Michael'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.
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Happy 234th birthday, USA! (Well, we have to celebrate something since it won't be a soccer trophy!)
I had another totally great time in Guam again last month! Here's my team of students from the AutoCAD 2010 Update course I presented for New Horizons Computer Learning Center.
As many of you know, my training sessions are fertile ground for new articles and Guam was no exception. We were all lamenting about the "exploded box" icon for Explode that was introduced in AutoCAD 2009, so I told the guys I would show 'em how to put the firecracker back on the Explode button.
Here's what's in store for July 2010:
…Put the (4th of July) firecracker back on the Explode button
…Including ‘Prompt for Rotate’ in Dynamic Block with multiple insertion points
…‘Single’ option for Copy
…Multiple Points in the Distance option of Measuregeom
And if you have yet to do so, you can order The AutoCAD Workbench from my website using PayPal or download the order form.
When using WBLOCK to save selected objects as a .dwg file, you have the opportunity to establish the base point by which that drawing will be "held" when inserting it into another drawing. When you insert a drawing file that was not created using Wblock, however, AutoCAD presumes the base point for that inserted file to be 0,0 by default. To specify a point other than 0,0 as the drawing's base point without using Wblock, type BASE at the Command line and pick a point to be used as the base point for the drawing when it's inserted.