Lynn Allen's Blog

An AutoCAD Tip on Deleting Stubborn Layers and a '78 Trans Am!

Alright...first off I have to admit a moment of insanity (make that several moments) when I decided that we needed to bid on a 1978 Pontiac Trans Am at a charity auction benefiting the local schools.   Well no one else was bidding on it so I figured why not?  Certainly this was for a good cause in these tough times when schools are really suffering financially. I must admit it was a pretty cool looking car - I probably would have given my right arm for this car in high school! 

But now is the time to be green, conserve gas (not to mention money!), drive responsible cars.  Owning an obnoxiously loud and flamboyant gas guzzler with a 455 engine is completely out of the question! 

So you can only imagine my surprise when it was announced that we actually won the car!  (can I just say we are still pretty much in shock).  Here we are trying to look cool with our new muscle car about an hour after we picked it up.  What do you think?  Can you just see the shock on our faces? 

Think of Burt Reynolds in Smokey and the Bandit...(Burt Reynolds owned the '78 model) think Knight Rider...(remember Kitt?). 

On to something much more practical!

An AutoCAD Hip Tip on Deleting Stubborn Layers

If you've ever experienced one or more of those pesky layers that just refuses to go away - that won't purge no matter what you try - then you will love the LAYDEL Express Tool.  Often a layer is referenced in a block, and consequently cannot be purged.  No problem for LAYDEL - it will actually remove the layer from the block definition and redefine the block!  Wow - now that is power!  Take a look at the latest of my Cadalyst videos for step by step information (pictures are always easier than words - right?)

Note:  LAYDEL won't get rid of layer 0 or the defpoints layer for obvious reasons...I forgot to mention that in the video!

Give it a try...now I'm going to try and find a "TRANSAMDEL" command...

For some reason I can just picture dave e-a laughing his head off about now...

The AutoCAD Exchange Videos

I've been recording some videos for the AutoCAD Exchange and thought I'd give them a little plug in my blog (hey - why not?)  There is a total of six videos - and they are a little tricky to find (unfortunately).  So I'll sort you out so you can find them...ok?

You'll start of by going to the AutoCAD Exchange (which I hope you've visited before).

Right in the middle of the page you should see a top secret tab that says Lynn Allen's Top AutoCAD Tips

There are six videos in all - be sure to check them out!  I had a great time recording them....

I'm finally on my way home after two weeks on the road - I can't wait to see the white fluffy dog!

 

 

The CADAC MasterClass in the Netherlands

I've enjoyed my stay in the Netherlands so far as my first event was the Cadac MasterClass.  It was a great event and my good friend Robert Green even flew in to present.  This was one of the rare times I could actually sit and listen to Robert present - and I really enjoyed it!  Robert Green is in charge of the CAD Management Power Track at Autodesk Universityand a fellow Cadalyst writer.

A great big thank you to Armand Pinkaarts (second from the right) and the Cadac team for their fantastic hospitality and I look forward to joining them again at some point in the future.

Next I will be ramping up for our "See the Difference" Tour focused on AutoCAD 2010.  Be sure to join me and Shaan Hurley for our whirlwind tour through the US and Canada! 

I will be Tweeting along the way if you care to follow me!

 

 

 

 

An AutoCAD Hip Tip on Converting Text to MText

Back on the road again (insert REO Speedwagon here).  The blog postings seem to diminish whenever my travel ramps up!  I just landed in the beautiful Netherlands and am looking forward to three days of presentations as well as spending time with one of my favorite fellow Autodesk coworkers.

After 20 hours of flying - I suspect this won't be my most stellar blog posting (please be patient with me here!).  I thought I'd at the very least reference one of my latest Cadalyst Videos to support my Hip Tip.

An AutoCAD Hip Tip on Converting Text to MTEXT:

If you've every had to work with some very old drawings then you've probably run into scores of single line text.  In "those days" (back when dinosaurs roamed the earth) there was no MTEXT command and we lived happily ever after with our single line text (DTEXT).  It's also quite possible you might find yourself working with a coworker's drawing who never adjusted to the MTEXT command and consequently they continued to use single line text.  When the MTEXT command first came out it left much to be desired.

But now MTEXT works great, so most of us have switched sides and moved on to use the more robust paragraph text command.

So what if you are working in a drawing where DTEXT was the command of choice and you need to modify the width of a paragraph?  Ick Ick!  Don't erase the lines and start all over - just use the nifty Express Tool TXT2MTXT.  This Express Tool converts those individual lines to paragraph format so you can easily modify them as one single unit.

The above video shows you how to do this in complete detail - be sure to have a look!  And now that the Express Menu is an official tab in the ribbon it's easy to get to!  How could we possible use an interface without the fabulous Express Tools in them?

I'm off to catch a nap before dinner (hard to sleep on planes)..Enjoy!

An AutoCAD Hip Tip on Customizing the Quick Access Toolbar

Autumn is definitely knocking on the door and my travel schedule has ramped back up to high gear already!  I must admit I enjoyed the summer downtime (as did my family) but it will be great to be back among all you users again.  Last week was a great tour with D|C|CADDin Texas (love, love, love them!) and the opportunity to attend the opening of a fantastic BIM exhibit also sponsored by D|C|CADD at the San Antonio Center for Architecture (below).

 

I had the opportunity to speak in Austin and San Antonio to their user groups - and I even recorded a video for DELL while I was in Austin (land of Dell).  Doug Wietbrock and his staff at D|C|CADD took such great care of me (which is why I always love to work with him and his team) and I can't thank them enough.  Not only that, but they do such a wonderful job for their customers - clearly one of my favorite resellers. 

Last week Cadalyst also released my first AutoCAD Tips and Tricks video with Picture in Picture so you can actually see my talking while you listen to the video.  Since I talk with my hands - I really love this new feature!  Be sure to Check it out!

I guess this means I can't record my videos in my pajamas anymore!  :-)

If you are on AutoCAD 2009 or 2010, be sure to check out this video that shows you everything you can do with the Quick Access toolbar.  This toolbar is just waiting for some fantastic customization (and it's really easy to do as well).  I know some users who have really customized the heck out of it.

I'm off to catch a flight - will blog later this week!

A Quicky AutoCAD Hip Tip for Drawings with Loads of Layers!

Autodesk is officially on vacation for a week of rest.  Let me tell you - I LOVE it when everyone at the company takes a vacation at the same time.  That means we don't go back into the office facing a mound of emails, requests, etc.  I wish all of our vacation time was nice and organized like this - with a few extra days to take at your leisure.  Since I travel so much for work - I am thoroughly enjoying a nice week at home where I plan on catching up on all those "projects" that just never seem to get done. 

Last week I had the privilege of visiting two great customer sites: Alstom Power and SimplexGrinnel.  While presenting at Alstom, one of the attendees told me they were frustrated because their layers weren't alphabetized anymore.  I asked him how many layers they were dealing with and he told me about 1400!  Wow!  They are highly standardized and apparently each of those layers has a specific purpose.  That brings me to today's AutoCAD Hip Tip:

An AutoCAD Hip Tip for Drawings with Loads of Layers:

There is a system variable inside of AutoCAD called MAXSORT.  MAXSORT controls the maximum number of named objects (such as blocks and layers) that AutoCAD will sort (or alphabetize). For most users, the default setting of 1000 works just fine and you'll probably never need to change it.  In my example above, Alstom Power had more than 1000 layers and consequently their layers were no longer listed in a nice logical alphabetical fashion.  Imagine searching through 1400 layers looking for a named layer when they aren't alphabetized?  Yikes!

So it's simply a matter of increasing that number to suit your needs...the highest you can set MAXSORT to is 32,767.  If you have more than 32,767 layers - we definitely need to talk!

You may also find that some layers don't even appear in the layer listing if you breach the MAXSORT value...all things to keep in mind!

Incidentally - MAXSORT was originally introduced early in AutoCAD's lifetime because some people didn't like AutoCAD to alphabetize their layers.  They wanted the layers used the most to be at the top of the listing, those used the least to be towards the bottom.  The order the layers were input into the system was the order they displayed.  Make sense?  Pretty clever. 

I'm off to enjoy another day of vacation - maybe do some baking today (we have a pear tree loaded with pears).  I'm not really a big pear fan - but am happy to bake them up for others!

Enjoy what's left of summer...