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Michael’s Corner

Michael BeallMichael's Corner is a monthly publication written by Michael E. Beall, Autodesk Authorized Author and peripatetic AutoCAD trainer. Michael travels all over the USA, bringing his fantastic experience and great understanding of AutoCAD to his clients. Michael's Corner brings together many of the tips, tricks and methods developed during these training sessions for the benefit of all users.

Michael's Corner provides something for every AutoCAD user. Every month, a number of articles cover a wide range of topics, suitable for users at all levels, including "The Basics" for those just starting out. Essentially, the aim of Michael's Corner is to help all AutoCAD users work smarter and faster.

This month…

October - One-derful!!!

It's a God-thing.

I had no idea that 14 years ago I would be given the opportunity to make an impact on the professional lives of so many. Only God knew what was ahead, and hopefully, the contributions I have made through Michael's Corner have equipped many of you to be more productive and a bit more savvy using AutoCAD. And apart from all the AutoCAD bashing that is going on, I'm sure it has a long life ahead.

So, in an effort to keep the AutoCAD fires burning, here's what I have for my final installment…

…A reminder on how to customize your hot keys
…Three Power Tools — one for Zoom, one for editing, and one for Layers
…Two Odd Spots — one for Layers and one for Hatching
…Buried text treasure
…And how to Search 14 years of the Archives

As for what's ahead for me, I will continue to present a variety of AutoCAD sessions — Fundamentals, Intermediate, Customizing, Updates, and 2D & 3D. I will also keep training CAP Designer, 20-20 Worksheet, Visual Impression (those three from 20-20 Technologies, Inc.), and some Revit Fundamentals. Next year I'm looking forward to being very involved in training CET (from Configura, Inc.) when Herman Miller joins the growing number of manufacturers embracing this software that is being touted as the ‘Future of Space Planning’. Personally, I'm looking forward to spending a bit more time with Donna, my lovely bride of 30 years. When this posts, we'll probably be within days of going on our 30th Anniversary vacation to the Tanque Verde Ranch in Tucson; Ee-Hah! We had such a good time when we went for our 20th, we figured we'd do it again!

Ah, and I'm hoping to have The AutoCAD Workbench, Final Edition out before snow flies.

And with that, Mike drop! …so to speak.

The LORD bless you and keep you;
The LORD make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The LORD lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace. Numbers 6:24-26

This month's articles

Change F1 to ESC
Smoother Zoom
Stretch with Extension
Lock Layers with a Crossing Window
Layer Columns & Hatch Background Color
Text Frame on Mtext

From the Vault

Originally published February 2016

The DIM command

The new DIM command on the RibbonAlthough I prefer to run my dimensions from the Tool Palette where the Layer and Dimension Style are preconfigured, nothing says you can't add this new command — DIM — to the palette and customize the General settings.

Key Feature: Rollover recognition of the object to be dimensioned. You launch the command, hover on the object and the dimension shows up. Pretty slick.

Rollover recognition

Legacy-User Note: [Wasn't quite sure what to call us ‘old-timers’]
Once upon a time there was a DIM: command line (and this is one of the reasons virtually all the macros you see have double ^C^C). I would use that occasionally to DIM/UP and select a dimension to update to the current Dimstyle. Curiously, -DIM doesn't call it up, so if any of you come across that, please let me know. Yes, there are other ways to update an existing dimension, but I was just checking under the hood.

How to Use the A2016 Dimension [DIM] Command

  1. DIM in actionSet the desired Layer and Dimension Style, then click Dimension.

    Select objects or specify first extension line origin or Angular/Baseline/Continue/Ordinate/aliGn/Distribute/Layer/Undo]:

  2. Hover on an object, and if the length/size of the object is large enough, you will see a dimension. If not, you may use an object snap to specify the points.

  3. The dimension preview is a muted color of the current layer, then when you move it away from the object — and if your Dimension Properties are setup accordingly — you see the full color of the layer prior to placement.

Insights

  • The side you ‘approach’ the object from will be the default side of the dimension line.

  • For non-orthogonal objects, an Aligned dimension is the default, so hold down Shift for a Linear dimension.

    Orthogonal and non-orthogonal objects

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