secretos al descubierto

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November 30 – December 3, 2004 ◊ Las Vegas, Nevada

AutoCAD® Secrets – Exposed!Jeanne Aarhus – ProSoft NET, Professional Software Solutions, Inc.

GD21-2 This session is filled with time-saving tips and tricks that can be used to increase your productivity immediately.Some of AutoCAD's most time-saving features are either buried in the documentation or have been lost in theupgrade shuffle. Attend this session if you are too busy working to spend time digging through all the new and olddocumentation and online information. Do you take advantage of the new tools available or are you still doingthings just like you did years ago? Some of the best and most productivity-enhancing tools have been introducedin recent upgrades. To take advantage of them, attend this session and discover what might take you years todiscover on our own.

Who Should Attend : All AutoCAD Users

Topics Covered:* Discover hidden tips you might not discover on your own* Discover ways to use some old tools you may have forgotten* Learn hidden tips and tricks from other AutoCAD users* Learn how to use the newer tools for greater productivity

* Learn from an instructor with 20-plus years of training experience

About the Speaker:Jeanne is known for keeping her training sessions fast-moving and fun. She is a nationally known speaker andexpert in CAD and presents seminars and workshops on CAD productivity for managers and users in bothcorporate and college settings. She has been involved with production drawing, user support, standardscoordination, programming, and training in CAD applications for more than 20 years. She continues to be activelyinvolved in international, national, and local CAD user groups.

[email protected]


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AutoCAD® Secrets – Exposed!

AutoCAD® Secrets Exposed!

The topics I selected for this presentation were collected from friends, co-workers, other

user groups; and of course the newsgroups.

If you have an idea or a great tip to pass along….I invite you to share your ideas withother users. This only works when we ALL share ideas and concepts. Keep the

information flowing….and thanks to all those who helped with this collection of ideas.

About this document:

Topic available in AutoCAD 2002



I will assume that most of you are in 2000+ versions….at least I hope so!

Secret to Expose!

Thanks to everyone who contributed ideas to this session. And remember me if youhave a clever way to use AutoCAD, send me YOUR ideas. We all learn through sharing!

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1 Trim and Extend DimensionsI learned of this one a longtime ago, but I keep

passing it on. It is such ahandy feature and it seem

that most users don’t evenknow they can do

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this.

Use either the TRIM or

EXTEND command tomodify dimensions as well

as lines, arcs, etc.

2 Trim Your HatchesThe new hatch capabilities allow you to TRIM your hatches just like you would other

objects.

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3 Take the Edge out of Trim and ExtendUsing the system variable EDGEMODE can simplify your trim and extend functionality.Did you know that you can TRIM and EXTEND to non-existent edges?

0 Uses the selected edge without an extension

1 Extends or trims the selected object to an imaginary extension of the cutting

or boundary edge

4 Remember FoldersThere is an AutoCAD command called REMEMBERFOLDERS that controls the defaultpath for the Look In or Save In option of all standard file selection dialog boxes.

0 the folders will open to the same place every time.

1 (default) the current folder shown will remain as the default until the another

folder is accessed.

Each option has good and bad points, but at least try them both. I’ll bet more than oneof you will think this is one of the best secrets!

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5 Zoom to ObjectThis new ZOOM TO OBJECT command zooms to one or more selected objects in thecenter of the drawing area. You can select objects before or after you start the ZOOM

command.

6The TEXTTOFRONT Command

A new command TEXTTOFRONT brings all your text and dimension text to the top ofthe draworder stack.

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7 Xref – Default OVERLAY…..FINALLY!!!!!If you prefer to use the Overlay attachment options when attaching external references.

You can now set this as the “default” attachment option. Set the system variableXREFTYPE.

0 for Attach

1 for Overlay

8 A Gradient Background for your DisplayDo you want to make your drawing background more interesting?

You can assign an image of your choice or a color gradient to window background of thedrawing editor:

Access the OPTIONS dialog andselect the System tab

Select the PROPERTIES button for

the 3D Graphics Display and turn on

RENDER OPTIONS and ENABLEBACKGROUND

Use the BACKGROUND command to

set the required parameters of theimage or gradient.

Use the SHADEMODE command touse FLAT, GOURAUD or any

combination to use the background

of your choice.

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9 Tool Palettes for Everyone!Do you need to share you custom ToolPalettes with others in your organization?

Uses the CUSTOMIZE command to export

palettes to an .XTP file, and import the.XTP file on the other computer.

10Protect Your Customizations

As a CAD manager, have you ever wanted to turn off the ability of your users tocustomize toolbars and palettes? The system

variable TBCUSTOMIZE turns off the Customizecommand when set to 0.

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11 Snap to 2005 HatchesYou might have noticed a subtle change in the OSNAP capabilities in regards to HatchObjects in 2005. The system variable OSNAPHATCH allows you to snap to hatch

objects like before.

12 WIPEOUT in the real worldAnother great “secret” is the light fixture block I used which I created using a WIPEOUTobject as a background. This prevents having to “trim” the ceiling grid hatch wherenecessary.

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13 Is Your Hatch too Dense?AutoCAD sets a default limit of hatch segments to 10000. So if your hatch has moresegments than that AutoCAD will not create the hatch. You can change this so that you

can get a more dense hatch when needed.

Key-in the following at the command line to modify this setting. Note that this key-in iscase-sensitive and you must include the parentheses.

(setenv "MaxHatch" "100000")

14 Redefine F1 KeyHave you ever hit the F1 function key accidentally? Or maybe I should ask…on

purpose?

You can change the F1 function key to something more useful than help. After all….Ihope you don’t need to access the F1 key every day?

The definition of this key resides in the ACAD.MNS file located in the following defaultlocation. Be sure to substitute your windows loginname.

C:\Documents and Settings\loginname\Application Data\Autodesk\AutoCAD 2005\R16.0\enu\Support

Locate the ACAD.MNS file and edit it with your favorite text editor.

Search the file for “*** ACCELERATORS” to locate the portion of this file to edit.

At the end of the keyboard accelerators section key-in the following to modify F1

to perform a REGEN ALL command

["F1"]_regenall;

To re-define the HELP command on a different keystroke try using this

[Control+”F1”]’_help

If you want this change to be more permanent, make these changes in the ACAD.MNUfile. However, this will force you to re-load ACAD.MNU to get the menus to re-compile.

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15 Using Taskbars in AutoCADThe new TASKBAR command allows you to see each drawing separately like other

windows applications.

TASKBAR = 0

TASKBAR = 1

16 Easier PEDIT-ingYou can shorten your PEDIT command by using the new system variablePEDITACCEPT. This new system variable eliminates the prompt asking you “Do youwant to turn it into one? ” that occurs when you select a non polyline object. After

all if you didn’t want to turn it into one, why would you have chosen the PEDITcommand?

0 Retains the "Do you want to turn it into one? " prompt.

1 The prompt is not displayed and the object will be converted into polyline.

17 More Screen Space “Temporarily”Press the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+0 and AutoCAD temporarily switches off all toolbars,panels and windows - so will get all screen area for your drawing only. The next Ctrl-0

will get you back again to the previously displayed toolbars and menus.

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18 Zoom to View MaxThe new command ZOOM V zooms to the maximum screen area in “virtual space” thatis available without regeneration. You might have seen your “virtual space” during a

zoom in or zoom out command in the past. The icons when you hit the edge of your “virtual space” look something like this.

19Automatic Areas Using Fields

For this demonstration let’s use a polyline todemonstrate a new feature in AutoCAD that can

automatic my design process.

If you need to label areas on your drawings you can

use FIELD objects along with polylines to “automatically” keep them up to date.

Place text using the Mtext Editor

and key-in AREA =

to access the INSERT FIELD

command

In the FIELD CATEGORY select OBJECT

Use the Pick Object button and select theclosed polyline

In the PROPERTY list select AREA

In the FORMAT list select ARCHITECTURAL and pick OK to close the dialog.

Pick OK to place the text in your drawing.

You can modify the GRAY SHADE and the UPDATE FIELD SETTINGS in the userpreferences so that the user can control when the fields are updated.

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20 Buried in the Express OffsetThere is a couple of very handy options buried in the Express Tool – EXTENDED OFFSET.

This command allows you to offset objects to the CURRENT LAYER instead of the same

layer as the original object.

OFFSET to CURRENT Layers

Key-in EXOFFSET or select EXTENDED OFFSETfrom Express Modify Extended Offset

Key-in offset distance

Key-in O for OPTIONS

Key-in L for LAYER

Key-in C for CURRENT and hit ENTER one more

time

Select the object to offset and the direction.

You can put this on a button and make it a lot easier to use!

^C^C_exoffset;\o;l;c;;\m;

OFFSET MULTIPLE times

Key-in EXOFFSET or select EXTENDED OFFSET

from Express Modify Extended Offset

Key-in offset distance


Key-in M for MULTIPLE and hit ENTER onemore time


You can put this on a button and make it a lot easier to use!

^C^C_exoffset;\o;l;s;;\m;

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21 Double Your Dimension InformationYou can get a second line of text on your dimensions by using the "\X" format code inthe SUFFIX field of your dimension style.

This example shows how to use commonly

used dimension requirements easily usingthis shortcut

Look how easy they are to use!

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22 Custom Plot StampsI am not going to cover the obvious Plot Stamp utility found on the Plot dialog box. Youhave probably already discovered that one.

I find it a little limiting in placement options….so here is an alternative. This method will

work in any version of AutoCAD that has the Express Tools installed. That could include2000, 2000i, 2002 and 2004 and 2005.

The command to use is REMOTE TEXT….or RTEXT from the command line

You can put this text anywhere in yourfile…modelspace or paperspace and get easy plot stamp capabilities.

Add a reference file, and it automatically updates!

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23 Stroll down the PATH of CUSTOM Tool Palettes*_TOOLPALETTEPATH is an undocumented system variable used to set the toolpalette path.

Use a semicolon as the delimiter between multiple paths.

24 HIDE and SPEED UP your PalettesIf you want to change the speed of your Auto-Hide, make the following change below.Everyone in the 2005 versions don’t have to worry about this one anymore, since

Autodesk changed the default to the fastest speed available.

But for you < 2005 version users edit the file ‘FIXEDPROFILE.AWS’ with notepad. It is

located in:

C:\Documents and Settings\loginname\ Application Data\Autodesk\application name\R16.0\enu\Support\Profiles

Look for and at the top of the file.The default settings are in milliseconds. Set them both to 1 for the fasted speed.

25 OK already……for MTEXTAre you tired of picking the OK button in the MTEXT editor? I only lasted about 2 daysbefore I went off exploring how I could get around this. I found a nice shortcut that you

might like too!

Select the MTEXT command and type a simple string of text.

Rather than picking the OK button use +

….or….

Just anywhere in the drawing.

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26 Sort Out your LayersHave you ever had your layers not sort alphabetically? If so, it is because the maximum

sort list in AutoCAD is set to 200. Most likely you had exceeded this number of layers.

Change the system variable MAXSORT to allow for more than 200 layers.

MAXSORT = 500 (hopefully you don’t need more than that!)

This is saved in the registry settings so it will be modified for all files.

27 Smarter DIMSCALEDo you struggle with multiple scales on a single layout and need to modify your

dimensions? Well here is a great way to customize the necessary dimensions on a perviewport basis.

Did you know that if you set your DIMSCALE system variable to “0” you can placedimensions in paperspace viewports and the dimensions will calculate their correct

dimscale automatically? Yep…this one is great!

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28 2005 Easter EggAnd last but not least everyone always want to know where the Autodesk 2005 Easteregg is hidden. So here it is.

Start the new Layer Manager

Use + and pick on the Inverse Filter option (in the lower left

corner)

You can control the playback using the mouse

Thank you for your time

Hope you enjoyed the session!

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