Great new 2011 2D features are (right click shortcut):
- select similar
- edit, add, remove vertex in pline
- join and edit splines

get the shortcuts @ http://ftp.maxwan.com/public/AutoCAD/

But then, if you are’nt a casual user of Acad (and I doubt there are any casual users…), you can give operating system conventions a friendly nod (CTRL-C, CTRL-V, CTRL-P…) and go for efficiency. The way autocad handles shortcuts, by typing in short acronyms followed by a right-click or space-bar tap, is unique anyhow.

Also consider the ergonomy research which went into the design. E.g. al the most-used commands are located in the left half of the keyboard, to minimise movements of the left hand, and to leave the mousing hand where it belongs. Note that the shortcuts are additions, not substitutes. So “DD” brings up the layer dialogue (left hand only), but you can still use “LA” – the standards are kept intact.

The shortcut system gets even more powerful, as soon as the layer naming scheme going with it is applied (this might be even more difficult for many users, as they’re already tied to industry standards, office best practices, or bad habits). Then layer management becomes very powerful: “LOX” to switch off all XREF’s, “LNS” to switch on all hatches, etc. (I will try to find time to append some text about that in the above article.)

Finally, it appears – from my non-representative point of view – that the this shortcut meme is spreading in the dutch architecture habitat, mostly with offices who are tied in one way or another linked to OMA or maxwan. So it seems to be worth the learning trouble – at least for the professional user.

it’s useless to try to develop a “most efficient” set of autocad key commands. there is only “most efficient for yourself”, because it depends on the amount of brain power required to remember the commands, which often depends on the similarity to key commands in other applications (photoshop, form-z, etc.)