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AutoCAD 2015 and AutoCAD LT 2015 Bible

The most comprehensive AutoCAD book around!

Tutorial-How to display the area of an enclosed figure

Suppose that you would like to insert a label that displays the area of an enclosed figure. While the AREA command can show you the area, it doesn’t create a label in your drawing. If you insert the area at the end of a leader, that area doesn’t change if your object changes in size.

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Display lost toolbars in AutoCAD

Sometimes people have trouble displaying a toolbar that isn’t visible, or a toolbar seems to disappear for no apparent reason. Here are some tips for displaying toolbars.

1st method

The easiest way to display a toolbar is to right-click any visible toolbar. This displays the list of all your toolbars, as you see here […]

Create a circle with a width

There are various reasons that you might need to create a circular object with a specific width, such as matching cable widths, or showing cross sections. I’ve come up with 4 ways to go about this. The right one for you will depend on your needs.

Fit a polygon

An excellent method uses the POLYGON […]

Tutorial: Automate tasks with a script file

A script is a macro, a list of commands that you can run all at once, and as many times as necessary, allowing you to automate tasks that would take a long time if you did them manually. Using Scripts in Autocad can be very powerful and you can run them on objects in one […]

Create a scaled PDF of your drawing

There are several ways to export a drawing to a PDF file–I have links to some other related tips below. But most don’t have a way for you to specify your scale, because they aren’t connected to the plotting process.

Instead, you can plot to a PC3 file that creates a PDF file. This method […]

Create a custom keyboard shortcut

Would you like to create a keyboard shortcut to your favorite command-option combination? For example, I would like a version of the COPY command that doesn’t repeat, that is, that ends after one copy operation. Here are the steps:

Enter cui to open the Customize User Interface dialog box. In the Command List pane, […]

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 […]

Switch to plan view when you change the UCS

When you create a new User Coordinate System (UCS) in AutoCAD, by default, your viewpoint doesn’t change. Here I used the 3 point option of the UCS command to create a new UCS.

Create a new UCS with the 3 point option

Sometimes, you may want to return to plan view in that new […]