TASKBAR System Variable
Wednesday, August 24, 2005
Since most of my work as structural designer means working with Autocad on a daily basis, it is must better for me to have separate multiple drawings on my taskbar rather than having all open in one CAD session.
If you are in the same predicament, you can set this up in AutoCAD by turning on the TASKBAR variable, which is normally <0> by default. You can normally use the CTRL-TAB or CTRL-F6 to switch between drawings, but with the change in the variable to <1>, you will be able to use the CTRL-ALT key combination as well.
To make the change, type in “TASKBAR” on the command line (while AutoCAD is running). Then, change the variable. The two options are:
0 - one taskbar item for all open drawings
1- multiple taskbar items for all open drawings.
Until next time,
Fernando Salgado
If you are in the same predicament, you can set this up in AutoCAD by turning on the TASKBAR variable, which is normally <0> by default. You can normally use the CTRL-TAB or CTRL-F6 to switch between drawings, but with the change in the variable to <1>, you will be able to use the CTRL-ALT key combination as well.
To make the change, type in “TASKBAR” on the command line (while AutoCAD is running). Then, change the variable. The two options are:
0 - one taskbar item for all open drawings
1- multiple taskbar items for all open drawings.
Until next time,
Fernando Salgado
AutoCAD order of objects and text dimensions
Tuesday, August 23, 2005
In my current job I use a lot of solid hatches and I noticed that when printing, I can spend one hour or more changing the DRAWORDER of all dimensions in the drawing.
After doing some research I discovered the TEXTTOFRONT command, that brings all text and dimensions to the front without having to select them all first, which is an amazing improvement compared to the DRAWORDER command where you must first select all the text and dimensions in the drawing and then use the "Front" option.To use this command you must type on the command line TEXTTOFRONT and then choose one of the three options:
Bring to front [Text/Dimension/Both]
This is truly a very simple command to use which will save lots of time in future projects.
Until next time,
Fernando
After doing some research I discovered the TEXTTOFRONT command, that brings all text and dimensions to the front without having to select them all first, which is an amazing improvement compared to the DRAWORDER command where you must first select all the text and dimensions in the drawing and then use the "Front" option.To use this command you must type on the command line TEXTTOFRONT and then choose one of the three options:
Bring to front [Text/Dimension/Both]
This is truly a very simple command to use which will save lots of time in future projects.
Until next time,
Fernando
Starting the session of AutoCAD with Template pre-loaded
Monday, August 22, 2005
A few weeks ago I published a posting about “AutoCAD and the Command line switches”. Today, when I started my system, I found that I’ve got too many old templates. This is why my tip for today is how to start AutoCAD 2005 with a specific template.
The switch to create the default drawing when you first startup AutoCAD is /t.
Since at my actual work I only need to use one template and in today’s world we all know how precious time is so anything you can do to help yourself is important.
To use the switch, start off by right-clicking on the AutoCAD program on your desktop, and selecting properties. When the window pops up, you will see three tabs – make sure to select the Shortcut tab. Under this tab, there are certain fields filled in. The one you need to change is Target.
When you make the changes in the target box you must be careful not to remove any section of the application path or the filename while ensuring that you have a space after the path, the file name and before your switch (see image). You will also need to make sure that there is a space between each argument of your switch statements.
You can use a relative path (e.g. “MyTemplate.dwt”) for the template path, if AutoCAD has the path to the template within its support paths. If the template is not within the support paths, then you will need to enter the absolute path (e.g. “C:\CADTemplates\ MyTemplate.dwt”).
The switch to create the default drawing when you first startup AutoCAD is /t
Since at my actual work I only need to use one template and in today’s world we all know how precious time is so anything you can do to help yourself is important.
To use the switch, start off by right-clicking on the AutoCAD program on your desktop, and selecting properties. When the window pops up, you will see three tabs – make sure to select the Shortcut tab. Under this tab, there are certain fields filled in. The one you need to change is Target.
When you make the changes in the target box you must be careful not to remove any section of the application path or the filename while ensuring that you have a space after the path, the file name and before your switch (see image). You will also need to make sure that there is a space between each argument of your switch statements.
You can use a relative path (e.g. “MyTemplate.dwt”) for the template path, if AutoCAD has the path to the template within its support paths. If the template is not within the support paths, then you will need to enter the absolute path (e.g. “C:\CADTemplates\ MyTemplate.dwt”).
Once you’ve made all the necessary changes, click on OK and you are all set. I hope you will find this useful.
Until next time,
Fernando Salgado
Status of your network ports
Sunday, August 21, 2005
I have been a little busy during the past month, so I haven't published anything on my blog. Today, I was configuring my home network, and I thought it would be a good posting about a fantastic online tool called shields up (http://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?rh1dkyd2). This tool basically tells you what port you have open on your system in order to help you set up your network correctly. It is definitely worth a try.
