ACA’s Update Variety Pack
Styles Browser
One of the first things you notice when opening a drawing in AutoCAD® Architecture 2016 is the Styles Browser (see Figure 1). The Styles Browser is a modeless palette, which is capable of importing styles, adding objects with the selected styles, and assigning the selected style to the object type selected in the drawing. It can be launched from the ribbon’s Home tab, Tools flyout, or from the command line using command STYLESBROWSER. Clicking on the Browse button in the Properties palette for the selected object will access the Styles Browser as well. From the Object type drop-down, the required object type can be selected from the various categories: Architecture Objects, Documentation Objects, and Multi-Purpose Objects. Using the Drawing Source drop-down, the source from the drawing file can be selected from Content Library, Project Standard Drawings, or Currently Open Drawings. The Drawing Files can be chosen as needed from the drawing files drop-down. The Manage Content Library button will be available in the Drawing Files drop-down only when the Drawing Source is Content Library Files. The list of drawing files will change on the basis of the Drawing Source selected.
You can search the required styles for the selected object type from the selected Drawing Source. The search is a dynamic search; thus, the results will be updated as you type the string.
Styles that users want that are not in the current drawing can be filtered using the Drawing Source, Drawing Files, and Selected in the gallery and imported using Import button or right-click Import. Multiple files can be selected using Shift key or CTRL key. These styles will immediately get added in the Properties palette Styles drop-down. Once the styles are imported into the current drawing, they show a green checkmark indicating that the style is already imported and is now in your current drawing.
Any chosen object with the selected style can be added immediately to the current drawing by starting the ObjectAdd command. This can be done in three different ways in the Styles Browser:
- by selecting the required style and clicking the Add Object button
- by selecting the required style, right-click, and selecting Add Object from the context menu
- by double-clicking on the required style
Thus, the Walladd command can be directly started from the Styles Browser, and the Wall with the desired style can be placed without having to import that style or starting the walladd command from the ribbon. The Apply Style to Selection option is available only when there is an object selected in the drawing and the Styles Browser as a matching object type is selected and when only a single style is selected in the Styles Browser. So you can select multiple objects in the drawing and assign the desired style to them using this command. If the selection has a mixture of object types, the type chosen in the Styles Browser will be added to the matching objects in the selection set.
You can change the size of the preview images in the Styles Browser by choosing from four sizes: large, medium, small, and details. There are some Object Types that do not have any Preview such as Documentation Objects and some Multipurpose Objects. They will show Details view by default and for those objects the View Direction, Color Selector, and Preview Size controls will be disabled.
An informative tooltip is also provided, which includes the full name of the style, full path of the drawing file to which the style belongs, and shows four views of the style. The Preview image can be viewed in 10 different view directions. This view direction is applicable per object type and is persistent across sessions. View direction can be set when the preview size is small, medium, or large. The details view will have the View Direction control disabled.
You can select a background color to be applied to the preview image for better visibility. This background color is also applicable per object type and is persistent across sessions. You can set the background color when the preview size is small, medium, or large. The details view will have the color control disabled. The background color is very useful in case of Light theme, where the background color will enhance the preview of the styles.
After setting the Drawing Source and Drawing File, you can hide these controls to make more area available for the Style Preview images in the Styles Browser gallery by clicking on the control for Expand-Collapse. You can turn off the preview image in the Properties palette to reduce the scrolling needed. Once the Preview image is turned off, a binocular button appears, which in turn will be used to access the Styles Browser. The Styles Browser is invoked by clicking on the Browse button of the Properties palette to display Styles. Once in an Objectadd command, users can still change the Object type from the Styles Browser and can start the new objectadd command for a different Objecttype.
Figure 1: Styles Browser
Status Bar
In AutoCAD Architecture 2016, the status bar can now automatically wrap onto two rows when there are more icons than can fit into a single row. At any given time, the model tab and at least one layout tab is always displayed. Isolate Objects and Lock UI have been added to the status bar customization menu. The Lock User Interface tool on the status bar enables you to check and uncheck multiple UI elements at one time instead of having to reopen the flyout each time. You can click the icon to enable or disable UI locking. Also, please note that the previous text “Cut Plane” has been replaced by an icon.
Rendering
A new rendering engine in this release replaces the previous rendering engine. This physically based path tracing renderer provides a simpler way to render that can produce better results. The new render UI has significantly fewer settings compared with the previous render UI. Many of the previous settings were removed as they are no longer valid with the new rendering engine. The Render ribbon panel on the Visualize ribbon tab is updated to support the new rendering engine. It includes a size drop-down where you can quickly select from standard pre-defined render sizes (see Figure 2).
The Render Presets list includes additional options enabling you to control the render quality by setting either the number of levels to render or how much time to render. The new Render Presets Manager is much simpler than the previous Render Presets Manager. You can create, modify, and delete custom Render Presets. Specify Render Preset name and description as well as the duration and accuracy. You can render directly from the Render Presets Manager choosing to render in the render window, the current viewport, or a specified region in the current viewport.
When rendering in the render window, a drop-down list enables you to select from a list of standard render output sizes or choose More Output Settings to access the new Render to Output Settings dialog box. In this dialog box, you can specify the image size and resolution. You can also choose to automatically save the rendered image to a file including BMP, TGA, TIF, JPEG, and PNG formats.
A new Render Environment & Exposure palette offers powerful new Image-Based Lighting (IBL) environments. When the Environment control is turned on, you can select from pre-defined, image-based lighting environments. The image-based lighting environments automatically apply lighting effects. Some of them include 360 background images that emulate a realistic environment as you orbit around the model. The viewport must be in a perspective view and you must render to see the IBL environment.
A control in the Render Environment & Exposure palette enables you to use a custom background image. Custom images are static and do not emulate a realistic 3D environment as you rotate. Additional controls in the Render Environment & Exposure palette enable you to adjust the Exposure and White Balance. The Exposure slides between Bright and Dark. The White Balance slides between Cool and Warm. The new render window displays the current render process and allows you to save a snapshot, zoom in and out while rendering, and print the rendered image. Render history is displayed in the expanded section of the render window.
Figure 2: Render
ACA Revision Cloud
The Revision Cloud tool is enhanced in 2016 to provide more flexibility. It is accessible from the Annotate ribbon panel and includes three methods of creation: Rectangular, Polygonal, and Freehand in addition to the Command line option to select an object. The last used creation method is remembered the next time the command is run. You can set your own default creation method using the REVCLOUDCREATEMODE system variable. Whether you create rectangular, polygonal, freehand, or object revision clouds, editing their size and shape with grips is intuitive and easy. The number of grips displayed for revision clouds has been significantly reduced. The location and behavior of grips is based on the shape of the revision cloud. If you prefer legacy display of grips you can set REVCLOUDGRIPS to Off. In addition to easier editing with grips, a new Modify option allows you to draw new revision cloud segments and erase selected portions of existing revision clouds.
PDF Enhancements
PDF support has been significantly enhanced in AutoCAD Architecture 2016, offering improved performance, flexibility, and quality. Truetype fonts in MText and Text with any formatting options as well as Polygonized text, SHX text, and Unicode characters are now searchable in PDF output files. PDF plotting performance for drawings that contain a large amount of text, polylines, and fill patterns is improved. The Export to DWF/PDF Options dialog box has been split into two separate dialog boxes; one for DWF and one for PDF. Both are accessible from the Output ribbon tab. PDF Options now include the PDF quality and font handling controls as well as new controls for hyperlinks and bookmarks. The hyperlinks control enables you to include hyperlinks from the drawing in the PDF file. The bookmarks control exports sheets and named views as bookmarks so you can easily navigate between them when viewing the PDF file.
When using the Plot tool to create PDF files, you can now choose from four predefined PDF presets, which offers a quick way to apply different PDF output options that meet various needs. If you select any PDF pc3 from the Printer/plotter drop-down list, a PDF Options button is displayed, providing convenient access to the PDF Options dialog (see Figure 3). Similar PDF presets and options controls are available when creating PDF files using the Export to PDF and Batch Plot tools.
The Sheet Set Manager has also been updated to support these PDF enhancements. Layout names are automatically displayed as page labels in the PDF file, making it easy to identify sheets when viewing the PDF.
Figure 3: Plot PDF
Section Object
Section objects, created using the Section Plane tool, provide more flexibility in AutoCAD Architecture 2016. The Section Plane tool creates a section object that acts as a cutting plane through 3D objects including solids, surfaces, meshes, regions, and now point clouds. The section object’s type can be set to represent a simple cutting plane, a bounded area, or volumetric area.
In 2016, a new Slice type has been added to the section object (see Figure 4). The Slice type generates a thin cut through the model that always contains parallel front and back section planes. The Slice type has a slice thickness property and cannot contain jogs. When switching to a slice type, any jogs in the section object are removed. Some grips have been offset or repositioned to make them easier to select and now operate more consistently regardless of the view or whether polar tracking is toggled on or off. The contextual panel for the section object has been changed to a contextual tab and has more controls. It has tools for toggling Live Sectioning on and off, changing the section type, adding jogs, and rotating the object in 90-degree increments. The tab also has edit boxes with spinner controls for adjusting the offset of the section plane and the thickness of the slice. This is useful for changing these values when grips are not accessible from different views.
Figure 4: Section Object
DIM Command Enhancements
The DIM command has been significantly enhanced in AutoCAD Architecture 2016 and is now accessible from the ribbon. Options within the DIM command are now displayed at the command line and in the right-click menu, eliminating the need for you to remember which options are available and how to enter them. However, even the need to specify Dimension options is significantly reduced in 2016. Now the DIM command automatically creates appropriate dimensions based on the type of objects you select. A preview as you pass the cursor over those objects enables you to see the resulting dimension before you actually create it (see Figure 5). The DIM command further simplifies creating dimensions by eliminating prompts to modify the dimension text and angle. Instead, the default values are automatically applied. Mtext, Text, and Text Angle options are available from the command line and right-click menus if you choose to change them. When using the Baseline or Continue options, you are automatically prompted to select the first extension line origin. Regardless of which type of dimension you create, the DIM command remains active, enabling you to easily place additional dimensions until you exit the command.
Figure 5: DIM command preview
