In January 1982, programmer John Walker sent out a letter to colleagues proposing to create a PC software firm. So a working group of 12 like-minded people was assembled and the world famous Autodesk company was founded. Already on August 25, 1982, the firm presented its first product, MicroCAD, an Autocad prototype. Over the past 32 years, Autocad has become the industry standard for drafting.
Customizing Toolbars
When you start Autocad for the first time, the main program window opens with the default 2D drawing and annotation workspace. In this version, a tape is used, on which the most popular tools are collected. To switch to the classic interface, click on the "Workspace" menu button at the top of the program window and select "Classic Autocad" from the list that appears.
In the center of the window, you will see the tool palette, which contains the main elements in accordance with the British standard. It is not useful in work, so it is better to close this panel to save space. To select the toolbars that will be displayed on the screen, right-click on a free area of the panel layout area. In the list that appears, check the boxes you want. Panels can be dragged and swapped.
Creating custom panels
To create your own toolbar, open the Manage tab, and in the Customization group, click the User Interface button. The Customize User Interface window appears. Open the Customize tab - "Customization", select Customization in All Files - "Customizations: all files" from the top scrolling list, and the line below All Customization Files - "All customization files".
Right-click on Tabs - "Panels". A context menu will open, from which you need to select New - "New". Come up with and indicate the name of the future panel. Now in the context menu of the panel, click on the line Insert Separator - "New Button". Find the command you want in the Command list box at the bottom of the dialog box. Drag it to the command list of the panel you created.
Interface colors
To customize the basic colors and command line display options, go to the Display tab. The color of the drawing area and its elements can be selected by clicking on the Colors button. This will open the Drawing Window Color window. In this window, in the list Context - "Context", you must specify the mode of operation. Then select a custom element from the Interface element list and select its color in the Color section. At the bottom of the window, you can immediately evaluate the result.
In addition, on the Display tab - "Display", under Window Elements - "Window Elements", you can configure the visibility of the OSD menu, scrolling and status bar. Crosshair lines are resized using the Crosshair Size function located at the bottom of the tab. And to change the font of the command line, use the button Fonts - "Fonts". It opens the Command Line Window Font dialog box, where you can also select the size of the characters.
Hotkeys
Hotkeys are used to invoke frequently repeated commands. In Autocad, hotkeys are configured in the Customize User Interface dialog box, on the Customizations in All Files tab, Customizations: All Files. In the category Keyboard shortcut - "Keyboard shortcuts" there is a list of Shortcuts - "Combinations". Select the required command and move the cursor to the Keys - "Combination" field. Now you need to type a key combination on the keyboard to execute the selected command.
Autosave mode
In the Options dialog box, select the Open and Save tab. In the File Safety Precautions section, check the Automatic save option. In the Minutes between saves field, specify how often the program will automatically save working files. The default is ten minutes. Autosave allows you to store information about the work done in case of system errors or other unforeseen circumstances, so it is not recommended to set the time interval more than 15 minutes.
System file paths
In the process of work, it becomes necessary to use fonts, templates, custom projects and other files. Search and change of their location is done on the Files tab. To change existing settings, click on the recorded path line, and then click on the Browse button. A window will open displaying all the folders on your computer's hard drive. Select the folder to which you want to replace the current path and confirm your choice by clicking OK.
Creating a custom profile
Once you have configured your graphics environment settings once, you can save them for later use. On the Profiles tab - "Profiles", in the Available Profiles - "Available Profiles" section, there is a list with the listing of the profiles available in the current document. To add a new profile, click the Add to List button. The Add Profile dialog box will open, in which you need to specify the name of the profile and its short description.
