Customise AutoCAD with ISO Snap Settings

Revision 1.1
Donkan Designs Technologies | www.donkandesigns.com 1
NDIANABASI UDONKANG
AutoCAD Productivity Hacks for Engineers,
Architects, Designers, and Draftsmen
1

Donkan Designs Technologies | www.donkandesigns.com
@2015. Donkan Designs Technologies. Trademarks belong to the respective owners.
This work is licensed under a Creative
Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0
International License. Connect with us
Revision Note
REV. DATE DESCRIPTION ISSUED BY REVIEWED BY APPROVED BY
1.0 16-02-15 ISSUED FOR REVIEW NUD NUD NUD
1.1 03-03-15 APPROVED FOR DISTRIBUTION NUD NUD NUD

Table of Contents
3
Table of Contents
Note from the Author
Take The Shortcut
Create Your Custom Commands
Customise Your Tool Palettes
Dimensioning Isometric Drawings
Batch-Plot Your Drawings
HACK
01
HACK
02
HACK
03
HACK
04
HACK
05
Don’t Panic, OVERKILL It!
HACK
06
How to Make Any Command A
MULTIPLE Command
Maximise Your Real Estate: CLEAN
SCREEN
Should I EXPLODE or BURST My
Blocks?
Quick Copy and Move using Your Mouse
Don’t Complain, Whip Your Arcs or
Circles in Place
HACK
07
HACK
08
HACK
09
HACK
10
HACK
11
Revision Note

Table of Contents
4
Release The Power Of Control
Characters
HACK
13
The Similar, The Better
Reusing Drawing Contents: “Save As” or
Design Center
PURGE Your Drawings
Quicken Your Selections
Show Your Leadership: Use
Multileaders
HACK
14
HACK
15
HACK
16
HACK
17
HACK
18
Cover Up Your Tracks with WIPEOUT
HACK
20
Squeeze Out those Data from
AutoCAD
Retain Your Sketches using DELOBJ
Placement of Annotations – MODEL or
LAYOUT Space?
Send those Drawings Off with eTransmit
MEASUREGEOM / DIST vs
DIMALIGN
HACK
21
HACK
22
HACK
23
HACK
24
HACK
25
Unleash the Power of Grips
HACK
19Release The Power Of Escape Codes
HACK
12

Layer Walk: A Cool Way to View your
Layers
HACK
33
Table of Contents
5
Quick Way to Create Multiple Viewports
In-place
HACK
26
Let’s BIND those XREFs
Make Your AutoCAD Colourful
If You Still Love the Native Menu Bar,
Bring it Back
HACK
27
HACK
28
HACK
29
Swiftly Close Your Day Safely
HACK
30
LAYER MERGE: Quick Way to Purge
Unwanted Layers
HACK
31
Layer Translate: Cool Way to Comply to
CAD Standards
HACK
32
Save Yourself those Keystrokes, Use
Selection Cycling
SELECTing with more Power
HACK
34
HACK
35
Customise Your Quick Properties
HACK
36
About Donkan Designs Technologies

Note from the Author
AutoCAD is the world’s most-used and most-versatile CAD application. It is used for 2D drafting and
3D modelling by engineers, architects, scientists, artists, interior designers, geospatial professionals,
etc.
For professionals using AutoCAD everyday, it is important that one masters the necessary commands
and workflows that will increase productivity by reducing repeated tasks and time taken to complete
workflows.
This presentation is written, as a free resource, to share my experience with AutoCAD as a CAD
instructor, design engineer, and AutoCAD Certified Professional. As you read through each slide, you
will be amazed by the inherent power of AutoCAD. While not claiming to be an exhaustive collection
of tips and tricks, you will find them useful for your everyday work.
I will work towards releasing regular updates for this hacks with a goal of achieving about 100 hacks
in the next one year.
It is my hope that you will readily share this resource with your colleagues, friends, and over the
internet to a much wider audience.
If you have questions or any feedback regarding this document, kindly contact me at
ndianabasi.udonkang@donkandesigns.com.
Thank you.
Ndianabasi Udonkang
CEO,
Donkan Designs Technologies
6

HACK
Take The Shortcut
01
Why take the longer route to your destination? AutoCAD offers several ways of launching
your favourite commands. You will save yourself considerable keystrokes and time by
launching commands using their shortcuts or aliases (as known by AutoCAD), which will
become part of you as you use AutoCAD each day.
While shortcuts for launching frequently-used commands will be listed, I equally
challenge you to discover the rest for yourself.
7
F1 Launches the AutoCAD Help System CTRL+0 Clean screen. Maximises your graphic
window
F2 Open or expands the command line as a text window CTRL+1 Opens or closes the Properties Palette
F3 Toggles Object Snap (OSNAP) on or off CTRL+3 Opens or closes the Tools Palette
F5 Switches between the ISO planes (effective in
Isometric Snap Mode)
CTRL+8 Opens or closes the Quick Calculator
F6 Toggles Dynamic UCS on or off CTRL+9 Opens or closes the Command Line
F8 Toggles Orthographic Mode (Ortho) on or off CTRL+A Selects all objects on the graphics
window
F10 Toggles Polar Tracking on or off CTRL+R Cycles through active viewports in Layout

HACK
Take The Shortcut
01
8
SHIFT+SPACEBAR Cycles selection between overlapping objects
or objects that are close together
L LINE command
CTRL+PAGE
DOWN or PAGE
UP
Cycles between layouts PL POLYLINE command
CTRL+TAB Cycles between opened drawing files POL POLYGON command
A ARC command M MOVE command
B BLOCK command CO COPY command
C CIRCLE command S STRETCH command
E ERASE command RO ROTATE command
REC RECTANGLE command MI MIRROR command
RE or REA REGENERATE OR REGENERATE ALL command SC SCALE command
O OFFSET command X Explode command
LA Launches LAYER PROPERTIES MANAGER T MULTILINE TEXT command
DT SINGLE LINE TEXT command I INSERT BLOCK command

HACK
Take The Shortcut
01
9
MEA MEASUREGEOM command XL XLINE command
QSE QUICK SELECT command RAY RAY command
ID ID command PO POINT command
P PAN command PR PROPERTIES palette
Z ZOOM command VS VISUAL STYLES command
DLI LINEAR DIMENSION command DDI DIAMETER DIMENSION command
DAL ALIGNED DIMENSION command DBA BASELINE DIMENSION command
DRA RADIAL DIMENSION command MA MATCH PROPERTIES command
END ENDPOINT OSNAP override MID MIDPOINT OSNAP override
CEN CENTER OSNAP override QUA QUADRANT OSNAP override
PAR PARALLEL OSNAP override PER PERPENDICULAR OSNAP override
M2P MID BETWEEN TWO POINTS OSNAP override NEA NEAREST OSNAP override
ST TEXT STYLE command D DIMENSION STYLE command

HACK
02
One of the most stressful tasks for AutoCAD users is the printing of drawings, especially
when you have tons of drawings to print and issue for review.
There are two ways to Batch Plot your drawings. The first method is the Sheet Set
Manager (SHEETSET) and the other is plotting using the PUBLISH command.
SHEETSET command (Sheet Set Manager)
The Sheet Set Manager allows you to arrange your drawing sheets into sets and subsets
that could be published in one click.
Use the following quick steps:
10
1. Launch the Sheet Set Manager using the SHEETSET
command or CTRL+4.
2. On the Sheet Set Manager pallete, click Open… > New
Sheet Set…,
3. Select Existing Drawings and click Next,
4. Fill the information for the new sheet set and set the
destination folder for the sheet set file. Click Next when
done,
5. Click Browse… and select the folder containing your
drawing files,

HACK
02
11
6. Review the loaded sheets and deselect anyone you want to,
7. Click Import Options… to enable subsets based on folder structure, if needed.
Click Next when done,
8. Confirm all information and click Finish to close the New Sheet Set Dialog box.

HACK
02
12
9. Right-click the sheet name on the
Sheet Set Manager. On the context
menu click Publish and select any
of the four direct publishing
options.
10. Publish to DWF, DWFx, or PDF
overrides the plotter that was set
in the Page Setup for each sheet,
while Publish to Plotter plots the
sheets based on the Plotter that
configured in the Page Setup for
the respective sheets.
11. If you need more control, click
Publish Dialog Box… on the
context menu.
12. For a detailed information about
AutoCAD Sheet Sets, visit the
AutoCAD Help System:
http://autode.sk/1D9nfta.

HACK
03
Ask yourself this questions? How many times do you perform ZOOM Extents using the
command line or ribbon in a day? How many times to do go back and forth turning on
and off Isometric SNAP and ORTHO modes when working on ISOs? Imagine you could
create a custom command that automates “Z” <enter> “E” <enter> or one that sets the
following system variables (important for ISO drawings): SNAPTYPE, SNAPSTYL,
ORTHOMODE, POLARMODE, or POLARANG in one click!
13
Customization User Interface (CUI)
AutoCAD’s CUI offers you all the tools for customizing
your user interface, however, we are going to focus
on the creation of custom commands. Here, we will
begin with creating a simple shortcut that sets some
system variables necessary for working effectively
with ISOs, later, we will look at how to add some
commands including our new command to the Quick
Access Toolbar or Tool Palettes.
1. Launch the CUI (command: CUI),
2. In the Command List area, click the Create a New
Command icon.

HACK
03
3. In the Button Image area, select the
image circled or any other image for
the Button Image of the new
command,
4. In the Command area, fill the field for
Name and Description as shown.
5. For the Macro field, use the following:
“^C^C_snaptype 0;_snapstyl
1;_orthomode 1;_polarmode
2;_polarang 30;”
6. This new command sets the system
variables SNAPTYPE to 0, SNAPSTYL to
1, ORTHOMODE to 1, POLARMODE to
2, and POLARANG to 30.
7. Click OK to save and close the CUI.
8. If you need to edit the command,
launch CUI, and type in the name of
the command in the search box in the
Command List area of the CUI.
14
3

HACK
03
Similarly, you can create another command, say, “Iso Reset”, that resets the variables. The
command will set SNAPSTYL to rectangular snap, SNAPTYPE to Grid snap, and turn off
ORTHO mode using the following macro: “^C^C_snaptype 0;_snapstyl 0;_orthomode 0;”
For more information about creating custom commands and macros visit the following
links:
• http://autode.sk/1K90IiB
• http://autode.sk/1yBLigb
• http://autode.sk/15KqGfb
• http://autode.sk/15TDpvI
• http://bit.ly/1HhKEiy
15

HACK
04
The easiest way to run your custom commands is adding them to
your Tool Palettes, Quick Access Toolbar, or Ribbon Panels. Here,
we are going to look at how to add our custom commands to the
Tool Palettes.
16
1. Launch the Tool Palettes (command: TOOLPALETTES or
CTRL+3),
2. Right click the title bar of the Tool Palettes window and click
New Palette,
3. Type a name for the new palette, say, “Custom Commands”,
4. Next, launch the CUI (command: CUI),
5. Search for the custom command in the search box at the top
of the Command List area,
6. Drag and drop the command on the Tool Palettes,
7. You can add other custom commands as needed.

HACK
04
17

HACK
05
One of the very obvious mistakes I find in isometric drawings is isometric dimensioning.
The dimensions are often not properly aligned with the isometric planes, thereby making
the design look very unprofessional.
Here we will look at how to create proper isometric dimensions.
18
1. Ensure that your SNAPTYPE,
SNAPSTYL, ORTHOMODE,
POLARMODE, and POLARANG
variables are properly set. See
HACK 04.
2. Create the simple box
(100x50x50mm) shown here,
3. Start by creating aligned
dimensions (command: DAL) for
the three edges as shown,
4. Launch the Oblique command,
which is found on the Annotate
tab > Dimensions panel.

HACK
05
19
5. Click the dimension 1. To specify the
oblique angle, click the top endpoint of the
edge and click anywhere along the
direction shown (angle 150 degrees),
6. Repeat this for the other two dimensions.

HACK
05
20
Next, we align the dimension texts.
7. Launch the Text Style dialog box
(command: ST),
8. Click New… to create a new text style.
Give it a name, say “ISO30”, and
8. change the Oblique Angle to 30 deg.
Create another text style, say “ISO-30”,
with an Oblique Angle of -30 deg.
9. Launch the Dimension Style Manager
(command: D). Under Styles, click ISO-25,
then click New… and give a name, say
“ISO-25-A30 and continue.

HACK
05
21
10. On the Dimension Style dialog box >
Text tab > Text appearance area, select
ISO30 from the Text Style dropdown
list.
11. Click OK to save and exit. Repeat steps
9 to 10 and assign text style “ISO-30” to
the next dimension style. Close the
Dimension Style Manager when done.
12. Launch the Properties palette
(command: CTRL+1),
13. Click the dimension 1 & 3, on the
Properties palette > Misc area > Dim
style, change the dimension style to
ISO-25-A30,
14. Similarly assign dimension style ISO-25-
A-30 to dimension 2.
15. The dimensions should be properly
aligned.

HACK
05
22

HACK
05
23

HACK
Don’t Panic, OVERKILL It!
06
This is a scenario that was common at a former company: Line manager receives a PDF
drawing and needs to convert the PDF drawing to DWG. A PDF to DWG converter is
employed and a DWG is output. Sometimes, the DWG comes out as a collection of
overlapping and collinear objects. Now, the OVERKILL command comes to the rescue.
24
The OVERKILL command is used to combine
overlapping or collinear objects into one object.
Click the Help button on the OVERKILL dialog box
for more information or visit:
http://autode.sk/1JNuJq7

HACK
How to Make Any Command A MULTIPLE Command
07
Do you know that you can save yourself those repeated clicks of the <Spacebar> or
<Enter> button when you are dimensioning objects using the same type of dimension?
Have you ever wished that you could make any command repeat until you are done with
your workflow?
We know about some multiple commands such as LINE and COPY. However, we can
employ the MULTIPLE command in order to make any command repeat itself until the
<Esc> button is pressed.
1. At the command line, enter MULTIPLE and press <Enter>,
2. Then enter the name of the command you wish to repeat, say DIMALIGN, and press
<Enter>
3. The DIMALIGN will keep on repeating until you are done with creating your aligned
dimensions.
25

HACK
Don’t Complain, Whip Your Arcs or Circles in Place
08
Have you ever opened a drawing - maybe from a previous AutoCAD version – and the
arcs appear like series of lines while the circles appear like polygon?
Simply use the WHIPARC system variable and set the value 1.
For more information see the AutoCAD Help System or visit: http://autode.sk/1JNB8kX.
26

HACK
Maximise Your Real Estate: CLEAN SCREEN
09
Come to think about it, some of us know the names and shortcuts for most commands in
AutoCAD and recent versions of AutoCAD now come with command auto-completion. So,
sometimes, the ribbon is rarely used.
Here comes CLEAN SCREEN.
If you would prefer to turn off the ribbon and palettes and maximise your graphic
window, simple press CTRL+0. Press CTRL+0 again to restore your interface.
Or use the commands:
1. CLEANSCREENON
2. CLEANSCREENOFF
NOTES:
1. In Windows 8, I noticed that AutoCAD goes full screen when CLEAN SCREEN is ON.
2. The Menu Bar will still be active irrespective of your workspace setting.
27

HACK
Maximise Your Real Estate: CLEAN SCREEN
09
28

HACK
Should I EXPLODE or BURST My Blocks?
10
We are all familiar with the EXPLODE command – that command that breaks down
almost any compound object including blocks – but did you know that there was another
command called BURST that equally operates on blocks with a slightly different result?
If you have a block with attribute definitions, then you might want to consider using
BURST. So what is the difference between EXPLODE and BURST for block operations?
EXPLODE breaks a block into its component objects. However, if the block contains
attribute definitions, it will retain the state of attribute definitions.
BURST equally breaks a block into its component objects, but converts the values of the
attribute definitions into text objects.
29

HACK
Quick Copy and Move using Your Mouse
11
You can quickly move or copy objects using your three-wheel mouse. How?
FIRST METHOD
To move or copy:
1. Select the object(s),
2. Left-click, hold, drag and release the mouse button at the destination,
3. To copy, hold down the <Ctrl> button while dragging and ensure that you release the
mouse button before the <Ctrl> button.
30
SECOND METHOD
To move or copy:
1. Select the object(s),
2. Right-click, hold, drag and release
the mouse button at the
destination,
3. On the context menu, choose any
operation you need.

HACK
Release The Power Of Escape Codes
12
AutoCAD is capable doing some subtle formatting for dimensions and paragraphs, and it
does this by using escape codes. In the image 1, there is a dimension text “914,4.” We
can append some extra text to it to pass more information.
1. Select the dimension, right click and click Properties.
31
2. In the Text override field, enter the
following string: “<>XRIGHT SIDEPOF
WINDOW A” without the quotes and click
<Enter>,
3. The dimension text should appear as
shown in image 2.
1

HACK
Release The Power Of Escape Codes
12
Just a brief note on the string: “<>XRIGHT SIDEPOF WINDOW A”
“<>” stands for the numeric or original dimension text. If you exclude this, the original
dimension text will be totally overridden,
32
4. “X” is used to position the next line
under the dimension line,
5. “P” is used to end the current
paragraph. The next string following it
will begin on a new line
These escape codes works for normal text
created with the MTEXT command.
For more about paragraph formatting, visit:
http://autode.sk/1JOqYk0
2

HACK
Release The Power Of Control Characters
13
You can quickly format your text and add special
characters by using control codes.
The dimension text in shown right as the
following string as override: “<>%%P0.5”.
For more information visit:
http://autode.sk/1JOvb7v
33
Reference: http://autode.sk/1BuSqNw

HACK
The Similar, The Better
14
AutoCAD offers a very quick way to select all objects that are similar to one or more
preselected objects. Objects are considered similar if they are set to BYLAYER for
properties like color, linetype, lineweight, plot style, material, and transparency. If the
objects selected are of different types, the selection is based on shared properties.
34
This is accomplished using the “Select Similar”
command. To use this simply, do the following:
1. Select the object on which to base the pre-
selection criteria,
2. Right click and on the context menu, click Select
Similar.

HACK
Show Your Leadership: Use Multileaders
15
Have you ever opened a DWG with leader annotations and when you wanted to relocate
a balloon or edit the text, you discovered to your amazement that it was a “fake”
multileader? The leader was simply composed of dissociated object!
The figure shows an annotation with dissociated text and
leader
AutoCAD provides multileaders that
makes it easy for you to create
beautiful leaders and callouts for your
designs.

HACK
15
If you are working in a organisation, your design lead or CAD administrator might have
provided you with a set of CAD standards which includes the proper multileader styles or
might provide you with a multileader object that could be easily copied, pasted and
reused across multi drawings.
For metric users, you may want to set the following variables on your Multileader Style
dialog box:
 Leader Setting
 Arrowhead size: 3.5mm
 Landing distance: 1.5mm
 Text Setting
 Height: 4.0mm
Launching the Multileader Style dialog box:
Annotate tab > Leaders

HACK
15

HACK
15
TYPES OF MULTILEADERS
AutoCAD provides different types of multileaders to fit your purposes.
1. Mtext allows you to create a simple text label
2. Block allows you to create a leader with a block and block attributes.

HACK
15
MULTILEADERS MANIPULATIONS
Take advantage of the powerful multileader editing tools to organise and edit your
leaders.
1. Use the Add Leader tool to add a leader to an existing multileader,
2. Use the Remove Leader tool to delete a leader from a multileader with one than one
leader,
3. Use the Align tool to align leaders properly.
1
2
3

HACK
Reusing Drawing Contents: “Save As” or Design Center
16
One of the ways to speed up tasks is to reuse as much drawing contents and styles as
possible. In my experience, there are three ways of doing this:
1. Let’s assume you are to begin a new drawing and your design lead has already
provided you with a template drawing that contains all design contents: blocks, styles
– text, tables, multileaders, dimensions, layers, layouts, linetypes, xrefs, and even
macros. The best workflow in this case is to save the template drawing as a new
drawing and get on with your work.
2. Let’s assume that you have gone far with a drawing and came across another drawing
with some contents that could be reused in your current drawing. How do you
proceed? Well, in this case, you could simple copy (CTRL+C) the content from that
drawing and paste (CTRL+V) into your current drawing.
3. Assuming again that you’ve gone far with your current design, and you came across
another drawing with important contents – tons of layers, multileader styles or
dimension styles and you just can’t waste manhours trying to setup the layers or
styles from scratch in your current drawing? How do you proceed?
The AutoCAD Design Center (Command line: ADCENTER or Shortcut: CTRL+2) might just
be your easy way out.

HACK
16
USING THE DESIGN CENTER
Below are quick steps to using the Design Center:
1. Open your current drawing and the other drawing that you wish to import the
content from. Ensure that your current drawing is the active one,
2. Launch the Design Center (Command line: ADCENTER or Shortcut: CTRL+2),
4
5
6

HACK
16
USING THE DESIGN CENTER
3. In my example, I have two drawings Structures-Drawing-1 & Structures-Drawing-2.
Structures-Drawing-2 is my current drawing. Structures-Drawing-1 contains a
multileader style named “Wonderful Callout.”
4. On the Design Center, click the Open Drawings tab,
5. Select Multileaderstyles under Structures-Drawing-1.dwg,
6. On the right-hand pane, click, drag and drop the “Wonderul Callout” style onto the
graphics window. The style has been imported. Confirm by checking the Multileader
style dropdown.
Similar procedures can be followed for all other types of contents. To select multiple
contents of the same category, use or CTRL or SHIFT keys while selecting.
3. For more information about the AutoCAD Design
Center, visit: http://autode.sk/1CoeTyE

HACK
PURGE Your Drawings
17
There is one rule I don’t fail to follow: PURGE before TRANSMISSION.
AutoCAD files could become, relatively, very heavy sometimes. When you are working in
2D, unused layers, linetypes, styles, and blocks could increase the size of drawings
significantly. When working in 3D, unused 3D blocks and other unused contents could
significantly increase the size of the drawing too.
Command line: PURGE
BEST PRACTICES
1. If you have contents you don’t want to lose, add them to the Tools Palette or create
objects and assign the contents to the objects,
2. Always PURGE before transmitting drawings to your team lead or clients.
3. For more information about the PURGE command, visit: http://autode.sk/1yxCuYX

HACK
18
That awkward moment when you received a draw and
almost all properties of objects were overridden.
Property Override occurs when a property value such
as red or green is directly assigned as the Color of an
object, or when Hidden is directly assigned as the
Linetype of an object, etc. In other words, a property
was not assigned either the ByLayer or ByBlock value
which makes property changes easier.
Please note that property override is not an absolute
no-no and could be used to distinguish objects even
when they are on the same layer. However, overrides
should be avoided where possible or used to the
barest minimum.
Now, you have a drawing with a layer named EXISTING
and you want to select all objects with Phantom
linetype property overrides and assign them to the
EXISTING layer. How do we proceed? Here comes the
Quick Selection tool (Command line: QSELECT).
1. Launch the Quick Select tool,
2
3
4
5
6

HACK
18
2. On the Quick Select dialog box, choose Apply to:
Entire drawing,
3. Object type: Multiple (applies filter to all objects
in your drawings),
4. Properties: Linetype,
5. Operator: Equals,
6. Value: PHANTOM, then click OK.
In my current drawing, 542 objects matched the
query and are selected.
2
3
4
5
6

HACK
18
What remains is to assign all the selected objects to the
EXISTING layer with a Linetype value of ByLayer using
the Properties palette.
For more information about the Quick Select command,
visit: http://autode.sk/1vreqGX.

HACK
Unleash the Power of Grips
19
Grips are most often used to simply STRETCH or MOVE objects. However, digging deeper
and paying attention to your command line prompts, you will discover that you can
SCALE, ROTATE or MIRROR using grips.
Let’s consider a block with a single insertion point:
1. Clicking on the grip activates the default
mode: STRETCH which behaves like the move
command (depending on how the object was
selected).
2. However, when you keep pressing the
<SPACEBAR>, the manipulation changes to
MOVE, ROTATE, SCALE, MIRROR and they
repeat again.
GRIP
3. Pay attention to the command line as you manipulate
objects with grips,
4. The Copy option (C) can be used to create copies of
the selected objects.

HACK
Cover Up Your Tracks with WIPEOUT
20
AutoCAD provides a cool tool for covering up some part of your drawing neatly. You can
consider it your “correction fluid” except that the action isn’t permanent as you can easily
delete the WIPEOUT object to reveal the underlying object(s) again.
WIPEOUT makes use of closed POLYLINEs to define the boundary of the mask, and
depending on the shape of the objects you are trying to cover up, you might need to
create a simple RECTANGLE or a complex POLYLINE that is ONLY composed of line
segments.
You can create the polyline using the WIPEOUT command or separately using the
RECTANGLE or POLYLINE command. If you created the POLYLINE as a separate object,
WIPEOUT applied
(frame visible)
use the POLYLINE
option, to select the
polyline object to be
used for the mask
boundary.
NOTE:
Set WIPEOUTFRAME variable to 0 to
hide the WIPEOUT outline
For more information about the
WIPEOUT command, visit:
http://autode.sk/1vrgkYf
WIPEOUT frame
hidden

HACK
Squeeze Out those Data from AutoCAD
21
Well, we all are used to feeding tons of data into AutoCAD. But how can we extract
relevant data from AutoCAD when the need arises?
AutoCAD provides several commands that could be used to query and obtain different
types of data.
1. ID
The ID command is used to obtain the absolute coordinate of any point in AutoCAD. It
could be the centre of a CIRCLE or intersection between two LINEs, whatever. Ensure that
you make use of the proper OBJECT SNAP mode in order to get accurate results.
Identifying the
Centre Coordinates

HACK
21
2. STATUS
The STATUS command is used to obtain a
summary of the state of your drawing.
3. DIST
The DIST command obtains the distance
between two points.
Output from
STATUS command

HACK
21
4. AREA
The AREA command is used for obtaining the area of a closed object. The Object, Add
and Subtract options provide powerful ways of manipulating your AREA data.
Below is an extract of a command-line interaction for calculating the area of the rectangle
less the area of the circle.
Command: AREA
Specify first corner point or [Object/Add area/Subtract area] <Object>:
A
Specify first corner point or [Object/Subtract area]: O
(ADD mode) Select objects:
Area = 5349513, Perimeter = 9603
Total area = 5349513
(ADD mode) Select objects:
Area = 5349513, Perimeter = 9603
Specify first corner point or [Object/Subtract area]: S
Specify first corner point or [Object/Add area]: O
(SUBTRACT mode) Select objects:
Area = 838897, Circumference = 3247
(SUBTRACT mode) Select objects:
Area = 838897, Circumference = 3247

HACK
21
4. MASSPROP
The MASSPROP command is used to obtain the
physical properties of a mass. Note that AutoCAD
assumes the densities of models to be one (1)
hence, the mass and volume are equal.
5. MEASUREGEOM
The MEASUREGEOM command provides powerful
options for obtaining the geometry information
from your 2D geometry & 3D models.
The Distance, Radius, Angle, Area and Volume
options are very simple to use.
Note that the MEASUREGEOM command combines
the functions of the DIST, AREA, and MASSPROP
commands.
For more information visit:
http://autode.sk/1zB9L5C

HACK
MEASUREGEOM / DIST vs DIMALIGN
22
When querying the distance between two points, some people tend to use the Aligned
Dimension (DIMALIGN) command. Well, such people might be missing a lot of extra
information which are obtained from the DIST command or MEASUREGEOM > Distance
option.
If you need to obtain the changes in the coordinates between two points, then DIMALIGN
becomes useless.
BEST PRACTICES
1. Use the DIST or MEASUREGEOM command to easily obtain the distance between two
points.
2. DIMALIGN being a dimension might have the value in the dimension text rounded
and you might need to check out the Properties of the dimension to see the actual
value of the dimension text.
3. Use the DIST or MEASUREGEOM command to obtain the changes in coordinates
between two points, which could come very handy for 3D modelling tasks.

HACK
Retain Your Sketches using DELOBJ
23
If you model frequently, then you might be familiar with this problem: How do I ensure
that AutoCAD does not delete the sketches (profiles, path, guide rails or axes) used for
my EXTRUDE, REVOLVE, SWEEP or LOFT operations?
Here comes DELOBJ!
The DELOBJ variable determines what AutoCAD does to your sketches after creating 3D
models from them. Below is a summary of the values that can be assigned to DELOBJ, my
favourite being “0.” For more information on DELOBJ, visit: http://autode.sk/19fCSGD.
0 All defining geometry is retained.
1 Deletes profile curves, including those used with the EXTRUDE, SWEEP, REVOLVE, and LOFT commands.
2 Deletes all defining geometry, including paths and guide curves used with the SWEEP and LOFT commands.
3 Deletes all defining geometry, including paths and guide curves used with the SWEEP and LOFT commands if the action
results in a solid object.
-1 Displays prompts to delete profile curves, including those used with the EXTRUDE, SWEEP, REVOLVE, and LOFT commands.
Prompts to remove cross sections used with the LOFT command.
-2 Displays prompts to delete all defining geometry, including paths and guide curves used with the SWEEP and LOFT
commands.
-3 Displays prompts to delete all defining geometry if the resulting entities are a surface of any type. Deletes all original
geometry resulting in a solid entity.

HACK
Placement of Annotations – MODEL or LAYOUT Space?
24
The debate about where to place design annotations never ends. Some designers prefer
to draw and annotate on the model space while some prefer to draw on the model space
and annotate on the layout, or paper space.
Irrespective of the convention you may personally adopt, you may be arm-twisted to
follow whatever convention that is set by your design lead.
However, here, I offer my insight into the best practices.
1. The model space is primarily meant to be used for creating sketches or models.
2. The layout (or paper space) is primarily meant to be used for annotation – adding
information to the drawings prepared on the model space – and plotting.
3. The advantage of adopting this original convention is that you could create as much
sheets as needed from the same data contained in the model space. By making good
use of viewports, you can create section views, detailed view, cutaway views, etc, all
on your paper space.
4. On the contrary, if you draw and annotate on the model space, you may have to be
replicating your sketches whenever you want to create a new sheet.

HACK
25
The eTransmit tool offers a sure way to transmit your drawing files while ensuring that all
dependencies such xrefs, plot styles, materials, lights, or fonts are included in the
transmission.
Command: ETRANSMIT
1
2
3

HACK
25
On the Create Transmittal dialog box, click the
Transmittal Setup button to setup more options for
the transmittal
1
2
For more information, visit:
http://dnkn.co/1wHE7cG

HACK
Quick Way to Create Multiple Viewports In-place
26
When you are done with your drawings on the model space and wish to create viewports
for each of the views on the layout space, there is a quick way of creating the viewports
without passing through the VIEWPORT command each time.
In the image beside, we
have a sheet with one
large viewport displaying
all the contents of the
model space.
Now, we wish to divide the
large viewport into smaller
viewports that will each
display only one view.
To achieve this follow the
step below:

HACK
26
1. Select the large viewport. Four grips appear at the four corners of the viewport.
Grip Manipulation of a viewport is easy because the edges of viewports remain
perpendicular during manipulation.
2. Click the upper-right grip, hold down the <CTRL> key,
3. Move the crosshair and click somewhere between the first two view, ensuring the
mouse tracking horizontally. A new viewport has been created. However, the large
viewport still covers the entire sheet.
2
3

HACK
26
4. Select the large viewport again. Click the upper-left grip and move the corner to a
location just by the right of the upper-right corner of the new left viewport. We now
have two separate viewports.
5. Repeat the steps above to create one viewport for each view. See the image on the
next slide for final output.
With your individual viewports, you can then go ahead to control the viewport scale,
layer properties or layer visibility for each viewport, if you so wish.
Viewport 1
Viewport 2

HACK
26
Viewport 1 Viewport 2 Viewport 3
Viewport 4
Viewport 5
Viewport 6

HACK
Let’s BIND those XREFs
27
XREFs could come very handy when creating large assembly drawings, which require
maintaining a link between the individual parts so that updates to the parts will reflect in
the assembly drawings.
The relationships between the current file and these reference files are best understood
by team members working actively on the drawings. If you need to send out the
assembly drawings (containing external reference files) to a client, you just might have to
bind the XREFs to the current file. Come to think of it, most of the time, the client do not
have to understand the technicalities behind the drawings he’s reviewing.
There are two ways of binding XREFs to the current drawing:
1. BIND, and
2. INSERT
For more information about BINDing XREFs and the important difference between the
BIND & INSERT options, visit: http://dnkn.co/1vQtaVD

HACK
If You Still Love the Native Menu Bar, Bring it Back
28
Many of us still prefer the classic interface of AutoCAD. While I’ve gotten so used to the
Ribbon interface and won’t go as far as loading the complete classic interface, I still find
myself longing for the Menu Bar. Why? It offers me a quick way of switching between
opened drawings via the Window menu.
If you ever need to load the Menu Bar, simple use the command: MENUBAR and set the
value to 1.
Menu Bar
I still prefer to
switch between
drawings via the
Window menu

HACK
29
Well, if you ask me, I would say that I spend more time using AutoCAD than I do staying in
my apartment. So if I could beautify my apartment, my AutoCAD interface deserves
more.
AutoCAD provides an awesome way to beautify your user interface: colours, fonts, GUI
customisation, etc. But let’s focus on making the interface colourful.
Let’s say you wish to change the colour of the crosshairs to Magneta (just like mine is
currently):
1. Launch the Options dialog box (Command: OPTIONS; Shortcut: OP),
2. Go to the Display tab; in the Window Elements area, click Colors...,
3. On the Drawing Window Color dialog box, click 2D model space in the Context list >
Crosshairs in the Interface element list > Magneta in the Color dropdown list.
4. Repeat step 3 to set the set the same color for the Sheet / layout by selecting Sheet /
layout in the Context list.
By default AutoCAD comes with a white background for Sheet/layout, you could change
that to black in order to make the interface more eye-friendly.
Keep tweaking and enjoy yourself. Your interface deserves those colours!!

HACK
29
1
2
3
4 5

HACK
Swiftly Close Your Day Safely
30
Well, imagine this scenario: You are so engrossed with your designs; it’s 4:59PM; you
have a date by 5:30PM; you do not have an extra second to spare! How do you swiftly
close for the day safely?
Well AutoCAD offers you a quick way of saving and closing all opened drawings. Meet
SAVEALL and CLOSEALL commands!
The commands are self-explanatory, I guess. However, let me add one quick
customisation tip.
1. You can create a custom command that saves and closes all your files and quits
AutoCAD. Really handy, right?
2. Using the steps discussed in HACK 03, you can create a macro and add it to your Tools
Palette or Quick Access Toolbar. You could try this macro:
“^C^C_saveall;_closeall;_exit;”
3. To add it to the Quick Access Toolbar, simply drag the command from the CUI list and
drop it on the Quick Access Toolbar.

HACK
LAYER MERGE: Quick Way to Purge Unwanted Layers
31
The LAYER MERGE command provides a quick way to assign objects to a different layer
and delete (purge) the previous layer of the objects at the same time. The workflow can
come very handy when you want to do away with few unwanted layers in your drawings.
If you need to translate all layers in a drawing to match your company’s standards, then
consider reading the next HACK.
Let’s assume that we have objects that were wrongly assigned to layer “CEN” and we
need to reassign all of them to layer “Centreline”. To perform a layer merge that assigns
objects from layer CEN to layer Centreline (while purging layer CEN), follow this steps:
1. Ensure that at least one object is assigned to the target layer (that is, Centreline),
2. Launch the Layer Merge command: LAYMRG,
3. Select one object that belongs to the layer CEN and press <Enter>,
4. Next, select object on the target layer (that is, layer Centerline) and press <Enter>,
5. Type “Y” to accept the warning and continue.
For more about Layer Merge, visit: http://dnkn.co/1AMAP5X

HACK
Layer Translate: Cool Way to Comply to CAD Standards
32
This scenario is common in design projects: Your team receives drawings from a different
company who worked on a similar project some years back. The designs are similar and
little or no changes are to be made except ensuring that the Layers, annotations, and title
block are updated to that of the current project. Our emphasis is on layers. Now, how do
you convert or merge the layers from the incoming drawings into the layers for your
current project.
The Layer Translate tool offers a simple way to make the layers of your drawings comply
to the CAD standards set by your project or company. All you need is the current drawing
(which has the layers you wish to translate to comply to your CAD standard) and the CAD
standard (which could be a drawing, template, or drawing standard file).
To use the Layer Translate tool:
1. Open the drawing you wish to translate layers from i.e. the drawing containing those
layers whose properties should be made to comply to your standard,
2. Go to Manage tab > CAD Standards panel and launch Layer Translate or execute
LAYTRANS in the command line,
3. In the Layer Translator dialog box, the “Translate from” list is automatically populated
with the layers in the current drawing while the “Translate to” list is empty.

HACK
32
4. Click Load… and choose a drawing (*.dwg), template (*.dwt), or standard (*.dws) file.
On the Select Drawing File dialog box, click the Files of type dropdown list to choose
the type of file to select,
5. The Translate to list should be populated now,
6. If you have many layers with similar names on both lists, click Map same button to
automatically map those layers,
7. Now let’s manually map the remaining layer. Click a layer in the Translate from list
and click a layer that it should be translated to in the Translate to list. Once both
selections have been made, the Map button will become active. Click the Map button
to map the layers,
8. Repeat step 7 for all the other pairs of layers you wish to map. Note that each
mapping removes the involving layer from the Translate from list while the Translate
to list remains constant,
9. You can click Save… to save the current mappings as standard file (*.dws),
10. When done click Translate.
11. For more information, visit: http://dnkn.co/180gi3D

HACK
32
Before translation
After translation

HACK
Layer Walk: A Cool Way to View your Layers
33
Still on layers, the Layer Walk tool offers a cool way to filter and display objects layer by
layer. Assume you are asked to only display objects on layer “Thick Line,” you do not have
to go the Layer Manager to begin freezing or turning off all the other layers. Simply
“Walk” to layer “Thick Line” using the Layer Walk tool.
To use the Layer Walk tool:
1
2
1. Go to the Home tab > Layers panel, click the
Layers flyout to expand it,
2. Launch the Layout Walk tool or use command:
LAYWALK.
3. By default all layers are selected on the
LayerWalk dialog box so all objects are displayed
on the screen,
4. Click any layer or use the <CTRL> or <SHIFT> key
to select multiple layers on the LayerWalk dialog.
5. Objects will be displayed as the layers are
selected.
6. For more information, visit:
http://dnkn.co/1A8WP7A
All layers selected by default3

HACK
34
Yes, we cannot do without selecting in AutoCAD, as long as we intend to modify an
object. So we are all familiar with the basic methods of creating selection sets. We know
how to create selection sets using the individual selection, window selection, and
crossing-window selection. However, there are more ways of creating selection sets. And
before we explore the options of the SELECT command, let’s talk a little about the two
ways in which the SELECT command manifests itself in AutoCAD.
IMPLICIT SELECT command
When you launch a modify command such as COPY, MOVE, or EXPLODE, you will be asked
to select the launch that you intend to operate on. At this moment, the SELECT command
has been implicitly launched and you can use all options of the SELECT command while
creating the selection set.
EXPLICIT SELECT command
It is not common to explicitly launch the SELECT command by executing SELECT in the
command line, however, it is there and could be useful when creating a pre-selection set.
SELECT options
Irrespective of whether we are selecting implicitly or explicitly, all options of the SELECT

HACK
34
command are available and can be displayed if we intentionally induce an error, say, by
typing “?”. This is what you will obtain when you type “?” while you are asked to pick a
point or object:
Window/Last/Crossing/BOX/ALL/Fence/WPolygon/CPolygon/Group/Add/Remove/Multipl
e/Previous/Undo/AUto/SIngle/SUbobject/Object
My favourites being Last, ALL, Wpolygon, Cpolygon, and UNDO. Through experience, you
will learn to commit the commonly-used options to heart and quickly execute them by
typing the letters in CAPS.
For detailed explanations of the SELECT options, visit: http://dnkn.co/1wfCTzn

HACK
Save Yourself those Keystrokes, Use Selection Cycling
35
Some of us might be familiar with the shortcut: SHIFT+SPACEBAR, which is used for
selecting objects that overlap or are very close to each other. Well, with recent versions
of AutoCAD, you do not have to pass through the stress of pressing those key
combinations.
1. Simply turn on Selection Cycling (Shortcut: CTRL+W),
2. When you hover above objects that are in close
proximity to each other, the cursor will show a
tooltip indicating that the objects around that
area can be selected with the assistance of
Selection Cycling. For example, in the 2nd image,
when the crosshair is over the area around the
intersection between the (green) line and (cyan)
ellipse, a blue tooltip appears.
3. Clicking any object, a selection box pops up and
allows you to pick the particular object you intend
to select.
1
2

HACK
Save Yourself those Keystrokes, Use Selection Cycling
35
For more information about Selection Cycling for objects, visit: http://dnkn.co/1DsjYGD
and http://dnkn.co/1wgGZar.
3

HACK
36
While the Properties Palette shows all the properties of a selected object or objects, the
Quick Properties panel displays just a few selected properties by default and can be
customised to suit a user’s need.
The Quick Properties panel provides a very quick way to review and modify frequently-
accessed properties and adding the important properties can boost your productivity
significantly.
However, care should be taken to avoid adding too much properties that will make the
panel cluttered.
Current configuration of the Quick Properties panel for
Rotated Dimension
1

HACK
36
CUSTOMISING THE QUICK PROPERTIES PANEL
A rotated (linear) dimension is selected in this example. To customise the Quick
Properties panel,
1. Click on the drop-down arrow at the top-right corner of the panel (See picture
above),
2. Click Customize…
3. The Customize User Interface dialog box should load with the Rotated Dimension
properties list populated. If the properties list for Rotated Dimension is not loaded,
click on Quick Properties in the All Customisation Files area, then select Rotated
Dimensions in the List of AutoCAD objects (See image in next slide),
4. All properties for Rotated Dimensions will be populated in the properties list,
5. Select the needed properties. In my case, I selected: color, lineweight, text overrides,
and text style.
6. Click OK to save and close the CUI dialog box.

HACK
36
Properties List
List of AutoCAD
objectsAll Customisation Files
3

HACK
36
The new configuration of the Quick Properties panel for Rotated
Dimension

HACK
Thank You for Reading. More to Follow Soon
..
Thank you for reading. More to follow soon.
If you have questions or feedback, kindly contact me at
ndianabasi.udonkang@donkandesigns.com.

Donkan Designs Technologies | www.donkandesigns.com
@2015. Donkan Designs Technologies. Trademarks belong to the respective owners.
This work is licensed under a Creative
Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0
International License. Connect with us
About Donkan Designs Technologies
Donkan Designs Technologies is Africa’s fast growing Architectural, Engineering &
Construction (AEC) Design Company established in 2012.
At Donkan Designs Technologies, we believe in Human Capacity Development which is
critical in solving the problems around us, hence our commitment to the training of
students, graduates, and professionals in various architectural, engineering, construction,
and management courses, in addition to the provision of world-class innovative designs
solutions to the Oil & Gas, Manufacturing, Agricultural, Mining, and Real Estate sectors of
the economy.

Customise AutoCAD with ISO Snap Settings

Recomendados

Recomendados

Más contenido relacionado

La actualidad más candente

La actualidad más candente (20)

Destacado

Destacado (19)

Similar a Customise AutoCAD with ISO Snap Settings

Similar a Customise AutoCAD with ISO Snap Settings (20)

Último

Último (20)

Customise AutoCAD with ISO Snap Settings