Tips and Tricks

Here is a trick that I find many people are not aware of. It is possible to copy geometry from one AutoCAD drawing to another without using traditional copy and paste methods.

There are a couple of rules.

• Both drawings must be open in the editor
• You will not be able to specify an exact base point. (See text below the graphic)

Here is how to do it.

1. Start by getting both drawings visible at the same time.
2. A quick way to do this is with the SYSWINDOWS command, then specify the Horizontal option.
   
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This tip came to me while working with Cogo points in Civil 3D, but it could apply to many things. A while back I had a tip about setting PICKADD to 0. Now generally, this system variable set being to 0 would annoy most people since it only allows you to select one object at a time. But if you are working with Civil 3D Cogo points, say for example dragging labels to create a dragged state, and you are doing this over and over, setting PICKADD to 0 can be a big help. Doing so means you do not have to press Escape to clear the previous selection. As soon as you pick one point, it is selected and all other selections are cleared.

Remember to turn OFF the Properties Palette when working with Cogo points. If the Properties palette is on, Civil 3D has to look up and display the properties each time a new point (or points) is selected and this slows it down tremendously. Try it both ways and see if you see a difference.

Also see this note about PICKADD if you are running version 2011 or later. Read more »

Do you ever use the transparent 'CAL command? It is probably one of those commands that you know, but use so infrequently that you forget about it. So why bother? How can it help? Here are some examples. Oh yeah, I'm not talking about the QuickCalc that runs in a palette - this post is strictly referring to the command line 'CAL command.

Example 1: Use it as a plain old calculator. At the command line, type ._CAL and enter an expression like 32/7 which will return 4.57142857. Okay, that was pretty easy and you didn't have to leave AutoCAD. Read more »

Are you getting a Cadalyst newsletter? I know your inbox is full, but these really are valuable. I am kind of partial to the Cadalyst Tips & Tools Weekly, which includes Hot Tip Harry and an assortment of other tips and tricks, but there is about a dozen other available newsletters also, including Robert Green's CAD Manager newsletter.

Click here to view a list of newsletters and to sign up. If you really don't want any more email, you can still access this content by clicking on the Past Issues link for most of the newsletters. Read more »

PICKADD is one of those system variables that you see mentioned a lot, usually in a negative light. Somehow it gets set to 0 and then you can only select one object at a time. Who would ever want to do this, right? Although 99% of the time, you probably keep PICKADD set to 1, there is a useful reason to set it to 0. If you are editing or viewing properties of multiple entities one at a time, this can be helpful.

If PICKADD = 1 and you select one entity to view its properties in the Properties window, no problem. But what happens when you select a second entity? Of course, Properties displays the properties for both entities. You won’t get much useful info if you select say a SPLINE and an MTEXT entity. To avoid this, you have to press ESCAPE to cancel the previous selection each time.

Now, set PICKADD to 0 and then each time you pick an entity, only that one entity is selected and you can edit or view its properties.

If this is something you think might help you, consider using the following lisp code to toggle the value of PICKADD from 1 to 0 to 1 and so on.

(setvar "PICKADD" (abs (- (getvar "PICKADD") 1)))  Read more »

Many people use named views to quickly navigate drawings, but how do you restore those views when needed?

• You can open the View Manager, find it in the list, and set that view current.
• You can use the View toolbar or View ribbon panel and pick it from the list.
• You can run the command line version of VIEW, but you have to type in the view name.

None of those methods allow you to switch to a view in model space if you are in a layout.

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How often do you find yourself drawing lines to get a starting point for the object you really want to draw? You might refer to these as construction lines, and you have to go back and erase them, right? What if you could ‘draw’ with AutoCAD, but not actually create a line? That is what the command modifier TK allows you to do.

To use this, start whatever drawing command you want to use, then when you are prompted for the first point, enter TK, then press enter. Now you can “draw” using the same methods you would for your construction lines (polar coordinates, or snap to existing geometry, etc). When you get to the true starting point for what you are drawing press ENTER, and continue. There will be no construction lines to erase.

Lynn Allen has another example on Tracking, found here, and even more details can be found in the AutoCAD User Documentation.

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Lynn Allen's Tips and Tricks Booklet for AutoCAD 2011 is out. I have a collection of these and still refer to them when I need to know in what release a particular feature was introduced. But getting to know the new features is what these are all about. I believe the 2011 edition is the sixth in the series.

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