Autodesk 123D Beta7 is already released. This release brings many improvements and features. The most notable improvements are new onboarding and help system to help the user to faster adoption and learning of 123D, scale command improvements, unified triad and introduction of dominant plane or move and rotate of face and edge. As a key new feature is Laser Cutting Workflow. Autodesk in this release starts to support personal fabrication workflows more directly – in particular, the laser cutting workflow. It is still a ways to go and more will be coming in future updates. More detailed description of the new features you will find when you follow link at the end of the article.
Onboarding and Help System
The Onboarding learning starts when first install the Beta7 and you can access the feature from the Help menu. Its feature series of overview panels with instructions and pictures with the basic principles of the 123D workflow.
The new Help System it’s a big step forward replacing the old very simple overview of Commands system. Now the Help system is featuring short movies of the most important functionality to help the user to understand and explain all functions more deeply.
Scale Command
The scale is now part of the Move/Rotate feature and is available on right click menu and allows for non-uniform scaling, stretching in x,y or z direction only. With selection of any solid and picking the Move/Rotate/Scale tool, additional manipulators appear in the triad and they will let you stretch and scale non-uniformly your solid.
Snap to...
123D can now import models from polygonal mesh modelers. These you can use as a props or scenery to complete your design or scene. You can’t edit them but you can move, rotate or scale them inside 123D. And featuring the new release of Beta7 you can now snap to them, using them as a reference when editing your solid models.
Source: Autodesk 123D