Each new release of AutoCAD is jammed with what are supposed to be bug fixes and new features. Some years we get more of one than the other. Some years everything seems to go wrong, and other years it goes just about right. As time moves on this year I'm certain we'll find things that still don't work or haven't been fixed as well as features we love. As long as the balance isn't lopsided in the negative we should be okay. As for myself I've been testing fairly heavily the last few days and haven't hit anything major yet.
So here are a few of the things you can look forward to in the new release:
Command Line Improvements:
Since AutoCAD 2012 one of my favorite features in AutoCAD
has been the command line AutoComplete.
In 2014 command line features are enhanced even further.
AutoCorrect helps
if you mistype a command. Instead of
responding with, “Unknown command”, AutoCAD now has the ability to autocorrect
to the most relevant and valid AutoCAD command.
AutoComplete command entry will now support mid-string
searches, so that if you type SETTING on the command line, the suggestion list
will display commands that contain the word SETTING anywhere within it, not
just at the beginning.
Adaptive
suggestions are a form of artificial intelligence in that your usage will
allow AutoCAD to adapt to your habits over time and make command suggestions
accordingly.
Synonym
suggestions take advantage of a built-in synonym list. If you enter a word at the command line
AutoCAD will return a command if a match is found in the synonym list. You can add your own words to the AutoCorrect
and Synonym lists using the Edit Aliases tool from the Manage ribbon tab.
Content
improvements allow you to use the command line directly to access layers,
blocks, hatch patterns/gradients, text, dimension, and visual styles. This one may be my favorite. For example, if you enter Narrow at the
command line and the current drawing has a block definition with the name Narrow,
you can quickly insert it directly from the suggestion list.
Categories
make the suggestion list easier to navigate.
System variables and other content are all organized into expandable
categories that you can expand to see results or Tab to cycle.
Input Settings allow you to customize the behavior of the
command line. Simply right click on the
command line to open the settings dialog.
Everything mentioned above is turned on by default.
Another right click option allows you to control Input
Search Options. I noticed on my default
installation that the AutoComplete Enable AutoComplete box was not checked. If things don’t work the way you’d expect
this is a place to look first.
All of these improvements further make a case for why the
command line is often the most efficient way to work in AutoCAD. Ribbons and toolbars are nice, but our
fingers are still often faster.
File Tabs:
AutoCAD 2014 now includes drawing tabs at the top of the
Model view window as a fast and visual way to switch between open drawings or
create new ones. If you were like me and
added a Windows Switching icon on your Quick Access Toolbar, you can reclaim
that space now. The Tabs feature makes
it easier. And not only can you switch
between drawings, if you hover the cursor over a tab you will see previews of
the pages be able to select either model view in the new drawing or any of the
layouts it contains. You can plot or
publish directly from the tabs, and a right-click menu enables you to create,
open, save, and close files. You can
also copy the full file path to the clipboard or open the file location in
Windows Internet Explorer.
Reality Capture:
AutoCAD 2014 now includes by default and installation of
Autodesk ReCap. This is a separate
application that enables you to create a point cloud project file (RCP) that
references multiple indexed scan files (RCS).
ReCap is used to convert scan file data to a point cloud format that can
be used and enabled in other products.
Geographic Location:
Many users have missed Autodesk’s support for Google
Earth geographic data over the last couple of years. Now geographic locations have been enhanced
to include the same Coordinate System Library as Autodesk AutoCAD Map 3D
software and the Live Map Data tool.
You can now set a geographic location in a drawing using
the Set Location tool on the Insert ribbon tab.
It’s fairly simple to insert a Google Earth map in a drawing, but how it
aligns with your geo-referenced work will entirely depend on the accuracy of
the GE image. In my experience Google
Earth images can be very close to a local coordinate datum, or significantly
off. It all seems to depend on how close
the area is to nearby reference stations.
I’m still going to play with this new feature more to see if there is a
way to “tweak” the image to a known datum.
But at least now we have something, which is more than we’ve
had since Autodesk pulled the support we had before courtesy of the Autodesk
Lab. I’ll probably write more about this
in the future as I make discoveries.
Drawing Enhancements:
A variety of drawing enhancements are in AutoCAD 2014 to
help create drawings more efficiently.
Arcs – Arcs can now be drawn in either direction by
holding the Ctrl key to switch directions during drawing.
Polylines – Polylines can now be filleted to themselves,
creating a closed polyline. This was an
AUGI wishlist request.
Sheet Sets – When creating a new sheet in a sheet set, the CreateDate field stored
in the .dwt template displays the date of the new sheet rather than the
creation date of the template file.
Plot Styles – In AutoCAD 2014 the CONVERTPSTYLES command
is enhanced to support style names with spaces.
Annotation Enhancements:
Attributes – The default behavior for inserting blocks
with attributes now will display the dialog box. ATTDIA = 1.
Text – Single line text will now maintain the last
justification setting until it’s changed.
Connection:
The Online ribbon tab of 2013 has been renamed Autodesk
360, and includes a new Manage Documents tool for easy access to the Autodesk
360 folder on the local machine. The new
Design Feed feature allows you to attach text messages and images to be shared
online. It’s worth exploring these
options and setting up an Autodesk 360 account if you regularly have to collaborate
with others. Autodesk 360 cloud services
may often be much more efficient than emailing documents back and forth.
Customization:
AutoCAD 2014 supports Windows 8, Windows 7, and Windows
XP. Windows 8 touchpad users can benefit
from smoother pan and zoom performance by checking the Touch Experience box in
the Options > System
section.
This is a small sampling of some of the changes made in
the newest version of AutoCAD. The full
list of changes can be found in the Heidi Hewitt’s excellent AutoCAD 2014 PreviewGuide.
And it that still isn’t enough, be sure to check out The Hitchhiker’s Guide to AutoCAD Basics. It’s now part of the Help file system.
Good Stuff! Have
fun!
All the boxes are checked and as it has auto-command, what is there left for you to do? I think you are planning an early retirement! When's the party? :-)
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