What happened to the spacebar?

One of the first things that I wanted to do with the MicroStation CONNECT edition was to check out the 3D modeling capabilities. The first thing I wanted to do was create a profile for an extrusion. This seemed simple enough to create a closed profile with a few angles in the profile. Using the Place SmartLine tool I placed my first data point and then the second data point for the first segment and now it’s time for an angle. I selected the spacebar to change AccuDraw’s mode and uh-oh? Why didn’t my AccuDraw mode change from linear to angular mode? What is this pop up menu that I see?

The spacebar now brings up the Popups menu that includes a lot of the common tools right at my cursor! How cool is that?

With the Popup open, press Alt to see the keys that will run each tool:

Many of the familiar AccuDraw keyboard shortcuts that required focus to be in AccuDraw are now available directly when focus is at Home, several new shortcuts have been defined, for instance the AccuDraw shortcut to change AccuDraw mode is the letter 'M'.

The '?' shortcut will open the Keyboard Shortcuts dialog when focus is at Home or in AccuDraw.

This dialog is also accessible from the BackStage > Settings > User > Keyboard Shortcuts.

I can get to the other AccuDraw shortcuts as a Popup from the Spacebar pop up menu by pressing the letter 'H' (as shown above) or selecting the AccuDraw icon.

After spending some time with the new spacebar Popups menu, I find that common tasks such as moving and copying elements are quick.