90 AutoCAD Tips in 90 Minutes

Lynn Allen - Autodesk

AC5836 If you want a plethora of power user tips, then be sure join Cadalyst columnist and author
Lynn Allen as she takes you through a whirlwind of productivity techniques that are certain to improve your everyday drawing life. At a tip a minute, you are certain to discover some AutoCAD features that will remove some of the tedium and boost your ability to meet project deadlines.

Learning Objectives
At the end of this class, you will be able to: Use a larger percentage of AutoCAD software Improve your everyday AutoCAD productivity Get designs done faster Save time with some easy customization

About the Speaker

Lynn Allen, Cadalyst columnist and Autodesk Technical Evangelist, speaks to more than 30,000 users worldwide each year. For the past eighteen years she has written a monthly column in Cadalyst magazine called "Circles and Lines" and is the voice behind the popular Cadalyst videos Tips and Tricks Tuesday with Lynn Allen. Lynn started using AutoCAD software with Release 1.4, over 20 years ago, and taught at the corporate and collegiate level for 13 years before joining Autodesk. A sought-after public speaker with a unique comedic style, Lynn is always one of the highest rated speakers and host of Autodesk University. The author of three AutoCAD books, her latest is entitled AutoCAD Professional Tips and Techniques. lynn.allen@autodesk.com Twitter: Lynn_Allen www.autodesk.com/lynnallen

90 AutoCAD Tips in 90 Minutes

Introduction:
With so much going on in our everyday drawing life we have a tendency to get in an AutoCAD rut. The goal behind this course is to show you a variety of tips that will spark a new awareness and lead you down the road to increased productivity! 1) CommandComplete (2012) or Tab to cycle In AutoCAD 2012 CommandComplete is on by default. A right click allows you to customize it to meet your needs (or to turn it off).

Before AutoCAD 2012, after keying in a one or more characters - use the tab key at the command line to cycle through all of the command and system variable combinations 2) Arrow to move up and down command list. Up and down arrows can take you through previously executed commands. Great for Lispers and for accessing a command you did a couple of steps ago. 3) Move Model space/Layout tabs to the Status bar for more screen real estate. Move to and from the status bar via the right click Hide Layout/Model tabs option. Note: works best in drawings with just one PS layout. 4) Customize the Quick Access Toolbar for maximum productivity! Right click on any tool in the ribbon to add to QA toolbar. Or use the Quick CUI.

5) Search for commands in the Application Menu Cant find a command in the Ribbon? The Application Menu will show you where it is!

90 AutoCAD Tips in 90 Minutes

6) Minimize the ribbon for maximum screen space

Note: dont do this until you are quite familiar with the ribbon!

7) Sticky Panels Move the panels off the ribbon if you plan on using them for a task. Move any panel to the ribbon that you use frequently! 8) Maximizing Viewports Double click on a viewport to open and edit the contents as though you were in model space. No need to worry about accidentally modifying the scale factor and yet zoom and pan all you want. Click outside of the red area to quickly get back to your paperspace layout.

Tool Palette Tips:

9) Quickly create a Tool Palette of your blocks in Design Center

Tip: Be sure to PURGE the drawing with the blocks first!

10) Drag and Drop blocks to your Tool Palette Highlight a block and use a right click to drag a block to an open tool palette. Your new tool with also remember the layer, rotation angle, scale, etc.

90 AutoCAD Tips in 90 Minutes

11) Drag and Drop Hatch patterns to your Tool Palette Highlight a hatch pattern and use a right click to drag the hatch pattern to the tool palette. The pattern, layer, scale factor, and rotation angle are also saved with the hatch pattern. 12) Easily customize your icon with an existing image file Your tool palette images should make sense to the user. 13) Set up tools to automatically scale to your drawing Set the Auxiliary scale factor to Plot Scale or Dimscale.

14) Drag and Drop a Dimension to save all the settings and the layer for speedy additions of new dimensions with the same settings.

Object Selection Tips:

15) Use Ctrl+A to quickly select all the (unfrozen) objects in a drawing 16) FASTSELECT Use FS to select an object(s) and all the objects touching the selected object(s). Use FSMODE to extend this further to select all objects touching those objects!

90 AutoCAD Tips in 90 Minutes

17) Use Add Selected to draw additional objects with the same type and properties

18) Use Select Similar to select objects with similar properties Use the SELECTSIMILAR command, Settings option to control selected properties.

19) Selection Cycling Turn Selection Cycling on (Status Bar) to easily select objects in crowded drawings.

20) Object Isolation Isolate objects from the right click menu (or status bar) rather than via layers. Keep your eye on the lightbulb on the status bar that indicates isolated objects!

Note: OBJECTISOLATIONMODE controls whether or not object isolation persists between drawing sessions. (could be in the Way to Torture your Coworkers section)

90 AutoCAD Tips in 90 Minutes

Layer Tips:
21) Customize your Layer Columns For maximum productivity be sure to turn off any columns you arent using. Organize them so frequently used columns are on the left. 22) Print the Layer List to Excel Select layers in the Layer Manager (Ctrl+A for all), Copy to the Clipboard (Ctrl+C) and then paste the layers into an Excel spreadsheet. 23) Layer Translater (LAYTRANS) Great for mapping layers from one naming convention to another

24) LAYWALK (View layers individually) You can also use the Select Objects button to see the layers the selected objects are on.

Use the LAYWALK command to quickly view individual layers

90 AutoCAD Tips in 90 Minutes

25) LAYDEL (Delete even the most stubborn layers!) Use this fantastic Express Tool to delete any layer (except for 0 and defpoints). Much more robust than PURGE. 26) COPYTOLAYER Allows you to make a copy of an object to another layer. You can even create a new layer if needed! 27) Autodesk Seek Youll find easy access to Autodesk Seek on the Insert tab of the Ribbon. (or use the DC Online tab in Design Center before AutoCAD 2010)
Autodesk Seek www.autodesk.com/seek

2005 Autodesk

Drawing Tips:
28) Temporarily toggle ORTHO with Shift 29) Line to Line/Arc Continuation Hitting an enter after executing the Arc command will automatically draw an arc tangent to the last line drawn. 30) Draw an Arc with a specific Length Draw an arc and then use the LENGTHEN command to get it to a specific length. 31) Speedy OSNAP Override Shift+Right click on the mouse displays the object snap menu. 32) Use the Tab key to cycle through Object Snaps

Hatch Tips:
33) Hatching boundaries with Gaps Set HATCHGAP to a value larger than the gap. 7

90 AutoCAD Tips in 90 Minutes

34) Send HATCHES to the back of the display order with HATCHTOBACK 35) Set up a default Hatch layer (AutoCAD 2011+) from the ribbon

Dimensioning Tips:
36) The good old DIMROTATED command (not on the menu) Use when you want to specify the angle of the dimension (useful on staggered objects) 37) Speedy Object dimensioning Hit an extra enter when dimensioning to quickly select an object. (much faster than selecting two extension line points) 38) The Magical QDIM command Use this express tool for speedy dimensioning! 39) Multifunction Grips (AutoCAD 2012) Hover over the endpoint or midpoint grip to access the dimension grip menus.

40) Correct overridden Dimension values Use the Express Tool DIMREASSOC to highlight overridden dimensions and return them to their correct values.

41) Dimension angles larger than 180 degrees Vertex option.

Use the

90 AutoCAD Tips in 90 Minutes

Grip Tips:
42) Shift for more than one Hot Grip 43) Use Grips to do a speedy Array Use the Control key to repeat the last distance (copy) or angle (rotate) in Grips. 44) Hold down the Right Mouse button to quickly clear all grips

Blocks and Xrefs:

45) Use the Express Tool BCOUNT to quickly count up blocks

46) Use the Basepoint Option in the INSERT command to temporarily change the Insertion point 47) Add points in the Block Editor (BEDIT) to permanently add multiple insertion points The Point parameter can be used to add multiple insertion points. Use the Control key while inserting to cycle through the various insertion points.

Note: Ignore the dreaded exclamation points!

48) Do you need to make another block similar to a Dynamic block? Dont explode (too much work to re-add in those parameters and actions). Use the SAVEAS option in BEDIT.

90 AutoCAD Tips in 90 Minutes

49) BURST Use the Express Tool BURST to explode blocks with Attributes and maintain their attribute value (not definition) 50) Fade External References Fade External References (by default they are faded by 70% in 2011) XDWGFADECTL and on the Insert tab of the Ribbon

51) Reverse Search of Xrefs In Design Center, Use the Search tool to do a reverse search for drawing files that are xrefd into other files.

TIMESAVERS:
52) Use Overkill to delete duplicate/overlapping objects This Express tool is a great way to delete duplicate objects and clean up your drawing. OVERKILL removes unneeded objects by deleting duplicates and combining line and arc segments that overlap. There are multiple settings to ensure you get just the results you want.

53) JOIN command (Glue) Use the Join command to glue together polylines, lines, arcs, elliptical arcs and splines. Join two lines together that are collinear, even if there are gaps between them. In AutoCAD 2012, there is no need to select a Source Object. 10

90 AutoCAD Tips in 90 Minutes

54) New Array option in COPY command (AutoCAD 2012)

55) New Blend Command (AutoCAD 2012) Create a spline between two selected lines or curves with the new BLEND command. Choose between Tangent and Smooth Contunuity. 56) Use the CHANGE command to shorten/lengthen Use the age-old CHANGE command to quickly lengthen/shorten line segments to a specific point (Ortho on) 57) Customize Quick Properties to quickly find the area or length of objects. Think Quick Properties is a nuisance? Think againuse it as a speedy information provider.

58) Use @ to Break an object in the same spot twice

Zooming Tips:
59) Use VTOPTIONS to control transitions (top secret) 60) Ctrl+Wheel = Joystick! 61) Double Click mouse for Zoom Extents

Cool System Variables:

62) PEDITACCEPT Get rid of that annoying Object selected is not a polyline would you like to turn it into one?prompt! Set PEDITACCEPT to 1 63) Set WHIPARC to 1 for Smooth Arcs and Circles

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90 AutoCAD Tips in 90 Minutes

64) SELECTIONANNODISPLAY Set to 0 to turn off ghosting with annotative objects

65) Set TRAYNOTIFY to 0 to turn off notifications

66) Use the Express Tool SYSVDLG when working with system variables

Options:
67) Scalelist across drawings Set up a default Scale list for your users to reset to (User Preferences tab)

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90 AutoCAD Tips in 90 Minutes

68) Right Click Customization Configure your right mouse button to do BOTH a shortcut menu and an enter in OPTIONS (User Preferences tab)

69) Turn off Maintain Visual Fidelity for annotative objects while you are drawing. Speed up your drawing when using Annotation Scaling!

Annotation Tips:
70) Click outside of the MTEXT dialog for speedy exit or Ctrl+Enter 71) TEXTOFRONT Change the Display Order of all the text so its on top of all objects. 72) TXT2MTXT Use the Express Tool TXT2MTXT to change legacy single line text to MTEXT 73) Universally change case of all text with TCASE Works on any type of text.

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90 AutoCAD Tips in 90 Minutes

74) Use AutoFill on AutoCAD Tables Automatically duplicate or renumber cells with the magical light blue grip. 75) Use Fields to automatically calculate Area Can be added via Text, Mtext, Field or Attdef

Misc. Tips:
76) Use a Crossing Window in Fillet Yes Fillet and Chamfer will accept a crossing window! (must use C) 77) Use Shift in Fillet to Square of Corners Then no need to reset the fillet radius. 78) Shift to switch between Trim/Extend 79) Speedy Move/Copy with a right click and drag 80) Ctrl+R to Cycle through Viewports Useful when you have a viewport within a viewport!

Tips to Abuse your Coworkers:

81) ModeMacro Use to write text along the Status Bar. Reset to default with a period.

82) Turn off the Command Prompt with Ctrl+9

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90 AutoCAD Tips in 90 Minutes

83) Modify the Visual Style by adding Overhang

84) Modify ZOOMFACTOR To control the speed of the mouse, change the ZOOMFACTOR. Valid numbers are between 3 (slow) to 100 (fast!) 85) Reverse the Zoom direction with ZOOMWHEEL 86) Undefine some key commands 87) Set FILEDIA to 0 No more dialog boxes for commands that access the file dialog box 88) Set MTJIGSTRING for them To control the default sample text used for MTEXT 89) Use Alert to send them messages (alert Deleting all of your drawing files) 90) Visit my blog: www.autodesk.com/lynnallen

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90 AutoCAD Tips in 90 Minutes

or follow me on Twitter: Lynn_Allen

91) Go to Autodesk University 2012!

Visit Autodesk University Online to view previous years tips!

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