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AutoCAD 2015 and AutoCAD LT 2015 Bible

The most comprehensive AutoCAD book around!

Use Dynamic Input, or not

Dynamic Input is a way of specifying coordinates near your cursor, instead of on the command line. It’s on by default, but you can turn it off using the Dynamic Input button on the status bar.

When you’re doing simple drawing tasks, there isn’t much difference between having Dynamic Input on or off.

But […]

Speed up your display for more productivity in AutoCAD

Some default settings in AutoCAD slow down its display and you may want to turn them off or change them. Here are some ideas. Please add a comment to contribute your own display speed tips!

Text

A large drawing with lots of text can slow down your work. Here are some text tips.

Quicktext

Quicktext […]

Get notification when layers are added to your drawing—or not

A reader recently asked me the following question about AutoCAD 2008:

“When I’m working with xrefs, this comes up a lot: ‘Unreconciled new layer, new layers were found that may need to be reconciled.’ What is this and how do I correct this?”

AutoCAD 2008 introduced layer notification, which is a feature that lets you […]

Avoid drawing temporary construction lines

When you need to draw a rectangle or line that doesn’t start on a geometric point (endpoint, midpoint, etc.) of another object, you might draw a temporary line, called a construction line, from an existing object to the desired start point of the new line.

Then you would draw the rectangle or line. Then erase […]

Make dimensions look orderly by aligning them

As you add dimensions, they can get messy looking if you don’t align them.

The DIMSPACE command has a little-known technique that automatically aligns the dimensions for you. Follow these prompts:

Select base dimension: Select the dimension that you want to align the other dimensions to.

Select dimensions to space: Select the dimensions that you […]

Spacebar Shortcuts

In a previous tip, I discussed shortcuts that use the Shift key. Here I discuss a few shortcuts that use the Spacebar.

As an equivalent to the Return/Enter key

With one exception, you can use the Spacebar instead of the Enter key. It’s often more convenient, because it’s bigger and because if your right hand […]

AutoCAD Tutorial: Create a dynamic block of a door

Dynamic blocks are an amazing feature, but they can be complicated. This tutorial will teach you many techniques that you can use in your own blocks. The door will do the following:

Stretch to 3 sizes Flip left/right Flip in/out

This tutorial is updated for AutoCAD 2010 and 2011. Follow these steps:

In a new […]

Find the midpoint between two points, the center of a triangle, and other unusual points

Use AutoCAD’s calculator (originally the CAL command and then the QUICKCALC command) to find calculated points, such as the midpoint between two existing points or the center of a triangle. You usually use this command transparently, while drawing a line.

Use the object snap

There’s a shortcut to start a line (or specify any other […]

Use tool palettes to save and place user-defined hatch patterns

If you create user-defined hatches, which means that you specify the angle and spacing, you may want to save them for future use. You can easily do this using a tool palette.

First, create the user-defined hatch. In the Hatch and Gradient dialog box (or on the Hatch Creation tab in AutoCAD 2011), choose User-Defined […]

Quickly find out how many insertions of a block are in your AutoCAD drawing

Do you sometimes want to know how many times you inserted the widget block in your drawing? Here’s a quick way:

Display the Properties palette (Ctrl+1). Click the Quick Select button at the upper-right corner of the Properties palette. In the Quick Select dialog box, from the Object Type drop-down list, choose Block Reference. If […]