AutoCAD® 2013 Preview Guide With powerful tools for design aggregation, AutoCAD® 2013 software helps connect and streamline your design and documentation workflows. Import and aggregate models from almost any format, and quickly create detailed design layouts and drawing views that automatically update when the source model changes. Save time with an enhanced and more effortless user interface and a customizable command line display.
Table of Contents Table of Contents .................................................................................................................. 2 User Interaction .................................................................................................................... 3 Welcome Screen ................................................................................................................................. 3 AutoCAD Help ...............................................................
User Interaction Welcome Screen A Welcome Screen is automatically displayed when you launch AutoCAD 2013. It provides easy access to drawings, learning tools, and online content. In the Work panel of the Welcome Screen, you can create new drawings as well as open your existing drawings and sample files. A Recent Files list provides easy access to your most recently used drawings.
AutoCAD Help The online Help system for AutoCAD has been significantly restructured to provide faster, search-based results. You can access the AutoCAD Help system from the Help icon on the InfoCenter. The Online help window is displayed by default. If you are offline or if you have disabled online content from the System tab of the Options dialog box, Online Help will not be displayed. Instead, Offline Help is made available as an optional download.
Command Line Enhancements The command line interface has been modernized in AutoCAD 2013 to include color, transparency, and increased flexibility for displaying history and accessing recent commands. You can dock the command line at the top or bottom of the AutoCAD window or let it float to maximize the drawing area. The undocked command line is displayed in a single row that floats above the AutoCAD window.
Pressing Ctrl F2 displays the history window. When the command line is undocked, you can snap it to the edge of the AutoCAD window or a docked palette by moving it near the edge. When you resize or move the AutoCAD window or docked palette, the command line moves accordingly to maintain its position relative to the edge. If you undock the adjacent palette, the command line automatically snaps to the next palette or AutoCAD window.
command line on the edge of a frame without snapping, simply press the Ctrl key while moving it. Whether the command line is floating or docked, a command icon helps identify the command line and indicates when AutoCAD is awaiting a command. You can click on the command icon to quickly view and launch the most recently used commands. When a command is active, the command name is always displayed on the command line.
In-Canvas Property Preview In AutoCAD 2013 you can dynamically preview changes to object properties before applying them. For example, if you select objects and then use the Properties palette to change the color, the selected objects dynamically change color as you pass the cursor over each color in the list or within the Select Color dialog box. Object transparency is also dynamically applied as you change the transparency.
You can control the property preview behavior using the Property Preview option on the Selection tab of the Options dialog. Array Enhancements Enhanced array functionality in AutoCAD 2013 helps you create objects in a pattern faster and easier than ever before. After you select objects for a rectangular array, they are immediately displayed in a three-row-by-fourcolumn grid.
Path arrays offer more flexibility and control in AutoCAD 2013 when using the measure method. It is easier to specify the orientation of the arrayed objects relative to the path using the Tangent Direction option during creation. The item count toggle allows the count to be based on the spacing and curve length (to fill the path), or you can explicitly control the count. As you increase or decrease spacing the item, the number of items automatically decreases or increases to fit on the specified path.
When the item count toggle is off, an additional grip at the end of the array provides dynamic editing of the item count and total item spacing to array along a portion of the path curve. Layout and Model Viewports The viewports panel on the ribbon is renamed to be specific to Model Viewports or Layout Viewports. Model Viewports are accessible from the View ribbon tab and are relevant when creating viewports in model space.
Layout Viewports are accessible from the Layout ribbon tab and are relevant when creating viewports on a layout. Quick View Drawings Bold texts and colorful borders in the Quick View Drawings thumbnails help emphasize the current active view.
Hatch Editor AutoCAD 2013 is enhanced to make editing multiple hatch objects faster and easier. The contextual Hatch Editor ribbon tab is automatically displayed even when you select more than one hatch object. Similarly, when using the command line version of the hatch editor (-HATCHEDIT), you can now select multiple hatch objects for simultaneous editing. Raster Images The bitonal resampling algorithm has been updated to improve the display quality of a wide range of supported images.
The right-click menu includes some additional updates. In the dialog boxes, the default type is set to Relative Path unless the relative path is not available—for example, if the drawing has not yet been saved or the host drawing and external file are located in different disk partitions. Snap Behavior A new Legacy option in the Snap tool offers increased flexibility when snapping to grid points.
You can attach and manage point cloud files similar to working with xrefs, images, and other externally referenced files. The Attach Point Cloud dialog box has been updated to provide a preview image and detailed information about the selected point cloud.
Selecting an attached point cloud displays a bounding box around the data to help you visualize its position in 3D space and relative to other 3D objects. In addition to displaying a bounding box, selecting a point cloud automatically displays the Point Cloud ribbon tab with easy access to relevant tools.
You can adjust the point cloud density and, if intensity data is included with the point cloud, you can use the analysis tools to view point intensity with different color schemes including gray scale or spectrum. New clipping tools enable you to create and modify clipping boundaries for the selected point cloud. Additional options enable you to specify whether the bounding box is displayed and provide easy access to the External References manager.
Point cloud indexing is significantly enhanced in AutoCAD 2013 to provide a smoother and more efficient workflow when working with raw scan files. You can index scan files from major industrial scanner companies, including Leica and Topcon in addition to Faro. The new Create Point Cloud File dialog box provides an intuitive and flexible interface to select and index raw point scan files. You can select multiple files to batch index and even merge them into a single point cloud file.
When you save from AutoCAD 2013 to an older version DWGTM file, a message alerts you that the attached PCG file will be re-indexed and degraded to be compatible with the previous version of the drawing file format. The new file is renamed to a corresponding incremental file name. PressPull The PressPull tool, available on the Modeling panel of the Home ribbon tab, is enhanced in AutoCAD 2013 to be more flexible and context-sensitive.
Additionally, you are no longer limited to clicking inside a bounded area. Now you can select 2D and 3D curves as well. When selecting a face with the Presspull tool, the default behavior extrudes the face straight out. If you press the Ctrl key when you select a planar face, you can offset it as it extrudes to follow the taper angles of adjacent sides.
Import Inventor Files In AutoCAD 2013 you can import Autodesk® Inventor® models directly into the AutoCAD model space environment using the standard Import tool. Document Model Documentation Model Documentation functionality has been greatly enhanced in AutoCAD 2013. You’ll find model documentation tools on the new Layout tab alongside common tools for creating and managing drawing layouts and views. On the Create View panel you can access new and enhanced tools for creating drawing views.
Drawing Views The Base View tool includes a new Select option that enables you to specify which 3D objects are represented in the base view. The Select option is also available when editing the base view after it’s been created. When using the Select option, AutoCAD temporarily switches to model space, enabling you to add or remove objects for the base view selection set. You can also start in Model Space and select the objects for which you want to create a view.
When you create drawing views using the model documentation tools in AutoCAD, relevant layers with an MD_ prefix are automatically added to the drawing. If you rename the layers or change layer properties, those changes are automatically applied to existing as well as subsequent drawing views created in the same drawing. Section Views Create a section view from an existing drawing view by picking points to define the section line.
The appearance of the section view label is determined by the Section View Style tool, which is accessible from the Model Documentation ribbon tab. You can select from predefined Section View Styles or define your own using the Section View Style Manager. In the Section View Style Manager, you can create new section view styles as well as modify or delete existing ones.
When creating or modifying a section view style you have access to a variety of controls to specify the appearance of the section identifier and arrows, cutting plane, view label, and hatch. You can easily modify a section view after it’s been created. Multifunctional grips on the section line enable you to move the section line, add and remove vertices, flip the direction, and reposition the identifiers.
properties of the hatch pattern using a multifunctional grip. It still remains associated with the section view. Additional editing tools are available in the Section View Editor, which is accessible from the right-click menu and the ribbon tab (Edit View/VIEWEDIT button) when a section view is selected. Detail Views Create detail views from existing drawing views.
The appearance of the detail view label is determined by the Detail View Style tool, which is accessible from the Model Documentation ribbon tab. You can select from predefined detail view styles or define your own using the Detail View Style Manager. In the Detail View Style Manager, you can create new detail view styles as well as modify or delete existing ones.
You can easily modify a detail view after it’s been created. Grips on the detail symbol enable you to modify the position of the boundary and the identifier. Grips on the detail view and detail view label enable you to modify the view position or scale as well as change the label location, width, and height.
Additional editing tools are available in the Detail View Editor, which you can access via the right-click menu and ribbon tab when a detail view is selected. View Symbol Sketch Use the Symbol Sketch tool to constrain section lines and detail boundaries to key points in the drawing views, helping maintain accuracy even as the model or layout changes.
they were not included in the move selection set. If you update the drawing view, associative annotations remain associated to the vertices as the geometry changes in size. You can make other edits to the drawing views, such as changing the view style, object visibility, and adding or removing objects to the view selection set, while still maintaining associativity with annotations.
Export Layout The Export Layout to Model tool has been updated so when you export a layout with drawing views containing circular objects, those objects are represented in the exported drawing as circles and arcs instead of polylines. Text and Leaders Strikethrough Text A new strikethrough style is provided for Mtext, Mleaders, Dimensions, and Tables.
Leaders Leaders are now included in the TextToFront tool. The Mleader text box has been updated to include a margin between the text and the frame and to provide a minimum width for the mtext in order to prevent text overflow. Wipeout The Wipeout tool is updated to include an option for displaying, but not plotting, the wipeout frame. You can set this new control from the Frames option within the Wipeout command or by directly accessing the new WIPEOUTFRAME system variable.
Offset Preview Now when you use the Offset command, a preview of the offset result is automatically displayed before you end the command. For example, after you specify an offset distance, the offset object is displayed as you drag the cursor to either side of the original object. Similarly, when using the Through option, the resulting object is dynamically displayed as you drag the cursor to specify the through point.
The first time you access Autodesk 360, you have the opportunity to specify default cloud settings to control when your design data and custom settings are synced with the cloud. You can choose to automatically store encrypted copies of your local design data in your Autodesk 360 account each time you save, or save only specified documents. In either case, you can override the default behavior for individual drawings.
The Online Options tool provides easy access to the Online tab in the Options dialog box where you can monitor your online storage capacity and control interaction with cloud documents and customization synchronization. An option in the lower left corner of the dialog box enables you to specify the cloud folder in which you want your drawings to be saved.
Bubble notifications indicate when settings are being uploaded to or downloaded from the cloud. Choose Settings Use the Choose Settings tool to specify which settings to include in customization sync. These can include: options; customization files; printer support files; custom hatch patterns; custom fonts, shapes, and linetypes; tool palettes; and drawing templates. The Options setting includes almost all the controls in the Options dialog box. The Customization setting includes .
The Tool Palettes setting includes tool palette files and groups (.atc, .aws). The Custom fonts, shapes, and linetypes setting requires the AutoCAD application to be restarted. When you make changes to your customization settings with synchronization enabled, a bubble notification in the upper right corner notifies you that the changes are being uploaded. When you sign out of Autodesk 360, a dialog box enables you to choose if you want to keep your custom settings or restore the previous settings.
The new Online tab in the CAD Manager Control Utility enables CAD managers to control their users’ access to Autodesk 360 documents and customization synchronization. Render Online New Online Rendering tools enable you to render your 3D AutoCAD models in the cloud using the Autodesk rendering service. Materials are assigned, lights and the environment are set up, and you are ready to create a high-res rendering of four different views of the model.
Stay Connected New tools in the InfoCenter make it easy for you to stay connected with the AutoCAD community. Access the Stay Connected menu, where you can download product updates, log onto the Autodesk® Subscription Center, view the AutoCAD Facebook page, and follow AutoCAD Twitter posts. Content Explorer The AutoCAD® Content ExplorerTM functionality, which is accessible from the Plug-ins ribbon tab, has been updated in AutoCAD 2013.
The search algorithms have also been improved to support more intuitive search input—especially for wildcard (*) searches. These improvements help produce more accurate search results. Many of these improvements were added in response to feedback from customers and tested against their examples. In AutoCAD 2012, you were able to connect to server machines that had the Content Service installed, in order to quickly search for files/objects across large library folders.
When you save a drawing containing 3D Solids in the new AutoCAD 2013 file format, a graphics cache file is automatically stored in a folder named “GraphicsCache” under your user app data folder. Two new system variables, CACHEMAXTOTALSIZE and CACHEMAXFILES, enable you manage the cache files. Customization Double-click Actions In the Customize User Interface dialog box, the double-click action for dimension objects has been updated to launch TEXTEDIT rather than the alias TEDIT.
