CAD TALK: Tips to Tune Your Drafting Skills
Dont draft like my brotherDont draft like my brother. Click and Clack
[Link]
[Link]
[Link]:
EXPLOREALLTHEBUTTONS,TOOLS,[Link]
PROGRAMCANDO.
KeepDrawingsCleanandOrganized
Commands:OVERKILL,PURGE,AUDIT
1.
OVERKILL
16blocks!?[Link],[Link]
command.
[Link]
[Link],ifyouwantOVERKILLtoremoveduplicatelineworkandblocks,eveniftheyareon
anotherlayer,makesuretochecktheboxnexttoIgnoreLayer.
Nomorehiddenblocks!
2.
PURGE
PerhapstheduplicateplantsymbolsweremovedusingtheOVERKILLcommandwerelocatedonasecondshrub
[Link],youfindyouhaveotherunnecessarylayers.
Tocleanupduplicatelayersthatarenotbeingused,[Link]
[Link]
developstandardlayersandlayernamingconventionstokeepyourlayersorganized.
Allclean!
3.
AUDIT
Afterdraftinginadrawingforawhile,thedrawingsometimesdevelopsclichsanderrorsthatcausethefilestobe
[Link],itisbesttoruntheAUDITcommandeverysooften,especiallyifyourdrawingis
[Link],typeYforYES.
PrintingMadeEasy
Command:SHEETSETPublishusingPageSetupOverride
AssumingyouhavesetupallyourplotsheettabsandformattedallyourPageSetupsinyourPageSetup
Managerhereisatricktosettingupprintingyourentiredrawingsetwithoneclickofabutton.
**Sidenote:WhensettingupyourPageSetups,justcreatethesetupsinonefileandimportthemintoallyour
[Link].
Tobegin,setupanewsheetsetfromyourplotsheets.
[Link];youcanrearrangetheorderofthe
sheetsoncetheyareimportingintothesheetlist.
Onceyouhaveyoursheetlistimported,[Link]
[Link]
[Link]
[Link].
OverrideFile
OpentheplotsheettheyoucreatedallyourPageSetupsinandsimplydoasaveasofthatfile,savingitasa
.[Link].
OnceyouhavetheOverrideSSfilecreatedandimportedintoyourSheetSetManager,printingwithoneclickis
[Link],rightclickthesheetsetname,scrolltoPublish,thentoPublishusingPage
[Link],byhighlightingand
[Link],oronlytheplanting
sheets,highlightonlythesheetsyouwanttoprintandfollowthesamestepsasshownabove.
**[Link],
unfortunately,Ihavefoundthatafterpublishing,evenotherformsofpublishing,Icantprintorpublishanything
[Link].
KnowyourNumbers:TwoSpeedyWaystoCountPlants
Commands:QUICKSELECT,BCOUNT
1.
QUICKSELECT
BylookingatQuickPropertiesweknowtheblocknameis01.5ft_b.Rememberitandmakeanote.
RightclickandgotoQuickSelect,underObjectTypeselectBlockReferenceandthenhighlightNameinthe
[Link].
Presto![Link],inthiscase,aplantsymbol,which
maycomeinhandyifyouneedtoremovealloftheseplantsorswapwithanothertypeofplant.
2.
BCOUNT
Ifyouwantanevenquickerwaytocountblocks,usuallyrepresentingplanttypes,runtheBCOUNTcommand.
Selectyourentireplantingplanandhitenter.
[Link]!
TrimandExtendwithSpeed
Commands:TRIM(TR)FENCE,EXTEND(EX)FENCE
[Link]
increasethespeedofyourdrafting.
1.
TRIMusingFENCE
2.
EXTENDusingFENCE
DraftwithEasebyAdjustingyourUCS(UniversalCoordinateSystem)
Commands:UCSZAXISANGLE,PLANCURRENT
UnderstandingtheuniversalcoordinatesystemwithinAutoCADallowsyoutomanipulateyourviewofthedrawing
[Link],Iwould
recommendreadingupontheUCScommandtounderstandtheDOsandDONTsofinserting,rotating,and
movinginformationinyourdrawing.
TheUCStipdescribedbelowallowsyoutorotateyourviewsoyourcrosshairsarealignedwithwhatever
element(s)[Link]
drawingtoanythingyouwant,allyouneedtoknowisitsrotationfromNorth.
[Link]
crosshairs,runthecommandUCS,typeZtospecificyourrotationaboutthezaxis,type45degreesandhitenter.
[Link]
crosshairs,runthecommandPLANandtypeCforCURRENT.
[Link],runtheUCS
commandagain,[Link].
LayoutBlockslikeaPro
Command:MEASURE
[Link].
RunthecommandMEASURE,typeBtospecifyBLOCK,typeinthenameoftheblockyouwishtoplacealongthe
[Link]?TypeYforYESandhitenter.
AligningHandSketcheswithAutoCADBaseMap(PlacingPDFsandJPEGsintoAutoCAD)
Command:ALIGN
TheALIGNcommandallowsyoutoalignandscaleahandsketchwithautoCADbaseinformationinonecommand.
First,[Link],
clickthefirstpointonthehandsketch,[Link]
[Link],hit
[Link],typeY
forYES.
Thehandsketchisnowalignedwiththebasemapandscaledproperly.
XMarkstheSpot
Commands:XLIST,XLINE,XCLIP
ThreeXCommandsthatwillclearupconfusion,lineupyourdrawings,andhideunnecessarybaseinformation.
1.
XLIST
RuntheXLISTcommand,selectalinefromareferenceandadialogueboxlayerwillpopupgivinginformation
[Link]
makesenseofnewbaseinformation.
2.
XLINE
TheXLINEcommand,shortforConstructionLine,ismostusefulwhenyouarecuttingsectionsthroughplansor
[Link].
[Link].
WiththeuseofXLINE,[Link]
drafteristhenabletocreateagridoflinesthatrepresentcontourelevationsandquicklydraftanexistingsection
ofthewetland.
3.
XCLIP
[Link],runthe
XCLIPcommand.
[Link]
ZOOMEXTENTScommandandzoomdirectlytoyourprojectsite.
BonusTip:
[Link]:
COPYNESTEDOBJECTSAllowsyoutoselectlineworkfromxrefsandcopyintoyourcurrentdrawing.
(ShortcutcommandNCOPY)
**Remembertouse0,0,0asyoucopyandpastedisplacementpoint.
CONVERTTOMTEXTAllowsyoutotakeaseriesofsimpletextboxesandconvertthemintoasingle
multilinetextbox.
**Ifyouhaveafewmultilinetextboxesthatyouwanttocombineintoonelargetextbox,first,
EXPLODEthemultilinetextboxesandthenruntheconverttomtextshortcut.
