Hot tips

Solids TIPS for the week of March 29, 2007

HOT Empty out empty fields Empty fields in AutoCAD (2005+) are indicated by dashes (---). Autodesk offers two suggestions on how to make empty fields without the dashes. The first is to add a custom property and use the spacebar to enter several spaces in the Value field. Then select the new property (under Document in the Field Category list) and make it a field. The drawback to setting the value to a blank space is that the field will not be visible and you won’t be able to select it until it’s repopulated. The second approach is to use a dot for the empty value. HOT Breaking up is hard to do To break an object without creating a gap, start the Break command and specify both break points at the same location. Do this by entering @0,0 at the prompt for the second point. If you just enter @, AutoCAD automatically uses @0,0 or @0,0,0. COOL More shorthand If you can’t remember the exact name of a command, but know how it starts, enter what you know at the command prompt. Press the Tab key, and AutoCAD cycles through all commands that begin with the letters you entered. HOT Find that file Locked out of a file you need to open? Use the Whohas command. Type Whohas at the command prompt, then select the file in the Select Drawing to Query dialog box that appears. AutoCAD displays the current user’s compute rname, login ID, full name (if available), and the date and time the file was opened. Note: Whohas originated as an Express Tool. If you’re using the Express Tool version (pre-AutoCAD 2000, as far as I can tell), it needs to be loaded and running on all systems with access to your AutoCAD files for it to work. COOL Pluses and minuses Here’s a tip that was brought to my attention years ago by Samer Joudi, a GIS expert with the municipality of Dubai: AutoCAD 2000 added the ability to precede many commands with a hyphen (-) to make them run from the command line, not through their dialog box (a feature particularly helpful to programmers and those familiar with the prompt sequences). Examples include: -dimstyle -insert -layer -view -purge You can also precede some commands with a plus sign (+). When you do so, AutoCAD prompts for the number of the tab to make active, then displays the dialog box open to your desired tab. Note: The first tab is 0. Some commands this works with are: +dsettings +options +ucsman +vports +customize +view Use this feature to fine-tune menu options. AutoCAD’s Named UCS command, for example, uses it as follows: ^C^C_+ucsman 0