Mechanical toolset ships with over a half a million standard parts and features, a specific item you require may not exist.

For example, the standard part library shipped with AutoCAD Mechanical toolset does not contain piping parts. To assist you in such a scenario, AutoCAD Mechanical toolset provides the ability to build your own content and store them in custom content libraries.

There are other cases where you need a variation of an existing standard part. For example, a steel shape with a hole at a specific place. To assist you in such a scenario, AutoCAD Mechanical toolset provides the ability to copy the standard part to a custom content library and modify it as required.

There are other times when you want to perform a simple change to a standard part. For example, change the material of a screw from steel to brass. To assist you in such a scenario, AutoCAD Mechanical toolset lets you customize the standard part content library.

Content in custom content libraries can be like block libraries; single view geometries that do not update the BOM or resize during insertion. They could also be fully fledged parts/features such as those in the standard part content library.

Custom content that exploit the available authoring features can bear these features:

• Prompts you to select a size from a list of valid sizes.
• When drag-resize is performed, snaps to valid sizes as you drag.
• Select a view from a set of predefined views
• Updates the BOM upon insertion.
• Respects automatic property management rules and hides only appropriate objects when involved in a hide situation.
• Once placed in a drawing, Generates remaining views with the AMPOWERVIEW command.

The topics in this section provide instructions on how to author custom content with these features. They also discuss how to customize standard part libraries and distribute content libraries.