LT Unlimited

Customize Ribbon Panel Dialog Box Launcher

Ahh, vacation. It was nice while it lasted, but now Monday's here again and it's time to get back to work. Fortunately, I have a very fun tip to get things kick-started again.

On the LT 2010 ribbon, you may have noticed that some panels have a small arrow in the lower right-hand corner of their title bar.

This is the Panel Dialog Box Launcher, and its purpose is to...wait for it...launch dialog boxes. (Don't you love it when names make sense?) On this panel, it launches the Dimension Style Manager. Other panels launch the External References manager, or the Text Style manager...whatever makes sense for that panel.

However, not all panels have a dialog box attached by default. And maybe you'd rather change some of the built-in associations. With the CUI Editor, you can easily attach any command you'd like to a panel's dialog box launcher.

To do this, navigate to the panel's node in the CUI Editor. First, let's look at the Dimensions panel, which we saw above already has a command associated with the dialog box launcher.
If I wanted to change the associated command, I could just drag-and-drop a new command from the command list onto the launcher item. Instead, though, let's go to the Layers panel, which by default doesn't have a dialog box launcher.

Here's what it looks like on-screen:

And in the CUI:

Notice there's no associated command under "Advanced" on the right-hand side. Let's fix that. I'm just going to drag-and-drop the Layer Properties Manager from the command list onto the Panel Dialog Box Launcher.

Then the "Advanced" section is no longer blank...

...and after I say OK, the panel now shows the arrow to launch the Layer Properties Manager.

If you change your mind, you can delete your custom launch command by going back to the panel node in the CUI editor, right-clicking on the Dialog Box Launcher, and selecting "Remove Command".

Set By Layer

An overlooked command from AutoCAD LT 2008 is Set By Layer. In LT 2010, you'll find it on the Modify panel of the home tab.

It does just what you think it might -- changes the color, linetype, and lineweight of all selected objects to ByLayer (from whatver it was).

It's a great command, because it makes changing object properties quick and easy -- and once everything's back to ByLayer, you can change the layer color and know that all objects will update.

Even better, it works on blocks too, so that all the objects in the block reflect the layer properties.

There's also a settings option so that you can choose which object properties are modified by Set By Layer.

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This tip will have to last you for a little while -- Autodesk is going on vacation next week, so by extension the blog will be on vacation too. Feel free to come by and browse the archives other good tips, but new content won't return until July 6th. Happy 4th of July to my US readers!

E-Learning available on the AutoCAD Exchange

In our continued effort to help AutoCAD LT users get the information they need to be productive, we've added several e-Learning courses to the AutoCAD Exchange.

Under Online Learning you'll find courses targeted at both AutoCAD LT 2009 and 2010, with lessons on Dynamic Blocks, Annotation Scaling, Tables, and more.

You do have to register to access the content, but don't worry, it's free.

Project Dragonfly at Autodesk Labs

Some of you may already be familiar with Autodesk Labs, a place where we put new technologies for people to explore and provide feedback on. (If you haven't seen the Labs yet, it's worth a look.)

One of those technologies is Project Dragonfly, a web-based 2D and 3D interior design program. It lets you build rooms with walls, floors, windows, and doors, and then furnish them with pre-loaded design content for everything from living rooms to kitchens.

I recently had the opportunity to help out the Dragonfly team by creating a short video from the Amazon shareholders meeting. In it, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos talks about Dragonfly as an example of software-as-a-service (an application of cloud computing).

You can watch the video on YouTube or in non-YouTube format over at Scott Sheppard's Labs blog, It is Alive in the Lab.

Dragonfly is a lot of fun and very easy to use -- I even used it recently to help me plan the layout of my new apartment...saved a lot of trial and error placing the furniture in real life. :-)

More keyboard shortcuts

Wednesday's post with keyboard shortcuts for quickly deleting words prompted a whole slew of comments with other favorite key combinations for text editing. Some of them I knew about while others I didn't, so I thought I'd share some of them with you.

• Alt+Backspace: undo all of your latest Ctrl+Delete or Ctrl+Backspace
• Ctrl+Shift+U: changes selected text to uppercase (AutoCAD only)
• Ctrl+Shift+L: changes selected text to lowercase (AutoCAD only)
• Ctrl+Spacebar: removes font formatting -- bold, underline, etc. (AutoCAD only)

Thanks to Murray, Kevin, Chris, and Mark for the comments -- keep those tips & tricks coming!

Quickly delete entire words

I'm a big fan of keyboard shortcuts. And not only in AutoCAD LT, but in any program where I can use them. I especially like shortcuts in word processing programs, where both hands are on the keyboard the majority of the time anyway.

Sometimes I get to the end of typing a word or phrase and realize that it wasn't really what I meant to say after all. So to quickly erase what I've written, I use the handy keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Backspace to remove entire words at once. It's faster and more precise than backspacing one character at a time, since you don't have to guess about when to let up on the key. It also doesn't require me to take my hands off the keyboard, so I can get back to writing right away.

The companion to Ctrl+Backspace is Ctrl+Delete, which erases whole words to the right of the cursor instead.

My favorite thing about this tip is that it works in just about any program where you enter text -- Outlook, Word, Excel, Notepad, web browsers, and of course AutoCAD LT. (I've used it several times already composing this post in Firefox.)

What do you think? Do you have any other favorite universal keyboard shortcuts?

A New Way to Get Subscription

Historically, the only way to get your Autodesk products on Subscription was to work through a Value Added Reseller (VAR). But we know that many AutoCAD LT users in the US and Canada prefer to get their software elsewhere, sometimes through one of the e-commerce partners listed on our How To Buy page.

So, beginning June 14th, we're trying something new. That's when we're launching a pilot program with Amazon where you can buy a new seat of AutoCAD LT 2010 plus a year's worth of Subscription all at once. To check out the deal, click here.

If it goes well, we'll look into expanding with our other online retail partners.

In case you don't know what comes with Subscription, here's a short list of benefits:

• Free upgrades
• Additional license/usage options (prior version use, home use)
• E-Learning materials
• Personal, web-based support

And for more details and links, go to the AutoCAD LT Subscription page.

What do you think? Would you be willing to purchase subscription this way?

Fade Objects: Xrefs

The last object type that can be faded in AutoCAD LT (after locked layers and underlays) is a DWG external reference. Unlike the other two kinds, this one is new to the 2010 release.

You can find the fade setting for xrefs on the expanded portion of the Reference panel on the Insert tab, in the Options dialog on the Display tab, or at the command line as XDWGFADECTL.

 

The default value is 70, the minimum is 0, and the maximum is 90. (Again, this keeps you from inadvertantly making an xref invisible.)

The icon at the left side of the slider bar enables you to quickly fading on and off without changing the fade value.

This setting is applied to every xref in the drawing -- you can't have different xrefs faded differently.

For more on external references, don't forget to sign up for the External References webcast next Tuesday!

Fade Objects: Underlays

Next up in the Fade series is fading an underlay. All sorts of underlays can be faded -- DWF, DGN, PDF, and images. You can fade whatever underlay types your version supports (DWF in LT 2007, DWF and DGN in LT 2008, etc.).

In AutoCAD LT 2010, you can set fading with the Adjust command on the Reference Panel of the Insert tab. In other releases, you can use the ###ADJUST commands (like DWFADJUST) or the Properties palette.

Valid values for fading underlays are from 0 to 100.

(Note: Fading is not the same thing as transparency. A faded underlay will still obscure objects behind it.)

New benefits added to Autodesk Assistance Program

The Autodesk Assistance Program has been very well received so far, with over 4500 members and 5000 product downloads.

It's going so well that they've decided to add more benefits to it:

• Employer Discount: Discounts on Autodesk software for companies that hire program participants
• New Term License: 12-month stand-alone license of AutoCAD 2010 for

  $1,995

  (in case you think you'll only need it for a while)
• Firm Resources: Links related to Digital Prototyping (DP) and building information modeling (BIM) to help companies evaluate their workflow
• Products Available: Many more products added to the program, including software for AEC, Manufacturing, Geospatial, and Media & Entertainment
• New e-Learning Materials: Two more online resources added:
• • Membership to Autodesk University (AU) Online including full access to session videos
  • Subscription e-Learining