AutoCAD Tips Newsletter

Use the Shift key as a shortcut

ellen@ellenfinkelstein.com (Ellen Finkelstein) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 11:25:44 -0600

You can use the Shift key in AutoCAD in many ways to help make your AutoCAD tasks easier and quicker:

Read all of the Shift shortcuts...

AutoCAD 2010 & AutoCAD LT 2010 Bible available for pre-order from Amazon.com!

ellen@ellen@ellenfinkelstein.com (Ellen Finkelstein) — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 13:59:08 -0600

I'm pleased to announce that AutoCAD 2010 & AutoCAD LT 2010 Bible is available for pre-order from Amazon.com! I'm especially proud because this is the 10th anniversary edition! Wow!

The first edition was called AutoCAD 14 Bible. Since 2004, I've updated the book every year. Starting with 2005, the book also covered AutoCAD LT. It's now the best-selling AutoCAD book on Amazon.com.

The book is about 1200 pages and takes me about 6 months each year to update, including editing and review. I've been lucky in recent years to have the help of Melanie Perry, Brian Benton, and Lee Ambrosius.

Go check it out today!

AutoCAD Tutorial: Calculate scale and sheet size

ellen@ellen@ellenfinkelstein.com — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 11:52:20 -0600

This tutorial is unusual, because you don't need AutoCAD to do it.

You draw full size in AutoCAD. But before long, you may need to set the scale of text, dimensions, and other objects that need to be the right size after you plot on a sheet of paper. In a large drawing, such as a drawing of a house, you obviously need to scale down to fit it on a sheet of paper. For small objects, you might scale up.

You can add text and dimensions in paper space and avoid scaling. You can also use annotative text and dimensions, but you still need to choose a scale.

Let's say you have a drawing of a house. The drawing is 175 feet wide by 120 feet high. Some typical scales for an architectural drawing of a house in the United States are 1/4"=1' and 1/8"=1'.

Follow these steps:

Top 3 Mistakes Corporate Managers Make that Cause Them to Lose Credibility, Miss Their Promotion, and Ultimately Lose Their Job!

ellen@ellenfinkelstein.com (Ellen Finkelstein) — Wed, 27 May 2009 13:34:52 -0600

If you're a corporate manager and wonder about the security of your job, you should read this short paper. It's a free download at http://www.ellenfinkelstein.com/events/Images/Top_3_Mistakes_Corporate_Managers_Make.pdf

June 2009 Resource of the Month - Between the Lines

ellen@ellenfinkelstein.com — Tue, 26 May 2009 20:36:40 -0600

Shaan Hurley created Autodesk's first blog, containing official information from Autodesk on all its products, information about all sorts of CAD information, and Shaan's ramblings about his unusual vacations.

AutoCAD Tutorial: Create a mesh solid jar

ellen@ellenfinkelstein.com (Ellen Finkelstein) — Sat, 23 May 2009 14:19:00 -0600

This tutorial requires AutoCAD 2010 and shows how to create a mesh solid jar.

Start a new drawing using acad3d.dwt.

Switch to the 3D Modeling workspace by choosing it from the Workspace Switching pop-up menu on the right side of the status bar.

Removing duplicate and overlapping objects

Mon, 18 May 2009 20:28:05 -0600

Duplicate and overlapping objects waste ink and mean that your drawing isn't accurate. However, often, they're invisible. The OVERKILL command, part of Express Tools, can help. This command deletes duplicate objects and goes further to combine overlapping lines and arcs. However, it's not on the menu, toolbar, or ribbon, so you have to type it on the command line. For that reason, many people don't know about it.

Let AutoCAD do the math

Thu, 07 May 2009 19:54:58 -0600

There are several ways you can let AutoCAD do some quick arithmetic for you when you need a distance. Let's say you're drawing a line and you want to use direct distance entry to specify the length. What you know is that that line should be 4.372 plus 3.925. Of course, you could use a hand calculator or (gasp!) take out a pencil and paper and do the math.

May 2009 Resource of the Month -AutoCAD Tip of the Day

ellen@ellenfinkelstein.com (Ellen Finkelstein) — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 20:05:00 -0600

Lots of cool AutoCAD tips that you'll find helpful in your everyday work.

Divide up a polyline or spline

Sat, 18 Apr 2009 11:32:35 -0600

Ever need to place an object evenly along a polyline or spline? For example, you may want to divide a plat into equal sections or 40' sections. For whatever reason, you can do this easily using the DIVIDE or MEASURE command. These commands are especially useful when...

Draw with tiled viewports

ellen@ellenfinkelstein.com — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 20:14:41 -0600

Tiled viewports let you divide up the drawing area into tiles and display different parts of your drawing in each. The great thing about tiled viewports is that you can draw from one viewport to another without missing a beat, making them great for large drawings where you need to alternate between working in detail in a small area and working in a larger area. In fact, it's common to use one viewport for a view of the entire viewport, and others for zoomed in details.

Create a page setup for plotting

ellen@ellenfinkelstein.com — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 20:16:20 -0600

Do you change your plot settings a lot? Do you plot drawings in various ways, for example, a draft plot and a final plot? Or do you create various layouts and need to plot them differently? You can save page setups, which contain settings for plotting. A page setup is attached to a layout, so you can easily switch settings from one layout to another.

April, 2009 Resource of the Month

ellen@ellenfinkelstein.com (Ellen Finkelstein) — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 11:38:17 -0600

Autodesk launched a new AutoCAD resource site, called AutoCAD Exchange. It includes the existing discussion groups, a social media component, tips, videos, Ask the Expert sessions, even humor. You can share your own content and AutoCAD tips. You can search for, and invite people to join your group of contacts. To invite people, click Networking, then Network. There, you can search for people you know or browse through the current members. I invite you to add me as a contact!

AutoCAD 2010 ships

ellen@ellenfinkelstein.com (Ellen Finkelstein) — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 11:36:57 -0600

AutoCAD 2010 has shipped and you can now download the 30-day trial to see if you like it. Read about the new features at http://www.ellenfinkelstein.com/acad_news/autocad_news_autocad_2010_new_features.html.

Creating custom hatch patterns

Sun, 22 Mar 2009 15:01:00 -0600

While AutoCAD comes with a large variety of hatch patterns, you can also create your own. This feature has been around for many years. Hatch patterns are stored in files with a file extension of .pat. You can add your hatch to the default acad.pat or create your own .pat file. As always, don’t forget to make a copy of acad.pat or acadlt.pat before you edit it.

AutoCAD tutorial: Draw 3D walls with polysolids

ellen@ellenfinkelstein.com — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 14:44:26 -0600

Polysolids are like 3D polylines that come with a thickness. You can use them to quickly create walls based on a 2D floor plan. The result is a swept solid. You can also draw polysolids without a 2D floor plan, by just specifying points, but here I use existing objects as a basis.

XPlode a block

ellen@ellenfinkelstein.com (Ellen Finkelstein) — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 20:26:57 -0600

You can use the EXPLODE command to break up the block into its components, but you don't have control over layer, color, or linetype. The XPLODE command gives you that control. Here's how it works:

February 2009 Resource of the Month - CAD-a-Blog

ellen@ellenfinkelstein.com (Ellen Finkelstein) — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 22:02:16 -0600

Brian Benton's excellent blog on AutoCAD. Right now, you'll find lots of entries on our trip to Autodesk for the AutoCAD 2010 launch, where we met for the first time. Brian has been helping me update a few of the chapters of what will be AutoCAD 2010 & AutoCAD LT 2010 Bible. Pay him a visit.

February 2009 Resource of the Month - CAD-a-Blog

ellen@ellenfinkelstein.com — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 20:25:01 -0600

Dimensions and associativity

ellen@ellenfinkelstein.com — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 15:08:08 -0600

Normally, dimensions are associative, meaning that they change when you edit objects to which they're attached. Drawings created in releases 2000 and earlier are not associative. Sometimes, you'll get a drawing that was created a long time ago and realize that the dimensions aren't associative. To make them associative, type...

AutoCAD tutorial: Extract attributes

ellen@ellenfinkelstein.com — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 20:38:45 -0600

Blocks can contain attributes, which are labels with properties. For example, you can use attributes to attach price and manufacturer information to a block of an office chair. At the bottom of this tip, I link to a tutorial on creating attributes. Once you have the attributes, you can extract them to a simple database and open that database in Microsoft Excel, for example, or insert it as a table in your drawing. Follow these steps to extract attributes...

Other bloggers on AutoCAD 2010

ellen@ellenfinkelstein.com (Ellen Finkelstein) — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 16:33:00 -0600

Other bloggers on AutoCAD 2010 are:

Randy McSwain - CAD Panacea at http://cadpanacea.com/node/133

Brian Benton - CAD-a-Blog at http://cadablog.blogspot.com/2009/02/new-features-in-autocad-2010.html

Shaan Hurley - Between the Lines at http://autodesk.blogs.com/between_the_lines/

David Cohn - CADman-Do at http://cadman-do.blogspot.com/2009/02/autocad-2010-revealed.html

Donnie Gladfelter - The CAD Geek at http://www.thecadgeek.com/blog/2009/02/06/autocad-2010-first-look-at-parametric-constraints/

Todd Shakelford - The Lazy Drafter at http://lazydrafter.blogspot.com/2009/02/ok-i-lied.html

Robin Capper - RobiNZ CAD Blog at http://rcd.typepad.com/rcd/2009/02/autocad-2010---colourly-visible-now.html

Melanie Perry - Mistress of the Dorkness at http://mistressofthedorkness.blogspot.com/2009/02/autocad-2010-launch-quickie.html

Steve Johnson - blog nauseam at http://www.blog.cadnauseam.com/

AutoCAD 2010 new features

ellen@ellenfinkelstein.com (Ellen Finkelstein) — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 21:13:11 -0600

AutoCAD 2010 is one of the most exciting releases in years. It offers new features across the board, so that almost everyone will find something valuable.

Read a thorough listing, with screenshots and two narrated videos.

AutoCAD 2010 announced

ellen@ellenfinkelstein.com (Ellen Finkelstein) — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 10:38:08 -0600

In a live Web seminar, Autodesk announced AutoCAD 2010, as well as the 2010 versions of its related vertical applications, such as Map and MEP. I'll provide a full rundown of all of the new features in upcoming posts, but I just wanted to highlight the two biggest ones right away.

Parametric constraints for 2D drawing: Parametric constraints control the relationships between objects. Geometric constrains can force an object to be perpendicular, concentric, colinear, conincident, or parallel to another object, for example. Dimensional constraints can control the length, radius, diameter or angle of an object. You can create more complex relationships. For example, you can constrain one line to be twice the length of another line.

Parametric constraints can change the way you draw in a major way, reducing errors, and facilitating modifications. They bring the capabilities of AutoCAD to a new, more professional level.

Mesh modeling for 3D: A new type of object, called a mesh, allows you to mold models to an extent not possible before. You can create complex, "organic" shapes quite easily. This feature borrows from much more advanced programs, such as 3D Studio Max and Maya.

Incredible deal on Motivate Like a CEO, by Susan Bates

ellen@ellenfinkelstein.com — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 15:54:04 -0600

My friend and colleague Suzanne Bates has a new book that I think you might be interested in. This book will be really valuable for anyone in a position of leadership, and for anyone who aspires to get there one day! It’s called Motivate Like a CEO: Communicate Your Strategic Vision and Inspire People to Act! (McGraw Hill 2009). Some of you may have read Suzanne’s first book, Speak Like a CEO: Secrets For Commanding Attention and Getting Results (McGraw Hill 2005). The new book goes beyond speaking and shows you what it takes to motivate and influence others. As the book jacket says, “Suzanne explains how you can become a powerful force of influence within your organization!” Today, Monday, January 26th only, if you purchase the book, Suzanne will give you access to a whole list of bonus gifts from successful authors and consultants (myself included!) You’ll receive complimentary white papers, tip sheets, MP3s, and other valuable learning tools. Together, all of these bonus gifts are worth a lot of money! So I wanted to be sure that you knew about the offer today. Click here to learn more about the book and the special offer for January 26th: I hope you find the book and the bonus gifts to be very helpful in your professional success!

January 2009 Resource of the Month - The CAD Geek

ellen@ellenfinkelstein.com — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 14:51:03 -0600

The CAD Geek is a blog specializing in CAD management and standards. It covers AutoCAD, as well as Civil 3D and Map 3D. However there are many tips that anyone who works with AutoCAD can use.

Use the DXF format to edit drawings

ellen@ellenfinkelstein.com — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 14:27:41 -0600

AutoCAD supports Autodesk's DXF (Drawing Interchange File) format, which is a text-only format that contains a 2D drawing's information. The DXF format is often used to exchange drawings between different CAD programs. You can save a drawing in DXF format and you can open a DXF file in AutoCAD and save it as a drawing. Try this round-trip exercise...

Speed up your work with command aliases

ellen@ellenfinkelstein.com — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 13:06:48 -0600

I usually provide menu, toolbar, or ribbon access for commands, but the quickest way to work is to type command aliases on the command line. You just need to know them. Print out this list and keep it by your computer for a couple of weeks until you learn them. You'll be amazed at how much faster you work.

Speed up your work with command aliases

ellen@ellenfinkelstein.com — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 15:57:27 -0600

Use dynamic UCS to speed up 3D drawing

ellen@ellenfinkelstein.com — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 15:32:57 -0600

One of the awkward parts about 3D drawing is the fact that you need to constantly change the XY plane. In the past, the only way to do this was to create a new UCS using the UCS command. Since 2007, however, you can use the dynamic UCS feature, which makes the process of drawing on a plane other than the XY plane much easier. The dynamic UCS creates a temporary XY plane so you can draw or edit on that plane.

Tutorial: Use fields to automatically label dynamic blocks

ellen@ellenfinkelstein.com — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 11:17:51 -0600

You can use fields (AutoCAD 2005 and later) to create automatic labels that provide information about objects. In this tutorial, I'll expand on the idea of using fields in attributes, which are labels attached to blocks. This example shows the use of fields that label geometric parameters of dynamic blocks.

November 2008 Resource of the Month - AutoCAD Users Group International (AUGI)

ellen@ellenfinkelstein.com — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 15:50:07 -0600

When you join, there are many resources, including a newsletter, connections to local groups, and opportunities to learn more about AutoCAD.

Add formulas to a table

ellen@ellenfinkelstein.com — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 15:48:30 -0600

You can add formulas to a table, so that it automatically calculates the following: - Sum - Average - Count (counts the cells in a column or row) - Cell (displays the value of another cell) - Equation (lets you manually insert a formula) This makes the table work like a spreadsheet. To add a formula...

Access related files with the support file search path

ellen@ellenfinkelstein.com — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 20:07:05 -0600

All AutoCAD drawings are connected to related files. At the very least, all drawings need access to a menu file. Some drawings also need to access customization files (menus), fonts, plug-ins (such as AutoLISP and VBA files), linetypes, and hatch patterns. Drawings may have externally referenced drawings (xrefs).

AutoCAD Tutorial: Create a gradient fill

ellen@ellenfinkelstein.com — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 15:23:15 -0600

Gradients are a great way to easily make a 2D drawing look like a presentation drawing done in Photoshop or Illustrator. AutoCAD offers one- or two-color gradients and lots of variations.