Archived Tips & Tricks...

		Easter egg in AutoCAD 2004? That's easter egg as in when programmers want to have some credit for all their work without actually getting the listing approved by the powers to be in the marketing department. A common practice for some software developers is to have a hidden message or scrolling screen hidden somewhere in the software to promote themselves. Here are the steps to see the one for those dedicated guru's of AutoCAD programming! 1: Start AutoCAD 2004 as you usually do. 2: Go to the Format pull-down menu and select Color. 3: Select the ACI tab in the Color Dialog box. 4: While holding down the Control key, double-click with the left mouse button over the color box of #152. This will open another dialog box that says: "AutoCAD 2004 Credits with the Easter Egg in it". The credits of the people who helped develop the software for AutoCAD 2004 are listed. Here are some more keyboard shortcut helpers for the easter egg utility. The Y key replays the cheers that you hear at the opening of the dialogue box. The #4 key toggles some lighting and confetti options for the volcano. The ESC key will close the window. The Enter key will restart the credits. The Left mouse button allows the scene in the background to tilt or rotate by clicking and dragging. The Middle mouse button allows the scene in the background to be panned by clicking and dragging. The Right mouse button allows the scene in the background to be zoomed in and out by clicking and dragging.
		To stop template items from increasing to the maximum length set in the database when stretching (say a transformation or bend) hold down the Ctrl key when selecting the grip and stretching. This way the item stays at the length set and adds a straight piece.
		If you need to email a drawing file that has many attached xrefs and images use the Etransmit command. This lets you strip out directory paths so the recipient won't have any problems opening the file. Etransmit also saves your files back to a previous format should your client not be on the same AutoCAD release.
		Tired of that annoying prompt in the Pedit command that reads: Object selected is not a polyline. Do you want to turn it into one? You can turn it off by setting the PEDITACCEPT system variable to 1.
		AutoCAD 2004 presents a new toolbar called Styles. The toolbar is enabled by default. You can select the current text style and dimension style from the associated lists or change and define the styles by clicking on the associated buttons...
		In AutoCAD 2004 there is a way to get rid of unused layer filters. Use the 'Delete all' button in the Named Layer Filter part of the Layer Properties Manager.
		Convert 3D Solids to 3D Faces.. Have you ever needed to work with 3d Solids in AutoCAD and then needed to manipulate different parts of it or needed to convert the 3d object to faces. There is a way to convert your 3d objects to faces by using the 3DSOUT and 3DSIN commands.  The functions are normally used to translate a drawing into 3D Studio, but can be used to convert 3d objects into faces.
		Make sure you check out our Utilities Page regularly. Not only do we post a selection of goods which we think will be useful, but also we include utilities which are solutions to specific problems that are submitted by members. Some of these are purpose written by ourselves in response to members queries.
		Previous versions of AutoCAD required you to save the output of the Render command to a file (bmp, pcx, tiff, tga, postscript) and print the image using another application. Now with AutoCAD 2004, you can assign hide, shade and rendered properties to viewports, and control the plotted appearance of your model. To set the Shade Plot property, switch to Paper Space and left-click on a viewport. Right-click and select Shade Plot from the menu. Select As Displayed to plot the viewport using the currently displayed shaded view. Select one of the other options to force the viewport to be plotted using a specific shaded mode, regardless of the current display. Note: To plot a Rendered viewport, you must set the Shade Plot setting to Rendered. All the Render properties are apparent in the Drawing as Plotted image, including materials and shadows. Another new setting regarding plotting 3D models involves the display of hidden edges. In the past, the Hide command simply hid obscured edges. Now you have the option of displaying hidden edges using a linetype and/or colour. This setting is located on the User Preferences tab of the Options command. Click on the Hidden Line Settings button to assign a linetype and/or colour to the hidden edges.
		If you need to know who has a drawing open use the WHOHAS command. Type WHOHAS at the command line and navigate to the drawing you wish to check for ownership. The name of the owner, computer name and date and time opened will be displayed, e.g. Owner: jsmith Computer Name: C56XF114 Time Accessed: Monday, June 14, 2003 09:26:48 AM Note that WHOHAS.ARX needs to be loaded on ALL computers in the department - the CAD Administrator should ensure that this is loaded automatically on all stations (usually is by default).
		If you're working in large 3D drawings and you find parts of lines missing when you do a plot you need to type hideprecision and set the variable to 1. This will need to be done each time as the variable is not saved with the drawing
		If you're having trouble with any part of a drawing (particularly if it's a CAD-Duct Solids object) then why not block it out of your drawing and include it as an attachment when making a posting on our forum. That way we'll be able to see all the properties and, hopefully, assist in resolving your problem - and because you're only sending a small extract there shouldn't be any worries on your behalf over copyright issues, etc. Remember, we're only here to help you.
		Here's a simple way to add a comment to an AutoCAD 2000 object that displays when you move the mouse pointer over the object. Select Insert/Hyperlink, then select the object. Click on the right mouse button to open the Insert Hyperlink dialog box. Now enter your comment text in the Hyperlink Description text box, but leave the Link To File Or URL text box empty. Click OK when you've finished. Now move your mouse pointer over the object. A tooltip-style comment will appear, displaying the descriptive text you specified.
		If you're working on a project where the client or main contractor is foreign, then grab a 'Teach Youself..' book and try your hand at learning a new language. At worst it may be humourous (though your efforts will be appreciated) and at best... well who knows? You may find you have a gift for languages!
		To remove empty text from a drawing, set QTEXT ON, then REGEN, empty text will now appear as boxes which you can delete.
		Rather than working in model space, and finding out afterwards that some annotation is not in the correct location in plan or any sectional views, try this... In your layout tab set the correct scale for your viewport and then lock it. You will then be able to activate model space within the viewport and work within it, without changing the scale factor previously set.
		To convert a plain viewport to polygon viewport use the VPCLIP command - it will change a normal standard paperspace (layout) viewport to an irregular viewport (view).
		When you have two or more paper space viewports that overlap or are contained within another, it can be difficult or impossible to switch with the mouse pointer... Use the command sequence Ctrl+R to switch between viewports.
		Instead of going to CAD-Duct Solids Menu>Hide Attacher just click on the attacher icon while holding down the shift key...
		To change the colour of duct or pipe connectors to match the body change the connector colour number in the main database to 256... (colour 256 represents 'By Layer')
		By adding \X to the Multiline Text Editor at the end of the first line allows for a second line of text below the dimension line without breaking the dimension line...
		Holding the Alt key down while selecting an item will bring up the edit box and allow you to set a required length (or any other modification) before you insert the item...