IntroductionWelcome| 00:04 | Welcome to the AutoCAD 2011 Tips,
Tricks, and Industry Secrets title.
| | 00:09 | My name is Jeff Bartels and I've been using
AutoCAD professionally for nearly 15 years.
| | 00:13 | In a production environment,
efficiency means everything.
| | 00:17 | If you're going to reduce the amount
of time it takes you to accomplish a task,
| | 00:19 | you can increase your profit margin
and your ability to compete in the marketplace.
| | 00:25 | This title contains more than 60
lessons, designed to make you more efficient
| | 00:29 | when using AutoCAD in a production environment.
| | 00:31 | No matter what your specific
discipline may be, architectural, mechanical or
| | 00:36 | civil, you'll be able to take the
concepts in this course and put them to work
| | 00:40 | immediately on your own designs.
| | 00:43 | By learning the skills now, you can give
yourself an instant advantage over your competition.
| | 00:47 | So if you're ready to get more work
done in less time and with less effort,
| | 00:51 | follow me and we'll get started.
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| Using the exercise files| 00:00 | If you are a Premium member of the
lynda.com online Training Library or if
| | 00:04 | you're watching this tutorial on a disk,
you have access to the Exercise Files
| | 00:08 | used throughout this title.
| | 00:09 | Now I've placed my Exercise Files
folder on my desktop. You can place
| | 00:13 | yours wherever you like.
| | 00:14 | I've organized the folders based on
the chapter number and inside each folder
| | 00:18 | are the drawings that we
used throughout that chapter.
| | 00:21 | In many cases if I thought it was
helpful, I left you with a finished example.
| | 00:25 | If you are a monthly or annual
subscriber to lynda.com, but you don't
| | 00:29 | have access to the Exercise Files, you can
always follow along using your own drawings.
| | 00:33 | Let's get started.
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1. InterfaceAdding relevant data to Quick Properties and tooltips| 00:00 | In this lesson we're going to take a
second look at the Quick Properties tool.
| | 00:04 | I say second look because many people
who use this tool for the first time say,
| | 00:09 | "You know, Quick Properties is nice, but I
don't think it's right for me" and they turn it off.
| | 00:13 | With a little customization though,
the Quick Properties feature just might
| | 00:16 | become one of your favorite interface tools.
| | 00:19 | On my screen I have a
drawing of a plant of survey.
| | 00:23 | If we look right down here at the
Status bar, you can see that my Quick
| | 00:26 | Properties feature is turned on.
| | 00:28 | Now, when Quick Properties is on, if you
select an object, AutoCAD will bring up
| | 00:32 | a miniature Properties
palette right here at the cursor.
| | 00:35 | I can use this tool to adjust some of
the general properties associated with
| | 00:39 | the selected object.
| | 00:41 | When I am finished making my changes, I
can hit Escape to deselect the entity and
| | 00:46 | the Quick Properties tool goes away on its own.
| | 00:48 | Now as nice as this tool is,
it doesn't always have all of the properties
| | 00:52 | that I'd like to change.
| | 00:54 | For instance, if I come over here,
I have a Multileader and I can see in the
| | 00:59 | tooltip this guy is sitting on the wrong layer.
| | 01:02 | Now if you're not seeing these tooltips,
that feature may be turned off on your system.
| | 01:07 | To turn them back on, I'd like you to
right-click, come down to Options, and if
| | 01:12 | you go to the Display tab, you can find the
toggle for the tooltips right here. Let's click OK.
| | 01:19 | I'll come back to my Multileader.
| | 01:21 | This guy is on the wrong layer.
| | 01:23 | So I will select it and if I come
over to the Quick Properties tool, you can
| | 01:27 | see that the tool does not
contain a layer property.
| | 01:30 | Quite frankly, this is when a lot
of people stopped using this feature.
| | 01:34 | However, we have complete control over
the properties that we see on the tool.
| | 01:39 | That's what this button is for.
| | 01:40 | I am going to click Customize.
| | 01:44 | This brings up AutoCAD's CUI,
the customizable user interface.
| | 01:48 | And I can see right here that
I have a Multileader selected.
| | 01:52 | Over here on the right, I can see a
listing of all of the properties that are
| | 01:55 | associated with Multileaders. The ones
with the checks are the ones that are
| | 01:59 | showing up in the Quick Properties tool.
| | 02:02 | I would like to add the Layer property,
so I will place a check in that box.
| | 02:07 | I'll click Apply and OK.
| | 02:10 | From now on whenever I select a
Multileader, I can change its property by
| | 02:14 | coming over to the tool.
| | 02:15 | I'll click this fly-out and I
will select the appropriate layer.
| | 02:22 | When I'm finished, I'll press Escape.
| | 02:23 | Let's make another change.
| | 02:26 | Take a look at this contour line.
| | 02:28 | If I hover over this I
can see this is a Polyline.
| | 02:31 | Now the line type doesn't
look very good on this guy.
| | 02:33 | That's because the segment lengths are
too short to represent all of the dashes.
| | 02:38 | So I need to adjust the
linetype generation of this Polyline.
| | 02:42 | To do that, I will select it.
| | 02:44 | I'll come over to the Quick Properties
tool and just as I suspected, there is no
| | 02:48 | Linetype generation property here.
| | 02:51 | No matter, I'll click the Customize button.
| | 02:55 | I can see that I have a
Polyline selected this time.
| | 02:58 | I'm going to come down and turn on the
Linetype generation property, and before
| | 03:03 | I leave, take a look at this list.
| | 03:05 | I don't have to stop with just Polylines.
| | 03:08 | I can select from any of these
other AutoCAD entities and I can adjust
| | 03:12 | their properties as well.
| | 03:14 | This means I can dial up the Quick
Properties tool to show me all of the
| | 03:17 | properties that are relevant to my type of work.
| | 03:20 | When I am finished making my
changes, I'll click Apply and OK.
| | 03:25 | Now I can select this Polyline.
| | 03:27 | I'll come over to the Quick Properties
tool and I can use this fly-out to enable
| | 03:32 | Linetype generation.
| | 03:33 | When I am finished, I'll press Escape.
| | 03:35 | Linetype generation will span your
Linetype around the entire Polyline
| | 03:40 | regardless of the length of the segments,
and you know, I'd like to apply this
| | 03:44 | setting to all of my contours.
| | 03:47 | So I'm going to select this one.
| | 03:49 | I'll right-click and then
I'll choose Select Similar.
| | 03:53 | This grabs all of the contour objects
and then in the Quick Properties tool,
| | 03:58 | I will adjust the Linetype
generation of all of them and press Escape.
| | 04:01 | As you can see I can make property
changes very quickly to my geometry, because
| | 04:07 | the properties are right there at my cursor.
| | 04:09 | Not only that, I have complete
control over the properties that I see.
| | 04:12 | Let's take a look at something else.
| | 04:15 | I am going to hover over this
line to bring back the tooltip.
| | 04:19 | We even have control over the
properties that we see on these tooltips.
| | 04:23 | As you can see by default,
AutoCAD is showing us general properties.
| | 04:27 | However, I can show any
property that's important to me.
| | 04:30 | For instance, these contours
are at a specific elevation.
| | 04:34 | They represent the elevation of the
property in even one-foot increments.
| | 04:38 | It would be very nice if I could hover
over a contour and see its elevation,
| | 04:42 | especially in an instance like this
one, where the contour has no label.
| | 04:46 | Let me show you how we can
add properties to the tooltips.
| | 04:50 | To do that, I'll jump to the Manage
tab on the Ribbon and I'll select CUI.
| | 04:55 | This reopens the customizable user interface.
| | 04:58 | On the left side I am going to select
Rollover Tooltips and take a look at this
| | 05:02 | area on the right. It looks very familiar.
| | 05:05 | I'm going to select Polyline and in
this list on the right, I'm going to select
| | 05:09 | Elevation as a property I'd like
to see in the rollover tooltip.
| | 05:12 | When I am finished, I'll click Apply and OK.
| | 05:17 | And from now on, if I hover over
any Polyline, I can see its elevation.
| | 05:22 | One of the things that makes AutoCAD
special is that it can be customized.
| | 05:25 | So if the out-of-the-box settings don't
match what you need, go ahead and change them.
| | 05:30 | By adjusting your Quick Properties and
your rollover tooltips, you can easily
| | 05:34 | make AutoCAD adapt to the
type of work that you do.
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| Creating custom ribbon tabs and panels| 00:00 | The Ribbon is the primary way
that we access our commands.
| | 00:03 | By default, the tools in the Ribbon
are organized in a very generic way.
| | 00:08 | such that AutoCAD can be
used for a wide range of tasks.
| | 00:11 | The nice thing is, this
Ribbon is fully customizable.
| | 00:15 | This means you can set up your own
interface from scratch that places all of the
| | 00:19 | tools that you use most within easy reach.
| | 00:22 | In this lesson, we are going to learn
how to customize the Ribbon by creating
| | 00:25 | our own tabs and panels.
| | 00:27 | Now let me mention that I
have a drawing open on screen.
| | 00:30 | You do not have to open the same drawing.
| | 00:32 | I am only using this as a background,
| | 00:34 | such that we are not working
with a completely empty interface.
| | 00:38 | All right, to start our customization,
let's talk about the current workspace.
| | 00:43 | As you can see, I am using the 2D
Drafting & Annotation workspace.
| | 00:47 | If I click this fly-out, you can see
that there are other workspaces available.
| | 00:51 | Now the workspace is what dictates the
Ribbon that we see on screen and I'm
| | 00:56 | someone who doesn't like to
modify the stock workspace.
| | 00:59 | So I am going to make my own.
| | 01:01 | To do that, I'll come down and
click Save Current As and I'll call my
| | 01:05 | workspace, Jeff's workspace.
| | 01:10 | You can use your own name if
you like and I'll click Save.
| | 01:14 | Essentially, I have just created
a copy of the stock 2D workspace.
| | 01:18 | Now, to make changes to the Ribbon,
I'm going to come up and select the Manage tab
| | 01:22 | and then I'll select CUI.
| | 01:26 | This brings up the customizable user interface.
| | 01:30 | Right here on the left, I can see
a listing of all of the workspaces.
| | 01:33 | Just below on the tree,
there's an entry called Ribbon.
| | 01:36 | I am going to click the plus to open this.
| | 01:38 | And beneath Ribbon, there are
entries called Tabs and Panels.
| | 01:42 | That is what a Ribbon is made up from.
| | 01:44 | Let me drag this down.
| | 01:46 | The tabs are what we along the top.
Tabs are very similar to drawers in a
| | 01:51 | toolbox and the panels
represent collections of tools.
| | 01:55 | You will find the panels on each tab.
| | 01:57 | Let's drag this back up.
| | 02:00 | I am going to click the plus next
to Tabs and I can see a listing of all
| | 02:06 | of the tabs that are available in
AutoCAD. Certainly more tabs than what we
| | 02:10 | see on the current Ribbon.
| | 02:11 | Let's add a tab to our current workspace.
| | 02:16 | To do that, I will select
my workspace from the list.
| | 02:18 | I will come over to the right
and click Customize Workspace.
| | 02:23 | Notice all of my text turns
blue when I'm in the editing state.
| | 02:27 | If I click the plus next to
Ribbon Tabs, I can see the tabs that are
| | 02:30 | associated with my current Ribbon.
| | 02:33 | Over here on the left there are checks
that represent which tabs are in my Ribbon.
| | 02:38 | To add a tab, I will place a check in the box.
| | 02:41 | This adds it to my workspace.
| | 02:43 | I will click Done and then I will click OK.
| | 02:48 | Notice that my workspace now has a
Render tab, and if I select this, I see that
| | 02:52 | the tab is preloaded with
all of the standard panels.
| | 02:56 | Using this workflow, I can add
or remove any tab from any Ribbon.
| | 03:00 | Now let's try and create our own tab.
| | 03:02 | To do that, I am going to press the
Spacebar to reenter the CUI command.
| | 03:07 | I will open up the Ribbon entry.
| | 03:09 | I will open up the Tabs entry and
then I'm going to right-click on Tabs
| | 03:14 | and select New Tab.
| | 03:16 | And at the very bottom of the
tabs list, I will find my new tab.
| | 03:19 | I'm going to call this
Custom and I will press Enter.
| | 03:25 | Knowing what we know now, let's add
this new tab to our current workspace.
| | 03:30 | Once again, I will drag this slider up.
| | 03:32 | I will select my workspace and click Customize.
| | 03:37 | I will then drag this down and find my tab.
| | 03:41 | I will select it and then I'll click OK.
| | 03:46 | I now have another tab in my Ribbon.
| | 03:48 | If I select this custom tab, you
can see it's not very exciting.
| | 03:52 | There aren't any panels
associated with this tab.
| | 03:55 | Let's take care of that.
| | 03:57 | Once again, I am going to go back into
the CUI command by pressing the Spacebar.
| | 04:01 | Let's open up the Ribbon entry.
| | 04:03 | I am going to open up the Tabs
entry and I'll drag this down.
| | 04:09 | And then I will open up Panels
and then I will drag this up.
| | 04:13 | Now, if you want add a panel or a
collection of tools to a Ribbon tab, all you
| | 04:18 | have to do is drag and drop.
| | 04:20 | For instance, if I wanted to add the
Annotate-Dimensions panel to my tab, I will
| | 04:25 | click-hold-and-drag and
I will place it on the tab.
| | 04:29 | Let's add this Text panel.
| | 04:30 | Click-hold-and-drag and place it on the tab.
| | 04:34 | Now, here's where it gets a little weird.
| | 04:37 | If I want a panel that's quite a
distance down in this list, say the
| | 04:41 | Mesh-Crease panel, I will click, hold, and drag,
and then I have to keep an eye out for my tab.
| | 04:48 | Here it comes, there it is.
| | 04:49 | Let me release on top of the tab.
| | 04:52 | If you'd like to remove a panel from
your tab, you can simply right-click on
| | 04:56 | it and select Remove.
| | 04:58 | I'd like to keep mine as it is,
so I will come down and click OK.
| | 05:03 | Let's select the custom tab and you
can see the three panels that I added.
| | 05:08 | Let's try and create our own panel.
| | 05:11 | Once again, I'm going to
re-enter the CUI command.
| | 05:13 | I will do that by pressing the Spacebar.
| | 05:15 | I will open up the Ribbon entry
and I'll open up Tabs, and Panels.
| | 05:23 | To create my own custom panel, I will right-
click on the word Panels and select New Panel.
| | 05:28 | And all the way at the bottom of
the list, I can find my New Panel.
| | 05:31 | I'm going to call this My
Favorites and I will press Enter.
| | 05:37 | Now to add commands or tools to a panel,
we will drag them from this list below.
| | 05:42 | This list represents every
available command in AutoCAD.
| | 05:46 | As an example, I'm going to
drag the Layer Off command.
| | 05:49 | I will click, hold, and drag.
| | 05:51 | And as I drag this across the
border here, watch how my list jumps.
| | 05:55 | That can be a little bit annoying.
| | 05:57 | Let me drag this up.
| | 05:58 | I have go to drag it down a little bit.
| | 06:00 | Like I said, it can be very annoying.
| | 06:02 | I am just going to release and say forget it.
| | 06:03 | Let's drag this backup and I'll
show you a different way to drag.
| | 06:06 | I am going to click, hold, and drag it to
the left, then up, and then back over.
| | 06:13 | Now we don't have to worry about the panning.
| | 06:16 | I'm going to drop this on Row 1.
| | 06:18 | And if we look right over
here, there's the command.
| | 06:21 | Let's drag another command.
| | 06:22 | I am going to select the Make
Object's Layer Current command.
| | 06:26 | I will drag this over, up and
across, and I'll drop this on Row 1.
| | 06:30 | I would like to add another command.
| | 06:31 | Let's add eTransmit.
| | 06:32 | That's one of my favorites.
| | 06:35 | To find eTransmit in the list, I
could drag up and down alphabetically or I
| | 06:39 | could just start typing eTransmit and
notice how AutoCAD will sort the list for me.
| | 06:44 | I will drag this command over,
up, and across. There we go.
| | 06:48 | Let me click to close up Row 1.
| | 06:52 | Maybe I would like to create a second row.
| | 06:55 | To do that, I will right-
click on Row 1 and select New Row.
| | 06:59 | And then I will take Row 2,
I will click-hold-and-drag this up.
| | 07:03 | I like to be tidy.
| | 07:04 | I'm going to keep Row 1 and 2 together.
| | 07:07 | I will come down and click this
X to clear my Command List filter.
| | 07:11 | And let's drag a couple more commands up.
| | 07:13 | I will drag 3 Points over and
I will place that on my panel.
| | 07:18 | 3D Adjust Distance and I'll do a
3D Constrained Orbit. There we go.
| | 07:26 | Now that I'm finished, I am
going to close up my panel.
| | 07:30 | Now I have to add the panel to
my custom tab, so I'm going to
| | 07:34 | click-hold-and-drag this up.
| | 07:36 | And I will place this on my custom tab.
| | 07:40 | When I'm finished, I will click OK.
| | 07:43 | And when I select the custom tab, you
can see the three panels that I brought in,
| | 07:46 | the stock panels, as well as My
Favorites Panel, the one I created from
| | 07:50 | scratch that contains my favorite tools.
| | 07:53 | Now if these truly are your favorite
commands, don't think that they have to be
| | 07:56 | relegated to a specific tab.
| | 07:58 | If you want these on your
screen all the time, you can simply
| | 08:01 | click-hold-and-drag on the panel name and
you can drop the panel out here in model space.
| | 08:07 | Now it will be available regardless of
the tab that's current on the Ribbon.
| | 08:12 | Now that I am finished making changes to my
workspace, I'm going to click this flyout.
| | 08:15 | I will come down and select Save Current As.
| | 08:21 | I will select my workspace
from the list and I'll click Save.
| | 08:25 | And then I'll click Replace
to overwrite the original.
| | 08:28 | This means that if I go to the flyout
and select 2D Drafting & Annotation, I am
| | 08:32 | back to the stock Ribbon.
| | 08:35 | Click the flyout again and I'll
select my custom workspace, and I have got my
| | 08:40 | own customized Ribbon
containing my own tabs and panels.
| | 08:44 | As you can see, AutoCAD makes it very
easy to make changes to the Ribbon interface.
| | 08:48 | With a little practice, you can set up
a custom interface that has all of your
| | 08:52 | favorite tools within easy reach.
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| Creating macro-enabled tools| 00:00 | One place where you can save
yourself some clicks is by creating a
| | 00:04 | macro-enabled tool.
| | 00:05 | Macros automate the way a
command works, entering your favorite
| | 00:08 | options automatically.
| | 00:10 | In this lesson we're going to learn
how to create a macro-enabled tool.
| | 00:14 | On my screen I have a drawing of a
plat of survey and I would like to purge
| | 00:17 | this drawing and remove all
of the unnecessary information.
| | 00:21 | Let's see how many steps that is.
| | 00:24 | First, I'll open the Application menu,
then I'll come down to Drawing Utilities,
| | 00:28 | and I'll select Purge.
| | 00:31 | I will then click Purge All, I'll
select Purge all items, and I'll click Close.
| | 00:36 | Now while that wasn't horribly
time consuming, it was several clicks.
| | 00:41 | Wouldn't it be nice if we could
create a button that would purge the entire
| | 00:44 | drawing in a single click?
| | 00:46 | Well, this is where macros come in.
| | 00:48 | A macro is nothing more than a line of text.
| | 00:51 | Essentially, you create a text string
that mimics what you would type at the
| | 00:54 | command line, and then you create a button
that plays back that text. So let's try that.
| | 01:00 | I'm going to click on Undo
to restore my purged items.
| | 01:05 | Since macros are text-based, they
don't work too well with dialog boxes.
| | 01:09 | So to create a macro for the
Purge command, I'm going to run the
| | 01:12 | text-based version of Purge.
| | 01:15 | To do that, I'll type
-purge and I'll press Enter.
| | 01:20 | Notice I'm getting all of the same options.
| | 01:22 | They are just available
down here at the command line.
| | 01:25 | As a side note, try putting a dash in front
of other commands that invoke a dialog box.
| | 01:29 | Commands like plot, or layer, or
insert and you'll find that nearly every
| | 01:34 | command can be driven
using only text. All right!
| | 01:38 | So I launched Purge and I pressed Enter.
| | 01:41 | Next, I'm going to press the letter A,
because I'd like to purge all types of
| | 01:45 | objects, and I'll press Enter.
| | 01:48 | At the Enter name(s) to purge prompt,
I'll press Enter because I'd like
| | 01:52 | to purge all names.
| | 01:54 | Finally, at the Verify each name to be
purged prompt, I'll type the letter N and
| | 01:59 | then I'll press Enter.
| | 02:01 | As you can see, we can drive the entire
command using only the keys on our keyboard.
| | 02:05 | So the macros that we create will
essentially match the buttons I just pressed.
| | 02:10 | Once again I'm going to click Undo
to bring back my purged information.
| | 02:15 | To create my macro, I'm
going to launch the CUI command.
| | 02:19 | I'll do that by clicking the
Manage tab and then I'll select CUI.
| | 02:24 | In the Command List area, I'll
click the Create a new command icon.
| | 02:29 | I can see my new command right
down here in the Command List.
| | 02:33 | Over here on the right, is a form that
I can fill out related to this command.
| | 02:37 | I'm going to start with the name.
| | 02:38 | Let's call this purgeall.
| | 02:43 | I will then click in the Description
area and I will type in a description.
| | 02:48 | We'll say purges dwg in 1 click.
| | 02:53 | This is what we'll see in the rollover
tooltip when we hover over the icon.
| | 02:57 | Next, I'll click in the Macro.
| | 02:58 | This is our text string.
| | 03:00 | Notice it already has some text in here,
^C^C. This essentially means Cancel, Cancel.
| | 03:06 | This ensures that when I run my new
command, AutoCAD will cancel any existing
| | 03:11 | command that may already be running.
| | 03:13 | I will then type my text string.
| | 03:15 | I'll start with an underscore to
let AutoCAD know I'm entering a command.
| | 03:19 | I will then type -purge, the same
thing I tied to the command line, and now I
| | 03:24 | have to simulate an Enter or a Return.
| | 03:26 | There are two ways we can do this.
| | 03:28 | I can use a space, or let me take that away.
| | 03:32 | I can use the semicolon. The semicolon
| | 03:35 | is probably the best choice, because if you
have several enters in a row, they are visual.
| | 03:39 | I can see several semicolons.
| | 03:41 | It's easy to see multiple semicolons.
| | 03:44 | After I launched the command and
pressed Enter, I then type the letter A,
| | 03:49 | because I want it to purge all
objects, and I pressed Enter.
| | 03:52 | So I'll add another Semicolon.
| | 03:54 | At this point, I pressed Enter again to
accept the Asterix for the names to purge.
| | 03:59 | Then AutoCAD asked me to verify each
name, in which case I typed N and then I
| | 04:04 | pressed Enter again.
| | 04:06 | So this text string represents our
macro for my one-click purge command.
| | 04:11 | Now that I'm finished with my macro,
let's assign an icon to this command.
| | 04:15 | I can grab an icon from this list at the top.
| | 04:18 | I'll pull this slider down and I'm going to
select the standard purge icon to start with.
| | 04:23 | I will then come over here and click Edit
and I can make changes to this image.
| | 04:27 | Now this is the Button Editor.
| | 04:29 | This is a very simplistic image editing tool.
| | 04:31 | I have a couple of color
choices over here on the left.
| | 04:34 | I can freehand draw.
| | 04:36 | I can draw some straight lines or circles.
| | 04:38 | I have an erase tool.
| | 04:40 | I can clear my icon.
| | 04:42 | If I put a check in this box, I can display
a grid that shows me the pixels in the icon.
| | 04:47 | If you'd like to create really
artistic icons, you can always create them
| | 04:50 | in another application like Photoshop and you
can click this Import button to bring them in.
| | 04:55 | I'm going to select the color red, and I am
just going to create a big letter A here, for all.
| | 05:02 | When I'm finished, I'll click Export
and AutoCAD will take me into the default
| | 05:06 | custom icons folder on my hard drive.
| | 05:10 | I'm going to call my icon purgeall.
| | 05:13 | Notice that AutoCAD is saving
this as a BMP. Let's click Save.
| | 05:18 | That default folder is the best place
to save your icons, because eventually
| | 05:22 | when you migrate your AutoCAD settings
to the next version of AutoCAD, AutoCAD
| | 05:26 | is going to look in that custom icons
folder for any of your special symbols.
| | 05:31 | Now that I'm finished with my icon, I'll
click Close, and AutoCAD is asking if I
| | 05:35 | want to save changes.
| | 05:36 | I'm going to click No, because I don't
want to overwrite to the original icon image.
| | 05:42 | Now let's assign our new
icon symbols to the command.
| | 05:44 | I'll do that down here in the Images area.
| | 05:47 | As you can see, it's currently
looking at the standard purge icon.
| | 05:51 | Let me click in this field and I'll
click the ellipses button, which takes me
| | 05:54 | right back to that standard Icons folder.
| | 05:57 | I'll select purgeall.
| | 05:58 | Then, I'll click Open.
| | 06:01 | For the Large image, we'll use the same icon.
| | 06:06 | Now that my command is finished, I'm
going to click, hold, and drag, and I'll
| | 06:11 | drop this up here in the Quick Access Toolbar.
| | 06:13 | I can also drag this into a Ribbon
panel like we saw in the previous lesson.
| | 06:18 | When I'm finished, I'll come
down and click OK. All right!
| | 06:22 | Let's try out the new button.
| | 06:23 | If I hover over this, so I can see it
will purge the drawing in one click.
| | 06:26 | Let me click the icon and that's it.
| | 06:29 | The drawing has been purged.
| | 06:31 | If I press F2 to bring up my
command line history, let's roll up here.
| | 06:37 | I can see that AutoCAD launched
the purge command and pressed Enter.
| | 06:40 | It then typed the letter A
for me and pressed Enter.
| | 06:43 | It pressed Enter again at the asterix.
| | 06:44 | Typed the letter N, and pressed Enter,
and then it purged out all of the
| | 06:50 | unnecessary information.
| | 06:53 | Using this technique, we can create a
custom automated macro for nearly any command.
| | 06:58 | Now I'd like to do one more thing.
| | 06:59 | Let's look at how we could create a macro
that allows me to select a point on screen.
| | 07:04 | For instance I'm going to move up
and launch the Rectangle command.
| | 07:08 | When I launch Rectangle, the first thing
AutoCAD asks me is to specify a corner point.
| | 07:13 | So I'm going to click on screen.
| | 07:16 | After I pick my point, 99% of the
time I used the dimensions option.
| | 07:21 | I type the letter D and hit Enter.
| | 07:24 | I will then enter my dimensions.
| | 07:25 | I will make this a length of 20 and a
width of 5 and then I'll click onscreen
| | 07:32 | to finish my rectangle.
| | 07:34 | I would like to create a macro such that
when I launch the Rectangle command,
| | 07:37 | it will enter the dimensions
option for me. Let's try that.
| | 07:41 | Once again, I'm going to return to the CUI.
| | 07:43 | I'll click Manage, and then CUI.
| | 07:46 | In the Command List area,
I'll click Create new command.
| | 07:49 | Then in the Properties area,
I will give my command a name.
| | 07:53 | I'll call this rectangdim.
| | 07:58 | In the Description area, I will type
"creates rectangles via dimensions."
| | 08:06 | Now let's take a look at
the macro. Cancel, Cancel.
| | 08:09 | I'm going to keep that.
| | 08:11 | I'll enter an underscore
and then I'll type rectang.
| | 08:14 | This is the physical command that you
would type at the command line to launch
| | 08:18 | the Rectangle command.
| | 08:19 | In fact, if you have any question
about what the text version is for any
| | 08:22 | command, simply launch it by clicking the
icon, and take a look at the command line.
| | 08:26 | For instance, we just launched CUI.
| | 08:29 | You can see that we could also access
that by typing cui at the command line.
| | 08:35 | Now after I launch the
Rectangle command, I press Enter.
| | 08:38 | Then I have to pick a point on screen
to have AutoCAD pause the macro such that
| | 08:43 | I can pick a coordinate.
| | 08:44 | I'm going to use a backslash.
| | 08:47 | After I pick my point, I'd like
AutoCAD to enter the d option for dimensions,
| | 08:52 | and then I'll press Enter.
| | 08:53 | So I'll add another semicolon.
| | 08:55 | Once again, let's grab an
icon for our new command.
| | 08:58 | I'm going to drag this down.
| | 08:59 | You can select any icon you wish.
| | 09:02 | I'm going to choose the standard
rectangle command and I'll click Edit.
| | 09:07 | Once again, I'm going to use the color
red and I am just going to freehand draw
| | 09:11 | a big D for dimensions.
| | 09:17 | That's good enough.
| | 09:18 | When I'm finished, I'll click Export and
we'll save this in the custom icons folder.
| | 09:28 | Finally, I'll click Close and then
I'll select No, because I don't want to
| | 09:32 | overwrite the original icon.
| | 09:33 | I will then assign this icon to my
command using the ellipses button, and I will
| | 09:41 | do that for both the small and the large image.
| | 09:47 | Now that my command is finished, I will
click, hold, and drag this command up to
| | 09:52 | the Quick Access Toolbar and I'll click OK.
| | 09:55 | Okay, let's try it out.
| | 09:59 | I will move up and click Rectangle.
| | 10:02 | I will pick a point on screen and
notice AutoCAD is asking me for my length.
| | 10:06 | It entered the d for me automatically.
| | 10:08 | I'm going to press Enter to accept the
defaults and then I'll pick again to
| | 10:12 | finish my rectangle.
| | 10:14 | As you can see by creating macro-
enabled tools, you can automate many of
| | 10:18 | your repeated keystrokes, which over the
course of the day can save you valuable time.
| | 10:23 | Don't stop here either.
| | 10:24 | See if you can link two or three
commands together within a single macro.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Increasing speed with command aliases| 00:00 | AutoCAD's Ribbon is a very
efficient way of launching commands.
| | 00:03 | However, the fastest way to launch
commands is by using the keyboard.
| | 00:07 | By typing a command alias, we can
launch any command we like, regardless of the
| | 00:11 | current Ribbon tab and
without having to move the mouse.
| | 00:15 | In this lesson, we're going to
learn how to create a command alias.
| | 00:19 | Now a command alias is simply an
abbreviated version of a command name that we
| | 00:23 | type at the command line.
| | 00:24 | For instance, rather than typing line
to launch the line command, I'll type l
| | 00:30 | and I'll press enter.
| | 00:32 | As you can see, I'm in the line command.
| | 00:36 | If I type the letter C and press
Enter, we can see that the letter C is
| | 00:40 | associated with the circle command.
| | 00:43 | To be honest, I'm actually not pressing
the Enter key. I'm pressing the Spacebar.
| | 00:47 | When working in AutoCAD, the
Spacebar acts just like the Enter key.
| | 00:51 | Let's try another alias.
| | 00:52 | I'm going to type S and press the
Spacebar and we can see that S is associated
| | 00:58 | with the Stretch command.
| | 01:00 | The nice thing about command aliases is
that we can set these up however we like.
| | 01:03 | We don't have to stick with
the out-of-the-box settings.
| | 01:06 | For instance, take a look at
the left side of your keyboard.
| | 01:10 | You have the keys Q, W, E, R. Imagine if
those four buttons represented your top
| | 01:16 | four drawing commands, Line
Circle, Rectangle and Hatch.
| | 01:21 | May be the next row, A, S, D, F,
represents your favorite modification tools,
| | 01:25 | Move, Copy, Rotate and Scale. Maybe
the next row down represents tools to
| | 01:31 | create dimensions or text.
| | 01:34 | If you place your left hand over the
keyboard while you work, you can launch
| | 01:38 | these commands as fast as you can tap
the keys and you never have to worry about
| | 01:41 | the current Ribbon tab or moving your mouse.
| | 01:44 | To create a command alias, I'm going
to type aliasedit and I'll press Enter.
| | 01:51 | Now aliasedit is considered an Express Tool.
| | 01:55 | So if you're not seeing this dialog
box, it means the Express Tools weren't
| | 01:59 | loaded when you installed AutoCAD.
| | 02:02 | If that's the case, click your Start
button, jump out to the Control Panel,
| | 02:07 | select Uninstall a program, and then
select AutoCAD 2011 from the list and then
| | 02:13 | click Uninstall/Change.
| | 02:18 | From here you can select Add or Remove
features and then you can come over to
| | 02:23 | this list and make sure that
the Express Tools are selected.
| | 02:26 | In my case they are.
| | 02:28 | If yours are not, you can click to put
a check in a box and then you can click
| | 02:31 | Next and proceed with
adding that feature to AutoCAD.
| | 02:38 | I'm going to close this and return to AutoCAD.
| | 02:41 | Now in the aliasedit dialog
box, we can see two columns.
| | 02:45 | The column on the left represents the
alias or the keys that we press on the
| | 02:49 | keyboard and the column on the right
represents the command that's going to be launched.
| | 02:54 | To create an alias, I'll click the Add button.
| | 02:57 | Now let's say I'd like the
letter Q to launch the Plot command.
| | 03:02 | In the alias area I'll type Q and then
I'll click in the AutoCAD command area
| | 03:07 | and I'll type plot, then I'll click OK.
| | 03:11 | As you can see that alias
has been added to the list.
| | 03:14 | Also note that we can remove
or edit an alias if we wish.
| | 03:19 | I'm going to click OK.
| | 03:22 | I'll overwrite my original
configuration. AutoCAD tells me that my command
| | 03:27 | aliases have been updated on
my system and I'll click OK.
| | 03:30 | From now on each time I press Q and tap the
spacebar, AutoCAD launches the Plot command.
| | 03:37 | We could now go back to aliasedit and
set up additional commands if we like.
| | 03:42 | At this point, you may be wondering if
there's an easier way to launch aliasedit.
| | 03:46 | I mean do we always have the type it
at the command line? No, we don't.
| | 03:49 | There is an icon.
| | 03:51 | However, we have to turn it on.
| | 03:53 | Remember that aliasedit is considered
an Express Tool and Express Tools are
| | 03:58 | optional bonus tools that are loaded
separately when AutoCAD is installed.
| | 04:02 | If the Express Tools are loaded on
your system, look in the Ribbon and see if
| | 04:06 | you can see the Express Tools tab.
| | 04:09 | If not, you can load it by
typing expressmenu and press Enter.
| | 04:16 | This is something you should only have
to do once and the Express Tools tab will
| | 04:19 | be available each time you
launch AutoCAD in the future.
| | 04:24 | If I select the Express Tools tab, we can
find the ALIASEDIT icon right down here.
| | 04:30 | When it comes to command aliases, you probably
don't want to use them for all of your commands.
| | 04:35 | However, if you create special aliases
for your top 10 or 12 commands, you'll be
| | 04:40 | surprised that how much
faster you can access your tools.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Finding commands and system variables using Auto Complete| 00:00 | With each new release, AutoCAD adds
new commands and system variables, and
| | 00:04 | at some point you may find yourself
struggling to keep track of all of the new features.
| | 00:09 | In this lesson I'm going to show
you an easy way to locate Commands and
| | 00:12 | Variables that you may have trouble remembering.
| | 00:14 | Let we start by mentioning that I have
a drawing open on my screen. You do not
| | 00:18 | have to open the same drawing. I am
merely using this file as a background.
| | 00:22 | I am going to start by moving down to
the status bar and I'm going to turn on
| | 00:26 | my Dynamic Input mode.
| | 00:29 | This moves my command line
information to my cursor.
| | 00:32 | Next, I am going to press the letter
E and then I will start tapping my Tab key,
| | 00:36 | and notice that each time I
press Tab, AutoCAD is showing me another
| | 00:41 | command that starts with the letter E.
This is considered an Auto Complete
| | 00:45 | feature, and using this I no longer have to have
total recall of all possible AutoCAD functions.
| | 00:52 | So as long as I have an
idea of what I'm looking for,
| | 00:54 | AutoCAD can help me search from there.
| | 00:56 | I am going to hit Escape to Cancel this, and let
me show you where you might use Auto Complete.
| | 01:01 | For instance, in AutoCAD 2011, we now
have this new Engineering Style grid and I
| | 01:08 | once had a student who asked me if
there was a way to set this back to the
| | 01:10 | traditional dot type grid.
| | 01:13 | And I must admit, at the time I didn't
know the exact system variable that he
| | 01:16 | was looking for, but I did know that
it probably started with the word grid.
| | 01:21 | So, I'm going to type grid and then
I'll press Tab and I'll press Tab again.
| | 01:27 | I'll keep pressing Tab until I
see something that appears promising.
| | 01:30 | GRIDSTYLE looks like it
might be what I'm looking for.
| | 01:34 | I am going to press Enter to accept
that and then I'll immediately press F1.
| | 01:40 | This launches AutoCAD's context-
sensitive Help for the active command.
| | 01:44 | And if we scroll down a little bit,
we can see that GRIDSTYLE is the system
| | 01:49 | variable I was looking for.
| | 01:51 | If I set this to 1, AutoCAD will
display a dotted grid in 2D model space.
| | 01:57 | So, I'm going to close this, I will set
this to a value of 1, and I'll press Enter.
| | 02:03 | As you can see, using this Auto
Complete feature, we don't always have to
| | 02:06 | remember everything.
| | 02:08 | We only have to get close.
| | 02:10 | I'm not going to type grid style again.
I'm going to a right-click and in the
| | 02:15 | menu I'll select Recent Input
and I'll grab GRIDSTYLE from here.
| | 02:20 | Let's set this back to the default
value of 0 and I'll press Enter.
| | 02:25 | Let's face it. There's a lot of
functionality built into AutoCAD and it's nice
| | 02:30 | to know that we can use Auto Complete
to help us remember the features that we
| | 02:33 | may not use everyday.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Optimizing the size of palettes| 00:00 | The palettes in AutoCAD give us
access to a lot of functionality.
| | 00:03 | However, they take up a lot of space too.
| | 00:07 | If you're someone who works using a
single monitor, it doesn't take long before
| | 00:09 | your palettes completely take over your screen.
| | 00:12 | In this lesson we are going to learn
how to get the most out of our palettes
| | 00:15 | while taking up the least
amount of screen real estate.
| | 00:17 | I am going to start by pressing Ctrl+1.
| | 00:21 | This brings up the Properties
palette. Using this tool I can change the
| | 00:24 | properties of virtually anything in my drawing.
| | 00:27 | This is an important palette, something
I'd like to have easy access to all the time.
| | 00:33 | As you can see, this guy
takes up a lot of space.
| | 00:36 | If I click and hold on this title bar,
I can drag it over to the edge of
| | 00:39 | the screen and release.
| | 00:41 | That will dock the palette.
| | 00:42 | However, it's still taking up a lot of room.
| | 00:44 | I am going to drag us back out.
I will do that by clicking and holding on
| | 00:48 | the title bar up here.
| | 00:50 | I will drag this back into
model space and I will release.
| | 00:53 | Now instead of docking the
palette, I'm going to anchor it.
| | 00:56 | I will do that that by right clicking on
the title bar and I'll select anchor left.
| | 01:02 | This collapses the palette down
to the left margin of the screen.
| | 01:06 | Now if I need the tools, all I have to
do is hover over the margin. I can take
| | 01:09 | care of my business and when I am
finished, I will move away and the palette
| | 01:13 | will collapse automatically.
| | 01:15 | I can even take this one step further.
| | 01:18 | If I right-click on the
margin, I can select Icons Only.
| | 01:23 | This will reduce the entire
palette down to a single icon.
| | 01:26 | Once again, I can simply hover
over the icon to access the tools.
| | 01:30 | If at any point I wanted to
lock this palette open again,
| | 01:34 | I can click the Auto Hide
button to turn that feature off.
| | 01:37 | This will put the palette into a docked state.
| | 01:41 | To go back to the anchored state,
I will move up and click this minimize icon.
| | 01:47 | Using this palette anchoring
technique, I can have several of these huge
| | 01:50 | palettes incorporated into my
interface and they take up virtually no space.
| | 01:55 | I am going to press Ctrl+2
to bring up the Design Center.
| | 01:58 | I use this palette frequently to move
content from one drawing to another.
| | 02:03 | So I am going to right-click on the title
bar and I will anchor this to the interface.
| | 02:06 | I am going to press
Ctrl+8 to open the calculator.
| | 02:11 | I will right-click and we will anchor
this to the left side of the screen.
| | 02:16 | How about Sheet Sets?
| | 02:17 | I use the Sheets Set palette all the time.
| | 02:20 | I am going to press Ctrl+4 to open at palette.
| | 02:23 | Let's anchor this guy to
the right side of the screen.
| | 02:25 | I will right-click and select anchor
right, and then I'll come over here,
| | 02:30 | right-click on the margin, and I'll
set the right side of the screen to be
| | 02:33 | Icons Only as well.
| | 02:35 | Let's do one more, external references.
| | 02:38 | Now unfortunately there is no
Control key sequence to bring up the
| | 02:42 | External Reference Manager, but you
can always use the command alias ER
| | 02:47 | and tap your Spacebar.
| | 02:49 | Let's anchor this guy to the right.
| | 02:51 | Now if you want, you can find all of
AutoCAD's palettes by going to the View tab
| | 02:56 | and they are all located
right here in the Palettes panel.
| | 02:59 | In fact, the ones that are blue are the
ones are currently being used in the interface.
| | 03:03 | It looks like we have about nine
more palettes left and we certainly have
| | 03:08 | room for all of them.
| | 03:10 | As you see, by anchoring your
palettes down to icons, you can pack a large
| | 03:13 | amount of functionality
into a small amount of space.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Accessing drawings using Favorites| 00:00 | When using AutoCAD in a production
environment, you may be working in multiple
| | 00:03 | projects within a single week.
| | 00:06 | In this lesson I'm going to show you a
quick way to access your project folders
| | 00:09 | using favorite places.
| | 00:12 | As you can see, I've just
launched AutoCAD and I'm sitting in the
| | 00:14 | default Drawing1 file.
| | 00:17 | I would like to open a drawing,
so I'm going to click Open.
| | 00:20 | This brings up the Select Final dialog box.
| | 00:24 | Now let's say there is a project folder
on your network that you visit frequently.
| | 00:27 | For the purposes of my example, I'm
going to use the Exercise Files folder.
| | 00:31 | I've saved to my Exercise Files folder
to the desktop, so I'm going to click the
| | 00:36 | Desktop icon and then I will click, hold,
and drag the Exercise Files folder over
| | 00:42 | to this left margin and
I'll release my mouse button.
| | 00:45 | This add the folder as a favorite place.
That means that from now on, no matter
| | 00:50 | where I may be on my hard drive,
I can quickly open files from the Exercise
| | 00:54 | Files folder by clicking on this favorite place.
| | 00:57 | I'm going to double-click to open
up Chapter 1 and let's open up this
| | 01:02 | drawing, 07_background.
| | 01:04 | This represents my
standard AutoCAD background file.
| | 01:07 | Now that my file is open, I'm going to
launch the Open command again to bring
| | 01:10 | back the dialog box.
| | 01:13 | Think about some of the folders that
you use frequently. Maybe there are a few
| | 01:16 | more that you'd like to add to this list.
| | 01:19 | Maybe you're someone who'd like to
rotate folders in and out of this area on a
| | 01:22 | regular basis, depending on the
length of your typical project.
| | 01:27 | If that's the case, you can always
remove the folder by right-clicking on it
| | 01:30 | and selecting Remove.
| | 01:32 | Now I'd like to keep my Exercise Files
folder as a favorite place, so I'm going
| | 01:36 | to click Escape to close this menu.
| | 01:38 | Let me drag the slider down. Take a
look at some of these standard folders.
| | 01:43 | If you don't see yourself using all of
these, you can always remove them to make
| | 01:47 | room for your own folders.
| | 01:49 | Let's remove the FTP folder.
I'll click Yes and I'll remove Buzzsaw.
| | 01:55 | At any point in the future if you'd
like to bring those standard folders back,
| | 01:59 | simply right click in this margin
and select Restore Standard Folders.
| | 02:06 | I'm going to move up and click the
x to close this dialog box, and then I'm
| | 02:10 | going to come down select NO, because
technically we didn't make any changes to
| | 02:14 | the Favorite Places list.
| | 02:16 | Using AutoCAD Favorite Places feature,
you can have quick access to any of your
| | 02:20 | project folders, even if they're
widely scattered throughout your network.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Controlling notification bubbles| 00:00 | One thing AutoCAD is known for
is being a good communicator.
| | 00:04 | For instance, if you keep an eye on
your command line, AutoCAD will tell you
| | 00:07 | exactly what it needs to complete every command.
| | 00:10 | If you hover over anything with your cursor,
AutoCAD will offer help in the form of a tooltip.
| | 00:16 | AutoCAD will even keep you informed
about the status of your plots, reference
| | 00:20 | files, or layers in the
form of notification bubbles.
| | 00:23 | Now, the default settings assigned
to notification bubbles can make them
| | 00:27 | annoying, because they will remain on
your screen until such time as you come
| | 00:31 | down and click on them to turn them off.
| | 00:34 | In this lesson, we're going to learn
how to make the notification feature a
| | 00:37 | little more user-friendly.
| | 00:39 | Let's start by taking a
look at a notification bubble.
| | 00:42 | We'll do that by plotting this drawing.
| | 00:44 | I'll move up and launch Plots.
| | 00:47 | As you can see, this drawing is
going to plot to the DWF format.
| | 00:51 | I'll click OK and I'm going to
save this plot out here on my Desktop.
| | 00:58 | As you can see, AutoCAD has pumped up this
notification telling me my plot was successful.
| | 01:04 | The problem is this message will stay
on my screen until such time as I come
| | 01:08 | down and click this X to close it.
| | 01:11 | Now, AutoCAD can display notifications
for plotting, modified reference files,
| | 01:15 | or unreconciled layers.
| | 01:17 | So depending on the work you're doing,
this corner of your screen can turn into
| | 01:21 | a notification bubble waiting room.
| | 01:24 | Fortunately, we can adjust the default
settings of our notifications, such that
| | 01:28 | these messages display
and then close on their own.
| | 01:31 | To do that I'm going to click the small arrow
in the far lower right corner of the interface.
| | 01:37 | I will then select Tray Settings from
the menu and in the Tray Settings dialog
| | 01:42 | box I'm going to select Display time.
| | 01:46 | I can now use this fly-out to determine
how long I would like my notifications
| | 01:50 | to display on my monitor.
| | 01:51 | I'm going to select 5 Seconds and I'll click OK.
| | 01:55 | All right, let's try the new settings.
| | 01:58 | Once again I'll launch the Plot command,
I'll click OK and then I'll click Save,
| | 02:04 | and we'll overwrite the original plot file.
| | 02:06 | And as you can see, the notification
pops up just long enough to tell me
| | 02:12 | everything is okay and
then it closes on its own.
| | 02:15 | Using the Display time feature we can
make AutoCAD's great communication even
| | 02:19 | better, by having
notification bubbles close automatically.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Restoring hidden messages| 00:00 | Several of AutoCAD's pop-up messages
contain a little checkbox that says
| | 00:04 | Don't show me this again.
| | 00:06 | Well, have you ever selected
that box and then wished you hadn't?
| | 00:10 | In this lesson I'm going to show you
how to restore a message box that you have
| | 00:13 | previously told AutoCAD to hide.
| | 00:16 | On my screen I have a simple mechanical drawing.
| | 00:18 | As you can see, I have a top
and a front view of my part.
| | 00:21 | I am going to zoom in and we'll
center these labels on screen.
| | 00:27 | I'd like to start by editing this label.
| | 00:29 | So I'll double-click on it.
| | 00:30 | As you can see the label was
created using Multiline Text.
| | 00:33 | I am going to click inside the
Editor and I'll add the word VIEW.
| | 00:38 | Now I would like to add this word
VIEW to the other label as well.
| | 00:42 | So I'm going to click hold and drag
across this text and then I will right-click
| | 00:46 | and select Copy to copy
the text to my Clipboard.
| | 00:50 | When I do, AutoCAD brings up this message.
| | 00:52 | Now if you paste this text into
another application it might be difficult to see.
| | 00:56 | That's because this text is white.
If I was to paste it into Word or Excel,
| | 01:00 | white on white is going to be
hard to read. You know what?
| | 01:04 | Don't show me this message
again. Let me close this.
| | 01:07 | Now that I've copied that text to my
Clipboard, I'm going to press the Esc key
| | 01:10 | to cancel out of the Editor.
| | 01:12 | When I do, AutoCAD brings up another message.
| | 01:15 | It says, "Hey, you are canceling this
command, but you know what, you did make
| | 01:19 | some changes to that text.
| | 01:20 | Do you want to save those changes?"
| | 01:22 | Well, I am going to check, Always perform
my current choice, and then I'll click Yes.
| | 01:28 | Oops! I just clicked No.
| | 01:30 | Now, that's a problem.
| | 01:31 | First of all, I just lost the
text that I added to this label.
| | 01:35 | Secondly, because I checked that box
and said No, anytime I edit Multiline Text
| | 01:41 | in the future and happen to hit my Escape
key, AutoCAD is just going to drop me
| | 01:46 | out of the command.
| | 01:47 | it isn't even going to
ask me to save my changes.
| | 01:49 | So the question is, how can I restore
that message box now that I have told
| | 01:54 | AutoCAD to never show it
to me again? Here is how.
| | 01:57 | I'm going to right-click and
select Options from the menu.
| | 02:01 | You can also type Options at the
command line to bring up this dialog box.
| | 02:05 | Then we'll go the System tab
and I am going to click the Hidden
| | 02:08 | Messages Settings button.
| | 02:10 | This brings up a tree view showing me all of
the messages that I've told AutoCAD to hide.
| | 02:15 | Now your tree may look different than
mine, if you've already asked AutoCAD to
| | 02:19 | hide some of the other messages.
| | 02:21 | First of all I make sure the AutoCAD
group is expanded. If yours is not, you
| | 02:24 | can click to expand it.
| | 02:26 | Then I will click to expand the
Multiline Text command and right here I can find
| | 02:31 | the two messages that I
just asked AutoCAD to hide.
| | 02:35 | Here is how the restoration process works.
| | 02:37 | If you select a message from this list,
AutoCAD will show you a nice preview
| | 02:41 | right down here of what the message look like.
| | 02:44 | This is the one I'd like to restore.
| | 02:46 | So I'm going to place a check in this box.
| | 02:49 | Placing a check in the box
restores the individual message.
| | 02:52 | If I place a check at the command
level, AutoCAD will restore all messages
| | 02:57 | associated with that command.
| | 02:59 | If I place a check at the application
level, AutoCAD will restore all messages
| | 03:04 | associated with the application.
| | 03:06 | Now I would like to restore this message only.
| | 03:10 | I'll come down and click
OK and then I'll click OK.
| | 03:14 | All right, let's test this and see if it worked.
| | 03:16 | I'm going to double-click
to edit my Multiline Text.
| | 03:19 | I am going to add the word VIEW, and
then as an example, I'm going to press Escape
| | 03:25 | to cancel out of this command.
| | 03:27 | Once again, AutoCAD is asking me if I'd
like to save my changes. You know what?
| | 03:32 | I'm not going to check this box, because it
is kind of handy to have AutoCAD ask me this.
| | 03:36 | I am just going to come over and click
Yes to save my changes this time around.
| | 03:40 | So the next time you see a box that says
Don't show me this again, don't worry
| | 03:44 | too much about clicking it.
| | 03:46 | The selection that you make isn't permanent.
| | 03:48 | You can always restore a hidden
message by visiting the Options dialog box.
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| Following a blog from within AutoCAD| 00:00 | A great way to keep your CAD skills
current is to subscribe to some of the
| | 00:04 | AutoCAD related blogs and Twitter
feeds available on the Internet.
| | 00:08 | Many of these sites are
industry-specific, meaning
| | 00:10 | you can find helpful tips and advice
related to the fields of architecture,
| | 00:14 | civil engineering, or mechanical engineering.
| | 00:17 | The best part is if you find a site
that you like, you can probably follow that
| | 00:21 | site from within AutoCAD itself.
| | 00:24 | In this lesson we are going to learn
how to use AutoCAD to follow a blog
| | 00:27 | or Twitter account.
| | 00:28 | I am going to start by visiting a web page
and I can do that without even leaving AutoCAD.
| | 00:33 | I am going to type browser and I'll
press Enter and at the prompt I'll type the
| | 00:40 | URL of the site I'd like to visit.
| | 00:43 | As an example, I'll type twitter.com/
jeffbartles and I will press Enter.
| | 00:53 | This opens my default Internet
browser and takes me to the web page.
| | 00:57 | Now this page happens to be my personal
twitter account. This is a place where I
| | 01:01 | regularly post AutoCAD
related tips and shortcuts.
| | 01:08 | When you find a Twitter account or a
blog that you're interested in, you need to
| | 01:12 | look for this icon. This represents
that the page is available as an RSS feed.
| | 01:18 | RSS stands for Release Simple
Syndication and it's a Web protocol that's used
| | 01:23 | for distributing web
content that's updated frequently.
| | 01:26 | To add this site to AutoCAD, I'm going
to right click on the hyperlink and I'll
| | 01:30 | select Copy Shortcut.
| | 01:33 | I will then close the browser and inside
AutoCAD I will click the Communications
| | 01:38 | Center icon and then I will
click the Info Center Settings icon.
| | 01:44 | From here, I'll select RSS Feeds
and then I will click the Add button.
| | 01:49 | I will then right-click inside
this field and I'll paste my shortcut.
| | 01:53 | I will then click Add and
AutoCAD tells me my RSS feed has been
| | 02:00 | successfully added.
| | 02:02 | Let's close this and if we look right
here, we can see this check represents
| | 02:06 | that the information from this feed
will display in the Communications Center.
| | 02:11 | I can also come down here and see that
AutoCAD is going to display the last five entries.
| | 02:16 | Let's click OK. From now on,
| | 02:18 | I can follow this Twitter account by
simply clicking the Communications Center icon.
| | 02:23 | And I can see the last five entries right here.
| | 02:26 | In fact, each of these entries is a hyperlink.
| | 02:29 | if I click this AutoCAD will
take me directly to the web page.
| | 02:34 | Take a few minutes and search the
Internet for blogs, Twitter accounts, or
| | 02:38 | web sites that are
associated with your type of work.
| | 02:41 | If you find a valuable
resource, look for the RSS icon.
| | 02:45 | If the site has an RSS feed, you can
have instant access to that resource
| | 02:49 | from within AutoCAD.
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|
|
2. Drawing ToolsDisabling mode settings on the fly| 00:00 | When working in an AutoCAD drawing,
we have several mode setting options.
| | 00:04 | We can see the icons for them right
down here at the bottom of the screen.
| | 00:08 | Now each of these icons represents a
toggle that turns a specific setting on and off
| | 00:13 | and one of the first things we
learn in AutoCAD class is that we can also
| | 00:17 | toggle many of these settings using
the function keys on our keyboard.
| | 00:20 | For instance, if I tap the F8
key, I can turn ortho on and off.
| | 00:26 | F10 toggles my polar tracking.
| | 00:29 | The F11 key toggles object tracking.
| | 00:32 | I'm going to leave that one off.
| | 00:35 | F3 toggles running object snaps, and so on.
| | 00:39 | If you would like a listing of the
function keys that control your Mode
| | 00:42 | Settings, simply right-click on one of
these icons in the status bar and hover
| | 00:47 | over the word Display.
| | 00:48 | Let me press Escape to cancel out of this.
| | 00:51 | Now I showed you that so I can show you this.
| | 00:54 | Our mode settings don't have
to be an on/off proposition.
| | 00:58 | We can use these Function keys to
temporarily enable or disable a mode setting.
| | 01:03 | Let me show you what I mean.
| | 01:05 | I'm going to ensure that my
running object snaps are turned on.
| | 01:08 | I'll do that by pressing the F3 key,
and then I'm going to zoom in on these
| | 01:12 | dimensions at the bottom of my part.
| | 01:15 | Now I would like to push this dimension
up and center it a little better between
| | 01:19 | these other two dimensions.
| | 01:21 | To do that I'll select the
dimension. I'll grab this grip.
| | 01:25 | I'll move it up to here and click.
| | 01:27 | Notice that's not what I wanted.
| | 01:29 | My running objects snap got in the way.
| | 01:32 | Now running objects snaps are
controlled using the F3 key and rather than
| | 01:36 | turning the feature off,
I'm going to click this grip.
| | 01:39 | I'll pull the dimension up to here and
then I'll press and hold the F3 key down.
| | 01:44 | Notice the extra icon appearing at my cursor.
| | 01:47 | This disables the mode setting
until such time as I release the F3 key.
| | 01:51 | Let me click to place my
dimension and then I'll release F3.
| | 01:55 | When I am finished, I'll
press Escape to deselect the entity.
| | 02:00 | Now this process also works in reverse.
| | 02:03 | If I turn my running object snaps off-- I'll
do that by clicking the icon in the status bar--
| | 02:08 | I can press and hold the F3 key
whenever I'd like to enable them.
| | 02:12 | I'm going to create a linear dimension.
| | 02:14 | I'd like to place it at the endpoint here.
| | 02:17 | I'm going to press and hold F3.
| | 02:20 | I'll click the endpoint
here and the endpoint here.
| | 02:23 | I'll pull this down, I'll release F3,
and I'll place my dimension right here.
| | 02:27 | This process also works with
all of the other function keys.
| | 02:32 | Let's zoom out a little.
| | 02:33 | I'll pan this over so I have some room.
| | 02:36 | I am going to launch the Line command.
| | 02:40 | Currently my ortho is turned off.
| | 02:43 | I'm going to pick a point on screen. I'll
pick a few more points, then I'll hold down F8.
| | 02:49 | Notice ortho is toggled on.
| | 02:52 | As soon as I release the
F8 key, I'm back to normal.
| | 02:56 | If I press and hold F10, now my polar tracking
is locked on until such time as I release F10.
| | 03:04 | To complete my shape I'm going to press and
hold F3 so I get access to this end point.
| | 03:09 | When I am finished I'll press my Escape key.
| | 03:13 | As you can see, by holding down the
function keys we're able to go beyond the
| | 03:16 | simple on-off usage of our mode settings.
| | 03:19 | Temporarily enabling or disabling
settings on-the-fly means we can focus more
| | 03:24 | on our designs and spend less time
pushing buttons on the interface.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Finding hatch boundaries in busy drawings| 00:00 | When creating hatch, the pick points
method can be one of the fastest ways
| | 00:03 | to define a boundary.
| | 00:05 | Unfortunately, when using pick points
AutoCAD looks at every entity in the drawing.
| | 00:10 | As your drawings become more
complicated, it gets harder to use pick points,
| | 00:14 | because other geometries
starts getting in the way.
| | 00:17 | In this lesson we are going to learn
how to use pick points to apply hatch to
| | 00:20 | complicated drawings.
| | 00:21 | On my screen I have an abstract example.
| | 00:25 | Let's say I'd like to hatch the area
defined by these four line segments.
| | 00:30 | I'll launch my Hatch command and by
default AutoCAD uses the Pick Points
| | 00:34 | method of finding a boundary.
| | 00:36 | Here's the problem.
| | 00:37 | When I place my cursor inside this area,
you can see that AutoCAD is hatching
| | 00:42 | around all the circles.
| | 00:44 | Now you might think that we could move
up and use the Select Boundary Objects
| | 00:48 | method to identify the boundary, but
since my boundary is four individual
| | 00:52 | objects, I can select all of these,
but I'm still not getting what I want.
| | 00:57 | I am going to press Escape and then
I'll click the Undo button and let's
| | 01:02 | try something else.
| | 01:03 | I'm going to re-launch the Hatch command.
| | 01:06 | I'll stick with the default Pick
Points method. I'll open up the Boundaries
| | 01:11 | panel, and I'll click this icon.
| | 01:13 | This tool allows me to limit what
AutoCAD sees when looking for a boundary.
| | 01:19 | I will then click each of my
four objects and press Enter.
| | 01:25 | Now when I place my cursor inside this
area, AutoCAD hatches to the objects that
| | 01:29 | I allowed it to see.
| | 01:31 | I'll click to select the area and then
I'll press Enter to accept to my hatch.
| | 01:34 | Knowing what we know now, let's try
and use this tool in a practical example.
| | 01:40 | I am going to pan the drawing over.
| | 01:43 | On my screen I have an architectural drawing.
| | 01:48 | I would like to apply a
gradient fill hatch to these windows.
| | 01:53 | Let's zoom in a little closer.
| | 01:55 | I'll launch the Hatch command.
| | 01:58 | In the Pattern panel, I'll click the
flyout and I'm going to select the
| | 02:02 | Gradient Linear Pattern.
| | 02:05 | I'd like this to be blue-and-white.
| | 02:07 | One my colors is already correct.
| | 02:09 | So I'll click the yellow
and I'll change this to white.
| | 02:13 | Finally, I'm going to click in the
angle field and I'll change this to 100.
| | 02:18 | I'll press tab to accept that value.
| | 02:21 | This way it looks like I have a
light source coming down from above.
| | 02:24 | Now here's the problem. I don't want to
have individual patterns for each pane.
| | 02:30 | I'd like to have the
pattern span the entire window.
| | 02:33 | To do that, I'll open the
Boundaries panel and I'll click the Select
| | 02:38 | New Boundary Set icon.
| | 02:39 | I will then select the
objects I'd like AutoCAD to see.
| | 02:45 | I'll grab all of these edges
around the outsides of the windows.
| | 02:51 | When I am finished, I'll press Enter.
| | 02:53 | Now when I place my cursor inside this
area, I can see that AutoCAD will span
| | 02:57 | the pattern across the entire window.
| | 03:00 | I'll select this one and this one.
| | 03:03 | Now before I finish, I'd
like to do one more thing.
| | 03:05 | I'd rather not have my hatch
sitting on top of the other linework.
| | 03:09 | So I am going to open the Options
panel and I'll come down and open this
| | 03:13 | flyout. This is a draw order control,
and I would like my Hatch to be set to
| | 03:18 | the back of the drawing and I'll press Enter.
| | 03:22 | As you can see, even if you have
geometry that's in your way, you can still use
| | 03:25 | the Pick Points method to create your hatch.
| | 03:28 | You just need to limit what AutoCAD
sees when it looks for a boundary.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Generating boundaries from difficult shapes| 00:00 | If you can define the boundary of
your geometry, you're one step closer to
| | 00:03 | calculating its area, applying a
hatch pattern, or generating a 3D model.
| | 00:08 | Now boundaries are easy to create if
you're working with simple geometry.
| | 00:12 | Sometimes though, you may need
to generate a boundary from a
| | 00:14 | complicated selection set.
| | 00:17 | In this lesson I'm going to show you a
quick way to create a boundary around
| | 00:20 | almost any geometry.
| | 00:22 | On my screen I have an abstract example.
| | 00:24 | We're going to use this linework to
take a look at the Boundary command.
| | 00:28 | Boundary allows us to create a closed
Polyline by clicking inside a Shape.
| | 00:33 | For instance, if I was interested in
this area defined by the intersection of
| | 00:37 | these circles, I could open the Draw
panel and launch the Boundary command, I'll
| | 00:44 | click OK, and then I will click
inside the shapes and I'll press Enter.
| | 00:49 | As you can see, using boundary I created
a closed Polyline representing this area.
| | 00:54 | I'm going to hit Escape.
| | 00:57 | Knowing this, let's pan the drawing over.
| | 00:59 | On my screen I have geometry that
represents some large machinery. Let's say
| | 01:06 | that I need to calculate the square
footage of his geometry to help determine
| | 01:10 | where it will fit inside my floor plan.
| | 01:13 | Well, if I had a Polyline that
represented the outer edge of this lifework,
| | 01:17 | it would be easy because I could simply
select the Polyline and find the total area.
| | 01:22 | I can create this Polyline
using the Boundary command.
| | 01:25 | Now normally when we use the Boundary
command, we think about clicking on the
| | 01:28 | inside of an object.
| | 01:29 | In this case, that isn't an option
because I get to the things that are in my way.
| | 01:34 | However, if I create a rectangle that
surrounds the object, I could then launch
| | 01:41 | my Boundary command and click on
the outside and I'll press Enter.
| | 01:49 | Now AutoCAD is giving me a few extra
shapes, but if I select this one on the
| | 01:53 | outer edge, you can see that AutoCAD
gave me a perfect representation of the
| | 01:57 | footprint of this machinery, and now
that I've selected this, I'm go over to my
| | 02:02 | property changer and I can see that
this machinery has an area of a little more
| | 02:06 | than 33 square feet.
| | 02:08 | Typically, when we think of the
Boundary command, we think of a tool that works
| | 02:11 | from the inside out.
| | 02:13 | However, if we think outside the box
we can use Boundary to trace nearly any
| | 02:17 | geometry in our drawing.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Calculating the overall length of multiple entities| 00:00 | AutoCAD isn't just used for
creating and editing linework.
| | 00:04 | AutoCAD is also capable of helping you
calculate the quantities associated with construction.
| | 00:09 | For instance, calculating the linear
feet of a specific improvement is a pay
| | 00:13 | item that's used frequently in production work.
| | 00:16 | In this lesson, we'll learn a quick
way to find the total linear feet of any
| | 00:20 | geometry in our drawing.
| | 00:21 | On my screen I have a civil engineering example.
| | 00:24 | This drawing represents a site plan for
a proposed restaurant and parking lot.
| | 00:29 | To help calculate the construction
costs, I need to provide the total linear
| | 00:33 | feet of the curb and
gutter used in this project.
| | 00:37 | If I zoom in over here, we can see that
this geometry represents the curb and gutter.
| | 00:42 | I have a line that represents the back of curb.
| | 00:46 | one that represents the flow line of
curb, and I have a line that represents
| | 00:50 | the edge of pavement.
| | 00:52 | I'm going to be using the geometry on the
back of curb layer to do my calculation.
| | 00:58 | So we'll start by
isolating this geometry on screen.
| | 01:01 | To do that, I'll open the
Layer Properties Manager.
| | 01:04 | I will select the back of curb layer.
| | 01:07 | I will then right-click and I'll
come down and choose Invert Selection.
| | 01:11 | This selects every layer
except for the back of curb layer.
| | 01:15 | I will then click the lightbulb
to turn all of those layers off.
| | 01:19 | I'll move my cursor back into model
space and I'll let that palette collapse.
| | 01:23 | Now some of the geometry that we see on
screen are polylines, some of these are
| | 01:28 | line segments, and some of these are arcs.
| | 01:32 | Imagine for a second if I could
extract the Length property of each of these
| | 01:36 | entities into a Microsoft Excel
spreadsheet. Then I could simply find the sum of
| | 01:41 | all the lengths to find the total
length of curb and gutter in this project.
| | 01:46 | That's exactly what we're going to do.
| | 01:48 | I'll start by selecting the Insert tab
and then I'll come down to the Linking &
| | 01:52 | Extraction panel and I'll choose Extract Data.
| | 01:56 | This brings up the Data Extraction tool.
| | 01:58 | This is a wizard that allows us to
extract data from the entities in a drawing.
| | 02:03 | I would like to create a new data extraction.
| | 02:05 | So I'll make sure that option
is selected and I'll click Next.
| | 02:09 | Then I can give my data extraction a name.
| | 02:12 | I'm saving mine to the desktop.
| | 02:14 | I'm going to call this CGlinear,
and I'll be saving this to my desktop.
| | 02:21 | Now before I click Save, notice
I'm saving this as a DXE file.
| | 02:25 | This is a data extraction file.
| | 02:28 | The only reason I save this, let me
drag this down, that's because the Data
| | 02:32 | Extraction Wizard is an eight page
dialog box and what I'm actually saving are
| | 02:37 | the selections that I make on
each of the pages of this wizard.
| | 02:41 | This way if I run the same extraction
again in the future, I can simply reuse my
| | 02:46 | previous extraction file or edit an
existing extraction file. Let's click Save.
| | 02:54 | Now AutoCAD is saying, where do you
want me to look to find the object data?
| | 02:59 | I'm going to choose Select objects in
the current drawing and then I'll click
| | 03:03 | the Select objects icon.
| | 03:06 | I would like AutoCAD to look at
these objects, and I'll press Enter and
| | 03:11 | then I'll click Next.
| | 03:13 | Now AutoCAD is saying based on what you
told me to look at, this is what I found.
| | 03:18 | I would like to extract the data
from each of these object types.
| | 03:21 | So I will leave all of these
selected and I'll click Next.
| | 03:26 | Now AutoCAD wants to know the data
I'd like to extract from those objects.
| | 03:30 | I am going to grab this slider and I'll
drag this down and just for a second,
| | 03:35 | look at all the properties that
I could extract if I wanted to.
| | 03:38 | But right now, I'm going to right-click
in the column area and select Uncheck All.
| | 03:46 | And then I'll scroll up and select the
Length property, because that's the only
| | 03:51 | data that I'm interested in
right now. Let's click Next.
| | 03:56 | AutoCAD is now showing me a preview
of how my data will look in Excel.
| | 04:01 | If I drag this slider down, you can see
that AutoCAD has grouped some of these
| | 04:05 | similar entities together.
| | 04:07 | You can see that it found four line
segments with a length of two units.
| | 04:12 | Now this grouping is nice, but it
would be much easier to add the lengths
| | 04:15 | together if each object was
represented as a single entity in this list.
| | 04:19 | So I'm going to come over and remove
the check from Combine identical rows.
| | 04:26 | Now each object shows up as a
single entry. Let's click Next.
| | 04:33 | I will select Output data to external
file and I'll click the ellipsis button.
| | 04:39 | I'm going to save this file to my Desktop.
| | 04:42 | I'll keep the default name and notice
that AutoCAD is going to save this as a
| | 04:46 | Microsoft Excel file.
| | 04:48 | Let me mention that if you do not
have Microsoft Excel installed on your
| | 04:51 | machine, you will not be able
to save to the Excel file format.
| | 04:56 | If I open up files of type, you can see
that there are other file types available.
| | 05:01 | For this example we'll be using the
Excel file format. Let's click Save.
| | 05:06 | I'll click Next and then I'll
click Finish to complete my extraction.
| | 05:10 | All right, let's take a look at
the Excel file that we just created.
| | 05:15 | Notice the entries in the Length column.
| | 05:17 | Each has a green icon in the corner.
| | 05:20 | If I click in one of these cells, we
can see that AutoCAD added an apostrophe
| | 05:23 | when it exported the value.
| | 05:25 | To strip all of these apostrophes, I'm
going to click and hold in this top cell.
| | 05:31 | I'll drag down to select all of the
cells and I'll click this exclamation point
| | 05:37 | icon and choose Convert to Number.
| | 05:41 | I will then click in the
cell beneath the column.
| | 05:45 | I'll select AutoSum and I'll press
Enter and as you can see this project
| | 05:49 | contains nearly 1434 linear
feet of proposed curb and gutter.
| | 05:55 | Let's return to AutoCAD.
| | 05:57 | I'm going to click the Home tab and
then I'll select Layer Previous to put our
| | 06:01 | layers back the way they were when we started.
| | 06:04 | So the next time you need to calculate
construction quantities for your project,
| | 06:08 | don't do the calculations by hand.
Instead, use the Data Extraction tool and let
| | 06:13 | AutoCAD do all the work for you.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Calculating the area of multiple shapes| 00:00 | Typically, you can't finish a
construction cost analysis without calculating
| | 00:04 | some areas and when it comes to
finding the area of several shapes, you might
| | 00:08 | be tempted to reach for your calculator.
| | 00:11 | That calculator however is not necessary.
| | 00:13 | In this lesson I'll show you a quick
way to use AutoCAD to calculate the total
| | 00:17 | area of several shapes in a drawing.
| | 00:19 | On my screen I have a civil engineering example.
| | 00:23 | This is a drawing of a site plan for
a proposed restaurant and parking lot.
| | 00:27 | Let's say that the owner of this
property would like to finish this project by
| | 00:30 | installing some sod and they would like
to cover the area from the property line
| | 00:35 | to the new construction.
| | 00:37 | They would also like to
cover each of these two islands.
| | 00:40 | So, our goal is to find out how many
square yards of sod will be required
| | 00:44 | to finish this site.
| | 00:45 | I am going to start by turning off a layer.
| | 00:48 | I don't need these dimensions.
| | 00:50 | I have a feeling they're going to get in my way.
| | 00:52 | So I'm going to click the Layer Off button.
| | 00:55 | I'll select one of the
dimensions and then I'll press Enter.
| | 00:59 | If you take a look at the layer control,
you can see I have also created a layer
| | 01:02 | called Area and I've set that layer Current.
| | 01:05 | To trace the areas where we will
be installing sod, I'm going to use
| | 01:09 | the Boundary command.
| | 01:11 | So I'll open the Draw panel.
| | 01:13 | I'll launch Boundary.
| | 01:15 | I'll click OK and then
I'll click inside this area.
| | 01:18 | I'll click inside this island, and this
one and then now click inside this area.
| | 01:23 | And notice that AutoCAD is
giving me a warning that says, hey!
| | 01:26 | We cannot find a closed
boundary down here. That's all right.
| | 01:29 | I am not going to panic just yet.
| | 01:31 | I'll click Close and then I'll press
Enter to accept the three boundaries
| | 01:35 | that AutoCAD did find.
| | 01:37 | Now let's pan this drawing up and I'll
zoom in on the southern portion of the site.
| | 01:42 | Notice AutoCAD found several gaps.
| | 01:44 | This is actually a problem with screen
resolution and not my geometry. Watch this.
| | 01:49 | I am going to type re to regen the
drawing and then we'll try the boundary again.
| | 01:55 | Let's launch Boundary and I'll
click inside the shape one more time.
| | 01:59 | Now that AutoCAD has successfully found
the boundary, I'll press Enter and then
| | 02:03 | I'll double-click my
scroll wheel to do Zoom Extents.
| | 02:06 | At this point I'd like to isolate my
area layer such that we can visually see
| | 02:11 | the areas where we will be installing sod.
| | 02:14 | To do that, I'll open the
Layer Properties Manager.
| | 02:17 | I will select the area layer and then
I'll right-click and I'll choose Invert
| | 02:21 | Selection and then I'll
click one of these lightbulbs.
| | 02:24 | This will turn all of the other layers off.
| | 02:27 | Now to find the total area of all of these
shapes, I'm going to convert them into regions.
| | 02:33 | To do that, I'll open the Draw panel.
| | 02:35 | I'll launch the Region command.
| | 02:38 | I'll select the four
shapes and I'll press Enter.
| | 02:42 | If you look at the command line
you can see four regions created.
| | 02:45 | Now the reason I wanted to convert
these into regions is because regions can be
| | 02:49 | joined together using the Union command.
| | 02:51 | I am going to type Union and I'll press
Enter, and then I will select these four
| | 02:57 | shapes again and press Enter.
| | 03:00 | Now if I hover over this edge, you can
see that AutoCAD treats these objects
| | 03:03 | as a single region.
| | 03:06 | If I select this region, I can come
over to the full Properties palette and I
| | 03:11 | can find the area right here.
| | 03:13 | I know that because my
drawing units are set to feet.
| | 03:16 | Remember we wanted square yards.
| | 03:18 | So I'm going to click inside this cell
and then I'll click the Calculator icon.
| | 03:23 | Now my calculator is
coming up in the expanded state.
| | 03:26 | If yours is not, you may have to click
this More Than button to see all the controls.
| | 03:30 | I am going to grab this slider and I'll
pull down. In the Units Conversion area,
| | 03:37 | under Units type, I am going to set
this to Area, Convert from, Square Feet,
| | 03:44 | I would like to convert this to Square Yards.
| | 03:49 | Now it would have been nice if AutoCAD
would have dropped this value down there for me.
| | 03:53 | To move the value I'm going to double-
click in the Expression area and then
| | 03:57 | I'll click in the Value to Convert area,
and I can see the converted value right
| | 04:01 | here, approximately 4582 square yards of sod.
| | 04:07 | Let's close this.
I no longer need my region.
| | 04:11 | Since it's selected, I'll
press the Delete key to erase it.
| | 04:16 | To put my layers back the way they
were, I am going to go back to the
| | 04:19 | Layer Properties Manager.
| | 04:20 | Notice that AutoCAD
remembers my previous selection.
| | 04:23 | I'll click any of these
lightbulbs to turn those layers back on.
| | 04:26 | So the next time you need to
calculate the area of several shapes, try
| | 04:31 | converting the shapes into regions
first and then union them together.
| | 04:35 | AutoCAD will do all the math for you
and if necessary, it will even convert the
| | 04:39 | value to any unit of measure you need.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Flattening geometry to a single elevation| 00:00 | It's important to remember that even
though you may be creating a 2D drawing,
| | 00:04 | AutoCAD is a 3D environment.
| | 00:06 | All it takes is a couple of skewed Z
coordinates and you may be constructing
| | 00:10 | geometry at several different
elevations without even knowing it.
| | 00:14 | In this lesson we're going to learn
how to flatten a drawing whose elevations
| | 00:17 | may have gotten out of control.
| | 00:19 | On my screen I have a drawing of a site
plan for a proposed park and I'd like to
| | 00:24 | start by taking a measurement.
| | 00:26 | Let's zoom in and we'll find out how
far the sidewalk is from the back of curb.
| | 00:31 | I'll launch the Distance command
and I'll use the Nearest object snip.
| | 00:37 | Let's find the distance from nearest to
here to a point perpendicular to the curb.
| | 00:44 | Notice that my distance is
slightly more than 278 feet.
| | 00:48 | I am going to press Escape.
| | 00:50 | Now that distance can't
possibly be right. Or can it?
| | 00:54 | You see, I am looking at
this drawing with a 2D mindset.
| | 00:58 | What if some of this geometry was
drawn to an elevation? Let's take a look.
| | 01:02 | I am going to double-click my scroll
wheel to do a Zoom Extents and then I am
| | 01:06 | going to come over to the view cube and
I'll select a southeast isometric view.
| | 01:10 | All right, now this is a problem.
| | 01:14 | As you can see several of the
objects have been drawn or inserted at
| | 01:17 | multiple elevations.
| | 01:19 | Now how does something like this happen?
| | 01:21 | Well, if you exchange drawings with
someone who typically works in 3D,
| | 01:25 | something like this can happen very
easily, because from a top view you can't
| | 01:29 | see the elevations.
| | 01:30 | So it's very easy to assume that
everything is being constructed flat on
| | 01:34 | the coordinate system.
| | 01:35 | You know as a side point, the next
time you get a chance open some project
| | 01:39 | drawings that you've worked on with
other clients and take a look at them from a
| | 01:42 | southeast isometric view.
| | 01:44 | You might just be surprised at what you see.
| | 01:46 | All right, so how do we fix something like this?
| | 01:51 | Well, I am going to go back to
the top view. Let's zoom in.
| | 01:56 | Right now all of the X and Y
coordinates of this geometry are good.
| | 02:00 | If we could just set all of the Z
coordinate values to 0, we could flatten the drawing.
| | 02:04 | Fortunately there is a tool that
will do this for us automatically.
| | 02:07 | However, it does have one catch.
It doesn't work well with blocks, and in this
| | 02:12 | drawing all of my trees are blocks.
| | 02:15 | So I'm going to move up and launch the
Layer Freeze command and I'll select one
| | 02:20 | of my trees to freeze that layer,
and I'll press Escape.
| | 02:23 | All right the command we will use to
fix this, as on the Express Tools tab.
| | 02:27 | I am going to open up the Modify panel
and we'll use this command, Flatten Objects.
| | 02:32 | I am going to zoom out.
| | 02:38 | I'll select this geometry and press Enter.
| | 02:42 | Now AutoCAD is asking me to remove hidden lines.
| | 02:45 | A hidden line would be a line that's
obscured from view and in this case I'm
| | 02:49 | going to press Enter and accept No
because I don't want AutoCAD to delete
| | 02:53 | anything. And after a couple seconds,
AutoCAD converts the geometry and if I
| | 02:58 | adjust my view again, let's go
back to a southeast isometric view.
| | 03:02 | In fact let's go to a right side view.
| | 03:04 | You can see this geometry
has been completely flattened.
| | 03:08 | Now how do we deal with the tree blocks?
| | 03:11 | Well, I am going to go back to the Home tab.
| | 03:13 | Let's click Layer Previous to turn that
layer back on and let's set this back to
| | 03:18 | a southeast isometric view.
| | 03:21 | I'm going to fix these trees
manually using the Properties palette.
| | 03:27 | I'll start by selecting the symbols.
| | 03:29 | Then I'll come over to the Properties
Palette and I'm going to change their Z
| | 03:33 | coordinate to 0 and I'll press Enter. When
I'm finished I'll press Escape to deselect.
| | 03:39 | All of my geometries now have been
flattened and I'll restore a top view.
| | 03:44 | So even if you consider yourself a 2D
drafter it's important to remember that
| | 03:48 | your drawings might have some 3D geometry.
| | 03:51 | In the event you discover some line
work with unnecessary elevations, you can
| | 03:55 | quickly set the elevations back
to 0 using the Flatten command.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Trimming all entities to one side of an object| 00:00 | As it is, AutoCAD's Trim
command is very efficient.
| | 00:03 | However, did you know there is an
even faster way to trim your geometry?
| | 00:07 | In this lesson we're going to take a
look at extrim, a tool that allows us to
| | 00:11 | trim everything to one side of an object.
| | 00:14 | On my screen I have some simple geometry.
| | 00:17 | Let's say I'd like to trim all of the
line work on the outside of this circle.
| | 00:22 | To do that I'll type extreme. This
stands for Extended Trim and I'm afraid the
| | 00:27 | keyboard is the only way to access this command.
| | 00:31 | I'll press Enter. I will then select
my cutting object and then I'll click to
| | 00:36 | the outside of this circle and AutoCAD
trims all of the geometry on that side.
| | 00:40 | Let's try the command again. This time
I'd like to trim all of the linework to
| | 00:44 | the inside of this square.
| | 00:46 | I am going to press my
Spacebar to re-launch extrim.
| | 00:50 | I'll select the square and
then I'll click to the inside.
| | 00:54 | As you can see, the extrim
command is very easy to use.
| | 00:58 | Now where am I to use this
command in production work?
| | 01:01 | Well, anytime where it would be a hassle to
manually select all of the objects to trim.
| | 01:05 | For instance, I am going to pan this over.
| | 01:08 | On my screen I have a drawing of a
small subdivision and there's quite a bit of
| | 01:16 | linework in this file.
| | 01:18 | Let's say that a client has
requested a CAD file that shows the utility
| | 01:21 | locations at the intersection
of Willow Avenue and Jefferson Street.
| | 01:26 | Well, the client obviously doesn't need
this entire file, so to make the e-mail
| | 01:30 | a little smaller and to make things
less confusing I'm only going to send him
| | 01:34 | the geometry that he is interested in.
| | 01:37 | Let's zoom out and I'll start by
creating a rectangle that defines the
| | 01:41 | area that he needs.
| | 01:42 | Let's turn my Running
Objects Snaps off momentarily.
| | 01:51 | Next I'll launch the extrim command.
| | 01:54 | Now instead of typing this in again,
I'm going to right-click, I'll come down to
| | 01:58 | Recent Input, and I'll
select extrim from the menu.
| | 02:03 | I will then select my
rectangle and click to the outside.
| | 02:06 | I will then launch the Erase command and
remove the rest of the extraneous linework.
| | 02:18 | As long as I'm at it, I'm going
to remove the rectangle as well.
| | 02:21 | When I'm finished, I have a relatively small
file that includes exactly what the client needs.
| | 02:28 | When it comes to trimming your
geometry, extrim isn't meant to be a
| | 02:31 | replacement for the Standard Trim
command. However it's nice to know that
| | 02:35 | it's there for those special
occasions when you need to quickly trim all
| | 02:39 | entities to one side of an object.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Eliminating duplicated geometry| 00:00 | When working in a production
environment it's important that your drawings
| | 00:03 | contain only necessary linework.
| | 00:05 | You want to make sure that you
eliminate any duplicated geometry.
| | 00:09 | Having unnecessary redundant
linework makes your file sizes larger.
| | 00:13 | They can skew your quantity calculations
and in the event your geometry is going
| | 00:18 | to be cut out using a CNC machine,
duplicates can render a drawing unusable.
| | 00:23 | In this lesson we're going to learn how
to remove any duplicated or unnecessary
| | 00:27 | geometry from a drawing.
| | 00:28 | On my screen I have an architectural example.
| | 00:31 | This geometry represents some
linework that you might find in a kitchen.
| | 00:34 | I am going to start by
erasing one of these tools.
| | 00:39 | I'll launch the Erase command.
| | 00:41 | I'll select the stool and
press Enter-- and that didn't work.
| | 00:45 | Let's try it again.
| | 00:45 | I'll launch the Erase command, I'll
select the stool, and I'll press Enter.
| | 00:50 | Has this ever happened to you?
| | 00:52 | At first you might think there is
a problem with the Erase command.
| | 00:55 | In reality there is nothing wrong with
erase. The problem is I have multiple
| | 00:59 | insertions of the same block.
| | 01:02 | If I make a crossing window over the stool,
you can see I have six more at this location.
| | 01:06 | Let's press Escape.
| | 01:09 | I am going to make a crossing window
over this geometry and I can see I have
| | 01:12 | five stools at this location.
| | 01:15 | After seeing this, I have to question if I
have any other duplicated line work in this file.
| | 01:21 | Let's hover over the edge of the countertop.
| | 01:23 | I can see this is a nice closed polyline.
| | 01:25 | If I hover over this edge, I can
see that I have a line segment that's
| | 01:29 | duplicating part of this geometry.
| | 01:33 | Let's hover over the wall.
| | 01:34 | It looks like this portion
of the wall is a polyline.
| | 01:37 | If I however over this side, I can see
that I have another extra line segment on
| | 01:41 | this side of the drawing.
| | 01:43 | So it's obvious now that I have to
scan this drawing and remove all of the
| | 01:46 | duplicated geometry.
| | 01:48 | The tool I am going to use
is on the Express Tools tab.
| | 01:51 | It's in the Modify panel.
| | 01:53 | I am going to select Delete Duplicates.
| | 01:56 | The official name for this command is Overkill.
| | 01:58 | I will then select all of the objects
in the drawing and I'll press Enter.
| | 02:05 | AutoCAD then brings up a dialog box.
| | 02:08 | Since we're asking AutoCAD to delete
duplicates, these settings control how
| | 02:13 | similar the objects have to be
before one of them is removed.
| | 02:16 | Notice that I have several Ignore settings.
| | 02:19 | Let's say for a second that I have two
identical circles and each circle is on its own layer.
| | 02:25 | If I check to ignore the layer property,
AutoCAD will eliminate one of those circles.
| | 02:30 | I can do the same thing with
LINETYPE, COLOR, LINEWEIGHT and PLOTSTYLE.
| | 02:35 | Now I know for a fact in this drawing I
have not forced any line types or colors
| | 02:39 | or any of these properties on my objects.
| | 02:41 | However I am going to check Ignore
LAYERS, in the event I have duplicated
| | 02:45 | geometry on two different layers.
| | 02:47 | Let's look at Numeric fuzz.
| | 02:49 | How geometrically
similar the objects have to be.
| | 02:53 | If this is set to 0, the objects will
have to be identical to 14 spaces to the
| | 02:58 | right of the decimal.
| | 02:59 | Now since we're dealing with a
microscopic level of precision, I am going to
| | 03:04 | click in this field and
I'll set this to 0.00001.
| | 03:11 | This says that if the geometry differs
in the fifth decimal space, the entities
| | 03:15 | are close enough to be called identical.
| | 03:18 | At the bottom of the dialog box we
can control how AutoCAD deals with
| | 03:21 | lines, arcs, and polylines.
| | 03:23 | For instance, if I check END to END,
AutoCAD will combine collinear objects that
| | 03:29 | meet END to END into a single entity.
| | 03:31 | If I check OVERLAP, AutoCAD will combine
collinear objects that overlap into a single entity.
| | 03:38 | Probably the most powerful
option is this one, PLINES.
| | 03:41 | If I check this, AutoCAD will remove any
overlapping redundant geometry in my polylines.
| | 03:47 | It will also compare my polylines to the
individual lines and arcs in the drawing.
| | 03:52 | If I have a line or arc that
duplicates a segment within a polyline, AutoCAD
| | 03:56 | will revise the polyline to
remove the duplicated segment.
| | 04:00 | For the purposes of this example,
I'm going to leave all of these checked
| | 04:03 | except for END to END.
| | 04:05 | Let me drag this dialog box down.
| | 04:08 | That's because I do have two collinear
objects that meet END to END right here
| | 04:13 | and I'd like those to
remain as separate objects.
| | 04:16 | Now that I'm finished, I'll click OK
and if we look at the command line we can
| | 04:20 | see that 16 duplicates were deleted.
| | 04:23 | Let's verify some of this geometry.
| | 04:24 | I am going to make a crossing window
over the stool and I can see that I have a
| | 04:29 | single block reference.
| | 04:32 | Let's hover over the countertop.
| | 04:34 | I can see the polyline was
broken at this single line segment.
| | 04:39 | If I do a crossing window across this geometry,
I can see that I only have one entity there.
| | 04:45 | Likewise if we take a look at the
wall segment I can see the polyline was
| | 04:48 | broken at this individual line and if
I do a crossing selection, I can see I
| | 04:54 | only have one entity there as well.
| | 04:58 | So in the event your drawing has some
unnecessary geometry, give it a quick scan
| | 05:03 | with the Overkill command.
| | 05:04 | Using Overkill, you can ensure that
your drawings are geometrically cleaned of
| | 05:08 | any duplicated linework.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Creating true offsets| 00:00 | By definition the Offset command
creates parallel copies of your geometry at a
| | 00:04 | specified distance, and in most
cases the offset command works just fine.
| | 00:09 | However, if you offset a polyline
you'll find that your specified distance is
| | 00:14 | not consistent along the
entire length of the copy.
| | 00:17 | In this lesson we are going to learn
how to create offsets that reflect a
| | 00:20 | true offset distance.
| | 00:22 | On my screen I have an architectural example.
| | 00:26 | This cyan geometry represents a swing set.
| | 00:29 | The swing set is sitting in a large play
area filled with sand and these magenta
| | 00:34 | lines represent a concrete boundary.
| | 00:37 | I also have a couple of trees.
| | 00:39 | Now all playground equipment has a
suggested safety zone that is recommended
| | 00:43 | by the manufacturer.
| | 00:44 | This particular swingset requires a 10
foot safety zone surrounding the equipment.
| | 00:49 | My question is, do I have enough
room within this concrete boundary to
| | 00:54 | accommodate the swingset
plus the necessary safety zone?
| | 00:57 | First, let's identify the
rough boundary of the swing set.
| | 01:01 | I am going to launch the Polyline command.
| | 01:05 | Note that I've created a layer called
safety zone and I've set that layer current.
| | 01:09 | I am going to grab the endpoint here and
here and I'm going to trace around the
| | 01:16 | outside of this geometry.
| | 01:18 | Over the endpoint here and here, here
and here, and then I'll right-click and
| | 01:24 | select Close to close my shape.
| | 01:30 | Now let's offset this geometry 10 feet.
| | 01:33 | I'll launch the Offset command.
My distance will be 10 feet. Enter.
| | 01:39 | I'll select my boundary and
I'll offset it to this side.
| | 01:43 | At first glance it looks like I need to
use a smaller swing set or increase the
| | 01:47 | size of the concrete boundary.
| | 01:50 | Let's take a few measurements.
| | 01:51 | I am going to zoom in.
| | 01:54 | We'll launch the distance command and
we'll find the distance from the midpoint
| | 01:58 | of this edge perpendicular to the offset.
| | 02:02 | As you can see that's 10 feet.
| | 02:06 | However, let's find the distance from
the endpoint here to the endpoint here.
| | 02:12 | As you can see this
measures more than 11.5 feet.
| | 02:16 | So why does a 10 foot offset not a 10
foot offset? When it's in outside corner.
| | 02:22 | In order for this offset to show me all
points 10 feet away from this equipment,
| | 02:26 | these corners would have to be round.
| | 02:28 | Fortunately, there is a system variable
that will do this for me automatically.
| | 02:34 | Let's zoom out and I'll center this and
I'm going to type OFFSETGAPTYPE, and I will
| | 02:41 | press Enter and I'll change
its value to 1 and press Enter.
| | 02:46 | Now when I use the Offset command
on a polyline, AutoCAD will create
| | 02:49 | rounded outside corners.
| | 02:52 | Let's erase this original offset.
| | 02:56 | I'll launch the Offset command again.
| | 02:58 | I'll press Enter to accept the distance of
10 and I'll offset my boundary to the outside.
| | 03:04 | This offset represents all points 10
feet from my boundary edge and as you can
| | 03:09 | see this equipment should work
perfectly within my concrete boundary. I have
| | 03:13 | just enough room for the safety
zone recommended by the manufacturer.
| | 03:17 | Now I would consider OFFSETGAPTYPE to be
kind of a special occasion system variable.
| | 03:22 | You probably don't want this running all
the time, so I'm going to set mine back to 0.
| | 03:27 | I'll do that by right-clicking,
I'll select Recent Input, I'll grab
| | 03:31 | OFFSETGAPTYPE from here, and I'll set this to 0.
| | 03:35 | The OFFSETGAPTYPE system variable is
a great tool to have in your AutoCAD
| | 03:39 | toolbox for the next time you
need to create a true offset.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Finding errors when joining multiple entities| 00:00 | Have you ever experienced a time when you
had difficulty joining two entities together?
| | 00:04 | Well, joining multiple objects into
a single polyline can sometimes be a
| | 00:08 | frustrating experience.
| | 00:10 | It seems that AutoCAD is not very
forgiving if your geometry doesn't
| | 00:13 | meet exactly end to end.
| | 00:15 | In this lesson we are going to look at
some strategies to use to help us join
| | 00:19 | together almost any geometry.
| | 00:21 | On my screen, I have a
drawing of a large wooded lot.
| | 00:24 | To the east of the property, I have
an existing 10 foot wide bike path.
| | 00:28 | I have also designed the centerline
for a proposed bike path that will
| | 00:32 | run through this lot.
| | 00:34 | Currently my centerline geometry
is made up of Polyline segments.
| | 00:38 | I've got some lines and some marks.
| | 00:43 | I would like to join all of this
linework together into a single Polyline such
| | 00:46 | that I can offset it to either side
to define the edges of my bike path.
| | 00:51 | The first thing I am going to do is
turn off my tree layer so that this
| | 00:54 | geometry isn't in the way.
| | 00:56 | I'll do that by clicking the Layer Off
icon and will select one of my trees,
| | 01:01 | and I will press Escape.
| | 01:03 | Now a good practice says before I join
the stuff together, I should select the
| | 01:07 | first entity and then force this to be a color.
| | 01:10 | I am going to select
Magenta, and I will press Escape.
| | 01:16 | This way, if there's a problem joining
things together, the problem will be easy
| | 01:20 | to find, because it will be
located wherever this color stops.
| | 01:24 | Now I am going to open the Modify
panel and launch the PEDIT command.
| | 01:29 | I will then select my first object
and press Enter to turn this into a
| | 01:33 | Polyline, I will select Join and
then I will window all of my centerline
| | 01:38 | geometry, and press Enter.
| | 01:40 | Then I will press Escape.
| | 01:43 | As you can see, AutoCAD
joined everything up to here.
| | 01:46 | Let's zoom in and it appears I
have a problem with my geometry.
| | 01:50 | This line work does not
meet end to end. Let's fix this.
| | 01:56 | I am going to zoom out a little.
| | 01:59 | Now if this arc is tangent to this
straight segment, I should be able to draw a
| | 02:05 | line from the center of the arc, perpendicular
to this segment to find the point of tangency.
| | 02:15 | Let's zoom in again.
| | 02:16 | It looks like the straight segment is
a little bit too long, so I'm going to
| | 02:20 | launch the Trim command.
| | 02:21 | I will grab my line and press Enter and I
will trim back this geometry and press Escape.
| | 02:30 | Finally I will erase my straight line
and we'll try and join this together again.
| | 02:40 | Now at this point, the first half of
the centerline is a Polyline, so I can
| | 02:44 | relaunch the PEDIT command by
simply double-clicking this entity.
| | 02:49 | I'll select Join and I will window the
remaining geometry and press Enter and
| | 02:58 | then I will press Escape.
| | 03:00 | Okay, it looks like I have another problem.
| | 03:02 | Let's zoom in and take a closer look at this.
| | 03:06 | Now these entities appear to meet end to end.
| | 03:10 | Let's take a measurement to verify that.
| | 03:12 | I'm going to launch the Distance
command and we will find the distance from the
| | 03:16 | end of this line to the end of this one.
| | 03:19 | And AutoCAD is coming up with a
distance of 2, which doesn't seem possible
| | 03:23 | unless one of these objects is at
an elevation. Let's check that.
| | 03:28 | I'm going to select the Polyline and
then I will move over to the Properties
| | 03:31 | palette and I can see this geometry
has an elevation of 0. I will press Escape.
| | 03:38 | I will then select this line segment.
| | 03:40 | I'll go back to the Properties palette
and I can see that this geometry has a
| | 03:45 | start and end Z value of 2.
| | 03:49 | So in both cases, I'm going to set
this to 0 to flatten that line out.
| | 03:58 | And I will press Escape to deselect the entity.
| | 04:01 | Okay, let's zoom out and
we will continue joining.
| | 04:03 | And we will double-click my
Polyline, select Join, and I will window
| | 04:10 | the remaining geometry.
| | 04:11 | I will press Enter and Escape. Okay.
| | 04:16 | It looks like I have another problem right here.
| | 04:19 | Let's zoom in and take a look.
| | 04:21 | Once again this geometry
appears to meet end to end.
| | 04:24 | I am going to take a measurement to be sure.
| | 04:28 | I will find the distance from the
endpoint here to the endpoint here.
| | 04:33 | Now in this case, the distance is 0, so
in fact this geometry does meet end to end.
| | 04:38 | Now why won't these join?
| | 04:41 | Well, this object is a Polyline. Maybe
this point isn't the endpoint of the Polyline.
| | 04:48 | Let's find out.
| | 04:48 | I am going to zoom out, I will double-
click this Polyline to launch the PEDIT
| | 04:54 | command, and I will select Edit Vertex.
| | 04:57 | And when I do, AutoCAD is going to display
a small X at the endpoint of the Polyline.
| | 05:03 | Notice where the X is located.
| | 05:04 | I am going to select Move and I will move
this point over here and then I will press Escape.
| | 05:12 | So, these objects wouldn't join, because I
was trying to join an end point to a corner.
| | 05:19 | I am going to launch the Trim command.
| | 05:21 | I will select my Polyline and press Enter.
| | 05:23 | And I will trim off this end of
the Polyline and I will press Escape.
| | 05:29 | I will then zoom out and
we will continue joining.
| | 05:32 | I will double-click the
Polyline and launch Join.
| | 05:37 | And I'll window the
remaining geometry and press Enter.
| | 05:39 | Then I will press Escape.
| | 05:42 | All right, this looks good.
| | 05:43 | The centerline of my proposed
bike path is now a single Polyline.
| | 05:47 | I'm going to select this and I will
change its color property back to ByLayer.
| | 05:53 | And I will press Escape.
| | 05:54 | Now, all we have to do is offset this
geometry to either side to define the
| | 05:58 | edges of the bike path.
| | 05:59 | I will launch the Offset command.
| | 06:02 | My distance is going to be
5 and I will press Enter.
| | 06:06 | I will then offset my centerline to this side.
| | 06:08 | I will zoom in and select it again
and I will offset it to this side.
| | 06:13 | When I am finished, I will press Escape.
| | 06:14 | Finally, I will select each of these edges.
| | 06:18 | I will place them on the proposed edge
of Pavement layer and I will press Escape.
| | 06:25 | Let's double-click the
scroll wheel to do a Zoom Extents.
| | 06:28 | And I'm going to click Layer
Previous to bring back the trees.
| | 06:31 | When it comes right down to it, if you
have geometry that won't join together,
| | 06:35 | there's always a good reason.
You just have to find it.
| | 06:39 | If you check the accuracy of your line
work, verify the elevations and ensure
| | 06:43 | you're working with end points, you
should be able to join together any line
| | 06:46 | work in your drawing.
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| Moving and copying entities using Windows shortcuts| 00:00 | If you've ever dragged a file from one
folder to another in Windows Explorer,
| | 00:04 | you're familiar with Windows shortcuts.
| | 00:06 | Believe it or not, those same drag-and-
drop functions work inside AutoCAD as well.
| | 00:11 | In this lesson, we're going to learn
how to move and copy our geometry using
| | 00:14 | common Windows-based functionality.
| | 00:17 | On my screen I have a drawing of a
large sand play area with a swing set at its
| | 00:21 | center and I also have a couple of trees.
| | 00:25 | Let's say that we're a landscape
architect and we'd like to place some trees
| | 00:29 | around this play area.
| | 00:31 | Now I can move this geometry the exact
same way I can move files in Windows Explorer.
| | 00:36 | For instance, I'll click to select this
tree and then I'll click-and-hold on a
| | 00:42 | highlighted segment.
| | 00:43 | I'll drag the tree over
here and then I'll release.
| | 00:47 | To move the little tree I'll click to
select, click-hold-and-drag, and I'll release.
| | 00:54 | If I wanted to create a copy I would
click to select, click-hold-and-drag, and
| | 01:01 | while I'm dragging I'll hold down the Ctrl key.
| | 01:04 | Notice the icon changes at the cursor.
| | 01:07 | I will then release my
mouse button to create the copy.
| | 01:10 | Let's create a couple more copies.
| | 01:12 | I'll select this tree, click-hold-
and-drag, I'll hold down Ctrl, and I'll
| | 01:17 | release the mouse button.
| | 01:18 | I'm going to do the same thing
to create one more right here.
| | 01:24 | Now, you might be wondering if dragging
with the right mouse button has the same
| | 01:27 | effect as it does in Windows. Yes, it does.
| | 01:31 | As an example, I'm going to select
both of these trees and then I will
| | 01:36 | right-click, hold-and-drag, and
when I release the right mouse button
| | 01:41 | AutoCAD brings up a menu that
allows me to move, copy, or paste this
| | 01:45 | geometry as a block.
| | 01:47 | I'm going to select Copy here.
| | 01:48 | I'll create a crossing window to
select the smaller trees and then I will
| | 01:53 | right-click, hold-and-drag, I'll
release, and I'll create a copy over here.
| | 02:01 | Now, let's be honest. You probably
don't want to use the Windows functions as
| | 02:04 | your main method of moving and copying geometry.
| | 02:07 | As you can see it does lack
the precision of object snaps.
| | 02:11 | However, in the event you don't require
a high degree of precision, the Windows
| | 02:16 | shortcut functions can be one of the
fastest ways to move or copy your labels,
| | 02:20 | furniture, north arrows, or even trees.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Solving expressions using the command prompt calculator| 00:00 | Sometimes when working in a drawing,
you may be tempted to reach for your
| | 00:03 | handheld calculator to solve a quick equation.
| | 00:06 | However, in most cases the
handheld calculator isn't necessary.
| | 00:10 | You see AutoCAD has a built-in
calculator capable of solving nearly any
| | 00:14 | equation and it will do it
without leaving the active command.
| | 00:18 | In this lesson we're going to learn how
to use AutoCAD's Command Prompt Calculator.
| | 00:23 | On my screen I have a simple polygon.
| | 00:25 | Let's see if we can recreate this geometry.
| | 00:27 | I'll start by opening the Draw panel
and I'll watch the Polygon command.
| | 00:33 | Since this is a hexagon, I will enter 6
for my number of sides and I'll press Enter.
| | 00:38 | I will then click to specify the center
point and since the original polygon is
| | 00:43 | dimensioned to the edges, this
must be a circumscribed polygon.
| | 00:47 | Now what's the radius?
| | 00:49 | Well, I know the diameter is 6.763.
| | 00:51 | So the radius must be half of that.
| | 00:55 | Since I don't know the exact radius,
I'm going to type 'cal and press Enter.
| | 01:01 | This brings up AutoCAD's Command Prompt
Calculator where I can enter my equation.
| | 01:05 | The nicest part of this calculator
is that whatever value I come up with,
| | 01:09 | AutoCAD is going to apply
it to the active command.
| | 01:12 | I'll type 6.763/2 and I'll press Enter.
| | 01:18 | As you can see, AutoCAD did the math
for me and it finished the polygon.
| | 01:22 | Anytime AutoCAD asks you for a
number, you can type 'cal to launch the
| | 01:26 | Command Prompt Calculator.
| | 01:29 | Let's pan this over.
| | 01:31 | In addition to doing mathematical
expressions, the calculator also has some
| | 01:35 | pre-built functions.
| | 01:37 | For instance over here I
have a line that's been offset.
| | 01:41 | Let's say I would like to offset
this green line the same distance as
| | 01:45 | these original lines.
| | 01:47 | I'll launch the Offset command and when
AutoCAD asks for the distance I'll type 'cal.
| | 01:54 | And for my expression, I'll type dee.
| | 01:56 | This stands for distance between
two endpoints and I'll press Enter.
| | 02:02 | I will then select the endpoint of
this line and the endpoint of this line.
| | 02:05 | As you can see, AutoCAD calculated the
distance between those points and it's
| | 02:09 | applying that value to the active command.
| | 02:12 | So I can simply click my green line
and then choose the side where I'd like
| | 02:16 | to create my offset.
| | 02:18 | We can even mix and match
functions with expressions.
| | 02:22 | Maybe I'd like to find the center
line between these two entities.
| | 02:26 | I'll press my Spacebar to relaunch Offset.
| | 02:29 | For my distance I'll type 'cal
and the expression will be dee/2.
| | 02:37 | I will then select this endpoint and
this one. AutoCAD does the calculation.
| | 02:43 | I will select this line
and I'll offset it to this side.
| | 02:47 | Let's pan this over and
look at another expression.
| | 02:50 | On my screen I have a large circle.
| | 02:52 | Let's say I would like to fillet
these two line segments using the same
| | 02:56 | radius as this circle.
| | 02:58 | I'll launch the Fillet command.
| | 03:00 | I will right-click to access the
Radius option and when AutoCAD asks for a
| | 03:05 | radius, I'll type 'cal.
| | 03:08 | For my expression,
I'll type rad and press Enter.
| | 03:13 | I will then select this circle.
| | 03:14 | AutoCAD extracts the radius from that
geometry and applies it to the current command.
| | 03:21 | I can then select this line and
this line to create my fillet.
| | 03:25 | Now let's say I'd like to fillet these
lines using a radius twice the size of
| | 03:29 | the original circle.
| | 03:31 | I'll press my Spacebar to go
back into the Fillet command.
| | 03:34 | I'll right-click and select the Radius option.
| | 03:37 | For my Radius I'll type 'cal.
| | 03:41 | The expression will be rad*2, and
I am using the Asterisk key to
| | 03:47 | represent multiplication.
| | 03:50 | I will then select the circle
and then I'll select my two lines.
| | 03:56 | Finally let's pan this over.
| | 04:00 | You can even incorporate
object snaps into your expressions.
| | 04:03 | As an example, let's say I wanted to
create a circle at the center of this
| | 04:07 | equilateral triangle.
| | 04:10 | I'll launch the Circle command and
when AutoCAD asks for a center point I'll
| | 04:14 | type 'cal and I'll press Enter.
| | 04:17 | My expression will be (end+end+end).
| | 04:25 | I'd like to take that value
divided by three and I'll press Enter.
| | 04:30 | I will then select this endpoint, this
one and this one, and AutoCAD adds up the
| | 04:35 | coordinates and divides
them by 3 to find the center.
| | 04:39 | The calculator is one of AutoCAD's
most powerful features and in this lesson
| | 04:43 | we've only scratched the
surface on what this tool can do.
| | 04:46 | For more information on using AutoCAD's
calculator, type 'cal at the command line
| | 04:52 | and at the Expression prompt press the
F1 key to access context-sensitive help.
| | 04:57 | You'll be amazed that how
far this tool can take you.
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| Using the Calculator palette| 00:00 | When it comes to the calculator, AutoCAD
gives us a choice as to how we'd like to use it.
| | 00:05 | We can access it through the
command line, or we can use the
| | 00:07 | dedicated Calculator palette.
| | 00:10 | The palette version gives us a nice
intuitive interface that can make our
| | 00:13 | calculations a little more visual.
| | 00:15 | In this lesson, we're going to
learn how to use the Calculator palette,
| | 00:18 | otherwise known as the QuickCalc Tool.
| | 00:21 | First of all, the Calculator palette
can be used as a standalone feature.
| | 00:25 | Anytime you need to solve an equation, you
can simply press Ctrl+8 to access the palette.
| | 00:31 | Now my calculator is
coming up in a collapsed state.
| | 00:35 | If you click the More Than button,
you can expand the tool to see the
| | 00:38 | rest of the functions.
| | 00:39 | I can enter an equation up here in the
Expression area by clicking on these buttons.
| | 00:44 | I can also use the numeric keys on my keyboard.
| | 00:48 | If I press the Equals button,
I can see the result of my calculation.
| | 00:52 | If I move down here and maximize the
Scientific group, you can see that we have
| | 00:55 | some scientific functionality as well.
| | 00:58 | I'm going to move up and
click the X to close this.
| | 01:02 | Now the nicest thing about the
Calculator palette is that we can use it
| | 01:05 | within an active command.
| | 01:07 | For instance, on my screen I have a polygon.
| | 01:10 | Let's re-create this geometry.
| | 01:11 | I'll open the Draw panel and
I'll launch the Polygon command.
| | 01:17 | Since I'm drawing an octagon, I will use
8 for the number of sides and press Enter.
| | 01:22 | I will click to define my center point.
| | 01:24 | Since I know the distance
from edge-to-edge, this must be a
| | 01:28 | circumscribed polygon.
| | 01:30 | Now what's my radius?
| | 01:32 | Well, I know the diameter is 25.553.
| | 01:36 | The radius must be half of that.
| | 01:38 | So I'm going to press Ctrl+8
to bring up the calculator.
| | 01:41 | As you can see, whatever value I come
up with, AutoCAD is going to apply it
| | 01:45 | to the active command.
| | 01:49 | I'll type 25.553/2=, there
is my value. I'll click Apply.
| | 01:58 | AutoCAD dumps that value at the command line.
| | 02:01 | I will then press Enter to accept it.
| | 02:03 | Now let's say I'd like to create a
hexagon at the center of this shape,and I
| | 02:08 | would like the hexagon to be half
the size of the original polygon.
| | 02:12 | I'm going to press the Spacebar
to re-launch the Polygon command.
| | 02:16 | My number of sides will be 6.
| | 02:18 | The center point is going
to be Shift+Right-Click.
| | 02:22 | I'll select Mid Between 2 Points.
| | 02:25 | I'll select the endpoint here and the
endpoint here to find the center of that polygon.
| | 02:31 | It's going to be circumscribed.
| | 02:34 | Now what's my radius going to be?
| | 02:36 | I'll press Ctrl+8 to bring back the calculator.
| | 02:40 | Take a look at this area up here.
| | 02:41 | This is the history.
| | 02:43 | I can steal values from the history.
| | 02:46 | If I double-click on a solution, I can
move that value into the expression area.
| | 02:50 | I can do the same thing with the equations.
| | 02:53 | Since my new polygon is going to be
half the size of the last one, I'm going to
| | 02:58 | double-click to steal this equation,
and I'll change this to divided by 4.
| | 03:04 | I'll press Equals, I'll click Apply,
and then I'll press Enter to accept the value.
| | 03:11 | Now just like with the Command
Prompt Calculator, we also have some
| | 03:14 | predefined functions.
| | 03:15 | For instance, I'm going to pan this over.
| | 03:20 | On my screen, I have a
circle that's been offset.
| | 03:22 | Let's say I'd like to offset this
arc the same distance as these circles.
| | 03:28 | I'll launch the Offset command and
for my distance I'll press Ctrl+8.
| | 03:34 | I will then move up and click this icon.
| | 03:37 | This will find the Distance Between Two Points.
| | 03:40 | Note that I didn't say endpoints.
| | 03:42 | This will find the distance between
any two object snaps in the drawing.
| | 03:47 | I'm going to Shift+Right-Click and
select Quadrant here, and I'll select the
| | 03:54 | quadrant here to define my distance.
| | 03:57 | I will then click Apply and
Enter to accept that value.
| | 04:02 | I will then click my arc
and I'll choose a side.
| | 04:05 | Now maybe I'd like to create a
center line between these two arcs.
| | 04:10 | I'll press my Spacebar to re-launch Offset.
| | 04:13 | For my distance, I'll press Ctrl+8.
| | 04:16 | I'm going to double-click to
steal the previous solution.
| | 04:20 | I'll type divided by 2.
| | 04:22 | I'll click Apply. Enter to accept the value.
| | 04:27 | I'll click my arc and
I'll offset it to this side.
| | 04:30 | Let's pan this over and
we'll try something else.
| | 04:36 | On my screen, I have a Polyline that
represents a portion of the back of curb
| | 04:40 | for proposed parking lot.
| | 04:42 | Typically, you'll see curb
shown as three parallel lines.
| | 04:46 | You'll have the back of curb.
| | 04:49 | Let's launch the Offset
command and I'll set this to .5.
| | 04:54 | I'll offset this out to
create a flow line of the curb.
| | 04:57 | I'm going to re-launch Offset and
I'll change my distance to 1.5 and I'll
| | 05:04 | offset the back of curb out
to define the edge of pavement.
| | 05:08 | All right, let's round a
couple of these corners.
| | 05:12 | I'll launch the Fillet command.
| | 05:14 | I'll right-click to access the Radius
option and I'm going to use a back of
| | 05:18 | curb radius of 5 feet.
| | 05:22 | I will then select this edge
and this one around the corner.
| | 05:26 | I'll press the Spacebar to re-launch
Fillet and I'll grab these two edges.
| | 05:32 | Now that we've constructed some
geometry, I'm going to press Ctrl+8 to access
| | 05:36 | the calculator in a standalone state.
| | 05:38 | I'm going to grab the bottom of
the palette and I'll drag this down.
| | 05:42 | Then I'm going to click to minimize
some of these areas and I'll expand
| | 05:47 | the Variables group.
| | 05:48 | Notice that we have some of the
same variables that we can use with the
| | 05:52 | Command Prompt Calculator.
| | 05:54 | We can even make our own.
| | 05:55 | Now there is no magic to these.
| | 05:57 | Essentially, these are just shortcuts
that type values in the Expression area.
| | 06:01 | I'm going to click the New icon.
| | 06:04 | This is going to be a function.
| | 06:06 | A function is just a saved equation,
whereas a constant would be a saved numeric value.
| | 06:14 | I'll call this variable cg_flowline.
| | 06:20 | AutoCAD does not allow
spaces in the variable names.
| | 06:23 | Now where would I like to save this variable?
| | 06:26 | Right now, it's going to go into the same
Sample Variables group that we see here.
| | 06:30 | If I click the flyout, I can create my
own group to save my custom variables.
| | 06:34 | But right now I'll accept the default
and we'll save this in the Sample group.
| | 06:40 | My expression is going to be rad+.5,
because the flowline radius will always be
| | 06:48 | equal to the back of curb
radius+.5. I'll click OK.
| | 06:53 | As you can see, I have a new variable.
| | 06:55 | Let's create one more.
| | 06:56 | I'll click the New icon.
| | 06:59 | I'm going to call this one
cg_eop for edge of pavement.
| | 07:06 | My expression is going to be rad+1.5,
because the edge of pavement is always
| | 07:12 | going to be equal to the back of
curb radius+1.5. I'll click OK.
| | 07:19 | All right, let's close the Calculator,
and we'll try these two variables.
| | 07:25 | Let's start by filleting these edges
that represent the flowline of the curb.
| | 07:30 | I'll launch the Fillet command.
| | 07:32 | I'll right-click and select Radius.
| | 07:35 | For my radius, I'll press Ctrl+
8 to bring up the Calculator.
| | 07:39 | I'll click to put the focus in the
Variables area and then I'll double-click on
| | 07:43 | the flowline variable.
| | 07:45 | As you can see, no magic. AutoCAD simply
enters that equation in the Expression area.
| | 07:50 | Once again, no magic,
| | 07:51 | AutoCAD is simply entering the equation up
here in the Expression area. I'll click Apply.
| | 07:58 | I will then select my back of curb
radius and I'll press Enter to accept the
| | 08:03 | calculated radius and I'll select my two edges.
| | 08:07 | I'll press the Spacebar to go
back into the Fillet command.
| | 08:10 | AutoCAD remembers the previous value.
| | 08:12 | So I'll select these two edges.
| | 08:15 | Let's do the last two.
| | 08:16 | I'll press the Spacebar to go back into Fillet.
| | 08:19 | I'll right-click. Select Radius.
| | 08:21 | What's my fillet radius? I'll press Ctrl+8.
| | 08:25 | I'll click to put the
focus in the Variables area.
| | 08:28 | I'll double-click on the edge of
pavement variable. I'll click Apply.
| | 08:33 | I will then select my back of curb radius.
| | 08:36 | Press Enter to accept the
calculated value and I'll grab my two edges.
| | 08:42 | I will then reenter Fillet
and grab the remaining two edges.
| | 08:46 | I'd like to show you one more thing.
| | 08:49 | If you're an architect, the Calculator
palette is a great tool for performing
| | 08:53 | calculations using fractional measurements.
| | 08:56 | If you'll indulge me for one second,
I'm going to open the application menu.
| | 09:00 | I'll come down to Drawing Utilities and
I'm going to change my Units to Architectural.
| | 09:07 | I'll change my Insertion scale
to Inches and I'll click OK.
| | 09:10 | Now that this is set to Architectural,
I'll press Ctrl+8 to open the calculator.
| | 09:15 | I'll grab the slider and drag up.
| | 09:17 | It'll expand the number pad,and
I'll enter my first measurement.
| | 09:23 | I'm going to do this at the keyboard.
It might be a little easier. 4'5-3/8".
| | 09:32 | Notice that I'm entering the value
the same way I would enter it if I was
| | 09:35 | creating some geometry.
| | 09:36 | I will then press my Spacebar twice.
| | 09:41 | I'll click Plus, and then I'll
press the Spacebar two more times, and I'll
| | 09:46 | enter my next measurement, 7'2-9/16".
| | 09:54 | Having the extra spaces before and
after your operator helps AutoCAD
| | 09:57 | understand which symbols are part of a
measurement and which ones are to be
| | 10:01 | used for calculations.
| | 10:02 | I'm going to click the Equals button
to see the sum of the two measurements.
| | 10:09 | I'm sure you'll agree that AutoCAD's
calculator is a very powerful tool.
| | 10:13 | If you would like to find out more
about the calculator functions, simply press
| | 10:16 | Ctrl+8 to access the
calculator and click this Help icon.
| | 10:19 | If you can master this tool, you can
save a significant amount of time off your workday.
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
3. TextBringing all text objects to the front| 00:00 | As your drawings increase in size, it's
easy for your annotations to get buried
| | 00:04 | beneath line work or hatch.
| | 00:06 | If you create your annotations on
multiple layers, it becomes even more difficult
| | 00:09 | to ensure that those labels
remain at the front of the drawing.
| | 00:13 | In this lesson, we're going to
learn an easy way to select all of our
| | 00:15 | annotations regardless of layer and
bring them to the front of all other objects.
| | 00:20 | On my screen I have a drawing of a
small subdivision. If I zoom in, you can see
| | 00:25 | that I have several text labels in this
file. I also have quite a bit of hatch.
| | 00:30 | Now as I was creating my hedge,
some of my labels got covered up.
| | 00:34 | As you can see, a couple of my labels
are being obscured by hatch, as are some of
| | 00:39 | my Top of Foundation labels, and if I
wave around up here you can see that some
| | 00:44 | of my finished great
elevations are also being obscured.
| | 00:48 | I'm going to do a zoom extends and to
fix this I'm going to move up to the
| | 00:52 | Modified panel and I'll open the Draw
Order fly-out and I'll come down and
| | 00:56 | select Bring Text to Front.
| | 00:58 | This selects all of my labels
regardless of the layer they may be on and draw
| | 01:02 | orders them to the front of the drawing.
| | 01:05 | Next I'll type re to regenerate the
drawing and then we'll zoom in and take a
| | 01:09 | look at the difference.
| | 01:11 | So no matter how many annotations you
may have in a drawing, even if they are on
| | 01:14 | several different layers, you can always
be certain that your labels are visible
| | 01:18 | by using the Text to Front tool.
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| Underlining single-line text| 00:00 | When you're working with multiline text,
the editor contains several tools that
| | 00:04 | make it easy to change your formatting.
| | 00:06 | When you're working with single
line text, there is no fancy editor.
| | 00:09 | Instead, you have to use
the percent, percent toggles.
| | 00:12 | In this lesson we're going to learn
how to do some basic formatting of single
| | 00:15 | line text using window shortcuts.
| | 00:18 | On my screen I've a detail
of a standard curb and gutter.
| | 00:22 | The title of this detail was
created using single line text.
| | 00:26 | I would like to add an underline to this title.
| | 00:28 | Now, if you're a veteran AutoCAD user,
I'm sure you've used the percent, percent
| | 00:32 | U toggle many times.
| | 00:34 | I'm here to tell you,
you don't have to do that anymore.
| | 00:37 | To underline this text, I'm going to
double click to select it, then I will
| | 00:41 | click and drag across the text I'd like
to underline and I'll press Ctrl+U. If I
| | 00:46 | press Ctrl+U again, I
can turn the underline off.
| | 00:50 | This is the same shortcut you
would use in Microsoft Word.
| | 00:53 | In case you're wondering, we can
apply an overline to this text by pressing
| | 00:57 | Ctrl+O. I'm going to turn the overline
off and I will drag across all of this
| | 01:03 | text and I'll press Ctrl+U to add
an underline to everything. When I'm
| | 01:07 | finished, I'll press Enter.
| | 01:09 | So when it comes to the percent, percent
codes, you can find me let a couple of those go.
| | 01:14 | When you're working with single line
text there is no fancy editor. Instead, you
| | 01:18 | have to use the percent, percent toggles.
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| Managing numbered and lettered lists| 00:00 | AutoCAD does a great job
automating lettered and numbered lists.
| | 00:04 | Even so, there is a possibility when
editing a list that it might get out of sequence.
| | 00:08 | In this lesson we are going to learn how
to revise the order of an automated list.
| | 00:12 | On my screen I have an
example of some general notes.
| | 00:15 | As you can see, we have a numbered list
with some lettered lists nested inside.
| | 00:21 | Let's start by removing point number two.
| | 00:22 | Maybe I'd like to have these two
lettered lists under the same heading.
| | 00:27 | To do that I'm going to double-click
to bring up the Text Editor and then I
| | 00:30 | will drag across this text.
| | 00:32 | I'll press Backspace and then I'll
press Backspace a couple more times to
| | 00:36 | clean up the spacing.
| | 00:38 | Now notice that AutoCAD did a
nice job renumbering these items.
| | 00:42 | However, my lettered list is out of sequence.
| | 00:45 | ABC is good, but the rest of this has to change.
| | 00:48 | To correct the list, I'm going to click, hold,
and drag all of the items that I'd like to fix.
| | 00:54 | I'll right-click and under
Bullets and Lists, I'll select Continue.
| | 00:59 | As you can see, AutoCAD continues my
list starting with the next letter after C.
| | 01:03 | When I'm finished, I'll click
the X to close the Text Editor.
| | 01:06 | Now let's say I'd like
to restore point number 2.
| | 01:09 | Once again I'll double-click my text, I'm
going to click after point C, and I'll press Enter.
| | 01:15 | Of course, AutoCAD thinks I'm
adding to the lettered list.
| | 01:18 | Now I don't want to do that, so
I'll press Backspace to take that away.
| | 01:21 | I am going to type 2 period.
| | 01:24 | and then the tab key so that AutoCAD
knows that this is part of a numbered list.
| | 01:28 | I'll type UTILITY
COORDINATION, and I'll press Enter.
| | 01:34 | Notice AutoCAD formats the margins properly.
| | 01:37 | However, I do have an extra number now.
| | 01:40 | I am going to press Backspace to take that away.
| | 01:42 | I'll backspace one more time.
| | 01:44 | Let's fix a couple of other formatting issues.
| | 01:47 | I am going to click-hold-and-drag
across this point and I would like to
| | 01:51 | underline this, and I'd like to change
its Text Type to 0.1, so it matches the
| | 01:57 | other numbered items.
| | 01:58 | Let's do one more thing. I'm going to
click after note C and I'll hold my Shift
| | 02:03 | key and press Enter to add a blank space.
| | 02:06 | All right, once again my
lettered list is out of sequence.
| | 02:09 | To correct this I'm going to click-hold-and-
drag to select all of these lettered items.
| | 02:15 | I'll right-click and in
Bullets and Lists I'll select Restart.
| | 02:19 | When I'm finished, I'll click
the X to close the Text Editor.
| | 02:23 | Now notice we have one more issue.
| | 02:25 | With all of my editing,
my numbered list has gotten out of sequence.
| | 02:28 | I am going to double-
click to bring up the Editor.
| | 02:31 | If I click hold and drag to the left,
notice that I can't get access to this number.
| | 02:35 | That's because the number
is being generated automatically.
| | 02:39 | Unfortunately, it's also wrong.
| | 02:41 | To correct this, I'm going to right-
click and under Bullets and Lists I'm
| | 02:45 | going to come down and remove the
check next to allow bullets and Lists, and
| | 02:50 | I'll click Continue.
| | 02:52 | This essentially turns the list
feature off and now I have access to any
| | 02:56 | of these text items.
| | 02:57 | So I am going to manually change this
to a three and then I'll right-click.
| | 03:03 | I'll go back to the menu and I'll turn
the Bullets and Lists feature back on,
| | 03:08 | and I'll click Continue.
| | 03:09 | As you can see, my number is fixed and
if I was to click after this point and
| | 03:13 | press Enter, notice AutoCAD
picks up with the number four.
| | 03:17 | I am going to click Backspace to remove
the 4 and the extra space and when I am
| | 03:22 | finished I'll click the X to close the Editor.
| | 03:24 | So, even though our lists in AutoCAD are
completely automated, there is a chance
| | 03:28 | that they might get out of order.
| | 03:29 | If so, AutoCAD allows us to continue,
restart, or manually edit a list to suit any need.
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| Creating superscript and subscript text| 00:00 | When it comes to creating multiline
text, there's one formatting option that's
| | 00:04 | very helpful, but it's not very easy
to find. That's because there isn't a
| | 00:07 | button for it anywhere.
| | 00:08 | I'm speaking about
superscript and subscript text.
| | 00:12 | In this lesson we are going to
learn how to create these raised and
| | 00:14 | lowered characters.
| | 00:15 | On my screen I have some
examples of superscript text.
| | 00:19 | Superscript text is typically used
in formulas or exponential notation.
| | 00:24 | It's also used as a shorthand
method of representing position or dates.
| | 00:28 | The trick to creating superscript
text is using the caret key.
| | 00:32 | Let me show you what I mean.
| | 00:33 | I would like to represent this
number, 5,900,000, in scientific notation.
| | 00:39 | So I'll double click to edit this text and I
will all type 5.9 times 10 to the sixth power.
| | 00:47 | To raise the six I'm
going to enter a caret symbol.
| | 00:50 | I will do that by pressing Shift+6.
| | 00:52 | I will then drag to select this text,
I'll right-click and I'll choose Stack,
| | 00:58 | and then I'll click on
screen to close the editor.
| | 01:00 | Placing the caret after the number pushes
the value up when you use the Stack option.
| | 01:05 | Technically speaking, superscript text is
simply a stacked fraction without a lower value.
| | 01:10 | Let's pan this up and we'll look
at some example of subscript text.
| | 01:14 | Subscript text is typically used in
molecular formulas and algebraic equations.
| | 01:19 | To create subscript text we
will also use the caret key.
| | 01:22 | I'm going to double click to edit this text
and I will drag to select these characters.
| | 01:28 | Now the molecular formula that
represents propane is C3H8, three carbon atoms
| | 01:35 | and eight hydrogen atoms.
| | 01:37 | Since I'd like to push these numbers
down, I'm going to place the caret in
| | 01:40 | front of the number.
| | 01:42 | I will then drag to select the characters.
I'll right-click and I'll choose Stack.
| | 01:46 | Let's do the same thing for the other side.
| | 01:48 | Let's do the same thing for the other number.
| | 01:50 | Subscript text is simply a
stacked fraction without an upper value.
| | 01:54 | Knowing this, I am going to pan the
drawing again and let's see if we can put
| | 01:58 | these concepts together to represent the
formula that will give us the area of a triangle.
| | 02:03 | Let's bring back the text editor and I
will select this text and I will type
| | 02:07 | Area equals the base times
the height divided by two.
| | 02:13 | I will then click and place
a caret between my upper and lower values.
| | 02:17 | I will select these, I will
right click, and I will choose Stack.
| | 02:21 | Now this looks pretty good.
| | 02:23 | Let's take the concept a little bit farther.
| | 02:24 | I am going to drag and select this
text and then I will right-click and
| | 02:29 | choose Stack Properties.
| | 02:31 | Notice right here in the
Stack Properties dialog box,
| | 02:33 | I can see the upper and lower values.
| | 02:36 | I also have the option of editing these values.
| | 02:38 | Let's take a look at Appearance.
| | 02:40 | Right now my Stack Style is set to Tolerance.
| | 02:43 | Tolerance is simply a
fraction with no dividing line.
| | 02:46 | I am going to open this and
I will select a horizontal fraction.
| | 02:50 | Note that I can also adjust the position of
the fraction in relation to the text around it.
| | 02:54 | I am going to leave this set as Center.
| | 02:57 | Finally, I am going to open up
Text size and I will set this to 100%.
| | 03:01 | This will ensure that my stacked text
has the same text type as the other text.
| | 03:06 | And I will click OK.
| | 03:07 | As you can see, by exploiting the stacked
fraction feature in the text editor,
| | 03:11 | we can create superscript text,
subscript text, or virtually any mathematical
| | 03:16 | equation we might need.
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| Removing formatting from MTEXT| 00:00 | AutoCAD's Multiline Text Editor doesn't
have to be your only method of creating text.
| | 00:04 | If you or someone on your project
team uses Microsoft Word, you can copy and
| | 00:09 | paste data from Word directly into the Editor.
| | 00:12 | Now if you import content from a
program like Microsoft Word, the text you bring
| | 00:16 | in may have some overrides
applied to the formatting.
| | 00:19 | In this lesson, we are going to
learn how to strip any font or color
| | 00:22 | properties from pasted text.
| | 00:24 | On my screen I have a drawing
that represents some general notes.
| | 00:27 | If I select this you can see that
this is MText and it was created using a
| | 00:32 | text style called Notes.
| | 00:34 | If I open the Text Style Editor we can
see that the Notes Text Style is assigned
| | 00:39 | to the Simplex font.
| | 00:42 | So the appearance of this text represents
how I want all of my general notes to look.
| | 00:46 | All right, let's say that I have
submitted this drawing for review and I've
| | 00:50 | received some comments.
| | 00:51 | I am going to jump over to Microsoft
Word and we can see the suggested changes.
| | 00:57 | Apparently I need to add these
three utility coordination notes.
| | 01:01 | Well rather than retyping these
I'm going to copy and paste this
| | 01:05 | information into AutoCAD.
| | 01:06 | To do that I will drag to select
this text, I will right-click and I'll
| | 01:10 | select copy, you can also use the
keyboard shortcut Ctrl+C. I will then
| | 01:15 | return to AutoCAD and then I will
double-click to edit my text and right here
| | 01:20 | inside the Utility Coordination notes I'm
going to click after note D and I will press Enter.
| | 01:26 | Now AutoCAD is adding a letter E for me.
| | 01:28 | I am going to press Backspace to take that away,
and then I will right-click and select Paste.
| | 01:33 | We can also use the keyboard shortcut
Ctrl+V. Let's zoom in and notice that the
| | 01:39 | pasted text retains the same
formatting that it had in Word.
| | 01:42 | I, however, would like all of
my notes to look the same.
| | 01:45 | So I'm going to click, hold-and-drag
to select this text. I am even going to
| | 01:50 | select this extra space down
here and then I'll right-click.
| | 01:54 | I'll come down to Remove
Formatting and I'll select Remove
| | 01:57 | Character Formatting.
| | 01:58 | Note that I can also remove
Paragraph Formatting or All Formatting.
| | 02:02 | As you can see the text is
now conforming to my text style.
| | 02:06 | As long as we are here let's
adjust a couple more things.
| | 02:09 | I would like this text to be
all caps, like my other text.
| | 02:12 | So I'm going to right-click.
| | 02:14 | I will come down to Change
Case and I will select Uppercase.
| | 02:17 | Let's adjust the paragraph formatting.
| | 02:19 | I'm going to click-and-drag my Paragraph tab
such that my text lines up with the other text.
| | 02:26 | Then I will click-and-drag the first-
line tab to line up my labels as well.
| | 02:31 | I will then click after note D and I'll
press Shift+Enter to add a blank space.
| | 02:36 | Pan this up slightly and I'll click
after note C here and I'll press Delete a
| | 02:41 | couple times to remove the extra spaces.
| | 02:43 | Now I am going to zoom out.
We will pan this down.
| | 02:47 | Let's take care of our list.Currently
the labels are out of order. I'm going
| | 02:51 | to click, hold-and-drag to select this
text I'll right-click and under Bullets
| | 02:56 | and Lists, I am going to select
Lettered > Uppercase, and note that AutoCAD
| | 03:00 | picks up right after the letter D. when I'm
finished I'll click on screen to close the Editor.
| | 03:05 | Now this demonstration
represents just a couple of notes.
| | 03:07 | Think of the time you could save by
copying paragraphs of text from other sources.
| | 03:12 | When working as part of a project
team you may receive text information
| | 03:15 | from several places.
| | 03:17 | Fortunately you never have to retype
anything because AutoCAD makes it easy to
| | 03:21 | copy and paste the data, and if
necessary, remove any unwanted formatting.
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| Using fields to identify who revised a drawing| 00:00 | When working as part of a project team,
it's common to have team members ask
| | 00:04 | questions about the CAD drawings.
| | 00:06 | A typical question might
be, who revised this file?
| | 00:09 | Sometimes the last person to work on
drawing is the first person you want to
| | 00:12 | talk to, to help answer your other questions.
| | 00:15 | In this lesson we are going to learn
how to add a tag to a drawing that keeps
| | 00:19 | track of each person who updates the file.
| | 00:21 | On my screen I have an
example of a mechanical drawing.
| | 00:24 | Now the update tag I am creating is
going to be a text object. Note that I've
| | 00:28 | already created a layer
called dwg-info to place this on.
| | 00:33 | Since this tag is text, I am going to
open the Annotation panel and I will
| | 00:37 | select the Text Style called Small Text.
| | 00:41 | To create the tag, I can use a
single line or multiline text object.
| | 00:45 | I am going to launch the Multiline Text
command and then I will zoom in on the
| | 00:49 | bottom of the drawing.
| | 00:50 | I will click to set my first corner,
and then I will click again to define the
| | 00:55 | width of my column, and then I'll
type drawing updated by, colon,
| | 01:01 | ,
I will add a space, and then I will
right click and select Insert Field.
| | 01:06 | Note that I can also use the keyboard
shortcut Ctrl+F. Now a field is what I
| | 01:11 | would call smart text.
| | 01:13 | It's essentially a text string whose
value is linked to something in the drawing.
| | 01:17 | As you can see, we can create
fields that identify many things.
| | 01:21 | Over here on the left I can see a
list of all of my field choices.
| | 01:24 | I am going to narrow the list
down by opening the Category fly-out.
| | 01:29 | And I will select document.
| | 01:31 | I will then select the LastSavedBy field.
| | 01:34 | Over here on the right, I can see a
preview of how my text is going to look in
| | 01:37 | the drawing and if I wanted I could
adjust its appearance by selecting a
| | 01:41 | different formatting option down below.
| | 01:44 | Currently this looks good using all
uppercase letters, so I will move down and click OK.
| | 01:49 | Note that the text string is displaying my
login name and it has a grey background.
| | 01:54 | Now don't worry, the background will
not print. It's only here to identify that
| | 01:58 | this text is being controlled by a field.
| | 02:00 | The best part is, every time this
drawing is saved, the field text will update
| | 02:05 | to match the login name of
the person who saved the file.
| | 02:08 | You know, as long as we are here,
let's add a field that keeps track of the
| | 02:11 | date the file was saved.
| | 02:12 | I am going to press my Spacebar and I
will continue my sentence. I'll type "on,"
| | 02:17 | and I will add a space, and I will
press Ctrl+F to insert another field.
| | 02:22 | Let's open the Category fly-out and
this time I'll select Date & Time.
| | 02:26 | I'm going to choose Save Dates.
| | 02:29 | Once again, I can see an
example of the formatting up here.
| | 02:33 | Note that you can have the Save Date also
show the time of day the file was saved.
| | 02:38 | In this case I'm going to stick with more
of a traditional date and I'll click OK.
| | 02:42 | When I am finished, I will
click on screen to close the editor.
| | 02:45 | Let's do a Zoom Extents
and take a look at the tag.
| | 02:47 | This looks a little bit large.
| | 02:49 | I am going to zoom back in, I will select
this, and then I will change its Text Type to .05.
| | 02:56 | That looks like it should work perfectly.
| | 02:58 | Placing a drawing update tag on all of
your layouts can be a great way to keep
| | 03:02 | informed about the
state of the project files.
| | 03:04 | Sometimes having this extra information
can make all the difference when someone
| | 03:08 | on the project team has questions.
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| Squeezing text into tight spaces| 00:00 | Sometimes we have more to say than
what we have room for in our drawings.
| | 00:04 | In cases like this we need some
strategies for squeezing large amounts of
| | 00:07 | text into tight spaces.
| | 00:10 | In this lesson we're going to take a
look at a few text squeezing strategies.
| | 00:14 | On my screen I have an
example of a mechanical drawing.
| | 00:17 | Let's zoom in on the title block area.
| | 00:19 | Now, currently all my text fits
nicely within these rectangular shapes.
| | 00:23 | Let's say I would like to
change my drawing number information.
| | 00:27 | I am going to double-click this.
| | 00:28 | As you can see this is single line text
and I'm going to change this to Concept 1.
| | 00:35 | I'll press Enter and then I'll hit Escape.
| | 00:37 | Now I have a problem.
| | 00:39 | My text doesn't fit within the title block.
| | 00:42 | To fix it I'm going to select this
text and then I'm going to drag my Quick
| | 00:46 | Properties Tool over a little bit and
I'm going to change the Justification
| | 00:50 | of this text to Fit.
| | 00:51 | When I do, watch the grips.
| | 00:53 | Notice I now have a grip on either side.
| | 00:56 | I'm going to click this first grip and
currently my Ortho is turned on, which is great.
| | 01:01 | I can drag this straight over.
| | 01:02 | My running object snap is getting in
the way, so I am going to press F3 to turn
| | 01:06 | that off, and I'm going to
drag this grip over to here.
| | 01:10 | I will then grab this grip
and I will drag it over to here.
| | 01:13 | When I am finished I will press Escape.
| | 01:16 | Using the Fit Justification we can
force our text to fit between two points
| | 01:20 | without changing the text type.
| | 01:21 | All right, let's make another change.
| | 01:23 | It turns out my Client name is incorrect.
| | 01:26 | So I'm going to double-click on this text.
| | 01:28 | As you can see this is multiline text
and I'm going to click right here and I'll
| | 01:33 | add World Wide and then I will
click on screen to close the Editor.
| | 01:39 | Now I have got another problem.
| | 01:40 | My text is nicely centered within the space.
| | 01:42 | However, it's starting to
overlap my Client label.
| | 01:46 | To fix this text, I will click to
select it and then I'll come over to the Full
| | 01:49 | Properties Palette and I'll
come down to Line space factor.
| | 01:53 | Line space factor represents
the distance between the lines.
| | 01:57 | Now, the default value of 1
represents single line spacing.
| | 02:00 | I'm going to change this to .7 to
tighten up the distance between the lines.
| | 02:05 | Let's zoom in and I'm
going to grab this center grip.
| | 02:08 | Drag this text down slightly.
| | 02:10 | When I am finished I will press Escape.
| | 02:13 | Let's do one more thing.
| | 02:14 | It seems my client name is still incorrect.
| | 02:16 | I am going to double click this again
and I will click at the end of the name
| | 02:20 | and I am going to add North American division.
| | 02:26 | Now, that's a lot of text and I would like
to keep this down to two lines if I could.
| | 02:31 | To fix this text, I will drag to select
it and then I will open the Format panel
| | 02:36 | and I will adjust the
Width factor of the characters.
| | 02:39 | If I click these arrows, I can adjust
the Width factor in point 1 increments or
| | 02:45 | I can enter a specific Width factor over here.
| | 02:47 | I am going to ratchet this down to
about .7 and then I will click on screen
| | 02:52 | to close the Editor.
| | 02:54 | It's inevitable that at some point you
are going to have more text than you have
| | 02:57 | room for in your drawing.
| | 02:59 | Fortunately, AutoCAD gives us several
tools that allow us to squeeze our text
| | 03:03 | down to a useable size.
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| Hiding extra annotative scales| 00:00 | AutoCAD's Annotative
feature is a phenomenal tool.
| | 00:03 | You see, by assigning an annotative
scale to an object, that object will
| | 00:07 | automatically size itself to match the
scale of a viewport. That being said, if
| | 00:11 | you have objects in your drawing that
have multiple annotation scales they can
| | 00:15 | be confusing to work with because each
time you select them AutoCAD displays all
| | 00:19 | of the possible sizes.
| | 00:21 | In this lesson, we're going to learn how to
hide the display of extra annotative scales.
| | 00:25 | On my screen, I have a
drawing of a small subdivision.
| | 00:28 | Let me mention that all of the text
items in this drawing are annotative and
| | 00:32 | they support multiple scales.
| | 00:34 | I'm going to zoom in on one of the street names.
| | 00:37 | And, if I hover over this notice that
AutoCAD is showing me two annotative
| | 00:41 | icons. This means this object
supports multiple scale sizes.
| | 00:46 | If I select this text, AutoCAD shows
me all the sizes, and just for a second
| | 00:51 | I'm going to come over to the Quick
Properties tool and under Annotative scale
| | 00:55 | I'm going to click and then
I'll click the ellipsis button.
| | 00:58 | And, we can see right here that this
text is designed to display in a 10 scale,
| | 01:02 | 30 scale, and 50 scale Viewport.
| | 01:05 | If we look closely over here we can see
the three text sizes. Let's close this.
| | 01:10 | Now sometimes having all of the sizes
displaying on screen can make it hard
| | 01:14 | to work on the file.
| | 01:15 | I'm going to press Escape to deselect this.
| | 01:18 | To hide the extra Scales you
can use a system variable called
| | 01:21 | SELECTIONANNODISPLAY.
| | 01:23 | And rather than typing all that out I
am just going to type s-e-l and then I'll
| | 01:27 | press my Tab key a couple times to jump
to the variable. Press Enter and then
| | 01:32 | I'm going to change this value.
| | 01:34 | Currently it's set to 1. 1 means on. I am
going to change this to 0 to turn it off.
| | 01:38 | And, after I make the change if I
select an Annotative object in my drawing
| | 01:43 | AutoCAD only displays the
current annotative scale size.
| | 01:48 | So if you're someone who uses
annotative objects that are meant to display
| | 01:51 | at multiple scales try using the
SELECTIONANNODISPLAY variable to hide the extra sizes.
| | 01:57 | Making this change just might make it a
little easier to work in your drawings.
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|
|
4. DimensionsCreating "one-click" dimensions| 00:00 | When creating dimensions it's
very important to use object snaps.
| | 00:04 | However, sometimes we get so preoccupied
with object snaps that we don't realize
| | 00:08 | that we can also create
dimensions by simply selecting an object.
| | 00:12 | In this lesson we're going to learn
how to create one-click dimensions.
| | 00:15 | On my screen I have a drawing that
represents a small coffee table and I would
| | 00:20 | like to apply some dimensions to this geometry.
| | 00:22 | Let me mention that I have already
created a dimension style and I have created
| | 00:26 | a layer for my dimensions and
I have set that layer current.
| | 00:30 | I'm going to start by clicking the
Linear Dimension tool and here is what we
| | 00:34 | typically grab our object snaps, but
look at what AutoCAD is asking. It says,
| | 00:38 | Specify first extension line origin
or select object is in the brackets.
| | 00:43 | That means it's the default option.
| | 00:45 | So if I press Enter I can simply select an
object and AutoCAD will apply a dimension.
| | 00:51 | Now, I'd like to create another dimension.
| | 00:53 | So I'm going to press my Spacebar to
re-launch the command and in AutoCAD the
| | 00:57 | Spacebar and the Enter key are treated the same.
| | 01:00 | So I'll press the Spacebar again
to access the Select object option.
| | 01:05 | I will then select this object and
I'll pull the dimension out to here.
| | 01:09 | Let's create another.
| | 01:10 | I'll press Spacebar, Spacebar, I'll select
this object, and I'll pull this dimension out
| | 01:15 | to the endpoint of this arrowhead.
| | 01:17 | So as fast as you can double-tap the
Spacebar, you can apply dimensions to your
| | 01:21 | drawing in a single click.
| | 01:23 | Let's add another one over here.
| | 01:26 | I'll place another one over here.
| | 01:27 | Now double-tap the Spacebar and I'll
place a dimension here, one more here, and
| | 01:36 | I'll pull one out over here.
| | 01:40 | Now the Select objects dimensioning
method isn't going to be used for all of
| | 01:43 | your dimensions, but if you keep this
option in mind you'll find that you can
| | 01:47 | probably create several of your
dimensions using just a couple clicks.
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| Dimensioning angles greater than 180 degrees| 00:00 | When dimensioning an angle,
AutoCAD is quick to give you your angular
| | 00:03 | measurements as well as the
measurement of the opposite angle or
| | 00:06 | supplementary angles.
| | 00:08 | The problem arises when you want to
dimension an angle greater than 180 degrees.
| | 00:13 | At first glance this might not seem possible.
| | 00:16 | In this lesson, we're going to learned
how to dimension a reflex angle, an angle
| | 00:20 | that exceeds 180 degrees.
| | 00:22 | On my screen, I have an architectural
example. This geometry represent a door
| | 00:26 | that is mounted on a double hinge,
so it swings in both directions.
| | 00:31 | Let's say I would like to dimension the
full range of motion of the door. To do
| | 00:35 | that I'm going to select the Angular
Dimension Tool and since my angle is
| | 00:40 | greater than 180, I'm going to press
Enter to use the Specifying Vertex option.
| | 00:46 | Specify Vertex allows me to measure
the angle by clicking three points. I'll
| | 00:52 | specify the angle vertex using the
Intersection objects mapped. I will then
| | 00:57 | click to select this line and this one
to find the intersection. I will then
| | 01:01 | grab this end point to identify the
first line of the angle and then I'll select
| | 01:06 | this end point to identify the second
line. I can then pull out my measurements
| | 01:11 | and click and we can see that this
door has a 290-degree range of motion.
| | 01:16 | In fact I'm going to select this one
more time and I'll grab this grip and I'll
| | 01:21 | pull the value up to here
so it's little easier to read.
| | 01:26 | More often than that, when you
dimension an angle you'll be expecting a
| | 01:29 | measurement of less than 180.
| | 01:31 | However, if you need to dimension a
reflex angle it's important to note that
| | 01:35 | AutoCAD can do that too. Just
use the Specify Vertex option.
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| Creating dynamic dimension breaks| 00:00 | Typically, when dimensioning
geometry we try to stay away from crossing
| | 00:03 | dimension lines.
Sometimes though it's unavoidable.
| | 00:07 | In the event we end up with some
crossing dimensions, we can apply dimension
| | 00:10 | breaks to make them easier to read.
| | 00:12 | In this lesson we'll learn how to
create dynamic dimension breaks.
| | 00:16 | On my screen I've a mechanical
example and this drawing contains several
| | 00:20 | crossing dimensions.
| | 00:22 | Now if you get too many intersecting
dimension lines in a drawing, it can make
| | 00:25 | your measurements difficult to read.
| | 00:27 | Let's start by breaking this
horizontal extension line where it crosses
| | 00:31 | over this vertical one.
| | 00:33 | Let's zoom in and I'll center this on screen.
| | 00:36 | To break this dimension, I'm going to
jump over to the Annotate tab and inside
| | 00:41 | the Dimensions panel
I'll launch the DIMBREAK tool.
| | 00:45 | I will then select the dimension I'd
like to break, and then I'll select the
| | 00:49 | object that I'd like to use to break it.
| | 00:51 | Note that I said object. That's
because you can break a dimension using
| | 00:55 | virtually any object in your drawing.
| | 00:57 | When I'm finished I'll
press Escape. Let's try another.
| | 01:02 | I'll pane the drawing over to the left
side and this time I'd like to break my
| | 01:07 | angular dimension using this linear dimension.
| | 01:10 | Once again, I'll launch the DIMBREAK tool.
I'll select the dimension I'd like to
| | 01:14 | break and then I'll select the
object I'd like to use to break it.
| | 01:18 | Notice that AutoCAD applies
breaks at all crossing locations.
| | 01:22 | Let's do one more. We'll pan over to
the right and this time I'd like to break
| | 01:28 | both of these extension
lines using this Multileader.
| | 01:32 | I'm going to press my Spacebar to re-
launch the DIMBREAK command and since I
| | 01:37 | like to break multiple objects,
I'm going to right-click and select Multiple.
| | 01:42 | I will then select each dimension and I'll
press Enter and then I'll select the Multileader.
| | 01:48 | You know the best part about dimension
breaks is that they are dynamic.
| | 01:51 | That means if I move this Multileader, you can
see the dimension breaks go along for the ride.
| | 01:57 | If you like to remove a dimension break,
you can re-launch the DIMBREAK tool,
| | 02:02 | select the dimension you'd like
to remove the break from ,and then
| | 02:06 | right-click and select Remove.
| | 02:08 | So in the event you have some
crossing dimension lines, consider using the
| | 02:12 | DIMBREAK tool. Not only will it
make your dimensions easier to read.
| | 02:16 | the breaks will also dynamically
update if you change your geometry.
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| Making linear dimensions act like aligned dimensions| 00:00 | When dimensioning a distance
in AutoCAD we have two options:
| | 00:03 | Aligned and Linear.
| | 00:05 | An aligned dimension will label the
true distance between two points whereas
| | 00:10 | a linear dimension will label the
horizontal or vertical distance between two points.
| | 00:15 | That is, if you rely on the default settings.
| | 00:18 | In reality, a linear dimension can do
anything that an aligned dimension can do
| | 00:22 | and linear dimensions are much easier to edit.
| | 00:25 | In this lesson, we are going to learn how to
create aligned dimensions using the Linear tool.
| | 00:30 | On my screen I have a mechanical part.
| | 00:31 | I am going to zoom in on the upper
left corner. Let's center this on screen.
| | 00:37 | And let's say that I'd like to
dimension the length of this line.
| | 00:41 | Now typically, we would use an aligned
dimension to do this so I'm going to launch
| | 00:46 | the Aligned command and then I'll
pick my two endpoints and I'll pull my
| | 00:51 | dimension out to here.
| | 00:53 | Now, this works great, until I
have to edit the extension lines.
| | 00:57 | For instance, I'd like to show a gap,
right here, so that my extension line
| | 01:02 | doesn't run over the top of the part.
| | 01:05 | If I select this dimension and then
grab of the grip and pull it out to this
| | 01:09 | endpoint. Notice that my measurement
changes. That's because by definition an
| | 01:14 | aligned dimension labels the distance
between two points. One of the points is
| | 01:18 | moved so the dimension is no incorrect.
| | 01:20 | I am going to press Delete to erase this.
| | 01:23 | And let's label this distance
using a linear dimension instead.
| | 01:27 | I'll launch the Linear command.
| | 01:29 | I'll grab the same two endpoints.
| | 01:32 | And notice that by default, AutoCAD
is wanting to measure the horizontal or
| | 01:36 | vertical distance. However, if I right-
click, I can select Rotated and then I
| | 01:42 | can pick two points to define the
direction of the extension lines.
| | 01:47 | I'm going to pick this endpoint and this
one and I'll pull my dimension out to here.
| | 01:53 | Now, if I select this dimension and come
back and edit this grip, you can see the
| | 01:59 | measurement stays the same.
| | 02:01 | Let's add one more.
| | 02:02 | I am going to you push this up.
| | 02:04 | I'd like to dimension the distance
from the center point to this edge.
| | 02:09 | Once again we'll launch the Linear
option. I'll grab the center of this circle,
| | 02:16 | I'll dimension to the endpoint here, then
I'll right-click and select Rotated and
| | 02:22 | I'd like to define the direction of
the extension lines by selecting the
| | 02:26 | endpoint and this one and I'll
pull my dimension out to here.
| | 02:31 | When it comes right down to it, lLinear
dimension could be used to label all of
| | 02:35 | your distances and in some cases the
Linear tool does a better job with aligned
| | 02:40 | measurements than using the
dedicated aligned dimensioning tool.
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| Finding dimensions with false values| 00:00 | In every drawing it's important that
you're dimensions accurately reflect your
| | 00:03 | geometry. That being said, some people
in an effort to save time will simply edit
| | 00:09 | dimension values instead
of fixing their geometry.
| | 00:12 | The problem is every fudged dimension
represents a future setback to your project.
| | 00:17 | So in this lesson we're going to
learn an easy way to identifying any
| | 00:20 | false dimension values.
| | 00:22 | On my screen I've a mechanical part
and this part has several dimensions.
| | 00:27 | Let's check this drawing and verify that each
of these dimensions represents the true value.
| | 00:32 | To do that, I'm going to jump to the
Express Tools tab and in the Dimension
| | 00:37 | panel, I'll select Reset Text.
| | 00:40 | This tool is used to remove any text
overrides that have been applied to the dimensions.
| | 00:45 | At the Select objects prompt, I am
going to type All and I'll press Enter and
| | 00:50 | we can see that AutoCAD has selected
the dimensions that need to be reset.
| | 00:54 | If I press Enter again, AutoCAD will set
these dimensions to the real measurement.
| | 00:59 | Now to review the dimensions that were
changed, I'm going to move over to the
| | 01:02 | Properties palette and I'll
click the Select Objects icon.
| | 01:07 | I will then type P for the
previous selection and I'll press Enter.
| | 01:12 | I'll press Enter again to finish selecting
objects and then I'll come back to the palette
| | 01:16 | and I'll change the color of
these dimensions to yellow.
| | 01:20 | Now we have a nice visual cue
showing us the geometry we need to look at.
| | 01:24 | In the long run, it's always better
to fix your geometry instead of editing
| | 01:28 | dimension text, but since we can't
guarantee that everyone will follow this rule,
| | 01:32 | we can always use the Reset Text tool
to protect ourselves from fudged dimensions.
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| Creating parent/child dimension styles| 00:00 | When we create dimension style,
we're telling AutoCAD how we'd like
| | 00:03 | our dimensions to look.
| | 00:05 | The settings that we choose are then
applied to all dimensions using that style.
| | 00:09 | If you think about it, this is
a one-size-fits-all approach.
| | 00:12 | I mean, maybe I'd like my linear
dimensions to use a different arrowhead style
| | 00:16 | than my angular dimensions and maybe
I'd like my ordinate dimensions to be a
| | 00:20 | different color than the other dimension types.
| | 00:23 | Well, if you have the desire,
you can actually be that specific with your
| | 00:27 | dimension settings and you can do it by
creating parent-child dimension styles.
| | 00:32 | In this lesson we're going to learn
how to create child dimension styles that
| | 00:35 | target specific dimension types.
| | 00:37 | On my screen I have a drawing that
represents a sawhorse design and I would like
| | 00:41 | to apply some dimensions to this drawing.
| | 00:44 | So I'll start by creating a dimension style.
| | 00:47 | I'll open the Annotation panel and then
we'll open the Dimension Style Manager.
| | 00:52 | I'll select New and I'm
going to call this style custom.
| | 00:57 | I'd like the Dimension Style to be
Annotative and I'll click Continue.
| | 01:01 | Now, I'm going to keep most of the
default settings. However, I am going to jump
| | 01:06 | to the Primary Units tab and I will
change the Unit format to Fractional.
| | 01:11 | This will allow me to
dimension the geometry using inches.
| | 01:14 | I'll come down to the Suffix field and
add the inch symbol to all of my dimensions.
| | 01:19 | All right, let's click OK and close and
then we'll try out the new dimension style.
| | 01:26 | Let's create a linear dimension from
the endpoint here to the endpoint here.
| | 01:30 | I'll pull this out.
| | 01:32 | That one looks great.
| | 01:33 | Let's create one more.
| | 01:34 | I'll press the Spacebar to re-enter the
command and I'll create a dimension from
| | 01:39 | the endpoint here to the endpoint here.
| | 01:41 | So far the style is working fantastic.
| | 01:44 | Here's where we have a problem.
| | 01:46 | Let's Zoom in on the right side view and
this time I'll create an angular dimension.
| | 01:52 | I'll select this line and this
line and I'll pull out the value.
| | 01:56 | Take a look at this. It says 30 degrees inches.
| | 01:59 | I'm getting this extra inch
designator because I told AutoCAD to apply that
| | 02:03 | suffix to all dimensions,
and this is obviously incorrect.
| | 02:08 | To fix this, I'm going to go
back to Dimension Style Manager.
| | 02:12 | I'll select Modify and I'll remove the suffix.
| | 02:16 | I will then click OK.
| | 02:19 | Then I'll click New and I would like my new
dimension style to be based on the custom style.
| | 02:25 | However, I'm not going to give this
a name. Instead I'll open the Use for
| | 02:30 | fly-out and I'll select Linear dimensions.
| | 02:32 | Notice the Name field is grayed out.
| | 02:35 | That's because I'm creating a child
dimension style based on this parent style.
| | 02:40 | Let's click Continue.
| | 02:41 | Now, these settings will apply to
linear or straight line dimensions only.
| | 02:46 | In here I'll add the inch
symbol as a suffix and I'll click OK.
| | 02:52 | Notice that the current
dimension style is still custom.
| | 02:55 | However, custom has a child style
that applies to linear dimensions only.
| | 03:00 | If we select this style, we can
see the revised settings over here.
| | 03:04 | Let's click Close and from now on
whenever I create a linear or a straight line
| | 03:09 | dimension, AutoCAD will
add the inches designator.
| | 03:13 | Let's zoom in and I am going to change
my annotative scale to 1:4, and this time
| | 03:20 | I'd like to create a radial dimension.
| | 03:24 | I'll select this arc and
I'll pull out the value.
| | 03:27 | Now, some people don't care for the extension
lines that are applied to radial dimensions.
| | 03:32 | It's no problem to turn them off.
| | 03:34 | However, I don't want to turn off
extension lines for all of the dimension types.
| | 03:38 | So let's create another child style
that applies only to radial dimensions.
| | 03:43 | And while we're at it, let's
add a suffix to these as well.
| | 03:47 | Once again, I will open the
Dimension Style Manager. I'll select New.
| | 03:52 | I'll open the flyout and I'll select
Radius dimensions and click Continue.
| | 03:57 | I will add the inch designator as a
suffix and then I'll jump to the Lines
| | 04:03 | tab and I'll suppress the extension lines.
| | 04:06 | I will then click OK and close.
| | 04:10 | As you can see this now reads 1 inch and the
extension line has been removed. Let's select this.
| | 04:16 | I'll grab the grip and I'll
pull the dimension up to here.
| | 04:20 | When I'm finished, I'll press Escape.
| | 04:22 | So from now on, whenever I create a
radial dimension using the custom style,
| | 04:27 | I will never again be bothered
with those extension lines.
| | 04:31 | So the next time you create a dimension
style, remember that you don't have to
| | 04:35 | create a one-size-fits-all group of settings.
| | 04:38 | By creating child styles under the main
dimension style, you can have customized
| | 04:42 | settings for each dimension type.
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| Making dimensions easier to read| 00:00 | When you're dimensioning a drawing it's
important that your dimensions be legible.
| | 00:04 | Sometimes though, if your file is
loaded with geometry, you may have no choice
| | 00:08 | but to place dimensions
on top of other line work.
| | 00:11 | In this lesson, we're going to learn a
quick way to ensure our dimensions are
| | 00:14 | legible no matter how busy a drawing may get.
| | 00:17 | On my screen I have an architectural
example. This is a drawing of a public pool.
| | 00:22 | Now, as I zoom in, you can see that
there is a fair amount of geometry and
| | 00:27 | hatch in this file.
| | 00:29 | Let's start by dimensioning
the length of this diving board.
| | 00:32 | I'll move up and select the Linear
Dimensioning tool and I'll select this
| | 00:37 | endpoint and this one and
then I'll pull out my dimension.
| | 00:41 | I will then select this dimension.
| | 00:43 | I'll grab the text grip and
I'll push this value up slightly.
| | 00:48 | Now, while I do this, I'm going to
hold down my F3 key so my object snaps
| | 00:51 | don't get in the way.
| | 00:53 | There we go. When I'm
finished I'll press Escape.
| | 00:56 | Now I'm sure you'll agree that with
everything else going on in this drawing my
| | 00:59 | dimension is a little difficult to read.
| | 01:01 | To fix this, I'm going to select the
dimension and then I'll open up the
| | 01:04 | Properties palette and inside the text
group I'll click right here in the Fill
| | 01:10 | color area. I'll click again to open
the fly-out and I'll select Background.
| | 01:15 | This will mask everything behind the
text portion of the dimension and as you
| | 01:19 | can see, this is now much easier to read.
| | 01:23 | Let's create one more
dimension. We'll do the width this time.
| | 01:27 | I'll move up and select Linear, we'll
grab the endpoint here and the endpoint
| | 01:31 | here, and I'll pull out the measurement.
| | 01:34 | Just like before, this dimension is
difficult to read so I will select it,
| | 01:39 | I'll come over to the Properties palette,
and I'll change the Fill color to Background.
| | 01:44 | And now it's easy to read.
| | 01:47 | By applying a background mask to your
dimensions you can be certain that your
| | 01:50 | measurements are always legible no
matter how busy your drawing may get.
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|
|
5. Blocks and ReferencesMaking global edits to attribute data| 00:00 | An AutoCAD drawing can not only help
you visualize your designs, it can also be
| | 00:04 | used to hold important project data.
| | 00:06 | It does this through the use of attributes.
| | 00:08 | Now, attributes are associated with
blocks and the data that we assign
| | 00:12 | to attributes can later be
extracted to create part lists or to
| | 00:16 | calculate construction costs.
| | 00:19 | When it comes to editing attribute
data, some of the tools are a little
| | 00:22 | outdated, so it's tempting to
make changes one object at a time.
| | 00:26 | In this lesson I'm going to show you
some quick ways to make global changes to
| | 00:30 | the attribute data in a drawing.
| | 00:32 | On my screen I have a drawing of a CAD lab.
| | 00:34 | This drawing contains several blocks
and all of the blocks contain attributes.
| | 00:40 | Let's Zoom in and you may be
wondering where the data is.
| | 00:44 | Well, I typically place my attributes
on a layer of their own and that layer is
| | 00:48 | currently turned off.
| | 00:50 | So I'm going to open the Layer
control and I'll turn on this layer
| | 00:52 | called attribute-data.
| | 00:53 | I am going to zoom in further, and
let me mention that all of my blocks are
| | 00:58 | using similar attribute tags.
| | 01:00 | One is holding the price information.
| | 01:03 | One is holding a part number.
| | 01:04 | And one is holding the room number.
| | 01:07 | By storing this information in the
drawing, I can easily create parts lists or
| | 01:11 | calculate furniture costs
on a room by room basis.
| | 01:15 | Let's make our first change.
| | 01:17 | Let's say I'd like to change the price
associated with all of the chairs in the CAD lab.
| | 01:22 | First, I'm going to zoom out
so I can see the entire room.
| | 01:26 | I will then select one of the chairs.
| | 01:28 | I'll right-click and I'll choose Select Similar.
| | 01:32 | Now, this selects all of my chairs.
| | 01:34 | So I'm going to hold the Shift key and
I'll make a window-selection to deselect
| | 01:39 | the chairs in this office.
| | 01:40 | I will then move over to my Quick
Properties tool and I can see my attribute
| | 01:44 | information right here.
| | 01:46 | I'm going to change this PRICE to $235.
| | 01:50 | I'll press Enter and then I'll
press Escape to deselect the objects.
| | 01:55 | Now, if I zoom in, you can see all of the
chairs have the revised price information.
| | 02:00 | Let's make another change.
| | 02:02 | Notice that the room information has not
been assigned to any of these blocks yet.
| | 02:07 | That's because I've been copying
these blocks from room to room with the
| | 02:10 | intention of adding this information later.
| | 02:12 | I would like to assign a room number of
ATC-106 to all of the blocks in the CAD lab.
| | 02:19 | Well, all of the blocks are
currently assigned the default value of ROOM.
| | 02:22 | So to change this, I'm going to
use the Find and Replace command.
| | 02:27 | Typically, we think of using Find
and Replace with standard text objects.
| | 02:31 | However, it also works great with attributes.
| | 02:33 | I'm going to jump over to the Annotate
tab and in the Find Text field I'll type
| | 02:39 | ROOM and then I'll click the magnifying glass.
| | 02:42 | As you can see, AutoCAD found the
first instance of that text string.
| | 02:46 | I would like to replace that text
string with ATC-106, and probably the most
| | 02:54 | important thing, I am going to click
the Select objects button so I can tell
| | 02:57 | AutoCAD where I'd like it to look for that text.
| | 03:00 | I am going to zoom out and then I'll
select everything inside the CAD lab.
| | 03:06 | I will then press Enter
and I'll click Replace All.
| | 03:10 | As you can see, AutoCAD revised 78 objects.
| | 03:13 | I'll click OK and Done.
| | 03:15 | And if I zoom in we can see that all of
the blocks now have updated room information.
| | 03:20 | I'm going to zoom back a little.
| | 03:22 | Let's pan over and as long as we're
here, let's update the ROOM information
| | 03:27 | associated with the blocks in this office.
| | 03:29 | Now, my text string is still good, so
I'll click the magnifying glass. I'd like
| | 03:34 | to change this to ATC-107.
| | 03:38 | I'll click the Select objects button
and then I'll use a crossing window to
| | 03:41 | select these blocks. I'll press Enter.
I will then click Replace All, OK, and Done.
| | 03:49 | It's important to remember that
attributes don't have to be edited one at a time.
| | 03:53 | Using the Properties palette or the Find
and Replace command, we can easily make
| | 03:57 | global changes to the data in a drawing.
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| Clipping references using curved geometry| 00:00 | AutoCAD can display
referenced content from many sources.
| | 00:04 | Two of the most popular choices are
images and other AutoCAD drawings.
| | 00:09 | Not only can you display
referenced content, you can also clip those
| | 00:12 | references using any shape you like, so long as
that shape only consists of straight segments.
| | 00:18 | Well, that's the way the
default settings work anyway.
| | 00:21 | In this lesson I'm going to show you
how you can clip a referenced file
| | 00:24 | using curved geometry.
| | 00:25 | On my screen I have a drawing of a
proposed high school gymnasium. I'll zoom in
| | 00:29 | a little closer and as you can see I
have referenced an image into this file.
| | 00:35 | This is a center court photo from the
existing high school facility and I would
| | 00:40 | like to display this image at the
center court area of my proposed CAD design.
| | 00:45 | All I have to do is clip out the wood
floor around the outside of the logo.
| | 00:50 | Let's open the Layer control. I'm going
to turn on a layer called Clip Boundary
| | 00:54 | and as you can see, I have already
traced this logo using a closed Polyline.
| | 00:58 | Let's try and clip this image
using the standard clipping tool.
| | 01:02 | To do that I'll select the image and in
the context sensitive menu, I'll select
| | 01:08 | to Create Clipping Boundary.
| | 01:10 | I will then right-click and choose
Select Polyline and I'll select my Polyline.
| | 01:16 | Now here's the problem. The default
clipping tool only supports straight-line
| | 01:20 | geometry, so it's shooting right
past the arcs in my clipping path.
| | 01:25 | Let's click Undo and to do this clip
I'm going to visit the Express Tools tab.
| | 01:31 | I'll open the Modify panel
and I'll select Extended Clip.
| | 01:36 | Extended Clip allows me to clip any
referenced AutoCAD drawing, block, or image
| | 01:41 | using curved geometry.
| | 01:43 | I will then select my Polyline and my
image and then AutoCAD asks me for an
| | 01:48 | allowable error distance.
| | 01:50 | The smaller the distance, the closer the
clipped image will match the selected boundary.
| | 01:55 | I'm going to type 1/8 inch and I'll press Enter.
| | 01:59 | Now I don't need my Polyline anymore,
so I'll select this and I'll press
| | 02:03 | delete to remove it, and as you can see, my
center court logo now works nicely in the drawing.
| | 02:09 | Using the Extended Clip command, you
are no longer tied to simplistic straight
| | 02:13 | edged clipping boundaries.
| | 02:15 | Now, you can use nearly any closed
Polyline to clip your referenced content.
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| Exchanging one block symbol for another| 00:00 | Blocks are a great tool to use
when you have geometry that's repeated
| | 00:03 | throughout a drawing.
| | 00:04 | In an architectural design, we might
use blocks to represent doors, furniture,
| | 00:09 | kitchen appliances, or plumbing fixtures.
| | 00:12 | What you do if you have inserted the
block multiple times in a drawing and then
| | 00:16 | you decide you'd rather use a
completely different symbol?
| | 00:19 | In this lesson we're going to learn
how to exchange one block for another.
| | 00:23 | On my screen I have a drawing of
a proposed high school gymnasium.
| | 00:27 | Let's zoom in on the restroom are, and
as you can see, I have inserted several
| | 00:32 | basins into this drawing.
| | 00:35 | Now each of these basins is a block
and if I select one of these you can see
| | 00:39 | that this is a generic
block called basin-counter.
| | 00:43 | When I inserted these, I didn't have a
specific basin in mind. I pretty much
| | 00:47 | just used this block as a placeholder to
represent where I would like to install each basin.
| | 00:52 | Well, I've now decided on the
fixtures that I would like to use and I was
| | 00:56 | actually able to download the
geometry for that basin from the
| | 00:58 | manufacturer's website.
| | 01:00 | I've inserted one of those blocks over here.
| | 01:03 | If I select this, we can see that this
block is named after the basin's model number.
| | 01:08 | To exchange my existing blocks with
this new symbol, I'm going to start by
| | 01:13 | inserting one of my existing blocks.
| | 01:15 | I will select basin-counter and I will
click OK and I will place this off to the side.
| | 01:22 | I will then select both blocks and
we will do a little black comparison.
| | 01:27 | Take a look at the insertion
point on the original block.
| | 01:30 | Notice it is centered on the symbol,
whereas the insertion point on the new
| | 01:34 | block is centered on the faucet.
| | 01:36 | Before I swap these symbols, I need to
make sure that the new block has the same
| | 01:40 | insertion point as the original.
| | 01:42 | To do that, I will double-click on the
block and then I will click OK to bring
| | 01:46 | up the Block Editor. Then in the Block
Authoring palettes, I will make sure that
| | 01:50 | the Parameters tab is current. I will
select Base Point and I will place this to
| | 01:55 | the center of the symbol.
| | 01:57 | I will then save the block and I
will click the X to close the Editor.
| | 02:02 | Now that these have a common base point,
I don't have to worry about my existing
| | 02:07 | symbols shifting at all when they get replaced.
| | 02:10 | To replace the blocks, I'm going to
go to the Express Tools tab and in the
| | 02:14 | Blocks panel, I will select Replace Block.
| | 02:17 | Now which block do I want to replace?
| | 02:19 | Well, I can select its name from the
list, or even easier I can click this Pick
| | 02:24 | button and I can select one
of the blocks in the drawing.
| | 02:27 | Next, which block is going
to serve as the replacement?
| | 02:31 | I will click the Pick button
and I will select this block.
| | 02:35 | Finally, since one of these blocks is
going to be removed, AutoCAD wants to know
| | 02:38 | if I'd like to purge that
block when I am finished.
| | 02:40 | I am going to press Enter to accept
yes. And as you can see, AutoCAD has
| | 02:45 | exchanged all of my basin placeholders with the
actual basin I'd like to use for this project.
| | 02:51 | Most times when we think of block editing,
we think about redefining a block's geometry.
| | 02:56 | As you can see, it's also possible to
replace the entire symbol with another
| | 03:00 | block using the Replace Block tool.
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| Using drag-and-drop to insert content| 00:00 | AutoCAD can incorporate data
from many different sources.
| | 00:04 | Some examples would be images, text files,
PDF files, or other AutoCAD drawings.
| | 00:10 | The trick to inserting this extra
content is knowing what command is needed to
| | 00:14 | insert each type of file.
| | 00:16 | The real trick is knowing that you
can insert most data without using
| | 00:19 | any commands at all.
| | 00:21 | In this lesson we are going to learn
how to insert content from a variety of
| | 00:24 | files using drag and drop.
| | 00:27 | As you can see, I've just launched
my AutoCAD and I'm sitting in the
| | 00:30 | default Drawing1 file.
| | 00:32 | I'm going to press the Windows key and
the letter E to launch Windows Explorer.
| | 00:37 | Then I will navigate to the Desktop.
| | 00:39 | I will open the Exercise Files folder.
| | 00:42 | I will jump into the chapter_05
folder and then I'll open this folder
| | 00:46 | called drag-and-drop.
| | 00:48 | Now, since I am using Windows 7, I am
going to drag this window over to the
| | 00:51 | right side of the screen, such
that it fills up half of my monitor.
| | 00:56 | I will then click the AutoCAD title bar.
| | 00:58 | I'll click the Restore Down button and
I will drag this application over to the
| | 01:03 | left side of the screen. All right!
| | 01:06 | In this folder I have files that
represent several different formats.
| | 01:10 | I'm going to insert all of this
content into my AutoCAD drawing using
| | 01:13 | only drag-and-drop.
| | 01:15 | We will do this AutoCAD drawing first.
| | 01:17 | I will click, hold, and drag this into
model space, and when I release AutoCAD
| | 01:23 | will insert this drawing as a block.
| | 01:25 | I will click to specify the insertion
point and I will press Enter to accept the
| | 01:29 | default scale factor and rotation.
| | 01:32 | Let's zoom out a little and I
will pan this geometry down.
| | 01:36 | Note that I have to regen the drawing.
| | 01:38 | I will type re and press Enter to do that.
| | 01:41 | Let's try inserting an image next.
| | 01:44 | I'm going to click, hold, and drag this
JPEG file into model space, and when I
| | 01:49 | release notice that I am now
holding the image at my cursor.
| | 01:52 | I will click to place it in the drawing
and then I will press Enter to accept
| | 01:56 | the default scale factor and rotation angle.
| | 01:59 | I'm sure you'll agree that this method is a
lot faster than using the Reference Manager.
| | 02:04 | Let's try a PDF file.
| | 02:05 | I will drag this tree detail
into my drawing and I will release.
| | 02:09 | I will press Enter to accept page number 1.
| | 02:12 | I will click to specify the insertion
point and I am going to insert this with
| | 02:17 | a scale factor of 2.
| | 02:18 | I will press Enter and then I
will press Enter again to accept the
| | 02:22 | default rotation angle.
| | 02:24 | As you can see, AutoCAD has inserted
this PDF as an underlay, the same as if
| | 02:29 | we'd used the Reference Manager.
| | 02:31 | Let's push this up a little.
| | 02:33 | If I were to drag-and-drop a text file
into AutoCAD, AutoCAD converts it into
| | 02:39 | mtext, which is nice because now I
don't have to retype this information.
| | 02:45 | Let's try a WMF file.
| | 02:48 | A WMF is Windows Clipart.
| | 02:51 | If I drag one of these into the drawing,
AutoCAD will convert the Clipart into a
| | 02:55 | block and if I were to explode this
block, I now have access to the linework.
| | 03:01 | How many other types of files do you work with?
| | 03:06 | Remember that AutoCAD supports
a wide range of file formats.
| | 03:10 | If you need to bring some
alternate content into AutoCAD, try using
| | 03:13 | drag-and-drop. You just
might discover another shortcut.
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| Creating a block library in two clicks| 00:00 | Using tool palettes is a great way
to organize your block libraries.
| | 00:04 | However, it can sometimes be a little
time consuming dragging each and every
| | 00:08 | block from a drawing onto a palette.
| | 00:10 | In this lesson, we're going to look at a
way to create a block library in two clicks.
| | 00:15 | As you can see I've just launched my
AutoCAD and I'm sitting in the
| | 00:18 | default Drawing1 file.
| | 00:20 | I'm going to open up the Design Center.
Now mine happens to be anchored to the
| | 00:23 | left side of the screen if your
Design Center is not visible you can always
| | 00:27 | press Ctrl+2 to turn it on.
| | 00:31 | Over here on the left side, I am
going to navigate to the exercise files
| | 00:34 | folder on my system.
| | 00:36 | I'll click the Plus to open the
folder. I'll click Plus to open up
| | 00:40 | chapter_05 and let's take a look at
this drawing called arch-furniture.
| | 00:45 | I'm going to click the Plus
to navigate into this drawing.
| | 00:48 | Now this drawing contains several
blocks that represent interior furnishings.
| | 00:53 | You can see the icons for them right over here.
| | 00:56 | I would like to create a block
library using the blocks in this drawing.
| | 01:01 | To do that, I'll make sure that the
drawing file name is selected. I will then
| | 01:05 | right-click and choose Create
Tool Palette. And that's it.
| | 01:10 | AutoCAD creates the tool palette for me.
| | 01:13 | As you can see the blocks are all named and
I have a nice thumbnail image of each symbol.
| | 01:17 | I can now insert these blocks into any
drawing by simply dragging them out of the palette.
| | 01:23 | Let's drag out an executive desk
and I'll release to place this.
| | 01:28 | Now this is a little big. I'm going to
double-click my scroll wheel to do zoom
| | 01:31 | extends and I'll back up a little further.
| | 01:36 | Let's drag in a guest chair. I'll drag
over a computer and I'll add a file cabin.
| | 01:44 | I'm sure you'll agree that creating a tool
palette doesn't have to be a tedious project.
| | 01:49 | If you have some drawings that
contain blocks that you'd like to share,
| | 01:52 | navigate to those drawings in the
design center and build yourself some
| | 01:55 | two-click block libraries.
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|
|
6. LayersMaking global changes to layer names| 00:00 | Most times when we need to
rename a layer, we visit the Layer
| | 00:03 | Properties Manager.
| | 00:05 | Now, this tool works well so long as
we're renaming one layer at a time.
| | 00:09 | What do you do though if you'd like to
rename a group of layers or all of the
| | 00:13 | layers in a drawing?
| | 00:14 | In this lesson I'm going to show you a
quick way to change the names of multiple
| | 00:18 | layers at the same time.
| | 00:20 | On my screen I have a drawing
that represents a vacant lot.
| | 00:24 | Let's say that we are a land planner
and this drawing was provided to us by the
| | 00:28 | owner of the property.
| | 00:29 | Let's also say that our design requires
us to have some more existing property
| | 00:34 | information on the north
and east sides of this lot.
| | 00:38 | So we hire a surveyor to go
out and get that information.
| | 00:42 | I am going to open a drawing.
| | 00:43 | I will look inside the Exercise Files
folder, inside the chapter_06 directory,
| | 00:50 | and I will grab this drawing called exSurveyor.
| | 00:54 | This is the drawing that we
got back from the surveyor.
| | 00:57 | Now, let me mention that I have already
converted the layer properties of this
| | 01:00 | drawing to match my office standards
and I would like to incorporate this
| | 01:04 | geometry into my existing conditions drawing.
| | 01:08 | So let's jump over to the View tab
and then I will click the Tile Vertically
| | 01:13 | button so we can get a nice
side by side view of these files.
| | 01:16 | Now, when I move this geometry over,
I don't want to lose track of which
| | 01:20 | linework was provided by the client and
which linework was provided by the surveyor.
| | 01:25 | So I would like to add a prefix to all of
the layer names in the surveyor drawing.
| | 01:30 | To do that, I'm going to launch the
Rename command. I will type rename and
| | 01:35 | I will press Enter.
| | 01:37 | Now, before I use this, take a
quick look at the list of things you can
| | 01:40 | rename using this tool.
| | 01:43 | I am going to make sure that Layers
is selected and AutoCAD will show me a
| | 01:47 | listing of all of the layers in this drawing.
| | 01:50 | I will then move down to the Old Name field.
| | 01:53 | The Rename Tool works a lot like the
Find and Replace command. For Old Name I'm
| | 01:58 | going to type an asterisk and
I'll press Tab to accept that value.
| | 02:02 | The asterisk symbol is a
wildcard that means everything.
| | 02:05 | So as you can see, AutoCAD
has selected all of the layers.
| | 02:09 | I will then click in the
Rename To field and I'll type SRV-*.
| | 02:17 | This says apply the SRV - prefix to all layers.
| | 02:21 | I'll click Rename To and then I'll click OK.
| | 02:26 | If I open the Layer Properties Manager,
we can see that all of the layers have
| | 02:29 | been successfully renamed.
| | 02:33 | Next I'm going to back up slightly
and then I will select this geometry.
| | 02:37 | I will right-click.
| | 02:39 | I'll come down to
Clipboard and I'll select Copy.
| | 02:43 | I will then click to put
the focus on this drawing.
| | 02:47 | I'll right-click, I will come down
to Clipboard, and I'll select Paste to
| | 02:51 | Original Coordinates, and then I'll double
click my scroll wheel to do a zoom extents.
| | 02:56 | As you can see, the geometry has
been incorporated into my drawing.
| | 02:58 | And if I visit the Layer Properties
Manager, I can easily identify the layers
| | 03:03 | containing geometry provided by the surveyor.
| | 03:06 | As you can see using the Rename
tool we can go beyond the one at a time
| | 03:10 | method of renaming layers.
| | 03:12 | Rename gives us the power to apply name
changes globally while being as simple
| | 03:16 | to use as Find and Replace.
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| Converting all object properties to BYLAYER| 00:00 | When working in a production environment,
it's common to receive drawings that
| | 00:03 | were created by others.
| | 00:05 | Typically, when you receive a file,
you'll need to convert it to your layer
| | 00:08 | standards before the geometry
can be used in your project.
| | 00:12 | One of the first steps in converting a
client's drawing is to change all of the
| | 00:16 | object properties to be by layer.
| | 00:18 | In this lesson, I'm going to show you
the fastest way to make that conversion.
| | 00:21 | On my screen, I have a detailed
drawing that I received from a client.
| | 00:25 | Now this is a DWG file. However,
it was not created using AutoCAD.
| | 00:30 | If I open the Layer Properties Manager,
you can see that all of the layers are
| | 00:34 | sent to white and they
have a Continuous linetype.
| | 00:37 | This means that most of the color and
linetype properties that we see on screen
| | 00:41 | are being forced on the objects.
| | 00:44 | To strip off all of the forced
properties, I'm going to open the Modify panel
| | 00:48 | and then I'll select the Set to ByLayer tool.
| | 00:51 | I will then select my
geometry and I'll press Enter.
| | 00:57 | Now, AutoCAD wants to know if I'd like to
convert any ByBlock properties to ByLayer.
| | 01:02 | I'll press Enter to accept Yes and finally
AutoCAD asks me if I'd like to include blocks?
| | 01:09 | This is probably the most powerful
feature of this tool, because when I
| | 01:13 | select yes AutoCAD will go inside each block
definition and remove all of the forced properties.
| | 01:18 | I'll press Enter to accept Yes and as
you can see all of the objects are now
| | 01:23 | getting their property
information from the layer settings.
| | 01:26 | And I'm one step closer to having this
drawing converted to my office standards.
| | 01:30 | One thing is certain. No two
offices use the same set of CAD standards.
| | 01:35 | With the Set to ByLayer tool you can
easily strip unwanted properties and
| | 01:39 | quickly transition geometry
from one standard to another.
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| Navigating layer lists using the keyboard| 00:00 | As a project increases in size so
does the number of layers. In fact, it's
| | 00:05 | common for production drawings
to contain a hundreds of layers.
| | 00:08 | Now, as the layer list increases in
length, you might start wondering if there's
| | 00:12 | a faster way to navigate the list
other than sliding up and down with the
| | 00:16 | scrollbar. In fact, there is.
| | 00:18 | In this lesson, we're going to learn how to
navigate the layer list using our keyboard.
| | 00:22 | On my screen, I have an architectural
drawing that contains several layers.
| | 00:27 | If we look up here at the Layer control, we
can see that Layer 0 is the current layer.
| | 00:32 | Let's say I'd like the
insert an image into this drawing.
| | 00:35 | Now typically I put my images on a
layer of their own. I am going to open the
| | 00:39 | Layer control and I'll press the
letter I and notice that AutoCAD takes me to
| | 00:44 | the first layer that starts with that letter.
| | 00:47 | If I press Enter the image layer
becomes current, no scrolling involved.
| | 00:52 | Now, maybe I'd like to create some block
geometry. I'd like to draw that on Layer 0.
| | 00:58 | I'll open the Layer control, I'll
press 0 and then I'll press Enter.
| | 01:02 | Once again, much faster than scrolling.
| | 01:05 | Let's take a look at the Layout tab.
| | 01:07 | As you can see my geometry is being
displayed in the viewport. However, the
| | 01:11 | Viewport layer is currently turned off.
| | 01:14 | To turn that on I am going to open the
Layer control. I'll press the letter V,
| | 01:17 | I will then click the light bulb to turn it on
and then I'll click on screen to close the menu.
| | 01:23 | Let's look at one more. Maybe I'd like
to add some dimensions to this drawing.
| | 01:27 | I'll open the Layer control and I'll
press the letter D-- and remember that
| | 01:31 | AutoCAD will take you to the first
layer that starts with your given letter.
| | 01:35 | At this point, I could scroll the rest
of the way using my mouse or if I keep
| | 01:39 | pressing D, AutoCAD will keep moving
down through the list until I hit the layer
| | 01:44 | I am looking for and then I can
press Enter to set it current.
| | 01:48 | As you can see, using the keyboard you
can quickly navigate through the layer
| | 01:51 | list with very little scrolling involved.
| | 01:54 | As a side note, this trick
isn't just for the Layer control.
| | 01:57 | Try it in the Properties panel as well.
| | 01:59 | Virtually, any place you find a layer
list you can quickly jump from layer to
| | 02:03 | layer using the keyboard.
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| Producing a hard copy of the layer settings| 00:00 | When creating an office CAD manual, it's
important to include a list of standard
| | 00:04 | layer names and their settings.
| | 00:06 | Having a hard copy of your layer
standards gives you a roadmap that employees
| | 00:10 | can follow such that everyone is
creating drawings the same way.
| | 00:14 | This layer roadmap is also a great
tool to send the clients in the event you
| | 00:18 | need their drawings to match yours.
| | 00:20 | In this lesson I'm going to show you
how to create a printable copy of your
| | 00:24 | standard layer settings.
| | 00:26 | Now the drawing that I have
opened on screen contains no geometry.
| | 00:29 | Well, I take that back.
It does have a title block.
| | 00:33 | This drawing represents my office template file.
| | 00:36 | this is the file that I would
start all other drawings from.
| | 00:40 | If I open the Layer control, you can
see that this drawing contains several of
| | 00:43 | my standard layer names and their settings.
| | 00:47 | To make a printed copy of this
information, I am going to click on one of the
| | 00:50 | layer names to put the focus on the
list and then I'll press Ctrl+A to
| | 00:55 | select all of the layers.
| | 00:57 | I will then press Ctrl+C to copy
this information to my clipboard.
| | 01:02 | Next, I'll jump over to Microsoft Excel
and I'll press Ctrl+V to paste the settings.
| | 01:10 | Now that this information is in Excel,
I can adjust the formatting, I can edit
| | 01:14 | the data or add to it, and when I'm
finished, I can print to file such that I
| | 01:19 | can put it in my CAD
manual or e-mail it to a client.
| | 01:22 | Back in the old days, creating a hard
copy of your layer settings meant a lot
| | 01:25 | of manual retyping.
| | 01:27 | Now, using the Windows clipboard, we
can export all of our layer information in
| | 01:31 | just a couple of clicks.
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| Removing stubborn layers| 00:00 | Has this ever happened to you?
| | 00:02 | You receive a drawing from a client
and in the process of converting the
| | 00:05 | drawing to your layer standards you
find a layer that you just can't get rid of.
| | 00:09 | Even though it appears that the
lawyer is not being used, AutoCAD will not
| | 00:13 | purge it out of the drawing.
| | 00:15 | In this lesson, we'll learn how to
take absolute control of a file and delete
| | 00:19 | any layer from any drawing.
| | 00:20 | On my screen, I have a floor plan that
I received from a client and I'm just
| | 00:25 | about ready to incorporate this
geometry into my project. However, I seem to have
| | 00:29 | a layer that I cannot remove.
It is this one, called ARCHLAYER.
| | 00:34 | Now, I've already used the Quick
Select Tool and AutoCAD told me there's no
| | 00:38 | geometry on that layer. I've also tried
the Purge command and AutoCAD says that
| | 00:43 | layer cannot be purged, so
the layer is being used somehow.
| | 00:47 | At this point, I can only assume that
there is a rogue entity on that layer
| | 00:51 | that's buried inside one of these blocks.
| | 00:54 | Looking at the drawing it appears that
I have all the geometry that I need so
| | 00:58 | I'm going to tell AutoCAD to do
whatever it takes to delete that layer.
| | 01:02 | I'll do that by opening the Layers panel
in the Ribbon and I'll select the Layer Delete tool.
| | 01:08 | This tool will seek out and delete any
rogue entities, even if they're part of a
| | 01:12 | block definition. It will then
purge out the unwanted layer.
| | 01:16 | I am going to right-click and I'll
select the layer by name. I will then make
| | 01:21 | sure that the ARCHLAYER is
selected and I'll click OK.
| | 01:25 | And AutoCAD then issues a warning to
let me know that all entities on that
| | 01:29 | layer will be deleted. I'll click Yes
and if we check out the Layer Properties
| | 01:33 | Manager you can see that the
ARCHLAYER has been removed.
| | 01:37 | You know, as a side note, if you look
down here at the command line you can see
| | 01:40 | the block called floor plant has been
redefined so it might be worth taking a
| | 01:45 | look at that block to see if anything is missing.
| | 01:49 | In this case, it looks like everything is okay.
| | 01:51 | So the next time you feel like
you're being held hostage by the layers in
| | 01:54 | your drawing, try using the
Layer Delete tool and have the final
| | 01:58 | word on removing a Layer.
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|
|
7. LayoutsAccessing viewports within viewports| 00:00 | Displaying your geometry in a layout
viewport is the most efficient way to
| | 00:03 | prepare a drawing for print.
| | 00:05 | Using multiple viewports we can
represent geometry at different scales within
| | 00:09 | the same title block.
| | 00:11 | Where you may run into a problem is
when two viewports overlap, because AutoCAD
| | 00:15 | always favors the larger viewport over
the smaller one. So the smaller ones are
| | 00:19 | difficult to select.
| | 00:20 | In this lesson we will learn a
shortcut that makes it easy to access any
| | 00:24 | viewport on a layout.
| | 00:25 | On my screen I have a
drawing of an office floor plan.
| | 00:28 | Let's take a look at the layout
that's been set up for this file.
| | 00:32 | As you can see, I only
have a title block right now.
| | 00:35 | I would like to create a viewport,
such that I can see my geometry and set it
| | 00:39 | to a measurable scale.
| | 00:40 | Now, I've already created a viewport
layer and I've set that current, so let's
| | 00:44 | jump to the View tab.
| | 00:45 | I will click the New Viewport icon.
I will select Single, and OK, and then I
| | 00:54 | will select this endpoint and
this one to set the viewport size.
| | 00:59 | Next I'll double-click inside the
viewport boundary and then I'll use this menu
| | 01:04 | to set the scale of this viewport
to 3/8 of an inch equals a foot.
| | 01:09 | This looks like it will work perfectly.
| | 01:11 | Let's pan this up and over to the left slightly.
| | 01:14 | I'm going to turn off the grid as
well, because I really don't need that
| | 01:20 | displaying on my layout.
| | 01:22 | When I am finished I will double-click
outside the viewport boundary to jump out.
| | 01:27 | I would like to create one more viewport.
| | 01:29 | Let's create a detail of one of the exam rooms.
| | 01:32 | Once again, I will launch the New
Viewport command. I will click Single and OK.
| | 01:39 | And then I will press F3 to turn off
my running objects snaps momentarily and
| | 01:44 | then I will click here and here
to set the size of this viewport.
| | 01:52 | I will then double-click to jump in.
| | 01:53 | I will zoom in and center the view on
one of the exam rooms, and then I will set
| | 02:01 | the scale of this viewport
to 1 inch equals 1 foot.
| | 02:05 | Let's pan this up slightly and when
I'm finished I'll double-click outside the
| | 02:11 | boundary to jump out.
| | 02:13 | Now, it looks like this viewport is a
little tight and I do have some room to spare.
| | 02:17 | So I'm going to double-click in the
larger viewport and I'll pan this view over.
| | 02:23 | Let's double-click out.
| | 02:24 | I will then click to select my viewport
edge and I use the grips to slide this over.
| | 02:31 | When I'm finished I'll press Escape.
| | 02:33 | Now, watch this. I am going to try
and jump back into this viewport.
| | 02:37 | Let's double-click.
| | 02:39 | Notice that AutoCAD grabbed the wrong one.
| | 02:41 | I am going to double-click out.
| | 02:44 | Let's try it again.
| | 02:45 | I'll double-click and AutoCAD
grabbed the wrong viewport again. Hmm.
| | 02:51 | In fact, AutoCAD will always favor the
larger viewport over the smaller one.
| | 02:56 | To access this viewport I'm going to
double-click in the large one and then I'll
| | 03:00 | press Ctrl+R. In fact, each time I press
Ctrl+R, AutoCAD will cycle through each
| | 03:06 | viewport on the layout, making it easy
to select the one that's difficult to
| | 03:10 | enter using normal methods.
| | 03:12 | So in the event you have viewports
that are difficult to access, don't worry.
| | 03:16 | You can easily take control of any
viewport on your layout using Ctrl+R.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Creating viewports with islands| 00:00 | The viewports that we create on
our layouts are very flexible.
| | 00:03 | I mean, we don't have to stick with
the standard rectangle. We can also clip
| | 00:07 | viewports into many different shapes.
| | 00:09 | The downside to a clipped viewport is
that it's based on a polyline, which means
| | 00:14 | that certain shapes like a doughnut are
not allowed, because you cannot have a
| | 00:18 | shape within another shape.
| | 00:20 | Well, in this lesson we're going to
avoid the polyline altogether and create a
| | 00:24 | viewport using an even more
powerful object called region.
| | 00:27 | On my screen I have some simple geometry.
| | 00:30 | I've drawn a rectangle and some circles.
| | 00:33 | At this point I am going to open the Draw
panel and I'll launch the Region command.
| | 00:39 | I will then select all of my
geometry and I'll press Enter.
| | 00:42 | And if you look at the command line,
you can see that AutoCAD has converted
| | 00:46 | these three objects into three separate regions.
| | 00:50 | A region is technically a solid object.
| | 00:53 | In fact, it's a solid that has
no volume. It is paper thin.
| | 00:57 | You can create a region from just about any
geometry so long as it represents a closed shape.
| | 01:02 | The nice thing about regions is
that they support Boolean commands like
| | 01:06 | Union and Subtract.
| | 01:07 | For instance, I am going to launch the Union
command by typing union and I'll press enter.
| | 01:14 | I'll select two of these
objects and I'll press Enter.
| | 01:18 | And notice how AutoCAD merges
them together. Let's try another.
| | 01:21 | This time I'll type subtract. I'll press Enter.
| | 01:26 | I will then select the large object,
press Enter, and then I will select the
| | 01:30 | object I'd like to
subtract and I'll press Enter.
| | 01:34 | Notice how AutoCAD removed
one region from the other.
| | 01:37 | I show you this because you can
use regions to create viewports.
| | 01:41 | That means you can do your editing
much faster and you can get away with any
| | 01:45 | shape you can think of. Let's try it.
| | 01:47 | I'm going to erase this geometry and
then I'll double-click my scroll wheel
| | 01:54 | to do a Zoom Extents.
| | 01:56 | On my screen I have a
drawing of a tree removal plan.
| | 01:59 | This cyan line represents my property boundary.
| | 02:03 | If I zoom in, you can see that I have
several blocks that represent trees and
| | 02:08 | the trees with an X are the ones
that are targeted to be removed.
| | 02:11 | Let's take a look at the layout
that's been set up for this drawing.
| | 02:14 | The first thing I'd like
to do is create a viewport.
| | 02:17 | However, I'm going to do it in a different way.
| | 02:20 | I'll start by launching the Rectangle
command and then I'll select this lower
| | 02:24 | left endpoint and the upper right endpoint.
| | 02:27 | This way I have created a rectangle
that's the same size as my title block.
| | 02:32 | Next, I'll launch the Region command.
I'll select my rectangle and I'll press Enter.
| | 02:38 | This rectangle is now a region.
| | 02:40 | Now I'll jump to the View tab, and
in the Viewports panel, I'll open this
| | 02:46 | fly-out and I'll select Create from
Object and I'll select my region.
| | 02:52 | I will then double-click
to jump into the viewport.
| | 02:55 | I'll use this menu to set the scale to
1:50, and then I will pan this down and
| | 03:02 | I'll center it inside the view.
| | 03:05 | Notice that this viewport works just
like any other viewport that you've seen.
| | 03:08 | I'm going to turn off the grid as well.
| | 03:10 | I'll do that by clicking this icon in
the status bar and then I'll double-click
| | 03:14 | outside the viewport boundary to jump out.
| | 03:17 | Let's edit this boundary.
| | 03:20 | If I Zoom in, you can see that I have
some line work passing through the text
| | 03:24 | area of the title block.
| | 03:25 | Typically we would use the Clipping
tool to remove this, instead I'm going
| | 03:29 | to subtract it out.
| | 03:30 | I'll jump back to the Home tab, I'll
launch the Rectangle command, and I'll
| | 03:38 | create a rectangle from the lower left corner
to the upper right corner of the text block.
| | 03:44 | I will then launch the Region command, I'll
select my rectangle, and I'll press Enter.
| | 03:49 | Next, I'll launch the Subtract command.
| | 03:52 | Now, instead of typing that again, I'm
going to right click and in the Recent
| | 03:56 | Input Menu, I'll select Subtract from here.
| | 04:01 | I will then select the large region
and press Enter and then I'll select the
| | 04:05 | smaller one, the one I'd like
to subtract, and I'll press Enter.
| | 04:09 | I am going to jump into the viewport and pan
and you can see the text area has been removed.
| | 04:15 | I am going to jump out and then I'll do
a zoom extents, and I'll open the Layer
| | 04:22 | control because I'd like to turn on a layer
here called general notes. Let's zoom in.
| | 04:30 | I'm sure you'll agree that these notes
are a little hard to read with the linework
| | 04:34 | in the background.
| | 04:35 | Let's try and subtract
that area from the viewport.
| | 04:38 | Once again, I'll create a rectangle,
and I'm going to turn off my running
| | 04:42 | object snaps momentarily.
| | 04:47 | I'll use the rectangle to surround the text.
| | 04:51 | I will then convert this
rectangle into a region.
| | 04:53 | Then I'll right-click, I'll come down
to Recent Input, and select Subtract.
| | 05:01 | I'll select the large region, press
Enter, and then I'll select the object I'd
| | 05:06 | like to subtract and
press Enter. Let's back up.
| | 05:10 | I am going to double-click in this
viewport and if I pan you can see that my
| | 05:14 | viewport now has a hole in it.
| | 05:16 | This is something you can't do with a polyline.
| | 05:19 | I'm going to jump back out and at
this point you may be wondering if it's
| | 05:23 | difficult to remove the hole. No, it's not.
| | 05:26 | Once again, I'll create another rectangle.
| | 05:29 | I'll make this one larger than the hole.
| | 05:33 | Let's convert this one into a region.
| | 05:38 | This time I'll launch the Union command.
| | 05:40 | I'll do that by typing union. I'll press Enter.
| | 05:45 | I will then select the large region
followed by the smaller one and I'll press
| | 05:50 | Enter, and AutoCAD fuses the
shapes together, removing the hole.
| | 05:56 | Using regions we can take our
viewports to a whole new creative level.
| | 06:00 | Virtually any shape is possible and
edits are as simple as Union and Subtract.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Creating legends using the Change Space tool| 00:00 | One of the easiest ways to
describe a design is by using a Legend.
| | 00:04 | Legends provide a visual explanation of
everything that's seen on a printed sheet.
| | 00:09 | The difficult part about creating a
legend is matching the size of the objects
| | 00:12 | between model space and your layout.
| | 00:15 | In this lesson we'll learn a quick way to
create legends using the Change Space tool.
| | 00:20 | On my screen, I have a drawing of a
proposed landscape berm and all the plants
| | 00:25 | that you see are being represented using blocks.
| | 00:28 | let's take a look at the layout
that's been set up for this drawing.
| | 00:32 | I have set up an 8.5x11 inch title block,
if I double-click in the viewport, you
| | 00:37 | can see I'm displaying my geometry at
a scale of 1 inch equals 3 feet, let's
| | 00:42 | double-click to jump out, and at this
point I'm creating a legend to describe
| | 00:47 | the various plantings.
| | 00:49 | Now I've got one more plant to add, so
I'm going to double-click in the viewport
| | 00:53 | again and I will select one of these
blocks. It looks like the block is called
| | 00:57 | blackberry lily, so I'll press Escape
and then I'll double-click to jump out.
| | 01:03 | Now here's the typical problem we run
into when creating a legend. I'm going to
| | 01:07 | click Insert, and then I'll select the
blackberry lily block. I'll click OK and
| | 01:14 | then I'll click to place this on the
layout, and as you can see it's coming in a
| | 01:18 | true size which is much larger
than what I need on the paper.
| | 01:22 | I could insert this at a smaller
scale, but that would involve doing some math
| | 01:26 | and I'd have to do it for every block
that I use for the legend. Let's delete this.
| | 01:33 | Instead I'm going to simply pull one of the
blocks through the Viewport onto my layout.
| | 01:39 | To do that I'll double-click to get
in the Viewport, I will then launch my
| | 01:43 | Copy command and I'll copy one of these
symbols over to the side to use for my legend.
| | 01:51 | I will then open the Modify panel and
I'll launch the Change Space command.
| | 01:56 | Change Space allows me to move
objects back and forth through a viewport.
| | 02:02 | I will then select my block and press
Enter and that's it. The block was moved
| | 02:07 | onto the layout, it's now perfectly sized and
I can drag this over and use it for my legend.
| | 02:14 | I'll grab the grip and I'll drag it
right down here. As long as I'm at it,
| | 02:21 | I'll launch the Copy command and I'll
copy one of these text items down as
| | 02:26 | well and we will label this.
| | 02:38 | You know Change Space also works
great if you'd like to match a hatch scale
| | 02:42 | used in model space.
| | 02:44 | As an example, let's create a
legend item that identifies this mulch.
| | 02:49 | Once again I'll double-click to jump
in the viewport, I'll launch my Copy
| | 02:54 | command, and I will create a copy of
this hatch pattern over to the side, such
| | 02:59 | that I can use it for my legend.
| | 03:03 | Next I'll launch the Change Space
command, I'll select the hatch and I'll press
| | 03:09 | Enter. This moves the hatch
through the viewport onto my layout.
| | 03:13 | Now I'll launch the Hatch command and
I'll click inside this rectangle to define
| | 03:19 | my boundary, and then I'll immediately
come up and click Match Properties and
| | 03:24 | I'll select the Hatch Pattern that I moved.
| | 03:27 | Finally I'll press Enter to accept
the hatch and I don't need this pattern
| | 03:31 | anymore, so I'll select it and I'll
press Delete to remove it from the drawing.
| | 03:35 | And I'm left with a perfectly scaled
representation of the hatch that I'm
| | 03:39 | using in model space.
| | 03:43 | The Change Space command just might
become one of your favorite tools.
| | 03:46 | It definitely takes the math out of have
legend creation, and it's the fastest way
| | 03:50 | to move geometry back and forth
between your Layouts and Model space.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Rotating viewport content to match layout| 00:00 | Generally speaking title blocks come in
two orientations, Portrait and Landscape.
| | 00:05 | Unfortunately, these orientations don't
always match up well with the CAD drawing.
| | 00:09 | So in some cases you'll need to rotate
the view of your geometry such that it
| | 00:13 | fits better on the sheet.
| | 00:15 | In this lesson we'll learn how to
rotate a view such that our geometry matches
| | 00:18 | the orientation of a title block.
| | 00:21 | On my screen I have a drawing
that represents a plat of survey.
| | 00:24 | This cyan line represents the property
boundary. As you can see there is also an
| | 00:29 | existing home with a concrete driveway
on the slot. Let me mention that the
| | 00:33 | units in this drawing are set to decimal feet.
| | 00:35 | And since we're dealing with property the
Y-axis represents the direction of north.
| | 00:41 | Let's take a look at the layout.
| | 00:43 | This is a typical 11x17 inch title block.
I'd like to start by creating a viewport.
| | 00:49 | I'll do that by selecting the View
tab and I'll move down to the Viewports
| | 00:53 | panel and I'll click New,
I'll select Single and OK.
| | 00:59 | And then I'll click the outside
corners to define the viewport size.
| | 01:04 | I'll double-click to jump in and
I'd like to turn off this grid.
| | 01:08 | I'll do that by clicking
the icon in the status bar.
| | 01:10 | I would also like to turn on my
lineweights, so I'll click that toggle as well,
| | 01:16 | and let's set this
geometry to a measurable scale.
| | 01:20 | To do that I'll open the menu and
let's try 1:20, or 1 inch equals 20 feet.
| | 01:26 | Now this isn't too bad, but the
geometry is still a little big for the title
| | 01:30 | block. Let's try 1:30.
| | 01:34 | Now 1:30 looks like it will work, but I
still have a bunch of empty space on my sheet.
| | 01:39 | At this point I'm thinking if we
rotate this view we can get the geometry to
| | 01:42 | fit nicely at 1:20.
| | 01:45 | To rotate this I'm going to choose or
create a line segment that I'd like to be
| | 01:49 | horizontal on the final printed sheet.
| | 01:53 | I'm going to choose this line.
| | 01:55 | Imagine if this view were rotated such that
this line was running horizontal on the
| | 01:59 | page. If that was the case
this geometry should fit nicely.
| | 02:03 | Next I'm going to go back to the Home
tab and I'll launch the Line command, I'll
| | 02:08 | pick a point out in space and I'll draw
this perpendicular to my line segment.
| | 02:16 | This geometry creates the shape of an L,
which is the exact same shape as my UCS icon.
| | 02:22 | What I'm going to do is rotate the icon and
the coordinates system to match this geometry.
| | 02:28 | To do that I'll jump back to the View
tab and I'll click the 3 Point UCS button.
| | 02:34 | This allows me to define a
coordinates system in three clicks.
| | 02:38 | Now my first click is the origin point
or the intersection, right here. Now I
| | 02:43 | need to pick a point on the positive
portion of the X-axis. That will be the
| | 02:47 | endpoint of my property line.
| | 02:49 | Then I'll pick a point on the
positive portion of the Y-axis.
| | 02:55 | I'll select the endpoint here.
| | 02:57 | Now that I'm finished I no longer need this
line segment, so I'll select it and press Delete.
| | 03:02 | Notice that my coordinates system
is now aligned to this geometry.
| | 03:05 | At this point I'm going to type plan,
and then I'll press Enter twice. This will
| | 03:11 | square up the coordinates system with my view.
| | 03:14 | Notice that the Y-axis is
once again pointing out.
| | 03:17 | Let's change the scale, I'll set this
back to 1:20, and then I'll pan this up
| | 03:24 | and center it in the view.
| | 03:25 | I will then click this padlock to
lock my viewport to protect it from
| | 03:29 | any accidental changes.
| | 03:31 | Finally, I need to set the
coordinates system back to the World coordinates
| | 03:34 | system where I started.
| | 03:36 | I can do that by clicking this globe.
| | 03:38 | Let's do one more thing. Take a look at this.
| | 03:41 | Now that the view is rotated north
is no longer pointing up on the sheet.
| | 03:46 | Let's rotate this north arrow to
match the rotation of the view.
| | 03:50 | I'm going to re-launch the Line command
and I'm still working in the viewport.
| | 03:55 | I'll pick a point on screen and then
I'll lock my Ortho and I'll create a line
| | 04:00 | segment that represents
the direction of the Y-axis.
| | 04:03 | Then I'll double-click to jump out,
I'll open the Modify panel, and I'll
| | 04:08 | launch the Align command.
| | 04:12 | I'll select my north arrow and press
Enter and I would like to align this
| | 04:16 | endpoint to this one, and this endpoint
to this one, and I'll press Enter twice.
| | 04:24 | Now that my blocks been rotated I'll
select it and then I'll grab the grip and
| | 04:28 | move it back into position.
| | 04:34 | Finally, I'll double-click to jump into
the viewport, I'll select this extra line
| | 04:37 | segment and I'll press Delete,
and they I'll jump back out.
| | 04:41 | It's a common fact that real-world
geometry doesn't always fit nicely into a
| | 04:45 | portrait or landscape orientation.
| | 04:48 | By creating a temporary 3 Point UCS we
can easily rotate the view of any drawing
| | 04:52 | to match the shape of our title block.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Importing layouts from template files| 00:00 | Most production drawings are created using
an office template file. On occasion, though,
| | 00:04 | your project may involve finishing
drawings that were created by someone
| | 00:08 | outside your office.
| | 00:10 | The important thing is even if your
drawing didn't start from a standard
| | 00:13 | template you can still import
content from a template as it's needed.
| | 00:17 | In this lesson, we'll learn how to
import layouts from a template file into
| | 00:21 | any AutoCAD drawing.
| | 00:22 | On my screen, I have a drawing of a curb detail.
| | 00:25 | Let's say that that I've been
working on this at home and I created this
| | 00:29 | drawing using the generic ACAD template
because I didn't have access to my office template.
| | 00:34 | Now let's say that I brought this
drawing to work and I'd like to print it using
| | 00:37 | an office title block.
| | 00:39 | To do that I'm going to right-click on
one of my layout tabs and I'll select
| | 00:43 | From template and AutoCAD takes me
directly into the Template folder where I can
| | 00:48 | select from one of my standard templates.
| | 00:51 | Now, since we're doing a tutorial,
the template I'd like to use is in the
| | 00:54 | Exercise Files folder so I am going to
open that folder and I'll open up Chapter
| | 01:00 | 7 and I'll select this
file called lynda_template.
| | 01:05 | AutoCAD then shows me the names of the
layouts that have been created in that file.
| | 01:09 | I'm going to select the 8.5
x 11 inch layout and I'll click OK.
| | 01:14 | That layout has just been added to my drawing.
| | 01:17 | I'll click to select this, and I'd
like to create a viewport, so I'll jump of
| | 01:22 | the View tab. I'll click New. This will
be a single viewport and my viewport will
| | 01:29 | be the same size as the title block.
| | 01:33 | I will then double-click to jump in and
I will turn off the grid and let's set
| | 01:38 | the scale of this viewport to 1:5.
| | 01:40 | When I am finished,
I'll double-click to jump out.
| | 01:46 | At this point, I only have a few text edits
to make and this drawing is ready to print.
| | 01:51 | So, in the event you're working on a
final that wasn't started from a standard
| | 01:55 | template you can still get quick
access to any of your title blocks by simply
| | 01:59 | right clicking on a layout
tab and selecting from template.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Visualizing multiple design alternates| 00:00 | When you design something, you never
know where your ideas may take you.
| | 00:03 | You may end up pursuing three or four
different variations of a design before
| | 00:07 | finally deciding on the best solution.
| | 00:09 | Sometimes visualizing multiple variations
in the same drawing file can be confusing.
| | 00:14 | In this lesson we'll learn an easy way
to have as many alternate designs as we
| | 00:18 | like, while still being able to
keep them visually organized.
| | 00:21 | On my screen I have a
concept drawing of an MP3 player.
| | 00:26 | Take a look at this thumb control. This
configuration is considered option one.
| | 00:30 | In fact this geometry was drawn
on a layer called option1-controls.
| | 00:33 | I'm going to click to turn this
layer off and then I'll click to turn on
| | 00:39 | the option2-controls. Let's turn
this layer off and I'll click to turn on
| | 00:44 | the option3-controls.
| | 00:46 | Now this may seem a little strange,
but I'm going to click to turn on each of
| | 00:49 | the options and then I'm
going to visit the Layout tab.
| | 00:53 | This is 11x17 inch title block. Let's
start by creating a viewport. I'll select
| | 00:59 | the View tab and then I'll click the
New Viewport icon, this will be a single
| | 01:05 | viewport, and then I'll pick two
points to define my viewport size.
| | 01:12 | I will then double-click to jump into
the viewport and I'll turn off the Grid.
| | 01:18 | Let's set the scale of our geometry
to 2:1, and then I'll click the yellow
| | 01:23 | padlock to lock the Viewport scale.
| | 01:26 | When I'm finished I'll double-click
outside the viewport boundary to jump out.
| | 01:30 | Now let's go the Home tab, I'll
launch the Copy command, I'll select this
| | 01:35 | viewport, and I'd like to copy this
from the endpoint here to the endpoint
| | 01:39 | here to the endpoint here.
| | 01:42 | Finally I'm going to type rea for re-
gen all. This way my pen settings will be
| | 01:47 | applied to all of the linework.
| | 01:48 | All right, I've got three viewports
and I've got three button configurations.
| | 01:53 | I'd like to show each
variation in its own viewport.
| | 01:56 | So I'll start by double-clicking in
this viewport in the left and I'll move up
| | 02:01 | to the Layer panel and
I'll click the Freeze button.
| | 02:03 | If you use this Freeze tool when you
working through a viewport, it will freeze
| | 02:07 | the layers in that viewport only.
Let's zoom in and I'm going to click to
| | 02:14 | freeze all of the layers except for
option1. Let's pan over. I'll click in
| | 02:19 | this viewport and will freeze all of
the layers except for option2. I'll pan
| | 02:25 | over, we'll click in this viewport, and I'll
freeze all of the layers except for option3.
| | 02:31 | When I'm finished I'll press Enter
and then I'll double-click outside the
| | 02:34 | viewport boundary to jump out.
| | 02:36 | Now if you wanted to turn any of those
layers back on, all you have to do is
| | 02:40 | double-click in the viewport to set
it current and then open up the Layer
| | 02:44 | Properties Manager and scroll down to the
VP Freeze column, because that's all we did.
| | 02:49 | Essentially we said, I'd like to freeze
these layers in the current viewport only.
| | 02:54 | I'm going to double-click again to
jump out and now that I'm finished I have
| | 02:58 | three separate views of the same MP3
Player geometry, but each one is showing a
| | 03:03 | different button configuration.
| | 03:06 | The nice thing about setting up a
drawing this way is that if the geometry of
| | 03:09 | the MP3 player changes, you'll see the
changes reflected in every view, because
| | 03:14 | it's all the same geometry.
| | 03:15 | For instance, if I double-click in this
view and launch the Stretch command,
| | 03:21 | I'll select to this geometry and I'll pull
it over slightly, notice the geometry
| | 03:28 | changes in each view. Let's
click Undo and I'll jump back out.
| | 03:33 | The difficult thing about setting up
a drawing this way is if you go back
| | 03:37 | to model space, the line work can be a
little confusing. Let's go back to the layout.
| | 03:44 | This is where the Maximize
Viewport tool comes in handy.
| | 03:47 | Take a look at this icon in the
lower right corner of the interface.
| | 03:51 | If I click this, AutoCAD will maximize
the current viewport on screen and it
| | 03:56 | will maintain the layer
settings of that viewport.
| | 03:59 | At this point I can work just like I do
in model space and I don't have to worry
| | 04:03 | about the other geometry getting in
my way. Also notice this red zipper
| | 04:07 | appearance around the outside of the view.
| | 04:09 | This is a visual cube to remind me
that I'm working through a viewport.
| | 04:14 | In fact, now that I'm in this
viewport, notice that the Maximize icon now
| | 04:18 | displays arrows to either side. I can
use these to jump from one layout viewport
| | 04:23 | to another, each one
maintaining its own unique layer settings.
| | 04:27 | When I'm finished I can click the main
icon again to jump back out to my layout.
| | 04:31 | Using the Maximize Viewport tool, we
can add as many different variations to a
| | 04:35 | design as we like and we can easily
refine and edit each variation without
| | 04:40 | having other geometry given away.
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|
|
8. Miscellaneous ToolsConsolidating backup files into a single folder| 00:00 | Each time you save a drawing, as a
courtesy AutoCAD creates a backup file that
| | 00:04 | represents the previous version.
| | 00:06 | By default, AutoCAD saves these backups in
the same directory as the original drawing.
| | 00:10 | Now backup files are a double-edged
sword. When you need one they're fantastic.
| | 00:15 | The rest of the time they take
up space all over the network.
| | 00:18 | In this lesson we will look at a way to
consolidate all of our AutoCAD backups
| | 00:22 | into a single folder.
| | 00:23 | On my screen I have an
example of a mechanical drawing.
| | 00:26 | I am going to press the Windows key
and the letter E to bring up Windows
| | 00:30 | Explorer, and I would like to
navigate into the Exercise files folder where
| | 00:34 | this drawing is saved.
| | 00:35 | I will open up Chapter 8 and then I
will click and drag this window over to the
| | 00:40 | right side of the screen, such
that it takes up half of my monitor.
| | 00:44 | I will then click on the AutoCAD
title bar, I will move over and click the
| | 00:48 | Restore Down icon, and then I will drag this
application over to the left side of my screen.
| | 00:54 | Let's take a look at the
creation of a backup file.
| | 00:56 | I am going to save this drawing. When I
do, watch over here. Notice AutoCAD has
| | 01:02 | created a file with the BAK extension.
| | 01:05 | This file represents the
previous saved state of my drawing.
| | 01:09 | In fact, there is no difference
between a BAK and the DWG file.
| | 01:13 | If my main drawing were to become
corrupt, I can simply rename this BAK
| | 01:18 | extension to DWG and then I could
open this drawing directly into AutoCAD.
| | 01:23 | By default, AutoCAD saves these BAKs in
the same directory as the original drawing.
| | 01:27 | We also have the option of saving
all BAK files into a single directory.
| | 01:32 | To do that, first you
need to choose a directory.
| | 01:35 | As an example, I'd like to
use this backup storage folder.
| | 01:38 | So I will double-click to open this.
| | 01:40 | I will then click in the address bar, so
I can see the full path to this folder.
| | 01:45 | I will make sure the path is selected
and then I will right-click and select
| | 01:48 | Copy to copy the path to my Clipboard.
| | 01:51 | Then I will come back over AutoCAD
and I will type movebak and press Enter.
| | 01:57 | Then I will click down here at the
command line. I will right-click, paste to my
| | 02:01 | path, and I will press Enter.
| | 02:03 | From now on, each time I save this
file or any file for that matter, AutoCAD
| | 02:08 | will save the backup file
in my Backup Storage folder.
| | 02:12 | Now there is a side effect to using
movebak. Each time you save your drawing,
| | 02:16 | you'll see this meaningless statement
down here at the command line. Simply
| | 02:20 | disregard this error.
| | 02:22 | If the time comes that you'd like to
restore your backup feature to the default
| | 02:25 | behavior, you can re-launch the
movebak command, enter a period for the path,
| | 02:31 | and then press Enter.
| | 02:32 | Now each time I save, my backups will
once again be saved side-by-side with
| | 02:36 | the original drawing.
| | 02:38 | When it comes to saving backup files, there
are pros and cons to either storage method.
| | 02:42 | The important thing is that AutoCAD
lets you choose a strategy that works best
| | 02:46 | for your organization.
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| Launching applications from within AutoCAD| 00:00 | In a production environment your
CAD drawings may utilize content from
| | 00:03 | several other applications.
| | 00:05 | You may use a program to do image editing.
You may use another to create general notes.
| | 00:10 | You may use still another
application to produce spreadsheets and charts.
| | 00:14 | Typically switching from one
application to another involves minimizing and
| | 00:17 | maximizing program windows and
hunting for shortcut icons on the desktop.
| | 00:22 | In this lesson, we'll learn how to
access virtually any application from
| | 00:25 | within AutoCAD itself.
| | 00:27 | On my screen I have a mechanical drawing.
| | 00:29 | You do not have to open this file.
| | 00:32 | I am merely using this drawing as a
background so we're not working in an empty interface.
| | 00:36 | Let's start by looking at some of the
application shortcuts that are already
| | 00:39 | incorporated into AutoCAD.
| | 00:41 | For instance, if I type Notepad and
press Enter twice I go directly into the
| | 00:47 | Notepad program. Let's close this.
| | 00:50 | If I type PBRUSH and press Enter,
AutoCAD launches Windows Paint.
| | 00:56 | If I type Explorer and press
Enter, I can access Windows Explorer.
| | 01:01 | The best part about these application
shortcuts is that you can create your own.
| | 01:05 | All you need to know is the executable
file used by the program you'd like to access.
| | 01:09 | That file will typically be located in
the same folder where the application was
| | 01:13 | installed. Just look for the
file with the .exe extension.
| | 01:17 | As a sidetone, each application and operating
system can deal with these files differently.
| | 01:22 | So if you have trouble locating the
executable file for a specific program, check
| | 01:27 | with your IT department or
your program documentation.
| | 01:30 | Now I know for a fact that the
executable file that launches Microsoft Word
| | 01:34 | is called winword.exe.
| | 01:37 | Let's create a shortcut to
launch Word from within AutoCAD.
| | 01:40 | To do that I'm going to select the
Express Tools tab, then I'll come down to the
| | 01:44 | Tools panel, and I'll
launch the Alias Edit command.
| | 01:47 | From here I'll select the Shell Commands tab.
This is where we create program shortcuts.
| | 01:53 | Notice that PBRUSH is here,
as is EXPLORER and NOTEPAD.
| | 01:58 | To create a new shortcut I'll click Add.
I will then enter my Alias. This is
| | 02:02 | what I'll type to launch the program.
I'm going to type Word and I'll press Tab,
| | 02:07 | then I'll enter the name of the
executable associated with this program.
| | 02:11 | In this case I'll type START WINWORD.
I will then set my Flag bit code to 1.
| | 02:18 | This code allows me to continue to use
AutoCAD while I wait for my program to launch.
| | 02:23 | If you're interested in exploring the
other flag settings or the prompts I'll
| | 02:27 | show you where you can get
that information in a little bit.
| | 02:29 | Now that I'm finished I'll click OK and
AutoCAD has lost the focus of this window.
| | 02:34 | Let me move down at the taskbar and
I'll reselect this, and you can see my new
| | 02:38 | alias is right here.
| | 02:39 | As long as we're looking at this, note that I
also have the ability to remove or edit an alias.
| | 02:44 | Let's click OK and then I'll
click Yes to overwrite my existing
| | 02:49 | PGP configuration file.
| | 02:51 | And then AutoCAD tells me that my PGP has
been updated and reloaded. Let's click OK.
| | 02:57 | So from now on each time I type Word
as a command, AutoCAD will instantly take
| | 03:02 | me to Microsoft Word.
| | 03:03 | Just for a second imagine assigning
this new command to an icon in the Ribbon.
| | 03:07 | This would give you one click
access to any of your favorite programs.
| | 03:10 | Now, if you'd like more information
about the nuts and bolts settings of the
| | 03:15 | Alias Edit options, press F1 to
launch AutoCAD's Help feature and in the
| | 03:19 | search box type Define Custom Commands
and press Enter. There it is, right at
| | 03:26 | the top of the list.
| | 03:27 | I will then select this hyperlink and
then I'll select Define External Commands.
| | 03:33 | And if I scroll down you can find the
information about the flag codes and
| | 03:38 | the prompts right here.
| | 03:40 | In a production environment, you may
need to create or access data from several
| | 03:44 | other applications for your drawings.
| | 03:46 | Using command shortcuts you can give
yourself instant access to those programs
| | 03:50 | without ever leaving AutoCAD.
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| Creating custom linetypes| 00:00 | AutoCAD comes preinstalled with a wide
array of linetypes and even though we
| | 00:04 | have several to choose from, the stock
collection probably doesn't contain every
| | 00:08 | linetype that you may need.
| | 00:09 | In this lesson, we'll learn how to create
our own custom linetypes to suit any situation.
| | 00:14 | Let's start by taking a look at the
linetypes that are provided by AutoCAD.
| | 00:17 | I'm going to open the Linetype fly-out,
I'll select Other, I will then click
| | 00:23 | Load, and from here I can see a list of
the factory installed AutoCAD linetypes.
| | 00:29 | Take a look up here at the top,
notice these linetypes are coming from a
| | 00:32 | file called acad.lin.
| | 00:35 | If I click the File button, we can see where
the acad.lin file is being saved in our system.
| | 00:43 | I'm going to right-click on this
file and I'll select Open with and the
| | 00:47 | computer is suggesting that I open this file
using Notepad, which is fine. I'll click OK.
| | 00:52 | As you can see each linetype in the lin
file is defined using a couple lines of text.
| | 00:58 | Now we're not going to get too technical
into this. I just want to show you that
| | 01:02 | right here we can see the linetype
name, next to it we can see the linetype
| | 01:05 | description, and the line below is the
code that defines how the linetype looks.
| | 01:10 | Now back in the day if you wanted to
create a custom linetype, you had to
| | 01:14 | write your own codes.
| | 01:15 | Today, linetypes are still created using
code, but AutoCAD writes everything for us.
| | 01:20 | Let's close all these windows
and we'll return to the layout.
| | 01:25 | I'm going to zoom in on the left side.
| | 01:27 | On my screen I've drawn some
linework that represents a custom linetype.
| | 01:30 | I drew this geometry on my layout
because I wanted to ensure that my linetype
| | 01:35 | was being defined at the same size
that it will appear on the printed sheets.
| | 01:39 | To convert this geometry into a linetype,
I'm going to visit the Express Tools tab,
| | 01:43 | then I'll open the Tools
panel and I'll select Make Linetype.
| | 01:47 | As you can see, AutoCAD is going
to save the code as a lin file.
| | 01:51 | I'm going to save this in the
exercise files folder inside the Chapter_08
| | 01:55 | directory and I'll call this
mycustom and I'll click Save.
| | 02:01 | Now, I'll give the linetype a name.
| | 02:03 | Let's assume this line
represents a body of water.
| | 02:06 | So I'll call this Eow for edge
of water and I'll press Enter.
| | 02:10 | I will then give the linetype a description.
| | 02:12 | I'll type Edge of Water. Now I can
specify the start point of the linetype.
| | 02:18 | I will select the endpoint right here.
| | 02:21 | I will then select the endpoint of the
line definition that's the point at which
| | 02:25 | the linetype repeats.
| | 02:27 | So I'll click the endpoint right here.
I will then select the geometry that
| | 02:31 | makes up my linetype, and I'll press
Enter, and that's it. AutoCAD wrote all the
| | 02:36 | code for me and it loaded
the linetype into this drawing.
| | 02:39 | To test this I'm going to jump back to
the Home tab and I will create a line
| | 02:43 | segment. I will then select the line
and I'll assign it the new linetype.
| | 02:47 | Let's back up a little and I'm going
to grip edit this line over to here.
| | 02:52 | And as you can see this linetype acts just
like any other linetype we've used in AutoCAD.
| | 02:57 | Now, maybe I'd like to create a
linetype that contains some text.
| | 03:01 | Let's pan this over.
| | 03:03 | Over here I have some geometry
that represents my new linetype.
| | 03:06 | This text was created using a style
called linetypes and if we open up that
| | 03:11 | Text Style, we can see it
was assigned a Height of 0.
| | 03:15 | Having the text style height set to
zero means your text will be able to scale
| | 03:19 | up and down as the linetype scale changes.
| | 03:22 | If I select the text, you can see it was
created using a single line text object.
| | 03:27 | It measures .08 tall, the same height
I want it to appear on the printed sheet,
| | 03:32 | and it is middle justified
between these two endpoints.
| | 03:36 | Let's convert this
geometry into a custom linetype.
| | 03:39 | Once again, I'll jump back to the
Express Tools tab. I'll select Make Linetype.
| | 03:45 | I will then select my previous
lin file and I'll click Save.
| | 03:48 | Now, AutoCAD asks if I want to replace it.
| | 03:51 | I'm going to click Yes.
| | 03:53 | Technically, I didn't replace that file.
I'm actually adding this code to the file.
| | 03:57 | For my linetype name, I'll use CATV.
The linetype description will be Cable
| | 04:04 | Television. The start point for my
linetype will be the endpoint here. The point
| | 04:10 | at which it repeats is the endpoint here.
| | 04:12 | I'll select the geometry and I'll press Enter.
| | 04:15 | Once again we'll test this.
| | 04:17 | I'll create another line segment.
| | 04:20 | I'll select it, and I'll
assign it the new linetype.
| | 04:22 | Let's back up a little and I will
grip edit this line over to here.
| | 04:29 | Finally, let's take a look at that
lin file that AutoCAD created for us.
| | 04:33 | I'll open the linetype fly-
out again and I'll select Other.
| | 04:37 | I'll click Load, I'll click the File
button, let's jump into the exercise files
| | 04:42 | folder, I'll jump into chapter_08,
and I'll select my new custom line file.
| | 04:49 | And as you can see I can now load these
custom linetypes into any future AutoCAD drawing.
| | 04:56 | So even though AutoCAD comes
preinstalled with many different linetypes, at some
| | 05:00 | point you'll probably need a few more.
| | 05:02 | When that time comes, you can simply
create an example of what you want and let
| | 05:06 | AutoCAD do all the coding for you.
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| Incorporating symbols into custom linetypes| 00:00 | Sometimes our linetypes may need to go
beyond simple dashes and text. In many
| | 00:04 | cases adding Symbols to a linetype
can make it even more descriptive,
| | 00:08 | especially, when a linetype
needs to also specify a direction.
| | 00:12 | In this lesson, we'll learn how to
create complex linetypes that include symbols.
| | 00:16 | On my layout, I've created some
geometry that represents a custom linetype.
| | 00:21 | Let me mentioned that I've drawn this
geometry at the same size that I want the
| | 00:24 | linetype to appear on the printed sheets.
| | 00:26 | The first step in creating my linetype is
to convert this arrow geometry into a shape.
| | 00:31 | I'll do that by selecting the Express
Tools tab, I'll open the Tools panel, and
| | 00:35 | I'll select Make Shape.
| | 00:37 | I am going to save the shape file in
the Exercise Files folder, inside the
| | 00:41 | Chapter 8 directory.
| | 00:42 | We'll call this file arrow.
| | 00:45 | I will then give the shape itself the
name. This is the name that AutoCAD will
| | 00:49 | used to reference the geometry.
| | 00:51 | I'll type arrow and press Enter.
| | 00:53 | Then, I can enter a resolution. The
higher the number the closer your shape will
| | 00:57 | match the original line work.
| | 00:59 | 128 is usually fine.
| | 01:01 | So I am going to press Enter.
| | 01:02 | I will then choose an insertion point.
I'm going to select the Midpoint Between 2
| | 01:07 | Points and I'll select the endpoint of
this line and the endpoint of this line.
| | 01:12 | Finally, I'll select the objects that
make up my shape and I'll press Enter.
| | 01:16 | Now that my shape is being created I am
going to select this geometry and I'll
| | 01:19 | press Delete and then I'll replace it
with the shape. I'll do that by typing
| | 01:23 | shape and I'll press Enter.
The shape name is arrow.
| | 01:28 | I will insert this at the Midpoint
Between 2 Points. I'll select the
| | 01:32 | endpoint here and the endpoint here
and then I'll press Enter to accept the
| | 01:36 | default Height and Rotation Angle. As you
can see, shapes are inserted just like a block.
| | 01:41 | Now let's convert this
geometry into a new linetype.
| | 01:44 | I am going to open the Tools panel
again, and I'll select Make Linetype.
| | 01:49 | I'll save the linetype file inside the
Exercise Files folder, inside the Chapter 8
| | 01:54 | directory and I'll call this file mycustom2.
| | 02:01 | If you've worked through the previous
lesson with me, feel free to add the code
| | 02:04 | to the previous LIN file.
| | 02:07 | My linetype name is going to be as STM.
The Description will be Storm Sewer.
| | 02:14 | The Startpoint of my linetype
will be the endpoint down here.
| | 02:17 | The point at which my linetype
repeats will be the endpoint here.
| | 02:21 | I will then select my geometry and press Enter.
| | 02:25 | Let's back up a little and I am going
to create a line segment. I will then
| | 02:30 | select the line and I'll
assign it the new linetype.
| | 02:35 | Now that you know how to create
complex linetypes, don't stop here. Try mixing
| | 02:39 | dashes, text and
symbols in the same linetype.
| | 02:43 | With a little experimentation you
can create nearly any linetype you can imagine.
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| Salvaging data from a corrupt drawing| 00:00 | One unfortunate fact of life is that on
occasion you'll have a drawing go corrupt.
| | 00:05 | When this happens it's not always the
end of the world, because there are a few
| | 00:08 | things we can do to
restore data from a damaged file.
| | 00:11 | In this lesson we'll learn some
strategies for dealing with corrupt drawings.
| | 00:15 | On my screen I have a damaged drawing.
This is supposed to be a proposed land
| | 00:20 | plan for a public park. I'm going to
double-click my scroll weel to do a zoom
| | 00:24 | extents and I can't see anything.
| | 00:27 | Watch this. I'm going to launch the
Line command and then I'll start drawing on
| | 00:31 | screen. It's like I'm drafting in a
black hole. Let's try this. I'll launch the
| | 00:37 | Erase command and then I'll try
and select the geometry I just drew.
| | 00:41 | Notice AutoCAD can't seem to find it.
| | 00:43 | However, if I launch the Erase command
and I type L to select the last object I drew,
| | 00:48 | AutoCAD found that one, but
it's still not showing up on screen.
| | 00:54 | Let's try this. I'll launch the Erase
command again and this time I'll type All
| | 00:59 | and press Enter. Take a
look at the command line.
| | 01:02 | Obviously there is some geometry in
this file, but for some reason AutoCAD
| | 01:05 | having trouble displaying it. So
this file obviously has some problems.
| | 01:09 | One way we can try and fix this drawing
is by running an audit. Audit will scan
| | 01:14 | the drawing for errors and then
attempt to fix anything that appears to be
| | 01:17 | broken. I can run the Audit command by
opening the Application menu. I'll come
| | 01:22 | down to Drawing Utilities and then I'll
select Audit, and then AutoCAD asks, Fix
| | 01:27 | any errors detected?
| | 01:29 | I'm going to press Y for Yes and then
I'll press Enter, and if we look at the
| | 01:33 | command line we can see that
AutoCAD found nothing wrong.
| | 01:36 | Well I guess I should at least be
happy that I was able to open this drawing.
| | 01:40 | In the event you have a corrupt
drawing that won't even open, you can use to
| | 01:43 | Recover command. We can find Recover
inside the Application menu. I'll come down
| | 01:49 | to the Drawing Utilities
and Recover is right here.
| | 01:52 | Recover works just like Open, except
that as AutoCAD opens the drawing it
| | 01:56 | immediately runs an Audit, and we just
saw that Audit didn't find any errors so
| | 02:01 | Recover isn't going to help us in this case.
| | 02:03 | Another way to extract data from a
damaged drawing is to insert the damaged file
| | 02:07 | into a good one. This method will work
about 90% of the time. Let's try that.
| | 02:13 | I'm going to close this drawing. I'm
not going to save my changes. I'll then
| | 02:18 | create a new drawing using the
generic AutoCAD template. I'll then click
| | 02:24 | Insert, I'll click Browse, and then
I'll navigate into the Exercise Files folder.
| | 02:31 | We will jump into the chapter_
08 directory and then I'll select the
| | 02:35 | corrupt drawing and I'll click Open.
| | 02:37 | When I insert this I'm going to
uncheck all of these boxes, because I'd like
| | 02:42 | the geometry to go in with the same
coordinates, scale, and rotation as the original file.
| | 02:47 | I will also select the Explode
box so the geometry comes in as
| | 02:51 | individual entities.
| | 02:53 | Let's click OK and then I'll do a
zoom extents and there's my geometry.
| | 02:58 | Now in the event this didn't work,
there are a couple other things you can try.
| | 03:02 | If you have access to Microstation
or Inventor or IntelliCAD or any other
| | 03:08 | application that opens a DWG file, try and
open the damaged drawing using that program.
| | 03:13 | Sometimes the object that's causing
AutoCAD to hang will get ignored by another
| | 03:17 | application. If you're successful
opening the file, you can then resave it as a
| | 03:21 | DWG or a DXF or any other file
format that can be reopened in AutoCAD.
| | 03:26 | Worst-case scenario, press Ctrl+2 to
bring up Design Center and see if you can
| | 03:31 | extract any of the layouts or blocks
from the damaged drawing. You never know
| | 03:35 | what you might find and at least
having something is better than nothing.
| | 03:39 | Having a major project drawing go
corrupt can be costly, not to mention
| | 03:42 | devastating to your project deadline, and
let's be honest, some files may be beyond repair.
| | 03:48 | But if you try some of the strategies
we just talked about, you should be able
| | 03:52 | to extract data from nearly any file
before it reaches the point of no return.
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| Applying hyperlinks to drawing objects| 00:00 | AutoCAD drawings can serve a larger purpose
than just being a standalone file on the network.
| | 00:05 | An AutoCAD drawing can also be a
vehicle that can take you to other
| | 00:09 | project-related content.
| | 00:10 | It does this through the use of hyperlinks.
| | 00:12 | In this lesson we'll learn how to
incorporate hyperlinks into a drawing.
| | 00:16 | On my screen I have a drawing that represents
a conceptual design for a child's pedal car.
| | 00:22 | Let's take a look at the layout
that's been set up for this drawing.
| | 00:25 | This is a standard four-view
drawing inside a company title block.
| | 00:29 | Now most title blocks include a
company logo. Wouldn't it be nice if we could
| | 00:33 | turn that logo into a hyperlink that
points back to the company web site?
| | 00:38 | This way no matter where your drawing
may go, anyone that uses it has direct
| | 00:42 | access to your company. We can do
this through the use of a hyperlink.
| | 00:46 | As an example, I'm going to add a
hyperlink to this block that points to
| | 00:49 | the lynda.com web site.
| | 00:52 | I'll start by opening the Insert tab
and then I'll move down and click the
| | 00:56 | Hyperlink button. Note we can also use
the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+K. I'll then
| | 01:01 | select the object I'd like to assign
the hyperlink to and I'll press Enter.
| | 01:06 | For the text to display, I'll type Visit
lynda.com and then for the web page I'll
| | 01:15 | type www.lynda.com, and I'll click OK.
| | 01:23 | Now whenever a cursor moves over this
entity, the user will see this globe icon.
| | 01:27 | If I hover over the entity I can see
the display text and if I Ctrl+Click on
| | 01:33 | this entity I can visit the website.
| | 01:36 | Let's return to AutoCAD.
| | 01:38 | Another way you can activate a
hyperlink is by selecting the object and then
| | 01:42 | right-click and down here under
Hyperlink I can visit the web site.
| | 01:47 | As long as we're here, notice that we
can also use this menu to edit a hyperlink.
| | 01:51 | If I select this option I can edit my
display text, my URL, or I can remove the
| | 01:57 | hyperlink, and you know what, notice
that we can also use hyperlinks for more
| | 02:01 | than just websites. We can also link
to an external file. Let's try that.
| | 02:07 | I'm going to close this, then I'll do a
zoom extents and over here to the right
| | 02:12 | I have an icon that represents a camera.
I would like to add a hyperlink to this
| | 02:16 | object that will display a
rendered image of the pedal car design.
| | 02:20 | So I'll start by pressing Ctrl+K to
launch the Hyperlink command. I'll select
| | 02:25 | this object and I'll press Enter.
| | 02:28 | For my display text I'll type View a
rendered image. I will then click the
| | 02:36 | File button, and I'm going to navigate
into the Exercise Files folder. We'll
| | 02:41 | take a look inside chapter_08, and I'll select
this file called pedalcar.jpg. Let's click OK.
| | 02:48 | Now that the hyperlink has been added,
let's test it. I will Ctrl+Click on this
| | 02:53 | object to bring up the image. You can
use the same workflow to link your drawing
| | 02:58 | to any project-related files on your
system. Try using a hyperlink to access a
| | 03:02 | Microsoft Word file or an Excel
spreadsheet or even a PowerPoint presentation.
| | 03:08 | If you'd like even more ideas about how
you can use hyperlinks in your drawings,
| | 03:12 | watch the Hyperlink command and then
press F1 to access context-sensitive help.
| | 03:17 | There you will find a list of all of
the possible hyperlink destinations.
| | 03:21 | From now on when you look at an
AutoCAD drawing, look beyond the construction
| | 03:25 | document appearance, and think
about that drawing as being a gateway.
| | 03:29 | Using AutoCAD's Hyperlink tool,
your drawings can literally take you
| | 03:32 | anywhere you want to go.
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| Converting drawings from name-based to color-based plot styles| 00:00 | Since AutoCAD 2000 we've been able to
print our drawings using two different
| | 00:04 | systems. There's a color-based system
where the Pen Table is assigned to an
| | 00:08 | object's color. There's also a named-
based system where the Pen Table is
| | 00:12 | assigned to an object's layer.
| | 00:15 | Whatever system you choose that
system is assigned to all of your drawings.
| | 00:19 | This means that if you're a color-
based office you're to have difficulty
| | 00:22 | printing drawings that come
from a named-based office.
| | 00:26 | In this lesson we'll learn how to make
printing easier by converting a drawing
| | 00:29 | from a named-based to a color-based system.
| | 00:32 | Let me start by saying that most
offices use a color-based system. Now that's
| | 00:36 | not because it's any better. It's only
because that's the traditional system
| | 00:40 | AutoCAD has used since the first release.
| | 00:43 | When you print a color-based drawing,
you'll use a Pen Table that has a CTB extension.
| | 00:48 | Let's assumed that I plot all of my
drawings using the stock AutoCAD Pen Table
| | 00:53 | called grayscale.ctb.
| | 00:55 | On my screen, I have a drawing that
was sent to me by a client. Let's say I'd
| | 00:59 | like to create a quick plot of this drawing.
| | 01:01 | I'll launch the Plot command and then
I'll open up the Plot style table menu,
| | 01:07 | and notice that the Grayscale Pen
Table doesn't show up in this list.
| | 01:11 | That's because my client created this
drawing using a named-based system.
| | 01:15 | So AutoCAD will only allow me to print
this using a Pen Table with an STB extension.
| | 01:21 | Let's cancel this.
| | 01:22 | To convert this drawing from named-
based to color-based I'm going to type
| | 01:27 | convertpstyles, and I'll press
Enter and then I'll click OK.
| | 01:33 | Now this is considered a color-based
drawing. So if I attempt to print this
| | 01:38 | AutoCAD allows me to select a CTB Pen Table
and I'm able to use the Grayscale Pens.
| | 01:45 | So in the event you're trying to print
a drawing and AutoCAD won't allow you to
| | 01:48 | select your standard Pen Table, chances
are you may be working in a named-based
| | 01:53 | drawing. Using the convertpstyles
command you can easily convert that drawing
| | 01:57 | and plot it using your standard pens.
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| Identifying the owner of a drawing| 00:00 | In a production environment, a large CAD
project can involve many drawings,
| | 00:04 | each being worked on by the
members of a project team.
| | 00:07 | With multiple people getting in and
sometimes not getting out of the drawings,
| | 00:11 | you may have trouble
accessing some of the files.
| | 00:14 | In this lesson we'll learn how to identify
which team member has possession of a drawing.
| | 00:18 | On my screen I've a drawing that
represents a proposed parking lot in my
| | 00:22 | overall CAD project.
| | 00:24 | Let's say that several of the other
project drawings I have tried to open have
| | 00:27 | been coming up in a read-only state.
| | 00:29 | This usually means that someone else
is currently working on those files.
| | 00:33 | If I'd like to identify the owner of a
specific drawing, I'll use the command whohas.
| | 00:40 | This command works just like the Open
command, except its job is to tell me who
| | 00:43 | has possession of a file.
| | 00:45 | I'm going to navigate into the Exercise
Files folder, I'll jump into Chapter 8,
| | 00:50 | and I'm going to select the current drawing.
| | 00:53 | Now this a little anti-climactic, because
AutoCAD is reminding me that I'm in this file.
| | 00:58 | If however I was working with a group
of people, I could easily identify the
| | 01:01 | owner of any CAD drawing on the network.
| | 01:03 | So the next time one of your project
drawings comes up read-only, try using the
| | 01:08 | whohas command to find out
whose taken possession of that file.
| | 01:12 | Once you identify the owner, you can
then follow-up with them to determine when
| | 01:15 | you can get access to that drawing.
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| Incorporating drawings into PowerPoint presentations| 00:00 | Presenting your CAD designs at a public
meeting has always been kind of a hassle.
| | 00:04 | Typically you have to pinch your
drawings on large foam-board sheets or you have
| | 00:08 | to taken an endless amount of screen
captures such that you can place them on
| | 00:12 | your PowerPoint slides.
| | 00:13 | Well, we don't have to do that anymore,
because now we can actually view our CAD
| | 00:17 | drawings from within PowerPoint.
| | 00:19 | In this lesson we'll learn how to
incorporate an AutoCAD drawing into a
| | 00:22 | PowerPoint presentation.
| | 00:24 | On my screen I have a concept plan
for a proposed college gymnasium.
| | 00:29 | The first step in getting this file into my
presentation is to print the drawing as a DWF.
| | 00:35 | So I'm going to click Print, then I'll
make sure the DWF6ePlot virtual printer
| | 00:41 | is selected, and I'll click OK.
| | 00:44 | I'm going to save my DWF file inside
the Exercise Files folder within the
| | 00:48 | chapter_08 directory and I'm
going to accept the default name.
| | 00:54 | Once my file has finished printing,
I'm going to right-click on this Notification
| | 00:58 | icon and I'll select View Plotted File.
This brings up design review. This is
| | 01:03 | the program that's used to view DWF files.
| | 01:06 | Now Design Review should be on your
machine already. It's typically installed
| | 01:10 | automatically when AutoCAD is installed.
| | 01:12 | If it's not on your machine, you can
always download it free of charge from
| | 01:16 | the Autodesk web site.
| | 01:17 | Simply go to autodesk.com/designreview.
| | 01:22 | Notice that when I'm in the Viewer
| | 01:23 | I can use my scroll eheel to pan
and zoom just like I can in AutoCAD.
| | 01:28 | So the Viewer is very intuitive to use.
| | 01:30 | All right, let's close this, and I'm
going to jump over to the PowerPoint.
| | 01:36 | As you can see I'm currently working on
a presentation. Now the presentation is
| | 01:40 | rather short. It's currently only two slides.
| | 01:43 | My goal is to incorporate my CAD
drawing between these two panes.
| | 01:47 | Since this is the first time I've
embedded a DWF file into this version of
| | 01:51 | PowerPoint I need to start by
doing a little housekeeping.
| | 01:54 | Let me mention that I'm using
PowerPoint version 2010. If you're using an older
| | 01:58 | version of PowerPoint, the following
steps may end up being slightly different.
| | 02:03 | First I want to make sure that the
Developer tab is displaying in the Ribbon.
| | 02:07 | If it's not I'm going to click the File tab,
I'll come down to Options, I'll then
| | 02:12 | select Customize Ribbon, and I'll
click to turn on the Developer tab.
| | 02:18 | Next I'll come over to Trust Center
and then I'll click the Trust Center
| | 02:22 | Settings button. I'll select ActiveX
Settings and I want to make sure the Prompt
| | 02:28 | me before enabling all controls is
selected. It should be by default.
| | 02:33 | Now that we've taken care of the
housekeeping, I'm going to click OK to close
| | 02:36 | these windows. I'll then click to
create a new slide. I'm going to select each
| | 02:41 | of these text boxes by the edge and then
I'll press my Delete key to erase them.
| | 02:45 | I'll then jump over to the Developer
tab that we just turned on and then I'll
| | 02:50 | click the More Controls icon.
| | 02:52 | I would like to add an Autodesk
DWF Viewer Control to this slide.
| | 02:57 | I'll then click-and-hold in the lower
left corner and I'll drag this up and
| | 03:02 | I'll release in the upper-right corner.
This way my Viewer is the same size as the slide.
| | 03:07 | I'll then right-click on the
Viewer and I'll select Properties.
| | 03:11 | And in the Properties window I'm
going to click up at the top in the Custom
| | 03:15 | Field and then I'll click this ellipses button.
| | 03:17 | I'll then select Browse. This is where
I go to grab my DWF file. I'm going to
| | 03:24 | hit back into the chapter_08 folder
inside the Exercise Files directory.
| | 03:28 | I'll select my DWF and I'll click Open.
| | 03:31 | Now by default the DWF file is linked
to the presentation. I can also embed the
| | 03:36 | DWF by checking this box. Let's click
OK. I'm going to close the Properties
| | 03:41 | window and then we'll try this out.
I'm going to press F5 to view the show.
| | 03:46 | I'll then press Page Down to
advance to the next slide.
| | 03:50 | Now the slide may take a second to load,
but once it's here I can pan and zoom
| | 03:54 | and I can easily show the
audience any aspect of this file.
| | 03:59 | Now I'm not going to lie. I'm
experiencing a little bit of a bug. Notice my
| | 04:03 | cursor has disappeared from view.
This could be a side-effect of our
| | 04:06 | recording software.
| | 04:09 | Everything is still working, however.
When the time comes that I'd like to
| | 04:12 | advance to the next slide. I'm going to
move my cursor far enough to the right
| | 04:16 | or left such that I'm out of
the view and then I'll click.
| | 04:20 | As a side-note, if you building a slide
presentation for some one else to use,
| | 04:24 | you want to make sure the machine use to
give the presentation has Design Review
| | 04:28 | loaded on it. Design Review is
the engine that runs the Viewer.
| | 04:32 | Finally I'm going to click my
Escape key to return to PowerPoint and then
| | 04:36 | I'll close this and return to AutoCAD.
| | 04:39 | When you go to a public meeting, you
never know what questions might be asked.
| | 04:42 | Fortunately if you have your CAD
drawings included in your presentation you'll
| | 04:46 | be ready for anything, because you'll
have access to all of your project data.
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ConclusionGoodbye| 00:00 | Well, I'm afraid our time
together has come to a close.
| | 00:03 | Let me say that I've enjoyed working
with you for these last couple hours.
| | 00:06 | I'm hoping that as we leave, you have
an excitement to take some of the time
| | 00:09 | saving skills that we learned and put
them to use in your own production work.
| | 00:13 | Remember that AutoCAD is a life-long
learning process and the more we know,
| | 00:17 | the easier and more enjoyable our job becomes.
| | 00:20 | If you're interested, look for me
on Twitter, where I regularly post
| | 00:23 | AutoCAD tips and shortcuts.
| | 00:25 | You can find me under the name
Jeff Bartels. That's all one word.
| | 00:29 | Good luck!
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