Contribute a tip, become famous

[CADTutor]

Hello boys and girls. I'm going to be launching the new CADTutor site homepage this week and here's your chance to see your own name up there on the busiest page of the site.

"OK, what do I have to do?"

Well, I'm putting a new section on the homepage called "Tip of the Day" (original eh?). Each day, a new AutoCAD tip will be published and the author will be credited. So, all you have to do is reply to this thread with your favourite AutoCAD tip or trick and I'll add it to the database.

"OK, what information do you need?"

Your tip needs a title, a paragraph or so describing what it is and how it works and attach any images that need to be included. You should also include the name you'd like to see your tip credited to if it's anything other than your forum name.

That's it.

You may enter as many tips as you like but each one must be in a new post.

[CADTutor]

Hmm, OK, so no one wants to be famous

Well, you can at least see the new "Tip of the Day" feature live on the homepage now: http://www.cadtutor.net/#tip

If anyone does have a tip to contribute, please do - not that I'm desperate or anything

[yedan]

ok a tip that has helped me a few times,

The midway point osnap command,

Drawing a line or circle that starts midway between two points is easy enough if the midway point falls on a line or other object but what if it falls in the space between two other objects like say a circle in between two squares like this



there is an osnap that for some reason is not included on the osnap tool bar, its is called Midway 2 points or m2p for short to use this command start the circle command and before choosing anything else type m2p in the command line you will be asked for the first mid point in my example i use two squares and select the mid point of one side



you will then be asked for the second mid point select the mid point of the other squares side



all that is left to do is give your circle a dia or radius



there you have it, a circle exactly midway between two objects floating in the space between without the need for any construction lines,

happy drawing
andy "yedan" perry

[CADTutor]

Excellent tip Yedan - that one is definately going onto the database - thank you

[CromCruithne]

Here's another along those lines that I found whilst customizing toolbars.
Although it's not on the draw menu or even part of the circle sub-menu there is a Tan, Tan, Tan option for circles. I'm not sure what the command line command is, but you can add it to the Draw toolbar easily enough through the CUI interface.

-Crom

[yedan]

crom, wouldn't that be the same as using a 3p circle and tangent osnaps?

[dbroada]

Expanding on this subject, mid between 2 points is now included as one of the standard snaps on 2006.

It appears from watching others work in this office that not everybody knows that shift-right click pops up a temporary OSNAP setting box - ideal for this sort of work!

[yedan]

yes it does indeed and i was one of those that didnt know about the right click box, or at least had forgotten about it, i have now added the snap to my tool bar as i don't use alot of the right hand click menus

[CADTutor]

It appears from watching others work in this office that not everybody knows that shift-right click pops up a temporary OSNAP setting box - ideal for this sort of work!

Good one - it's in the database. Thanks

[CromCruithne]

crom, wouldn't that be the same as using a 3p circle and tangent osnaps?

Yes and no. It's essentially the same thing, but when doing machine drafting, a circle tangent to 3 points is fairly common and it's handy to have it right there. Also, I tend to work with barebones Osnap setttings to avoid accidentally snapping to the wrong point. I know folks who keep every Osnap on, but I can't work that. The tan,tan,tan circle might not be revolutionary, but it makes my life easier.

=-Crom