IntroductionWelcome| 00:04 |
Welcome to the AutoCAD 2013 Customization
Techniques Workshop, with me, Scott Onstott.
| | 00:10 |
I've been teaching and writing about
AutoCAD and other design software
| | 00:13 |
products for over a decade, and I'm
excited to be your guide in this course.
| | 00:17 |
My books include AutoCAD 2013, and
AutoCAD LT 2013 Essentials, and Enhancing
| | 00:22 |
Architectural Drawings and models with
Photoshop.
| | 00:26 |
The customization techniques workshop is
for those who wish to modify AutoCAD to
| | 00:30 |
better fit the way that they work.
I begin by showing you how to create a
| | 00:35 |
complex dynamic block that uses multiple
visibility states, parameters and actions.
| | 00:41 |
So, that one dynamic block can do the job
of many static blocks.
| | 00:44 |
You will also learn how to configure
physical output devices from the system
| | 00:48 |
printer, to AutoCAD printers, to plot
style tables, so that what you print is
| | 00:51 |
exactly what you expect.
You will also engage in projects that
| | 00:56 |
teach you how to design the user
interface.
| | 00:59 |
So you can create custom panels on the
ribbon.
| | 01:02 |
Edit command aliases, and create custom
line types.
| | 01:06 |
Finally you will learn how to automate
repetitive tasks with action macros,
| | 01:10 |
scripts and Lisp routines to craft tools
for increased productivity.
| | 01:16 |
So if you want to custoumise your day to
day autocad experience So, you can design
| | 01:19 |
and draw in a more productive and
efficient manner then this course is for
| | 01:23 |
you, let's get started
| | 01:26 |
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1. Getting StartedOverview| 00:02 |
Once you learn the ins and outs for using
AutoCAD, it's a great idea to start
| | 00:05 |
customizing your AutoCAD experience, so
you can get the most out of the program.
| | 00:10 |
There are five tasks in particular which
I think can really increase productivity.
| | 00:14 |
The topics we will cover are designing
dynamic blocks, configuring printer
| | 00:19 |
drivers and plot style tables, altering
the user interface, creating custom line
| | 00:23 |
types, and automating repetitive tasks.
The benefits of dynamic blocks are twofold.
| | 00:31 |
Firstly, you can encapsulate different
geometry in one dynamic block, so that
| | 00:34 |
you can choose what to display onscreen
from a grip menu, rather than inserting
| | 00:38 |
separate static blocks for each geometric
variation.
| | 00:43 |
Secondly, you can define sets of custom
grips, which allow you to do things like
| | 00:47 |
move, rotate, scale, and or mirror the
dynamic block without having to issue
| | 00:51 |
separate editing commands.
This considerations combine to make using
| | 00:57 |
dynamic blocks much more efficient as
compare with using static blocks.
| | 01:02 |
Here's an example of a dynamic block.
I'll click on it to select it, and you'll
| | 01:07 |
see a series of custom grips appear.
There's a grip menu right here, and you
| | 01:12 |
can chose to display the golden rectangle
only, or the golden rectangle with the
| | 01:16 |
golden spiral.
There are grips located here, and here,
| | 01:21 |
that allow you to scale the geometry.
And it's scaling it about the base point
| | 01:27 |
which is located here in the lower left
corner.
| | 01:31 |
You can move the base point to relocate
the block.
| | 01:34 |
I have Ortho on, so it's sliding
horizontally, but of course I could turn
| | 01:38 |
that off.
And I could move this anyplace I want.
| | 01:41 |
You can also use the flip grips to flip
the geometry over, and this works in both dimensions.
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There's also a rotate grip right here.
This allows you to rotate the geometry.
| | 01:58 |
So all these features make it much more
intuitive to interact with a dynamic block.
| | 02:02 |
By configuring your own system printers
in AutoCAD plotter drivers, you'll be
| | 02:06 |
able to filter the list of paper sizes
appearing in AutoCAD's plot dialog box,
| | 02:10 |
saving you a little bit of time every
time you create output, which adds up
| | 02:14 |
significantly in the long run.
You will learn the differences between
| | 02:20 |
the two types of plot style tables, and
how to create your own custom tables,
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controlling the line weight, color and
screening of your printed output.
| | 02:29 |
I'll go ahead and type the command,
plotter manager, to open a specific
| | 02:33 |
folder on the hard drive.
And this folder contains all of our
| | 02:37 |
different AutoCAD plot drivers.
I'll double-click on this specific
| | 02:41 |
driver, and it will open up this
Configuration Editor.
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On the Device and Document Settings tab,
I'll select Filter Paper Sizes here and
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I'll scroll down and you'll see that most
of the paper sizes are unchecked, meaning
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they won't be displayed in the Plot
dialog box.
| | 03:00 |
There are a few sizes that are checked,
and these are the sizes that I might
| | 03:03 |
typically use.
So, let me just go back into AutoCAD here
| | 03:09 |
and type Plot.
You'll see that if I select the AutoCAD
| | 03:14 |
Plotter Driver from this list, then the
paper sizes are filtered, so that I only
| | 03:19 |
see the paper sizes that I actually use.
This greatly reduces the list here.
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The default list will be quite long if
you didn't go ahead and filter the paper sizes.
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So this is just one tip that saves you a
bit of time every time you plot.
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I'll type the command styles manager, and
this opens up another folder on the hard drive.
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And here we have a list of all the color
dependent and named plot style tables.
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Let's take a look at this color dependent
plot style table just by double-clicking
| | 03:53 |
on it.
This opens up a dialog box, and I'll go
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to Form View, and you can see that each
color has a set of properties that you
| | 04:01 |
can set independently for each color.
In contrast, the named plot style table
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works a little bit differently.
On the Form View tab in the Named Plot
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Style, you have a number of named styles
like Solid, Color, Screened.
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And each one of these has a separate set
of properties, and these can be assigned
| | 04:24 |
by layer.
So for example, if I go into another
| | 04:28 |
drawing, here, I have a drawing that's
set up here.
| | 04:32 |
This one is using a Named Plot Style in
the template that was used to create this
| | 04:37 |
blank drawing.
I can go to the Layer Properties manager
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and you can see over here, in the Plot
Style column, that we can select a plot
| | 04:45 |
style that's named from this list.
So these are a few of things that you'll
| | 04:51 |
be learning in this workshop.
Line types are used to differentiate
| | 04:56 |
lines in drawings, so that you have
visual queues identifying what particular
| | 05:00 |
lines refer to.
You'll learn how to define custom shapes
| | 05:04 |
and incorporate them into custom line
types, so that you can have the
| | 05:07 |
flexibility of identifying different
systems in your work.
| | 05:11 |
For example, you might choose to identify
anything from a line of shrubs to a
| | 05:15 |
fiber-optic cabling with a starred line
type and then include this line type in
| | 05:19 |
your drawing legend.
So that those reading the drawing can
| | 05:24 |
tell what the starred line type
represents.
| | 05:27 |
I'll open up another drawing here, and
this exhibits this starred line type.
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In Notepad, you can see that there are
definitions here in the default line type
| | 05:37 |
shape file for the star shape.
And then over here in the default line
| | 05:42 |
type file, you can see that we've used
the star shape right here, as it
| | 05:47 |
specified, in the stars line type.
That allows us to have a single line that
| | 05:54 |
is represented with these stars.
I'll open up another drawing.
| | 05:58 |
I'll go back to this blank drawing here,
and I'll show you that you can also
| | 06:02 |
create automation.
For example, here I've created a
| | 06:06 |
double-headed multi-leader action macro.
I'll play that.
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I'll click a point to represent the point
of the arrow head.
| | 06:17 |
And then I'll type a note.
Close the text editor, and click another
| | 06:22 |
point to add a second leader.
All of these steps are recorded, and I
| | 06:28 |
made changes to them, so that I can get
user input.
| | 06:33 |
And these are all skills that you'll
learn in this workshop as well.
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If you find that you are frequently
performing a set of repetitive tasks
| | 06:39 |
while drawing, it's time to ask yourself
if there's a way to automate the tasks.
| | 06:44 |
So that you can save yourself the time
and tedium, of performing them manually
| | 06:48 |
every time.
You will learn how to automate tasks
| | 06:51 |
using several methods, including action
macros, scripts, and list routines.
| | 06:57 |
Once you learn these simple techniques,
you'll find that using AutoCAD just got a
| | 07:00 |
whole lot easier.
| | 07:02 |
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| Accessing the project files| 00:02 |
In this video, we'll have a look at how
do you use the included project files in
| | 00:05 |
this tutorial series.
Each chapter's project files are
| | 00:08 |
organized in their own folders.
Let's explore the type of file we're provided.
| | 00:15 |
Go into the authoring dynamic block's
chapter folder.
| | 00:18 |
And you'll see that there are a number of
sequentially numbered drawing files.
| | 00:23 |
In this particular chapter, you'll be
starting at the beginning and working
| | 00:26 |
your way through.
So, if you'd like to jump ahead and see
| | 00:30 |
what the end result is, you can open the
dynamic block six drawing.
| | 00:36 |
Then select the object, and you'll see
it has a number of custom grips.
| | 00:41 |
You'll be building this functionality
into the dynamic block in the course of
| | 00:44 |
the tutorial.
But you can see how it's supposed to
| | 00:47 |
function in this final sample file.
You can choose from two different
| | 00:52 |
visibility states here.
You can rotate it, flip it in two
| | 00:56 |
directions, or scale it.
So, this gives you a taste of what the
| | 01:03 |
goal is and when you are working towards,
then you can go back and begin the
| | 01:08 |
tutorial at the first step.
Which offers you a blank drawing canvas.
| | 01:16 |
And then, as you progress through the
different stages, you'll be adding grips
| | 01:21 |
one at a time to this block.
Let me go back and I'll go up a level.
| | 01:27 |
And let's take a look at this other
chapter automating tasks.
| | 01:31 |
It contains a script file, a LISP file,
and a geom curve subfolder, which
| | 01:36 |
contains a bunch of files that pertain to
this particular LISP program.
| | 01:42 |
Each chapter contains a My Files
subfolder, which is empty.
| | 01:47 |
And this is where you can save your own
work.
| | 01:49 |
Take care not to overwrite any of the
project files, but save your own work in
| | 01:53 |
each chapter's My Files subfolder.
I'll go up a level, and let's take a look
| | 01:59 |
at creating custom line types.
This chapter just has two drawing files,
| | 02:04 |
and then in designing the user interface,
there's just one drawing file.
| | 02:10 |
By using the project files and comparing
them is what you see in the lessons.
| | 02:14 |
You should be able to quickly grasp the
concept shown in the videos and start
| | 02:17 |
creating your own work right away.
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2. Authoring Dynamic BlocksDrawing block geometry| 00:02 |
In this video, you will draw a golden
rectangle and it's associated spiral,
| | 00:05 |
which have been used for centuries for
proportioning aids.
| | 00:09 |
Before we get started drawing, let's
examine the finished dynamic block and
| | 00:12 |
see how one interacts with it.
Then later we will start from scratch
| | 00:17 |
drawing the static geometry.
Go ahead and open the Dynamic Block 6
| | 00:21 |
project file, and then click on it to
select it.
| | 00:25 |
You'll see this block has a series of
custom grips that give it, it's dynamic functionality.
| | 00:31 |
First of all, there are a pair of
triangular grips located here, and here.
| | 00:36 |
These are linear perimeters that allow
you to scale the object about the base point.
| | 00:42 |
The base point is located in this
particular case, in the lower left corner
| | 00:46 |
of the block.
You can click the base point and move the
| | 00:50 |
object, just like you can with any static
block.
| | 00:54 |
I'll click here to scale the object up.
There are also a pair of flip grips here
| | 00:59 |
and here.
Simply click to mirror the object about
| | 01:03 |
this mirror line.
Of course, you could manually use the
| | 01:07 |
Mirror command and mirror a static block
around it's midpoint.
| | 01:12 |
But the whole purpose of dynamic blocks
is to make things more efficient for you.
| | 01:18 |
So, by building in this functionality
into the dynamic block makes, it much
| | 01:22 |
easier in the future when you insert it
into a drawing, you want to flip it over,
| | 01:26 |
all you have to do is select the block
and click the Flip grip.
| | 01:31 |
You an also rotate the block using this
round grip.
| | 01:34 |
To do that, I'm going to first turn of
Ortho.
| | 01:37 |
Then I'll lick the Round Grip, and move
the cursor up, and you can see that I
| | 01:41 |
have the ability to rotate it at any
arbitrary angle.
| | 01:45 |
Of course, you can type in numbers if you
want to rotate it, say 30 degrees.
| | 01:50 |
You just type in 30, Enter, and there you
have it.
| | 01:53 |
I'll rotate it back, click this grip,
turn Ortho back on and then click over here.
| | 02:01 |
This block also features a Visibility
Grip menu right here.
| | 02:05 |
Select that, and you can choose Golden
Rectangle Only.
| | 02:10 |
We can go back and choose with Golden
Spiral.
| | 02:13 |
And these controls the visibility of this
arc objects, so that's all the
| | 02:17 |
functionality that we have built in to
the dynamic block.
| | 02:22 |
So let's begin recreating this and
starting from scratch.
| | 02:26 |
Open the Dynamic Block 1 project file.
And I already have that open, so I'll
| | 02:31 |
press Control+Tab to switch to this blank
drawing.
| | 02:34 |
Then I'll go up here and open this
Flyout, and choose Polygon from the
| | 02:39 |
Flyout menu.
I'd like to make a square, so I'll type
| | 02:43 |
4, Enter for the number of sides.
And then I'll use the Edge option, E, Enter.
| | 02:50 |
I'll specify the first point of the edge
somewhere down here.
| | 02:53 |
Move the cursor over, and type 1, Enter,
to create a unit square.
| | 03:00 |
Next, draw a circle, and locate it's
center point at the midpoint of this
| | 03:05 |
lower edge.
Locate its radius here in the upper right
| | 03:11 |
corner of the square.
Then draw a rectangle from this upper
| | 03:16 |
right corner of the square over here to
the quadrant of the circle.
| | 03:22 |
Now, you've constructed a golden
rectangle.
| | 03:25 |
That's really all there is to it.
We can go ahead and raise the circle and
| | 03:30 |
if you remember the unit square measures
one unit on each edge.
| | 03:35 |
So this is one unit.
Let's go ahead and measure the distance
| | 03:41 |
from here to here.
And that is equal to phi, 1.618 dot dot
| | 03:46 |
dot, a number which has interested
architects, mathematicians, and artists
| | 03:51 |
for centuries.
It's called the Golden ratio.
| | 03:56 |
I'll press Escape.
The next thing I need to do is draw a
| | 04:01 |
sequence of squares that spiral in, in
here.
| | 04:06 |
To do that, I will use the Polygon tool,
since I've already set the number of
| | 04:10 |
sides as 4, that becomes the new default.
So all I have to do is press Enter, and
| | 04:17 |
then use the edge option E enter, I will
click these 2 points to draw in a square.
| | 04:24 |
And then again, press Enter to repeat the
Polygon command.
| | 04:29 |
Press Enter again to repeat the number of
sides.
| | 04:32 |
Type E, Enter and then click two points
to draw another square.
| | 04:38 |
Keep doing this until you've drawn in a
few more squares, closing in on this
| | 04:44 |
spiraling square arrangement.
You can actually keep going forever and
| | 04:51 |
getting smaller and smaller, but I think
I'll stop this process here.
| | 04:54 |
This smaller rectangle here has the same
proportions as the whole rectangle in itself.
| | 05:01 |
It has this fractal kind of recursion to
this geometry.
| | 05:06 |
The next thing I'm going to do is draw a
sequence of arcs to represent this Golden Spiral.
| | 05:12 |
I'll type A for arc, Enter, and then C
for the Center option, Enter.
| | 05:18 |
I'll specify the centerpoint right here,
and then the start and endpoints of the arc.
| | 05:25 |
Remember, arcs are created in a
counter-clockwise fashion.
| | 05:29 |
So, we always have to start it here and
make it go that way.
| | 05:33 |
So the next one I'm going to do is an
arc, which is centered right here, and
| | 05:38 |
it's going to start over here and end
over here.
| | 05:44 |
Again, another arc starting and ending
like that again, press Enter to repeat
| | 05:49 |
the Arc command, C+Enter to use the
Center option, and then click 3 points.
| | 05:56 |
Again, Center, Start, End.
Repeat.
| | 05:58 |
Center, Start, and End.
So that completes the basic geometry that
| | 06:10 |
we'll be using to design a Dynamic Block.
You've drawn the geometry of the Golden
| | 06:16 |
Rectangle and Golden Spiral, which will
form the basis of a Dynamic Block.
| | 06:21 |
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| Defining a block and creating visibility states| 00:02 |
In this video you will define a block and
Open it in the Block Editor.
| | 00:06 |
Then you will add a visibility parameter
and define two visibility states that
| | 00:10 |
control which objects are displayed at
any given time.
| | 00:15 |
Open the Dynamic Block 2 Project File and
then click Create Block here.
| | 00:20 |
Give the block a name, call it, Golden
Rectangle.
| | 00:25 |
And then pick a base point for the block.
In this case, it will be in the lower
| | 00:31 |
left-hand corner.
Then click Select Objects, and select all
| | 00:37 |
of the Rectangles and Arcs which comprise
this geometry, and Press Enter.
| | 00:45 |
Choose Convert to Block, and Check Open
in Block Editor.
| | 00:49 |
Next, you'll see that you're in the Block
Editor environment.
| | 00:55 |
There's a temporary tab here on the
ribbon called Block Editor.
| | 00:59 |
If you don't see the Authoring palettes,
you can toggle them on and off by
| | 01:02 |
clicking this button.
The first thing we want to do is choose
| | 01:06 |
one of the parameters, so make sure this
tab is active, and then click Visibility.
| | 01:10 |
Click some place here, in the middle of
the square to set the location of this
| | 01:14 |
Visibility Grip.
And it has a little yellow exclamation
| | 01:18 |
point next to it.
Indicating that it's not yet customized.
| | 01:22 |
We have to go over here to the Visibility
panel and choose Visibility States.
| | 01:28 |
This opens up this Dialogue Box, which
shows us that we have just one state by
| | 01:33 |
default, visibility state zero.
Let's rename that.
| | 01:39 |
Click Rename and type Golden Rectangle
Only.
| | 01:43 |
Enter and then click OK.
So far we have just one state but we
| | 01:49 |
haven't changed the visibility of
anything yet.
| | 01:53 |
In this case we want the Golden Rectangle
Only.
| | 01:57 |
So we click Make Invisible and then we'll
go ahead and select each one of the arcs.
| | 02:01 |
Press Enter and they disappear.
Go back to the Visibility States Dialogue
| | 02:12 |
Box by clicking this button.
Create a new visibility state by clicking New.
| | 02:17 |
And then type, With Golden Spiral.
In this case we want to show all existing
| | 02:24 |
objects in the new state.
Click OK and OK again.
| | 02:29 |
So now we have two visibility states, and
they can be accessed here from this drop
| | 02:34 |
down menu.
You can choose Golden Rectangle Only, or
| | 02:38 |
you can choose With Golden Spiral.
And it seems to work properly here in the
| | 02:43 |
Block Editor environment, but let's also
test it in the regular drawing itself.
| | 02:50 |
Click Close Block Editor and then choose
Save The Changes to Golden Rectangle.
| | 02:57 |
Then select the now dynamic block and
you'll see it has a custom grip.
| | 03:04 |
Click this custom grip and choose with
Golden Spiral and then go back and choose
| | 03:08 |
Golden Rectangle Only.
You see, it works the way that we
| | 03:13 |
designed it in the block editor.
So you've added your first behavior to a
| | 03:18 |
dynamic block in the form of two
visibility states that you can toggle
| | 03:21 |
between using a custom grip.
| | 03:24 |
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| Adding a flip parameter and flip action| 00:02 |
Flip Grips allow you to mirror a dynamic
block about a reflection line.
| | 00:06 |
You'll add a flip parameter and associate
a flip action with it.
| | 00:10 |
Double-click anywhere on the dynamic
block to open this Edit Block Definition
| | 00:15 |
dialog box.
In this drawing, there's only one block
| | 00:19 |
defined and it's currently selected,
Golden Rectangle.
| | 00:23 |
Click OK to open the Block editor, then
go the Parameters tab and click Flip.
| | 00:29 |
On the command line it says specify base
point of reflection line.
| | 00:35 |
Snap to the midpoint of this edge then
move the cursor horizontally with Ortho
| | 00:41 |
mode on and click again.
This establishes the reflection line.
| | 00:47 |
Now the command line says Specify Label
Location.
| | 00:50 |
Snap that label here at the mid point of
this edge.
| | 00:54 |
This will locate this custom grip in the
shape of an arrow.
| | 00:58 |
Right now it has an exclamation point on
it indicating that it needs to have an
| | 01:02 |
action associated with it in order for it
to work.
| | 01:07 |
So, next go to the Actions tab and click
the Flip action.
| | 01:12 |
The command line says Select Parameter,
so select this arrow.
| | 01:17 |
Now it says Select Objects, let's select
everything.
| | 01:23 |
Enter.
Notice that the exclamation point symbol
| | 01:27 |
disappears because this flip grip will
now function.
| | 01:30 |
Let's test it out.
Close the Block editor.
| | 01:34 |
Click Save the Changes and select the
block.
| | 01:38 |
Click the flip grip and you'll see that
it flips the squares upside down.
| | 01:45 |
Notice however that this grip moves
slightly when you flip it.
| | 01:50 |
That's because this grip isn't quite
centered.
| | 01:53 |
We'll fix that next.
Let's also check out this other
| | 01:56 |
visibility state with Golden Spiral.
Notice that the flip grip doesn't appear
| | 02:01 |
here because it's not part of this
visibility state.
| | 02:05 |
So, we need to correct that also.
To go back into the block editor simply
| | 02:09 |
double-click on the block, click OK and
then let's approach the two problems that
| | 02:14 |
we observed.
The first one is that this grip isn't in
| | 02:18 |
the right place.
I'll use M for move, M + Enter.
| | 02:22 |
Select these objects and move them out of
the way.
| | 02:26 |
Next, draw a line, so type L + Enter,
draw a line from this endpoint down here
| | 02:33 |
to this endpoint, so that it goes
diagonally across the square.
| | 02:42 |
Then move these objects from the node
and snap it to be right on the midpoint
| | 02:49 |
of this line.
Now, we can either delete this line or
| | 02:55 |
make it construction geometry.
I'll take the latter approach, I'll click Construction.
| | 03:02 |
Select the line, and press Enter, Enter.
Now it's considered to be construction
| | 03:09 |
geometry, that is, something that you can
see in the Block Editor, but it will
| | 03:13 |
never appear in the drawing window.
No matter whether it's assigned to a
| | 03:19 |
visibility state or not.
Our second problem was that this grip
| | 03:23 |
here doesn't appear in both visibility
states.
| | 03:27 |
It shows up in Golden Rectangle Only, but
when we go to With Golden Spiral, it kind
| | 03:33 |
of dims out.
So, what I'm going to do is turn on
| | 03:37 |
Visibility mode, right here.
When this is off you just see the objects
| | 03:43 |
which are in this state.
When this mode is on you see the objects
| | 03:48 |
which aren't part of the state, in a
dimmed view.
| | 03:52 |
So, now that allows me to make it
visible, I'll click Make Visible.
| | 03:56 |
And then I'll select this grip and its
parameter here and press Enter.
| | 04:02 |
And now it appears with full opacity, so
now let's go back here and turn this off.
| | 04:09 |
So, we can see in this state, With Golden
Spiral, both grips appear.
| | 04:13 |
If we go to the Golden Rectangle Only
state, both grips are still visible.
| | 04:19 |
So, I think we have corrected the
problem.
| | 04:22 |
Choose Close Block Editor, click Save the
Changes and then test it out to make sure
| | 04:28 |
that it functions properly.
Select the block, flip it both ways,
| | 04:33 |
notice that this grip doesn't move at all
because it's right at the mid point of
| | 04:38 |
the diagonal of the square.
I'll change the visibility state to
| | 04:44 |
Golden Rectangle Only and the flip grip
over here still appears.
| | 04:49 |
So, I can flip it upside down in both
visibility states.
| | 04:53 |
So, you've added another dynamic behavior
to the block with the addition of a flip
| | 04:57 |
parameter and its associated flip action.
| | 05:00 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Adding flip and rotate parameters and actions| 00:02 |
In this video, you add flip and rotate
parameters and their associated actions
| | 00:05 |
to a dynamic block.
Go ahead and open the Dynamic Block for
| | 00:11 |
project file and double-click on the edge
of the dynamic block to open the Edit
| | 00:15 |
Block Definition dialog box and click OK.
Let's go to the visibility state.
| | 00:24 |
It says with golden spiral.
Select the Parameters tab of the Block
| | 00:30 |
Offering pallets, and click Flip.
I'd like to add the flip grip down here
| | 00:38 |
at the mid point of this lower horizontal
edge.
| | 00:42 |
However, there's nowhere to snap to that
point, because that midpoint that I want
| | 00:47 |
is not the endpoint here of this square,
nor is it the midpoint of this lower edge.
| | 00:53 |
Instead, it's mid way between the lower
corners of the rectangle.
| | 01:01 |
So, to properly snap to this, I'm going
to hold down Shift and right-click and
| | 01:05 |
choose mid between two points.
Then I will snap to this lower left
| | 01:11 |
corner and then, the lower right corner.
Move the cursor up and you can see that
| | 01:17 |
it's located in what looks like the right
place.
| | 01:22 |
The command line says, specify endpoint
of reflection line.
| | 01:26 |
Click some arbitrary point anywhere
vertically above that initial point, and
| | 01:31 |
you'll establish the reflection line.
Next, specify the label location,
| | 01:37 |
perpendicular, right here.
That locates this arrow grip.
| | 01:43 |
It has an exclamation point on it,
because it doesn't yet have an action
| | 01:47 |
associated with it.
It's merely the user interface component
| | 01:53 |
of this Flip Grip.
Click on Actions and then, click the Flip
| | 01:58 |
Action, select the Flip Parameter and
then, the command line says Select Objects.
| | 02:05 |
Type All > Enter > Enter, the exclamation
point disappears and you'll see a tiny
| | 02:10 |
flip action appear right here.
Next, let's add a new parameter.
| | 02:18 |
Click Rotation, it says specify base
point.
| | 02:22 |
Click the low left-hand corner and then,
it says specify radius of parameter.
| | 02:28 |
Snap it here to the midpoint of this
edge.
| | 02:34 |
The default rotation angle will be zero.
So, press Enter to accept that as a default.
| | 02:40 |
Again we need to associate an action, so
click Rotate, select the Parameter.
| | 02:46 |
Now, it says select objects.
So I'll Type All > Enter > Enter, and
| | 02:51 |
let's see if it works.
Close the Block Editor, click Save the
| | 02:58 |
changes and tried out, select the Object,
and unfortunately we don't see it here in
| | 03:04 |
this visibility state.
That's something we'll have to correct.
| | 03:10 |
Let's try it out in the width golden
spiral state though.
| | 03:14 |
I'll click here and it works.
How about the rotate grip?
| | 03:19 |
Let's try that next, I'll turn off Ortho,
click the Rotate Grip, you can see that
| | 03:23 |
it works.
Great, the next thing we need to do is
| | 03:28 |
change the visibility of these objects so
that they also appear in the golden
| | 03:33 |
rectangle only state.
So, double-click on the edge of the
| | 03:39 |
block, click OK.
And up here, click this button to turn on
| | 03:44 |
the Visibility mode, so that you can see
the objects which are hidden in the
| | 03:49 |
current state.
Then click the neighboring button, Make
| | 03:55 |
Visible, and then select these objects.
I'll make a crossing window around them
| | 04:01 |
and press Enter.
Then close the Block Editor again, click
| | 04:07 |
Save The Changes, and let's see if those
grips now appear.
| | 04:15 |
I'll go to the golden rectangle only
state and then deed they do.
| | 04:19 |
I'd like to rotate this back
horizontally, so I'll turn on Ortho and click.
| | 04:26 |
I'll go back to the, with golden spiral
state.
| | 04:32 |
So, you've successfully added flip and
rotate parameters and actions to a
| | 04:38 |
dynamic block.
| | 04:40 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Adding multiple parameters and actions| 00:02 |
In this video you'll add two linear
parameters and two scaling actions.
| | 00:05 |
First, a base point parameter.
This will allow you to scale and move the
| | 00:10 |
completed dynamic block.
Go ahead and open the Dynamic Block 5
| | 00:14 |
project file to begin.
Then double-click the object and click OK.
| | 00:20 |
In the Block Editor click the Parameters
tab of block authoring pallets and then
| | 00:26 |
click Linear.
Specify the start point of this linear
| | 00:31 |
parameter by clicking the lower left
corner.
| | 00:34 |
Specify the opposite end point in the
upper-left corner.
| | 00:41 |
Then specify the label location again, in
the upper-left corner.
| | 00:45 |
Click on the x here in the lower left
corner, to select the parameter.
| | 00:51 |
Then type PR Enter if the Properties
pallet isn't already visible.
| | 00:57 |
Scroll down all the way to the bottom and
change the number of grips in the
| | 01:00 |
miscellaneous section to one.
This will give you just one arrowhead in
| | 01:06 |
your user interface for this scaling
action.
| | 01:11 |
Go to the Actions tab, and Choose Scale,
select the Triangular grip and then it
| | 01:17 |
says select objects, so type all Enter,
Enter.
| | 01:24 |
Go back to the Parameters tab, and create
a second linear parameter.
| | 01:29 |
Click the lower left corner, and the
lower right corner.
| | 01:36 |
Again specify the label location in the
same place by clicking again on the lower
| | 01:40 |
right corner.
Then select the new linear parameter by
| | 01:44 |
clicking on this x here in the lower left
corner.
| | 01:49 |
Open the Properties palette and scroll
all the way to the bottom.
| | 01:53 |
Change the number of grips to one and
then press Escape to deselect.
| | 01:59 |
Go to the Actions tab > Create a new
scale action > select the New Linear
| | 02:05 |
Triangular grip, and then it says Select
Objects, so type all > Enter > Enter.
| | 02:13 |
The next thing we need to do is create a
base point parameter.
| | 02:17 |
That's right here.
Click base point, and click the lower
| | 02:21 |
left corner.
The base point parameter doesn't trigger
| | 02:27 |
a yellow exclamation mark symbol because
it's complete in itself.
| | 02:31 |
You're merely specifying the location of
the base point grip for this block.
| | 02:37 |
Let's go ahead and close the Block
Editor, and click Save the changes.
| | 02:46 |
Select the block, and you see we already
have a problem because those scripts
| | 02:50 |
don't appear in this visibility state.
That's something we have to take care of.
| | 02:54 |
Let's go to the golden rectangle only
state and try using these scripts.
| | 03:00 |
It seems to work.
However this work differently, this
| | 03:04 |
scaled it up but it left this script
behind.
| | 03:09 |
That's because we've created this one
first and this script wasn't part of the
| | 03:14 |
selection set for the scale action on the
script.
| | 03:19 |
So there is a couple of things we need to
attend to, lets go back into the block
| | 03:23 |
editor by double-clicking on it.
Clicking OK, and then let's take care of
| | 03:30 |
the visibillity issue first.
I'll go to the, with Golden Spiral state,
| | 03:35 |
and you can see that the linear grips are
at a reduced opacity.
| | 03:41 |
Click Make Visible and select both of
them, to make them both visible in this state.
| | 03:50 |
That looks good, let's go back to the
other state and see if that looks good, yes.
| | 03:56 |
Next, we need to change the selection
sets associated with the scale actions.
| | 04:03 |
So, what you do is you hover the cursor
over the scale action, right-click, and
| | 04:08 |
Choose Action Selection Set > Modify
Selection Set.
| | 04:14 |
So everything that's selected is shown in
a dashed line type.
| | 04:19 |
Notice that this particular object isn't
part of the selection, so I need to
| | 04:24 |
select it also.
And also the space point grip isn't part
| | 04:28 |
of it either, so I'll select that as
well, and press Enter.
| | 04:31 |
Then over here, let's right-click on that
and say Action Selection Set, Modify
| | 04:36 |
Selection Set and I can select the base
point there.
| | 04:41 |
While we're add it, let's also check to
make sure that the rotate action has the
| | 04:45 |
right thing selected.
So I'll right-click on that and Choose
| | 04:50 |
Modify Selections set, and I'll add these
new linear parameters to that action, so
| | 04:56 |
that they can be affected also, like the
rotate action.
| | 05:01 |
(audio playing) Okay, let's test it
out.
| | 05:05 |
Close the Block Editor, click Save the
changes and let's go ahead and select the
| | 05:10 |
block and you'll see that all of the
grips appear in both visibility states,
| | 05:15 |
so that's a good thing
| | 05:16 |
(audio playing)
| | 05:20 |
Next, I'm going to try this linear
parameter and see that it works with the
| | 05:25 |
scale action, all of the grips are scaled
as well.
| | 05:30 |
Not just the geometry, but it's important
that the grips are part of the selection
| | 05:34 |
set for your actions.
Let's try rotating, turn off ortho, and
| | 05:41 |
that worked as well.
So, you've successfully designed and
| | 05:47 |
implemented a complex, dynamic block
featuring visibility states, flip grips,
| | 05:51 |
rotate, scale, and base-point grips.
You now have a handy design aid, should
| | 05:57 |
you want to proportion your designs with
a golden rectangle, or golden spiral.
| | 06:01 |
You can use the skills that you've
learned here to design many dynamic
| | 06:04 |
blocks that you use in your own work.
| | 06:07 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
3. Configuring Plotters and Plot Style Tables for OutputInstalling system printers| 00:02 |
Before you can print to a device you must
install the device drivers from the
| | 00:06 |
original equipment manufacture.
In this video you will install a typical
| | 00:11 |
large format plotter driver, I've
downloaded the HP Designjet 510 drivers
| | 00:15 |
here from HP's website.
It's likely that you have a different
| | 00:19 |
manufacturer and model for your plot
device and that's fine.
| | 00:24 |
I am just going to show you a typical
workflow for installing any printed drive.
| | 00:28 |
I will double-click on this .exe file,
and it launches this WinZip
| | 00:33 |
self-extractor, which allows me to
uncompress the files.
| | 00:38 |
I would like to uncompress those in the
same folder, so I am going to go over here.
| | 00:44 |
Click on this path and then press Ctrl+C
to copy the path to the clipboard.
| | 00:49 |
Then I'll go back here, and press Ctrl+V
to paste that path into this text box.
| | 00:56 |
Then click Unzip, and Okay, and then
close.
| | 01:01 |
So now that we extracted the files, lets
take a look at we have or double-click on
| | 01:05 |
this folder to go in here.
You see we have a catalog file, the
| | 01:10 |
driver information file, and then all of
the specific technical files associated
| | 01:14 |
with different models.
We can't make use of this information directly.
| | 01:21 |
Instead, we have to load it from the
Printer Control panel.
| | 01:24 |
So I'm going to open up this address bar
drop-down and select Control panel and
| | 01:29 |
then I'll scroll down and double-click on
Printers and Faxes to open that Control panel.
| | 01:38 |
Then I'll click on the Add Printer
wizard, double-click to launch it, then
| | 01:44 |
click Next.
In this case let's say that the printer
| | 01:48 |
is attached to the computer, so we'll
select this radio button.
| | 01:52 |
Click Next.
Here's where we select the type of port
| | 01:56 |
the printer has.
The LPT port is a very old fashioned port.
| | 02:02 |
I'm going to guess that the printer will
be connected with a USB cable, so I'll
| | 02:07 |
select that here.
Then I'll go ahead and say Have Disc.
| | 02:13 |
There are a number of drivers which are
available by default, but you'll get the
| | 02:17 |
best results by downloading the most
current drivers from the manufacturer,
| | 02:21 |
and then choose Have Disc.
And then you need to copy those files in
| | 02:26 |
here, and we already have them on our
hard drive.
| | 02:29 |
So I'm going to switch back to the
Windows Explorer, go back to where I was
| | 02:34 |
before, go back again.
And then this is the folder where the
| | 02:40 |
drivers are, so I'm going to highlight
that path, copy it to the clipboard by
| | 02:44 |
pressing Ctrl+C, and I'll go back to the
wizard and press Ctrl+V to paste that
| | 02:49 |
path in here, okay?
And now we have a list of the 5-10 drivers.
| | 02:56 |
I'll select the second item, which is a
42-inch roll printer, click Next.
| | 03:04 |
And then, I'm going to replace the
existing driver with this new one.
| | 03:08 |
I'll accept the default name.
And I'll set this as the default printer.
| | 03:15 |
I don't need to share this printer in
this case and I don't need to print a
| | 03:18 |
test page.
Finish.
| | 03:21 |
So the drivers are loaded into the
operating system.
| | 03:26 |
And Windows is now configured to print
using that driver.
| | 03:29 |
I'll just go back, and choose Control
panel here from the list.
| | 03:37 |
Let's go back to the Printer and Faxes
Control panel and just verify that we do
| | 03:42 |
indeed have a new driver.
Here it is.
| | 03:45 |
So we can print to this device now in any
program on Windows.
| | 03:50 |
You've successfully installed a printer
driver, so that there is now a path
| | 03:54 |
between the operating system and the
device.
| | 03:57 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Configuring AutoCAD plot drivers| 00:00 |
AutoCAD has its own plotter drivers that
hand off print jobs to the operating
| | 00:04 |
system's printers, which in turn drive
the output device.
| | 00:11 |
In this video you will configure an
AutoCAD Plotter driver to complete the
| | 00:14 |
path from AutoCAD to paper.
Within AutoCAD type the command,
| | 00:19 |
PlotterManager, all one word, and press
Enter.
| | 00:25 |
This opens a folder deep within the
application data on your computer.
| | 00:30 |
Double-click the Add a Plotter wizard to
launch this interface.
| | 00:36 |
This will take us step-by-step through
the process of creating an AutoCAD
| | 00:39 |
plotter driver.
Click Next, and then choose System Printer.
| | 00:44 |
We want this AutoCAD printer to hand off
its information to the system printer
| | 00:49 |
which has already been configured, and
that will actually drive the device.
| | 00:56 |
Click Next.
And then choose the HP Designjet 510, 42
| | 01:01 |
inch printer.
Click Next.
| | 01:05 |
Here we have an opportunity to import a
Legacy PCP or PC2 file.
| | 01:11 |
We're not going to do that in this case,
so let's click Next.
| | 01:15 |
Here we have the suggested name for this
plotter, which I'll accept by clicking Next.
| | 01:19 |
Finally, before you click Finish, click
here on Edit Plotter Configuration to
| | 01:24 |
open up another dialog box.
Click Filter Paper Sizes here.
| | 01:30 |
This lists all of the sizes that this
device conceivably print on.
| | 01:35 |
And typically you're not going to use all
of these different sizes.
| | 01:39 |
You're probably only going to use a
handful of different paper sizes in your work.
| | 01:44 |
So let's uncheck All, and then go through
the list, and just select the actual
| | 01:48 |
paper sizes that you really use.
In this case I will say use Arch A
| | 01:55 |
landscape, Arch B landscape, Arch C
landscape, and Arch D landscape.
| | 02:04 |
I just used that as four paper sizes.
So by selecting them here, it's really
| | 02:09 |
going to simplify things for me when I'm
plotting from AutoCAD.
| | 02:14 |
This creates a new PMP file which
selected down here at the bottom.
| | 02:20 |
I'll click OK, and then Finish.
Now we have a new AutoCAD Plotter driver
| | 02:24 |
right here.
So lets go back into AutoCAD, and then
| | 02:28 |
type Options.
On the Plot and Publish tap within the
| | 02:33 |
Options dialog box, you can choose Hide
System Printers.
| | 02:39 |
And up here, let's select the new HP
Designjet 510 AutoCAD Plotter driver as
| | 02:45 |
the default output device.
Then click Apply and OK.
| | 02:51 |
So let's test this out.
Let's say I wanted to print something out.
| | 02:54 |
I would type Plot for model space, Enter.
Up here, I'm going to select the HP
| | 02:59 |
Designjet 510 driver.
And then in the Paper Size list, you'll
| | 03:03 |
see that we only have those four selected
paper sizes.
| | 03:08 |
This is much more clear than having a
list of dozens of different paper sizes
| | 03:12 |
that you have to scroll through every
time you want to plot.
| | 03:17 |
So now, the path is complete from AutoCAD
to paper.
| | 03:21 |
Not only did you configure an AutoCAD
plot driver.
| | 03:24 |
But you also filtered the list of paper
sizes to display only the sheet sizes you
| | 03:28 |
actually use.
| | 03:30 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Configuring plot style tables| 00:02 |
Plot style tables control how lines are
printed.
| | 00:04 |
You'll learn about the differences
between color dependent and named Plot
| | 00:08 |
style tables, and configure one of each.
Type stylesmanager, all one word, and
| | 00:15 |
press enter.
This opens the windows explorer.
| | 00:20 |
Deep within the application data.
And it shows you a list of plot style
| | 00:25 |
tables that come with AutoCAD.
Let's create our own.
| | 00:29 |
Double-click on Add a Plot Style Table
wizard, and then click Next.
| | 00:36 |
Let's start from scratch.
Click Next again.
| | 00:38 |
Here we have a choice, we can either make
a color-dependent plot style table, or a
| | 00:43 |
named plot style table.
Let's start by making a color-dependent
| | 00:49 |
one, and click Next.
Let's give it the file name, (audio playing) My
| | 00:55 |
Color-Dependent Plot Style Table.
Click Next, and then click the Plot Style
| | 01:02 |
Table Editor.
Here we have the ability to set the
| | 01:06 |
properties indepedently for each color.
I think what I'd like to do is make the
| | 01:12 |
properties the same for all the colors,
so what I'm going to do is start dragging
| | 01:16 |
over here and make a window.
And drag all the way down here and scroll
| | 01:23 |
to the bottom of the list so that you
select all 255 colors.
| | 01:30 |
Then change the color property from
UseObjectColor to Black.
| | 01:36 |
And this way, it won't matter which color
we're using.
| | 01:40 |
In the end, all of the lines will print
in black on paper.
| | 01:44 |
click Save and Close and Finish.
The new color dependent plot syle table
| | 01:51 |
appears here and it has suffix ctb.
Let's create a named plot style table next.
| | 01:59 |
Go back to the wizard by double-clicking
on it.
| | 02:02 |
Click Next.
Start from scratch, create a named plot
| | 02:07 |
style table and call it My Named Plot
Style table.
| | 02:13 |
Next, and then go into the Plot Style
Tabled editor.
| | 02:21 |
So, this looks very different instead of
controlling it by color, we control it by name.
| | 02:26 |
So, let's add a style, and give this
style a new name.
| | 02:31 |
Let's call this Solid, and for this
particular style I want to use black as
| | 02:36 |
the color.
I'll add another style, and scroll over
| | 02:39 |
to the right.
I'll rename Style 2 to Color, and then
| | 02:43 |
I'll leave Color set to Use Object Color.
Add a third style and scroll over to the
| | 02:53 |
right again, rename style three,
screened, this will print the line work
| | 02:58 |
with reduces opacity.
I'll change the screening to 50% by
| | 03:04 |
typing 50 here, then save and close and
finish.
| | 03:09 |
So, down at the bottom of the list we see
that we have a new names plot style table
| | 03:14 |
which has the suffix stb.
Let's go back into Autocad and go into
| | 03:19 |
the Layer Properties manager.
Create a new layer and give that layer
| | 03:25 |
the colour red.
You can see right here that the plot
| | 03:32 |
style says color underscore 1.
Evidently this drawing is using a Color
| | 03:38 |
Dependent plot style.
This is not editable here.
| | 03:43 |
The color determines how that information
will be printed.
| | 03:46 |
It goes through the Color Dependent plot
style table which tells it to print in black.
| | 03:52 |
Okay, let's try this again.
In a new drawing, I'll click New on the
| | 03:56 |
Quick Access toolbar, and let's create a
new drawing using a different template.
| | 04:02 |
Let's use ACAD Named Plot Styles
template.
| | 04:07 |
Click Open, and we'll create a new blank
drawing.
| | 04:11 |
In the Layer Property's manager, let's
create a new layer and give it the color red.
| | 04:17 |
And go back and you can see that the plot
style says normal.
| | 04:24 |
Click on that and you can edit it here
because we're using a named plot style.
| | 04:30 |
I'm going to open this drop down list
here.
| | 04:33 |
And Select My Named Plot Style table.
Then you see the three different custom
| | 04:40 |
plot styles that are part of the STB file
that we created.
| | 04:46 |
Normal is in every Named Plot Style.
In this case I'll choose solid and click Okay.
| | 04:51 |
So now, this particular layer will print
in black because it's using the solid
| | 04:57 |
named plot style.
I'll create another layer, I'll make it
| | 05:05 |
yellow in color and then I will change
it's plot style to color.
| | 05:14 |
So, now this particular layer will print
in yellow in the output because of the
| | 05:18 |
named plot style.
Okay, now when you want to create new drawings.
| | 05:23 |
You have to create them with a template
that determines whether the drawing has a
| | 05:27 |
named plot style table associated with it
or a Color Dependent plot style table.
| | 05:34 |
So, there are a number of preset
templates that come with AutoCAD that you
| | 05:37 |
can use.
But if you want to trade your own there
| | 05:40 |
has to be a way to determine which kind
of plot style table you want to use and
| | 05:44 |
there is, and it's an options.
Type Options, go to the Plot and Publish
| | 05:50 |
tab and click Plot Style Table Settings.
Here is were you can control which type
| | 05:57 |
of plot style behaviour you want to use
for new drawings that don't use a template.
| | 06:05 |
So, lets say I want to use named plot
style tables, I will choose the STB file
| | 06:10 |
that I want to use In this case, it's
MyNamePlotStyleTable.stb.
| | 06:17 |
And then I'll choose the default plot
style for layer 0 will be Solid.
| | 06:21 |
I'll say OK and OK again.
Now, go to the New button here on the
| | 06:28 |
Quick Access toolbar.
Click it and create a new drawing that
| | 06:33 |
doesn't use a template.
The way to do that is to click this error
| | 06:38 |
next to the Open button and say open with
no template.
| | 06:42 |
You have to chose either Imperial or
Metric.
| | 06:45 |
I chose Imperial so we created a new
drawing and lets see how the plot style
| | 06:50 |
table behaviour is.
Indeed layer 0 is now using a named block
| | 06:56 |
style with Solid as the choice.
And this was set up in Options.
| | 07:02 |
We could then configure this file and
save it as a template, and then we can
| | 07:06 |
use that template in the future to create
new drawings.
| | 07:11 |
So, in this video you've created and
configured two plot style tables, one
| | 07:15 |
using named plot styles and the other
using color-dependent plot styles.
| | 07:20 |
You also learned how to create templates
using your chosen type of plot style table.
| | 07:25 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
4. Configuring the User InterfaceCreating a new ribbon tab and displaying it in a workspace| 00:02 |
You'll begin customizing the user
interface, by creating a new Ribbon tab
| | 00:05 |
and displaying it in the current work
space.
| | 00:09 |
Then you will populate the tab with some
existing panels.
| | 00:12 |
Type CUI, which stands for Customized
User Interface, and press Enter.
| | 00:18 |
Let's create a new Ribbon tab.
Expand Ribbon and then Expand tabs.
| | 00:27 |
Right click on Tabs and choose New Tab.
Type myTab and press Enter, click Apply
| | 00:37 |
and OK.
We don't see myTab appear up here.
| | 00:43 |
And that's because we need to assign it
to the current work space next.
| | 00:49 |
Type CUI, Enter and then select the
current work space which is drafting and
| | 00:54 |
annotation by default.
And then click Customize Work Space over
| | 01:00 |
here in the workspace contents area.
Then Expand the ribbon, Expand tabs, and
| | 01:06 |
scroll down to the bottom of the list.
Check myTab and then click Done.
| | 01:16 |
Click Apply and OK.
Now myTab appears, click on it, and
| | 01:25 |
you'll see that it's currently blank.
Let's go back to CUI, Enter, and then
| | 01:31 |
let's add some existing panels to myTab.
Open the Ribbon > Open tabs and scroll down.
| | 01:41 |
You'll see myTab at the bottom of the
list.
| | 01:45 |
Then expand panels.
Let's take the Annotate Dimensions panel,
| | 01:50 |
which looks like this.
It's normally on the Annotate tab in this
| | 01:55 |
work space.
Drag and drop this up, and drop it right
| | 02:01 |
on myTab.
Then scroll down again and locate Home 2D
| | 02:06 |
Draw and select it.
It looks like this.
| | 02:13 |
Drag this up and drop it on myTab.
You can also reorder the panels by
| | 02:20 |
dragging them and dropping them within
the tab.
| | 02:24 |
Now I have Home 2D Draw as the first
panel on myTab.
| | 02:28 |
Let's see how this looks, click Apply and
OK.
| | 02:32 |
Click myTab and there we have it, the
Draw panel and the Dimensions panel
| | 02:38 |
complete with all of their respective fly
outs, drop-downs and slide outs.
| | 02:46 |
So, you now understand how to configure
work spaces in order to display any
| | 02:51 |
collection of the available Ribbon tabs.
You also know how to drag and drop panels
| | 02:58 |
to tabs, in the Customized User Interface
dialog box.
| | 03:02 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Creating a custom ribbon panel| 00:02 |
To go beyond the default panels, you can
create custom panels populated with the
| | 00:05 |
tools of your choosing.
In this video, you will learn how to
| | 00:09 |
arrange tools on a panel in rows and sub
panels.
| | 00:13 |
Type CUI, and press Enter.
Expand the Ribbon, and then Tabs.
| | 00:21 |
Scroll down to the bottom and expand My
Tab.
| | 00:26 |
Here, you have two of the existing Tabs
on the Custom Tab.
| | 00:31 |
Home 2D draw and annotate dimensions.
Let's create a new custom panel that
| | 00:36 |
we'll also put on My Tab.
Expand panels, and then right-click on
| | 00:41 |
the panel's node, and choose New panel.
Type My panel, for lack of a better name,
| | 00:48 |
and press Enter.
Now we need to populate this panel with tools.
| | 00:54 |
You can find the tools down here in the
Command List.
| | 00:58 |
This is an extensive list of all the
commands in AutoCAD.
| | 01:02 |
You can reduce the number of items in
this list by filtering this list with
| | 01:06 |
this drop-down menu.
Open it and select Draw.
| | 01:12 |
Then drag the Arc, Center, Start, End
tool out from here and drop it on Row 1
| | 01:20 |
of My panel.
Next, drag Arc, Center, Start, Angle,
| | 01:28 |
drag it up here and drop it just below
the previous tool.
| | 01:36 |
Now, each one of these tools appears by
default, small without text.
| | 01:43 |
And that's controlled down here in the
Button Style property.
| | 01:48 |
Let's change that.
Select Large With Text Horizontal, then
| | 01:52 |
select the other tool and do the same
thing.
| | 01:58 |
So far, so good.
We have two tools on our Custom panel.
| | 02:01 |
Let's drag this panel by clicking and
dragging on My panel.
| | 02:07 |
And drag it all the way up to the top of
the panel list.
| | 02:11 |
This takes a while, because there are so
many files to find in AutoCAD by default,
| | 02:16 |
then drop it right here.
You may have to drag and drop it again to
| | 02:21 |
have it be the last panel on My Tab.
Let's take a look at it, click Apply.
| | 02:27 |
And OK.
And then, click My Tab.
| | 02:32 |
So we have two tools here on our new
custom panel.
| | 02:36 |
Let's add a couple of more tools.
Type CUI and press Enter.
| | 02:41 |
Expand Ribbon and then expand panels.
Scroll to the bottom of the List, and
| | 02:50 |
expand My panel and Row 1.
Let's add two more tools.
| | 02:57 |
I'll filter the command list for drawing
tools, I'll scroll down a bit.
| | 03:03 |
And locate circle 2 Points.
Drag this command up and drop it right here.
| | 03:12 |
And then drag circle 3 points up, and
drop it right here.
| | 03:20 |
You get a preview of the panel here.
All four tools are going to appear on the
| | 03:24 |
panel, but we can't quite see them all.
I'll expand the dialog box.
| | 03:30 |
You can see those two circle tools are
there.
| | 03:33 |
Let's change the way that they appear by
changing their button style to large with
| | 03:38 |
text horizontal.
(audio playing) Okay, now this is getting very wide.
| | 03:48 |
I'd like to have these tools arranged in
separate rows.
| | 03:54 |
Let's try creating another row.
I'll right-click on My panel and say New Row.
| | 04:00 |
So now, we have a Row 2 down here.
I'll drag the Circle commands down into that.
| | 04:10 |
Now, click Apply, and OK.
Go to My Tab, and what happened is that
| | 04:15 |
we have two rows, but the second row is
in the slide-out.
| | 04:21 |
Down here.
I'd like them all to appear on the same
| | 04:24 |
panel without having to open the slide
out.
| | 04:28 |
Go back to CUI, expand Ribbon and panels.
Scroll down, and open My panel.
| | 04:38 |
So I can solve this problem by dragging
Row 2 above the slide out item in the
| | 04:42 |
menu here.
But now, we're faced with another
| | 04:47 |
problem, and that is one of
justification.
| | 04:50 |
It doesn't look good here.
These two should be lined up.
| | 04:54 |
This one is underneath that one.
In order to do that we need to add some
| | 04:58 |
additional structure here to the panel.
In Row 1, open it up and right-click and
| | 05:04 |
choose New Sub panel.
Drag one of the art commands in there.
| | 05:10 |
Right-click on Sub panel 1 and choose New
Row.
| | 05:16 |
Then drag the other art command in there.
Go back to Row 1 and right-click and,
| | 05:20 |
choose new sub panel again, so you have a
sub panel two.
| | 05:26 |
Expand Row 2 and put one of the Circle
commands in there.
| | 05:31 |
Right-click on Sub panel 2 and choose New
Row.
| | 05:33 |
Then drag the other Circle command in
there and we can delete Row 2.
| | 05:41 |
Right-click and choose Delete.
Yes.
| | 05:43 |
So now, we have one tool in each row and
we have two sub panels within Row 1.
| | 05:51 |
It's kind of a complex setup just to
create this arrangement.
| | 05:56 |
You can learn about this structure by
examining some of the other default panels.
| | 06:01 |
We can see how it's done here.
What you should do is look for some of
| | 06:08 |
the more complex ones, such as Home 2D
Draw.
| | 06:13 |
And you can then see how the structure
that you see on the screen here is coded
| | 06:18 |
in this customized User Interface Dialog
Box.
| | 06:23 |
I'll click Apply And OK.
Then go to My Tab again, and here's the
| | 06:29 |
final result that I was looking for.
So you now have the power to create
| | 06:36 |
custom collections of tools, arranged as
you wish on custom panels.
| | 06:42 |
These panels can be placed on custom tabs
and even be displayed in your own custom
| | 06:45 |
work spaces.
AutoCAD's interface is amazingly plastic,
| | 06:49 |
and you should now be able to mold it to
fit the way that you like to work.
| | 06:55 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Storing blocks on tool palettes| 00:02 |
Blocks that you wish to reuse in multiple
drawings can be easily accessed via the
| | 00:06 |
tool palettes.
Open the office project file and type
| | 00:12 |
tool palettes.
This opens this palette interface.
| | 00:17 |
Each one of these tabs is called a
palette.
| | 00:22 |
They contain dynamic blocks, hatch
patterns, table tools, command tool
| | 00:29 |
samples, leader tools, drawing tools and
much more.
| | 00:36 |
If you click down here in this area,
you'll get a Context menu that lists the
| | 00:41 |
names in full.
If you select one of these items, it
| | 00:45 |
simply goes to that particular palette.
If you have a smaller tool palette, it
| | 00:51 |
shows fewer tabs here in this interface.
If you find that there are some
| | 00:57 |
categories that you don't use, you could
select one of the palettes, right-click
| | 01:02 |
and choose Delete palette.
In this way you can organize the tool
| | 01:07 |
palettes and customize them for the kind
of work that you do.
| | 01:11 |
Let's create a new tool palette.
I'll right-click and choose New palette
| | 01:16 |
and then type the name Furniture, and
press enter.
| | 01:20 |
So, now we have a new palette, and it's
blank.
| | 01:26 |
All we have to do to use this, is to drag
an existing block from a saved drawing
| | 01:32 |
into the tool palettes.
So, for example, I'll select this
| | 01:38 |
armchair and then I'll drag it, not using
its grip because that would move the
| | 01:42 |
object in the drawing window.
But instead I'm going to position the
| | 01:48 |
cursor over one of the edges of this
selected block, and then drag it over
| | 01:52 |
here, all the way over into the tool
palettes.
| | 01:56 |
And it takes a moment, and you'll see the
cursor appear up here.
| | 02:01 |
When you release the mouse button,
AutoCAD will generate a preview image for
| | 02:04 |
this block.
I can then click this and insert an
| | 02:08 |
armchair over here in this office.
This particular block has attributes,
| | 02:15 |
which I'll click OK to accept the default
values.
| | 02:20 |
And those are hidden attributes, so I
don't see them on the screen.
| | 02:24 |
Let's try this again.
This time, I'll select one of these chairs.
| | 02:29 |
And then drag it over and drop it in the
tool palette.
| | 02:34 |
This time I'm going to right-click on
chair and go to Properties.
| | 02:37 |
Here we have a few options.
We can say prompt for rotation.
| | 02:44 |
Yes.
You can also control which layer it's
| | 02:48 |
going to appear on and some of the object
properties.
| | 02:52 |
I'll say OK.
And now I have the ability to click on
| | 02:56 |
this to insert it and then also to rotate
it.
| | 03:01 |
I'll click a point right here to accept
this rotation angle.
| | 03:07 |
And then OK to accept the attribute
values.
| | 03:12 |
So in this way you can create tool
palettes that are organized with the
| | 03:15 |
blocks that you tend to use for your own
work.
| | 03:19 |
In this video you dragged an existing
block in a saved drawing to the tool
| | 03:23 |
palettes where you configured its
insertion options.
| | 03:27 |
Then you inserted it into the drawing
from the tool palettes, showing how easy
| | 03:31 |
it is to visually access commonly used
blocks.
| | 03:35 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Altering command aliases| 00:02 |
Command aliases are abbreviations used to
trigger commands, such as typing L for
| | 00:06 |
the line command.
Well chosen aliases can save you a lot of
| | 00:10 |
time over the long run.
In this video, you will learn how to
| | 00:15 |
alter command aliases and reinitialize
AutoCAD to use them.
| | 00:20 |
First of all, type Expresstools, all one
word, and press Enter.
| | 00:27 |
This loads the Expresstools menu, and it
shows up as a tab on the ribbon.
| | 00:31 |
Click Expresstools, and you'll see that
these tools are organized into a variety
| | 00:37 |
of different panels.
These tools offer you a wide range of
| | 00:42 |
functionality, and it's well worth
familiarizing yourself with them.
| | 00:47 |
Right now I am simply interested in
altering the command aliases, so I'll
| | 00:51 |
click this tool.
It launches the Alias Edit command.
| | 00:56 |
This opens the AutoCAD alias editor.
It's simply a front end that edits this
| | 01:03 |
text file Acad.pgp.
PGP stands for the Program Parameters
| | 01:09 |
file and it's buried very deeply in the
AutoCAD support path.
| | 01:14 |
So this is a much quicker way of getting
to this information and editing it.
| | 01:19 |
Let's scroll down, all the way down to
the Cs until you find the Circle command, here.
| | 01:28 |
So C is for Circle, and CO is for Copy by
default.
| | 01:33 |
Now, I don't know about you, but I tend
to copy things a lot more frequently than
| | 01:37 |
I tend to draw circles.
So I'd prefer, for the Alias C to launch
| | 01:42 |
the Copy command, and then I'd like to
come up with a different Alias for Circle.
| | 01:48 |
So, what I am going to do is select, C is
for circle, and remove that alias and
| | 01:54 |
yes, I'm sure.
Then down here for Copy I'm going to
| | 01:59 |
select this and click edit.
I'm going to change the alias for copy to
| | 02:05 |
just be C, okay.
So now C will launch the copy command but
| | 02:10 |
now we need to create a new alias so I'll
click Add.
| | 02:16 |
And then the new alias will be CI, and
then the AutoCAD command will be circle.
| | 02:22 |
I'll start typing that and as I do that I
can find it right here, I'll click on it,
| | 02:26 |
and then click OK.
So now C is for copy, and CI is for circle.
| | 02:33 |
Okay.
It asks me if I want to overwrite this
| | 02:37 |
file, and now you can actually see the
path where this file is located.
| | 02:42 |
I'll say yes, I do want to overwrite it.
And then, I'll type reinit, enter, to
| | 02:49 |
reinitialize AutoCAD for the PGP file.
I'll select this, and click OK.
| | 02:58 |
Now let's see if it works.
I'll type CI, enter, and sure enough that
| | 03:02 |
launches the circle command.
Now, I'll type C, enter and that launches
| | 03:08 |
the copy command.
So, we've been successful in changing the
| | 03:13 |
command alias.
Now, if you want, you can get rid of the
| | 03:18 |
express tools tab by typing menu Unload,
and then choose Express and Unload.
| | 03:28 |
The tab disappears from the ribbon.
So in this video you loaded the express
| | 03:33 |
tools in order to access the Alias Edit
command which will allows you to alter
| | 03:37 |
command aliases.
You followed it up with the Reinit
| | 03:42 |
command to reinitialize the program
parameters file where the command aliases
| | 03:48 |
are stored.
| | 03:51 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
5. Creating Custom LinetypesLoading linetypes and using them in a drawing| 00:02 |
Line types must be loaded from their
definition file into the current drawing
| | 00:05 |
before they can be used.
You will load a new line type, and assign
| | 00:09 |
to an object and a layer in this video.
Open the Cottage Project file, and then
| | 00:16 |
type the command Line Type, and press
enter.
| | 00:20 |
This opens the line type manager.
And it lists all of the line types which
| | 00:25 |
are currently part of the drawing.
The first three are part of every
| | 00:30 |
drawing, by layer, by block, and
continuous.
| | 00:34 |
And this particular drawing has the
phantom two line type already loaded.
| | 00:39 |
Let's load another one.
I'll click on load, and this opens up a
| | 00:43 |
list of available line types that are
defined in the ACAD.lin file.
| | 00:50 |
There are two different standards here.
The ISO standard and the Imperial standard.
| | 00:56 |
The Imperial standard line types simply
have names whereas the ISO line types
| | 01:02 |
have ISO in the name.
I'll scroll down and choose Hidden.
| | 01:09 |
Over here you see a preview of how that
line type might appear.
| | 01:13 |
Its simply a dashed line.
There is also hidden 2 and hidden x2 and
| | 01:18 |
these offer different sizes relative to
each other.
| | 01:24 |
You will learn how to control the global
line type scale factor in a moment.
| | 01:29 |
Some of the line types have words.
In amongst the lines like gas to
| | 01:33 |
represent a natural gas line or HW, for
hot water line.
| | 01:39 |
In any case, simply choose Hidden and
click OK and that line type is loaded
| | 01:44 |
into the current drawing.
Then click OK, so we've simply loaded it
| | 01:50 |
and we haven't done anything else.
Now we need to address the issue of
| | 01:56 |
assigning that line type to specific
objects or to specific layers.
| | 02:02 |
In this drawing, there are some upper
cabinets in the kitchen area that should
| | 02:06 |
have a different line type to indicate
that they're above the cutting plane,
| | 02:10 |
which cuts through the entire building
and shows us the floor plan.
| | 02:15 |
So these upper cabinets are above that
cutting plane, so they should be shown
| | 02:20 |
with a different line type.
I'll select this object here and then
| | 02:25 |
change it's line type property by using
this drop down list.
| | 02:31 |
I'll select Hidden, and then press Escape
to deselect.
| | 02:36 |
Now nothing changes, and that's because
the global line type scale factor needs
| | 02:41 |
to be adjusted in order to see the line
type.
| | 02:46 |
So, for that you type LTS.
This is the abbreviation for the system
| | 02:51 |
variable LT scale.
Now lets go ahead and change that scale
| | 02:57 |
factor from 1 to 24.
Now we can see, the dashes appear.
| | 03:02 |
24 is the scale factor for half inch
scale, in imperial units.
| | 03:08 |
48 would be the factor for quarter inch
scale, and 96 would be the factor for 8th
| | 03:13 |
inch scale.
Suppose we want to change the line type
| | 03:17 |
associated with a particular layer.
We can do that, type LA to open the Layer
| | 03:23 |
Properties manager, and then locate the
Upper Cabinet layer and change its line
| | 03:28 |
type by clicking here on the word
continuous.
| | 03:33 |
And then select hidden, incidentally you
can go and load additional line types
| | 03:38 |
here by clicking this button.
This loads the library of line types
| | 03:44 |
which is defined in the ACAD.lin file.
I'll cancel than, and make sure Hidden is
| | 03:51 |
selected and click OK.
Notice that this line now has the same
| | 03:55 |
line type because it's inheriting the
hidden line type because it's associated
| | 04:00 |
with a layer.
It's on layer upper cabinent and it's
| | 04:06 |
line type property is set to bi-layer,
and the layer has the hidden line type on it.
| | 04:14 |
So that's how we're seeing it over here.
I'll press Escape.
| | 04:17 |
Now, suppose we go over here and change
the line type from hidden to phantom two.
| | 04:25 |
This object changed because it's
inheriting the line type of the layer
| | 04:29 |
that it's on, but this one did not,
because it was explicitly given the
| | 04:34 |
hidden two line type in its object
properties.
| | 04:40 |
In general, it's better to assign line
type by layer, rather than by object.
| | 04:45 |
You should only change the object
properties in exceptional circumstances.
| | 04:51 |
Like in a one off situation, where it's
not worth creating a new layer with a
| | 04:55 |
different line type.
Just to change the line type of a
| | 04:59 |
singular object.
But in this case I have a couple of
| | 05:02 |
different upper cabinets, so I think I'll
set this back so that its line type is by layer.
| | 05:09 |
And that way we let the layer decide how
to display these particular objects.
| | 05:16 |
Let me go back and change this back to
hidden and I think that looks better.
| | 05:24 |
Now if we want we can also experiment
with the line type scale by typing LTS
| | 05:29 |
and then let's change this to 48.
So in a quarter inch scale drawing, the
| | 05:35 |
dashes would be bigger.
Let's try that again press Enter, and
| | 05:41 |
then type 12.
In a one inch scale drawing the line
| | 05:44 |
types would be much smaller because the
plan would be blown up that much larger.
| | 05:49 |
So, there's an interplay here between the
size that you're going to show the
| | 05:53 |
drawing in, which is typically controlled
in a viewport, and the scale at which
| | 05:58 |
you're going to display the line types.
There should be a, a match there.
| | 06:04 |
So, in this particular drawing, because
it is a small cottage, I think I'll send
| | 06:08 |
LTS back to 24 and then we can plan on
displaying this drawing in half inch scale.
| | 06:15 |
So, in this video, you loaded a linetype
and assigned it both by object properties
| | 06:21 |
and layer properties.
You also adjusted the global linetype
| | 06:27 |
scale with the LTSCALE system variable.
| | 06:31 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Creating a custom shape| 00:02 |
Before creating a complex custom line
type, you will draw a simple object and
| | 00:06 |
define it as a custom shape.
Go ahead and draw a circle of arbitrary
| | 00:12 |
size on the screen.
Then use the polygon tool here in the
| | 00:17 |
Drawl panel fly-out.
Under the rectangle, and create a polygon
| | 00:23 |
with five sides.
So, type five enter, and then specify the
| | 00:27 |
center of the polygon, at the center of
the circle.
| | 00:32 |
Then use the Default option inscribed in
circle by pressing Enter and then click
| | 00:38 |
up here at the quadrant at the top of the
circle to complete the polygon, which in
| | 00:44 |
this case is a, now a pentagon.
Then go ahead and draw a line across here
| | 00:52 |
and just go ahead and draw a five pointed
star.
| | 00:57 |
Then erase the pentagon, use the trim
tool, and press Enter to select all the
| | 01:03 |
edges as cutting edges and then cut away
each one of these inner segments, so that
| | 01:09 |
you're left with a five pointed star
inside a circle.
| | 01:16 |
Let's define the star as a Custom Shape,
to do that we'll load the Expresstools.
| | 01:24 |
So type Expresstools, all one word, and
press Enter.
| | 01:31 |
This loads the Expresstools tab on the
ribbon.
| | 01:34 |
Select it.
Go over here to the tools Slide Out and
| | 01:39 |
open it.
Then click Make Shape.
| | 01:42 |
You're prompted to select the shape file.
Now, you could create your own custom
| | 01:49 |
shape file, but I advise against it.
It's better to select AutoCAD's default
| | 01:55 |
shape file, and this way, you can use the
shape in a custom line type.
| | 02:00 |
Let's locate this.
Open the drop down here.
| | 02:06 |
Go to C, program files, auto desk, locate
your version in this case I'm using
| | 02:14 |
AutoCAD 2013 and then double-click on
Support.
| | 02:21 |
And in this folder you'll find the L type
SHP.SHP file, select it, and click Save.
| | 02:32 |
Choose Yes when you're prompted, if you
want to replace it.
| | 02:36 |
Actually, what's happening here, is the
Expresstool will append the new shape
| | 02:41 |
definition to this file.
So the information in the file that's
| | 02:46 |
already there won't be lost.
On the command line it says enter the
| | 02:51 |
name of the shape.
I'll type Star in capital letters.
| | 02:56 |
Enter.
Enter resolution.
| | 02:59 |
I'll just accept the default which is
128, press Enter.
| | 03:04 |
Specify insertion base point, that's
going to be the center of the circle.
| | 03:09 |
And then select Objects, I'll select all
of these lines with a crossing window and
| | 03:13 |
press Enter.
Now it says, use the shape command to
| | 03:17 |
place shapes in your drawing, let's try
that.
| | 03:21 |
Type Shape, Enter, enter shape name or
question mark, I'll use the question mark
| | 03:28 |
and press Enter.
And then it says enter shape names to
| | 03:34 |
list star.
I'll press Enter to list all of the
| | 03:37 |
shapes that are currently in that file.
You can see its full path here and you
| | 03:42 |
can see there are only a few shapes that
have been defined and star is now one of them.
| | 03:49 |
So let's insert the star and make sure
that it works.
| | 03:52 |
Shape, Enter, and then type Star, Enter.
Click and then the height will be 1, I'll
| | 03:58 |
just hit Enter to accept the default
height.
| | 04:05 |
And the rotation angle will be zero so
I'll press Enter again.
| | 04:08 |
So this object is a shape.
So we've successfully created a custom shape.
| | 04:15 |
In this video, you use the MK Shape
Expresstool to create a custom shape in
| | 04:19 |
AutoCad standard line type shape
definition file.
| | 04:24 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Creating and using a custom linetype| 00:02 |
In this video, you will incorporate a
custom shape into a custom line type
| | 00:06 |
using the express tool MKL type.
Open the star project file.
| | 00:12 |
It contains a custom shape, right here,
with a circle surrounding it.
| | 00:19 |
I've already opened the L type shape file
here in notepad just to show you that
| | 00:25 |
this star shape was defined as a custom
shape in this standard AotoCAD line type
| | 00:31 |
shape file.
This was generated using the express tool
| | 00:38 |
right here called make shape.
Now, we're going to use the make line
| | 00:44 |
type express tool.
Before we do that, let's embed this
| | 00:50 |
custom shape in a line segment.
So, I'm just going to use the line tool
| | 00:55 |
to draw a line that's horizontal here by
using ortho.
| | 00:59 |
I will make it some arbitary distance
about that long and then I will move this
| | 01:04 |
line from its mid point and snap it to
the center of the circle.
| | 01:10 |
Then I am going to offset the circle a
short distance and I will determine that
| | 01:15 |
distance by clicking two points and then
I will click the circle and click outside
| | 01:20 |
of it offset the circle that distance.
Then trim and then select the circle as
| | 01:28 |
the cutting edge enter click inside the
circle on the line to trim that away.
| | 01:35 |
Okay.
Now my custom linetype will consist of
| | 01:38 |
this line segment, this shape and this
line segment.
| | 01:44 |
I think we are ready to define it.
On the express tools, tools panel, click
| | 01:49 |
the Slide out and then click Make line
type.
| | 01:55 |
You're prompted to select a line type
file.
| | 01:57 |
And this is buried quite deeply in the
file system.
| | 02:02 |
Go to Documents and Settings, and then go
to your user name.
| | 02:06 |
In my case, my user name is Admin.
So I'll go in that folder.
| | 02:11 |
And then here, I need to go into another
folder which isn't shown because it's hidden.
| | 02:16 |
You can go into that folder by typing it
by name.
| | 02:19 |
In this case, I need to go into the
application space data folder.
| | 02:25 |
So I'll type that in just like that using
initial caps and then press Enter.
| | 02:32 |
Amazingly, I go right into that folder.
I'll just show you the path.
| | 02:37 |
Documents and settings, your username and
then application data.
| | 02:42 |
With in application data go to the
Autodesk folder and then locate your
| | 02:47 |
version of AutoCAD.
In my case I'm using AutoCAD 2013 English.
| | 02:53 |
Go in there, this is release 19, go in
there, go in the english folder.
| | 02:59 |
And then go in support.
In here you'll find the AutoCAD line type
| | 03:05 |
definition file right here.
Click save, and Yes to replace.
| | 03:12 |
This express tool is not going to
overwrite the file, it's merely going to
| | 03:16 |
append the new custom line type to that
file.
| | 03:20 |
So, in the command line it says enter
line type name.
| | 03:23 |
I'll type stars, Enter.
Enter line type description.
| | 03:29 |
I'll type five pointed stars, Enter.
Specify starting point for line
| | 03:36 |
definition, that will be right here.
And then it says to specify the ending point.
| | 03:43 |
That would be right here.
Select objects, this line, this shape and
| | 03:48 |
this line, press Enter.
And the line type stars was both created
| | 03:55 |
and loaded into the current drawing.
Let's test it out.
| | 04:02 |
I'll draw a line, select the line, go to
the home tab on the ribbon and change the
| | 04:07 |
line type property to stars.
Look at that.
| | 04:13 |
We have a custom line type.
If you change the lt scale by typing lts
| | 04:19 |
enter, you can control how large this is.
I'll type 0.5 and the stars are smaller.
| | 04:27 |
So, in this video, you defined a custom
line type using an express tool and
| | 04:31 |
assigned it to an object.
| | 04:34 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
6. Automating TasksWriting and running scripts| 00:02 |
Scripts are text files which play back
any sequence of commands and their
| | 00:05 |
options that you care to record.
In this video you'll use the command line
| | 00:10 |
based layer command to make a new layer
and assign it a color.
| | 00:15 |
You'll write these steps into a script
file which you'll later play back to
| | 00:18 |
automate the creation of the example
layer.
| | 00:23 |
Let's say we want to turn off the grid
and hide the UCS icon.
| | 00:27 |
You would do this by typing Grid Enter,
off Enter.
| | 00:31 |
And then UCS icon Enter, off Enter.
So both of those things are hidden.
| | 00:42 |
If I want to create a new layer, of
course if I was using AutoCAD directly, I
| | 00:47 |
will be tempted to use the layer
properties manager, create a new layer
| | 00:51 |
here, give it a name and a color and so
on.
| | 00:57 |
But if we want to record this in a
script, we can't use the layer properties
| | 01:02 |
manager, we instead have to use the
command line version of this Dialog box.
| | 01:09 |
And that is accessed by typing Dash
Layer.
| | 01:13 |
The dash indicates that is not a dialog
based command, it's the older command
| | 01:18 |
line version.
So, when I press enter now, I see all of
| | 01:23 |
the layer options here on the command
line.
| | 01:27 |
So, I could create a layer by using the
Make option m, enter.
| | 01:30 |
And then it says enter name for new
layer, becomes the current layer.
| | 01:37 |
So, I'll type annotation as the layer
name and press Enter.
| | 01:42 |
Then I'll give that layer a color.
I'll use the Color option by typing C Enter.
| | 01:47 |
And then I can either type in a color
name or a color number.
| | 01:51 |
In this case I'll type in 30, which is an
orange color, and press Enter.
| | 01:57 |
Finally, you're asked to confirm the
layer name that you're assigning the
| | 02:02 |
color to.
So I'll type in annotation again and
| | 02:07 |
press Enter.
And at the very end, you have to hit
| | 02:11 |
Enter one more time to end the layer
command.
| | 02:14 |
And you can see up here that indeed we
have an annotation layer, with an orange color.
| | 02:20 |
You can verify color numbers here by
hovering over specific swatches in the
| | 02:25 |
AutoCAD color index.
This is color 30.
| | 02:29 |
So, if we want to encode all of these
things that I've just shown you in a
| | 02:33 |
script file, we have to write that down
in a simple text editor.
| | 02:38 |
Notepad which comes with Windows is
perfect for this purpose.
| | 02:42 |
And you can actually launch Notepad from
within AutoCAD.
| | 02:46 |
Simply type Notepad, then type Enter, and
then you're prompted to enter a file name.
| | 02:52 |
I'll just press Enter again, so I can
bypass that and just start with an
| | 02:57 |
untitled text document.
So, if I'm going to create a script, it's
| | 03:02 |
really just a transcript of the different
commands and options that I've issued.
| | 03:08 |
So, if I want to turn off the grid, I'll
start by typing grid, and then I'll press
| | 03:13 |
Enter, so that takes me to the next line,
so it's just like I'm in AutoCAD.
| | 03:19 |
I'll type off, enter, and then I'll type
UCS icon, enter.
| | 03:25 |
Off, Enter.
Then dash layer, Enter.
| | 03:30 |
M for make, Enter.
And then I'll type Annotation with a
| | 03:36 |
capital A, Enter.
And then, c for color, Enter.
| | 03:43 |
30, Enter.
And then I think I had to reconfirm the
| | 03:46 |
layer name, so I'll type in annotation
again, and then Enter Enter.
| | 03:52 |
So notice that extra Enter is going to
end the layer command so that extra
| | 03:56 |
carriage return here in the text file is
going to do that for us.
| | 04:01 |
Then let's save the file as, and I'll
call it anno, short for annotation.
| | 04:09 |
And I'll save that in the autocad support
subfolder here.
| | 04:14 |
And I'm going to change the type from txt
file, which is Notepad's default type, to
| | 04:19 |
all files, and then I'll call that
anno.scr, which is short for script, and
| | 04:25 |
then click save.
Go back to AutoCAD.
| | 04:31 |
Go to a new drawing.
Start it with the ACAD template and then
| | 04:35 |
type scr, which is short for the script
command, and now I'm prompted to select a
| | 04:40 |
script file.
I'll select this.
| | 04:46 |
And click Open.
It worked!
| | 04:49 |
I have an annotation layer, which has an
orange color, and it's the current layer.
| | 04:54 |
The grid is off and the UCS icon is off.
So the script file is very simple, it
| | 04:59 |
merely repeats that the commands you type
in the text editor, just as if you had
| | 05:04 |
typed them into AutoCAD itself.
In this video, you learned how simple it
| | 05:10 |
is to script a sequance of commands and
their options.
| | 05:14 |
You now have the power to script any
commonly performed sequance of commands
| | 05:20 |
and their ooptions.
| | 05:23 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Recording a sequence of actions| 00:02 |
The action recorder essentially allows
you to program without knowing any
| | 00:05 |
programming code.
It works by recording exactly what you do.
| | 00:09 |
And then you can playback and customize
this recorded sequence of steps later on.
| | 00:14 |
Suppose that you realize that you are
frequently creating double-headed
| | 00:18 |
multileaders on an annotation layer in
the course of your work.
| | 00:22 |
This shoudl jog your memory that you
ought to creat and action macro to save
| | 00:25 |
time, so that you don't have to always
performance the sequence of repetitive steps.
| | 00:32 |
Our game plan in this lesson is to create
an action macro that records the process
| | 00:36 |
of creating a new layer, assigning it a
color, setting it current, drawing a
| | 00:40 |
multileader and adding a second leader
object to the multileader.
| | 00:46 |
So to get started, go to the drafting and
annotation work space and then click the
| | 00:51 |
manage tab on the ribbon, in the Action
Recorder panel, click Record.
| | 00:57 |
Then go to the Annotate panel.
(audio playing)
| | 00:59 |
Notice that there is a red circle next to
the cursor.
| | 01:03 |
This indicates that you are currently
recording.
| | 01:05 |
However, there's no need to hurry.
You can take as much time as you like,
| | 01:09 |
but each thing that you do will be added
to the list of steps in the action macro.
| | 01:16 |
So, the first thing I want to do is
create a new layer.
| | 01:19 |
But instead of using the Layer Properties
Manager, which is how I would normally do
| | 01:24 |
this sort of thing, if I'm creating an
action macro, I need to do the command
| | 01:28 |
line version of this action.
So I'm going to have to use the dash
| | 01:34 |
layer command.
This forces AutoCAD to use the command
| | 01:38 |
line version.
So I'll press Enter.
| | 01:42 |
And you'll see all the options of the
layer command appear here on the command
| | 01:46 |
line rather than in the layer properties
manager palette interface.
| | 01:52 |
So now I'll type m for make and press
enter.
| | 01:55 |
It says enter name for new layer becomes
the current layer.
| | 01:59 |
I'll type annotation as the name.
So not only does this create the layer,
| | 02:05 |
but it also sets it current.
If the layer already exists this will
| | 02:10 |
simply set it current.
So I'll press Enter and then I'd like to
| | 02:14 |
assign a color to that layer.
So I'll type C Enter for color.
| | 02:18 |
And then I can either type in a color
name or a color number.
| | 02:23 |
I'll type color 30 which is a orange
color and press Enter.
| | 02:28 |
It says enter name list of layers for
color 30.
| | 02:32 |
Now in this case, I want to assign color
30 to the Annotation layer.
| | 02:39 |
So I'm going to type that in.
(audio playing)
| | 02:42 |
Annotation, Enter.
And then Enter one more time to end the
| | 02:46 |
layer command.
Go to the Home tab (audio playing) and you'll see
| | 02:49 |
that there's an annotation layer which is
current and it has this orange color.
| | 02:55 |
So far so good.
Next, go to the Annotate tab, (audio playing) and
| | 02:58 |
click the Multileader tool, here on the
Leaders panel.
| | 03:03 |
It says Specify Leader Arrowhead
Location.
| | 03:07 |
I'll just click some arbitrary point on
the screen.
| | 03:11 |
Now it says Specify Leader Landing
Location.
| | 03:14 |
I'll click some other point, off to the
side.
| | 03:17 |
(audio playing) And then I'll type in some sample
text (audio playing) here and then click close
| | 03:22 |
text editor.
(audio playing) So the multileader object has
| | 03:27 |
been created.
Now the whole point of this is to create
| | 03:31 |
a multileader with two arrow heads on it.
So that can be accomplished by clicking
| | 03:35 |
on this tool.
Right here, which is add (audio playing) an arrow
| | 03:39 |
to the multileader.
Then select the multileader object and
| | 03:44 |
click another arbitrary point (audio playing) to
add the arrow.
| | 03:49 |
Then press Enter to end the command.
So at this point, I think I've done
| | 03:54 |
everything that I've set out to do.
But we're still in Record mode.
| | 03:58 |
So, let's go to the Manage tab (audio playing)
and then click Stop in the Action
| | 04:02 |
Recorder panel.
At this point, we're prompted to save in
| | 04:06 |
Action Macro Command Name.
So, go up here, highlight this name and
| | 04:13 |
type doubleheadedmultileader, all one
word without any spaces.
| | 04:20 |
And then click OK.
(audio playing) So in this lesson you recorded
| | 04:24 |
the raw data from a sequence of steps in
action macro.
| | 04:28 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Playing back a macro and adjusting its properties| 00:02 |
Playing back the raw data from an action
macro will simply perform the same pre
| | 00:05 |
recorded steps in sequence.
However, you will need to pause most
| | 00:10 |
action macros for user input at specific
steps so they can be used in a variety of situations.
| | 00:16 |
This object is what is left over from
creating an action macro that generated a
| | 00:21 |
double headed multi leader on an orange
annotation layer.
| | 00:26 |
If I erase this object, and then play
back the action macro by clicking Play.
| | 00:33 |
The object reappears in exactly the same
location.
| | 00:38 |
Not only that, the arrow heads are in the
exact same space.
| | 00:43 |
And the text just says text so this isn't
really useful.
| | 00:48 |
What we need to do next is pause the
sequence of steps at key points that
| | 00:53 |
allow the user to make up their own mind.
About where they're going to place the
| | 00:59 |
arrowheads and what they're going to type
for the multi liter text.
| | 01:05 |
To do that, click the Action Recorder
slider out right here, and you can drag
| | 01:09 |
this down so you can see the entire
sequence of steps.
| | 01:15 |
I'd like to pause this right here at this
first step when the first pount of the
| | 01:19 |
multi leader is picked on the screen, I
don't want it to use these specific coordinates.
| | 01:27 |
So instead I'm going to select that and
click this button which will allow me to
| | 01:32 |
pause for user input.
So let's play back the action macro.
| | 01:38 |
This time I'll click a point right here
and the rest of it got created according
| | 01:43 |
to the literal coodinates in the action
macro but at least we're making progress.
| | 01:49 |
Now we're able to specify the location of
this object.
| | 01:54 |
Next, click this item in the Sequence of
Steps and make that also pause for user input.
| | 02:02 |
Click Text Formatting and pause for that
as well.
| | 02:08 |
Let's try it again.
Play, click a point.
| | 02:12 |
Now we have the flexibility of choosing
our own location for this annotation text.
| | 02:17 |
I'll click right here, type some text,
close the text editor, and the command is complete.
| | 02:28 |
This second arrow head however was
located according to the coordinates that
| | 02:32 |
were given in the original object.
So we need to go back one more time and
| | 02:38 |
select this item which has specific
coordinate listed to make that pause for
| | 02:44 |
user input.
You can see the little symbol of the user
| | 02:49 |
appear on the icon for that step.
Play the action macro again.
| | 02:55 |
Now click a point, click another point
for the text.
| | 03:00 |
Type in some text close the text editor.
And then you can click another point to
| | 03:08 |
specify the other location of the second
leader.
| | 03:12 |
So now the macro is flexible enough to
apply to most all situations because the
| | 03:17 |
user is left to select the arrowhead
locations, the text location and the text content.
| | 03:25 |
So in this video, by testing the macro
and adding pauses for user input, you
| | 03:29 |
have generalized a very specific sequence
of steps into a flexible tool to
| | 03:33 |
efficiently create double headed multi
leaders.
| | 03:38 |
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Loading and running Lisp routines| 00:02 |
Lisp is a programming language, that is
been around longer than AutoCAD.
| | 00:06 |
Thousands of Lisp routines written over
the last 30 years, can still be used in
| | 00:10 |
AutoCAD which you can find in books and
on the Internet.
| | 00:14 |
In this video you will be introduced to
AutoCAD's Visual Lisp Integrated
| | 00:18 |
Development Environment, where you
examine and run few Lisp routine.
| | 00:23 |
Type VLIDE.
This stands for Visual LISP Integrated
| | 00:29 |
Development Environment, and press Enter.
This launches a separate program within AutoCAD.
| | 00:36 |
Click Open on the toolbar, and locate the
OSmodes.lisp file, then click Open.
| | 00:44 |
This is a very simple Lisp file and I'm
showing it to you so you can get a feel
| | 00:47 |
for the language.
Now I don't expect you to learn the
| | 00:51 |
language, but rather it's helpful to look
at some Lisp code and understand what
| | 00:56 |
it's doing at least on a superficial
level.
| | 01:01 |
Then later, if you want to extend
AutoCAD's functionality, you can get into
| | 01:05 |
the Lisp language and write your own code
if you so desire.
| | 01:11 |
Now, this particular Lisp command
actually has three separate commands
| | 01:15 |
within it.
And you can see that here, it says Define
| | 01:19 |
Function, and then C colon means it's a
command that you can enter on AutoCAD's
| | 01:23 |
command line.
So there's s0, s1 and s2.
| | 01:29 |
Each one of these commands simply changes
the OS mode System Variable.
| | 01:34 |
S0 turns the object snap modes off to
none.
| | 01:40 |
S1 turns on n point in intersection modes
and S2 turns on mini modes.
| | 01:47 |
To see this is action we need to load
this Lisp command to AutoCAD and you can
| | 01:51 |
do that right here.
Click this button to load the active edit
| | 01:56 |
window into AutoCAD and then switch back
over into the AutoCAD itself.
| | 02:02 |
Type S0, and press Enter.
You'll see down here that the object snap
| | 02:08 |
button on the status bar is turned off
because all of the snap modes are now off.
| | 02:14 |
Type S1, Enter and the button comes back
on.
| | 02:19 |
Right-click and go to Settings and you'll
see that End point and Intersection are
| | 02:24 |
the only two modes that are on, Cancel.
Let's try S2.
| | 02:32 |
Go back to Settings and you'll see that
many different modes are on.
| | 02:37 |
The number of modes which are on are
controlled by the OS mode system variable.
| | 02:42 |
I'll type that in OS mode, Enter.
And you'll see that right now it's
| | 02:49 |
currently set to 255.
That's what the Lisp routines did for us.
| | 02:54 |
We just had to type S2 and it configured
that for us.
| | 02:58 |
Now obviously this is a very simple Lisp
routine, but you know the work flow for
| | 03:03 |
opening a Lisp file, loading it and
running it.
| | 03:08 |
I provided another complex Lisp routine
that we'll try next.
| | 03:13 |
I'll switch back to the Visual Lisp
Integrated Development Environment here,
| | 03:18 |
and then click Open.
Go into the geom curves sub-folder and
| | 03:24 |
load geomcurve.lisp.
Now this was written by Eugene Kalney in
| | 03:31 |
2002, and you can read about what it does
here in the comments.
| | 03:36 |
And if you scroll down, you can see some
of the language down here, what's going on.
| | 03:42 |
It's obviously very technical, but we
don't really need to get into this.
| | 03:47 |
All we need to do is identify where the
command name is near the top.
| | 03:53 |
And then we should be able to load this
and run it.
| | 03:55 |
It says right here to find function,
command G curve.
| | 04:00 |
Let's try loading it right here and it
gives us a warning.
| | 04:05 |
Now, this is a more complex Lisp file
that uses a dialog box.
| | 04:11 |
So it has a dependent file that it needs
to locate.
| | 04:15 |
It's not able to find that.
So what we need to do is go back into
| | 04:19 |
AutoCAD and type Options.
Open the Support File Search path here on
| | 04:25 |
the Files tab.
And then Add a Path and then click Browse.
| | 04:31 |
Go to the folder where you stored the
Geom curves folder and select it.
| | 04:37 |
Apply and OK.
Now AutoCAD will look in that folder for
| | 04:43 |
dependent files.
Go back to the Lisp Editor and reload.
| | 04:52 |
Now we just need to remember the command
name, G curve.
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I'll go back to AutoCAD and type it,
gcurve, Enter.
| | 05:01 |
This brings up a dialog box.
It's obviously very complex and you can
| | 05:06 |
read the documentaion that comes with
this Lisp routine if you want to know how
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to use it.
I'll just create a Parabola > OK.
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And then I'll use the default options.
I'll just press Enter, Enter, Enter, and
| | 05:23 |
one more Enter, and it creates the
object.
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I'll also type E Enter, Z Enter, for zoom
extents.
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There you can see a parabola that was
generated by this Lisp routine.
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So by reading the Lisp routine in the
development environment, you not only
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understand what the code looks like, but
generally what it does.
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You learned how to add a folder to the
search path, and load and run Lisp
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routines within AutoCAD.
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