The faster you can display the section of your drawing where you need to work, the faster you can get started drawing and editing. With that in mind, here are some tips for viewing your drawing:
Use the mouse wheel
The mouse wheel is the key to fast view changes:
You can zoom in and out by rolling your mouse wheel. Roll away from you to zoom in, towards you to zoom out. Did you know that where you place the cursor determines the center of the zoom? You don’t have to click. Just move the cursor to the area of your drawing that you want to zoom in to, and zoom in with the mouse wheel.
You can do a Zoom Extents by double-clicking the mouse wheel.
You can pan by dragging (pressing and holding) with the mouse wheel. Tip: You can pan past the application window and even the edge of your screen. Just keep dragging the mouse cursor.
In 3D drawings, press Shift + the mouse wheel and drag do to a transparent 3D orbit.
Save a view
Saving views is especially helpful in large drawings. Set up the view that you want and then use the VIEW command to open the View Manager. Click New and enter a name. Click OK to accept the default of using the current view. Or choose Define Window to return to your drawing to define a view boundary. You can pan and zoom at the same time. Press Enter to return to the View Manager. Click OK to complete the process.
To display a saved view, again use the VIEW command. Choose the view from the list, click Set Current, and click OK.
You can open a drawing to a saved view. In the Select File dialog box, check the Select Initial View check box and click Open. The Select Initial View dialog box opens, where you can choose the view that you want to display when you open the drawing. Click OK.
Specifying an initial saved view when you open a drawing
Use the ViewCube
The ViewCube in AutoCAD 2010
For 3D drawings, the new ViewCube is a handy way to change viewpoints. You just click on the face, edge or corner of the cube. You can also drag the ViewCube to make minor changes in your viewport; it’s not that different from 3D Orbit.
Has anyone found the Steering Wheel in 2010 useful?
Automate 3D views
In a comment on the post, Productivity Boost Ideas, someone asked about AutoLISP code for SE Isometric and other viewpoints. You can use the VPOINT command to automate these views. Here are the settings for the VPOINT command:
Top: VPOINT 0,0,1
Bottom: VPOINT 0,0,-1
Left: VPOINT -1,0,0
Right: VPOINT 1,0,0
Front: VPOINT 0,-1,0
Back: VPOINT 0,1,0
Southwest: VPOINT -1,-1,1
Southeast: VPOINT 1,-1,1
Northwest: VPOINT -1,1,1
Northeast: VPOINT 1,1,1
Leave a comment with other tips you have for viewing a drawing!
Have you noticed how grip-editing a viewport is different from grip-editing a rectangle?
When you grip-edit the upper-right corner of a viewport to stretch it, the viewport keeps its rectangular shape. You can freely choose your new corner location, so you’re not just scaling. You can change the proportion between the width and height, all without losing its rectangle-ness.
Stretching a viewport
But when you grip-edit the upper-right corner of a rectangle, the rectangle is distorted. The rectangle doesn’t know that it’s supposed to remain a rectangle. AutoCAD just thinks of it as a 4-sided, closed polyline. Indeed, select it and check in the Properties palette (Ctrl+1) and you’ll discover that it is indeed just a polyline.
Stretching a rectangle in AutoCAD
AutoCAD 2010’s geometric parameters can help you easily create a rectangle that knows it’s a rectangle. And, what is a rectangle? Well, “rect” means right, as in 90°. “Angle” is self-explanatory. So, we need to ensure that the angles will stay 90°.
Here’s how:
Draw a rectangle.
Go to Parametric tab> Geometric panel, and click the Perpendicular button.
At the Select first object: prompt, click the top horizontal line of the rectangle.
At the Select second object: prompt, click the left vertical line. You’ll see the Perpendicular icon near the upper-left corner of the rectangle.
Repeat the process for the two lines that meet at the lower-left corner and the lower-right corner.
A rectangle with 3 perpendicular geometric constraints
Note: If you try to do all 4 corners, you’ll get a message telling you that AutoCAD can’t apply the constraint. That’s because when you have 3 corners constrained to perpendicular, the last corner is superfluous, and is therefore an overconstraint.
You can't overconstrain an object in AutoCAD
Now, you can grip-edit that upper-right corner and it will behave just like a viewport!
Note: This is an article by Fran Golding, Senior Drafter at Parsons Brinckerhoff, a large planning, environment and infrastructure firm with offices in Australia and New Zealand. Perhaps you can add your own productivity boost ideas.
When I first started to drive a car, I had the feeling that I was not the one in control. The car was controlling me. It took some
Out of control
time and practice before that changed. Likewise, when I started to use AutoCAD, I had the same feeling. All sorts of things happened which I did not understand. With time and practice (quite a lot of time and practice, I might add), that changed. As with driving a car, I did the same functions, the same way in which I was taught. It wasn’t until I had more confidence in what I was doing that I branched out and tried new ways of doing things. Thence came the beginning of my productivity boost!
Unlike driving a car, AutoCAD performs the same functions in many different ways. You can start the PLOT command by typing plot at the command line, choosing a toolbar or ribbon icon, or choosing File> Print from the drop-down menu (with variations depending on your release and workspace). Any of these will perform the same result. When you are first learning to “drive” AutoCAD, chances are you will generally follow the exact method which you were taught. It’s not until you understand how the program works that you can speed up what you do by creating shortcuts.
I am always surprised to find that users with many years experience still perform functions the long way. Often it depends on what (or who) they have been exposed to at their jobs. It rings true for any trade – if you have an innovative mentor, you will be more innovative! With the technological information super highway we have so much information at our finger tips. There is just no need to plod along doing the same things, the same way, year after year, after year!
“How much difference can it make?” I hear you asking. If we measure key strokes performed in a day, then reduce them by only one key stroke, it compounds to a staggering saving in a year.
To increase your productivity, you don’t need to reinvent the wheel. If you don’t know where to start and you don’t have a resident CAD guru in your office, don’t despair! An Internet search will return countless results. Don’t be put off. Start your journey with that one step. It will lead to the next in a very short time.
Create aliases
The very first step which I took was to add some command aliases to my ACAD.PGP file. Aliases allow you to type one letter at the command line instead of the full word, such as E for Erase, C for Copy or M for Move. They cut out many key strokes. Editors note: In AutoCAD 2010, go to Manage tab> Customization panel> Edit Aliases to customize acad.pgp. You can also open acad.pgp from Windows in a text editor; its location varies according to your release and Windows version.
Part of the acad.pgp file
Write simple AutoLISP routines
The next step which I took was to write some very simple AutoLISP routines. I began my own AutoLISP file which I added to the Startup Suite. This means you do not need to load the routines individually each time you start AutoCAD. Editors note: To add a .lsp file to the Startup Suite, use the APPLOAD command. In the Load/Unload Applications dialog box, locate the file and drag it to the Startup Suite icon.
Drag AutoLISP files to the Startup Suite
Some examples of these very simple routines are getting distance measurements with selected object snaps. For example, I sometimes need to obtain a distance nearest an object or line, then perpendicular to an object or line. The coding for this looks like: (defun C:DNP () (command “DIST” “NEA” pause “PER”))
Then, typing DNP at the command line allows me get the information I need. You might say that you can easily set OSNAPS and achieve the same thing, but the above coding ensures that the correct object snap is used every time. This can often be critical.
Editor’s note: The syntax is (defun C:[name] () (command “DIST” “[osnap]” pause “[osnap]“)) where [name] is the name of the custom command you are creating and what you type to execute it and [osnap] is any object snap you want to use. The pause command stops the execution of the routine for user input, in this case, specifying a point.
From here there are many more such command combinations that you can write using the same syntax, and substituting different object snaps, such as:
DII (distance from intersection to intersection): (defun C:Dii () (command “DIST” “INTERSECTION” pause “INTERSECTION”))
DEE (distance from endpoint to endpoint) (defun C:DEE () (command “DIST” “ENDPOINT” pause “ENDPOINT”))
DEP (distance from endpoint to perpendicular) (defun C:DEP () (command “DIST” “ENDPOINT” pause “PERPENDICULAR”))
Likewise, you can write many AutoLISP routines to draw lines using selected object snaps:
LINE command from Nearest, then Perpendicular to an object or line: (defun C:LNP () (command “LINE” “NEA” pause “PER”))
LEE (line from endpoint to endpoint): (defun C:LEE () (command “LINE” “ENDPOINT” pause “ENDPOINT”))
Editor’s note: Here, the syntax is similar, but uses the LINE command instead of the DIST command.
Once you start writing these, you can easily add others. Even slightly more complex AutoLISP routines will become easy to write. For example, you can write AutoLISP routines to change system variables such as turning wipe out frames on or off.
To turn wipe out frames on: (defun C:WF1 () (command “WIPEOUT” “FRAME” “ON”))
To turn wipe out frames off: (defun C:WF01 () (command “WIPEOUT” “FRAME” “OFF”))
If you look closely at the coding, you will notice that the text inside the inverted commas [quotation marks] is what you would normally type at the command line.
Another series of handy AutoLISP routines is creating frequently used layers, setting their colour and setting them to current. For example, the company I work for specifies that all dimensions are drawn on a layer called “DIMS” which has the color 2 (yellow). The AutoLISP to create this layer looks like: (defun C:D2 () (command “-LAYER” “N” “DIMS” “S” “DIMS” “C” “2” “”))
You can then write extras to add many more layers such as a layer to draw hatches would look exactly the same as for DIMS with the appropriate substitutes. For example: (defun C:H2 () (command “-LAYER” “N” “HATCHES” “S” “DIMS” “C” “2” “”))
My company also has a dedicated layer for inserting external reference drawings called XREF. So, the code to create this and set it current looks like: (defun C:X2 () (command “-LAYER” “N” “XREF” “S” “DIMS” “C” “2” “”))
To fillet lines using a zero radius: (defun C:F0 () (command “FILLET” “R” “0”) (command “FILLET”))
To fillet using a supplied radius: (defun C:FR () (setq rad (getstring “\n Enter Radius:”))
(command “FILLET” “R” rad)
(command “FILLET” pause pause)
(princ))
Editor’s note: This last routine uses the setq AutoLISP command to set a variable named rad to the result of user input in response to the Enter Radius: prompt. It then uses the result to set the fillet radius.
The key to successfully boosting your productivity is to keep on learning. You will be surprised how much greater satisfaction you will get out of increasing your learning. Greater productivity leads to a win-win situation. Your employer will be pleased, and who knows — that may lead to greater remuneration. In this article, I want to encourage all users to embrace the latest and strive to be more productive each day!
A region is an interesting type of AutoCAD object. You can think of it as a 2D surface. Regions are always closed and they look like polylines, but AutoCAD can do some interesting things with regions, such as:
Calculate centroid, moments of inertia, and products of inertia
Extrude them to create 3D solids
Combine (UNION command), subtract, and intersect them to create complex shapes
Follow these steps to create a region:
Draw objects that create a closed area. You can use closed polylines, closed splines, circles, ellipses, and a combination of lines, arcs, and elliptical arcs. The objects cannot intersect (like a figure 8). Here’s a simple example:
Objects for a region
If you want to keep your original objects (and create new regions, rather than converting the original objects to regions), type delobj on the command line. At the Enter new value for DELOBJ <1>: prompt, enter 0.
Start the REGION command.
At the Select objects: prompt, select all of the objects (including any internal objects, such as the circle inside the rectangle in the image you see here). End selection.
To subtract the circle from the rectangle, start the SUBTRACT command. At the Select solids, surfaces, and regions to subtract from .. Select objects: prompt, select the outer object, in this example, the rectangle. End selection.
At the Select solids, surfaces, and regions to subtract .. Select objects: prompt, select the inner objects, in this case, the circle. End selection.
AutoCAD creates one object, which is a rectangular 2D region with a hole in it.
Sometimes you need to create a closed polyline from several existing objects that don’t meet end to end.For example, let’s say that you want to draw a polyline from the inside border created by the rectangle and two circles.
The BOUNDARY command is a very easy way to do this.
Start the BOUNDARY command to open the Boundary Creation dialog box. Notice that the default object type is Polyline. You can also choose to create a region. Click the Pick Points button and click inside the closed boundary. Press Enter and you’re done!
Watch the video.
Note: If the objects do meet end to end, you can start the PEDIT command. At the Convert Lines, Arcs and Splines to polylines [Yes/No]? prompt, use the Yes option.
At the Enter an option [Close/Open/Join/Width/Fit/Spline/Decurve/Ltype
gen/Reverse/Undo]: prompt, use the Join option to join the individual polylines into one.
Some coordinates are easy to find. For example, to find the endpoint of a line, you just use the Endpoint object snap .
But others are more elusive.
For example, recently someone asked me, “I would like to ask if there is a simple way to select a center of a rectangle.”
My answer was: If you press Shift and right-click, you’ll get the OSNAP menu. Choose Mid Between 2 Points, and choose two diagonal corners.
Finding coordinates is a very common task, so here are some other tips for specifying hard-to-find coordinates.
Polar coordinates
To find a point at a specific angle, use polar coordinates, in the format distance<angle. So, to draw a line that is 3.5 units at a 15°, enter 3.5<15.
Apparent Intersection OSNAP
The Apparent Intersection object finds an intersection that would be created if you extended two objects until they met. It’s very simple to use. You start a command, such as the LINE command, specify the OSNAP (you can type app), specify a first point, such as an Endpoint, then hover over the second point. You’ll see an X at the apparent intersection. Just click to lock in the coordinate.
Watch the video.
Extension OSNAP
The Extension object extends lines and arcs in the same direction, past their endpoints. Look for the Extension tooltip; at the same time you’ll see a temporary extension path.
Watch the video.
Object snap tracking
Object snap tracking lets you specify a point based on object snaps of existing objects. When you’re looking for the intersection of two existing endpoints, it works similarly to the Apparent Intersection OSNAP. But it has more uses that that. For example:
Your want the endpoint of a line you’re drawing to be vertical to the endpoint of an existing line.
You want to center a circle inside a rectangle
You want to start a line where two existing lines would intersect if they extended (you can do this with the Apparent Intersection object snap, too)
Note that you can use object snap tracking with polar snapping, so the angles don’t have to be orthogonal.
Follow these steps:
Turn on at least one running object snap. To do so, right-click the Object Snap (OSNAP) button on the status bar and choose an object snap, or choose Settings first (depending on your version).
Click the Object Snap Tracking button on the status bar (which is different from the Object Snap button). to turn on this feature.
Start a drawing command that requires you to specify a point.
Hover the cursor over an object snap, to acquire that point. You see a small plus sign at the object snap point.
If necessary, acquire a second point.
Move the cursor toward the coordinate you want to locate until you see one or two temporary, dotted alignment paths. You’ll also see one or two tooltips and an X.
Click to specify the point. Then continue the command you started..
Here, I started the CIRCLE command and acquired the midpoints of the two sides of the rectangle to find its center. This specifies the center of the circle at the center of the rectangle
Here’s the result:
Temporary tracking
You can also use temporary tracking to accomplish the same result, as long as the angles are orthogonal. Follow these steps:
Turn on at least one running object snap. To do so, right-click the Object Snap(OSNAP) button on the status bar and choose an object snap, or choose Settings first (depending on your version).
Start a drawing command that requires you to specify a point
Type tk and press Enter.
At the First Tracking point: prompt, specify an object snap by clicking it. It must be horizontal or vertical to the final point that you want to specify.
Move the cursor horizontally or vertically toward the desired coordinate. You see a solid, temporary rubber-band line.
At the Next point: prompt, move the cursor from the rubber-band line to the second object snap, and click.
Press Enter to end tracking and continue the command.
Point filters
Point filters are the original way to specify coordinates that aren’t on an object, based on object snaps of existing objects. Most people use object snap tracking now, but they can still be useful, especially in 3D work. You build an X,Y (or X,Y,Z) coordinate by using the X coordinate of one object snap, the Y of another, and perhaps a Z of another.
Follow these steps:
Start a drawing command that requires you to specify a point.
Type .x or .y and press Enter. (You can also Shift + right-click to choose a point filter from the object snap menu.) Let’s say I start by typing .x.
At the of (need YZ): prompt, use an object snap to specify the x coordinate of the desired coordinate. To continue the example of drawing a circle centered inside a rectangle, you would specify the midpoint one of the rectangle’s horizontal lines, because the x coordinate of the circle’s center should be the same as the x coordinate of the horizontal line’s midpoint.
Now, simply specify the object snap on an object to locate the y coordinate. In this example, specify the midpoint of one of the rectangle’s vertical lines.
AutoCAD locates the coordinate and you can continue the command.
From
From is a feature that lets you find coordinates off objects by specify the offset from an object snap. You can specify that offset as the x,y distance or polar coordinate notation.
Follow these steps:
Type from and press Enter. (You can also Shift + right-click and click From on the object snap menu.)
At the Base point: prompt, specify the base point with an object snap.
At the Offset: prompt, enter @ and relative x,y or polar coordinates. Note:You must use @ even if you are using a default of relative coordinates.
Continue the command.
Do you have other ways of locating hard-to-find coordinates? Leave a comment here.
Sometimes, you need text to have a specific line spacing, to fit into a schedule in your drawing. If you can use the TABLE command, that’s great, because the text automatically fits nicely into the rows of the table.
But sometimes, you need to fit your text into an existing set of lines, like a title block, or just want the lines of text to fit nicely into a certain space. In these instances, you should know how to specify line spacing for multiline text. By using multiline text, you can quickly enter many lines of text and place them exactly where you want.
Follow these steps to set the line spacing:
Start the MTEXT command.
At the Specify first corner: prompt, pick the first corner of the Mtext bounding box.
At the Specify opposite corner or [Height/Justify/Line
spacing/Rotation/Style/Width/Columns]: prompt, don’t do what you usually do, which is specify the opposite corner. Instead. use the Line spacing option (you can type l).
At the Enter line spacing type [At least/Exactly] <At least>: prompt, use the Exactly option.
At the Enter line spacing factor or distance <1x>: prompt, enter the line spacing in units. The default, 1x, gives you single-line spacing, which varies with the side of the text. For text that is .5 units apart, enter .5
The Specify opposite corner or [Height/Justify/Line spacing/Rotation/Style/Width/Columns]: prompt returns, and now you specify the opposite corner.
Enter your text.
The MTEXT command doesn’t allow for easy placement, but once you have the text entered with the right line spacing, it’s easy to move. Now you’ll see the advantage of having all the text as one object; move it and all the lines of text move together.
Note that this setting persists for future MTEXT objects. To set the linespacing back to the default setting, at the Line spacing option, enter 1x. Then set the line spacing type to At Least.
You might not realize that you need to set line spacing until you’ve entered the text and seen that it doesn’t fit properly. In this case, you need to change the line spacing of the existing text. Follow these steps:
Select the multline text object.
Open the Properties palette.
Set the Line Space Distance item to the line spacing you want.
Some people prefer to learn from video, so I’ve created a video of a tutorial that I created on drawing a 3D threaded bolt. The video is 9 minutes long. You can find the text version at “Draw a 3D threaded bolt.”
You can use the Shift key in AutoCAD in many ways to help make your AutoCAD tasks easier and quicker:
Press Shift with the FILLET or CHAMFER command to change the radius to 0 and extend to lines to meet
Press and hold Shift to temporarily override ORTHO.
Press and hold Shift+A to temporarily override OSNAP.
Press Shift to change TRIM to EXTEND and vice versa.
Press Shift and pick objects to remove them from the current selection set. You can also press Shift and click a window or crossing selection.
If you have several objects that overlap at a point, mouse over that point, press Shift and press the Spacebar repeatedly to cycle through these objects
In the AutoCAD Text window (press F2 to open and close it), press SHIFT with a key to highlight text. For example, press Shift + Home to highlight text from the cursor to the beginning of the line. Or press Shift + the Up arrow to select the previous line of prompts.
Here are all the keyboard shortcuts I could find in AutoCAD’s Help that use Shift:
SHIFT+, Object Snap Override: Center
SHIFT+. Toggles Polar Tracking
SHIFT+/ Toggles UCSDETECT
SHIFT+; Enables Object Snap Enforcement
SHIFT+] Toggles Object Snap Tracking
SHIFT+C Object Snap Override: Center
SHIFT+D Disable All Snapping and Tracking
SHIFT+E Object Snap Override: Endpoint
SHIFT+L Disable All Snapping and Tracking
SHIFT+M Object Snap Override: Midpoint
SHIFT+P Object Snap Override: Endpoint
SHIFT+Q Toggles Object Snap Tracking
SHIFT+S Enables Object Snap Enforcement
SHIFT+V Object Snap Override: Midpoint
SHIFT+X Toggles Polar Tracking
SHIFT+Z Toggles UCSDETECT
Do you know of another Shift tip? Leave a comment.
Several people (Kent Elrod, Edwin Prakoso, Jon Groelz, W.S.Walker, Hans Graveman, Kevin Schaefer) mentioned Shift + right mouse button to display the OSNAP menu. Of course! That was probably the first Shift shortcut I ever used!
Several people (Kent Elrod, Edwin Prakoso, W.S.Walker, Susan Lafleur) mentioned Shift + middle mouse button (usually the scroll wheel) to transparently go into 3D orbit. Another good one! I use that a lot when I’m working in 3D.
Several people (Kent Elrod, Rusty Gesner, Gary Ketter) mentioned pressing Shift and clicking multiple grips, to select them.
Bill Northrup mentioned two great ones, which work well together:
Ctrl+Shift+C: This is the COPYBASE command. It copies a selected object, prompting you for the base point.
Ctrl+Shift+V: This is the PASTEBLOCK command. It pastes an object that you copied to the clipboard as a block. (AutoCAD assigns it a name.)
A couple of people noted that you can set AutoCAD (on the Drafting tab of the Options dialog box) to require pressing the Shift key to acquire a point for tracking; it’s not the default setting, though. As a matter of fact, you can set AutoCAD (on the Selection tab of the Options dialog box) to require pressing the Shift key to select more than one object at a time (the way you do in most other programs).
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Created by Philip Norton