How to customize AutoCAD ($40)
Tailoring AutoCAD is one of our most popular e-books. It is part one of a three-part series that describes how to customize every aspect of AutoCAD --from user interfaces to dynamic blocks:
Part 1. Tailoring AutoCAD (up to $40)
Part 2. Tailoring CUI for AutoCAD ($25)
Part 3: Tailoring AutoLISP - DCL - Diesel and scripts ($27)
The PDF ebook is available for many releases of AutoCAD, starting with Release 12 and going through to AutoCAD 2012. In addition, dual-OS version of this ebook is available for Windows and OS X.
The ebook provides detailed descriptions -- more detailed than the documentation provided by Autodesk -- and step-by-step tutorials in the following chapters (2012 edition):
1. Starting AutoCAD
2. Changing AutoCAD's Environment
3. Tweaking Options
4. Customizing Linetypes
5. Making Hatch Patterns
6. Creating Shapes and Fonts
7. Writing Command Aliases
8. Coding Field Text
9. Managing CAD
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- All illustrations in full color
- Formatted for printing on standard 8.5x11 paper
- Margins designed for three-hole punching
- Complimentary subscription to upFront.eZine
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Table of Contents: Tailoring AutoCAD 2012
Important note: The content of each edition varies depending on the features in the release
Chapter 1: Starting AutoCAD
Starting AutoCAD, Starting AutoCAD Faster, Windows ReadyBoost, Start Up Accelerator, Disabling the Communications Center
Startup Switches, Windows Command-line Commands, Tutorial: Using Command-line Switches, Details of Command-line Switches, /b Switch, /c Switch, /layout Switch, /ld Switch, /nohardware Switch, /nologo Switch, /nossm Switch, /p Switch, /pl Switch, /r Switch, /s Switch, /set Switch , /t Switch, /v Switch, /w Switch
Changing AutoCAD's Installation, Migrating Custom Settings, Export AutoCAD 2012 Settings, Import AutoCAD 2012 Settings, Migrate Custom Settings, Transferring Licenses, Public and Private, Making the Transfer
Chapter 2: Changing AutoCAD's Environment
Changing Support Files and Their Paths, Where Are My Support Files?, Local and Roaming Support Files, Accessing Hidden Folders, Catalog of Search Path Options, Support File Search Path & Working Support File Search, Device Driver File Search Path, Project Files Search Path, Customization Files, Help and Miscellaneous File Names, Windows: Files and Paths in Options Dialog Box, Text Editor, Dictionary, and Font File Names, Print File, Spooler, and Prolog Section Names, Printer Support File Path, Automatic Save File Location, Color Book Locations, Data Sources Location, Template Settings, Tool Palettes File Location, Authoring Palettes File Location, Log File Location, Action Recorder Settings, Plot and Publish Log File Location, Temporary Drawing File Location, Temporary External Reference File Location, Texture Maps Search Path, Web File Search Path, i-drop Associated File Location, DGN Mapping Setups Location, Setting Default Templates for New Drawings, Windows Tutorial: Specifying Default Template Files, Customizing Template Files, Modifying Window, Layout, and User Interface Elements, User Interface Changes Inside AutoCAD, Windows Tutorial: Changing the Skin, Changing the Screen Colors, Default Colors for Each Context, XYZ Cursor's Color Coding, Command Line Font, Command Line Transparency, UI Changes Through Windows, Modding the UCS Icon, Toggling the Menu Bar, Rearranging Ribbons, Toolbars, and Palettes, Moving Around the Ribbon, Controlling Undocked ribbon Panels, Moving Around Toolbars, Toggling Toolbars, Moving Around Palettes, Setting and Restoring Profiles, Summary of Commands for Palettes, Workspaces Controlling User Interfaces, Saving Workspaces, Controlling Workspaces, Customizing the User Interface
Chapter 3: Tweaking Options
+Options Command
Files Tab
Display Tab, Window Elements Section, Color Scheme, Display Scroll Bars in Drawing Window, Display Drawing Status Bar, Display Screen Menu, Use Large Buttons for Toolbars, Show Tooltips, Colors, Fonts, Layout Elements Section, Display Layout and Model Tabs, Display Printable Area, Display Paper Background, Show Page Setup Manager for New Layouts, Create Viewport in New Layouts, Display Resolution Section, Arc and Circle Smoothness, Segments in a Polyline Curve, Rendered Object Smoothness, Contour Lines per Surface, Display Performance Section, Pan and Zoom with Raster and OLE, Highlight Raster Image Frame Only, Apply Solid Fill, Show Text Boundary Frame Only, Draw True Silhouettes for Solids and Surfaces, Crosshair Size Section, Fade Control Section, Xref Display, In-place Edit and Annotative Representations
Open and Save Tab, File Save Section, Save As, Maintain Visual Fidelity for Annotative Objects, Thumbnail Preview Settings, Maintain Drawing Size Compatibility, Thumbnail Preview Settings, Incremental Save Percentage, File Safety Precautions Section, Automatic Save, Minutes Between Saves, Create Backup Copy with Each Save, Full-time CRC Validation, Maintain a Log File, File Extension for Temporary Files, Security Options, Display Digital Signature Information, File Open Section, Number of Recently-used Files to List, Display Full Path in Title, Application Menu Section, Number of Recently-used Files, External References (Xrefs) Section, Demand Load Xrefs, Retain Changes to Xref Layers, Allow Other Users to Refedit Current Drawing, ObjectARX Applications Section, Demand Load ObjectARX Apps, Proxy Images for Custom Objects, Show Proxy Information Dialog Box
Plot and Publish Tab, Default Plot Settings for New Drawings Section, Use As Default Output Device, Use Last Successful Plot Settings, Add or Configure Plotters, Plot to File Section, Default Location for Plot to File Operations, Background Processing Options Section, Plotting, Publishing, Auto Publish Options, Plot and Publish Log File Section, Automatically Save Plot and Publish Log File, AutoPublish Section, AutoPublish options, Automatic Publish Settings, General Plot Options Section, When Changing the Plot Device, System Printer Spool Alert, OLE Plot Quality, Use OLE Application When Plotting OLE Objects, Hide System Printers, Plot Style Table Settings, Specify Plot Offset Relative To Section, Plot Stamp Settings, Plot Style Table Settings
System Tab, 3D Performance Section, Performance Settings, Current Pointing Device Section, Layout Regen Options Section, dbConnect Options Section, Store Links Index in Drawing File, Open Tables in Read-only Mode, General Options Section, Hidden Messages Settings, Display OLE Text Size Dialog, Beep on Error in User Input, Load acad.lsp With Every Drawing, Hidden Message Settings, Allow long symbol names, Live Enabler Options Section, Check Web for Live Enablers, Maximum Number of Unsuccessful Checks, Autodesk Exchange Section, Access online Content (including Help) when available, offline help browser, InfoCenter Section, Balloon Notifications, Check Web for Live Enablers, InfoCenter Balloon Notifications
User Preferences Tab, Windows Standard Behavior Section, þ Double Click Editing, þ Shortcut Menus in Drawing Area, Right-click Customization, Insertion Scale Section, Source Content Units, Right-click Customization, Field Update Settings, Target Drawing Units, Hyperlink Section, Fields Section, Display Background of Fields, Field Update Settings, Priority for Coordinate Data Entry Section, Associative Dimensioning Section, Undo/Redo Section, Combine Zoom and Pan Commands, Combine Layer Property Change, Block Editor Settings, Lineweight Settings, Edit Scale List
Drafting Tab, AutoSnap Settings Section, Marker, Magnet, Display AutoSnap Tooltip, Display AutoSnap Aperture Box, Colors, AutoSnap Marker Size Section, Object Snap Options Section, Ignore Hatch Objects, Replace Z Value with Current Elevation, Ignore Negative Z Object Snaps for Dynamic UCS, AutoTrack Settings Section, Display Polar Tracking Vector, Drafting Tooltip Appearance, Display Full-screen Tracking Vector, Display AutoTrack Tooltip, Alignment Point Acquisition Section, Aperture Size Section, Aperture Size, Drafting Tooltip Settings, Light Glyphs Settings, Light Glyph Appearance, Camera Glyph Appearance, Camera Glyphs Settings
3D Modeling Tab, 3D Crosshairs Section, Show Z Axis in Crosshairs, Label Axes in Standard Crosshairs, Show Labels for Dynamic UCS, Crosshair Labels, Display Tools in Viewport Section, Display the ViewCube, Display the UCS Icon, Display the Viewport Controls, 3D Objects Section, Visual Style While Creating 3D Objects, Deletion Control While Creating 3D Objects, Isolines on Surfaces, Tesselation, Mesh Options, Surface Analysis Options, Animation Settings, 3D Navigation Section, Reverse Mouse Wheel Zoom, Walk and Fly, Animation, ViewCube, SteeringWheels, Dynamic Input Section, Show Z Field for Pointer Input
Selection Tab, Pickbox Size, Selection Modes Section, Noun/Verb Selection, Use Shift to Add to Selection, Object Grouping, Associative Hatch, Implied Windowing, Window Selection Method, Object Limit for Properties Palette, Selection Preview Section, When a Command is Active, When No Command is Active, Visual Effect Settings, Grip Size, Grips Section, Grip Colors, Show Grips, Visual Effect Settings, Advanced Options, Ribbon Contextual Tab State Options, Object Selection Limit for Display of Grips, Ribbon Options Settings, Contextual Tab States, Grips Colors, Profiles Tab
Chapter 4: Customizing Linetypes
Commands that Affect Linetypes, Scaling Linetypes, System Variables Affecting Linetypes, The Special Case of Annotative Scaling, The Special Case of Polylines, The Special Case of text orientation, Customizing Linetypes, Tutorial: Defining Linetypes with -Linetype Command, Tutorial: Testing New Linetypes, Tutorial: Making Linetypes with MkLType in Windows, Tutorial: Making Linetypes with a Text Editor, Simple (1D) Linetype Format, Line1 – Header, Line 2: Data, Complex (2D) Linetype Format, Text, Text Style, Text Scale Factor (S), Text Rotation Angle (R), Text Orientation (A), Text Upright Flag (U), Text Offset Distances (X and Y), Embedding Shapes, 3D Linetypes, Tutorial: Attempting a Parallel Linetype, Default Collection of Linetypes
Chapter 5: Making Hatch Patterns
About Hatch Patterns, Brief History of Hatch Enhancements, Commands and System Variables, Non-associative and Associative and Patterns, Creating Custom Hatch Patterns, Creating Patterns with Hatch Command Line, Creating Patterns with the Hatch Dialog Box, System Variables for Hatch and Gradient Patterns, Creating Patterns with SuperHatch in Windows, Working With Custom Hatches in the Ribbon Tab of Windows, Hatch patterns from Images in Widows, Hatch Patterns from Blocks in Windows, Hatch Patterns from Xrefs in Windows, Creating Rounded Hatch Patterns in Windows, Understanding the acad.pat File, Comment and Header Lines, The Hatch Data, Tips on Creating Pattern Codes, Adding Custom Patterns to the Dialog Box, AutoCAD Hatch Patterns and Gradient Fills
Chapter 6: Creating Shapes and Fonts
Shape Files are Useful, Shapes, Fonts, Complex Linetypes, GD&T Symbols, About Shape Files, Tutorial: Making Shapes with MkShape in Windows, The Shape File Format, Header Fields, Definition Lines, Vector Codes, Instruction Codes
Chapter 7: Writing Command Aliases
About Customizing Aliases, The Alias Format, Alias Suggestions, Creating New Aliases, Tutorial: Alias Creation by Dialog Box in Windows , Tutorial: Alias Creation by Hand, Aliases Defined by Autodesk
Chapter 8: Coding Field Text
Field Command, Text and MText, Text Command, MText Command, AttDef, Dimensions, Changing Field Text, Double-clicking Text and MText, Editing Fields in Text, Editing Fields in MText, Double-clicking Attribute Definitions, Double-clicking Dimensions, Customizing Field Text Updates, UpdateField, FieldEval, FieldDisplay, The Meaning of ---- and ####, Creating Custom Field Text, Copying and Pasting Code, Tutorial: Modifying Field Codes, Updating the Field Text, Modifying Field Codes: Dialog Box, Modifying Field Codes: By Hand, Formating Field Text, Understanding Field Codes, Concise Field Code Reference, Groups, Metawords, Formatting, Format Codes, %tcn — Text Case, %lun — Linear Units, %dsn — Decimal Separator, %aun — Angular Units, %lwn — Line Weight units, %qfn — scale Factor, %ctn — ConverT, %ptn — PointTs (xyz coordinates), %.n — decimal places, %prn — display PRecision, %fnn — File Names, %byn — BYtes (file size), href - Hyperlinks, Date & Time Format Codes, Objects and Property Names, Objects, Fields: Date and Time Codes, Fields: Categories and Names
Chapter 9: Managing CAD
CAD Standards, How CAD Standards Work, What CheckStandards Cannot Do, Step 1: Create the Standards Drawing, Linetype Standards, Layer Standards, Text Style Standards, Dimension Style Standards, Determining the Difference Between Dimension Styles, Step 2: Save the Drawing as a Standard, Step 3: Apply the CAD Standards to Drawings, Step 4: Checking Standards, Setting Options for Standards Checking
Employing DesignCenter and Tool Palettes, DesignCenter, Autodesk Online Resource for Drawings, Tool Palettes, Tab Customization, Icon Customization, Palette Customization, Titlebar Customization, Commands and Programs on Palettes, Tools by Example, New Tool Properties, Tool Flyouts, Other Content, Command Tools, Adding Commands to the Tools Palette, Adding Programs and Macros, Organize Tools, XTP File Format, XML Metacharacters, Tags, Data, XTP Section 3: Palette Data
No appendices.
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