As promised, the second installment of our exciting series. This will cover up to AutoCAD 2000i. For later releases and more on all releases check out the Unofficial AutoCAD History Pages for all the info!
Release 12 June 1992
AutoCAD Release 12 drawings are compatible with AutoCAD Release 11
This was a big deal. It was the first time AutoCAD kept file compatibility across version. They said it would be the last.
The AutoCAD main menu has been eliminated. After initial configuration, AutoCAD displays the graphics screen. The Main menu tasks have been replaced by commands. For example, the NEW command starts a new drawing, and the OPEN command opens an existing drawing.
Remember the Main Menu?
AutoCAD supports a cursor menu that contains Osnap overrides and point filters
First time for the Cursor menu, too
The new BHATCH command was added. Commands with the "DD" prefix bring up dialog boxes.
There were actually dozens of enhancements in this version the last DOS-only version
Release 13 November 1994
The AutoCAD interface consists of standard Windows user-interface components, similar to those used in other Windows applications. You can customize the size and placement of most components.
This release was available in only a DOS version, but a year later a Windows version was also released. Windows standards started creeping into the DOS version, too.
A floating toolbar is a collection of commands organized by category, for example. Flyouts allow you to choose several different commands from the same place on the toolbar.
It was necessary to educate AutoCAD users (and all users in general) to Windows terminology.
Purge at any time
Before this, you could only PURGE if you had not drawn anything during a drawing session - you had to end the drawing and re-open it.
Nonuniformly Scaled
Block, Drawing Preview, Multiline Text Editing,Spelling Checker, TrueType Font Support, Dimensioning Styles, Annotation, Leaders, Access to Properties
All new!
Release 14 November 1997
Paper Space Added
AutoSnap Added
Plot Preview Added
Realtime Zoom and Pan Added
Match Properties Added
First Windows version released
Template Drawings Added
Lots of good things in here
Release 2000 November 1999
Name predicted by yours truly
First Windows only version. DOS, Unix, Mac, Solaris versions dropped
Many new 3D commands added
Express Tools added
Layout tabs added
Ability to have more than one drawing open at a time!!!
Visual Basic support added
Release 2000i July 2000
This release was rushed out to 'do internet stuff'. It cemented the old tale that one should 'never buy an odd numbered version of AutoCAD'
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