The offset command is a tool I use often for creating geometry; it’s particularly useful when the drawing consists of a lot of parallel lines.  The command includes a few lesser known options, and by using an obscure system variable, you can make it even more versatile. The command includes a layer option. Type “L” at […]

 Something I often hear from clients reminds me of the adage:            “I am too busy chopping wood to sharpen my axe”.  When business is booming, we think we don’t have time to sharpen our axes.  When business is slow, we think we can’t afford it. My advice is  that it is ALWAYS a good idea

Here are a few quick tips on dealing with block attributes. Tweaking the prompt. There may be situations where you don’t want to be prompted for attribute data when you insert a block, especially if you just want to accept the default value. Use the system variable ATTREQ to turn off prompting (1 = on and 0 = off). It’s

I still hear from many seasoned users that they don’t like the new ribbon interface. One common complaint is that it takes so long to load when you click on a new tab. The best advice I can offer to the more general issue is to either make the time to learn the ribbon layout, or

Everyone seems to have their own opinion about the Ribbon interface in AutoCAD 2010. Some people are fans of it and some are not. But one feature of the interface that most people seem to like is the Quick Access Toolbar. You may not know it by name but I am sure that you have probably seen and

The 2011 release of AutoCAD includes a long desired feature that will greatly benefit cartographers, as well as users in many other disciplines; TRANSPARENCY. The ability to make any object, layer, hatch pattern, solid fill or image partially transparent, allowing overlapping objects to be seen “through” those transparent objects is a feature many of us

I recently received a 100 MB raster image file from a client, and to use as a background image in a bathymetric map of a reservoir.  The image was a very high resolution TIFF file, depicting the bottom of the reservoir in great detail, which the client needed to see in his maps.  It looked

Here’s a really quick, simple tool to keep in mind when trying to figure out which blocks are referenced in a drawing, and how many times each is referenced.  Use the Express Tool  BCOUNT.  It is not on any menus or ribbon panels; it is only available through the Command Line. This command has two

More and more often, the deliverables from our production work are PDFs, as opposed to paper plots.  They are easy to share and virtually everyone can view them, with so many free PDF readers available. There are also many drivers available to produce PDFs, some that come with Adobe products, and others from third-party developers. 

There are several ways to repeat previous commands.  Most users know that you can hit either the Spacebar or the Enter key to repeat the most recently issued command.  This is particularly useful when repeatedly performing  the exact same task, such as digitizing polylines, or placing a lot of different block references.  Combined with setting a short