Datasheet

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Part I: AutoCAD 101
✓ Delete duplicates: The OVERKILL command is another Express Tool
that’s been moved to the core (and so is available to LT users). This
command searches your drawing for objects drawn on top of other
objects and (as its name suggests) deletes them. I cover this feature in
Chapter 11.
✓ Fillets, chamfers, blends, and joins: FILLET and CHAMFER now include
a preview that shows you the effect of changing a fillet radius or cham-
fer distance before you finish the command. The new BLEND command
creates curved transitions with tangent- or curve-continuity between
lines, arcs, splines, and polylines. And JOIN now incorporates the Join
option of the PEDIT command: Select a bunch of individual objects with
common endpoints, and then run the JOIN command to create a new
polyline object. I cover these changed commands in Chapter 11.
✓ Associative arrays: Prior to AutoCAD 2012, the ARRAY command
created simple rectangular or circular patterns of selected objects.
AutoCAD 2012 replaces the old ARRAY with a new, complex command
that creates a new associative array object. I’m of two minds on this one.
It has its uses, I’m sure, but the old ARRAY was probably more useful in
everyday drafting, and that command is now harder to use than it was in
AutoCAD 2011. I cover associative arrays in Chapters 11 and 18.
✓ Online tab: Both AutoCAD 2012 and AutoCAD LT 2012 get a new Online
tab. Most of the tools on this tab start the AutoCAD WS service. With
an account at www.autocadws.com, you can upload drawings to and
from mobile devices running Apple’s iOS4 operating system — that is,
iPhones, iPads, and the iPod touch. For more information, have a look at
Chapter 20.
✓ UCS enhancements: The UCS (User Coordinate System) icon is now
selectable. You can grab it by selecting the grip and the origin and move
it to a new base point, and you can orient your new UCS by dragging the
grips on the X-, Y-, and Z-axes of the icon. I introduce you to this new
way of setting up coordinate systems in Chapter 21.
✓ In-canvas viewport controls: This is probably my favorite new feature
in AutoCAD 2012. I’ve barely started using it in this release, and already
I’m looking for it in the AutoCAD 2010 version I use at the office every
day — and, of course, it’s not there! You can simply click one of the
labels at the top-left corner of a viewport to switch views or visual
styles, or toggle between a multiple viewport configuration or a single
viewport. I cover this new interface feature in Chapter 22.
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