In the early 1980s, I was a young university engineering student (please, no age calculations). I got obsessed with computers right away and used them wherever I could. This also led to a parallel degree in computer science at a different university. Computing was not popular then. It was difficult field to enter. Buying one of the first PCs was almost impossible due to their high cost.

Then one day, the dean of the university where I was studying engineering gathered a small group of students all in front of a computer and showed us a new program that was none other than the first commercial version of the yet unknown AutoCAD software. It was at that moment that my life—both professionally and personally—resoundingly changed. It was love at first sight. Months flew by as we researched products. All the time, we struggled with the limits of computer resources: 512 KB RAM memory and two 360 KB floppy drives—one for the AutoCAD program and the other for data. Hard drives and the mouse came later.

That is how I got started in CAD and that excitement is with me to this day.

The technological evolution throughout all these years has been tremendous. Autodesk has always had a big development house with many products, but it has never neglected its iconic AutoCAD product. I must admit that the improvements in each version caused the same excitement and surprise as in those early days of discovery.

So let us review what the latest version, Update 1 of AutoCAD 2023 (AutoCAD 2023.1), brings us.

Performance Analyzer

Similar to other CAD programs, AutoCAD 2023 now has dedicated performance analysis for several of its operations (Figure 1).

Figure 1. AutoCAD 2023 Performance Analyzer.

This is particularly useful when processes feel slow or are interrupted without a response. It is not useful when AutoCAD crashes, however.

The causes of poor performance can vary. That is why the new Performance Analyzer (available only to AutoCAD subscribers) is an effective tool to help us understand the origin of a problem, whether it is hardware, software or configuration problems and network traffic.

In general but not always, performance drops as the number of models and drawings increase. For example, we see jumps or delays in the movement of the cursor or in the selection of objects and commands, including Regen and Print.

How does it work? In a very simple way. When you open the Performance Analyzer and run it, all operations are recorded in a log file (locally, with a one-hour log limit), including startup, opening and execution (Figure 2).

Figure 2. AutoCAD 2023 Performance Analyzer palette, Start Recording.

The AutoCAD 2023.1 update introduces more execution abilities for the new Performance Analyzer, such as the opening (PERFANALYZER) and closing (PERFANALYZERCLOSE) commands.

Executing a performance analysis is very easy. You start the Performance Analysis, then press the Start Recording button (Figure 2) and then you can select the commands that are slow. Note the red point on the cursor during the record process (Figure 3).

Figure 3. AutoCAD 2023 Performance Analyzer, with red on the cursor point during recording.

When the you determine that the performance analysis has run long enough, you can press the Stop Recording button (Figure 4) in the palette and the results appear in the same palette.

Figure 4. AutoCAD 2023 Performance Analyzer palette with the Stop Recording button.

These results are divided into two main groups that you can access through two tabs:

File access times
Regen times

“File access times” shows the time to start the program and the session, as well as the loading times of each reference file (external references and inserted images; Figure 5).

Figure 5. AutoCAD 2023 Performance Analyzer with the File access times tab.

The Regen times tab is mainly based on the displayed graphic management commands, such as Zoom, Pan and Regen, as well as changes between Layouts and Print/Plot (Figure 6).

Figure 6. AutoCAD 2023 Performance Analyzer with the Regen times tab.

New Capabilities for Sheet Set Manager on the Web

Many of us have long known the remarkable capabilities of the Sheet Set Manager to administrate, edit, publish and print multiple sheet sets of a project. Like its heir, and in its light version—known as Sheet Set Manager for Web—that the Sheet Set Manager for Web allows a similar level of administration but on storage made in Autodesk Docs.

If you open a DST file from Autodesk Docs, the Sheet Set Manager for Web also opens automatically (Figure 7).

Figure 7. AutoCAD 2023 Sheet Set Manager for Web with generation sequence.

What else is new in the AutoCAD 2023.1 update? Let’s take a look at enhancements that help with web-based collaboration. Now it is much simpler to create sheet sets in Autodesk Docs with just a few clicks.

Also in this update are several additional options that bring the feature closer to the capabilities of the classic Sheet Set Manager, such as Importing layouts directly to Sheet Set Manager on the web edition to change names and numbers of sheets, as well as to change or add properties.

New Autodesk Assistant for Help

Finally, but very important, the AutoCAD 2023.1 update adds an interesting innovation—and that is both good news and less good news. The good news is that if you live in the United States, you can try a beta version. The less good news is that if you do not live in the United States (like me), you will have to be patient and wait for the worldwide version to be released.

We are talking about the new Autodesk Assistant for AI-guided help, support and self-service, which is handled entirely within the AutoCAD environment.

This wizard tends to be a complement (perhaps a replacement for?) to the traditional Help as it is run from the F1 function key or from the menu. I have a feeling it could be the start of a revolutionary change in assistance, support and communication as well as training.

Its operation is simple and user-friendly. By following the instructions at the bottom of the Help window, you can find solutions to problems, products, commands, options and various cases related to the main topic, through the chat and guided questions, with virtual support. Hard to believe, I know, that there is real live support (Figure 8).

Figure 8. AutoCAD 2023’s new Autodesk Assistant for AI-guided help (beta version).

Autodesk Assistant for Help looks very promising!

Conclusions

My beginnings (a long time ago …) in this exciting world of CAD and CAM were using one of the first commercial versions of the iconic AutoCAD from Autodesk. Since then, I have followed its constant evolution, adaptation to new technologies and new markets. In addition, AutoCAD was the founder of the DWG and several standard formats adopted as the collaboration base by many other company solutions.

In this review, I focused mainly on the new features introduced in update 1 of the new AutoCAD 2023 version, which are not minor and mainly based on adding tools for performance analysis, AI assistance and interesting Improvements in the Sheet Set Manager in web.

Again, Autodesk proves it is willing and able to continue improving AutoCAD, and by doing so, keep it in the lead of not just the 2D CAD market but the whole graphics market.