Transitioning
from Text to Multiline Text (MText)
Published
date: 2003-03-08
ID: TP00086
Applies
to:
AutoCAD® 2004
If, due to previous formatting limitations of multiline text,
you are in the habit of creating many single-line text objects,
you may want to rethink your text creation methods in AutoCAD®
2004. The ability to use tabs and intents in the Multiline
Text Editor enables you to create well formatted notes and
tables within a single text object. You can easily convert
existing multiple text objects to a single multiline text
object using the TXT2MTXT express tool. From the Express menu
(Express Tools are included on the AutoCAD 2004 install CD
but are not automatically installed), choose Text > Convert
Text to MText. Select all of the text objects you want to
combine into a single Mtext object. A Text to MText options
dialog box offers more control over the conversion process.
Tip submitted
by:
Heidi
Hewett
Time
Sensitive Right-click
Published
date: 2003-03-08
ID: TP00079
Applies
to:
AutoCAD® 2004
With AutoCAD® 2004 you can have the best of both worlds when
it comes to right-click functionality: Right-click to ENTER
and right-click to access context menus. From the Tools menu,
choose Options and then select the User Preferences tab. Choose
Right-click Customization and turn on Time Sensitive Right-click.
A quick click will perform a traditional ENTER (similar to
pre-ACAD 2000 functionality) and you can adjust the time delay
(try 125 milliseconds) for context sensitive menus. While
working in AutoCAD, you simply right-click to perform an ENTER
and right-click (holding the mouse-button down for a fraction
of a second) to access the context menus.
Tip submitted
by:
Heidi
Hewett
Thumbnail
Previews
Published
date: 2003-03-08
ID: TP00084
Applies
to:
AutoCAD® 2004
You can simultaneously preview all of the drawings in a folder
using Windows Explorer or the file navigation dialog boxes
(such as File > Open, File > Save) in AutoCAD®. In the
file list, right-click and choose View > Thumbnails.
Tip Submitted
by:
Heidi
Hewett
License
Borrowing
Published
date: 2003-03-08
ID: TP00085
Applies
to:
AutoCAD® 2004
Although you may typically run AutoCAD® by accessing a license
from a network license server, there may be situations where
you need to run AutoCAD without access to the network. For
example, you may need to work from home or a project site.
Or maybe the network is scheduled for extended maintenance
and will be inaccessible to an entire department. With AutoCAD
2004, you can borrow (check out) a network license for up
to 30 days. You can return (check in) the license early or
simply let it expire, automatically returning the license
to the server. To borrow a network license, choose Programs
> AutoCAD 2004 > License Borrowing Utility from the
Windows Start menu. License borrowing is an installation option
when creating a network deployment, so if you cannot find
this utility, check with your CAD manager.
Tip submitted
by:
Heidi Hewett
Layout
Navigation
Layout
Navigation
Published
date: 2003-03-08
ID: TP00080
Applies
to:
AutoCAD® 2004
If you like to use the keyboard whenever possible, try using
the Ctrl+PageUp and Ctrl+ PageDown keys to navigate through
drawing layouts. This functionality is new in AutoCAD® 2004.
Tip submitted
by:
Heidi
Hewett
Editing
Block Attributes
Published
date: 2003-03-08
ID: TP00081
Applies
to:
AutoCAD® 2004
The Object Properties Manager (OPM), introduced in AutoCAD®
2000, can be used to edit nearly every aspect of an object’s
properties except the attribute values of a block. In AutoCAD®
2004, the Properties palette (formally OPM) has been enhanced
enabling you to edit block attribute values, even ones that
are invisible. Simply select a block with attributes, right-click
and choose Properties (you may even have the Properties palette
already displayed). Scroll down to the bottom of the Properties
palette and change the values of any attributes in the selected
block.
Tip submitted
by:
Heidi
Hewett
Continuous
Pan
Published
date: 2003-03-08
ID: TP00083
Applies
to:
AutoCAD® 2004
With AutoCAD® 2004, under the Microsoft® Windows® XP operating
system, you can pan past the edge of the display. Use the
Real-time Pan command or your mouse wheel to pan without limits!
Tip submitted
by:
Heidi
Hewett
Auto-hide
the Properties Palette
Published
date: 2003-03-08
ID: TP00082
Applies
to:
AutoCAD® 2004
Save screen real estate while maintaining easy access to the
Properties palette. Turn on the Properties palette; then turn
off Allow Docking and turn on Auto-hide (Right-click menu).
Push the Properties palette to the edge of your display. You
can temporarily unroll the Properties palette by passing your
cursor over the title bar, selecting an object and choosing
Properties, or double-clicking on an object (depends on the
type of object).
Tip submitted
by:
Heidi
Hewett
Suppressing
the Suffix on Angular Dimensions
Published
date: 2003-02-28
ID: TP00010
Applies
to:
AutoCAD® 2004
AutoCAD LT® 2004
Autodesk® Land Desktop 3
Autodesk Map™ 6
Need to suppress the foot (ft) ' suffix from angular dimensions?
Without exploding or creating another dimension style for
only angular dimensions?
1. Create
the initial dimension style with the '(ft) suffix.
2. Create
a substyle for Angular Dimensions (New, Use for Angular Dimensions).
3. Create
an angular dimension.
4. Initialize
Properties (Modify-Properties) and select the angular dimension
5. Open
the Priamry Units category and remove the '(ft) from Dim suffix
6. Select
the angular dimension and right click, select Dim Style-Save
as New Style...
7. Select
'initial dimension style$2' and OK.
This will
update the Dimension substyle for only Angular dimensions
where the '(ft) is suppressed.
Tip submitted
by:
Mark
Martinez
The D.C. CADD Company
Renaming
Nested Attributes Without Exploding Blocks or Groups
Published
date: 2003-02-28
ID: TP00006
Applies
to:
AutoCAD® 2004
AutoCAD LT® 2004
AutoCAD® Mechanical 2004
Autodesk® Architectural Desktop Release 3.3
Autodesk® Land Desktop 3
Ever run into the situation where you insert a new block containing
nested attributes block only to find that there are attributes
blocks in the drawing with the same name as the ones in your
block or group? The first thing you would notice is that your
nested attribute blocks will take on the characteristics of
the existing block with the same name but your attribute tags
won't - so you end up with garbage.
If you
first copy your block into a new temporary drawing and use
the RENAME command in the FORMAT pulldown menu, you will get
a dialog box that will give you a list of all the attribute
blocks in your drawing and a way to rename them without having
to explode anything.
Tip submitted
by:
John
Person
MulvannyG2 Architecture
Some
UK Road Linetypes for Your ACAD.LIN File
Published
date: 2003-02-01
ID: TP00007
Applies
to:
AutoCAD® 2004
AutoCAD LT® 2004
To draw scale, single-line marking for roads according to
'Traffic sign regulations and general directions 1994', paste
the following lines into your acad.lin file.
Note:
If the linetypes are OK for long straights, but they seem
to lose their scale when too short or joined with other polylines,
check your PLINETYPE setting. Your LTSCALE needs to be set
to 1 and check that your polyline linetype generation is on.
*D1003
600-300,D1003 ______ ______ ______
A,600,-300
*D1003.1
1000-1000,D1003.1 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
A,1000,-1000
*D1003.2
500-250,D1003.2 __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __
A,500,-250
*D1003.3
700-300,D1003.3 ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
A,700,-300
*D1004
4000-2000,D1004 ____ ____ ____ ____ __
A,4000,-2000
*D1004.1
6000-300,D1004.1 ______ ______ _____
A,6000,-3000
*D1005
1000-5000,D1005 - - - - -
A,1000,-5000
*D1005.1
2000-7000,D1005.1 __ __ __
A,2000,-7000,2000,-7000
*D1008
3000-4000,D1008 ___ ___ ___ ___
A,3000,-4000
*D1008.1
3000-6000,D1008.1 ___ ___ ___
A,3000,-6000
*D1009
600-300,D1009 ______ ______ ______ _
A,600,-300
*D1010
1000-1000,D1010 - - - - - - - - - - -
A,1000,-1000
Tip submitted
by:
Glenn
Fernie
White Young Green/Stockton Borough Council
Side
Button Mouse Customization for the OSNAP Menu
Published
date: 2003-02-01
ID: TP00040
Applies
to:
AutoCAD® 2004
AutoCAD LT® 2004
Autodesk® Architectural Desktop Release 2004
Autodesk® Land Desktop 3
Autodesk® Raster Design 3
Autodesk CAD Overlay® 2002
Autodesk CAD Overlay® 2000i
Autodesk CAD Overlay® 2000
Autodesk CAD Overlay® Release 14
If you have a mouse with side buttons and would like to make
one of these side buttons pop-up your OSNAP menu (instead
of having to hold down the SHIFT key and right-click) try
this:
First
go to the Windows Control Panel, double-click the mouse settings
icon. If you have the correct mouse driver installed, you
should be able to assign functions to every button on your
mouse. Assign the button that you would like to use for OSNAPS
as F12 ( since this funciton key is not used for anything
else ).
Open AutoCAD
and go to the Tools pulldown menu, choose Customize, then
Toolbars. On the Commands tab, click User-defined.
On the
top right, drag and drop a User-Defined Button out of the
dialog box. This just made a new button and toolbar.
Right-click
on the new button and choose Properties.
Name the
button something, like OSNAPS. Look for ^C^C in the Macro
text field, and type
$p0=SNAP
$p0=*
or cut
and paste that from the Acad.mns file.
The string
should look like the following:
^$p0=SNAP
$p0=*
Select
the Close button. Next, go to the Tools pulldown menu, choose
Customize > Keyboard. Under Categories look for Toolbar1
Toolbar. If you have the right toolbar it should say OSNAPS
under Commands. To the right under Press new shortcut key:
pick the F12 button. Click the Assign button, Close, and try
it.
The method
above will also allow you to assign a Diesel macro function
to your mouse buttons.
Tip submitted
by:
Chad
Studer
Sterling Systems
Set
the PELLIPSE Option for Ellipse Type
Published
date: 2003-02-01
ID: TP00003
Applies
to:
AutoCAD® 2004
AutoCAD LT® 2004
Autodesk® Architectural Desktop Release 2004
If you need an ellipse to be a polyline, just change the system
variable PELLIPSE from the default 0 to a 1 then all your
newly created ellipses will be 2D polylines in the same shape
as an ellipse instead of ellipses. This is handy if you use
DXF files for CNC programming.
Tip submitted
by:
Sean
Owen
Artcraft Industries Inc
Erasing
Multiple Options
Published
date: 2003-02-28
ID: TP00009
Applies
to:
AutoCAD® 2004
AutoCAD LT® 2004
AutoCAD® Mechanical 2004
When wanting to erase multiple objects all at once, preselect
the items (in order to see their grips) and then hit the Delete
button located on your keyboard. This saves one from pressing
E and then pressing enter.
Tip submitted
by:
Spencer
Hall
Connecticut Tool
Putting
Dimension Text Below the Dim Line
Published
date: 2003-02-01
ID: TP00008
Applies
to:
AutoCAD® 2004
AutoCAD LT® 2004
If you are placing text below a dimension line such as TYP.
you can attach the text to the dimension by placing a \X right
after the default value "<>" and typing in
your text.
Tip submitted
by:
Jason
Hryhorczuk
Techna-West Engineering
Plot
All Layout Tabs At Once
Published
date: 2003-02-01
ID: TP00055
Applies
to:
AutoCAD® 2004
If you have to plot two or more Layout tabs, there is a trick
to plot them all at once. Assuming each Layout has already
been set-up for plotting, do the following:
Make the
first Layout active.
Hold down the 'Shift' key, and click on the last layout tab.
This will highlight all of the tabs (Note: if you don't want
all of the layout tabs selected, simply hold down the 'Ctrl'
key and select the tabs you want removed).
Click on the Printer icon from the toolbar, or, enter the
PLOT command.
When the 'Plot' dialog box appears, select whether to want
to 'Plot to File' or not, and then simply click the 'OK' button.
Tip submitted by:
Murray
Clack
CBCL Ltd.
Paper
Space Footprint in Model Space
Published
date: 2003-02-01
ID: TP00052
Applies
to:
AutoCAD® 2004
If you want to see where the outside perimeter of a paper
space viewport is in relation to model space, do the following:
Using
a pline, trace over the perimeter of a viewport boundary (make
sure you snap to each endpoint). Then, using the Express tool
CHSPACE, select the polyline you just drew, and send it through
the corresponding viewport. The next time you go into model
space (TILEMODE 1) you will have the exact size, shape, and
position of the paper space viewport. This comes in handy
knowing exactly where the limit of the viewport is. Another
trick is to then put this pline on layer DEFPOINTS or a separate
layer so that it doesn't plot.
Tip submitted
by:
Murray
Clack
CBCL Ltd
Move
and Reposition Block Attributes
Published
date: 2003-01-23
ID: TP00001
Applies
to:
AutoCAD® 2004
AutoCAD LT® 2004
Autodesk® Architectural Desktop Release 2004
You can easily move and reposition any block attributes which
are part of inserted blocks. Just select the block (or that
particular attribute) with a single click of your mouse to
get object grips to display. Select the grip which belongs
to the attribute and drag the attribute to where you need
it to be. This is the quickest and easiest ever way to move
block attributes without editing the block itself!
Tip submitted
by:
Eugene
Kazagrandi
Quiggin Cook & Associates
Interference
in Your Visualizations?
Published
date: 2003-01-31
ID: TP00062
Applies
to:
AutoCAD® 2004
You can use the INTERFERE command to help you visualize a
complex 3D drawing. The INTERFERE command gives you information
about how one solid interferes with another. INTERFERE creates
a new object on the current layer. By changing the current
layer to a layer that uses a different color than the existing
objects, you can clearly distinguish the new solid from the
existing ones.
Tip submitted
by:
Ellen
Finkelstein
Hide
Entities in Model Space That Lie Underneath Entities in Paper
Space in AutoCAD
Published
date: 2003-02-01
ID: TP00014
Applies
to:
AutoCAD® 2004
Entities: Draw a 3D face over the entities in model space
with a z-value of more than the highest z-value in the model.
Change to paper space and using the command MVIEW > Hideplot
> ON, then pick the viewport that contains the objects
that you wish to hide. Text: Change the elevation of the text
to a positive value, then continue the same as entities. The
entities in model space will not display as hidden but will
be hidden when you print the drawing. It is a good idea to
check this using print preview before you plot.
Tip submitted
by:
Barry
Wolhuter
Cadalyst Magazine Newsline
Dividing
a Circle into Equal Parts
Published
date: 2003-02-01
ID: TP00005
Applies
to:
AutoCAD® 2004
AutoCAD LT® 2004
Another way to divide a circle is to draw a polygon with the
number of sides equal to the number that you want to divide
the circle into. Draw the polygon with the center in the center
of your circle. Make the poygon Inscribed and pick a point
on the circle (a quadrant or nearest) then you can draw lines
from the center of the circle to the intersections of the
polygon.
Tip submitted
by:
Anonymous
Consolidating
Toolbars
Published
date: 2003-01-31
ID: TP00064
Applies
to:
AutoCAD® 2004
Do you work with several toolbars open just so you'll have
one or two buttons available from each toolbar? You can easily
create your own toolbar with the buttons you use most. Choose
View > Toolbars to open the Customize dialog box. Click
New on the Toolbars tab and name the toolbar. There's now
a small empty toolbar on your screen. Open the toolbars that
contain the buttons you want. Hold down the Ctrl key (to copy
rather than move the buttons), drag the buttons you want onto
the new toolbar, and close the Customize dialog box.
Tip submitted
by:
Ellen
Finkelstein
Attaching
XREFS at a Different Elevation
Published
date: 2003-02-01
ID: TP00015
Applies
to:
AutoCAD® 2004
To xref a dwg into a base dwg at a different elevation simply
change the elevation in the base dwg (ELEVATION command),
change to plan view, and then xref your dwg. Your xref will
appear at the new elevation. Using the external reference
feature will lead to much smaller individual file sizes when
dealing with 3D drawings, and the individual dwgs are much
easier to edit.
Tip submitted
by:
Anonymous
