From the course: AutoCAD 2017: Migrating from Windows to Mac

CUI - AutoCAD for Mac Tutorial

From the course: AutoCAD 2017: Migrating from Windows to Mac

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CUI

- [Instructor] AutoCAD for Mac has a somewhat unique interface and one that is quite different from its Windows counterpart in certain areas. Aside from the look and layout of the interface, AutoCAD for Mac also takes some liberties in approaches to the CUI, or Custom User Interface. AutoCAD for Windows has a very intense CUI manager that can be a little overwhelming for new users. Don't misunderstand me, I'm a big fan of the flexibility AutoCAD for Windows provides its users, especially when it comes to creating workspaces for different tasks and sharing those workspaces and tools. However, for a user who just wants to add a new command to the menu or toolbar, it can be a little daunting. AutoCAD for Mac has a more simplified approach. And while power users like myself may find it a bit limiting it's hard to argue with the simplicity of AutoCAD for Mac's CUI. We can either type in CUI into the command line or go to Tools, Customize, Interface. Here we have just two tabs, Commands and Menus. Commands is where we go to edit the individual buttons found in the tool sets as well as tools in the menu bar. From here, we can search for tools, see descriptions, and also see the commands AutoCAD enters when we select one of the tools. I'm going to come down here and do a quick search for the word circle. Now, I have a filtered list that only has commands that use circle, and if I click on something like Circle, 2 Points, we can see the macro that actually makes up this button. AutoCAD does a escape, escape, types the circle command, and then enters 2p for the 2 Points option. Menus allow us to drag and drop these tools into the menu items. We can also easily create our own custom menu items. Perhaps you want a menu dropdown for inserting blocks for your company, or a series of specific tools that you would like to group into a menu. Or, perhaps you just want to simplify the existing menus by removing tools that you never use. Here, you can edit these menus to your heart's content. And you needn't worry about messing anything up, as there's a handy reset button right here that will reset everything back to its defaults. There is one area where AutoCAD for Mac currently falls short, and that is CUI sharing. Currently there is no way to save all of these changes you are making to the tools and menus and use them on other machines. This is a setback for users in an office who rely on creating custom user interfaces that are shared and deployed throughout the office. So, while it's quite easy to make changes, just keep in mind they are only to be on this workstation.

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