What’s new in AutoCAD 2015: the interface

Last week, Autodesk has released AutoCAD 2015 in US. Other regions should be able to download it soon. Either from subscription center or from AutoCAD trial page.

Now the big question is: What are the new features in AutoCAD 2015?

Honestly, not much. Many features in this version are just enhancements and refinements from the previous release. There’s no major feature like dynamic block in AutoCAD 2006 or annotation scale in AutoCAD 2008.

The first interesting thing to me is the splash screen and icon is the same with 2014. It’s not a big deal. But as long as I remember, they always change in each release.

No more welcome screen

I don’t remember when the first time AutoCAD has welcome screen. Many AutoCAD users only see it once, the first time they run the software after installation. We always immediately uncheck “display at startup”, don’t we?

Now it’s gone. Really?

The new tab

Not exactly. Welcome screen is not really gone. Now it becomes “new tab”. When you start AutoCAD 2015, by default it will open new tab like below.

There are two tabs here: learn and create. If you check them, this new tab is actually a redesign of AutoCAD welcome screen.

This tab will open when:

1. You started AutoCAD
2. You close all open files.
3. You click the (+) sign to create new drawing from drawing tabs.
4. You type NEWTAB at command line.

Having the new tab when first starting AutoCAD is nice. But for me who like creating new drawings from drawing tab, this is a bit annoying. If you want to disable new tab, you can change NEWTABMODE variable to 0.

The dark color scheme

Color scheme is not new. In AutoCAD 2014 we can choose between dark and light scheme. However, in 2015 the color is darker. This color is much easier for my eyes. I like it.

However, if you prefer the light old color scheme you can change it.

Go to AutoCAD options, display tab. Under Windows Elements, you can switch to light color scheme.

Model space viewport control

If you often work with multiple viewports in model space, you will like this. Now you can drag the viewport border to resize the viewports.

And if you hold CTRL key when dragging the border, it will split the active viewport.

Very much easier!

Ribbon galleries

Autodesk is continuously enhance the Ribbon. In this release, Autodesk add galleries for inserting blocks and changing styles.

If you go to insert tab, you will notice the arrow at insert button. If you click it, you will see all blocks in your drawing. And if you want to change text styles, dimension styles and other styles you will see the preview as well.

Blocks preview in ribbon gallery	Text styles preview in ribbon gallery

Visual feedback

Autodesk has implemented many visual feedback in several releases. This will be great help for new users.

Crosshair badges

The crosshair now has badges. Depends on what operation you do, it will show information badge. Below are two examples of them.

Cross selection badge	Trim selection badge. See that it shows the dimmed line and delete badge.

Complex Linetype Preview

You can see the linetype, color and line weight of line/polyline during creation/modification.

We will cover more!

Above are the new enhancements in AutoCAD 2015 interface. We will cover more about AutoCAD 2015.

Now that you know the enhancements in AutoCAD interface, what do you think about it? Do you like it? Does it meet your expectation? Discuss with us!

About Edwin Prakoso

I work as a Sr. Consultant in PT Cipta Satria Informatika. I've been using AutoCAD since R14 and Revit since Revit Building 9. I occasionally write for AUGIWorld magazine and I am also active in Autodesk discussion forum. I'm a member of Autodesk Expert Elite, an appreciation for individuals who give contributions to the Autodesk community.
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