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

Elements of the interface - AutoCAD for Mac Tutorial

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

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Elements of the interface

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- [Narrator] The first time you start up AutoCAD for Mac, the biggest shock is most definitely the interface. When AutoCAD for Mac was released in 2010, it was completely redesigned to be as Mac-like as possible. This was designed not as a port, but redesigned and rewritten just for Mac. So the interface certainly reflects that. We'll get into the specifics of each of the elements of the interface in later videos, but I want to give you a high level look at the differences you're going to run into. And most importantly, lead you through these differences so you can see that AutoCAD for Mac interface is not nearly as scary as it may appear at the first glance. I want to show you three different versions. Why three? From its release in 2010 through 2016, the interface for AutoCAD for Mac is fairly consistent. For AutoCAD for Mac in 2017 the interface underwent a redesign and many of the elements changed slightly. So if you're using a version for AutoCAD for Mac older than 2017, you'll be more interested in that part of this walkthrough. If you have a version newer than 2017, you'll obviously be more focused on the new interface changes. Here we see AutoCAD 2017 running on Windows 10. At the top we have the menu bar here, the quick access toolbar, the ribbon which holds all of our tools, the drawing tab bar here. Along the bottom we have our command line, the status bar here, and the properties palette docked on the right side of my screen. Now let's switch to AutoCAD for Mac 2016. Here the menu bar, which is hidden in AutoCAD for Windows by default, is here at the top of the screen. There is no ribbon, however the tool palette, which holds all of our tools, is here along the left side of the screen by default. There are three different tool sets which we can control here at the top. Drafting, annotation, and modeling. Moving counter clockwise we have the classic command line which operates just like the command line in Windows. The status bar is here along the right and above that on the right side we have the properties palette and the layers palette. These palettes can be drug around our screen and docked into place as I see fit. I can view additional palettes by looking under the window menu item or under tools and palettes. Now let's switch over to AutoCAD for Mac 2017. In the redesigned interface, the tool palettes, as well as the properties palette, command line, and status bar, are all now tied into the drawing area. Similar to AutoCAD for Windows. They're somewhat locked into place, but I can still go up to the window menu item and turn them on or off as I see fit. Now, at the top of the drawing window, we have the new toolbar found here. Which is similar to the quick access toolbar. I have features like save, open, print, and panning and zooming. Next, just below the new toolbar is the drawing tab bar. From here, we can view all of our open drawings as tabs and jump back and forth between them with these. The tool sets on the left side of the screen are now divided into two categories, drafting and modeling. The annotation tools are now found under the drafting tab here towards the bottom. And I can use my wheel and scroll up and down to see all my tools. I can also adjust the width of the tool sets here using this expand button. The last addition to the interface is the layout tabs here at the bottom of the drawing window. Like AutoCAD for Windows, we can jump back and forth between model space and our layout tabs easily. The status bar is now also tied to the same line as the layout tabs. So while they're slightly rearranged, the main elements of the AutoCAD user interface are here in AutoCAD for Mac. The command line, status bar, properties, tool bars, tool palettes, and the menu bar. Again, all versions of AutoCAD for Mac from 2016 back to the first release are fairly similar to each other. Beginning with AutoCAD for Mac 2017 moving forward the interface is more streamlined and shares more elements with AutoCAD for Windows. This, hopefully, will make switching an even more straight forward process than before.

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