Thanks for reading!

I’ve been running this blog since 2007, and it’s been quite enjoyable. I’ve never been dedicated to providing continuous updates, but I have enjoyed dishing out an occasional post with some useful AutoCAD tips.

I’m now in the process of making a career transition, so I don’t expect I’ll be making any more updates to this blog. I hope that the information here continues to be a useful resource. Thanks to my readers for your patronage!

If anyone is curious, my new career is in counseling. I graduated from the LIOS Graduate College of Saybrook University in January 2011, and I now operate a private practice as a mindfulness-based therapist here in Seattle. I’m still working the old job, but my intention is to leave after I build up my practice. If you are interested in finding out more about my work, please visit http://fosteringconnection.com . I’m especially good at working with engineers, architects and CAD techs.

Happy CADing!

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Command Line slowness

Summer’s over!  I’m back from my vacations and forays into the world of pavement inspection.  Time to do some blogging.

I noticed that AutoCAD was ignoring certain keypresses occasionally.  For instance, when I was in the middle of a pline command, I’d type “cen” but “cn” would appear in the command line.  So I did a little googlin’ and came across this thread.  I wasn’t quite satisfied with the answer (what’s the point of dual monitors if I can’t display the non-modal windows on my second monitor?), so I played around a little bit and I think I found a solution.

In AutoCAD 2009 and onward, there are two command line windows, one that you access with F2, and one that you can access by typing “commandline” or hitting CTRL+9.  I prefer the F2 one because it is quicker to toggle on and off.  So I put the F2 command line window on my secondary monitor, and I noticed that I had tried to put the CTRL+9 command line window there as well, then turned it off.  Well, apparently AutoCAD still thinks it is there, because when I turned it back on and then docked it, the keypress delay disappeared.  Problem solved!  Now, with the CTRL+9 command line docked, I can turn it off, and the delay is still gone.

I tested this in Civil 3D 2009; I’m not sure if it will work in other versions.  Please let me know if it does or doesn’t solve your problem.

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Commas in the Sheet Set Manager

The CAD Geek has a post about how to use commas in a sheet set sheet title:

The secret is to press and hold the ALT key while you type 0130. It will then insert a character that looks like a comma, but more importantly works with SSM.

Also, the comments had this useful tip:

You also can use %%44 in the sheet name, this will regenate a comma, in most .shx fonts, when translated into autocad.

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Obama for President of Space

Here’s my official endorsement for the next election.

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OS Tools – Launchy

This post isn’t specifically about AutoCAD, but about some of the freeware/open source tools I use to make working in Windows faster and more efficient.  My top three favorite open source apps are Launchy, Folder View and VirtuaWin.  These tools are great for speedy application or folder launching, and for managing your desktop space.  Best of all, all three are free.  This week I want to talk about Launchy.

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Drawing without construction lines

Sometimes you probably draw construction lines in order to provide reference points for the insertion or creation of other entities.  A long time ago, a wise man told me “you never need to draw construction lines”, and then he shared his ancient knowledge with me.  This is before OTRACK was available, even before Windows was out.

There are two time-saving features I want to share with you: .x/.y and mee.

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Background Masks in Block Attributes

I’ve previously discussed how to use background masks with annotative text. Now I want to talk about using background masks in block attributes. Using the ATTDEF command, you create an attribute, but once it is created, there doesn’t appear to be any way to apply a background mask. The trick is to use multiline attributes.

Checking “Multiple lines” makes the “Default” value editable only by clicking on the ellipses.

If you click on these and type in your text (you can type just one line if you want), you can then highlight and right-click on your text and select “background mask” and apply the background mask settings.

Check “Use background mask”. I usually set the border offset factor to 1.2 or so, and the fill color to “use drawing background color”.

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AutoCAD Blog Roundup

I’m back!  Our big project went out and I’m back from vacation, so I’ve finally got some free time to devote to the ol’ blog. Here’s a nice collection of AutoCAD tips:

• The CommTech CAD Cafe has a good article on controlling the UCS icon and layout tabs.
• Lynn Allen introduces us to XLIST. Personally, I like to set up an alias like “LX” to execute the command line version, -XLIST, so the results remain in the command history window.  Great for finding layer names and referring to them in the layer dialog box.
• Ward Romberger from has provided some esoteric but useful information about editing multiple MTEXT entries.  It’s articles like this that make CAD-e-Corner my favorite AutoCAD blog.
• Finally, Donnie Gladfelter has an insightful article about using STB-based plotting over at The CAD Geek.  I’m going to have to consider switching over to STBs.

I’ve got some more tips of my own planned, so stop back soon!

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Turn off Error Reporting

So AutoCAD crashes every once in a while. It’s bound to happen. If it happens a lot, you might get tired of the error reporting dialog box popping up (unless you enjoy filling in the error report with a series of expletives – I wonder how many reports are received with this invaluable content).

So turn it off. Just type REPORTERROR 0 in the command line.

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Automatically Purge Scale List

Tired of seeing all of those xref’d scales showing up in your scale list? Never use ‘em? Here’s a little AutoLisp routine you can use to automatically purge the list upon opening a drawing.

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