AutoCAD 2012 – Customise your interface”

The question always arises when a new AutoCAD release is how to taylor it work like

earlier releases to suit your way of working & familiarity of use. Try to give any new

features a fighting chance before turning them off or ignoring them, but it’s entirely

your choice on how you work. Luckily in AutoCAD 2012 at least (unlike some

Autodesk products), you do still have that choice. At least, you have a choice in most

cases, although some are not ideal.

Say you’ve made the decision to customise your latest AutoCAD as the existing

AutoCAD 2008/9 interface; then here are the most common ones that generally are

changed by a number of users.

Aerial View. The DSVIEWER command appears to be gone, but it’s just hiding. It has been

undefined. You can use REDEFINE DSVIEWER to turn it back on, or just enter

.DSVIEWER (with a leading period). It may not work perfectly on all systems under

all circumstances.

Array dialog box. The excellent new associative array features of AutoCAD 2012 have come at the cost

of the Array dialog box. While you can use the Ribbon or the Properties palette to

modify arrays, if you want to create one you have to go back to the future with a

Release 14-style user interface. Using -Array doesn’t give you a dialog box, just the

old-style command line. There’s nothing available in standard AutoCAD 2012 to give

you a dialog box interface.

Autocomplete. Old-timers may well find this feature useful, but if it’s getting in your way, turning it

off is as simple as AUTOCOMPLETE OFF. There are a variety of settings you can

selectively turn off individually if you prefer.

Blipmode. The BLIPMODE command has been undefined, but you can use REDEFINE

BLIPMODE to turn it back on, or just enter .BLIPMODE (with a leading period).

Or like me turn it off as it is a distraction to work.

Classic commands. If you prefer not to leave the various new palettes on screen all the time, old versions

of various commands are still available: ClassicLayer, ClassicXref and

ClassicImage. (Autodesk deprecated these commands in 2011 and 2012, which I

think is a really bad idea).

There is also a system variable LAYERDLGMODE, which when set to 0 will make

the Layer command work in the old (and faster) modal way (you have to confirm or

cancel any changes). If you use this setting, you can still access the new modeless

layer palette with the LayerPalette command.

Going back further, there are command-line methods of using these commands: -

Layer, -Xref, XAttach, -Image and ImageAttach. For 2012, Autodesk has removed

the Group command’s dialog box interface. If you want the dialog box, you now need

to use the ClassicGroup command instead.

Crosshairs. Want 100% crosshairs? Many people do. As before, use the Options command’s

Display tab and look towards the bottom right, or use the CURSORSIZE system

variable.

Dashboard. The AutoCAD 2007/8 Dashboard is gone, but you can have a vertical Ribbon instead.

If the Ribbon is not visible (it won’t be if you just selected the AutoCAD Classic

workspace), enter Ribbon to bring it back. In the tab title row (the bar with the word

Home in it), right-click and pick Undock. Now you can place and size your

Dashboard-like thing as you see fit. As before, you can right-click on things to change

the various settings. However, getting the contents exactly the way you want it

usually involves using CUI to manipulate it.

Dynamic Input. If Dynamic Input slows you down, you can turn it off with the status

bar toggle or F12. If you like the general idea but don’t like some parts of it, there are

lots of options available in the Dynamic Input tab of the DSettings command to

enable you to control it to a fine degree. You can also get at this by right-clicking the

Dynamic Input status bar button and picking Settings… As an example of the sort of

thing you might do in there, the default of using relative coordinates is difficult for

long-termers to get used to. To turn it off, pick the Settings… button in the Pointer

Input panel, pick Absolute coordinates, then OK twice. There are a multitude of

DYNxxx system variables for controlling this stuff.

Graphic Background. Autodesk has half-listened to users’ pleas for a black background by giving you a

nearly black one (RGB 33,40,48 rather than 0,0,0), in model space only. Many of you

will want a real black background to provide better contrast. To do this, invoke the

Options command (right-click on the drawing area or command line box and pick

Options… or just enter OP), then pick the Display tab. Don’t be tempted to choose

Colour Scheme and set it to Dark, because that just changes the appearance of various

user interface elements i.e. the windows elements such as toolbars and window frame.

Instead, pick the Colors… button. This will put you in the Drawing Window Colors

dialog box. On the left, choose a context you want to change (e.g. 2D model space),

choose the appropriate background element (e.g. Uniform background) and choose

the particular shade that you prefer.

There is a Restore Classic Colors button, but that only takes you back to AutoCAD

2008 with its black model and white paper space. If you want a black paper space

background too, you’ll have to pick the Sheet / layout context and specify that

individually. You may wish to put the Command line > Command line history

background setting to white, too. When you’re done, pick Apply & Close, then OK.

Grid. I generally prefer the new line-based grid or none at all. If you use isometric snap and

grid, you will find that AutoCAD 2012′s line-based isometric grid is still as broken as

it was in earlier releases, so you’ll need to use dots. If that applies to you or you just

don’t like the lines, right-click on the Grid status button and pick Settings…, which

will take you into the Drafting Settings dialog box, which you can also get at with the

DSettings command, or DS for short.

In the Snap and Grid tab, the grid is controlled by the options on the right. If you want

your dots back, turn on the toggles in the Grid style section. This can also be done

using the GRIDSTYLE system variable. If you don’t like the fact that the grid is now

on by default in new drawings, this is set on a drawing-by-drawing basis and is

therefore controlled by your template drawings. If you use AutoCAD’s supplied

templates, you will need to open them individually and turn off the grid in each one.

Hatch dialog box.

If you want the Ribbon on but prefer the old Hatch dialog box, set HPDLGMODE to

1.

Hatch double-click. If you’re not using the new Ribbon-based hatch editing feature, you will probably

want to invoke the HatchEdit command when you double-click on a hatch object.

Doing this involves braving the CUI interface, in short, you need to drag and drop the

Hatch Edit command from the bottom left CUI panel onto the double-click action for

Hatch in the top left panel, replacing the default action (Properties).

Help. If you want your Help to work with adequate speed and reliability, or to work at all in

some proxy server environments, you will want to turn off AutoCAD 2012′s online

help. Go into Options > System, then look in the bottom right pane to turn off the

Use online help toggle. Even with online help turned off, you’re stuck with the

unfortunate new browser-based AutoCAD Exchange interface for your Help.

There is no sign yet of Autodesk coming to the rescue with a set of CHM-based Help

files as was done for AutoCAD 2011, which is a real shame. The VLIDE Help is still

partially broken, because Autodesk doesn’t care about customers who use LISP for

development. While you’re in Options, you may also wish to turn off AutoCAD’s

insistence on firing up Internet Explorer, that is if you dislike IE or have security

concerns.

Initial Setup.

Don’t bother looking for this, it has been removed from the product. Can’t say I’m

heartbroken about that.

New Layer Notification Unreconciled new layers in xrefs will tell you when they have been created, which in

initial or early development of a project is a pain. To reliably turn off show layer

manager & top right is a spanner icon, click on icon and the New Layer Notification

checkbox needs to be unchecked. There are several command line variables see new

layer notification in help to set them appropriately, but I found doesn’t always work ( { HYPERLINK

"http://docs.autodesk.com/BLDSYS/2011/ENU/filesACR/WS73099cc142f4875513fb5cd10c4aa30d6b3819.ht

m" \l "WS73099cc142f48755101a4f310e3ac86dfa-7dca" }, { HYPERLINK

"http://docs.autodesk.com/BLDSYS/2011/ENU/filesACR/WS73099cc142f4875513fb5cd10c4aa30d6b381d.ht

m" \l "WS73099cc142f48755101a4f310e3ac86dfa-7dc9" } & LAYEREVALCTL ).

NavBar. If you like the new NavBar feature as much as I do, you’ll want to turn it off. You

can close it easily using the little X in its top left corner. Alternatively, control it with

the NAVBARDISPLAY system variable (0 for off, 1 for on)

Pull-down Menus. Enter MENUBAR 1 to turn pull-down menus on. To turn them off again, enter

MENUBAR 0.

Ribbon. You can close the Ribbon with the RibbonClose command. If you ever want to turn it

back on, enter Ribbon.

Screen menu. The SCREENMENU command has been undefined, but you can use REDEFINE

SCREENMENU to turn it back on, or just enter .SCREENMENU (with a leading

period). However, you can’t access the screen menu section in CUI any more, so if

you want to maintain your screen menu you will need to do it in an earlier release.

Selection Cycling. Depending on your preference and/or system graphic performance, you may wish to

turn off selection cycling (set SELECTIONCYCLING to 0), or at least the list that

appears when selecting objects that lie on top of each other (set

SELECTIONCYCLING to 1).

Selection Preview. This feature annoys some users, adding as it does an unfortunate degree of stickiness

and working inaccurately when Snap is in use. This is controlled in the Selection tab

of the Options command. Turn off the toggles in the Selection preview panel on the

left (these control the SELECTIONPREVIEW system variable). If you dislike the

coloured boxes you get while doing a Window or Crossing, pick the Visual Effect

Settings… button and turn off the Indicate selection area toggle. This controls the

SELECTIONAREA system variable.

Snap.

AutoCAD 2012′s snap no longer works while there is no command active. There is no

setting available to turn this feature off.

Startup performance. You may have noticed that AutoCAD 2012′s Ribbon switching performance is finally

as it should have been from the start; practically instantaneous. You may also have

noticed that when you start AutoCAD, the cursor is sticky for a while after the

Command prompt is available. These two items are not unrelated; AutoCAD is

loading Ribbon components in the background. If you would prefer this not to

happen, set the RIBBONBGLOAD system variable to 0.

Status bar.

Right-click on a status bar button, turn off Use Icons and your old text-based status

bar buttons will return. If you have no use for some of the new status bar toggles,

right-click on one, pick Display, then turn off what you don’t need.

Toolbars. In AutoCAD 2009, you could turn individual toolbars on and off by accessing a menu

obtained by right-clicking on the QAT. Autodesk somewhat vindictively removed that

option in 2010, and it’s still gone in 2012. That toolbar-toggling menu is still available

if you right-click in an unused docked toolbar area, but if you have no toolbars visible

there will be no such area available. What to do? Turn on one toolbar at the Command

prompt, then you will be able to access the menu by right-clicking on the blank area

to the right of it. The following command sequence will do it:

-TOOLBAR ACAD.Standard _Top 0,0 Paste this into AutoCAD’s command line area and the Standard toolbar will be turned

on above your drawing area. This will leave a grey area to the right that you can right-

click into. The other toolbars will be in sub-menus under that, with the main set of

default ones in the AutoCAD section. Note that this will only work if you have the

acad.cuix file loaded (or partially loaded). This is the case in vanilla AutoCAD and

some verticals, but it may not be the case in other verticals. As I don’t have access to

such verticals, If you want all toolbars showing or hidden, then –toolbar all show or -

toolbar all hide.

If you’re like me, you may well discover that this is moot because AutoCAD 2012

automatically turns on a full set of toolbars, in addition to the Ribbon, the second time

you run AutoCAD. This bug occurs when there’s another release already installed and

you don’t use Migration. It’s easily fixed (that is if you want to fix it) by switching to

the workspace of your choice (see below).

Tooltips.

Excessively intrusive and oversized tooltips were a “feature” of AutoCAD 2009′s

revamped UI design, and we’ve been plagued with them ever since. I’m glad to see

that many of them have had their verbosity somewhat curtailed in 2012, but they still

annoy the heck out of me, particularly by obscuring what I’m trying to see in dialog

boxes. To kill them with fire, see Options > Display and start turning off toggles

about half way down the left side.

Trace. The TRACE command has been undefined, but you can use REDEFINE TRACE to

turn it back on, or just enter .TRACE (with a leading period).

UCS Icon. Don’t like the new simplified UCS icon? Sorry! While you can use the UCSIcon

command’s Properties option to change the appearance of the icon in various ways,

there’s nothing to restore the UCS Icon’s appearance from previous releases with its

little arrows pointing the way. This information isn’t totally useless, because at least it

will save you the time and effort involved in finding this out for yourself.

Vertical variants’ AutoCAD profile. Apparently, some AutoCAD 2012 vertical variants don’t have a shortcut for running

them as AutoCAD. If you want to make one, first check in Options > Profiles to see if

there is a profile called “AutoCAD” or similar. If not, you will need to create one,

reset it, and hope for the best. Sorry, I don’t have all the variants to check. Now, make

a copy of your AutoCAD variant’s desktop shortcut and rename it as something like

“AutoCAD 2012″. Then right-click on the copy and pick Properties. In the Target edit

box, check to see if there is a /p switch followed by a profile name inside quotes. If

there is, replace the existing profile name with “AutoCAD” or whatever the profile

name is that you discovered or created in Options. If there isn’t a /p switch, add one.

The end result should look something like this (there may be extra switches):

"C:\Program Files\Autodesk\[product name]\acad.exe" /p "AutoCAD"

Once you have ensured there’s a /p “AutoCAD” (or similar) on the end of the Target,

pick OK. You should then be able to start your vertical variant as AutoCAD.

ViewCube. I like the ViewCube concept, and I think it’s a great piece of interface design. But not

everybody agrees. It has caused performance issues and it’s not very useful for 2D

users. If you want it gone, that’s a surprisingly difficult thing to find out about. It’s

controlled using the Options command, in the 3D Modeling tab, in the bottom left

corner. Turn off those toggles that don’t make sense for you. There is a related set of

system variables called NAVVCUBExxx. If you press the shift button and the

wheel button down together this allows 3D orbit to be used where the cursor is

positioned & saves having to find icon or type command.

Workspace. In vanilla AutoCAD, you can restore much of the user interface by just switching

workspaces. The main Workspace control is now located near the top right corner. If

you have turned this off (right-click, Remove from Quick Access Toolbar) or if you

just prefer working with interface elements in the same place year by year, there is

another Workspace control in the bottom right corner. This is a little button that looks

like a gearwheel.

In either case, click on the Workspace control and pick the item called AutoCAD

Classic. This will perform some of the steps described above, but not all of them, so I

suggest you skim the whole lot to see what else you might want to do. If you’re using

a vertical variant of AutoCAD 2012, this workspace may not be available, or it may

only be available if you when using an “AutoCAD” profile (see above).

If it’s not available at all, you’ll need to make your own classic workspace by

manually setting up your interface the way you like it, then saving it as a Workspace

using the Save Current As… option under one of the Workspace controls.

Xref fading. Don’t like your xrefs looking different? Use the Options command’s Display tab and

look at the Xref display slider on the bottom right, or use the XDWGFADECTL

system variable.

Zoom Animation.

If you prefer your zooms to be instant rather than progressing from one view to

another in an animated series of steps, you can turn off that feature using the

VTOPTIONS command or the VTENABLE system variable.

If you have allowed AutoCAD to migrate your settings (I never do), some of the

above will already be done for you, but by no means all of it. If past experience is

anything to go by, the job done by Migration will probably be imperfect.