• Software Solutions
  • Autodesk Subscription
  • Building Solutions
  • CAM Solutions
  • Civil Engineering Solutions
  • Industrial Design Solutions
  • Manufacturing Solutions
  • Process & Plant Solutions
  • Visualization & Animation Solutions
• Customer Relationship Mgmt
• Data Management
• Design Automation
• Government Solutions
  • Design & Construction
  • Emergency Planning & Response
  • Facility Lifecycle Management
  • Government Transportation Solutions
  • Manufacturing Design & Maintenance
  • Public Works & Utilities Solutions
  • Real Property & Asset Management
  • Situational Awareness & Response
  • Training & Simulation
• Hardware Solutions
  • 3D Printers
  • Notebooks and Desktops
  • Motion Controllers

CSS Drop Down Menu by PureCSSMenu.com  

What’s New in AutoCAD 2012

The new release of AutoCAD 2012 comes with some interesting changes and new tools. Autodesk maintained its commitment to give the users more graphics area and to provide increasingly better tools for collaboration. The tools in this new release also provide increased productivity, efficiency and flexibility. The enhancements come in the areas of the interface, commands, 3D modeling, customization and CAD management.

The interface enhancements include the Command Line, which has been given a new gray background for the command history area to more quickly identify the active command line.

With the changes to the command line, Autodesk also included options for automatically completing typed commands. These options are available with a right click on the command line.

The Ribbon has also been updated to make it easier to locate the most commonly used tools. The Home tab, Draw and Modify panels have been changed.

               ACAD 2011                             ACAD 2012

New Tools have been added to the Insert and View Tabs. On the insert tab> Block Definition panel, the Create Block tool has been given a flyout with the Write Block Tool added. The View Tab has a new Forward button added to the Navigate 2D Panel to allow navigation between previous views and next views.

The Quick access toolbar and the InfoCenter Toolbar have also been redesigned.

The Quick access tool bar has been reorganized, making it cleaner and more productive. The InfoCenter Tool bar at the top right of the interface has Direct access to Autodesk Exchange and a single sign-in location for Subscription center and other Autodesk accounts like the discussion groups.

Another area that has been enhanced is object selection. Wpolygons, Cpolygons, and a Fence option have been added to the normal Window and Crossing selection options. These are found by hitting the down arrow after the initial pick of a selection point. Multi-function Grips have been added to lines, arcs, elliptical arcs, dimensions and multi-leaders. And with Dynamic input enabled - after you select the option - the dimensions of an object are displayed and are available to be edited by using the TAB key to switch between the values. Simply hovering over a blue grip will display the multi-function options.

Updates have been made to many of the Modify commands as well, for instance the Fillet and Chamfer commands will now display a preview when hovering over the second object.

The Join command no longer needs a source object and has been updated to enable multiple object selection by the typical methods. There is a new Nudge Command to move objects very small distances. This can be completed by simply selecting the object(s), then press and the arrow keys in the orthogonal direction you want to move. There is no indication of the Nudge command being used displayed at the command line. However, a Nudge can be removed through the use of the Undo Button. The Delete Duplicate Objects tool which was formerly part of the Express Tools has been added to the expanded Modify panel on the Home tab. This tool helps to clean-up drawings by deleting or combining geometry.

The Array Command has been greatly changed. There is no longer a dialogue box for any array. They are created visually at the command line. A new Path Array has been added that allows placement of objects uniformly along an object path.

Editing arrays has become much more streamlined. Arrays are now smart objects that can be edited using grips, contextual tabs in the ribbon and a properties panel or on the properties palette.

There are also many new improvements when it comes to working with the UCS icon. The UCS icon can now be directly manipulated using its own grips. Users now have the ability to move the origin and automatically align axes with objects in the model. The grip options are available in both 2D and 3D views. The UCS icon grips also include multifunction options in the same way as other objects.

Working with 3D models has made a drastic leap. AutoCAD 2012 has the ability to directly import files from CATIA, NX, Parasolid, Pro/Engineer, Rhino, SolidWorks, IGES, and STEP.

Once imported, the data can be freely modified using the standard AutoCAD editing tools.

Another area of improvement is Automatic Model Documentation. Users can now harness the power to automatically generate intelligent documents based on AutoCAD, Inventor, or other imported 3D models instead of manually adding viewports. New tools are available to create Base views and Projected views as well as edited drawing views.

Converting files to previous releases of AutoCAD has been made much easier with new DWG Convert tool. This tool is found in the application menu>Saves As, flyout and allows you to quickly convert multiple files to a specific DWG version at one time.

There are additional enhancements in the area of Customization and Exchange. The first time AutoCAD 2012 is launched you can easily access the Migrate Custom Settings Dialog Box, or you can access it at any time from the Windows Start Menu. You can also very easily reset settings back to their defaults through various rest buttons in the customization and settings dialogue boxes and from the new Reset Settings to Default tool in the Start Menu>Programs>Autodesk folder.

The new Autodesk Exchange dialog box displays when AutoCAD 2012 is started. The Autodesk Exchange Home tab gives you access to videos, new features, updates and service packs, subscription, and the Knowledge Base. The Help tab lets you access the AutoCAD online help systems.

From the exchange dialogue box you can quickly see whether your product is up to date, access links to new featured videos and topics, and get quick access to the help system.

AutoCAD 2012 comes with a new palette called Content Explorer that allows you to insert objects, such as blocks, from other drawings. It is similar to the design center but adds the capability to search for objects based on a word from file content or even text attributes. It allows you to open drawings or drag and drop blocks into your current drawing.

Users can get to this new palette from the Content panel on the Plug-Ins Tab or by typing the CONTENTEXPLORER command at the command line. It is built on a Google-like index that allows searching thousands of files in multiple folders instantly. In addition to drawings and blocks, users can copy other named objects including layers, linetypes, layouts and xrefs, as well as text, table and dimension styles just by completing a simple search within the palette.

There are many other enhancements and additions to the AutoCAD 2012. Upgrade today or register for an upgrade class at www.hagerman.com

This page last edited on Monday, June 13, 2011