From the course: AutoCAD: Mechanical Toolset

The new AutoCAD Mechanical 2023 interface - AutoCAD Mechanical Tutorial

From the course: AutoCAD: Mechanical Toolset

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The new AutoCAD Mechanical 2023 interface

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- If you've used previous versions of AutoCAD you may find that the AutoCAD Mechanical 2023 interface is a little bit different. It has been changed quite dramatically over the last few versions of AutoCAD and what you'll find is with each annual release of the AutoCAD mechanical tool set, Autodesk have enhanced various features, functions, et cetera. One of the things you will notice if you've used older versions of AutoCAD is the interface has changed dramatically. It's gone for this darker gray color known as the dark interface. So you've got the dark background in the drawing area and you've got the dark background here up on the ribbon, as well. You may also not be used to the new ribbon interface, as well. So up here we've got the quick access toolbar and underneath that we've got the ribbon interface here. And you can see we've got various tabs available in the AutoCAD mechanical tool set that differ from the original AutoCAD. The regular AutoCAD. So you'll notice if I go to the home tab on the ribbon there's things like construction lines, details, and so on. You've got annotation. It's different functionality in the annotation. For example, there you've got building materials. If I go to something like the content tab this is something you would not get in your regular AutoCAD. So you've got all the libraries here. You've got the content libraries, the fasteners, the holes, shafts, parts, motors, et cetera. All of this functionality is built into the AutoCAD mechanical tool set, and it's built on that good old fashioned AutoCAD engine that we know and love. But there's a lot more functionality here. This is why we've got the AutoCAD Mechanical Tool Set course so that you can learn on top of your regular AutoCAD skills and become more industry specific using the AutoCAD mechanical tool set. You'll notice the icons are a lot more functional now in the new interface, as well. So you'll notice if you go and look at something like the fasteners panel here, the screw templates and screw connections, they're all very obvious what the icons do. It's the same with the holes here. You can see a through hole, a blind hole, et cetera. So all the icons are very representative of the commands or blocks or libraries that they're taking you to. If I jump back to the home tab again here on the ribbon, you'll see that you've still got the regular AutoCAD functionality as well though. So you've got things like the draw panel, the modified panel, the layers panel. They're all in there, but they're all working with this new enhanced AutoCAD mechanical tool set interface. So let's get going now and have a look at AutoCAD Mechanical and get into it as we work through the course and utilize this new AutoCAD Mechanical 2023 interface.

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