The New Interface |
People often ask me if I ever get tired of teaching computer graphics.The answer is, ?EUR??,,????'?????<
I?EUR??,,????'?????< One of the first things you will notice with the 2010 version is that when you open a blank drawing, the workspace defaults to white. I prefer the black background. To change that, right click in the workspace and select Options from the bottom of the pull down menu. In the Options dialog box select the Display tab; under Window Elements select the Colors button and select Black in the Color pull down menu. Select Apply & Close and then OK to exit the Options. One of the other things you might notice depending on if you even tried using the 2009 version is that you used to be able to find most of the old pull down menus under the signature red A in the upper left of the workspace. That no longer exists in 2010. Those commands have been converted to other parts in the AutoCAD ribbon, dashboard or quick access toolbar. The AutoCAD Ribbon is the area along the top of the screen. The first row of information is the Quick Access Toolbar and these (depending on how you set it up) are now the tools you will find under the signature red A. If you pull down the options there, you can set up your quick access toolbar with more or less options such as; qsave, open, new, undo, redo or print. This shouldn?EUR??,,????'?????< The tabs and panels are shown directly under the quick access toolbar. The tabs seem to be a mix of commands from the old pull-down menus and the panels are a mix of the more imbedded pull-down menus. This is where the CADnausea begins, but hang in there. If you think about what command you want, like Text, you need to think about what it is?EUR??,,????'?????< Any panel with an arrow next the panel title, like the Draw panel, has more tools available then can fit in the viewable space. If you click on the word ?EUR??,,????'?????< You might also notice a small arrow at the bottom corner of some of the panels. Click on the Annotate tab and look at the Text panel. The little arrow is a shortcut to access the Text Manager where you create new text styles. The great thing is that most of the dialog boxes, once activated have not changed much. The 2010 dashboard at the bottom of the workspace seems more cluttered than the 2009 version. There were no layout tabs in AutoCAD 2009. You had to activate them by right clicking on one of the dashboard tools and selecting ?EUR??,,????'?????< One of the most important tools you will find in the dashboard is a cog looking tool usually on the far right of the bottom of the screen. This allows you to switch interfaces so if you want to convert back to the old screen, you can select AutoCAD Classic, i.e., the old CAD version. I would encourage users to become accustomed to the new interface, but with learning any new technology, expect a great deal of frustration and time to become proficient. With the tabs and panels still lingering from 2009 to 2010, I have a feeling it is a change that might be permanent. After using it now for 2 years, I almost lose my way in the Classic workspace and looking back, these changes are more obviously a result of feedback from design fields. For article suggestions or if you would like to contribute an article, please contact Ashley Calabria at calabria@uga.edu |
