What's New in the AutoCAD 2020 Fundamentals Learning Guide

I am excited to tell you about the AutoCAD® 2020 Fundamentals learning guide that is now available from ASCENT. This year, we focused on making the content more precise and effective while incorporating the new features and enhancements for the 2020 version of the AutoCAD software.

This year’s changes include:

• A new Quick Measure tool that has been added to the list of measuring tools provided with the software.
• A brand-new Blocks Palette that replaces the Blocks dialog box.
• The Purge command that has been revamped for better organization and cleanup.

The Quick Measure tool provides you with multiple measurements in real-time. It is a quick and easy way of checking and reviewing dimensions, distances, and angles within a single command. As you hover the cursor around a group of objects, all the appropriate measurements around the cursor are displayed. This tool has been added along with the rest of the measuring commands in Chapter 9: Analyzing Model and Object Properties of the learning guide.

The Blocks Palette provides a convenient location from where you can locate and insert blocks and drawings into the current drawing. The Blocks Palette can be accessed through the View tab>Palettes panel or by clicking Recent Blocks/Blocks from Other Drawings from the Insert Blocks gallery. The Blocks Palette has 3 tabs: The Current Drawing tab provides you with all the blocks that are in the current drawing, the Recent tab displays all the blocks that were inserted recently, and the Other Drawing tab displays the drawings that were inserted as blocks. It also provides you with the Repeat Placement option for inserting multiple blocks thus increasing the efficiency of working with blocks. The content and practices of Chapter 12: Blocks have been updated to incorporate the working of the new Blocks Palette.

A redesigned Purge dialog box offers you a preview of the selected unused item before purging it. It also displays why a certain item cannot be purged. Additional information, such as number of items on each layer and their effect on the size of the file, is also provided. A new Select Objects tool is provided in the Non-purgeable item information, which zooms into the specific item in the Drawing Window. The Purge tool and other associated tools are now grouped together in a separate Cleanup panel in the Manage tab. A new
(Find Non-Purgeable Items) tool directly displays the non-purgeable items in the dialog box.

These are some of the changes in the AutoCAD 2020 software that are incorporated in the AutoCAD 2020 Fundamentals learning guide. The learning guide is sure to keep your teaching/learning experience up-to-date and relevant to the current software.

About the Author

Learning Content Developer<br><br>Renu has worked with Autodesk products for the past 20 years with a main focus on design visualization software. Renu holds a bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering and started her career as an Instructional Designer/Author where she co-authored a number of Autodesk 3ds Max and AutoCAD books, some of which were translated into other languages for a wide audience reach. In her next role as a Technical Specialist at a 3D visualization company, Renu used 3ds Max in real-world scenarios on a daily basis. There, she developed customized 3D web planner solutions to create specialized 3D models with photorealistic texturing and lighting to produce high quality renderings.

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