Michael’s Corner

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.

This month…

From the Vault

Originally published June 2006

Bargain tips and tricks II

Fix-It Table

Unrecognized Fonts (.SHX files)

If you receive drawings from someone and there is a dialog box that pops up regarding a .shx file, in the lower left corner of the that dialog box is the name of the file AutoCAD is unable to find. Chances are it's a bigfont, too. So here's what you do.

Instructions to "Create" an Unrecognized Font

1. Identify the name of the .SHX file that is not recognized.
2. In Windows Explorer, navigate to <Install Drive>:\Program Files\AutoCAD xxx\Fonts
3. Copy the file named Bigfont.shx to the same folder.
4. Scroll down to "Copy of Bigfont.shx" and rename it to the name identified in Step 1 above.

Now when you re-launch AutoCAD and open that drawing, AutoCAD will see the font and open the drawing without the dialog box. You should do that for a font called "Special.shx". That's one that seems to have a life of its own and is not part of the AutoCAD Font collection.

Another option is to set the value for Fontalt to Simplex.shx. That will substitute the Simplex font when AutoCAD can't find the one it's supposed to have with that drawing.

Toggle Frames

Images and Wipeout objects have frames. Each object has its respective procedure to turn the frames on or off. ModifyObjectImageFrameOFF or DrawWipeoutFrameOFF. Don't do that anymore. If you need to toggle the frames for images and/or wipeouts on and off, use the variable TFRAMES.

Turn Attributes Into Text

The command is actually called Burst but it's on the Express menu under Blocks as Explode Attributes To Text. As shown in these three figures, the first illustration shows the attributed block including room name and number. If it's exploded, you see all the attribute definition tags. If, however, you use the Express tool, you get something a little less wacky and retain the integrity of the values for the visible attributes.

Instructions to Convert Attributes to Text

1. On the ET: Blocks toolbar, click Explode Attributes to Text, then select the attributed block. The result is a collection of Dtext which can then be edited as necessary.
2. Use Quick Select to select the text with the same content, or any other method you would like, then erase them.
3. Use ExpressTextConvert Text To Mtext to convert several lines of Dtext into a single Mtext object.

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