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 July 2003

Subdividing Your Linework

Subdividing a line into a user-specified length or number of divisions is probably not something that is part of your daily drawing regimen, but when you need it, what do you do?

It's a two step process:
A Configure your Point Style, then
B Use Measure or Divide.

A When subdividing linework, AutoCAD doesn't snip it into bits, it places a point object at the requested intervals. Points can then be snapped to using the Node object snap. To set the point display mode (PDMODE), choose Format/Point Style to open the Point Style dialog box. After making your selection from the group of icons, I would recommend setting the size to the Absolute Units setting then enter the Point size as necessary. For drawings smaller than a breadbox, a size of 0.5 may be a good starting point (pun intended). For larger drawings of the architectural variety, start with 4 and see how it looks.

B-1 To divide your line into a specific number of sections of the same length, use the Divide command (DrawPointDivide). You are prompted to select the object to divide, then the number of segments (or a block name if you don't want to use points). After entering the number of segments, AutoCAD places points at the specified interval.

B-2 To place points at a user-specified distance, use the Measure command (DrawPointMeasure). After selecting the object to measure, AutoCAD places points along the linework.

Major Tip: AutoCAD begins the measuring process from the endpoint nearest the pick point of the object selected. This means you will get a different result based upon the location of the pick box when you select the object. In the illustration, I selected the horizontal line on the left side of the line.

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