Lynn Allen at SWFAP Meeting - First Presentation on AutoCAD 2009

That's right, I was privileged to meet and speak with AutoDesk's Technical Evangelist, Lynn Allen. We, the South West Florida AutoCAD Professionals, my LUG (Local User Group) had our monthly meeting and the presenter was Lynn Allen. She went over AutoCAD 2009 and all of the great things that it has to offer us. I've been beta testing 2009 for Autodesk since last year so I was pretty familiar with what was being covered. However, it was great to see other people's reactions.

If you get the opportunity to hear Lynn speak, I recommend that you do it. She is a dynamic speaker.

Anyway, AutoCAD 2009 has many great additions. If you are not on subscription and are contemplating an upgrade, I recommend it. It has many features in it that will help to streamline your every day work. here is a partial list of some of my favorite items in AutoCAD 2009:

The Ribbon. see previous post

the Action Recorder (my favorite)
Quick Properties
Quick View Layouts/Drawings
Menu Browser
Search Menu
Quick Access Toolbar
Info Center
Tool Tips
Steering Wheel
View Cube (very nice for 3D)
Show Motion
Enhanced Layer Property Manager (wicked cool enhancement)
and other stuff . . . .

I am going to try and cover these items in my next blogs. The main change to 2009 is the interface. AutoDesk has made many small improvements to the way we work that will quicken your drawing pace. One example will be the ability to GRIP EDIT X-CLIPPING.

You know how to x-clip an xref, you know how to grip edit a line/text/object, put the two together and BAM!! Grip editing X-clips. Ok, x-clip an object, keep the boundary there. Then select that x-clip boundary, see the grips in the polyline? Click on one and drag it, your x-ref is re-clipped!! We no longer have to delete the current x-clip and draw in a new one, just move the grip. You can still do it the old way, but why?

Happy CADing.