Lynn Allen's Blog

An AutoCAD Hip Tip on TEXTMASK

I'm on vacation this week - but I thought I would post a quick tip for all of you (especially since most of you are still hanging in the office).  Don't hate me - I really need a break before crazyness starts with another round of new Autodesk products (which means no chance for time off until summer). 

Let's take a look at a Hip Tip on TEXTMASK

If you have text objects on top of other objects - you want your text to stand out - and that can easily be achieved with the Express Tool TEXTMASK.  TEXTMASK places a wipeout (or solid or 3Dface) behind the text - masking the objects below.  Check out the Cadalyst video if you want to watch this command in action.

Command: TEXTMASK
Current settings: Offset factor = 0.2000, Mask type = Wipeout
Select text objects to mask or [Masktype/Offset]:

 You can control the size of the wipeout with the Offset option, and the type of object you wish you use for your mask (I vote for Wipeout!).

TEXTMASK works on both single line text objects (DTEXT) and multi-line text (MTEXT).  If you move the text - the wipeout will follow.

Note:  If you have turned your Groups off - then the wipeout will move independently of the text.  A Ctrl+H will turn your Groups back on.

You can edit the Wipeout with grips if you turn TFRAMES on.  This comes in handy when you want the textmask to follow a specific shape.

Always use TEXTMASK in model space if you want it to plot properly.  Model Space is always printed first - and that means that a textmask in Paper Space just won't work (too late to mask objects when those objects are already printed!)

I always recommend watching the video for the best understanding of the tip (unless you're in the office and don't want to bother your colleagues).  I'm off to enjoy a little R & R...(but I'll be thinking about all of you guys!)

 

 

 

 

 

Managing Content Libraries on AutoCAD for Mac

As I mentioned earlier this week - you can watch my video on the AutoCAD for Mac Content Palette if you want to see this tip in action on the AutoCAD Exchange.

 

Continuing on from my previous post - you'll find that the AutoCAD for Mac Content Palette allows you to add multiple libraries for speedy access.  Using these libraries you can easily drag and drop blocks from other drawings into your current drawing.

Select the Manage libraries option from the Content Palette.

Here you will see a listing of all your libraries - including those blocks in your current drawing.  Select the + (add) in the lower left corner to add a new library and give it a name.

Now you need to indicate the drawing that contains the blocks you want included in this library.  Select the other + sign to select a drawing file.

AutoCAD for Mac will ask you if you want the drawing to be considered one total block or if the drawing contains multiple blocks (most of the time you're going to select the latter).

 

And it's just that simple - now these blocks are available from any drawing!

And it's just that easy...

 

AutoCAD for Mac Content Palette

AutoCAD for Windows has Design Center - and AutoCAD for Mac has the Content Palette.  Let's do a quick tour for those of you who have made the move to AutoCAD for Mac (or are thinking about it) so there are no surprises!

P.S.  Tune into the AutoCAD Exchange to see my video on the Content Palette (if you prefer watching over reading).

The AutoCAD for Mac Content Palette is very simple and easy to use.  It's really just a matter of selecting a block from the palette and dropping it into your drawing.  Access the Content Palette from the Tools menu>Palettes or Command (⌘)+2.

You need to change the scale factor, base point or rotation angle?  No problem - all these are easily done before you actually insert your block.   Hit the down arrow key to specify via the screen or simply key in B (for Basepoint), R (for Rotate), or S (Scale).

Note: the X or Y scale factor options are not available via the Content Palette but can be accessed in the Insert command.

You can control the size of the icons on the Content Palette by right clicking over any block thumbnail -  obviously the smaller thumbnails allow you to see more blocks at one time.   Or if you haven't seen your eye doctor in awhile - you can always go with Large Thumbnails!

Moving your cursor over the block thumbnails reveal the name of the block (very helpful when you have similar looking blocks).

I like the speedy search capabilities - no need to rifle through the thumbnails if you don't want to - just key in some text and the Content Palette will find the block(s) for you.

Of course there is much more to the Content Palette (like making libraries) but let's save that for another time.

Give AutoCAD for Mac a try!  (you can download a 30 day trial for free).  Hey - we all like free!

 

 

Happy New Year and an AutoCAD Hip Tip on Add Selected

It's a new year at Autodesk and I'm looking forward to a great year of great software releases. For myself - I believe I'll be focusing on AutoCAD for Mac, the next release of AutoCAD and maybe even the new Autodesk Design Suite.  I hope you all enjoyed a great holiday season and are rejuvenated for the new year!

An AutoCAD Hip Tip on a new tool called Add Selected.

This tool is simple - you use it when you want to create an object with the same properties as an existing one in your drawing.  You don't want to fuss with figuring out the linetype, layer, lineweight, etc - you want AutoCAD to do this work for you.  Simply select an object with the properties you want - right click and select Add Selected from the shortcut menu.

AutoCAD will then execute the same command that was used to create the selected object - along with the same properties (linetype, layer, color, etc).   This doesn't change your current layer or properties settings (which is nice) - just the properties of the object being drawn.

This comes in ESPECIALLY handy if you're working on someone elses drawing.  Maybe you just need to add a couple of dimensions to the drawing - but you don't have a clue what settings they were using - no problem - ADD Selected to the rescue!  Simply select one of their existing dimensions and AutoCAD will launch you into the same type of dimension command used with the exact same dimension style and scale - it couldn't be easier.

The chart below (from the AutoCAD 2011 Help file) shows you exactly what settings are retained when you use ADD Selected.  I love using it for Hatch and Text - makes my drawing life just so much easier!

   
 

Now - if you didn't get a Holiday card from me - I thought the least I could do was post the picture we sent out this year.   For those of you who are new - we have two "kids" named Conan and Leno (you shouldn't be asking which one is which - I think that's pretty obvious).  For the record - it is IMPOSSIBLE to get goats to cooperate when taking a picture - we were at our wits end before we finally got this very last decent shot!

Happy New Year to you all!  Thanks for reading my blog.