Surfaces and splines by poles
Offset, extend, trim and thicken surfaces, and extrude or revolve an open profile as a surface instead of a solid. Give a spline as a NURBS - control poles, degree and knots - and each CAD system builds the same curve, instead of interpolating fit points its own way.
AutoCAD: splines by poles only - there are no surfaces or solids in AutoCAD.
Try: “Create a spline from these control poles as a NURBS: degree 3, clamped knots [0,0,0,0,1,1,1,1], poles [[0,0],[30,60],[60,-20],[90,40]]”
2D drafting in AutoCAD
Lines, arcs, blocks, xrefs, layers, annotation and drafting symbols, layouts and plotting, always in millimetres. AutoCAD is not a feature-based modeller, so a request for a solid is refused by name rather than approximated.
Try: “Create a layer called DIMS, colour 3, linetype CONTINUOUS, and make it current”
A family of sizes from one master
Capture the values that drive a design - dimensions, parameters, properties, feature suppression, material - and fill in a grid of named instances. Generate writes each instance, reads every value back, saves it as its own file and puts the master back; an instance whose values do not hold is named and not saved.
AutoCAD: custom properties only - there are no features or parameters to drive.
Try: “Capture a variation template called "Bracket" from this part, including dimensions, parameters, properties and material”
Your team's scripts, run from chat
Import macros, rules, journals and compiled .NET assemblies into the Automation Hub once, and anyone can run them by name with parameters. Importing never runs anything. Every run is judged by reading the document before and after, so a script that returned cleanly but changed nothing is reported as exactly that.
AutoCAD: .NET assemblies, checked against AutoCAD's trusted-folder policy before anything loads.
Try: “Import every script in C:\team\scripts into the Automation Hub”
One assistant for every CAD you have open
A small balloon floats above your work and Ctrl+Alt+Space opens a place to type. The same conversation reaches every CAD system you have running: pick one in the Target box, or start an installed CAD from the same list. Work on one CAD never interleaves with work on another, and a destructive change asks for your permission first.
Try: “Which CAD sessions are connected?”
Dialogs handled, not stalled on
When a CAD command raises a dialog, a rule you saved answers it, a few well-known ones are handled for you, and anything else comes back to you with its title, message and buttons. It never types passwords, licence keys or credentials into a dialog.
Try: “Whenever the "update the assembly?" box appears, click Yes”
Install, repair and remove your CAD
The vendors' own documented command lines for installing, repairing and removing each CAD system silently ship with the agent. It shows you the exact command, the checks it passed and where the log will go, and nothing runs until you say yes - the Windows administrator prompt is yours to click. Afterwards it reads the installer's own log rather than trusting the exit code.
Support requests with your logs attached
Ask in the chat and a diagnostics zip - SphereHarness's logs, your CAD system's recent logs and crash dumps, what is installed and which add-ins are loaded - is built and attached to a new request. Attach any other file, ask where a request has got to, and hear through the notification bell when somebody answers.
Try: “Collect my logs and open a support request about the crash, attach them”
Markup board: point instead of describe
Draw on a live screenshot of your CAD window, an image, a page of a PDF drawing or grid paper, and send it as your next message. On a CAD screenshot, a circle becomes the actual face in the model, with its area and normal - no coordinate typed by hand.
AutoCAD: mark up for discussion; picking a face is not available.
Try: “What is the face I circled in red, and what is its area?”
