AutoCAD-AutoDeskinnovationsMicrostation-Bentley

What's New in AutoCAD 2012, Part One

 

Finally, and as had been announced for this date, AutoDesk has arranged all the information related to the novelties of AutoCAD 2012. In the same way, what it implies for the other disciplines, with the exception of AutoCAD for Mac, which is still in what we saw last year in 2011 version.

From the outset, we are pleased to know that a new dwg file format has not been necessary, the 2010 format is maintained; to deploy it with older versions to AutoCAD 2010 it will be necessary to convert it with TrueView. Although AutoDesk insists on saying that its dwg is a wave descended from an alien ship, because of the message that appears when a file is opened with gvSIG, Microstation, Bricscad or any other software that can now generate dwg. It reminds me of that old lawsuit that you had wanting to own the format and although you have your right, it seems unnecessary to me as if it were a virus.

Also, it is interesting to know that this new version supports parallel processes, so that if you have a video card or computer with Multiple processorTiple you can feel the difference when rendering routines like rendering and panning in 3D views.

And another aspect, which we also like is to know that this version can be downloaded legally for testing purposes, although the version is fully functional for 30 days.

From here you can Download AutoCAD 2012, free.

I want to address some issues in detail, especially since many changes are quite similar to what Bentley has done in Microstation V8i, however in much of the new AutoCAD 2012 it surpasses it. In this first approach I want to touch on what is related to data construction and output display.

Constructive Aspects

There is not much new in this regard, understandable because the best thing that AutoDesk could do is improve existing routines. For this reason, improved tools stand out, making objects more dynamic and getting more out of graphic aids; although there is great use of the improvements of the 2011 version:

Improves Spline.  We remember that the spline is a kind of curved stroke of freehand that takes vertices in the air; It was problematic that it could not be treated as a polyline in aspects such as area calculation or cutting.

... damn it the day I used this to make contours ...

Now it can be treated almost as a Smart line in Corel Draw, add and relocate vertices, and convert strokes to arcs. Even an option called Blend tool Allows you to create the spline with help where you want to walk.

In the same way we see what happens with the Hatch, For some time now, the handling of patterns has been improving, so that they are dynamic. But now the grips Have more utility and equal applies to gradient fill.

Autocad 2012 news

This benefits processes such as sizing, arcs, ellipses, polylines vertices, faces, mleaders, although the latter includes much more than that since there is more control of the nodes and proximity to the text. For sample I leave you the video Of how it works.

Autocad 2012 arrat Among the most beneficial of this dynamic action that has been given to objects is the Array command, which now becomes a dynamic element and not a simple alignment of loose figures. After making the arrangement, the objects maintain a relationship, be it linear, curvature or 3D environment, depending on the type of arrangement. Great, because now you can handle the design with greater agility, such as the bars of a Joist, being able to modify the linear pattern, scale, distance or angle without having to redraw even if we changed the superelevation.

Autocad 2012 array Besides, even the Array can be copied, even if it doesn't seem like it. You can say, I want to copy this type of arrangement, as is the case of the bars of the same Joist, from this point, to this end. That would make patterns like bleachers, lined chairs, lamps in a room, trees, etc. They can be copied in the way we used the Measure command with blocks, with the variant that these maintain the association and link with the alignment object.

 

Autocad 2012 Duplicate cleaning. This is not unusual for those of us who have used GIS tools, where topological cleaning includes removing dirt. Now AutoCAD 2012 implements a button for duplicate items.

... would have been of great help when I had a nice assistant who duplicated the layers in the same drawing ...

More with the parameterized drawing.  This is one of the best features that AutoCAD has achieved, in this 2012 version the innovative thing is that it can be done on the fly thanks to the visual aids that are shown in each node of the objects. In this video You can see it working, interesting, the functionality that this brings you to what we used to do as simple objects.

... as an example the drawing of details of steel reinforcement ... what madness! If the ratio was changed and the boss wanted to keep the curves sharp at the ends.

Autocad 2012

What's New in the Ribbon.  Autocad 2012 news An interesting access called Content Explorer has been added, which reminds me of ArcCatalog paths, so I do not stumble around searching for files all over Windows Explorer.

Similar to this, I added an access to AutoCAD Exchange, previously seen but not from the desktop, but Ribbon themes I will touch in another post because there are improvements in the customization that they deserve for a while.

Command line, die but liveAutocad 2012 command lineThis has been questioned, as it is the legacy of the dinosaurs. But quick command access is still a common routine for cartoonists; I could see it more when the Ribbon came to confuse us in AutoCAD 2009.

Now an autocomplete function has been added, similar to what we do in Google, we just type a word. It would be necessary to see if it hits, because many could be lost between so much similar command, perhaps it would be useful if the search became intelligent and returned the commands that we have used the most in the list or reminded us of the hot key so that it remains. .

Helps to improve the output.  There are some news that have been delayed, but if they arrived they are welcome. In this it seems to me that AutoDesk and Bentley warn each other not to obscure the moment, we had had improvements in the handling of colors but for strange reasons the plans generated from a CAD (compared to the GIS) look better in monochrome than in colors.

Enhanced Transparencies. This is not a novelty of this version, it really came from the 2011 version but in this it has been made visible by AutoDesk with greater emphasis and as we see some extra functions have been included. Microstation implemented it from XM, but what AutoDesk has done goes further, as we can see in this video.

Autocad 2012

The transparency function is both in the properties panel for each object, and in the layer manager to apply to an entire layer. Additionally, it can be applied to a layout for printing and appears contextually from several sides; I think this will impact the visual presentation as well as when the gradient fill arrived.

... until today (a year before the Mayan prophecy) we will be able to print planes with the color orthophoto in the background ...

Other Layout Improvements. A scaling option has been added for the annotations, this helps to avoid having to handle styles in texts that only serve to label views. Additionally, the sheet manager is quite similar to what Microstation does with Models, but with a little more taste and interaction in a vertical window that will surely help to further improve the output management.

Autocad 2011 2012 differences

Super documentary.  This is the best, although I can't quite digest it yet. The image has turned the world around, but few of us have imagined the process we who are civilians.

Autocad 2012 lt

But it will benefit users of Autodesk Inventor, because now models like SolidWorks, Pro / ENGINEER, CATIA, Rhino and NX.

Finally, I do not want to overlook what I have seen in the generation of pdf files. Another issue that also never came to fruition, not like now.

Geenerate pdf files. This is not a novelty either, but an improvement to a functionality that comes from version 2010. Not only send period, but you can define if it sends the whole file, if it sends only one layer, a layout or if it leaves multiple pages . Autocad 2012 [12] [3]

Then, you can choose the resolution of the images and if you want the fonts to be embedded. This takes great advantage of the generated pdf file, because there you can turn layers off or on, it reminds me a lot of what programs like Corel Draw and Adobe Illustrator do for a long time ... and many other programs that already do this for days.

In the case of Microstation, if the pdf is not generated with the option 3D it does not go with separate layers; nor there there are so many options to configure the conditions of exit although it exported to pdf for 10 years ago.

Here you can watch the video Of how the PDF works in AutoCAD 2012.

PDF Underlay.  The truth is that generating pdf files is not new, but beyond that I liked what AutoCAD 2012 does with calling a pdf file as a reference and interacting with it. While this has been around for two years (AutoCAD 2010), AutoDesk now makes more noise by taking advantage of slight but useful enhancements.

Not bad, the best I've seen in interaction with pdf files containing vector layers because among other things you can:

  • Georeferencing the pdf
  • Clip to hide portions of the plane
  • Draw on this using snap over pdf vectors
  • Turn off or turn on pdf layers

In short, you only need one option to do go o Copy fence and bring it to the dwg and we would be done. In the case of Microstation, the pdf can be georeferenced but it behaves as if it were an image, it cannot be done snap Or interact with layers And I feel that both do not have immediate support to recognize the pdf georeference.

________________________________________

Well, in order not to make a post that reaches an oceanic trench, I stay here with this first review of the novelties of AutoCAD 2012. We continue in the next one.

This article summarizes the What's New in AutoCAD 2013

Golgi Alvarez

Writer, researcher, specialist in Land Management Models. He has participated in the conceptualization and implementation of models such as: National Property Administration System SINAP in Honduras, Management Model of Joint Municipalities in Honduras, Integrated Cadastre-Registry Management Model in Nicaragua, Territory Administration System SAT in Colombia . Editor of the Geofumadas knowledge blog since 2007 and creator of the AulaGEO Academy that includes more than 100 courses on GIS - CAD - BIM - Digital Twins topics.

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29 Comments

  1. Urgent consultation porfa !:

    I need to put a curved text and I can not find the express tool in Autocad 2012 for MAC, porfa if anyone knows how it can be done thank you monton !!

    greetings from Chile

  2. I want to know the commands and their symbols with their function

  3. Try to do it with two new, fresh lines.
    Make sure that you are not wanting to do fillet with objects that are in 3D and that are not cut, that you are not trying it with objects of an external reference file, that are not multiline, not block.

  4. I have problems with the Fillet command, it gives me the following error when I try to fillet a figure “Fillet requires 2 lines, arcs, or circles (not block references).” In autocad 2010 I splice it without problems but in this 2012 it gives me this error, I await your response, thanks.

  5. I was told that the 2012 version has a command or function that is similar in appearance to previous versions. I have it installed in English and I could not find it. Can somebody help me? Thanks in advance!! Greetings to all.

  6. Thank you very much for your help and availability.

  7. Surveyors, to rethink, rethink points in the curve.
    If you take more, calculate and place more, but you always work with points.

  8. But at the time of rethinking it, I would rethink the curve?

  9. Do not go up a curve, but a polygon that goes through all the stations you are interested in sending to GPS, similar to what you do with a straight alignment.

  10. I am interested in climbing to the alignment, curved with stations each 5 meters (example), the first question is, if you upload the curved alignment to the GPS, just like a straight alignment?
    I am listening to your response THANKS

  11. What are you interested in climbing?
    The stations of the central axis?

    Export them to gpx format, the curve will not be displayed, but the polygon. The closer you generate stations, the more curve information you'll have.

  12. Hi, I would like to know if anyone can help me in importing a curved alignment to gps (trimble r6)

  13. Hi, I would like to know if someone can help me, how can I import a curved alignment to gps (trimble R6)

  14. I need a list of commands for auto cad in English and Spanish can anyone help me?

  15. Estimated when two appendages is: a crectangle along with another rectangle, then they are glued together and a single entity is formed, how can I correct this? please help

  16. Hello I have a problem…
    When creating pdf's with autocad 2012, the corel draw x5 does not recognize them. With other versions of autocad it did not happen. I wanted to know how to fix it.
    Thank you.

  17. It is still disappointing with respect to the program for the windows platform, there are many commands missing, why I do not explain it

  18. Hi, I would like to know what happened with the 3d command, I have seen that in 2012 it is no longer available, with which I can replace it.

  19. THE MOST OF ITS NEW AUTOCAD 2012 COMMANDS AND ITS THE 3D MAX !!, NOW THAT THEY ARE OWNERS OF THAT PROGRAM ARE COPYING YOUR COMMANDS !! THAT MONSE, AND THAT ALSO COLLECT !!

  20. Good day I would like to see if anyone could help me on the subject of drawing a line with distance and azimuth within the program Quantum Gis

  21. When clicking on “Mem Patch” it generates the following error: “you need to apply patch when license screen appears” and it doesn't let me proceed with the installation because it gives me an incomplete activation code; How can I solve this problem?

  22. Thanks Jorge, for years AutoCAD had limitations with that.

  23. Best regard.
    Other new features of AutoCAD 2012 are the import of reference images from other formats that were previously needed from a vertical like AutocadMAP to insert them as a raster image.
    Then the image formats supported by AutoCAD 2012 and also the version LT 2012 (Each year AutoCAD LT incorporates more tools of the full version)
    Supported raster files:
    .bmp, .cals-1, .dds, .doq, .ecw, .flic, .geospot, .hdr, .ig4, .jpeg, jpeg2000, .jifif, .MrSID, .NITF, .OpenEXR, .pcx,. Pict, .png, .psd, .rlc, .targa, .tiff and also supports images with elevation.
    I hope that the contribution helps.
    Until next time.

    Jorge Eliecer Garces Bolivar
    Draftsman of Architecture and Engineering

  24. for the transparencies both in layers and objects and the generation of pdf I find it already in the autocad 2011 ... from what I read I do not find a difference on these two topics between the autocad 2011 and the autocad 2012, unless they have added some detail small in his handling that he has not perceived.
    a greeting.

  25. Your information is very useful and my work as a university teacher.
    I appreciate them from UDO.ANZ.ve
    Thank you

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