Productivity Solutions

This collection is, once again, driven partly by questions from the many emails I receive, as well as a follow-up to last month’s article on the UCS. The Basics section reaches back to a very fundamental but important element in creating and editing objects.

Saved Views & the UCS

In the June 2003 “Michael’s Corner” article, I covered the concept of named views in the Basics section. As a follow-up to the UCS article from last month, I wanted to show you where UCS can be used to your advantage with named views.

Prior to saving the named view, however, you need save the current position of the UCS by name. Oddly, this process is still driven from the command line only.

Instructions to save a UCS position by name:

1. Orient and position the UCS as necessary. This may be an orientation you will need during the course of the project that is other than the default World UCS position.

2. Launch the UCS command and use the Save option to save the current UCS position with a name:

Command: UCS
Current ucs name: *NO NAME*
Enter an option [New/Move/orthoGraphic/Prev/Restore/Save/Del/Apply/?/World] <World>: S
Enter name to save current UCS or [?]: Reception

Instructions to save a Named view with the named UCS position:

1. Launch the View command. (The default alias is V .)

2. Click the New button to open the New View dialog box and enter a name for the current view.

3. Select the UCS Name from the list at the bottom of the dialog.

4. Click OK to return to the View dialog box and see your view listed along with the name of the associated named UCS.

5. Click OK to close the View dialog box and return to the drawing.

6. You can use ZoomPrevious to return to the previous display. Use the default of <World> in the UCS command to put the UCS ‘back where you found it’.

Power Tool

Prompt for Rotation

It doesn’t seem like much, but one of the BIG changes made to the properties of a block on the Tool Palette is the ability to set the Prompt for Rotation.

In A2004, the only way of rotating a block prior to placement was by entering R after getting it from the palette; what a pain that was. In A2005, set the Prompt for Rotation to Yes in the Tool Properties dialog for any block. Each time that block is accessed from the tool palette, after picking the insertion point, you can either enter a rotation value, or drag it into position, just like a normal Insert routine!

The Odd Spot

Deleted Hatch Boundary?

Have ever deleted an associative hatch and the boundary disappeared as well? Here’s the problem. The PICKSTYLE variable was set to <2> or <3>.

In the Options dialog box, on the Selection tab there are a collection of Selection Modes as shown in the first figure. If the ‘Associative Hatch’ box is checked, when you use the Erase command, the boundary as well as the hatch will be erased.

Using the Express ToolsToolsSystem Variable Editor, you will find the following information regarding this variable:

Controls the use of group selection and associative hatch selection.

0 No group selection or associative hatch selection

1 Group selection

2 Associative hatch selection

3 Group selection and associative hatch selection

Free subscription to ‘The AutoCAD Toolbelt’ offer:

Challenge: In the Layer Properties Manager of A2004 or A2005, how can I select more than one layer if I don’t use any shortcut menus, Filters, Groups, or Ctrl/Shift? Mouse only.

The first email to michael.beall@autocadtrainerguy.com with the correct answer will receive a complimentary one-year subscription (8 issues) of my newsletter, ‘The AutoCAD Toolbelt’.

STOP PRESS - Winner
The winner of this month's Toolbelt offer is Temesgen Hussein with Hobbs + Black, an architectural firm in Toledo, Ohio who came in with the correct answer for this month's challenge. You can select more than one layer by clicking and dragging, beginning on an icon or from the bottom of the Name column in the Layer Properties Manager.

The Basics

Polar Coordinate Entry

If you’ve worked with AutoCAD for more than a day, you have probably encountered the need to draw a diagonal line to a specified distance. Polar tracking is useful if you need to draw or edit in one of the default angles such as 30 or 45, but what if you need to draw a line (or Move or Copy) at a unique angle such as the 12 degree angle shown in the top figure?

In the next illustration, the dot indicates where the Line command was started. At the prompt to specify the ‘Next point’, the following value was entered: @8.5<-12 …which breaks down as follows:

@ - You’re telling AutoCAD to go from where you’re at, essentially.

Distance - Enter the length of the line segment.

< - The less-than sign is the closest thing on the keyboard to that angle sign you used in 7th grade Geometry class. It precedes the angle value entry.

Angle - This is based upon the Cartesian coordinate system of 0 degrees at horizontal and positive being CCW.

When entering the angle value, you can enter a negative value for a clockwise angle definition.

Tip 1: If the length of the line needs to be edited, use the Lengthen command rather than drawing the line again at the proper length.

Tip 2: If you find it difficult to remember which symbol should be used as the polar cordinate seperator (< less than), consider that normal (cartesian) coordinates use the comma. For a polar coordinate, think Shift+comma.