Do you realize that there are hundreds of CAD applications out there? If you’re currently planning to purchase new CAD application, I mean not only purchasing additional seats, but trying to catch up with all those new technology… aren’t they confused you?

One interesting thing about choosing a CAD application, it’s often not because it’s feature. Not because it’s better than its competitors.

I’ve seen an international company decided to switch to other CAD package here, because it’s not easy to find people who can use theirs. So their HQ still use CAD A, here they use CAD B.

I also see people chose a CAD application because their project owner told them to use it. I’ve seen people chose it because of its price.

You probably have your own reason that I probably never knew before. Would you care to share it here?

I’m also wondering… how many of you actually chose a CAD program because you think it is better than its competitor?

I’m probably one of the CAD geeks out there who get excited when I see new release. The thing is I don’t use CAD applications on daily basis. And I haven’t used it for real work for years. When I do use it for real, there are some things that I found don’t work smoothly. Lucky me, I know how to get rid most of the disturbance by changing some options.

Long story short, many veterans decided to turn new features off. Or never use them. That’s why posts like ‘putting things back to normal’ by Steve can be very popular.

I’m not going to argue why you decided not to use the new features. But I’m very interested on why you decided to upgrade anyway.

I do have several reasons that I can think of on my mind, like:

1. Because you do need the new features. Maybe not all, but you expect to increase your productivity by upgrading. This is the ideal situation for both of you and Autodesk, right?
2. Because you’re on subscription. Why pay for it if you don’t use the new version, right?
3. File format support. You have to be able to open and send file in certain format. AutoCAD still has the ability to save as to lower version. But when you work with Revit, you can’t. There’s a workaround by using IFC, but I’m not sure if we can rely on it.
4. Because you can’t purchase old releases. Yes, you can purchase new version and downgrade to 3 versions down. But I don’t think people will do this unless it’s really necessary (For example, 3rd party app you’re using doesn’t support new version yet). And I don’t think managing different versions at your office is a good decision.
5. Other reasons…

So I ‘m curious to hear from you, why do you upgrade your CAD applications? Not only limited to AutoCAD. But any CAD applications that you use.

And do you think upgrading brings more benefits to you than continuing to use your current version?

Now let us see the word processors. I remember how we need to add tags to format the words. If you know a bit of html tags, then it close. I used WordStar. Then Microsoft Word. There must be some resistance when Microsoft decided to change the toolbar to ribbon. They are the one who said that toolbar is a part of Windows compliant application, and they change it. Not sure what elements a Windows compliant must has now.

The changes is permanent. Can you use toolbar in Word now? Nope. Can we use the formatting tag in a Word document? I don’t think so. Things have to change.

If we think of it, the AutoCAD users should be grateful. I think it’s the only application that has all three generation of command input: command line from Rolling Stones era, toolbar from Bon Jovi era, and ribbon from Justin Bieber era. At least I never found other application like that. Not even Revit and Inventor from Autodesk product line. Yes there is ‘unsupported’ old interface, but it’s not the same with the legal ‘classic interface’.

It is good for the users, but sometimes can be not that good for the others. I read Donnie Gladfelter’s book: AutoCAD 2011 – no experience required. I can see him trying to explain all three command input. I don’t really care about explaining all of them. Then it cross my mind: Do we really have to mention all of that when we write or teach AutoCAD? If in Office 2015, they change the ribbon again to something new, then AutoCAD may have 4 ways to activate a command. Unlike AutoCAD, Microsoft Office application just get rid the old interface. But not AutoCAD! If Windows is replaced with something new, some Iron Man high tech stuff, will we still have command line and toolbar? If AutoCAD lives for another 25 years, it can be 8 ways to activate a line!

I guess it is interesting to see… if, only if, one day Autodesk decided to simplify this and only use one default interface. If you can choose, which one would you prefer to keep? The one that you can’t live without it. No right or wrong for your choice and your reason. Please vote below, and I appreciate if you mention your reason.

*This poll is closed. See result below.

Don’t take this seriously. I’m just a user who want some improvement, not the one who make the decision :)

Not all of the voters leave comments, but most of them worry if command line has gone, AutoCAD lost its versatility. Some blogs responded to that poll. I have a feeling that my message was not clear enough. So I would like to discuss more about it.

It’s not removing the engine, it’s upgrading it

AutoCAD now looks like a fancy sport car. But probably still have old engine attach to it. Well, at least it still using the old DOS style. I know it works great for AutoCAD users, but if you use many applications it can be confusing. Many other CAD applications don’t use something like command line. And they work great. Let us look to the Autodesk products family, besides AutoCAD and AutoCAD based products, none of them using command line. But they are still very popular and powerful.

Don’t worry about shortcuts. Every application has it. Many of them are customizable just like acad.pgp. Don’t worry you will not get information what you should do when you are using a tool. Most applications use status bar for it. Tooltips, dialog box, or option bar can provide it too.

Command Line needs you to define settings sequentially and repeatedly

I was thinking about changing the command line workflow (or whatever that is), not only removing it from the screen. You can do it now by pressing [ctrl] + 9.

Let’s take draw polygon tool as an example.

After we activate draw polygon, AutoCAD will ask us several questions sequentially. We may want to change the number of sides only, but we have to go through all the questions. After we finished drawing a polygon and want to create another polygon, AutoCAD will ask the whole same questions again.

Command: _polygon Enter number of sides <4>: 6

Specify center of polygon or [Edge]:
Enter an option [Inscribed in circle/Circumscribed about circle] <I>: I

Specify radius of circle:  500

Sure we can press [space] or [enter] quickly. Let’s take a look to Revit option bar.

We can change only the properties we want to change. Yes I know there is no shortcut to change it in Revit. But I know some CAD applications allow you to use shortcut to change the properties.

After you define the number of sides once. You can create dozens of similar polygons without changing the properties again.

Honestly I don’t think we can compare to use or not to use command line directly. There are many advantages and disadvantages. My main concern is: why should AutoCAD so different with the others? If you’ve never knew AutoCAD, it would be easier to learn Inventor. No actual survey on it, but I found that fact from my classes. The difference makes switching from AutoCAD to the others become difficult.

Last night when I checked my Twitter timeline, I see an interesting tweet from @projbutterfly. He asked his followers whether Autodesk should add command line to Project Butterfly or not. Because this project is for AutoCAD users, then it is more likely many AutoCAD users will ask for it. I personally think command line era is over. It’s not cool anymore to have it. In this post, I would like share my opinion. I also would like to have your opinion: do you think Autodesk should ‘purge’ the command line from AutoCAD?

Shortcuts are Always Good

Don’t get me wrong. Having shortcuts is always good. I started using AutoCAD since R.13, when they are twins: DOS and Windows version (cmiiw). Many AutoCAD users are command line masters at that time. I also loved having command line to access AutoCAD shortcut. Maybe I could even consider myself a command line ninja or something :) I use shortcut in every application I use, even in my Gmail account. Using shortcut is always good to access our tools faster.

When I teach AutoCAD, I always teach my students how using command line. They might not use it, but they need to know it’s there. But keep in mind, I use and teach using command line only because it’s the best option for accessing AutoCAD shortcuts. It’s good but can be better.

Then it came to the time I have to learn other CAD applications. At this point, I’m kind of forced to use other method than command line.

Productivity is not always about shortcut!

However, since I’m focusing on vertical product, I realize that even I access some tools a bit slower, my productivity is better. It takes a few more seconds to activate tools, but with one tool I can do dozen of AutoCAD commands at once. Save me few minutes.

If you have been following CAD Notes, you will find some tutorials to increase your productivity. In the dynamic block tutorial series, you can create common objects like walls, doors, and columns. After you create them, you can place them, modify it, and create a report very quickly.

How you can access your block quickly? Using tool palette. It’s faster than inserting block using command line. You can also draw lines, dimensions, hatches, blocks with a specific properties with just one click. You don’t even have to create layers or styles in your drawing.

I don’t feel command line shortcut is that important anymore. But it still nice to have it for common tools though :)

AutoCAD Based Command line versus Other CAD Application Shortcut

Some people are still insist working with command line is faster. So let us compare how shortcuts work in other CAD applications.

How do we activate line tool in AutoCAD? L then [enter]. In Revit, we press LI.

For dimension, in Revit we simply press DI. In AutoCAD we need to type DIMALIGNED.

Revit and Inventor have one or two character shortcuts. You can list all AutoCAD shortcut, and will find there are many shortcuts require more than two characters. And don’t forget you will need to press [enter] or [space]. This shortcut will grow longer when we use vertical product such as AutoCAD Mechanical or AutoCAD Electrical. Try to see the available command list in AutoCAD electrical. To insert component, we have to type AECOMPONENT. How many characters is that?

We can access tools faster by clicking the palettes or toolbar or ribbon than typing some of AutoCAD commands. The only reason typing is faster, probably because AutoCAD users are used to it. It will be more interesting if Autodesk change the way we can access AutoCAD shortcuts. Probably like in Inventor or Revit. One or two characters should be faster!

^C ^C ^C!

Having common Windows shortcuts will also be easier for AutoCAD users. Easier when it comes to time they want to migrate to vertical products. I found many AutoCAD users are so attached to command line and try to find similar feature when they use other CAD application. I’m also frustrated when they easily press [esc] many times when they feel something is not right. It will close a running wizard -or cancel whatever they did- and make them have to do it all over again.

Imagine if you have created 5 wall layers in Revit wall definition, and press [esc] simply because something is not right. Revit will loose the settings, and they have to repeat every steps all over again. This is frustrating for them and many of them decided it is too hard to learn. And back using AutoCAD. AutoCAD has became a totally different animals for command line lovers. The learning curve is become very steep for them. It’s not their fault. It is just a hard habit to break.

Delete It, don’t Purge it

I understand that command line cannot be removed completely. We need it to test programming routines. The best option is to remove it from default interface, but we can still access it by pressing [F2]. So we can also use it for changing system variables or other command that only can be access from command line.

Microsoft does not provides command console at the bottom of Windows, and certainly does not set the main focus to that console. It needs more effort to use it. It is like deleting all blocks from your drawing, but the block definition is still there.

So what do you think if Autodesk finally remove Command Line?

*This poll is closed. See the result in this post.

Image source: Shaan Hurley Flickr Album

I have been using AutoCAD since R.13. I heard many people don’t like that release, but it looks fine for me :). I use almost every release of AutoCAD since then. Some are not for so long, but at least I get how they look and feel. There are some features added in each release. Sometimes the new features are excellent, but sometimes the release is just feel like we see the AutoCAD n plus 1.

I think it would be interesting for us to share: which AutoCAD release is become your all time favorite?

Of course, not the latest if your reason is “because it has all the previous features in it”. But the release that you think actually add some cool and very useful features.

What’s my favorite?

I remember that Autodesk added some major features in AutoCAD releases. The dynamic block in AutoCAD 2006, 3D enhancements in 2007, Annotation scaling in 2008, and so on.

But my all time favorites is AutoCAD 2008. I love the annotation scaling and layer properties per-viewport. I think they are major enhancements in AutoCAD that very useful. I’m not really an AutoCAD 3D fans, so I skip the 2007 and 2010.

Which one is your favorite? Give your opinion in comment form below!

*If you want to see the AutoCAD timeline and the AutoCAD history, Shaan has documented them very well.

This time, I’m asking your help to submit your favorite tips of all time. You can submit tips about AutoCAD, Revit, or MicroStation here. The purpose is to create 3 lists: ‘xx greatest tips’ for those 3 applications. ‘50 AutoCAD Greatest Tips’ sounds great, isn’t it? I believe we will see some great tips from the others. So submitting your favorite tips will give benefit to all of us.

Why only AutoCAD, Revit, and MicroStation?

Because my blog only covers those three. Not that I think the other applications are not important.

How Can I submit my Tip?

Simple. You can fill the comment form below. It can be a link to a tip in this blog, a website page that you found, or your own blog. If you don’t have blog/site and want to submit a short tip, you can just type it in the comment form. If it’s a long tip, you can consider to be a ‘guest post’ and submit your post to my email: edwin [dot] cadnotes [at] gmail [dot] com. You will be credited.

Let’s create three incredible long list!