AutoCAD LT® 2009 Preview Guide www.autodesk.
AUTOCAD LT 2009 PREVIEW GUIDE Contents Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................ 3 User Interface ..................................................................................................................................................... 3 Application Window ......................................................................................................................
AUTOCAD LT 2009 PREVIEW GUIDE Introduction You can dramatically increase your productivity with AutoCAD LT® software, the world’s number-one-selling 2D drafting and detailing product. AutoCAD LT is a powerful solution for designers who need full native DWG™ file format compatibility without 3D capabilities or advanced customization.
AUTOCAD LT 2009 PREVIEW GUIDE Figure 2. Menu Browser button The Menu Browser displays a vertical list of the menus, emulating the menus that traditionally ran horizontally across the top of the AutoCAD LT window. Selecting a menu from the Menu Browser expands the menu list, enabling you to launch a command. Figure 3. Menu Browser A search tool at the top of the Menu Browser enables you to search the CUI (customize user interface) file for key terms.
AUTOCAD LT 2009 PREVIEW GUIDE Figure 4. Menu Browser search tool In addition to providing command access, the Menu Browser enables you to view and access recent or open documents. You can display the document names along with icons or with small, medium, or large preview images, making them easy to identify. Figure 5. Menu Browser document preview images www.autodesk.
AUTOCAD LT 2009 PREVIEW GUIDE When viewing recently used documents in the Menu Browser, you can display them in an ordered list or group them by date or file type. Hovering the cursor over a document name automatically displays a preview image and other document information. Figure 6. Recent documents preview In addition to recent documents, the Menu Browser offers easy access to recently taken actions. You can view a list of the actions you have recently selected and then select one to repeat it.
AUTOCAD LT 2009 PREVIEW GUIDE Figure 7. Menu Browser right-click menu options Quick Access Toolbar The Quick Access toolbar is displayed at the top of the AutoCAD LT window, next to the Menu Browser. It includes the most commonly used tools, such as New, Open, Save, Plot, Undo, and Redo. You can add and remove tools using the Customize User Interface dialog box, which is accessible from the right-click menu. Drag commands from the Command list onto the Quick Access toolbar.
AUTOCAD LT 2009 PREVIEW GUIDE Figure 9. InfoCenter Ribbon The Ribbon, displayed near the top of the AutoCAD LT window, provides easy access to AutoCAD LT tools through a collection of tabs and panels. Each tab contains multiple panels, and each panel contains multiple tools. Some panels can be expanded to access additional tools. Figure 10. Ribbon By default, the Ribbon is docked at the top of the AutoCAD LT window.
AUTOCAD LT 2009 PREVIEW GUIDE Figure 11. Ribbon right-click menu You can also emulate Dashboard behavior by undocking the Ribbon and anchoring it to the left or right. Figure 12. Ribbon title bar right-click menu You can control the display of content within the Ribbon’s tabs and panels; just right-click to display the contextsensitive menu and turn Panels or Tabs on and off. Easily reorganize Ribbon tabs, or panels within the tabs, by dragging them to new locations.
AUTOCAD LT 2009 PREVIEW GUIDE Figure 14. Status bar toggles The right-click menus for some Status bar toggles include additional controls relevant for that particular toggle. Easy access to these controls minimizes the need to access them in the Settings dialog box. Figure 15. Right-click menus for Snap, Polar, and Osnap The Model and Layout buttons have been moved to the right side of the Status bar, where several new tools have also been added.
AUTOCAD LT 2009 PREVIEW GUIDE Model Layout Quick View Layouts Quick View Drawings Pan Zoom SteeringWheels Viewport Scale Viewport/Annotation Workspace Switching Figure 16. Status bar tools Quick Properties The Quick Properties panel enables you to view and modify object properties when you need them, without sacrificing screen real estate. You can turn on quick properties with the QP toggle on the Status bar.
AUTOCAD LT 2009 PREVIEW GUIDE Figure 18. Quick Properties location modes The Settings option provides additional controls for the Quick Properties window through a new Quick Properties tab in the Drafting Settings dialog box. On the Quick Properties tab, you can specify whether Quick Properties is enabled and whether the Quick Properties window displays when any object is selected or only when those with defined quick properties are selected.
AUTOCAD LT 2009 PREVIEW GUIDE If multiple objects are selected, the Quick Properties window behaves similarly to the familiar Properties window, displaying only the properties that are common to all selected objects. A drop-down list enables you to select a specific type of object in order to display all Quick Properties for that particular object type. Figure 20.
AUTOCAD LT 2009 PREVIEW GUIDE Figure 22. Edit Object Type list Quick View Layouts The Quick View Layouts button on the status bar displays a horizontal row of Quick View Layout images. This new functionality provides a faster and more visual alternative to using the traditional Model and Layout tabs for switching between layouts within the current drawing. You can identify and select layouts, not only by name, but by appearance.
AUTOCAD LT 2009 PREVIEW GUIDE Figure 23. Quick View Layout images Passing the cursor over a layout preview displays Plot and Publish buttons in the upper corners of the image. Additional tools are available in the Quick View control panel, which is automatically displayed below the Quick View images. Using these tools you can pin Quick View open so that it remains visible while you work in the drawing editor. Then use the Close button to turn off Quick View when you no longer want it displayed.
AUTOCAD LT 2009 PREVIEW GUIDE You can right-click a layout preview to display the familiar Layout menu options, including access to the Page Setup Manager. A new option in the right-click menu enables you to export layout geometry to model space in a new drawing. Figure 25. Quick View Layouts right-click menu Quick View Drawings The Quick View Drawings button, on the Status bar, displays a horizontal row of Quick View drawing images.
AUTOCAD LT 2009 PREVIEW GUIDE Figure 26. Quick View Drawings images Passing the cursor over a drawing preview displays Save and Close buttons in the upper corners of the image, enabling you to quickly save or close any open drawing, not just the current one. Additional tools are available in the Quick View Drawings control panel, which is automatically displayed below the Quick View images.
AUTOCAD LT 2009 PREVIEW GUIDE When you hover the cursor over a Quick View Drawings image, previews of all the layouts in that drawing, including model space, are displayed above the drawing images in a separate image bar. You can easily view and activate any layout within any open drawing directly from the Quick View Drawing bar. To see a larger view of the layout images, simply pass the cursor over a layout preview image.
AUTOCAD LT 2009 PREVIEW GUIDE Figure 29. Tooltip help In addition to using command tools, you can control the content displayed in the tooltips for the External References palette. Right-click the border of the External References palette, select the Tooltip Style option, and then choose to display a preview, details, or both. When displaying a preview, you can specify a small, medium, or large image. www.autodesk.
AUTOCAD LT 2009 PREVIEW GUIDE Figure 30.Tooltip styles If you pass the cursor over an item in the External References palette, you can quickly preview the drawing geometry and detail information without selecting the item. Figure 31. Preview and Details tooltip Preview images display as tooltips for layout tabs helping you locate the layout you want to use.
AUTOCAD LT 2009 PREVIEW GUIDE select an option that hides a particular message, for example, Always Close the Command Line Window, AutoCAD LT stores it in a list of hidden messages. Figure 32. Command Line Close Window message box You can selectively restore hidden messages using a new option on the Systems tab of the Options dialog boxes. Figure 33. Hidden message settings Design and Drafting Layer Management The Layer Properties Manager includes many enhancements to help increase productivity.
AUTOCAD LT 2009 PREVIEW GUIDE Figure 34. Layer Properties Manager Layer Isolate controls have been added to the Layer Settings dialog box, and a new option for combining layer property changes for Undo and Redo operations is accessible from the User Preferences tab of the Options dialog box. Figure 35.
AUTOCAD LT 2009 PREVIEW GUIDE Figure 36. DGN Export You can now control the layer visibility of attached DGN files by selecting the DGN Layer option from the rightclick menu when a DGN attachment is selected. Figure 37. DGN layer control A new DGN mapping tool enables you to map DGN levels, linestyles, lineweights, and colors to AutoCAD LT layers, linetypes, lineweights, and colors and vice versa. Save and access named DGN mappings for increased control during the import and export of DGN files.
AUTOCAD LT 2009 PREVIEW GUIDE Figure 38. DGN mappings DWFx Support AutoCAD LT 2009 includes support for DWFx, which is a DWF format that is compliant with Microsoft's XML Paper Specification (XPS) format. DWFx files are easily distributable on the Windows Vista® platform, as this format is supported by the XPS Viewer. You will find DWFx listed along with DWF in all DWF- related functionality, including Markup, External References (DWFATTACH), Publish, and Plot. www.autodesk.
AUTOCAD LT 2009 PREVIEW GUIDE Figure 39. DWFx file format Xref Clipping You can now use grips to edit the boundary of a clipped external reference. Ensure the XCLIPFRAME system variable is set to 1, and then select the clipped xref and grab a grip. In addition to using grips to edit the clip boundaries, a new grip enables you to quickly invert the clipping area. Figure 40. Xref clipping grips www.autodesk.
AUTOCAD LT 2009 PREVIEW GUIDE Interactive Array Preview When you preview an array of objects using the Array command, you can pan, zoom, and navigate the model before accepting the newly arrayed objects. Click anywhere or press the Esc key to return to the Array dialog box, or right-click to accept the new array. Find and Replace The Find and Replace functionality has been updated to include an expandable dialog box and more options.
AUTOCAD LT 2009 PREVIEW GUIDE Figure 42. Geographic Location options The new GEOLATLONGFORMAT system variable enables you to specify the format of the latitude and longitude values in the Geographic Location dialog box and the coordinate status bar in Geographic mode. You can also control the visibility of the geographic marker using the new GEOMARKERVISIBILITY system variable. Steering Wheel AutoCAD LT 2009 includes a new tool to help you navigate your drawing with ease.
AUTOCAD LT 2009 PREVIEW GUIDE Figure 44. Rewind tool Image References AutoCAD LT 2009 includes the ability to attach images to a drawing as externally referenced files. You will find the new Attach Image option in the drop-down list of the External References palette, or you can use the new IMAGEATTACH command. Figure 45.
AUTOCAD LT 2009 PREVIEW GUIDE Figure 46. Image Adjust dialog box Nonrectangular Viewports AutoCAD LT 2009 offers more control over the display of layout viewports by enabling you to create nonrectangular viewports. When using the MVIEW command, you can select the Polygonal or Object option from the right-click menu. Figure 47. MVIEW right-click menu The Polygonal option enables you to pick points to specify a multisided shape for the viewport.
AUTOCAD LT 2009 PREVIEW GUIDE Figure 48. Examples of nonrectangular viewports Full Color and Color Book support In AutoCAD LT 2009 you have more flexibility when it comes to specifying colors. The Select Color dialog box has been updated to include tabs for True Color and Color Books in addition to the traditional Index Color. Figure 49. Select Color dialog box www.autodesk.
AUTOCAD LT 2009 PREVIEW GUIDE Fields AutoCAD LT 2009 software enables you to create fields in your drawings. Fields, which can be inserted in text, attributes, or tables, read data from various sources and then automatically update to reflect changes to the data. For example, you might insert a field for the date and file name as part of a title block. You can also use fields to display object properties such as the area of a hatch or the diameter of a circle. Figure 50.
