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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 March 2006

Retaining System Variables

Notepad

When (not if) AutoCAD needs to be re-installed, what do you do to hold onto your settings? Of course, you have your template (.DWT), and perhaps you have created a Profile (See October 2003). But what about all the system variables?

There's a routine called VARS2SCR that automatically gathers all your AutoCAD variables (Registry variables as well as Drawing-specific) and creates a .SCR file. Since the drawing-specific variable are also gathered at this time (such as FILLETRAD and TEXTSIZE), you will want to configure those first. For a list of most of the variables this routine captures, if you have AutoCAD 2004 thru A2007, go to ExpressToolsSystem Variable Editor…

Instructions to Create and Use the VARS2SCR routine
Script File
  1. At the command line, enter VARS2SCR.
  2. Navigate to the folder where you want to save this file and give it a name such as A2006_VARS-yourinitials. The figure shows a portion of the content of the SCR file.
  3. To test it, set the variable CURSORSIZE to something like 27.
  4. Open Windows Explorer and navigate to the folder containing the SCR file.
  5. Now drag the .SCR into the AutoCAD drawing window and you should see the cursor size change back to the size saved in the script file.

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