40 AutoCAD Tips in 40 Minutes - Autodesk International Communities

Autodesk India User Community - (AU 2010)40 AutoCAD Tips in 40 MinutesLynn Allen - Autodesk, Inc.AC120-1RIf you want a plethora of power user tips, then be sure to join Cadalyst columnist and author Lynn Allen as she takesyou through a whirlwind of productivity techniques that are certain to improve your everyday drawing life. At a tip aminute, you are certain to discover some AutoCAD features that will remove some of the tedium and boost your abilityto meet project deadlines.About the Speaker:Lynn Allen, Cadalyst columnist and Autodesk Technical Evangelist, speaks to more than 30,000 usersworldwide each year. For the past 16 years, she has written a monthly column in Cadalyst magazinecalled "Circles and Lines" and is the voice behind the popular Cadalyst videos -Tips and Tricks Tuesdaywith Lynn Allen. Lynn started using AutoCAD® software with Release 1.4 over 20 years ago, and taughtat the corporate and collegiate level for 13 years before joining Autodesk. A sought-after public speakerwith a unique comedic style, Lynn is always one of the highest rated speakers and host of AutodeskUniversity. The author of three AutoCAD books, her latest is entitled AutoCAD Professional Tips andTechniques.Email: lynn.allen@autodesk.comTwitter: Lynn_AllenBlog: www.autodesk.com/lynnallen

Autodesk India User Community - (AU 2010)8) Maximizing ViewportsDouble click on a viewport to open and edit the contents as though you were in modelspace. No need to worry about accidentally modifying the scale factor and yet zoom andpan all you want. Click outside of the red area to quickly get back to your paperspacelayout.9) Taskbar to 1Display all open files at the taskbar by setting the system variable TASKBAR to 1.10) Customize the Quick Access Toolbar for maximum productivity!(Layer drop-down, SAVEAS)11) Search for commands in the Application MenuCan’t find a command in the Ribbon? The Application Menu will show you where it is!3

Autodesk India User Community - (AU 2010)Tool Palette Tips:12) Quickly create a Tool Palette of your blocks in Design CenterTip: Be sure to PURGE the drawing with the blocks first!13) Drag and Drop blocks to your Tool PaletteHighlight a block and use a right click to drag a block to an open tool palette. Your new toolwith also remember the layer, rotation angle, scale, etc.14) Set up tools to automatically scale to your drawingSet the Auxiliary scale factor to Plot Scale or Dimscale15) Drag and Drop Hatch patterns to your Tool PaletteHighlight a hatch pattern and use a right click to drag thehatch pattern to the tool palette. The pattern, layer, scalefactor, and rotation angle are also saved with the hatch pattern.16) Drag and Drop a Dimension to save all the settings and the layer for speedy additions ofnew dimensions with the same settings.17) Easily customize your icon with an existing image file.18) Bonus tip: Use ADD Selected in AutoCAD 2011 to achieve muchof the same results4

Autodesk India User Community - (AU 2010)Layer Tips:19) Customize your Layer ColumnsFor maximum productivity be sure to turn off any columnsyou aren’t using.20) Layer States for maximum productivityAutoCAD gurus use Layers States so they can avoid constantly changing the layer settings.21) Applying Layer States per ViewportAfter setting up your layer states you can apply them to individual viewports22) SETBYLAYERThis is a fantastic command to set any object (including those within nested blocks) back toBYLAYER!5

Autodesk India User Community - (AU 2010)Misc. Layer Tips:23) Layer Translater (LAYTRANS) Great for mapping layers from one naming convention to another24) LAYWALK (View layers individually)Use the LAYWALK command to quickly view individual layers25) LAYDEL (Delete even the most stubborn layers!)Use this fantastic Express Tool to delete any layer (except for 0 and defpoints)26) LAYISO – Isolates layer(s) for easy editing. AutoCAD 2008 and above allows youto fade the other layers so you can see the objects on the other layers but notaccidentally modify them.6

Autodesk India User Community - (AU 2010)27) COPYTOLAYERAllows you to make a copy of an object to another layer. You can even create anew layer if needed!28) Autodesk SeekUse the DC Online tab in Design Center to easily get to the content on AutodeskSeek (or just select the Autodesk Seek button in AutoCAD 2010+)Autodesk Seekwww.autodesk.com/seek9© 2005 AutodeskTIMESAVERS:29) JOIN command (Glue)Use the Join command to glue together polylines, lines, arcs, elliptical arcs andsplines. Join two lines together that are collinear, even if there are gaps betweenthem. Join different types of objects together if there are no gaps. Join more thanone arc, even with gaps, as long as they lie in the same imaginary circle.You can even use the JOIN command to turn an arc into a circle.30) OVERKILLThis Express tool is a great way to delete duplicate objects and clean up yourdrawing. OVERKILL removes unneeded objects by deleting duplicates andcombining line and arc segments that overlap. There are multiple settings to ensureyou get just the results you want.7

Autodesk India User Community - (AU 2010)31) CHANGE command to shorten/lengthenUse the age-old CHANGE command to quickly lengthen/shorten line segments to a specificpoint (Ortho on)32) Highlight objects and use a right click to Move and Copy33) Speedy Array (Control key)Select objects, select a grip, C for Copy and hold the Control key down to do a quickiearray!34) Shift for more than one hot grip35) Speedy Trims/ExtendsHit an extra enter to turn the entire drawing into a cutting edge (objects don’t highlightthough!).36) More Trim/Extend:Shift key to switch between Trim and Extend and Edgemode37) Fast Corners using Shift in FILLET commandUse the Shift option in the FILLET command to quickly square off corners (no need to setthe radius to 0)8

Autodesk India User Community - (AU 2010)38) FILTERS commandGo directly to the undocumented FILTERS command to quickly delete excess layer filters.System Variables:39) PEDITACCEPTSet PEDITACCEPT to 1 to avoid the irritating “Do you want to turn it into a polyline”question.40) OSNAPZ to replace Z Value with Current ElevationWhen snapping to objects with different elevations, you may want the current elevation tobe used for the Z value. Set OSNAPZ to 1.41) PLINEGEN - Sets how linetype patterns generate around the vertices of a 2D polyline.42) WHIPARC to 1 for smooth arcs and circles (forget dealing with VIEWRES!)43) SELECTIONANNODISPLAYSet to 0 to turn off ghosting with annotative objects9

Autodesk India User Community - (AU 2010)OPTIONS Tips:44) Default Template File for QNEWUse the Files tab to set a default template file for starting new drawings. This will eliminateyou needing to select a template file each time (use the NEW command if you want toselect a different template file).45) Right Click CustomizationConfigure your right mouse button to do BOTH a shortcut menu and an enter in OPTIONS(user preferences tab)46) Speed up drawings with Annotative ScalingTurn off “Maintain Visual Fidelity” while you are drawing. Turn it back on right beforesaving to a lower release number.10

Autodesk India User Community - (AU 2010)Display Order:47) TEXTTOFRONT commandBring all of the text to the top of the draworder with the TEXTTOFRONT command.48) HATCHTOBACK commandSends all hatch patterns to the bottom of the draworder.Table Tips:49) AutoFill AutoCAD TablesUse AutoFill to do automatic numbering in Tables.50) Tables wrap automatically over multiple columns (as long as Table Breaks areenabled…)11

Autodesk India User Community - (AU 2010)Misc. Tips:51) Control the Text Sample string with MTJIGSTRING52) Fade External References (by default – they are faded by 70% in 2011)XDWGFADECTL53) Use OSNAP Tracking to quickly find the center of a box(in fact – use Object Snap Tracking to make your life much better period!)54) BURST to explode blocks with Attributes and maintain their attribute value (not definition)55) Reverse Search for XrefsIn Design Center, Use the Search tool to do a reverse search for drawing files that arexref’d into other files.56) The Magical QDIM command– Use for speedy dimensioning!12

Autodesk India User Community - (AU 2010)66) Visit my blog: www.autodesk.com/lynnallen67) Go to Autodesk University 2011!Visit Autodesk University Online to view my other 30 tips!14

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