Can I customize the appearance of the command buttons?

[Anonymous]

In Windows AutoCAD LT 2008 I can open up the CUI editor and edit the existing buttons or create new ones. Does AutoCAD 2012 for Mac have this capacity?

I am finding that the interface is rather bland with most of the buttons drawn in the same monochromatic pale blues and grays. I would like to be able to add some color to the ones I use most often to make them easier to see and select.

With each new issue of AutoCAD the developers  make the buttons more visually complex and detailed. While lovely to look at I find myself having to pause and interpret them. Case in point the Zoom Previous button in Windows is a large black arrow swooping to the left. In Mac it is now a tiny little gray arrow.

So, can I add color or simplify the buttons?

[maxim_k]

Hi,

In CUI editor on Commands tab, select command name for which you want to assign custom icon, then in right side select ... button under Image, and select image from your disk.

Do not delete this image from disk, because AutoCAD loads it from the specified location each time it starts.

Use 16x16 (or 32x23) pixels images, I prefer to use .ico files.

HTH

Maxim

[Anonymous]

So, how to I create the custom icon?

[maxim_k]

In any raster editing program, capable of saving files in appropriate format. You can use as start point icons from LT version of AC.

Maxim

[Anonymous]

Not sure what I am expected to do here. What is a raster editing program? What is the appropriate format? What is a start point icon? Sorry, I know how to drive the car, I don't know how to change the spark plugs.

In AutoCAD LT, within the Customize CUI you can click on the command button and there is a built in editor that allows you to customize the button within certan constraints. 

Sounds like the Mac version doesn't have this function. Is there a way to import the buttons I have created in LT?

[maxim_k]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Is there a way to import the buttons I have created in LT?

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Yes, just in CUI editor in AC for Windows select Export.. for icon you want to have on Mac, and save it in .BMP format. Put this file to Mac HD and in AC for Mac CUI editor select this .BMP file as icon for button.

Maxim

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the prompt answer but you lost me after "select Export...."

[maxim_k]

Export -> in save file as dialog select destination folder, give the name to file with .bmp extension - this is on Windows side, then move saved file to Mac, then see my prev post
Maxim

[Anonymous]

Ok, I gues I will just have to live with the bland buttons. Thanks for your answers.

[Anonymous]

As a Mac user, I'm very disappointed in Autodesk's implementation of autocad on the Mac. I don't know if their programmers are trying to make the interface more "Mac-like", but they SHOULD be trying to make the interface more AUTOCAD LIKE. That's what we have been using for decades now. Even on the earlier Mac versions.

For the most part, Autocad on the Mac isn't intended to try and convert Mac users to something they haven't been familiar with, but rather to allow Mac based Autocad users, who have been stuck on a Windows platform, to use a program they have been used to on their preferred platform.

Everything SHOULD be set up just as we found it on the Windows version. Buttons, CUI, Customization, Toolbars, Ribbons, etc. should all be available and selectable just as they are on the Windows version.

[Anonymous]

Off topic but I agree. I have been using AutoCAD since version 9 and a Mac for 6 months. There are a lot of things I like about the Mac version but they have gone too far trying to make it Mac-like. Case in point is the Plot dialog window. It has been dumbed down to the point of unusability. Where are all the options and sizes? And why open Preview in Acrobat? Your plot settings don't transfer and you have to go through page setup again in Acrobat. Slow, slow, slows down my productivity.

[dgorsman]

Like most software, it isn't written completely from scratch.  They make use of the tools that are available (especially in the UI area) and, in doing so, the interface will take on the flavor inherent in those tools.  The only way to get a Windows-like appearance is to purchase the tools where they are available and create them where they are not.  Both would make the product more expensive than it already is.  The latter (in-house design) would delay the product even further and introduce another factor that would need to be checked when trying to squash bugs.