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Michael’s Corner

Michael BeallMichael's Corner is a monthly publication written by Michael E. Beall, Autodesk Authorized Author and peripatetic AutoCAD trainer. Michael travels all over the USA, bringing his fantastic experience and great understanding of AutoCAD to his clients. Michael's Corner brings together many of the tips, tricks and methods developed during these training sessions for the benefit of all users.

Michael's Corner provides something for every AutoCAD user. Every month, a number of articles cover a wide range of topics, suitable for users at all levels, including "The Basics" for those just starting out. Essentially, the aim of Michael's Corner is to help all AutoCAD users work smarter and faster.

This month…

October - One-derful!!!

It's a God-thing.

I had no idea that 14 years ago I would be given the opportunity to make an impact on the professional lives of so many. Only God knew what was ahead, and hopefully, the contributions I have made through Michael's Corner have equipped many of you to be more productive and a bit more savvy using AutoCAD. And apart from all the AutoCAD bashing that is going on, I'm sure it has a long life ahead.

So, in an effort to keep the AutoCAD fires burning, here's what I have for my final installment…

…A reminder on how to customize your hot keys
…Three Power Tools — one for Zoom, one for editing, and one for Layers
…Two Odd Spots — one for Layers and one for Hatching
…Buried text treasure
…And how to Search 14 years of the Archives

As for what's ahead for me, I will continue to present a variety of AutoCAD sessions — Fundamentals, Intermediate, Customizing, Updates, and 2D & 3D. I will also keep training CAP Designer, 20-20 Worksheet, Visual Impression (those three from 20-20 Technologies, Inc.), and some Revit Fundamentals. Next year I'm looking forward to being very involved in training CET (from Configura, Inc.) when Herman Miller joins the growing number of manufacturers embracing this software that is being touted as the ‘Future of Space Planning’. Personally, I'm looking forward to spending a bit more time with Donna, my lovely bride of 30 years. When this posts, we'll probably be within days of going on our 30th Anniversary vacation to the Tanque Verde Ranch in Tucson; Ee-Hah! We had such a good time when we went for our 20th, we figured we'd do it again!

Ah, and I'm hoping to have The AutoCAD Workbench, Final Edition out before snow flies.

And with that, Mike drop! …so to speak.

The LORD bless you and keep you;
The LORD make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The LORD lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace. Numbers 6:24-26

This month's articles

Change F1 to ESC
Smoother Zoom
Stretch with Extension
Lock Layers with a Crossing Window
Layer Columns & Hatch Background Color
Text Frame on Mtext

From the Vault

Originally published January 2012

This Year, Resolve to Use…

My visits to Guam are always rewarding because I meet such nice folks. Last month I had the privilege to train four more people from the government NAVFAC group.

During our training, a couple of the following questions came up, so I thought I'd pass these along, as well as a few others that have been stacking up in my "Basics" list.

Snap Perpendicular From an Object

Many of us are familiar with snapping Perpendicular To an object, but if you launch the Line or Polyline command, then invoke Snap to Perpendicular (use Shift + Right click if needed), you can then slide along your geometry (including circles) then specify a point to begin the line. It essentially acts as Ortho for drawing new geometry from non-orthogonal lines.

Perpendicular

Select Similar: The Settings Option

Select SimilarIntroduced in AutoCAD 2010, the Select Similar feature is amazing. (See the Basics in Michael's Corner, May 2011 when guest author and CADTutor captain, David Watson, provided a nifty video tutorial on this very topic). But what object properties determine if something is ‘similar’.

Curiously, you will need to launch the SELECTSIMILAR command to get the option for SEttings… since it's not available from the right-click menu which is the most common method of invoking this feature.

By default, Layer and Name (object name/type) are on. But if you want to select the text that is on the same layer and also uses the same Text Style?

Solution: Check the box for Object Style!

OFFSET: The Layer and Erase Options

Have you ever taken the time to consider the options available for the Offset command?

Command: OFFSET
Current settings: Erase source=No Layer=Source OFFSETGAPTYPE=0 Specify offset distance or [Through/Erase/Layer] <1.0000>:

The Offsetgaptype option was covered way back in the June 2003 Basics of Michael's Corner, but back then the Erase and Layer options were not available, so here's how they work:

Erase: [Yes / No] Default: No
Set to Yes, after completing the offset, the source object will be erased.

Layer: [Source / Current] Default: Source
By default, the offset geometry is placed on the same layer as the source object. Set the Layer option to Current to place the offset geometry onto the current layer.

Help for Variable Values

When you're looking for the values that can be used to set a variable – for example, PLINEGEN – hit F1 for the Help window (ironically launched in Autodesk Exchange).

Help Window

Alternatively, you could go to ExpressTools panelSystem Variable Editor to open the dialog box which contains the same information. See Michael's Corner, June 2004.

Add Layers to the Quick Access Toolbar

As you navigate the Ribbon, what if you are on a tab other than Home… and you need to change your layer? Now you have to go back to the Home tabLayers panel so you can change the current layer from the dropdown list.

Quick Access Toolbar

Solution: Right-click in the Layer dropdown list, then click Add to Quick Access Toolbar!

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11th January 2025

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