CorelCAD 2014 Feature Highlight No. 2: The new Design Resources palette

CAD projects typically contain not only a unique drawing but also many commonly used elements such as blocks (standard drawing components), styles for standard line types, dimensions, text, tables, a defined layer structure, layout sheets and potentially externally referenced drawings or images.

All these components - stored in .DWG files - can now be easily accessed for reuse in your active project with the new Design Resources!

Design Resources docker in CorelCAD 2014 on Windows                             CorelCAD 2014 on Mac OS X- Design Resources palette                                               

Here's step by step how to use the new Design Resources:

1) Open the Design Resources docker in CorelCAD 2014

On Windows you'll find the "Design Resources" button in the Insert tab of the Ribbon UI workspaces.
On Mac OS X the Design Resources can be launched from the Insert menu.
On both platforms you can alternatively type DESIGNRESOURCES in the command window or use the right-click context menu in any toolbar to select "Design Resources" palette to be displayed.

2) Navigate to the folder with the DWG files you want to access

You can browse through the Folders tree view to access your project folder on your computer or in a shared folder on the network.

With right-click on a folder you can name that folder your home folder for the Design Resources or add it to the Favorites list. Home location and Favorites list can be accessed through the shortcuts (buttons) at the top of the Design Resources docker.

3) Preview file contents for accessing specific elements

You can expand .DWG files in the Folder tree view to view the contents of a CAD project. Selecting one of the categories (i.e. Blocks) will show the list of elements of that category in the selected DWG file.

For some elements (such as Blocks or Reference Drawings) you will see a preview at the bottom of the Design Resources docker when selecting the item in the Content section.

4) Leverage selected content in your current project

Once you have identified elements you want to use in your active drawing, you can select them in the Content section, then right-click to add the selected components to your active drawing.

Selected styles will be added to the active .DWG file so that you can assign those styles to the objects in the drawing. Blocks, Reference Drawings and Sheets will be imported so that they become a part of the active drawing. Added layers will appear in the list of drawing layers for the active drawing so that you can structure your drawing with that same layer structure as used in that other project.

Here's a short video that shows how to use the Design Resources palette in CorelCAD 2014:

 

Give it a try with CorelCAD 2014 Trial download - available for free on www.corel.com/corelcad .