Introduction to AutoCAD 2009: 1 - New user interface
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Author | Erhan Toker |
| Profession | Architect M.Sc. | |
| Autodesk Authorized Consultant | ||
| Software Specialist | ||
Although we have been using AutoCAD 2009 for months, we introduce you just now since its newly come publication permission. AutoCAD 2009 has a new great user interface which we know from Microsoft Office 2007. (Figure 1)
Figure.1 - The Ribbon
The showy menu placed on the upper side of the screen is called RIBBON as it is in the Office program. Actually DASHBOARD which we are introduced in AutoCAD 2007 is replaced with RIBBON. The command name is also changed as ribbon. The ribbon is separated into 6-8 tabs and each tab is also separated into panels. Tabs and their contents change according to WORKSPACES which provides an efficient usage.
Apart from visible parts of the panels, additional commands are also added to the expandable part. (Figure 2)
Figure 2
Upon pressing the PIN below, panel becomes fixed and stationary. In addition, alternative uses of some commands are prepared as FLYOUT’s and can be accessed from the little black triangle on the sides (Figure 3).
Figure 3
There is also a menu browser for those who are anxious about finding usual commands or missing old menus (Figure 4).
Figure 4
The browser can be accessed by pressing the big red A letter on the top left of the screen. It was pretty difficult to get used to the RIBBON when I first started to use Office 2007. But I am now addicted to it and never think about the old menus. I can easily say; the same situation is also valid for AutoCAD 2009. Yet, command search option of the menu browser is very attractive. If you have trouble with finding the command you want, just type it on the command search engine and enjoy the results (Figure 5)
Figure 5
The result is very impressive. The output also contains the user customized menus.
File preview is another feature in AutoCAD. The recently worked documents are listed in detail and a preview window appears when you hold the mouse on it (Figure 6).
Figure 6
You can add your favorite commands into the quick access toolbar (Figure 7).
Figure 7
This menu can also be customized. There are also useful arrangements in the status bar. We are going to mention them in detail in the upcoming AutoCAD 2009 articles. But here is the view (Figure 8).
Figure 8
Mostly used and a few newly come options are added to it. It can be changed according to the workspace. The complete state can be seen in Figure 9.
Figure 9 (taken from AutoCAD 2009 Preview Guide)
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March 26th, 2008 17:56
Do we know witch of the verticals will have the Ribbon? I do know that Civil 3D 2009 will not include the Ribbon and I’m not sure why this is. I haven’t seen a blow-by-blow for each of the verticals and new feature integration, particularly the Ribbon.
April 9th, 2008 17:24
Is there a way to set the display to the classic Autocad of previous releases with the menu bar options displayed along the top of the screen etc as this new ribbon thing is a complete headwrecker.
April 10th, 2008 15:05
Hello John
You can choose “AutoCAD Clasic” from the workspace list. This is exactly what you want.
Hope this helps.
May 23rd, 2008 06:54
the ribbon is a nice feature, esp. for autocad newbies, but for anyone who already knows their way around autocad, it truly is a headf***, if a pretty one.
it is neat and tidy unlike a typical users’ toolbars, but at the cost of a large chunk of screen space, even on a large widescreen.
I like using a single row of toolbars along with the ribbon option “minimise to panel titles”, which saves that space whilst giving the easy access to all the most used buttons, however even on bleeding edge hardware it has a huge response lag, which is impossible to ignore.
also, (in the default layout) the buttons for obvious things like Close in the Block Editor and RefClose in Reference Edit are often not visible on the screen, so I find myself forced to type lengthy commands, rather than a speedy one-button toolbar click. and so many commands are missing, for example where are “add to / remove from working set” or “match properties”?!?
sure _I_ can customise it, but why must all users suffer these ill-conceived / undertested new features.
another thing — the drawing minimise/restore/close buttons are very slick! but they should not be visible in block editor/reference edit modes — the number of times I’ve clicked and closed the drawing without saving changes while in that state… VERY painful!