Today the announcement of the next release of AutoCAD 2009 code named "Raptor" (like a hawk) as well as many other products have been announced from Autodesk World Press Day. The products will start shipping later but are not currently. I will begin to post on the features in more depth as well as link and trackbacks to those doing the same as there is a huge CAD blogging community now. The official new products content on the Autodesk.com website and public discussion groups will go live in the next few weeks with further details as the launch begins.
During beta I think the largest hurdle was getting used to the User Interface changes of the new ribbon. Most got used to it after using it and it is more customizable than the standard MS Office ribbon and can also be turned off. The Release Candidate that was last delivered to beta sites has now been updated based on their feedback and reporting and we wish to sincerely thank them all for the active feedback and helping shape the future of the products.
Here is a current AutoCAD 2009 and AutoCAD LT 2009 Preview Guides
Some screen shots
Here is a list of highlights from AutoCAD 2009 Product Manager Doug Cochran
Menu Browser
· Perform a real-time search for menus and menu actions in the menu browser
· Create search tags for any menu command to make searches more effective
· Access the menus through the menu browser or the classic menu bar
· Specify menus to display in the menu browser by customizing a CUI file
· View a list of the most recent saved files
· Pin files in the most recent list to keep then listed regardless of files saved later
· Recent documents show thumbnails, date modified, version info, last saved by, and currently opened by
· You can group recent files by date or type
· Recent Actions show recently performed actions such as file > open, tools>options for playback
Ribbon
· Provides a single, compact placement for operations that are relevant to the current workspace.
· The ribbon is composed of a series of tabs, which are organized into panels labeled by task
· Can be oriented horizontally or vertically
· Fully customizable using the CUI editor
· The Ribbon helps you to organize commands that you use frequently on panels that are similar to toolbars
User Assistance
· Level 2 enhanced tool tips provide additional information when hovering over items
· Customizable Dynamic Help to quickly access and link help documentation for commands
· Show Me animations are embedded into Help file
· Enhanced Task Dialogs provide clear and concise information for the task at hand
· InfoCenter Search Bar connects searches directly into Autodesk knowledge base and forums
· With dynamic tool tips, you can select F1 to go directly into the help context for that item.
Quick View
· Quickly flip between multiple open drawings
· Quickly flip between multiple drawing layouts
· Resizable drawing thumbnails provide visual drawing identification
Quick Properties
· The Quick Properties panel lists the most commonly used properties for each object type or a set of objects that are selected
· Easily find and customize the desired object properties in your drawing
· The Quick Properties panel can be customized to display properties depending on your needs by using the Customize User Interface (CUI) editor
View Cube
· 3D navigation tool that appears when the 3D graphics system is enabled
· Allows you to switch between standard and isometric views
· Displays the current viewpoint of the model based on the current UCS and the North direction defined by the WCS of the model
· You can switch to one of the available preset views, roll the current view, or change to the Home view of the model
Steering Wheel
· SteeringWheels are tracking menus that are divided into different sections known as wedges. Each wedge on a wheel represents a single navigation tool. You can pan, zoom, or manipulate the current view of a model in different ways.
· Can save you time and clicks by combining many of the common navigation tools into a single interface. Wheels are specific to the context that a model is being viewed in.
· The appearance of the wheels can be controlled by changing the current mode, or adjusting the size and opacity level of the wheels
ShowMotion
· ShowMotion improves the design process by providing designers with superior review capability
· Use Authoring Mode to create animations and transitions
· Use Presentation Mode to play back Shots and Sequences
· Shots are captured camera positions to which cinematic movements may be added to create motion and transitions like those seen in television commercials
Action Recorder
· Increase productivity by recording common day to day repetitive tasks and commands with action recorder
· Action macros can record most commands that can be used from the command line and some of the user interfaces that you are already familiar with.
· Use the Action Recorder to record commands and input values for an action macro
· Share action macro files with others
· Create custom user prompts in the macro
· Modify macros via the action recorder tree view
· Create easy customization without any programming experience
Modeless Layer Manager
· Changes made to layer settings can be viewed without exiting the layer manager
· Columns can be frozen to aid scrolling across many columns in the layer list.
· Layer manager can now be set to dock, autohide, and anchor just like tool palettes
· Layer manager can always remain open during your drawing session for instant access
Export Layout to Model Space
· Export all visible objects from the current layout to the model space of a new drawing
· With the capability to export layout objects to model space, you do not have to limit the use of layouts in order to exchange drawings with other CAD systems
· Provides the capability to take a snapshot of a drawing layout to create a ready-to-use model space drawing
Geographic Location
· Create a single marker that defines the geographic location of the entire drawing
· When location information is embedded in a drawing, a geographic marker — visual representation of location information — is created
Dynamic Xclip
· Xclips boundary frames can now be dynamically adjusted without having to re-create the xclip boundary
eTransmit
· Can now Purge drawings before packing
· Have the option to Not save the drawing before packing
Materials
· Option to fit Gizmo to Object
· Can now Fit Mapping to Gizmo for material map scale
· Gradient Ramp procedural map
Mtext
· Pressing Escape key during Mtext now prompts for option to save mtext input
· New variable to control mtext table toolbar to display as fixed, floating, or in the ribbon
Find and Replace
· Find and Replace text in blocks
· Replace text in Xrefs
· Ability to use wild cards
Blocks
· Selecting a block or dynamic block and then typing “W” will invoke the Wblock command and the selected block’s name will be listed in the source text box
Array
· When Previewing an Array, the current view is no longer locked and will permit zooming in panning while previewing the array result
Non-rectangular viewports
· Non-rectangular viewports now display properties in the property palette and can also input scale and specify lock or unlocked settings from the property palette.
Plotting
· In the Plot dialog, If a plotter device is missing, the indication of the word “Missing” is now prefixed in the plotter device name instead of being suffixed. This avoids the possibility of not knowing the device is missing since the plotter name may get truncated in the Plotter Name text box especially if the Plotter name is long.
Purge
· Shortcut key for Close is now implemented in the Purge command
DWFx
· The future of DWF — is based on the XML Paper Specification (XPS) format from Microsoft.
· Create DWFx files by publishing or plotting your drawing files
· DWFx can be used as an underlay
DGN
· DGN V7 and V8 support
· DGN and DWG translation mapping support for levels, lineweight, linetype and color
· DGN files can be used as an underlay
· Import and Export to DGN file format
Windows Logo Certification
· Windows XP x32 and x64
· Windows Vista x32 and x64
· Native 64-bit OS support
IPV6
· Compatible with Internet Protocol Version 6
· Next generation version of the internet protocol
· Supersedes IPV4
System Requirements
· For information on system requirements, visit www.autodesk.com/autocad and click
Features & Specifications. Note: AutoCAD will not support Windows 2000
Prior version support
• License file will support running prior AutoCAD version up to 3-releases back.
Deployments
· Build 64-bit and 32-bit deployments from a single workstation
Customer Involvement Program
· CIP Round tripping
· Email notification to customers for fixes
Performance
· Performance goals based on user feedback and CIP & CER information
Stability
· Stability goals based on user feedback and CIP & CER information
Press Releases:
Stay tuned for more information.
Cheers,
Shaan in San Francisco currently
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Modeless Layer Manager,
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The DWFx format has been added to AutoCAD 2009. DWFx is based on the XML Paper Specification 
The soon to be released FREE Autodesk DWG TrueView 2009 will provide the ability to open and view DWG or convert to DWF or DWFx as well as much more including the much requested measuring/inquiry capability. See the Beyond the Paper posting 
