Autodesk Announces AutoCAD 2012 for Mac AutoCAD LT for Mac and AutoCAD WS for Mac

Design 8.16 is finally here. Where you surprised? Wait, you haven’t heard what it is yet? Today, Autodesk is announcing the next version of AutoCAD, AutoCAD for Mac 2012. Disappointed? Well there are few more details to go with it. Autodesk is also announcing AutoCAD LT for Mac 2012.

Also, Autodesk is announcing AutoCAD WS for Mac, standalone version. Now it’s interesting. If you are a Mac user or if you want to be a Mac user then this is great news. I am wondering, how many of you guessed it? I’ll bet you might have figured on AutoCAD 2012 for Mac and maybe even thought AutoCAD LT for Mac was the topic of Design 8.16, but I’ll guess that none of you considered that a standalone version of AutoCAD WS for Mac would be a part of it. 

This announcement makes a lot of sense from Autodesk’s point of view. It’s also really great news for Mac users. AutoCAD for Mac 2012 and AutoCAD WS for Mac will be available worldwide on August 19th, 2011. AutoCAD LT for Mac will only be available in the U.S. and Canada on August 16th, 2011. Why? Because these two products will only be available through the Mac App Store.

That last bit is disappointing to hear, but it is nice to see Autodesk try new things, like the Mac App Store as a product delivery method. Perhaps one day Uncle Carl and Cousin Steve can work it out so everyone can get AutoCAD LT for Mac and AutoCAD WS for Mac through the Mac App Store, but for now, it’s limited.

AutoCAD WS for Mac is a free download (for those that can download it.) AutoCAD LT for Mac is a down load on the App Store and will be priced near $900. AutoCAD for Mac 2012 will be priced just under $4000. There will be a Free Student version of AutoCAD for Mac available. For a better price guide go to Autodesk’s website. 

Since AutoCAD LT is a download, up to five machines can license it under the same username. That’s nice for those that have multiple Mac’s or Mac Books. Also, if you have a license for AutoCAD (for PC) you can choose to download the Mac version instead. Check with Autodesk’s website for exact details. AutoCAD for Mac 2012 will also feature network licensing and is available for subscription.

The majority of the AutoCAD 2012 features have been brought over to AutoCAD for Mac 2012, but still no Sheet Set support and no tools to create dynamic blocks.

Will you be updating your AutoCAD for Mac 2011 to 2012?  Will you be getting AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT for Mac now?  

I think its great for Mac users and for Autodesk to have more products, and updated products, on the Mac platform.  As a PC user Im jealous of the standalone AutoCAD WS version, but maybe there will be one in the works soon enough??  Autodesk is slowly expanding their Mac portfolio.  Which Autodesk product will be next?  Which one would you like to see?

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AutoCAD 2009 – Status Bar

Ok, I know the status bar is not rocket surgery, but, there were a few tweaks that happened to it in AutoCAD 2009. Who likes icons? Who likes text? Doesn’t matter. Pick the one you want and that is how you will see the toggle buttons on the far left of the status bar. The toggle buttons toggle certain settings on or off. These settings include SNAP, GRID, ORTHO, POLAR, OSNAP, OTRACK, DUCS, DYN, LWT, AND QP. QP?? Yeah, the new Quick Properties function. What’s that? Later my friend, I can post everything in one day, especially this late on a Friday. Well, the quick properties is a new function that will display some basic properties of an item or object when it is selected. Think of it as a miniature Properties Pallet that shows up with one click!! It’s cool. Each user can set up which properties that are displayed in the QP.

Back to topic. Switching from icons or text for the toggle buttons is a simple as right clicking one of the button and selecting/deselecting the USE ICON option. Use the one you like best. Right clicking certain toggle buttons will provide you with more settings for that particular function. It is very easy to manipulate these settings now.

The model and the layout buttons are now on the right side of the status bar along with some new tools. The layout flyout has been replaced with the QUICK VIEW Layouts (I’ll get into this one later) and the QUICK VIEW Drawings buttons (again, later). These new functions quickly display the open drawings and the layouts in the current file giving a small preview of them and allowing for selection. The status bar now also includes the newest tools meant for easy navigation and viewing. These are the Steering Wheel (just like in Design Review), Show Motion, pan, zoom (classics), a new workspace switching station (which takes up less space now in the status bar), and the new Viewport/Annotation toggle that replaces the annotation scale button in order to sync the annotation scale with the view port scale.

That’s the new Status Bar. Not too flashy, but it locates some of the new tools and revamps several familiar ones.

Happy Cadding!!

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Signs you are using autocad too much

For those of us who spend far too much time on autocad:

Signs your using AutoCAD too much:

1. you find yourself pushing the space bar instead of the enter bar at the end of sending a message on gmail

2. you know exactly where the tr and ex buttons are

3. you know what OSNAP is

4. YOUR FRIENDS HAVE ACCEPTED THAT JUST BECAUSE YOU TYPE IN ALL CAPITALS DOES NOT MEAN YOU ARE YELLING AT THEM

5. You know what each of the F button on top of the keyboard do without even thinking about it

6. You start using AutoCAD hot key commands in other programs 10 times then realize its not AutoCAD your working in.

7. You try to zoom in and out with you roller ball with every other program you use.

8. Instead of doing simple math of a right triangle, you use AutoCAD to do the work for you.

9) When you keep pressing the middle button hoping to drag the page around.

10) When you qsave your word document by accident.

11) When you have used the saveall then exit command to shut down autocad rather than file..save..

12) When you start to press ESC ESC in every other program to undo what you just done

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Two Good Articles on Whats new in AutoCAD 2013 from Cadalyst Magazine

Cadalyst Magazine has posted two great articles discussing whats new in AutoCAD 2013.

One is "AutoCAD 2013 from the CAD Manager’s Chair" by CAD Manager Robert Green.

The other is from Cadalyst Labs Reviews "AutoCAD 2013" by Bill Fane.

Robert Green gives a good review of the new version of AutoCAD from the perspective of a CAD Manager.  He highlights the main issues a manager needs to be aware of.

Bill Fane details out the new features, updates, and changes to AutoCAD 2013.

Check them out.  They are good articles.

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