Lynn Allen's Blog

AutoCAD 2013 is approaching the Finish Line

It's always so exciting when the next release of AutoCAD arrives - I feel like a kid at Christmas as I unwrap all the new shiny features.  I thought I'd share a general overview of some of the new features you'll be seeing in AutoCAD 2013.  More to come of course!

Command Line:
You Command Line fans will love the new modern enhancements to the UI.  Now you can control the color and transparency of the command line.  Float the undocked command line (which defaults to a single row) above the AutoCAD drawing window. You'll notice that the semi-transparent prompt history (displays up to 50 lines) doesn’t affect the drawing area. 

Array Enhancements:
AutoCAD 2012 really knocked it out of the park with the new Associative Arrays.  AutoCAD 2013 will take them a bit further by showing objects in a pattern faster, and with more handy grips.




Hatching:
The Hatch Editor ribbon tab now allows you to select more than one hatch object at a time.

In-Canvas Property Preview
Dynamical check out object properties as you select them (including transparency)!  Get the right property value every time!

Point Clouds
Point Clouds can now be easily attached and managed from the External Reference Manager.  The Attach Point Cloud dialog box now provides a preview and more detailed information.



A new bounding box appears when you select a point cloud (making it easier to visualize its position in 3D space).  The new Point Cloud ribbon tab also appears with all the necessary Point Cloud tools. 

If intensity data is included, you can use the analysis tools to view point intensity with different color schemes.
(And now you can clip a point cloud!)

PressPull
Now you can press/pull multiple objects at one time! You can also select 2D and 3D curves (not just inside a bounded area).

Surface Curve Extraction

Use the new Extract Isolines tool (Surface ribbon tab) to quickly extract isoline curves from an existing surface or face of a solid.

You can change the direction of the isolines, select a chain or draw a spline on the curved surface.

Import Inventor Files

In AutoCAD 2013 you can import Inventor models (hoorah!)

Model Documentation
Be far, my favorite feature in AutoCAD 2012 was the new Model Documentation tools. Thankfully, AutoCAD 2013 adds in Detail Views and Section Views! 

You can also select the objects you want to include in your model documentation (no longer limited to ALL the objects).

Associative Annotations
Now the dimensions added to the drawing views (with the model documentation tools) are associative and smart!  If you change the design - these annotations do a much better job of updating (love this!).

Strike-through Text
Now available for Mtext, Mleaders, Dimensions and Tables!

Bring Leaders to the Front
Leaders are now included with the TextToFront tool

Wipeouts display but don't Plot
With the new WIPEOUTFRAME system variable.

Reverse Polyline Widths
Use the new PLINEREVERSEWIDTHS setvar when using the REVERSE tool to ensure the results you want.

Offset Preview
Hooray for a Preview of your offset results!

 

An AutoCAD Hip Tip on Printing your Layer List

It seems like last summer I was complaining that we didn't really get much of a summer - and now that it's winter I'm wondering where all the storms are (but not complaining!).  Our weather here in Northern California seems to be completely confused.

Last week Cadalyst released another of my video tips on how to print out your layer list (something that is not inherently obvious in AutoCAD).  Watch this video to see how you can export your layer list to Excel from within the Layer Properties Manager or to Word from the command line interface of the Layer command
(-Layer).

Essentially - you simply highlight the layers you wish to export from the Layer Properties Manager, and then Ctrl+C to copy them to the clipboard (no Copy option in the right click menu).  Then paste your layers into an empty Excel file.  Voila!

A reader, Dan Murphy, also sent me an email reminding me about an AutoLISP routine that is also quite useful for printing layers (Thank you Dan!).  LAYERHTM.LSP can be found at DOTSOFT.  It's free of charge (unless you choose to make a small donation).  There are two LISP routines posted - one for AutoCAD 2007 onward, and one for those on releases before that.  You can find quite a few free AutoCAD tools on DotSoft - be sure to check them out!