This is a pretty sweet feature for AutoCAD 2012. A selectable UCS icon that is intuitively movable and align-able.

Instead of having to remember the many variatins of the UCS command, you are now able to select and manipulate the UCS icon as if it were an object in your drawing.

This is especially useful for when you have a part of a drawing that is at an odd angle or if you need to align the UCS for drawing/modifying objects in 3D.

Note: I plan on starting a series of blog posts that will introduce the basics of 3D fairly soon.  During these future posts, I will cover the importance of the UCS icon and more of its options.

Here’s how:

• Select the UCS icon
• Click the grip that is at its vertex (intersection)
• Place the vertex of the UCS at its new location
• If the UCS is still selected, click one of its end points (X axis for example) and place it so that it is aligned in the direction that you want it to be pointing.
• Then do the same for the Y axis.

To do this in 3D, do the same as above but consider the Z direction.