# What can't you do in Rhino but can in AutoCAD?

**URL:** <https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/what-cant-you-do-in-rhino-but-can-in-autocad/31470>\
**Category:** Rhino for Windows\
**Tags:** rhino, gradient-hatch\
**Created:** [April 14, 2016, 3:27pm UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/what-cant-you-do-in-rhino-but-can-in-autocad/31470 "2016-04-14T15:27:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ShynnSup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/user_avatar/discourse.mcneel.com/shynnsup/32/767220_2.png) [@ShynnSup](https://discourse.mcneel.com/u/ShynnSup)\
**Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 3:27pm UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/what-cant-you-do-in-rhino-but-can-in-autocad/31470/1 "2016-04-14T15:27:43Z")

</div>

I wonder, is AutoCAD worth buying when you have Rhino? What can you in AutoCAD that cant be done in Rhino? Speaking about 2D drawing of course.

Shynn

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Piotr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/user_avatar/discourse.mcneel.com/piotr/32/635473_2.png) [@Piotr](https://discourse.mcneel.com/u/Piotr)\
**Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 3:36pm UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/what-cant-you-do-in-rhino-but-can-in-autocad/31470/2 "2016-04-14T15:36:08Z")

</div>

Can’t think about a single thing apart from the ability to handle large 2D drawings but it is changing too. Forget about AutoCAD I have left it in 2008 and never came back.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![John\_Brock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/user_avatar/discourse.mcneel.com/john_brock/32/476283_2.png) [@John\_Brock](https://discourse.mcneel.com/u/John_Brock)\
**Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 3:37pm UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/what-cant-you-do-in-rhino-but-can-in-autocad/31470/3 "2016-04-14T15:37:53Z")

</div>

AutoCAD has a richer set of dimensioning tools as well as more options for Paperspace viewports. The Block feature in AutoCAD does more than Rhino too.  
There are others but those are the main differences.

Keep in mind that Rhino and AutoCAD are intended for very different primary purposes.  
Rhino is an industrial design, product styling application intended for manufacturing.  
AutoCAD is intended for creating production drafting document sets.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Piotr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/user_avatar/discourse.mcneel.com/piotr/32/635473_2.png) [@Piotr](https://discourse.mcneel.com/u/Piotr)\
**Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 3:57pm UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/what-cant-you-do-in-rhino-but-can-in-autocad/31470/4 "2016-04-14T15:57:07Z")

</div>

John is right. AutoCAD can be favoured by the draftsmans but with a little bit of patience you can get great results in Rhino too. The best thing in Rhino 2D is ability for ‘per object’ print color assignment. No messing with ctbs, better control and variety. Two thing I am wishing for Rhino to have are gradient and transparent hatches.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![DanBayn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/user_avatar/discourse.mcneel.com/danbayn/32/477847_2.png) [@DanBayn](https://discourse.mcneel.com/u/DanBayn)\
**Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 4:19pm UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/what-cant-you-do-in-rhino-but-can-in-autocad/31470/5 "2016-04-14T16:19:05Z")

</div>

You can buy Rhino but you can only rent Autocad.

Dan

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Piotr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/user_avatar/discourse.mcneel.com/piotr/32/635473_2.png) [@Piotr](https://discourse.mcneel.com/u/Piotr)\
**Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 4:35pm UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/what-cant-you-do-in-rhino-but-can-in-autocad/31470/6 "2016-04-14T16:35:35Z")

</div>

So true!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ShynnSup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/user_avatar/discourse.mcneel.com/shynnsup/32/767220_2.png) [@ShynnSup](https://discourse.mcneel.com/u/ShynnSup)\
**Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 5:30pm UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/what-cant-you-do-in-rhino-but-can-in-autocad/31470/7 "2016-04-14T17:30:35Z")

</div>

Exactly, thats why I wonder… Naturally I thought AutoCAD has more specialized tools for 2D drawing, but dont known which…

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Ncik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/user_avatar/discourse.mcneel.com/ncik/32/761232_2.png) [@Ncik](https://discourse.mcneel.com/u/Ncik)\
**Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 11:50pm UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/what-cant-you-do-in-rhino-but-can-in-autocad/31470/8 "2016-04-14T23:50:40Z")

</div>

If AutoCAD were to disappear tomorrow the world would be a better place…just kidding…a little bit.

If it were to disappear, our business could get by with Rhino for 2D drafting. If Rhino were to disappear…well then we’d have a problem.

However, the business is starting to rely on an AutoCAD plugin, which could cause some drama, but we could probably get by with Rhino and some fancy scripts.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ShynnSup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/user_avatar/discourse.mcneel.com/shynnsup/32/767220_2.png) [@ShynnSup](https://discourse.mcneel.com/u/ShynnSup)\
**Post date:** [April 15, 2016, 5:34pm UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/what-cant-you-do-in-rhino-but-can-in-autocad/31470/9 "2016-04-15T17:34:52Z")

</div>

I have people telling me Rhino’s precision is not so good compared to AutoCADs and that the lines created in AutoCAD have better quality when printed…

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/user_avatar/discourse.mcneel.com/dale/32/685184_2.png) [@dale](https://discourse.mcneel.com/u/dale)\
**Post date:** [April 15, 2016, 9:16pm UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/what-cant-you-do-in-rhino-but-can-in-autocad/31470/10 "2016-04-15T21:16:17Z")

</div>

> [@ShynnSup](#):
>
> I have people telling me Rhino’s precision is not so good compared to AutoCAD…

> **[How accurate is Rhino?](https://www.rhino3d.com/features/accuracy/)**
>
> An overview of how Rhino achieves accuracy in free-form modeling

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![arail](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/user_avatar/discourse.mcneel.com/arail/32/503856_2.png) [@arail](https://discourse.mcneel.com/u/arail)\
**Post date:** [April 16, 2016, 2:57am UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/what-cant-you-do-in-rhino-but-can-in-autocad/31470/11 "2016-04-16T02:57:40Z")

</div>

I just began a full time job that requires me to work in AutoCAD. I’m miserable.

AutoCAD is like a battleship, Rhino is like a Maserati. Great if you need a battleship, but if not …

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Steve1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/user_avatar/discourse.mcneel.com/steve1/32/487081_2.png) [@Steve1](https://discourse.mcneel.com/u/Steve1)\
**Post date:** [April 16, 2016, 5:47pm UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/what-cant-you-do-in-rhino-but-can-in-autocad/31470/12 "2016-04-16T17:47:55Z")

</div>

Autocad seems to be surviving because its the well know prog, rang my local college asking what CAD progs do they teach, they were not aware of anything but AutoCAD.  
Times move on but employers don’t always.

The big issue now is

> [@DanBayn](#):
>
> You can buy Rhino but you can only rent Autocad.  
> Dan

take Inventor by Autodesk, now £4k to rent it, for just 3 years, previously it was that to buy it outright.

With other programs now on the scene based on new thinking to overcome the traditional ones and their learning curve, Spaceclaim for example developed hand in hand with McNeel I gather for compatability with Rhino, and their 2D abilities, let alone their metal bending and other features , maybe you can influence your employer to take a much needed rethink.

Steve

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ShynnSup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/user_avatar/discourse.mcneel.com/shynnsup/32/767220_2.png) [@ShynnSup](https://discourse.mcneel.com/u/ShynnSup)\
**Post date:** [April 16, 2016, 6:11pm UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/what-cant-you-do-in-rhino-but-can-in-autocad/31470/13 "2016-04-16T18:11:37Z")

</div>

Im aware of that, thanks for the link anyways. Still people spread those comments around with no evidence at all.  
Dunno about the printing quality though, I believe that as they are both vector lines, they should have same quality when exported to pdf.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Brenda](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/user_avatar/discourse.mcneel.com/brenda/32/758009_2.png) [@Brenda](https://discourse.mcneel.com/u/Brenda)\
**Post date:** [April 17, 2016, 7:47pm UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/what-cant-you-do-in-rhino-but-can-in-autocad/31470/14 "2016-04-17T19:47:05Z")

</div>

It’s a good question, and challenge for Rhino’s 2D layout people.

What would make Rhino better in 2D?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Jarek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/user_avatar/discourse.mcneel.com/jarek/32/511212_2.png) [@Jarek](https://discourse.mcneel.com/u/Jarek)\
**Post date:** [April 17, 2016, 8:22pm UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/what-cant-you-do-in-rhino-but-can-in-autocad/31470/15 "2016-04-17T20:22:26Z")

</div>

One thing that I always missed from AutoCAD was ability to clip blocks or xrefs with custom line shapes. Obviously it made sense with 2D drawings only, but still…

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ShynnSup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/user_avatar/discourse.mcneel.com/shynnsup/32/767220_2.png) [@ShynnSup](https://discourse.mcneel.com/u/ShynnSup)\
**Post date:** [April 18, 2016, 11:16am UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/what-cant-you-do-in-rhino-but-can-in-autocad/31470/16 "2016-04-18T11:16:20Z")

</div>

There are not STB/CTB files in Rhino right? I mean you cannot import a plotting file and have all your red lines be 0.5mm stroke right?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Piotr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/user_avatar/discourse.mcneel.com/piotr/32/635473_2.png) [@Piotr](https://discourse.mcneel.com/u/Piotr)\
**Post date:** [April 18, 2016, 11:19am UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/what-cant-you-do-in-rhino-but-can-in-autocad/31470/17 "2016-04-18T11:19:52Z")

</div>

You can do it in two seconds by selecting all red lines using color filter and then assigning required thickness. The best thing about Rhino is that you can have more red lines with different print thickness. You don’t need to alter your drawing to have a different print style.  
Just to prove my point I have attached pdf with some graphics done entirely in Rhino with support of Grasshopper. I can’t imagine how the ctb would look like to achieve it.[A1 design PAGE 2.pdf](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/uploads/default/original/3X/c/5/c5ea2b02825461428cf7a69e9005c43ff0975f6e.pdf) (6.8 MB)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![markintheozarks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/user_avatar/discourse.mcneel.com/markintheozarks/32/678563_2.png) [@markintheozarks](https://discourse.mcneel.com/u/markintheozarks)\
**Post date:** [April 19, 2016, 5:14pm UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/what-cant-you-do-in-rhino-but-can-in-autocad/31470/18 "2016-04-19T17:14:52Z")

</div>

I remember using the relative input a lot. You can type in \< 34 + a distance . A line would be at 34 degrees and go the distance specified ( from world origin 0,0,0)  
In Rhino I type the distance, then rotate the line at angle desired. Help me if there is a better way ----Mark

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Hughes\_Tooling](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/user_avatar/discourse.mcneel.com/hughes_tooling/32/717703_2.png) [@Hughes\_Tooling](https://discourse.mcneel.com/u/Hughes_Tooling)\
**Post date:** [April 19, 2016, 6:07pm UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/what-cant-you-do-in-rhino-but-can-in-autocad/31470/19 "2016-04-19T18:07:56Z")

</div>

@markintheozarks  
if you pick a start point for a line you can enter @1\<34 to get a line 1 unit long at 34° or you can start a line and enter \<34 and a length and the line snaps around every 34° angle, similar to Orthro.

If you leave out the @ it will be an absoute position from the origin.

Mark

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![markintheozarks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/user_avatar/discourse.mcneel.com/markintheozarks/32/678563_2.png) [@markintheozarks](https://discourse.mcneel.com/u/markintheozarks)\
**Post date:** [April 19, 2016, 6:58pm UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/what-cant-you-do-in-rhino-but-can-in-autocad/31470/20 "2016-04-19T18:58:45Z")

</div>

I will go through those examples you gave and see how it works —Mark

[Next page](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/what-cant-you-do-in-rhino-but-can-in-autocad/31470.md?page=2)