Al Rivera Posted November 13, 2008 Share Posted November 13, 2008 Hello, How do I group some items together so they don't split up when I move it somewhere else? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReMark Posted November 13, 2008 Share Posted November 13, 2008 From AutoCAD Help: "A group is a saved set of objects you can select and edit together or separately as needed. Groups provide an easy way to combine drawing elements that you need to manipulate as a unit." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReMark Posted November 13, 2008 Share Posted November 13, 2008 Type _group at the command line. In the Object Grouping dialog box type in a Group Name and a Description. Under Create Group click on the New button. When you are back in your drawing select all objects to include in your new group. When you are finished making your selections press the Enter key. Finally, click on the OK button. You've just made your first group. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Rivera Posted November 13, 2008 Author Share Posted November 13, 2008 Sorry to be so un-knowledgeable...thanks, Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReMark Posted November 13, 2008 Share Posted November 13, 2008 There is no reason to apologize. We weren't born with a full complement of AutoCAD knowledge. It is a life-long learning process. Even I have something new to learn each day and that's why I, like many others, keep coming back to CADTutor. Fellow CAD users voluntarily helping each other. Just keep at it and don't forget we are here to help you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbroada Posted November 14, 2008 Share Posted November 14, 2008 you may also want to look into BLOCK. These a "groups" too but can be used more easily in different drawings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiger Posted November 14, 2008 Share Posted November 14, 2008 And (since both Dbroada and ReMark seems to have misplaced their glasses today :wink:) the COMMANDLINE is the window at the bottom of the screen where it says Command:. You don't have to click there first to type anything - just start typing and the text will show up there. When you click any button, you will see the command on the command, and you will also see what kind of iput AutoCAD is wanting next. I always recommend people to learn to read the commandline - it saves a lot of headache. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Attila The Gel Posted November 14, 2008 Share Posted November 14, 2008 blocks If you dont want to specify a name or anything special to it! Select object > ctrl-x or (ctrl-c > select basepoint) > ctrl-SHIFT-v cmd:RENAME to rename the blocks afterwards if you change your mind! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbroada Posted November 14, 2008 Share Posted November 14, 2008 And (since both Dbroada and ReMark seems to have misplaced their glasses today :wink:) .you're wrong - I take my glasses off to see the screen. But even then I didn't see his question - I don't read headings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soleary Posted November 14, 2008 Share Posted November 14, 2008 I always recommend people to learn to read the commandline - it saves a lot of headache. Well said Tiger! For me, this is the single most important lesson for anyone trying to learn AutoCAD. If you concentrate on what is happening here, in most cases, the software is actually prompting you for the required input. In my experience, people who don't concentrate on the command line are those that get most confused about what is happening and invariably they are the ones that get most frustrated with the software. I would recommend anyone new to AutoCAD to turn dynamic input (DYN) off and just use the command line for input. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiger Posted November 14, 2008 Share Posted November 14, 2008 I'm not sure I'd recommend turning dynamic input off though - I don't use it, but what it does is move the commandline up to the pointer so I'd imagine it would be very good for new users to get used to DYN from the start. But other than that, Soleary yeah, my most common reponse to people when they say "AutoCAD sucks!! I do what you told me, and it STILL messes things up!!" is to look at the commandline, what does the program want you to do... usually followed by "oh yeah.... so the trimming boundaries get selected before the lines.....aha." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spaceman S Posted November 18, 2008 Share Posted November 18, 2008 thought i'd try this thread in search of quicker grouping as another thread i tried hasn't been active for a while... basically, i'm looking to group objects, but want to do it in a simpler way than going through the whole dialogue box garbage...if you know sketchup, all it takes is to select the objects and right click-select group...same to ungroup... i know back in 2000-2002 roughly, there was a quickgroup command which was almost like what i'm describing...but then it disappeared...maybe it was an express tool of some sort? anyone? and no answers requiring programming...customizing the right click menu i'll do, but it says a lot about a product when essential things like this are not there by default... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Attila The Gel Posted November 18, 2008 Share Posted November 18, 2008 Add that to the "whats missing in autocad thread" if you didn't do it already! Also, if you add all the little "maybe usefull to some users" commands to the right click menu then there would be a long list! On the other hand, if you could select/unselect the commands to be added/removed from the rightclick menu, I think that would be just fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SEANT Posted November 18, 2008 Share Posted November 18, 2008 thought i'd try this thread in search of quicker grouping as another thread i tried hasn't been active for a while... basically, i'm looking to group objects, but want to do it in a simpler way than going through the whole dialogue box garbage...if you know sketchup, all it takes is to select the objects and right click-select group...same to ungroup... i know back in 2000-2002 roughly, there was a quickgroup command which was almost like what i'm describing...but then it disappeared...maybe it was an express tool of some sort? anyone? and no answers requiring programming...customizing the right click menu i'll do, but it says a lot about a product when essential things like this are not there by default... Here is a command macro (wouldn't exactly consider it programming) for quickly creating a group. ^C^C-Group;c;*;;\ Unfortunately, there does not seem to be a similar method for quickly removing the grouping. That would have to be done through the dialogue box Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spaceman S Posted November 18, 2008 Share Posted November 18, 2008 thanks, i will add the macro... am i in rare company though in thinking that quick grouping is one of the most useful commands in day to day drawing? it seems weird to me that such an essential tool is not part of the basic package... for me, it's the number #1 pet peeve by far, almost as bad as if they left the delete or trim command out...and i do so little macro setting-up that i never remember how to do it, nor how to show staff how to do it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SEANT Posted November 18, 2008 Share Posted November 18, 2008 thanks, i will add the macro... am i in rare company though in thinking that quick grouping is one of the most useful commands in day to day drawing? I suspect you are. If I had to guess, I’d say less than 5% of AutoCAD users ever make use of GROUPs; possibly because the official interface is rather convoluted, as you’ve pointed out. The deficiency only becomes apparent, however, when transplanting from a different application which employ grouping more conspicuously in it’s workflow and documentation. The more usual method of grouping objects would be a coordinated use of LAYERs, BLOCKs, and selective filtering. Users with a LISP background would also have the use of saved selection sets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReMark Posted November 18, 2008 Share Posted November 18, 2008 While I know about grouping, I can honestly say I haven't used it once. I'm not sure why either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SEANT Posted November 18, 2008 Share Posted November 18, 2008 I think the same case can be made about Hiding, Showing, Isolating by object(s) instead of the more conventional by Layer. After emigrating from some applications, new users feel that omission very constricting. Not only do most AutoCAD users not miss the functionality, they don’t even consider it as a possibility. Of course, neither does the average AutoCAD user even blink at 100+ layers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbroada Posted November 18, 2008 Share Posted November 18, 2008 While I know about grouping, I can honestly say I haven't used it once. I'm not sure why either.I think I've used it 3 or 4 times. I think it is another of those commands that was introduced in an unfinished state. I tried it, didn't get on with it and never tried again. Sounds like it still isn't too friendly. There are several commands like that are now pretty useful but not recently tried by me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReMark Posted November 18, 2008 Share Posted November 18, 2008 When I think of the term "grouping" I envision it being useful maybe in an office setting where one is inserting a group of objects that would generally go together in multiple, identical locations. So it could be a cubicle with desk, chair, file cabinet, printer and computer for example. At the chemical plant I work at, even though we have tanks with pumps there are just so many variations of tank sizes, types and sizes of pumps and ancillary equipment, grouping just wouldn't work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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