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AutoCAD 2015 and AutoCAD LT 2015 Bible

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The Power of “QUICK SELECT” (QSELECT)

Quick Select or Qselect is one powerful yet often underutilized autocad shortcut tip that can highly improve your productivity.

Often, we find ourselves needing to modify multiple instances of similar objects within a drawing. Manually selecting these items can be painfully slow and prone to errors. Enter ‘Quick Select’ or QSELECT, an incredibly […]

Combine or subtract 2D shapes to create custom shapes

Sometimes you need to create a 2D profile that is a combination of the basic geometrical shapes that AutoCAD creates. While you might be able to use the PLINE command to create what you want, in some cases, 2 other methods may be easier.

Subtract shapes with the SUBTRACT command

For example, let’s say that […]

Working with linetype scales

Simple linetypes allow you to apply a repeating series of dashes, dots, and spaces to your objects. Complex linetypes can also include text or shapes.

Recently, a reader said that his linetype was defined as dash-dot but displayed as a continuous linetype. If you have this situation, zoom in and see if you can see the […]

Rename named objects–blocks, dimension styles, layers, and more

It really helps to have a naming system for named objects, including:

Blocks Dimension styles Text styles Multileader styles Table styles Layers Linetypes UCSs (User Coordinate Systems) Viewports (viewport configurations) Views

But due to various reasons, you may decide to change their names. Maybe you made a mistake or you’re working on a drawing created […]

Keep blocks accessible so you can insert them in any drawing–Part IV: A block library

In previous posts, I explained how to insert blocks from the Tool Palettes window, the DesignCenter, and the Content Explorer. In this tip, I’ll explain how to create block library and use the INSERT command to insert blocks that are in that library.

You don’t need a special tool like the Tool Palette window, DesignCenter, […]

What is your favorite AutoCad Block Naming Convention?

AutoCad block naming conventions can help you quickly identify block types, especially in drawings with many blocks or within the block libraries.

There is no one way fits all approach, however, from our experience, three major criteria for a good naming standard are:

Descriptive/Meaningful Concise Consistent

So what is a Descriptive/meaningful, intuitive, simple and consistent […]

Breaking a line into two in AutoCad

You can break a line or other object into two objects without any space between them using the BREAK command in AutoCad.

Here are 5 easy steps to achieve it:

Type in BREAK at the command line or select break tool Select the object you wish to break Select First Point Option (F) then Pick […]

Use Quick Select to select objects in your AutoCAD drawing

The Quick Select dialog box is a simple filtering device that helps you select the objects you want. For more advanced filters and for when you want to save filters, use the FILTER command.

There are 4 ways to open Quick Select in AutoCAD:qs

Home tab> Utilities panel>Quick Select With no command active, right-click in […]

Tutorials: How to Copy Objects Between Drawings

Updated with AutoCAD 2017

Copying objects from one drawing to another is a common task. You can use the Windows Clipboard and the drag-and-drop methods.

When working with 2 drawings open, choose View tab> Windows panel> Tile Vertically (or Horizontally) to view both drawings at the same time.

Note 1 : You can use these […]

Rotate One Object to Match Another

Sometimes you need to rotate a block or object to match the angle of an existing object. Here’s one way to accomplish that, using the Reference option of the ROTATE command.

In this example, you want to rotate the desk to match the rotation of the end wall. Follow these steps:

Start the ROTATE […]