AutoCAD Productivity Articles - 2013

May - Shedding a Little Light on Things

As I get more into 3D—I know, I'm just a little late to that party—I'm finding more and more fun stuff. I'll soon have a collection to put on my own Panel on the Ribbon! I think you'll find the following to be a fun collection of insights and it even includes a wonderful improvement I found in AutoCAD 2014!

…Without a default ‘floor’, use Ground Shadows, then experiment with some Visual Style buttons
…For the macro-minded, learn how to repeat a favorite
…When you inherit a drawing with Annotative text, there's a Need-To-Know rotation setting
…Options for selecting objects, including a really great improvement in A2014

Keep in mind that Autodesk has a YouTube channel in case you want to find more out about the new fleet of products available.

Here's to greater productivity for us all!

Shadows & Visual Style Settings

Repeat a Command in a Macro

Annotative Text that Doesn't Rotate "Normally"

Selection Options & A2014 Improvements

April - Graphicisms

As is often the case, after writing the articles, I notice a ‘theme’, of sorts. It's never intended, since I keep notes during my training sessions, then pick a few and start in. This month, all four articles came from the training since the beginning of the year and they all have a graphic component. Well, except the Doughnut command, but I guess that does have a graphic element to it, too.

…Update a drawing with a material
…Select a color that will be immune from a Monochrome/Grayscale plot style assignment
…Make your Zoom features snap to the result instead of gently sliding to the view
…Create a dot with a donut

As for the recent release of AutoCAD 2014, I usually let all the other bloggers have their way with the announcement and slowly fold in my own observations as the months go by. I will say, however, that I think displaying tabs for the open drawings along the top of the drawing window was a nice touch.

Hope you all have a wonderful April!

Loading Materials

RGB Color with Monochrome Plot Style Table

VTOPTIONS

The Doughnut/Donut

March - The AutoCAD Workbench, 2nd Edition: Finally a Reality!

It's quite humbling, actually, and a pretty significant body of work, weighing in at 330 pages if you start numbering from the front cover and go to the back.

If you're interested in purchasing a copy—the ring-bound book, the .PDF or both—the best thing to do would be to visit my website, www.cadtrainerguy.com where you will find a PayPal button, as well as the Order Form.

To answer a question that has already come in, this edition contains everything from the first edition, plus an additional 70+ topics, all updated to AutoCAD 2013. It looks like I'll be putting the first ones in the mail on March 15th if all goes according to plan.

However, you will want to continue your subscription to Michael's Corner, because two of the topics this month aren't in AWB2. Does that mean there will be an AWB3? Most likely!

In the meantime, here are a few things you can take a look at while you wait for your copy to arrive!

…See how to copy a default panel from the Express Tools to your custom tab.
…Learn how to zoom up to a ‘dot’ in space without scrolling.
…Add a path to your Support File Search Path list to point to an exported tool palette file [.XTP]
…Create an Angular dimension and edit a couple of the properties.

At the risk of being repetitive, I want to thank David Watson, our CADTutor webmaster and prolific professor at University of Greenwich for providing the opportunity, and an all-inclusive ‘Thank You!’ also goes to my hundreds of customers who provide the bulk of the content for these pages.

With a grateful heart to you all.

Copy a Default Panel to Your Custom Tab

Zoom to an Object

Source File vs. Support File Search Path

Angular Dimensions

February - Got Text?

Maybe it has to do with Groundhog Day (the movie) and doing things over again, but this month it turns out that three of the four articles involve Text. Purely unintentional, honest. The lead article, however, actually comes from my friend, Ben Senior. Ben did the tech edit on the 2nd Edition of The AutoCAD Workbench, and as I was going through his edits in Chapter Two on Creating & Editing, I came across his comment on editing the insertion point of a block. In store this month:

…Adjust the Insertion Point of a Block
…Edit the UCS condition to add text to a 3d view
…Change the highlight color in the Single Line text editor
…Snap to the insertion point of text

Hopefully next month I can announce the release of the 2nd Edition, but in the meantime, keep an eye on my website, www.cadtrainerguy.com where I will make the announcement as soon as the first one rolls off the press.

Thanks to all of you for your continued support and friendship!

Change the Insertion Point of a Block

Adding Text to a 3D View

Highlight Color for Single Line Text

Snap to Text

January - There's Always Something New in the Year

None of us knows what's in store for 2013, but one thing we DO know, is that there's always something new to learn about. I hope this finds you all well and looking forward to the new things that lie ahead in your respective areas of expertise.

Many years ago when I was working with Hugh Bathurst and presenting the 'Mastering Today's AutoCAD' series around the USA, I met folks who used AutoCAD in some very unique industries; fire plug design, rail car design, and prison cafeterias were some of the ones that come to mind. Absolutely fascinating and very 'new' to me. If you work in an industry with similar unique drawing requirements, I would be interested in seeing a small sample drawing of your work.

This month, ask yourself the following questions, and then see if your answers are the same as what I came up with. You may just find something new!

…Do you know how to add a dimension to a 3D object?
…Were you aware of the Layer option when you use the Offset command?
…Have you ever noticed the background mask in Mtext needs adjusting?
…When you plot a Window from Model space, do you know how to estimate the plot scale?

Thank you all so very much for your continued support of Michael's Corner and CADTutor, and we hope you have a fabulous New Year!

Adding Dimensions to a 3D Object

Offset with the Layer Option

Mtext Wrinkles

Estimating a Plot Scale

…to Embedding an Image