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 August 2016

X-Ray Visual Style Update

I love Visual Styles. Over the last 14 years, you will find a handful of articles on visual styles, but my favorite is the X-Ray (last covered 7 years ago in February 2009).

Recommended Ribbon Components

• 

  For the Visual Styles panel, go to the View tab, then right-click on the Ribbon Show PanelsVisual Styles.

• For the Ground Shadows tool, turn on the Visualize tab. [Right-click on the Ribbon, then click Show TabsVisualize].

Note: Yes, I'm a big fan of the listing of Visual Style Controls in the upper left corner of the drawing window, but the Visual Styles tab has additional cool tools & features.

Visual Styles Panel

• To configure the view as shown in the sample workstation, use the Monochrome Color Mode.

  

• Adjust the Opacity slider for the desired ‘ghost’ setting.

• Combine the Warm-Cool Face Style with the color mode.

• 

  By default, the Monochrome color mode is Grayscale. Set the variable VSMONOCOLOR to any color using the syntax "RGB:R,G,B" such as "RGB: 153,190,234" to get this blue scheme. Yes, the quotes are necessary.

Note: To find an RGB number, launch the COLOR command, click on the True Color tab, then meander through the rainbow of colors and find one you like. The RGB number is displayed on the right, or in the color box below the color bar.

Ground Shadows Feature

• Since this is a single command and on a totally other tab, right-click on the Ground Shadows button Add to Quick Access Toolbar.

• After enabling Ground Shadows, if they don't appear, on the Visual Styles tab, adjust the opacity to 66 or higher. I know, weird.

Other Considerations

• 

  For a ‘Stippled’ effect, turn of the Hardware Acceleration for the moment, then capture the image.

• For a white background — which is what I had to configure for these screen captures — go to OptionsDisplay tabColors button.

  

• Use the Windows Snipping Tool to create an image of your view. Even if you save the capture as a raster image you can paste it back into AutoCAD as an OLE object and the image won't be ‘external’. See Michael's Corner, December 2012.

Layout Tab Ideas

• Save a Named View — coverage below — then restore that view in a viewport. The named view retains the condition at the time the view is created, which means you can go back to 2D Wireframe in Model space after creating the view.

  

• Each viewport has its own collection of view controls in the upper left corner.

• Paste a captured image on the Layout tab, that way you won't need a viewport.

I hope you have as much fun with these settings as I did!

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