AutoCAD for Windows has Design Center - and AutoCAD for Mac has the Content Palette. Let's do a quick tour for those of you who have made the move to AutoCAD for Mac (or are thinking about it) so there are no surprises!
P.S. Tune into the AutoCAD Exchange to see my video on the Content Palette (if you prefer watching over reading).
The AutoCAD for Mac Content Palette is very simple and easy to use. It's really just a matter of selecting a block from the palette and dropping it into your drawing. Access the Content Palette from the Tools menu>Palettes or Command (⌘)+2.
You need to change the scale factor, base point or rotation angle? No problem - all these are easily done before you actually insert your block. Hit the down arrow key to specify via the screen or simply key in B (for Basepoint), R (for Rotate), or S (Scale).
Note: the X or Y scale factor options are not available via the Content Palette but can be accessed in the Insert command.
You can control the size of the icons on the Content Palette by right clicking over any block thumbnail - obviously the smaller thumbnails allow you to see more blocks at one time. Or if you haven't seen your eye doctor in awhile - you can always go with Large Thumbnails!
Moving your cursor over the block thumbnails reveal the name of the block (very helpful when you have similar looking blocks).
I like the speedy search capabilities - no need to rifle through the thumbnails if you don't want to - just key in some text and the Content Palette will find the block(s) for you.
Of course there is much more to the Content Palette (like making libraries) but let's save that for another time.
Give AutoCAD for Mac a try! (you can download a 30 day trial for free). Hey - we all like free!
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