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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 November 2006

Mtext Line Spacing

This one may have slipped past me (OK, it probably did) but it's worth mentioning, nonetheless. Prior to my system crash a few weeks ago, I had A2005, A2006, & A2007 loaded and could have checked other versions. As it stands, I know for sure that AutoCAD 2007 has this Line Spacing feature in Mtext that formerly could only be adjusted in the Properties window*.

MText Editor

Instructions to set a Line Space Factor when Adding Mtext

  1. Launch Mtext and pick the first corner.
  2. Enter L for the "Line spacing" option. You can either use the At least option or the Exactly option. In this situation, I used A for At least.
  3. When entering the spacing factor, be sure to add the X at the end. I couldn't figure out why it "wasn't working" and then realized it needed that X.
  4. Now when you enter the text, when it wraps you will see the spacing difference. In the illustration the upper text was entered using the default spacing of 1x.
Properties panel

* If you have a version of AutoCAD that does not have this "Line spacing" option, to adjust the line spacing of existing Mtext, select the text object, then open the Properties window. Under the Text heading, you will see the three Line Space settings as shown. (If you're thinking "Oh, I remember that", you probably saw it in the Odd Spot coverage back in Michael's Corner, July 2004.)

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