LT Unlimited

Jogged Dimension Lines

Generally speaking, overriding a dimension's value is one of the cardinal sins of drafting. But we know sometimes it's necessary, so we've given you a way to at least make it obvious that the text doesn't match the actual length.

Let's say I've got a 600x1 rectangle, but only an 8.5x11 piece of paper. (For all these images, click on them to see the full-size version.)

It fits, but it actually has a hole pattern at each end that I want to show. So I'll create two viewports, and add breaklines.

But that means that my dimension showing the length of the rectangle isn't correct anymore. So I'll override it, but I'll also add a Jog Line to the dimension line. This shows that the dimension doesn't represent a real-world distance.

Jog Lines couldn't be easier to use. They're on the Dimensions panel of the Annotate tab, and you simply select the dimension and pick a location. You can grip-edit its position later, and you can set the size of the symbol (as a factor of text height) in the Dimension Style Manger.

(Now, if you'll really irritate your CAD Manager by overriding a dimension value, then forget I said anything. Or at least don't tell them where you heard about it!)

AutoCAD LT on Parallels or Boot Camp

Okay, so this is really old news by now, but somehow I missed posting about it when it was new news.

AutoCAD LT 2010 is now supported on Mac OS X via Parallels or Boot Camp.

It has to be an Intel-based Mac, with Boot Camp 2.0 or higher or Parallels 4.0 or higher.

Anyway, sorry for the delay (this hit the press wires back in September), but now you know.

Align Text with Arc

One of the more popular Express Tools (which I'm sure you're aware are not in AutoCAD LT -- it's part of the reason for the price difference) is Arc Text. This handy tool enables you to align a text object around the curve of an arc.

Why am I telling you about a tool you don't have? Because in this case, there's a way to duplicate the effect. You can use the divide or measure tools to essentially create the same thing. A little more work? Sure. But it can be done, and here's how.

Start with a center-justified text object consisting of at least one letter. (It doesn't really matter how many letters you use, but using 1 will make it easier to see your final effect.)

Then make a block out of it, using the insertion point of your text as the insertion point of the block.

Next, use the Divide command, using the Block option before you enter the number of segments. Be sure to align the block with the object. You'll also want to enter one more segment than number of letters. (Don't forget to count spaces.)

Depending on the orientation of your arc, you may have to rotate some of the block instances 180 degrees. You can either do it one at a time (or make a macro for it), or redefine the block with the text rotated 180 degrees.

Once everything is right-side up, explode your blocks and edit the letters to spell out your words. (Delete any letters that become spaces.)

 

It's not quite identical, but it's pretty close!

(You know, I got all the way through this and realized you can do the same thing with the array command...but hey, maybe sometimes it's easier to draw the arc rather than calculate the center point of rotation and all the angles? It's AutoCAD LT...there's always more than one option.)

Last Day to Ask the Expert

Well, it's your last day to ask me on the Exchange, at any rate. If you're here, then you already know how to find me. It's been a lot of fun answering questions...or trying to. (Can anybody help the guy with the DOS R12?)

Speaking of blasts from the past, somebody else asked about the dialog that appears on startup, or when you start a new drawing.

 

Turns out this is controlled by the system variable STARTUP (I love logical naming). It's off by default, but if you turn it on, you get the dialogs above. I probably haven't seen either dialog since STARTUP was introduced in AutoCAD LT 2004, but it was nice to get the refresher course.

Tip from the Exchange

I've been having fun as the AutoCAD Exchange Expert this week -- I've even learned a few new things while answering the questions. (Even experts have to do research sometimes!) Two people have asked about transferring licenses, so I thought I'd post a little more about it today.

AutoCAD LT 2010 includes the Online License Transfer (OLT) utility, which enables you to move stand-alone licenses between computers or between users. (Previously, it was known as the Portable License Utility, or PLU.) This utility helps you get the software where you need it without violating your license agreement.

For more on the OLT, here's an article from our Knowledge Base, and a video by Tom Stoeckel (of the Without a Net support blog). You may have to scroll down pretty far to see it.

If you're still using the PLU, here are three articles from the Knowledge Base you may find interesting.

Got a question this week? Ask the Exchange!

By now I hope you know about the AutoCAD Exchange, our newest community site for AutoCAD users. You've probably seen the "Ask the Expert" feature, where you can ask questions of AutoCAD experts from around the world -- you've maybe even submitted a question of your own.

If you haven't yet, though, now is your chance...because this week it's my turn on the hot seat. I'll be taking questions and providing answers (hopefully good ones).

Think you have what it takes to be an Exchange Expert? We're always looking for people to share their AutoCAD knowledge -- sign up today!

Add pull-downs to Quick Access toolbar

Today's tip has been floating around the blogs for a little while now, but I haven't posted it yet so it's fair game, right? It also happens to be one of my favorite Quick Access toolbar tips, so that's an even better reason to share.

A while back, I posted about the various ways you can add tools to the Quick Access toolbar. One of those is the super-easy method of right-clicking on an icon and choosing "Add to Quick Access toolbar."

But what I didn't mention is that this method also works with pull-downs, like the layer menu. (Or almost any other pull-down, for that matter.)

See?

Change your mind? Right-click on it and remove it, just like with any other element of the Quick Access toolbar.

Layer Freeze Settings

The snow is falling again in DC, but sideways this time. Unfortunately, the wind doesn't keep the snow from hitting the ground...

The closest AutoCAD LT comes to snow is the "frozen layer" icon, so that'll be the subject of today's post.  

More specifically, this will be about how to get a frozen layer icon -- with the Layer Freeze command.

(Hopefully this will be the last record-setting weather event this year...I'm not sure what commands I might find to relate to a hurricane!)

As I've covered before, freezing a layer in model space freezes it globally, while freezing a layer in a layout or in a viewport freezes it for that view only.

But if you pay attention to the command line, you'll see that you have options for controlling the freeze behavior. (It wouldn't be an LT command without options, would it?)

If you type S before selecting objects, you get options for Viewports and Block Selection settings.

For Viewports, you can choose between Freeze and Vpfreeze. The default is Vpfreeze, but you if you use Freeze instead, then Layer Freeze acts globally, even if you're in a viewport or layout.

For Block Selection, you can set the nesting level, or how many levels AutoCAD LT will look through before finding an object to freeze. Your choices are:

• Block: If a selected object is nested in a block, freezes the layer of that block. If a selected object is nested in an xref, freezes the layer of the object.
• Entity: Freezes the layers of selected objects even if they are nested in an xref or a block.
• None: If a block or an xref is selected, freezes the layer containing that block or xref.

For example, let's say you had an xref inserted on layer XREF, containing lines on layer GRID. If the nesting level is set to Block, selecting one of the lines freezes GRID. If the nesting level is set to None, selecting a line freezes XREF.

And let's say you have a block inserted on layer CHAIR, but containing lines on layer 0. If you set the nesting level to Block (or None), selecting the block freezes CHAIR. But if you set it to Entity, selecting the block freezes layer 0.

The default nesting level is Block, which I generally find to be the most flexible. Depending on your workflow, though, or even the particular drawing, xref or block, you may find one of the other two settings will give you the result you need.

Walk (or dig) through layers

In honor of the record-setting blizzard that dropped 2+ feet of snow on us this weekend, I thought I'd post today about a way for you to dig through the layer information in your drawing. (Get it? Dig, snow...okay, it's a stretch.)

Layer Walk (on the expanded portion of the Layers panel, or at the command line as LAYWALK) is a former Express Tool that made its way into the core program back in AutoCAD LT 2007. It's basically a quick and easy way to check the content of one or more layers at a time. Here's a look at the dialog (click on the image for a larger view):

By default, all layers that are currently on are selected in the dialog -- in the image above, that's everything except Lighting.

You can select one or more layers by clicking and dragging or with CTRL and SHIFT to display only the contents of those layers. You can also use the "select objects" button to select an area of the drawing and highlight the layers those objects are on, as seen in the image below.

The Purge button is only active if there are eligible empty layers selected.

The filter box lets you type in a search string (with or without wildcards), and displays the layers that meet those criteria.

There's also an extensive right-click menu:

"Holding" selected layer(s) means they will always be displayed, even if not selected. Other actions for the selection set include Select All, Clear All, and Invert Selection. Select Unreferenced highlights all layers that can be purged. Inspect displays the number of layers in the drawing, the number of layers selected, and the number of objects on the selected layers.The last 3 options help you manage your filters like the one seen above.

Last but not least, the "Restore on Exit" checkbox determines whether the visibility changes you made will be discarded (if the box is checked) or retained (if it is not checked) when you exit the command.

For a full list of no-longer-Express layer tools, check out this post from the archives.

And to give you an idea of what we're digging out from, here are a couple pictures I took this weekend.

I don't know how it is where you live, but in DC, cars actually disappearing under the snow is a pretty rare occurrence.

After the snow stopped, though, it did look very beautiful:

Now it won't be long before all the pretty fresh snow turns brown and ugly from dirt and plowing...is it spring yet??

Adjust Dimension Spacing

When you're dimensioning a drawing, it's nice to space your dimensions out evenly, to make sure that the text and lines don't overlap, and to give a uniform look to the drawing.

But maybe you were lazy (or in a hurry) when you placed your dimensions, and you just clicked around randomly:

Not so nice. Guess we'd better fix it.

Fortunately, there's a command for that.

It's called "Adjust Space", or DIMSPACE, and it's on the Dimensions panel of the Annotate tab (right next to Break Dimension).

You pick a base dimension, and then the dimensions to adjust, and the command redistributes them until they're nice and uniformly laid out. You can enter a value for the spacing yourself, or use the Auto option to let AutoCAD LT figure it out.

There, isn't this better?