Migrating from Acad 14 to Acad 2016

[wilmath706257]

I feel like Gulliver! Where has all the time gone!

However, Acad 14 worked well for me and I knew many of its
intricacies including command aliases.

I would like to insert the acad.pgp file from acad 14 into
Acad 2016. I know where both are located but I am slightly
concerned that Acad 2016 will barf on the Acad 14 pgp file.

Is 2016 so sophisticated that it will run off the rails if I insert
this ancient code into its guts?

Oh, and one more thing, is there a tutorial explaining some of
the "features" of the new Acad?

Thanks
Rick

[Tom Beauford]

Jumping 16 versions will be quite a learning curve. to answer your first question in the ribbon on the Manage tab → Customization panel you can pick Edit Aliases to edit acad.pgp. Even better if Express Tools are installed on the Express Tools tab → Tools panel you can pick Command Aliases to edit them in a nice dialog box interface. The Bonus Tools in r14 became Express Tools afterwards and many of them like the Layer Tools became regular AutoCAD commands with different names. Entering

(findfile "acad.pgp")

on the command line will give you the location of the file.

Lots of changes through the years, many commands work differently, have added options, new added, and others no longer used. I strongly suggest you don't "insert the acad.pgp file from acad 14" and try learning how everything's done now instead. Add Command Aliases if you like as you learn the newer commands. Properties palette, Ribbon, Keyboard Shortcuts, Temporary Overrides, and the Function Keys Reference are a good place to start learning. New features from 2013 through 2016 from help. The Help tab on the Ribbon is a good place to start as well. Screencast is a great place to explore since all the tutorial videos are created by users like yourself by free software for AutoCAD. You can create your own AutoCAD workflow videos with sound the first day you try it if you like.

Whenever you get overwhelmed just come back here!

[rkmcswain]

I would agree with @Tom - don't just shove your R14 PGP file in there.

But presuming your R14 PGP file includes your custom aliases at the bottom of the file, it'd be easy to copy and paste this into the user section of the R2016 PGP file, so you'd at least have your own shortcuts.
Just be aware as @Tom said, a lot of things have changed so for example if you have a shortcut BP to call the BPOLY command, it won't work since BPOLY is no longer a command (Okay, in reality, it will work since the PGP file already comes with an alias "BPOLY" to call the BOUNDARY command ~sigh~) -- but you get the point....

pgpsnip.png

[Tom Beauford]

The Autodesk blog Between the Lines AutoCAD History has preview guides for every release from version 1 through 2011. More material for catching up on. It was Rip Van Winkle not Gulliver who missed so many years that he had trouble adapting.

You need to start by talking to your supervisor and coworkers about company workflows and procedures. If they use Sheet Set Manager, Dynamic blocks, Tool palettes, Annotative (blocks, dimensions, or text), customization (lisp, interface elements, etc…) or anything else you're not familiar with learn that first. What they don't use check it out in about a year when you've caught up with everything else.

[rkmcswain]

....and here are links to Lynn Allen's "Tips and Tricks" booklets for versions 2005 through 2016. She covers new features in these.

[Tom Beauford]

Learn and Explore is another good link. The icon in the upper-left is the basic interface element now. The customizable "Quick Action Toolbar" which you can add Ribbon elements to can be very useful and doesn't use up screen space.

[duhvinci]

Rick,

I jumped from R14 to 2015. I wrote an 18 part series about my "adventure" you might find helpful. It's not a tutorial.

http://cadalyst-2.hs-sites.com/cadsp...o-modern-times

Good luck and have fun.

[wilmath706257]

Thanks everybody for the help!
This will give me plenty of material to get caught up.
I was flabbergasted by how big and sophisticated the program has become.

Acad14 was approximately 100megs total, Acad 12 was about 36.

Yea, Rip Van Winkle, I knew that.

[Wanderer]

Thanks everybody for the help!
This will give me plenty of material to get caught up.
I was flabbergasted by how big and sophisticated the program has become.

Acad14 was approximately 100megs total, Acad 12 was about 36.

Yea, Rip Van Winkle, I knew that.

I know you've got plenty to chew on here, but, check out Heidi Hewett's AutoCAD Insider blog. On the left hand side, you'll find links to demo videos for each release's new features. (sorry I can't post a link myself, blogs are blocked here, but, trust me, they're worth a google)

[Tom Beauford]

Heidi Hewett's AutoCAD Insider blog: http://autocadinsider.autodesk.com/