WorldCAD Access

Cleaning up Windows context menu

Opinion I get irritated by the context menu (right-click menu, shortcut menu) for Windows file explorer getting cluttered with functions I never use. The long list of functions slow down the display of the menu, and worse, makes me take too long hunting through the list of options for the one I want. Mine, right now, looks like this. There's five entries I'd like to get rid of. There is no place in Windows to edit remove them, other than editing the registry, which I really don't want to do. There are some utilities, like CCleaner, that offer to remove... Read more →

Accessing Someone Else's Windows Libraries

Opinion Sometimes, a computer breaks down, and the the hard drive -- with all its precious data -- becomes inaccessible. When specific components of a desktop computer break down, they can be replaced easily. For a laptop, however, regaining access is a bit trickier: When the keyboard fails, attach an external keyboard; I recommend a corded keyboard attached to a USB port, as Bluetooth keyboards are not as quick to set up in an emergency. When the screen fails, attach an external monitor to the laptop's HDMI, VGA, or USB-C port. When other components fail, such as the hinges break... Read more →

Updated: When your Dell laptop's fan races

Tip Some people -- like me -- find that when we start up our Dell laptop -- an Inspiron 14, in my case -- the fan races for a disquietingly long time. Checking Task Manager, we see that some Dell services are using up a lot of CPU cycles. It turns out that Dell's software is creating a restore point, in case you need to repair the computer's state to an earlier one. This is a duplicate of what Windows does each time you install an update to Windows, but the Dell one apparently is more thorough and takes place... Read more →

Using a second PC as a second display

Luna not Last year I kicked in $99 towards Luna when it launched. It is a dongle that let a Windows or MacOS computer use an iPad tablet as a second display. It works, but is $99 and does not support Android or Windows tablets as second displays, even a year later. This would be handy for me on road trips, as I usually take a Windows laptop and an Android tablet with me, anyhow. So I looked around at other possible linkages. I normally ignore "Watch My Youtube Video!" solutions, but thought I'd give one a try, as it... Read more →

Finding the Bottlenecks in Solidworks

Between one and multi cores Alin Vargatu of TriMech researched where the single-core bottlenecks in Solidworks are, and reported it in a Webinar at trimech.com/resources/upgrade-your-hardware-and-software-for-maximum-productivity (email required). While the purpose of the Webinar is to sell upgrades to Solidworks 2023 and new Dell hardware, it contains useful information. Let’s take a look at some of what he and Dell’s Scott Hamilton had to say at the “Upgrade Your Hardware and Software for Maximum Productivity in 2023” session. The poster benchmark reduces the time to open a large assembly from 8.75 minutes to 1.75 minutes -- 5x faster. The changes being... Read more →

3 amazing functions in Opera Web browser

Nifty I've been using the Opera Web browser since v4, back when its boasts was that it could fit on a 1.44MB floppy disc. In addition to being not-Internet Explorer and not-Firefox (the two browsers with the largest market share back then), it had a developer mode that displayed all the text of a Web site. This was especially useful for reading sites that otherwise required one to sign up. After v12, Opera had a split inside the company, with the founder going off to start up the Vivaldi browser, saying he wanted to return the browser to its Opera... Read more →

Tips: What to do when your color prints turn out horrible

Ink and paper I was on the most crucial of deadlines: getting pictures printed for an upcoming wedding reception. They have to be perfect. The bride-to-be stipulated 4x6" prints, white border, while the groom-to-be noted that Staples does a better job than London Drugs. As the number of pictures was not that large, I started printing them on my HP photoprinter. I have counted on HP inkjet photo printers for more than a decade to output prints reliably. I buy whatever model has the second tray for 4x6 paper. But this time, the output was awful. Shady areas in prints... Read more →

BricsCAD V19 Best: #2, Blockify Conversion

BricsCAD V19's Best Three New Functions Blockify command detects multiple copies of identical entities, and then replaces them with an equivalent block. For example, select a line segment. BricsCAD searches the drawing for all other lines of the same length, creates a block (of a line) that mimics them, and then replaces the lines with the block. The drawing looks no different afterwards, but replacing entities with blocks reduces the drawing size in memory and when saved to disk, as well as improving opening, drawing, zooming, and saving performance. This works, because the block is actually a reference to a... Read more →

BricsCAD V19 Best: #1, Nearest Distance Editing

BricsCAD V19's Best Three New Functions NearestDistance variable toggles a dynamic dimension that reports the nearest distance between two selected entities. (This function does not work when three or more entities are selected.) To use the nearest distance function, just select two entities. The distance appears on a blue dimension line. Shortest distance shown between the circle and line The distance reported is the shortest distance. You can edit the distance to move the last selected entity. In the first figure, I picked the circle first, and so it has the dot on the dimension line; I picked the line... Read more →

BricsCAD V19 Best: #3, QuickDraw Development

BricsCAD V19's Best Three New Functions bimQuickDraw command draws rectangles and L-shapes with height for conceptually designing buildings and room layouts. When you start the command, you see this initial square. The blue square represents the floor area, the white outline is the walls. The wall thickness is fixed at 1/4" in imperial drawings and 5mm in metric ones. As you move the cursor, the square elongates. You can enter exact distances in the dynamic distance fields. When you click a point to indicate the opposite corner (and the size of the floor), walls appear; the height is fixed at... Read more →

Why IFCs are so bad at BIM translation

A reader writes: Here's something which has always bothered me. How can we say that IFC [industry foundation classes] is a BIM [building information modeling] exchange format? When I create walls in one BIM app, export them to IFC and then import the IFC into another BIM app, they aren't native wall objects and don't operate as them. If it really is an exchange format -- besides mere object shapes -- shouldn't this be possible? What am I missing? - D.E. IFC is a kludge. It was first designed by Autodesk to solve the problem they created with AutoCAD Release... Read more →

Reflection: What are Drawings?

Guest editorial by Alexander Yampolsky Construction of the Babel tower was stopped due to the fact that builders ceased to understand each other. Any collaboration is based on understanding, but it is better to clarify what it is. I think that understanding is the image (or model) of the object in the human's head. I also think that the drawings are the most simple, universal, and reliable means to build an object image in human mind. Drawings have many disadvantages and one unique advantage. Drawings are the only way to write the history (or algorithm) of understanding. Having read this... Read more →

TIP: How to tell which add-on is running in AutoCAD

by Bill Fane A reader was wondering, "Is there a sysvar (or any other way) for AutoLISP to determine if a vertical such as Civil 3D is running?" An initial response was, "No sysvar or regular Lisp routine does this. I suspect it's available in the higher order APIs, like ARx or VLX." Then I found it. The menu system for Civil 3D is quite different from generic AutoCAD. The following bit of code... (setq VERT (getvar "menuname") VERT (substr VERT (- (strlen VERT) 2) ) ) ...returns the last three characters of the full path/name of the current menu.... Read more →

It's 2016, and AutoCAD Still Can't Do This One Thing

Relative Angles are Relatively Hard CAD software is nothing more than a geometry calculator that does vector math, the stuff we learned during our first year of science or engineering degrees. Those matrix transformations that took us minutes or hours to work through manually are these days calculated instantly by CAD. Fast forward to 2016, and I'm working on several online AutoCAD courses for a technical college in the Eastern USA. I found that one of the student homework problems could not be solved by AutoCAD, at least not easily. The problem involved a series of relative distances and relative... Read more →

Spelling dictionary lists for BricsCAD V15

Command and sysvar names I've put together a couple of files that contain just the command and system variable names found in BricsCAD V15. You can import them into your word processing and desktop publishing software to get rid of all those squiggly red lines from the text. BricsCAD-V15-commandNames.txt Download from https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/28941239/BricsCAD-V15-commandNames.txt BricsCAD-V15-sysvars.txt Download from https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/28941239/BricsCAD-V15-sysvars.txt The commands are from the Platinum Edition of BricsCAD V15, and so cover all editions. The word lists are in plain ASCII (.txt) format, so you can inspect them before importing the names. Importing Word Lists To add word lists to InDesign, follow these... Read more →

Is the mouse now redundant?

A reader writes: Can you tell me if it is possible to create new CAD drawings using only touch screens, tablets, pads, etc, as quickly as using a mouse? The reason I ask is that I still do a little part time teaching introducing CAD to secondary level students and increasing numbers now do all their computer input without using a mouse at all. My first reaction is to tell them they won’t be able be very productive unless they do use a mouse to maximise their input and navigation in a new drawing. Am I wrong? -P.H. You are... Read more →

Dwg Compatibility of ProgeCAD and AutoCAD

A reader writes: A few days ago I had dilemma: I make a dwg with AutoCAD (native file), edit it with ProgeCAD, and open it again with AutoCAD. Will the dwg file be corrupted (objects etc)? I mean, will the process from AutoCAD to ProgeCAD lose info? And then in AutoCAD the drawing wouldn't be the same as the source file? - V. P. The drawing will not be corrupted, even though AutoCAD may display a dialog box insinuating it. Nearly all drawing entities are preserved during the round-trip. It is possible that some advanced AutoCAD entities might not survive... Read more →

Free replacements for LogMeIn, now that it's $100 a year

A reader asks, LogMeIn was great when it was free. Have you found an alternative now that it's $49/year? - R.T. LogMeIn is one of many companies that provide software for remotely accessing and controlling other computers. The new $49/year price is for existing customers; new customers pay $99 annually for running the software between just two computers; the prices escalate for accessing more devices. I, for instance, have seven devices I need to connect between from time to time, for which LogMeIn would charge $450 yearly -- no thanks! It turns out that remote computing is built into Windows... Read more →

First Look: YouTubing Inside Solid Edge ST 6

One of the more interesting new functions in Solid Edge ST 6 has nothing to do with MCAD: it’s an innovative ability to play videos from YouTube and to record the CAD program's actions for sharing on YouTube. Let's take a look at how it works. First, here’s how to access the YouTube function. I failed when I l initially looked for a "youtube" function on the ribbon. It turned out that access is through two spots along the window's edges (see figure 1): Viewing videos is accessed through a docking pane: click the YouTube button found along the right... Read more →

Constructing multi-character complex linetypes in AutoCAD -- by hand

Yup, even though competitors like MicroStation and TurboCAD have had built-in linetype editors for years now, Autodesk still expects the customers of its $4,100 software to construct linetypes by hand, in writing the cryptic code in Notepad. Reader A.C. last week wrote me: I have been reading your tutorials on linetype files for AutoCAD and I have made an attempt at a complex linetype, but unfortunately I can’t get the coding right. Is there any way you can help? What I am after is combining two to make one. Is it possible to add the crosses from the ‘redundant apparatus’... Read more →

Why doesn't every CAD package have this new function in BricsCAD?

Here is a useful function added to BricsCAD V13.1.15: DUAL MONITORS: when using an external display, dockable dialogs like the Properties Bar, Command Line window and Toolpalettes could be off-screen after switching from 'Extend these displays' to 'Show desktop only on 1', or after the external display had been disconnected. Now, when BricsCAD starts up, and a dockable dialog's position is off-screen, the dialog is moved to a default position. So 'lost' dialogs can be retrieved by restarting BricsCAD. Source: http://www.bricsys.com/common/releasenotes.jsp?i=3120 Read more →

AutoCAD 2013 still runs on netbooks

Some of us beta testers are finding that Autodesk 360 does not work with the shipping version of AutoCAD 2013, and so in writing our books we have to install AutoCAD on a different computer. I, however, have limited possibilities. My wife's computer runs Linux. My powerful, 8GB notebook computer is being used by my daughter-in-law for drawings in her fashion design courses. That leaves my 1GB netbook. To get AutoCAD 2013 running on a netbook is just like earlier releases: 0. Remember to plug into the netbook a high-speed USB thumbdrive or SD card for ReadyBoost memory caching. This... Read more →

Yip, AutoCAD 2013 runs on Windows 8

Earlier, I described on my Gizmos Grabowski blog about how to run Windows 8 in a virtual machine; see worldcadaccess.typepad.com/gizmos. Later that day, I got AutoCAD 2013 (RC beta) running in 8. It works, except that running inside a virtual machine, the graphics are a bit sluggish, because 3D graphics are emulated -- no hardware drivers. Point is, however, that AutoCAD runs in Windows 8, even if it is not on the official support list. Here's a picture; click it for the unfuzzy view. The large white icons along the right edge are generated by Windows 8, when you move... Read more →

Social media becomes commands in AutoCAD 2013

With the embargo coming off AutoCAD 2013 early, information about the new release will start dribbling out from bloggers keen to share their knowledge. Well, what ever else there is to know beyond what Autodesk Japan revealed this week. As the author of the What's Inside? AutoCAD series of ebooks, I work harder and dig deeper to learn what's inside new releases. Here are a pair of social media commands from deep inside AutoCAD 2013: ai_open_facebook_with_product and ai_open_twitter_with_product open the Autodesk pages for Facebook and Twitter in your computer's default browser. The "with_product" part makes me think the commands access... Read more →

Oopsie: Autodesk undoes NDA on 2013 products a month early

In about an hour, Autodesk releases its Q4 and fiscal year information to the public, and speaks with financial analysts. Yesterday, Autodesk Japan unveiled details of AutoCAD 2013 and related products, easily readable with the help of online translators. The details were released more than a month too soon, which wasn't to happen until the big, two-day media event planned for the end of March in San Francisco. When those of us in the beta program learned of the Japanese leak, we asked Autodesk PR for an explanation of our status. I never heard back, but others did. One author... Read more →

Extending Bricscad through user-written .net commands

From the Universitätsbauamt Heidelberg in Germany, Konstantin Sakellaris writes to tell me about three commands that he programmed using the C# .NET API of Bricscad. As much as V12 is an advance over earlier releases of Bricscad, it lacks commands like Sweep, Loft, and Slice (cut a 3D solid using a surface. And so he wrote them for Bricscad V12: SWEEPX and LOFTX sweep and loft solids and surfaces as swept and lofted ACIS surfaces. SSBS is short for "slice solid by surface" and it slices solids. He recommends that you look to the Bricscad Support Forum thread for documentation,... Read more →

Are CAD Vendors Thinking "HTML 5" Yet?

None of the product managers I spoke with at Autodesk University were aware of HTML 5 and how it might impact Autodesk's Web-based apps. It is important, for it appears that next year Google will switch from Gears to HTML 5. (Gears allows some Google apps to work offline, specifically GMail, Docs, and Reader. "Off-line" means you can work with these Web-hosted applications when your computer does not have an Internet connection. At least one of Autodesk's Lab apps uses Gears, as I understand it.) The HTML 5 spec supports 2D drawing (inline SVG), document editing, drag'n drop, offline storage,... Read more →

Vernor Wins; Customers Win

A judge decided today that Tim Vernor did not contravene the USA Copyright Act, when he resold AutoCAD software he apparently picked up at garage sales. The judge told Autodesk to back off harassing him. From Owen Wengerd's CAD/court: "The court declares that Plaintiff's [Vernor's] sales of Defendant's [Autodesk's] copyrighted AutoCAD software do not violate the Copyright Act to the extent Plaintiff [Vernor] acquired them in the manner described in the order. Defendant [Autodesk] is hereby enjoined from asserting its rights under the Copyright Act as a basis for preventing or otherwise hindering Plaintiff's [Vernor] sales of AutoCAD software." (The... Read more →

Cui Group Name

I am updating my ebook, Tailoring AutoCAD CUI 2010, and came across a ribbon button property that isn't documented by Autodesk: Group Name, under the Appearance section. I couldn't find an explanation for in with the help files provided by Autodesk with AutoCAD 2010. I googled for it, but only found references to another kind of Cui-related "group" -- partial CUI files loaded with the CuiLoad command. A few moments worth of tinkering found that Cui's Group Name is not related to the names of Cui groups. I reread the Cui dialog box's description for Group Name: Specifies the group... Read more →

Use Task-Appropriate Tools

Next time a vendor tells you to upgrade his software, ask youself if you even need the software -- never mind the upgrade. The US Navy did. Check out the aircraft and bomb databases described in The Nimitz Goes To Home Depot by Kevin Meyer. He told us he was offered a multi-million-dollar touch-screen computer system to replace [the existing manual system]. His answer? How do I fix it in the Persian Gulf under attack, or during a typhoon? Read more →

By Accident. Or on Purpose.

I'm updating my Using AutoCAD book for Autodesk Press, and as I go through AutoCAD 2010 -- and as technical editor Bill Fane tech edits my work -- we got to wondering: Does Autodesk pull features from new releases on purpose, or by accident? Here's some of the puzzlers we've come across: Mtext command. The ribbon interface leaves out the AutoStack function, as does the right-click context menu. To access this useful feature, you need to change mtexttoolbar system variable to 1, which switches the mtext user interface to the traditional floating toolbar. Presspull command. In AutoCAD 2009 and earlier,... Read more →

Tip: Skins for AutoCAD 2009

Hidden away in AutoCAD 2009's Options dialog box is an item labeled Color Scheme. Currently there are just two choices, Dark (default) and Light. But I see this as a skinning mechanism and perhaps programmers more knowledgeable than myself might be able to create additional skins. How about an architectural skin that's all right-angles and looks like glass. Or a mechanical one that is all curvey and looks like metal. A geo one that combines fluorescent orange with earth tones. Read more →

TIP: Trimming AutoCAD Drawings

A reader asks, Which way I can trim part of the AutoCAD drawing and save it in new file? - Victor, Russia Like this: 1. Use the ExTrim command to trim the drawing with a polyline or other closed entity. (ExTrim is a Bonus tool included with AutoCAD .) 2. Use the WBlock command to save the result to a .dwg file. Alternatively, use the SaveAs command to save by another name. 3. Quit the drawing; do not save. Victor replies: "But I can't trim the hatch." You're right: the ExTrim command has problems with hatches. One solution is to... Read more →

Follow Up: Annotative Text

Reader "bigamike" had a couple of questions about annotative text: Q: Let's say I have a drawing (DWG 1) and I've used "Atext" in the model space and have viewports utilizing various scales in the paper space. Then the text automatically displays at the proper scale; any text not set as "Atext" or set with an indicator for scale of that particular viewport is not displayed. That's what I'm reading as the intended purpose. A: You've got it partly right. Here's what happens to text: * Normal non-annotative text is always displayed at any viewport scale, just as in AutoCAD... Read more →

AutoCAD 2008: New Direct, Interactive Moving

AutoCAD 2006 and 2007 feature a hidden shortcut that let you copy and move objects directly -- without using the Move/Copy commands or the tedious grips editing method. You select an object, and then drag it by the right mouse button. When you let go, a shortcut menu appears that lets you chose from Copy Here, Move Here, Paste as Block, or Cancel. AutoCAD 2008 does the same thing. But if you use the left mouse button, it moves the object (without the shortcut menu appearing): 1. Select an object. 2. Grab it on a non-grip location with the left... Read more →

New Longest Command Namein AutoCAD History!

If nothing else, you may want to upgrade to AutoCAD 2008 just to be able to type in the longest command name in the 25-year-old software's history: customerinvolvementprogram At 26 letters, it's as long as the alphabet! Oh, and its an undocumented command, as well. It's purpose is to get to you agree to allow Autodesk to anonymously collect information about your computer and use of its software. Read more →

Painful: Tracing 3D to Create 2D!

A reader writes: I have a 3D model as reference file and from the viewport in Paper Space where we do our 2D drawings. It's just like we're tracing the lines to produce the 2D drawings. A portion of the drawing that we would like to show is in an angle plane and Clip Command only works perpendicular to the camera view. How do you clip angle? This method of tracing the 3D to create 2D in paper space for me looks more like going backwards, because we're double drafting. Is there a way to save time with re-tracing these... Read more →

A reader asks: How can I get freehand style linetypes rather than the dead straight? Someone did this for me about 100 years ago and I need an 'artisan' look for a set of drawings. - I.P. If you want the entire drawing to look handdrawn, there is software called Squiggle that converts drawings into a variety of hand-drawn looks. 15-day trial at Palisades Research. Read more →

10-Year Plans

Communist leaders used to have their five-year plans, where their planned economies would make Great Leaps Forward(tm). Except that the economies didn't. The problem with perfect plans, of course, is that humans are involved, as noted in the movie, "The Minority Report." One of today's headlines is, "Gates: Beating Asia Piracy to Take 10 Yrs." (It was wrong for Reuters reporter Ben Hirschler to use the word "beat" in his headline, which implies that piracy would be eliminated in Asia.) In more detail, Gates claims that it will take a decade to bring rates of priacy in India and China... Read more →

TIP: Backing Up Backups

Most software programs, include CAD, provide automatic backups. As you work on drawings, the software silently and automatically saves your drawings every 10 minutes or so. This is fabulous, because you will lose only 10 minutes of work (at most) when Windows crashes. (I set other, less intensive software, such as word processing, to automatically backup every 1 minute.) The drawback, however, is that the backup files are stored on the same hard drive as the program (and probably your original drawing files). That's the default setting, because the programmers can only assume your computer has a single hard drive.... Read more →

29 Flaws in CUI

AutoCAD 2006 made a huge change in the customization of toolbars, menus, mouse buttons, and so on. The new environment is called "Customize User Interface," or CUI for short. Working with CUI for my "Tailoring AutoCAD 2006" e-book, I found dozens of bugs and irritants. Here's my list: 1. The TbCustomize command prevents tampering with the user interface. It disables the Customize and Toolbar commands, but not the CUI command. (By disabling the Customize command, it prevents access to tool palette groups, and locking out Toolbar makes no sense, because it is an alias for CUIl.) 2. Commands are listed... Read more →

AutoCAD 2006 Service Pack 1

Shaan Hurley at Between the Lines reports that Autodesk is close to releasing Service Pack 1 for AutoCAD 2006. I'm glad to see it, because despite the remarkable features in AutoCAD 2006, the many bugs and documentation problems made it feel like the software was rushed out the door. You can read the complete list of fixes here, including eight bugs that crash AutoCAD. In summary, bugs are being fixed in these areas: ActiveX API Calculator Color Command prompt Data Extraction DesignCenter Dimensioning Dragging drawings Dynamic Blocks Dynamic Input Dynamic Input tooltips Graphics system Hatching In-Place Text Editor Info palette... Read more →

AutoCAD Tip: Circles Based on Area or Circumference

AutoCAD provides five way to draw circles with the Circle command, but none of them are based on the circumference or area of circles. There is a workaround: 1. Draw the circle with the Circle command. The radius does not matter, but the centerpoint should be in the correct location. 2. Open the Properties window, and then change the value of the circle's area or circumference. The circle changes in size to meet the new specification, maintaining its centerpoint. (AutoCAD performs the pi-related math for you.) Read more →

Drawing Triangles Given Lengths of 3 Sides

In doing renovations to my back yard, I needed to figure out some angles. The back yard is hilly, and the contractor needed to know the angle of the slope. He had measured three lengths of a triangle, and asked me to determine the interior angles. The lengths were 102", 102", and 90". I fired up AutoCAD, and quickly worked out the angles. How would you approach the problem? The difficulty is knowing where the three lines intersect. I relied on a technique learned in my days of hand drafting. The solution back then was as follows: 1. Draw one... Read more →

2 Undocumented AutoCAD 2006 Commands

EAttExtEdit and EAttExtUpdate are two commands that are no documented in AutoCAD 2006. They are are the behind-the-scenes mechanisms for updating tables when attribute values change. (Both commands require that you first select the table, and then enter the command name.) EAttExtEdit The EAttExtEdit command (short for "Enhanced ATTibute EXTraction EDITor") runs a condensed version of the EAttExt command, which generates the attributed-filled tables in the first place. This command lets you select which new attributes to add to the table. Follow these steps: 1. When attributes change and the yellow warning balloon appears, click x to dismiss it. This... Read more →

TIPS: AutoCAD 2006 Misc

Rectang This command has two new options: Area and Rotation. The Area option has a curious quirk of which you should be aware: it takes into account chamfers and fillets. You want to draw a rectangle of 50 square feet. If the rectangle has chamfers (or fillets), AutoCAD 2006 draws the rectangle slightly "larger" to compensate for the "missing" parts at the four corners. The total area will be 50 sq ft. ApBox As with every release, AutoCAD 2006 has undocumented system variables. One of them is ApBox, which reports whether the aperture box cursor is on or off. Perhaps... Read more →

TIPS: AutoCAD 2006 Editing

Like most CAD systems, AutoCAD has layers to control the properties and visibility of objects. Objects on locked layers are visible, but cannot be edited. AutoCAD 2006 now displays a padlock icon when you attempt to edit objects on locked layers, as illustrated below. Trim When you press Enter at the ‘Select objects or (select all):’ prompt, AutoCAD selects all objects (not on frozen layers), and then skips repeating the ‘Select objects:’ prompt -- going straight to the next prompt, 'Select object to trim or shift-select to extend or [Fence/Crossing/Project/Edge/eRase/Undo]:'. Autodesk notes that the Crossing option (new to AutoCAD 2006)... Read more →

TIPS: AutoCAD 2006 Dimensions

As I update my four books on AutoCAD 2006, I come across items that surprise me -- features or bugs: A bug in the preview window of the DimStyle dialog box: change angle units to grads or radians, and then back to decimal. Instead of displaying 60.0000 degrees, it now displays 59.99909 degrees. The DimArc command has a "hidden" option: Leader appears only when the arc is more than 90 degrees. It draws an arrow pointing from the text to the arc. I don't understand the point to the leader. Mtext no longer uses <> for default dimension text. Instead,... Read more →

Getting to Know LT

A reader asks: What book do you recommend for me to learn the new features in LT 2005? I don't know of any. I mean, there probably are some, but I don't know their content. LT 2005 itself comes with a New Features Workshop that guides you through many (but not all) new features. It includes a printable list of new features. Several people have told me that the "express tools" are in LT 2005. It would be interesting to hear how they know this. LT DOES NOT include Express Tools, partly because most of them rely on AutoLISP, which... Read more →

TIP: Editing AutoCAD Linetypes

R.M. asks: I'm creating existing utility 'complex lines' in AutoCAD. Is there a way to increase the dash/dot specifications from 2 to 12, to say 2 to 50? Instead of: - - - s - - - s - - - s - - - s - - - I would like to be able to create: - - - - - - - - - - - -s - - - - - - - - - - s - - - - - - - - - - s - - - - - - - - -... Read more →