Tips & Tools Weekly (Vol 11, No. 13)
9 Apr, 2006What's New at Cadalyst.com Cadalyst Daily Update
Hot Tip Harry Forums |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Resources Peer Inside AutoCAD 2007 New CAD Standards vBook Business Intelligence Web Seminar New Open Source Web Site |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . This Week's Software Tips A 2D Take on AutoCAD's Align Command "One of my favorite commands is Align. Traditionally it's used to move, scale and rotate entities from one UCS to another by defining three source and destination points. The command has been around a long time and is a 3D operation found on the Modify menu. I use Align as a basic 2D tool to align JPEG, TIFF or any other image or entity to line work. Align asks for three sets of source/destination points to define a plane, but providing the third set of points is optional. When you press Enter at the third prompt, Align becomes a 2D operation, moving, scaling and rotating the entities only on the plane where they reside. Align is more basic than rubber sheeting, but gets the job done quickly under most circumstances." Follow Up: Block Redefine Without Exploding More About Osnaps Stephen Rien wrote, "In the March 27 edition, a tip explained how to set osnaps to F keys, something I'd been doing for the past 18 years or so. However, the tip as listed works only through AutoCAD 2005. With the release of AutoCAD 2006, the CMU file replaced the MNU file, and you have to enter this information differently. Perhaps someone could show this new process, which is a bit more involved?" Brent Stewart and Greg G. Tattersall each sent a short LISP routine, providing readers with two more options for quickly setting osnaps. Click here to download both sets of code. Stewart says of his osnap preset routine, "We wrote the code back in AutoCAD R10 days and update the snap values with each new version of AutoCAD. We use several preset object snap quick commands, run using either Command line or toolbar. Commands run silently, so you have no flashing up of lines on the text screen." Tattersall writes, "Our company has multiple disciplines and many operators across a network and everyone likes their settings a little different, so I added an icon in our company standard toolbar for everyone to use. The icon loads a LISP routine that retrieves the user's login name or initials and runs a script file with the same name. Users just have to create their own custom script. "The code I developed is for everyone else. I myself have the LISP code (minus the alerts) at the end of my ACAD.LSP file. This ensures my script runs every time I open a drawing." Send us your tip or shortcut for your favorite CAD software. If we publish it, we'll send you a “Cadalyst: CAD the Way You Want It” t-shirt. |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Books & Training Autodesk Land Desktop Book |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Opportunities & Honors GeoWeb Call for Papers Deadline Extended |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Week's New CAD and Related Products For all the latest new products, delivered daily to your desktop, subscribe to Cadalyst Daily e-newsletter. Here are last week’s highlights: Hardware: Laser Tracker X and Xi General Software: RxViewServer v8 General Software: DaylightRIP General Software: Motion Graphics for Flash GIS: Pushpin LE MCAD: CADFind for SolidWorks MCAD: Solid Edge Wire-Harness Design MCAD: Collaboration Suite 2006 v2 MCAD: 3Data Expert v7.1 PLM: NX 4 for Linux |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mark Your Calendar Cadalyst's complete list of upcoming industry events is always available on our Web site. SMMA Spring Management Conference |