SPAUG-Tip of the Month 2005

July's Tip of the Month

A Different Layer Purge

I found another way to purge out unused layers. Found at the end of the CAD Standards toolbar, or from the pop-down - Tools menu...CAD Standards...Layer Translator, or with the command LAYTRANS. (For AutoCAD releases since 2002)

In the translator dialog box, you will see a list of the current layers in the drawing. The dark icons are layers that are in use, while the white layer icons indicate unused layers that can be purged. You can right-click anywhere in the "Translate From" list and select "Purge layers" as shown below.

by Jeff Tippit

June's Tip of the Month

Half Distance

When using the offset command you may wish to offset the line or object only half of a know distance i.e. from the center line of an object, without reaching for your calculator to work that distance out try this. You have an overall distance of say 12345 but you only want to offset half that distance. On the command line input (/ 12345 2.0) i.e. 12345 divided by 2, and do the offset, AutoCAD calculates this for you i.e. 617.25 and offsets that distance. It also works for other divisors i.e. 3,4,5,6 ; 3.45, 4.25 etc.

by Hans Graveman, Netherlands

Also, on whole numbers only, you can just type in 12345/2 for the offset distance. I also like to use this function when dealing with engineering drawings that are drawn in feet instead of inches. So to offset 2" in decimal feet, you can type 2/12. To get 2-1/2" inches you can double the inches and the 12 to get 5/24, so you don't have to convert it since 2.5/12 is not allowed.

additional info by Jeff Tippit

May's Tip of the Month

Do NOT undo my Zoom...

Question:

I want to know if there is any possibility when I'm using the undo command, not to undo the zoom command?

Answer:

I don't know of any way to not undo only specific commands. The only thing I could find on the subject was this article.

http://support.autodesk.com/getDoc.asp?id=TP00158

Which describes the use of the Layer Previous tool.

by Eric Stover of Autodesk

Be aware that now in 2006, anytime you undo after you have zoomed or dynamic panned it goes all the way back by grouping them. See the UNDOCTL system variable. Note By default, the UNDOCTL system variable is set to combine consecutive pan and zoom commands into a single operation when you undo or redo.

Listed below indicates the state of the Auto, Control, and Group options of the UNDO command. The setting is stored as a bitcode using the sum of the following values:

0 UNDO is turned off
1 UNDO is turned on
2 Only one command can be undone
4 Auto is turned on
8 A group is currently active
16 Zoom and pan operations are grouped as a single action

The default value = 21

This is what it looks like on the command line:

Command: u INTELLIPAN INTELLIPAN INTELLIPAN ZOOM INTELLIPAN ZOOM ZOOM

requested by Josè Orengo, Rosario, Santa Fe, Argentina
answered by Jeff Tippit

April's Tip of the Month

DesignCenter Home?

Question:

Does anyone know if a 'Startup' folder can be assigned to the DesignCenter?

Answer:

In AutoCAD 2004 and higher, while in the DesignCenter you can simply right click on the folder you want to change to and click "Set As Home".

requested by George Homan, Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand
answer by John Dulaney, Lubbock, TX

March's Tip of the Month

Slow Startup in 2005

Just thought I would pass along a fix that I found now that I am working with 2005.

I noticed that upon loading AutoCAD 2005, that the first time was extremely slow. This may be because I have a lot of True Type fonts loaded on my system.

Autodesk has release an updated ACDB16.DLL for this.

Download the file here: http://ftp.autodesk.com/prodsupp/autocad/acdb16.dll (warning: it is 5Mb)

After downloading to a temporary location on your hard drive, here is how you install it:

You must have administrative privileges on your Microsoft® Windows® operating system to complete the installation process.

Close all software applications.

Find the Autodesk Shared folder, usually c:\Program Files\Common Files\Autodesk Shared.

In this folder, rename the acdb16.dll file: Right-click the file name, click Rename on the shortcut menu, and enter a new name such as acdb16.bak.

Download the new acdb16.dll file and copy it to the same Autodesk Shared folder.

Restart the application.

by Jeff Tippit

February's Tip of the Month

Ortho Panning

I stumbled on a simple way to use the ortho through a view port while in paperspace. Hold down the shift key and then pan using the center roller wheel on the mouse or type in the pan command. So far this works on 2000i. I have not tried other versions yet. This is a simple way I found to pan over to new details and yet still be in the same alignment line with the last.

by Dean Perkins, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

January's Tip of the Month

Scaling Lineweights

Have you ever wanted to print a small set of 11x17 drawings based on your 24x36 drawings, but you are afraid that the pen widths would print too thick?

All you have to do is change your paper size, change to Extents plot area, then check the box for "Scale lineweights" as shown below. Now your thicker pen widths will automatically scale down based on the smaller paper size you selected.

by Bob Gingery, Lubbock, TX