How to make the drawing area smaller

[tzframpton]

So you're admitting that you don't use Groups very often?

[rkent]

Group - select your objects, right click, Group>Group

 

Nudge - select your objects, hold Ctrl, hit arrow key. With Snap set on it will move the objects by the set amount, with Snap off it will move objects a few pixels.

 

to set Snap right click over Snap at the bottom of the screen over to the left, 2nd icon from the left, or if not using icons it will read SNAP, pick settings, finally set the Snap X spacing, the Y spacing will match but you can over ride.

[Z06Seal]

ok I'll check the snap settings now. I figured it's snap on/off. how do you set the distance? with the settings like you mentioned?

 

ok, this might be little hard to explain. if anyone uses design CAD they will know what I'm talking about

 

Let's say I set an arc. I need an inside and a outside arc.

 

the inner arc will be radius of 30. you draw this. then in DesignCad you press F2 and distance popup box will appear. you set how much you want to place a new object distance at. we'll say 6 inches.

 

when you press that, it will create another arc on top of it, but will proportion it so that the arc above has a 36 radius.

 

so now you have 2 arcs within seconds that have proper dimensions. inner for 30 radius, and outer for 36 radius.

 

To give you an idea of why I do this I have a picture for you

 

this is a piece for a mansion. it goes above a window (few of them next to each other) that has a radius of 48. (the inside is actually 46, and outside is 59) it's offset by -2 inches at the bottom, then 9 inches for the concrete, then +2 for the top

 

[rkent]

Draw first arc. OFFSET, 6, pick arc, pick on either side of arc depending on inner or outer. You should be able to just type O and hit enter or space bar to start the offset command.

[BIGAL]

If your always doing the same offset you can create shortcuts like O3 O6 O9 O12 if your offsets vary all over then dont worry else ask for more info.

[Z06Seal]

I actually use 2 all the time, so how could I set that shortcut?

 

I'm also having bit of a fuss with the "Arc, Start, End, Radius" tool

 

I want to click, enter the radius ( 48 ) then move the mouse on the X axis and adjust the legnth while keeping that 48 radius intact.

 

the offset feature worked very well btw, just what I wanted. the shortcut will help

 

It's neat on the DesignCAD. when you create an arc it gives you all the info as you draw it

 

sometimes I don't know what the angle will be so I do 48 inches long. sometimes I will do 60 degrees. as you draw the arc in DCAD, the info is right next to the cursor. anything like this in ACAD?

[BIGAL]

Re arc pretty sure a few days ago in the lisp section there was a draw arc routine like what you want. Re display pick the dynamic button at bottom of screen to turn on display or off

 

re 03 06 etc there is a few ways to do it you can have a menu item a toolbar or a typed command or even all 3

 

Typed version you just need to add the following code to your ACAD.mnl file this will autoload for you everytime you start autocad just type 03 etc

 

(defun c:06 ()(command "offset" 6))
(defun c:03 ()(command "offset" 3))