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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 October 2004

Align

The Align command is buried in the 3D Operation section of the Modify menu so not a lot of people even know it's out there. It's a very intuitive procedure that accomplishes a Move + Rotate based upon two sets of points.

Instructions to Align Selected Objects
  1. Begin the Align command [AL] and select the objects, then press ENTER.

Note: There is no button for this command so you'll have to make your own if you want one.

  1. Pick the first source point on the selected objects. This point will be physically moved to the first destination point.
  1. Pick the first destination point which will effectively be the "anchor point". Each of these points are indicated with the red dots in the figure.
  2. Pick the second source point on the selected objects. This point will be essentially "aimed toward" the second destination point (the blue dots in the figure).
  1. Pick the second destination point. The second pair of points are indicated with the blue dots.
  2. When prompted for the third source point, press ENTER to continue on to the next prompt.
  3. Since most of you will be using this for a Rotate/Move, press ENTER (for NO) when prompted to scale objects based on alignment points.

AutoCAD will then whip the selected objects up against the vector defined by the first and second destination points.

Tip: For quick edits once the objects have been aligned, use UCS/OBject, then select the line along which the objects were aligned. This rotates the UCS so you can use Move or Copy with Ortho on and keep them at that angle.

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