From Spline to Pline

Have you ever heard or seen a lisp routine to explode a spline.  The Current method that I know of isn't really the best.  Its exploded but the results aren't always the best. Sometimes they come out curved with a million vertices, and other times the curves become 90 degree angles.

Answer:

You can DXFout to an R12 DXF, then DXF it back in.  This way you get as you say a "million vertices".  Or you can download this freebie VLX Routine by DotSoft.  See Lisp of the Month for January 2003.

Hiding Those Hidden Lines

When printing 3d objects remember the system variable "DISPSILH".  This remove the extra lines attached to a curved surface of ACIS solid when issuing the "HIDE" command.

See Example Image below of variables 0 and 1.

by Chris Osborne, Wolfforth, TX

How Not to Print

When printing a layout, how do you keep the MVIEW line from printing?

Answer:

See Example Image below of Layer dialog box.

requested by Don Prigitano, Torrington, CT
answered by Jeff Tippit

Quick Shortcuts for the Open Dialog Box

I often work on 2 or 3 projects at a time, so I need to be able to flip from 1 project to another quickly. One way I have found to quickly and easily add project folders is to put them in the shortcut menu within the Open Dialog Box. You can right-click in the dark gray area to add the currently displayed folder by choosing "Add Current Folder". This only works when the Look in: box has a folder listed, NOT a DRIVE icon. You can then rename and move the location in the list by simply dragging and dropping the folder icon to a different position. Makes it simple to add and delete temporary project folders as you work on certain projects.

By Jeff Tippit

What are Crow's Feet?

What are Crow's Feet?

Answer:

"Crow's feet are the little leaders or lines that indicate where-from and where-to a bearing/distance of a line is measured." Karen Cooper, Sarasota, Florida

See Example Image below of Crow's Feet in Land Desktop V3.

In LDT, go to the Labels pop-down...Edit Label Styles... dialog box and check the box labeled "Crow's Feet".

Changing Case

"If anyone has any ideas how to change sentence text to CAPS I'd like to know of them. (Please consider, I have 2002LT so lisp routines do not work)"

Answer:

If any of the text is MTEXT then you can use this method. Pull up the text in the Multiline Text Editor and right-click in the box to choose Select All. Then right-click again and choose Change Case then UPPERCASE as show in the graphic to the right.

requested by Robert Chapman, Birmingham, UK
answered by Jeff Tippit

Preventing Zooming in MVIEWS

I work in a small architecture firm, with (5) Designers/ CAD Operators. We use paper space (as I think everyone should). Sometimes, some one may have to go into a drawing that they are not familiar with and make some changes. Inevitably, they will go into the model thought the MVIEW  (I am guilty myself). Then because they forgot they may zoom back out or even scroll (zoom) out to save the drawing, hence they have changed the scale of the MVIEW.

The solution (TIP):

By opening the Properties dialog box (double-click on the edge of the MVIEW), change the "Display locked" option to YES. This prevents accidental changes of the MVIEW (view or scale).

by Ray Finkel, Las Vegas, NV

Classic Dimensioning Tip

To get a line of text above and below the dimension, type "\X" between the text in the mtext editor. 

For example "1.2m\Xnominal" will put 1.2m above and nominal below.

What so special about this, the three other way that I know of are NOT the best solutions:

1. Put a hard return in the mtext editor, but this gives two lines of text above the dimension.

2. Set the vertical position in the dimension style so that it is central. This removes the line between the arrows and puts the arrows on the outside of the extension lines.

3. Put a separate piece of single line text under the dimension which detracts from the whole associative dimension concept.

Also, don't forget about my old 1997 Tip of the Month for November

by Damian Parker, Cairns, Queensland, Australia

Note:
It must be a backslash "\" and a capital "X" (no spaces).

Layering Layouts

"I am relatively new to this program. I am using LT2000i. How do I set different layers to be off for different layouts so that I can print layouts without going thru the steps of turning layers off and on for different layouts of the same file? I have a operating floor of a pump station which has many pieces of equipment. and I would like to be able to show an equipment layout, a piping layout, and a foundation layout."

Answer:

In Paperspace, within an MVIEW, go into the Layer Dialog box. You may need to stretch the dialog out as shown below to see all the columns. By using the Current VP Freeze column, you can freeze all the layers that you don't want to show up in the current Mview but will show up in the other Mviews. Then go to the other Mviews and do the same but by freezing the piping and foundation layers but leaving the equipment layers, etc. The command line version of this is used by the VPLAYER command.

requested by Chuck Luca, West Palm Beach, Florida
answered by Jeff Tippit

Customize your Colors

"Anyone know how to change the color of the snapbox and crosshairs in AutoCAD version 2000 or 2000i?"

Answer:

Right-click on the command line and choose Options. Then go to the Display Tab and hit the Colors... button. In the "Color Options" dialog box, you can pick objects in the small graphics for Model or Layout. When you pick on a different object you will notice that the Window Element pull-down box will change to the object picked. You can then pick any color from the Color pull-down box. You can; therefore, have the crosshairs different colors in Model and Layout tabs. This works in any version of 2000 and 2002.

requested by Donald B. Smith, Palatka, Florida
answered by Jeff Tippit

Poor OLE Plot Quality

I have a AutoCAD 2000 file with a excel table attached to it. When I go to print it out on my HP 650C there are some boxes in the data table which are colored a solid yellow, but when they are printed out they look more like a mustard color with black screen tint in it. Do you have ideas on how to make yellow print out closer to original screen and plot preview color.

Answer:

The default OLE plot quality is usually set to Text quality. You will need to bump up the quality by following the instructions below from the AutoCAD help file.

"Right-click the OLE object and choose Properties from the shortcut menu. In the OLE Properties dialog box, select one of the following options from the OLE plot quality list:

Line Art, Text, Graphics, Photograph,  or High Quality Photograph"

requested by Scott Halm, Phillipsburg, NJ
answered by Jeff Tippit

requested by Scott Halm, Phillipsburg, NJ
answered by Jeff Tippit