Editor’s Note: Welcome to Cadalyst's blog series by Patrick Hughes, A CAD Dinosaur's Journey into Modern Times.” In this three-month series, Hughes chronicles his transition from AutoCAD R14 to v2015 and from an outdated PC to a state-of-the-art professional workstation. Follow along and enjoy!

It has become clear that digging deeper into AutoCAD 2015 is going to take me away from how I worked in R14. Oh, I’ll be using much of the same approaches I’ve always used, but I will incorporate many of the best current tools 2015 offers.

Editor’s Note: Welcome to Cadalyst's blog series by Patrick Hughes, A CAD Dinosaur's Journey into Modern Times.” In this three-month series, Hughes chronicles his transition from AutoCAD R14 to v2015 and from an outdated PC to a state-of-the-art professional workstation. Follow along and enjoy!

Earlier I mentioned that the most obvious difference I’d discovered between AutoCAD Release 14 and modern-day AutoCAD was the ribbon interface. In truth, that difference only scratches the surface of what’s in store when you update AutoCAD. Some users dislike the ribbon (undeservedly, in my opinion), there are several significant changes that are of great value.

Editor’s Note: Welcome to Cadalyst's blog series by Patrick Hughes, A CAD Dinosaur's Journey into Modern Times.” In this three-month series, Hughes chronicles his transition from AutoCAD R14 to v2015 and from an outdated PC to a state-of-the-art professional workstation. Follow along and enjoy!

When AutoCAD 2015 arrived at my desk I eagerly ripped open the cellophane wrapper with my sharpened claws and inserted the 64-bit install CD. I had previously uninstalled the 2014 trial copy and was relieved that there were no conflicts during the 2015 install. The support files, block libraries, and customization files I had copied previously remained in place since they resided in a folder structure independent of the Autodesk files. I merely needed to adjust my file paths within the Options dialog box.

Editor’s Note: Welcome to Cadalyst's blog series by Patrick Hughes, A CAD Dinosaur's Journey into Modern Times.” In this three-month series, Hughes chronicles his transition from AutoCAD R14 to v2015 and from an outdated PC to a state-of-the-art professional workstation. Follow along and enjoy!

Editor’s Note: Welcome to Cadalyst's blog series by Patrick Hughes, A CAD Dinosaur's Journey into Modern Times.” In this three-month series, Hughes chronicles his transition from AutoCAD R14 to v2015 and from an outdated PC to a state-of-the-art professional workstation. Follow along and enjoy!

CAD Software is not just for engineers and architects anymore. The field is opening up, with promising new innovations in 3D printing and computer graphics to name a few.

On August 1, 2012, Sam Muirhead embarked on a life that most people can't even fathom. This native New Zealander who now lives and works in Berlin started an entire lifestyle of using only open source products, designs, entertainment, transportation, and more. Though most people think of open source as related to computer code, Muirhead expanded this concept to include anything that did not come with the restraints of copyrights or patents.

Ron Brys of EnvisionCAD understands what it takes for IT professionals to make the most out of their CAD workstations.

Josh Mings of SolidSmack understands the ins and outs of technology, especially when it comes to CAD. He says his site is dedicated to helping those in the industry - no matter if they're just starting out or have been in the game for years - get the most out of their technology process.

Mings shares more of what SolidSmack offers engineers, designers, and everyone else in between in this interview.

How was your 2014? Cadalyst had an awesome one! Lots of articles and posts got tons of attention from readers. CAD is a busy industry, with frequent changes and hurdles to overcome. Fortunately, a lot of progress was made over the past year, and plenty more is expected in the year to come. Here are some of your favorite CAD related blog posts from 2014.