Hey Everybody, it’s that time of year again, spring is here, the weather is finally getting nicer (the snow is gone here in Canada! Well at least where I am.) and we’re getting a new version of AutoCAD, this time it’s 2020.
I’m always excited when new version time comes around, I, like many of you, have a long list of wishes and wants when it comes to our daily draft software and I can’t help but look forward to seeing what’s being improved, added and changed each year. I know that in recent years and with the shift to continual updates and improvements and not full-blown new versions it’s tough to see the changes as game changing or something to get excited about but I believe that AutoCAD is getting better every year and that many of each year’s new features do improve our overall experience and move us closer to the future of design.
So, let’s get to this years release, AutoCAD 2020. Firstly, the release date is/was March 27th 2019 which means that while you are reading this you can already upgrade or try out the trial of the new version right now. Get the Trial here.
As with all new releases and most software in general, I highly recommend trying out the trial to get a feeling for the software and to try some of the new features!
Now, onto some of my favourite new features, I won’t cover every new addition but wanted to highlight and point out some of the ones I’m most interested to try out.
Dark Theme:
Nowadays it seems every app and platform has transitioned to include a dark theme, this is one popular feature that I am fully behind and supportive of. I’ve used a similar custom colour scheme in AutoCAD for years and I’m happy that they’ve finally fully committed and will be including a Dark Theme in the new releases. I don’t know that a Dark theme is actually any better for you, your eyes, energy consumption or even workflow in general but I know that I like it and already use dark theme options in any software it’s available.
Check out the example of the new theme below and let me know in the comments if you’ll be trying it out?
Quick Measure Tool:
Next up of my favourite new features is a new tool being added to AutoCAD 2020, the quick measure tool. With it, you can quickly grab dimensioning information at a glance by simply hovering your mouse over the objects you’d like to measure. Dimensions, distances, and angles are dynamically displayed as you move your mouse over and between objects. I think this one could be a great time saver, especially when just looking to do double checks or take-offs from drawings. See the example of it in action below:
Redesigned Purge:
Honestly, this one was a long time coming and I’ve always wondered why it wasn’t implemented years ago. From Autocad “The Purge feature has been redesigned for easier drawing cleanup. Remove multiple unneeded objects at once with easy selection and a visual preview area. Check out the Find Non-Purgeable Items button with a Possible Reasons section, to understand why certain items can’t be purged.” Simply put, now we’ll be able to see, what’s getting purged and/or why we can’t purge an object or group of them. Thank you!
New AutoCAD Partners – Box & Microsoft:
Lastly on my list of interesting new features is the new partnerships with cloud data providers Box and Microsoft (Onedrive). This is an interesting and important new move in a good direction for AutoCAD. With the ease and availability of cloud storage and overall connectivity in computing now, it makes a ton of sense for our drawings/designs to move to the cloud as well. I already use Dropbox and Google drive almost daily for this blog, my videos/articles and personal storage and would love to be able to seamlessly save a drawing at work and then open it up and continue working from my laptop or tablet later in the day, at a job site or while away on a trip. This partnership is a big step forward towards that dream and I am excited to see where it goes and how it’s implemented, especially with larger drawings involving multiple references.
That’s all for today’s post and my quick update on AutoCAD 2020 and its new features and updates. Be sure to Check out all the updates and more information about each one on the official AutoCAD 2020 post here: https://blogs.autodesk.com/autocad/introducing-autocad-2020-autocad-lt-2020/
As always thank you all so much for reading and let me know in the comments below what features/additions you’re most looking forward to in AutoCAD 2020? Or, let me know what you would like to see updated/added in future releases?
Cheers and happy drafting!
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